"Boom!" In this round of shelling, the British dropped more shells than the Ming Empire, and there were many more. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

The British Navy had an advantage in the density of artillery fire, and each time the British Navy could fire 32 shells to attack the naval warships of the Ming Empire.

At the same time, the two battleships of the Ming Empire could only return fire with 20 guns of their own - which in itself was a numerical disadvantage.

The shell loaders of the new battleships of the British Empire were obviously more advanced than the old shell loaders of the Ming Empire. So in terms of the rate of fire of the artillery, there is also a little bit of an advantage.

Now, with the battleship Qianshan being hit in the bow, the absolute superiority of the British battleship in speed is even more vividly reflected.

Although on the front, there are two Ming Empire cruisers that are constantly approaching the British battleship fleet, but everyone knows what kind of storm these two cruisers will face.

After all, the battleships of the British Empire did not have only 8 main guns, but were supplemented by countless small cannons, which could not fire at the battleships of the Ming Empire now, but it was definitely more than enough to fight the cruisers.

Under such circumstances, the battleship fleet of the Ming Empire did not have the slightest chance of winning at all, so all the battles now were tragic and dying struggles.

"Keep firing! Keep the rhythm going! Guo Lihai picked up the binoculars and looked at the two cruisers that were approaching the opposing battleship fleet, and was inspired by the courage of his comrades.

When two fleets are fighting, they must maintain the rhythm of their respective fleets, and once they fall into the rhythm of others, they are not far from collapse.

Therefore, Guo Lihai maintained his calmness at this time and maintained his dignity as the commander of the fleet of the Ming Empire.

"Boom!" On the battleship of the Ming Empire, the main gun once again erupted a ball of flames. Facing an enemy four times its size, the Ming Empire's counterattacks were repeated one after another, without the slightest confusion.

Because of the Ming Empire's well-trained and accurate shooting, artillery shells also began to fall near the British battleship fleet, stirring up a column of water that soared into the sky, which also looked very scary.

Soon, the battleship Qianshan, which had lost its speed, was once again hit by the naval battleships of the British Empire, this time in the middle of the hull, which was even more deadly.

The battleships of the Ming Empire were heavily armored, and when they were designed, the thickness of the armor was set at a level that could withstand 356 mm caliber shells, taking into account the caliber of artillery commonly equipped by countries around the world.

This design seemed to be very advanced at the time, and it also improved the protection ability of the battleship as much as possible on the premise of ensuring the speed of the battleship.

However, as time passed, British battleships began to replace with larger caliber 381 mm guns, which made the protection level of the battleships of the Ming Empire no longer sufficient.

With the outbreak of this naval battle, this defect was also completely exposed -- the main armored protection zone of the battleship Qianshan was completely penetrated by 381 mm caliber shells!

With unstoppable force, the shell tore open the armored deck of the battleship, breaking a huge hole in the deck, and then the shell smashed into the main armor and exploded here.

The force generated by the explosion tore the main armor at once, completely destroyed all kinds of equipment behind the armor, and even destroyed part of the steam boiler at once, almost paralyzing the power system on the battleship.

Many of the cabins were powered off at once, and the rest of the cabins were clearly feeling the huge impact.

Thanks to the fact that the fuel used by the battleship Qianshan was coal, if it was heavy oil, it might have been hit this time and would have almost been killed here.

However, the damage was still huge, the power was damaged, and the boiler and steam engine also had a small explosion, leaving the entire battleship at sea and unable to move.

The battleship Black Mountain, which was closely following the Thousand Mountains, saw that its flagship had been hit again, and began to change course and get out of the way of the battleship Thousand Mountains.

"Loss management! Repair! Repair! On the front bridge, the officers, who had managed to get up, shouted loudly and asked the personnel near the damaged area to rush to repair their warships.

Everyone knows what the consequences will be if you lose most of your momentum at this time, and stop on the surface of the sea.

They will become targets for others, be attacked more violently, and eventually be beaten into a pile of scrap metal and sink to the bottom of the sea to feed the fish.

And Guo Lihai finally got up from the place where he fell, but what he shouted was an inspiring-sounding but also poignant word: "Fire!" ”

"The No. 3 turret (P gun position) in the middle of the hull has been damaged due to vibration, and it can't be adjusted yet!" An officer put down the damage control phone in his hand and opened his mouth to report.

His words were not the most desperate, the most desperate thing was that because of the power problem, turrets 4 and 5 (X and Y gun emplacements) could now only be controlled manually.

In this way, the 4 cannons on these two turrets are less likely to hit the enemy, and the battleship Qianshan only has two turrets left to use.

In other words, at this moment, the battleship fleet of the Ming Empire has only a pitiful 14 cannons left to fire......

This number is less than half of the number of main guns of the four battleships that the British Navy is confronting it.

"Keep firing! For His Majesty the Emperor! For the Ming Empire! Fight until the last moment! Guo Lihai was still boosting morale, and with his composure, he exchanged for the persistence of everyone in the bridge.

"Boom!" The battleships of the Ming Empire are still firing, and on the highest mast of the battleship, the dragon flag of the Ming Empire is still fluttering in the sea breeze.

Guo Lihai looked at the sea in the distance through the bridge, as long as he insisted on fighting, this sea area would not belong to the fleet of the British Empire!

If he fights here for a minute, these warships will appear in the sea frontier of the Ming Empire one minute later, and keep the enemy out of the country, isn't this what a soldier should do?

Winning is already out of the question, and it's hard to even survive. Now Guo Lihai is standing here and insisting on only one goal.

This general of the Ming Empire Navy silently prayed in his heart for only one thing - let his cannonballs hit the enemy once!

Just as he was arriving, an officer came up and reported in a deep voice, "Your Excellency...... The Black Mountain can't be contacted, they're leaving the battlefield! ”