【Broadcast】Pay attention to "Reading at the starting point", get the first-hand news of 515 red envelopes, and students who have not grabbed red envelopes after the Chinese New Year can show their skills this time.

The torpedo boats, which are riddled with holes, insist on advancing in the face of artillery fire, and as long as they are close to the torpedo launch distance, even if only a few are close, they can inflict huge damage on the two super battleships, which is where the value of the torpedo boats lies.

The closer the distance, the denser the firepower, and the higher the accuracy, and at a distance of 3,000 to 2,500 meters, the eight torpedo boats either sank or completely lost their ability to maneuver, barely firing torpedoes without a single hit. The remaining three ships advanced to a distance of 2,000 meters and fired torpedoes from the remaining three torpedo launchers, but the torpedo boats failed to return and were all sunk by artillery.

The Taishan and Huashan immediately zigzag and picked up speed to dodge the torpedoes fired from 2,000 meters away, compared to the speed of the torpedoes that were not much faster than the Gotsuke-class battleships, and all six torpedoes missed.

After the thirteenth salvo, in order to prevent the third and fourth detachments from approaching him, Lu Hai ordered the battleship to turn to the northeast and try to pass through the gap between the main force of the expeditionary fleet and the third detachment. The main force immediately accelerated the blockade, and the distance between the two sides continued to close, and the seven battleships advanced at a speed of more than 18 knots, setting a record for the speed of the battleship formation at this time.

At a distance of eight thousand meters to break through the encirclement, the Taishan and Huashan fired five salvos again, and four of the seven battleships of the main group were hit, and the ferocious fire finally made Natal back down, and ordered the fleet to turn to avoid the heavy artillery fire of the Chinese army.

After the war, military experts from various countries believed that if Natal did not order the fleet to turn around, but continued to blockade, it was very likely that the Chinese army would be intercepted and sunk by the third and fourth detachments. Because at a distance of several thousand meters, the battleship main guns of the expeditionary fleet could quite inflict great damage on the super-battleship, even if it could not sink it. It can also destroy its main gun and power system, thus achieving victory in naval battles.

Of course, the experts completely ignored the cost of the expeditionary fleet in order to achieve such a result, and from Natal's point of view, he had to consider the interests of Britain first and foremost.

Thereupon. The most bizarre scene of the naval battle appeared, when the 4th Battleship Detachment composed of the battleships of the three countries of France, Spain and Italy blocked the Chinese army according to Natal's order, the main brigade and the 3rd detachment suddenly turned around and left the battlefield, causing the 4th detachment to be completely under the fire of the Chinese army.

The excellent tradition of the British selling their teammates was once again vividly brought into play, and from a military point of view, the firepower advantage of the dreadnoughts in the face of the former dreadnoughts was even more difficult to make up. The British new battleship Dreadnought played the best, ordering the Chinese battleship to fire three armor-piercing shells, although it did not cause fatal damage to the Chinese battleship. But nevertheless proved the superiority of such a battleship. Natal led nine scarred battleships out of the battlefield and handed over the back to the fourth detachment of four battleships, which resisted for only fifteen minutes before two battleships were hit with five armor-piercing shells, one sank on the spot and one was heavily damaged. Faced with the majestic figures and black muzzles of the Taishan and Huashan, the other two battleships wisely chose to surrender.

The fiercest battleship duel in the naval battle of the South China Sea came to an end, and the Taishan and Huashan did not continue to pursue the nine battleships that had escaped. Both battleships also suffered considerable losses, and one of the main gun turrets of the Tarzan was hit by a 305-mm shell. The turret failed, fifteen gunners were killed or wounded, another secondary turret was destroyed, and three 305-mm shells were hit on the first deck sideboard, which almost jeopardized the operation of the power system.

The Taishan was set on fire by the battleships of the expeditionary fleet, so the Huashan suffered less damage. Only two rapid-fire gun turrets were destroyed, and twelve officers and men were killed and wounded. The effectiveness of damage control personnel is very low during the battle, and the fire must be controlled as soon as possible after the end to prevent the spread of flames. The other two captured battleships needed to be taken over by personnel, and the officers and men of the captured expeditionary fleet needed to be kept under centralized care. However, the officers and men on the two battleships were very cooperative, and there was not a trace of any desire to resist. In this regard, the Chinese officers and soldiers should be grateful to the Western culture of surrender.

There were still quite a few officers and men of the expeditionary fleet who had fallen overboard, and the preliminary estimate was no less than 2,000, and in the spirit of humanitarianism, Lu Hai ordered to lay down a few small boats, and then sailed away with two captured battleships. Another battle was still waiting for the support of the battleship detachment, there was not so much time to rescue the overboard sailors, put down the dinghy and let them survive on their own, anyway, the Westerners had accumulated rich experience in ocean survival in hundreds of years of great voyages.

PS: The author has consulted a lot of information, but unfortunately the description of the naval battle is still unsatisfactory, and I ask for forgiveness for the unreasonable places.

The other battlefield thirteen nautical miles away was even more tragic, and the losses of the Chinese army here were much greater, and both sides received orders from their superiors to delay time, so they suffered a lot of losses despite their best efforts. By the time the expeditionary fleet cruiser detachment and torpedo boat detachment received the order to evacuate, about half of the battleships had sunk or drowned in the fire. On the other side, five warships of the Chinese cruiser detachment and destroyer detachment were sunk and three were seriously damaged, which was the heaviest loss ever suffered by the Chinese navy since its founding.

The reason for the large losses was clear, that is, the lack of a heavy cruiser type of fast heavy firepower battleship, the weak armor of the Nanhai-class cruisers and the Guangzhou-class destroyers, and the inability to cope with the massive siege of the expeditionary fleet.

At the very beginning of the naval battle, the cruiser detachment and the destroyer detachment of the Chinese army took advantage of the advantage of their speed to rush left and right, and quickly shuttled between the various detachments of the expeditionary fleet, causing confusion in the opponent's formation, and the cruiser detachment used the fire of rapid-fire guns to attack the opponent's old cruisers, and the three cruisers of the Emerald, Ruby, and Australia lost their combat effectiveness one after another within 10 minutes after the start of the battle, and although they did not sink, they were completely washed above deck, and the whole ship was shrouded in fire, and the crew was seriously reduced.

The Chinese destroyer detachment also quickly approached the enemy cruiser, counterattacked with rapid-fire guns, and then fired torpedoes with more advanced performance, which was the heaviest blow to the expeditionary fleet. The torpedo offensive of the destroyer detachment achieved a total of five successes, all of which were slower old cruisers.

However, under the attack of the huge number of artillery of the expeditionary fleet, the weak armor of the Chinese warships was constantly penetrated, and the Nanhai-class lead ship and meritorious battleship Nanhai was hit by 15 shells and sank into the sea helplessly. In addition, the cruiser Huanghai was also shipwrecked, and only 251 crew members were rescued, and the rest were all sunk into the sea. The cruiser Bohai was badly damaged, and the raging fire was not extinguished until an hour and a half later, and it was barely dragged back to the port of Zhanjiang before being abandoned because the damage was too severe.

In the destroyer detachment, the Kunming, Nanchang and Guiyang were sunk, and the Shanghai and Fuzhou were heavily damaged. The number was at an absolute disadvantage, and it was attacked by a detachment of torpedo boats like wolves, and just when the commander of the detachment, Lu Yang, thought that it could not be resisted, the two battleships with powerful firepower led by Lu Hai finally arrived.

These two super battleships once again became pawns to change the situation on the battlefield, they sank two battleships of the expeditionary fleet in the first salvo from six thousand meters away, and the gunners, who felt hot in their hands, had not yet calmed down from the excitement of the twenty battleships of the big battle, and faced the chicken-like cruisers and destroyers, they did not hesitate to use precious armor-piercing shells for their main guns.

After the fourth salvo, the expeditionary fleet's torpedo boat detachment accelerated away from the battlefield, but the ultra-slow cruiser detachment was left behind, and finally the four old cruisers surrendered, and the rest were all sunk. Eleven torpedo boats escaped, and Lu Hai did not order the pursuit, and this battle caused great losses to his own destroyer detachment, most of which were wounded, and were not suitable for continuing the battle.

Natal really cried, crouching in his cabin and crying like a child, the heaviest loss in British history, sinking nearly a third of the current navy. His mind is blank, and he will be remembered by history and mentioned by generations of Britons as a negative teaching material. Now he will be despised and hostile by the entire fleet, and when he returns to the country, he will be hostile to all the people, and until he dies, he will be subject to various investigations, his reputation will be discredited, and his family will be affected. Natal regretted that he had not died in the naval battle, that the dead would not be held accountable, at least that he would not have to endure the endless accusations.

Perhaps, death is a relief for me now. He took out a revolver and a box of cartridges from the drawer, loaded them one by one, put the muzzle of the gun into his mouth with a trembling hand, closed his eyes and was silent for a few seconds, and then pulled the trigger.

The suicide of the fleet commander did not cause much turmoil within the fleet, and all the officers and men became walking corpses like the living dead, and they did not feel lucky to survive the naval battle, but they were more envious of their comrades who died in the naval battle.

After the torpedo boat detachment and the fleet converged, Jericho found that all the battleships of the expeditionary fleet were already here, nine battleships, eleven torpedo boats, two loading cruisers, four logistics supply ships, a total of twenty-six battleships, which looked so small and depressed. Compared to the grandeur of the passage through the Suez Canal, it is unbearable to look directly. There were only one hundred and three warships left before, and London and the whole of Britain must cry because of this defeat!

A thought arose in Jericho's mind, and quickly became firm, this defeat was nothing, Britain had more warships, and a strong shipbuilding capacity. As long as a large number of dreadnoughts are built, the gap with the Chinese super warships is narrowed, and at least the same caliber guns and long-range shooting capabilities are possessed, the British Navy will have an overwhelming advantage over the Chinese in a short period of time.

Ps. chasing more children's shoes, are there any free appreciation tickets and starting coins~ The countdown to the 515 red envelope list is over, I'll pull a ticket, ask for an increase and appreciation vote, and finally rush a handful! (To be continued.) )