When the first battleship detachment and the third armored cruiser detachment on the Ming side rushed head-on to another single column composed of 13 British battleships and armored cruisers in a single column with a "high speed" of 13.5 knots, Zhu Guohui took out his pocket watch with a slightly trembling hand and looked at the time. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 infoIt's May 11th, 7:05 a.m.

'If I'm alive in two hours, the world is ours!' Zhu Guohui thought so in his heart. The main fleet had just broken the radio silence and sent a telegram that they were approaching at full speed and would be on the battlefield in 2 hours at most. However, it is not easy to stand on the bridge of the ironclad ship Yongli without any armor protection, and survive 2 hours under the attack of 21 British battleships and armored cruisers!

In order to avoid being besieged by the two British ship formations that were overwhelmingly superior in numbers, Yu Beigui chose to rush head-on to the column of 13 British ships instead of turning in front of it to seize the T-shaped position, which of course could not be grabbed, because the British ship formation would also turn with it. In this way, two parallel battle formations will be formed, and a horizontal line of 9 British capital ships will chase the butt of the Ming column, so that a very unfavorable flanking situation will be formed against the Ming column. The only way out is to rush against the column of British ships and fight your way through the fire with artillery fire!

At the same time, Arthur. The British squadron under Hood's personal command finally adjusted its direction and began to chase the Ming column at a speed of 14 knots (for one-book-read-novel, it was necessary to accommodate the slowest ship to maintain the horizontal formation).

The minutes are passing, and the distance between the three formations is getting closer every minute, and two of the columns are getting closer at a rapid pace! It is the same as the 9 capital ships and armored cruisers under the personal command of Yu Guibei. The 13 capital ships and armored cruisers of the British also rushed straight towards the Ming ship formation. There is no intention of preempting the T-position. In fact. With the formation speed of the two sides almost equal, it is very difficult to grab the T-position.

And in Arthur. In Hood's opinion, there is no need for his 13 capital ships and armored cruisers to grab any T-slots, as long as they open up and exchange fire with the Chinese's 9 warships one by one! Don't want to sink enemy ships, but want to damage several enemy ships -- as long as you can slow down a few of them when they are wounded, the nine capital ships under your command will have a chance to make a difference! With 42 16-inch guns, how many wounded enemy ships were still afraid of not being able to sink?

"God forbid, don't get shot...... Seeing the British battleship rushing towards him on the opposite side, Zhu Guohui kept praying in his heart. And not just because of the fear of death. Or is it because the Yongli is the flagship, once it is beaten into a sieve by the British, it will have an immeasurable adverse impact on the war situation at sea.

However, in this kind of column face-to-face charge, the flagship at the top of the column is very easy to be shot. Because the order of the exchange of fire between the two columns charging face to face is that each battleship theoretically has to exchange fire with each battleship in the enemy column in turn! The Yongli, which rushed to the front, had to exchange fire with the 13 British ships in the best condition and without any damage.

"12,000 meters!"

The shouts of the navigator interrupted Zhu Guohui's thoughts, and now the straight-line distance between the Yongli capital ship and the British Minotau capital ship is only 12,000 meters! It was barely on the edge of the effective range of both naval guns, but it needed to be a little closer to get the best shot.

Yu Guibei gave another order: "Start calculating the shelling sequence." The ships followed the movement of the flagship...... Don't leave the battle line without permission! ”

This last sentence is an important principle left over from the era of sail battleships, although "chaotic warfare" can sometimes work wonders. But it's not something that any navy can play with.

"Full speed, 13.5 knots."

"Target, Minotaur."

"Hit me hard!"

Now it is the first mate of the Yongli Uemura Hikonojo who is giving the order, because the range of the naval guns in this era is not too far, and the level of observation and aiming is relatively backward, and it will not hit if it is a little farther away. Therefore, in the battleship column that charged face-to-face this time, Yu Guibei did not choose to concentrate the firepower of the whole fleet to shoot at one target, but exchanged fire in turn.

"Target One, the Minotaur."

"Volley!"

When this command sounded from the speakers placed in each gun position and turret, the gunners pulled the fire rope almost at the same time, almost at the same time, the two 260mm/22 times diameter mounted guns on the Yongli, and the six 155mm/40 times diameter rapid-fire guns burst out with a roar, and the orange fire ball bloomed from each gun port, and the huge recoil of the ironclad ship with a displacement of nearly 8,000 tons suddenly moved to the right rear by nearly 5 meters, making Zhu Guohui on the bridge feel as if he had been pushed violently.

However, he didn't even shake his body when he was prepared, pulling the railing with one hand and holding a telescope with the other hand to stare at the huge Minotaur with a displacement of more than 10,000 tons. A wave of shells blasted eight huge columns of water around the Minotaur, making it seem as if the most powerful warship in the world a few years ago had fallen into a small storm.

A second salvo began, but this time only six 155mm rapid-fire guns fired shells. The rate of fire of the two 260mm guns is theoretically one shot in 3 minutes, and it is good to reach one shot in 5 minutes in wartime. The 155mm rapid-fire gun can reach a high rate of fire of 3 rounds a minute, although it cannot last long, but the speed of ammunition delivery is still far greater than that of the demobilized gun.

About twenty seconds after the second salvo was fired, the shells of the third salvo turned into six small black dots and flew towards the Minotaur, which was getting closer and closer. From the telescope, Zhu Guohui saw that a huge ball of fire suddenly exploded on the Minotaur!

Hit!

"Daming Wansheng!"

Cheers rang out over all the battleships of the entire column. Only 3 rounds of 20 shells were fired, and 1 hit was hit, although the distance of the exchange of fire was relatively close, but such a hit rate still made people see that the balance of victory is tilting in China!

However, after the smoke of the explosion, the battleship Minotaur continued to move steadily. Although the Minotaur is "old", it is after all a 10,000-ton battleship, with sandwich composite armor several inches thick, which is not at all penetrated by a 155mm blasting shell. However, it left a large black stain on the side side.

Thundered......

When the Yongli fired a fourth volley, the Longwu, who was following the Yongli, also fired a first volley at the Minotaur. The British giant's 14 8-inch guns (not exactly the same gun arrangement as in history) finally roared! The reason why it has not been fired until now is not because of any gentlemanly demeanor, of course, but because of the outdated cannon layout of the Minotaur class, which is a side-mounted artillery battleship, and the cannon layout is the same as that of the old sail battleships, which are placed in the gun compartment under the side deck. Shoot through one window after another, and the angle of fire is small, and it is impossible to attack enemy ships in front of you on your right. That's why I endured it until now.

However, all of these 14 8-inch shells were missed without exception -- two or three percentage points in the hit rate of naval artillery battles in recent years was not bad, and it was very normal for them to miss out. And after the emptying, the threat of the Minotaur to the Yongli is basically non-existent. Because it took at least 3 minutes for the British to fire the second round of shells. During this time, the Yongli, which reached a speed of 13.5 knots, was able to drive more than 1,000 meters, which was already out of the firing range of the Minotaur's 14-door guns. However, during this time, the 12 rapid-fire cannons on the Yongli and the Longwu following its ass could fire up to nine volleys, blasting 108 shells onto the Minotaur. With a 2% hit rate, the British battleship should have been hit by two 155mm blasting shells!

However, the thick armor of this British battleship was enough to withstand the bombardment of 155mm blasting shells, even if they were filled with powerful picric acid explosives. Moreover, this battleship is very different from the battleships common to later generations in terms of construction, it has very few superstructures, only five masts that were originally used to hang sails, and now there are no use masts and two large chimneys. Therefore, the "deck-washing stream" of the Ming Navy almost did not pose any threat to the three Minotaur classes. (To be continued......)