Chapter 219: Blood stains the South China Sea

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James. William's plan was not to directly raid the Great Yellow Fish Island, because he lacked the support of accurate intelligence, and if it was empty, even if he destroyed this secret supply base of the Chinese Empire, it would be useless, and the fleet of the Chinese Imperial Navy that lost the secret base would probably return directly to the Indochina Peninsula to join the main force, in which case, his attempt to destroy the enemy before the decisive battle would be considered frustrated. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

So, James. William could only sit back and wait for the fleet of the Imperial Chinese Navy in Southeast Asia to attack him first, and then give a certain amount of oppression, and then uproot this detachment from the secret supply base.

On March 17, 1862, eight battleships of the Third Detachment of the Imperial Chinese Navy under the command of Ma Jiang appeared on the sea south of Batavia Harbor and sank all six third-class sail battleships that had just departed from Batavia Harbor to carry the field artillery battalion of the British and Indian 15th Division.

Ma Jiang played very happily, but he also exposed his position. William chased after him like a shark that smelled blood, and the speed of the two warships was almost incomparable, and the distance of twenty nautical miles made Ma Jiang extremely nervous, because the information he had received before was that James was a wolf. William's main coalition fleet was in the Imperial Fortress, and even if he attacked the coalition ships departing from the port of Batavia, he still had at least a day to retreat calmly, rather than being bitten to death by someone twenty nautical miles away.

James. In order to seize the fighter plane and completely annihilate one of the three sub-fleets under the Chinese Empire, William can be said to have mobilized all the forces that could be mobilized. William dispatched forty-six warships, the Queen Victoria with a standard displacement of 7,500 tons. William's flagship, and at the same time the fastest battleship.

After two days of pursuit, it can be said that both the coalition forces and the Chinese Empire have been exhausted, due to the different speeds of the ships, the purchase time was earlier in order to be able to update the power system, only twelve sections of the highest speed is still equipped with ten sails of the giant wave A and B two ships have been chased by the coalition fleet, the captain of the giant wave A ship Xu Tingbo and the captain of the giant wave B ship Hao Guangjun commanded the battleship and the ferocious coalition forces to fight to the end, due to being outnumbered, the giant wave B was sunk, and the giant wave armor was injured and lost the front and rear main guns have been power system, James. William ordered preparations to be made to capture the armored protection cruiser Julangjia, but at the critical moment, Captain Xu Tingbo ordered the depot to be detonated, and the Royal Spanish Navy Oak, which was preparing to seize the ship, was also seriously damaged, and the Spanish naval officers and sailors on the ship were killed and wounded, and had to return to the port of Batavia for temporary repairs.

The frenzied Spanish Navy used a Grimm machine gun to strafe the Chinese sailors who had fallen into the water, and for a time the corpses floating on the sea attracted sharks to snatch them.

The sacrifice of nearly 600 officers and men of the second ship of Julang A and B bought half a day for the other six ships, and Ma Jiang understood that his task was to act as a bait, and if the bait did not bleed, then it would be equivalent to telling the other party that this was a trap, and he must be careful.

It can be said that the second ship of Julang A and B can be said to be the first time that the Chinese Imperial Navy lost armored protection cruisers, although it was renamed twice, Ma Jiang can still remember that the earliest predecessor of Julang A and B two ships was Laiyuan and Weiyuan two ships, and the two ships went east and west to discuss It can be said that they have made great contributions to the empire, but today they are sunk under the waves, and the most regrettable thing is that even their silence does not have a detailed record of the warp and weft.

Navy officers and sailors always say that the battleship is my home, but in fact, the deeper meaning is that the battleship is also the grave of sailors, an expensive tomb made of steel, in which only warriors can rest forever.

Although he was left behind for most of the day, James. William was not in a hurry at all, and still had a leisurely expression. William holds the coordinates of the other party's secret supply base in his hands, and if the beast is injured, it must return to the nest to heal the wound, which is also human instinct.

Cats will fully enjoy the thrill of mice before they catch them, as the hunter James. William was no exception, the shame brought to him by Lin Haijiang was destined to be washed away only by blood, so he did not stop the Spaniards from shooting the other side's soldiers who fell into the water, although this barbaric act did not seem to be humanitarian, gentlemanly or even chivalrous at all! But James. William is not in between, maybe this damned war is a big war to the death from the beginning!

On March 24, 1862, the Big Yellow Croaker Island appeared on James. In William's telescope, six islands of different sizes, including Big Yellow Croaker Island, Little Yellow Fish Island, Pearl Island, and Guogai Island, are dotted around, and four wide waterways extend in all directions. William chooses his own choice, and he will also choose the secret supply base here, no matter which direction the opponent comes from, the battleships near the Great Yellow Croaker Island at 20 degrees due east can retreat from the three waterways in other directions, and the center of the islands is more like the gladiatorial arena of ancient Rome.

The column of smoke rising from the south of the island showed that the remnants of the Chinese Empire were in the midst of it. William confidently divided the 45 armored protection cruisers under his command into four teams, the main formation of this formation is all composed of fifteen British Royal Navy ships, and the remaining three teams are all composed of ships from various countries, and there are almost no Qing troops on the seven armored protection cruisers of the Qing Dynasty, because of the previous five-ship uprising, the Russians replaced the original Beiyang sailors with their own sailors, and the reputation is that they are afraid of a rebellion behind them, in fact, the Russians are equivalent to taking back the control of the Qing court and the seven warships that paid for it.

James. William appointed the commander of the second formation, Vice Admiral Duvitnier, the commander of the third formation, the Dutch rear admiral Nimanko, the commander of the fourth formation, the commander of the Russian Vice Admiral Duraveyev, James. William himself was the commander of the 1st formation.

For James. William's distribution to the other three did not object, because it was a battle of extremely unequal strength, and even if the distribution was unfair, it would not affect the outcome of the final battle. William's opponent was only the French Admiral Princeton. Arthur it.

But at the moment the French admiral is instructing the port of Batavia on how to repair the port facilities. William made a nice flying kick to get Plinton. Arthur, an old man who relied on the old and sold the old, stood aside, and saw it as the strength of the country in international affairs, just like the British Royal Navy even if a major was dispatched, then the position of commander-in-chief of the Allied Navy was still taken over by this major, and the strength of the country determined the honor of the soldiers.

At 12:39 p.m. on March 24, 1862, all the Allied fleet formations entered the designated position for the launch of the battle. William's assumption was that if the main force of the Chinese Empire was ambushed in it, then the four formations of the coalition forces would surround the opposing fleet in a counterclockwise direction when they were inserted from the four waterways at the same time, and carry out a round-the-circle artillery bombardment in the form of a battle line.

James. It was also the first time that William had commanded so many warships in such a complex sea area. William knew that no matter the success or failure of this battle, his name was destined to go down in the annals of the world's naval history, because this was the first large-scale naval battle conducted by mankind using steam-powered warships after the Industrial Revolution. William was a little confused about how to get the most out of his battleship, but he believed that his opponent, Lin Haijiang, was the same.

James. William didn't understand what crossing was, let alone imagine the aviation victory theory of the navy in later generations, Lin Haijiang stood on the bridge of the Zhenyuan ship, turned around and looked at Jia Wuji, who was calm and slightly smiling, and said: "The fate of the nation, the country, and the future is in our hands!" If we fail today, it can only prove that no matter how many twists and turns there are in history, even if there is only a glimmer of success, the final result of history cannot be changed! But I believe it's man-made! ”

Jia Wuji is a little mushy? Meta Prima tampering with history? Which paragraph do you want to change? Now that Ben and the poor children of Indochina are being taught the history of the Führer's tampering, how can this be mentioned at such a critical juncture?

Lin Haijiang took a deep breath and said: "The coalition fleet will definitely pour in from all four channels at the same time, and our army will take the Zhenyuan ship as the flagship of the first detachment according to the plan, and the Dingyuan ship, the Yanjing heavy cruiser, the Suzhou heavy cruiser, the Nanjing heavy cruiser, the Hangzhou heavy cruiser, the Jinan heavy cruiser, and the Guangzhou heavy cruiser will be grouped as the first strike formation, and the enemy ships will swim and shell!" The second detachment of the Tang Ziqiang Imperial Navy, the heavy cruisers Tianjin, Fuzhou, Chengdu, Wuhan, Changsha, Xining, Lanzhou, Quanzhou, Nanchang, Shanghai, Kunming, and Yichang were divided into formations, and the double battle teams were used to forcibly divide the circular battle line of the coalition forces. Six warships of the Majiang Third Fleet responded to the artillery bombardment on the outer line, concentrating on attacking enemy ships flying the flagship flag, and the torpedo boat squadrons of Shi Kefa and Wen Tianxiang were concealed and waiting. ”

The clerk next to Jia Wuji was quickly recording the Führer's order, constantly looking at the pocket watch in front of him, recording the time when the order was issued.

Lin Haijiang looked at the several pillars of smoke in the east of the big yellow croaker island, put down the binoculars and said, "The flagship raises the red regimental dragon flag!" ”

When Jia Wuji heard Lin Haijiang's order to raise the red regimental dragon flag, his body shook significantly, you must know that the warships of this era are very expensive, according to international naval practice, if the combat strength is damaged, the ship that can hang out the white flag or the flag of the other belligerent country and evacuate the combat area is equivalent to a field hospital, which is protected, so it is very normal for the battleship to hang out the white flag and retreat when the combat effectiveness is damaged.

It's like the ship Yoshino in the First Sino-Japanese Naval Battle even hung out the dragon flag of the Qing court in order to ask for a stop to attack, but the significance of the flagship of the Chinese Imperial Navy raising the red regimental dragon flag is the same as that of the British Royal Navy's knight and shield at sea, fighting to the death until the whole army is exhausted!

"Raise the horizontal flag, raise the red Y-shaped flag!" After Lin Haijiang gave orders continuously, he turned to Jia Wuji and said, "Record!" At 12:58 p.m. on March 24, 1862, the battleships Zhenyuan and Dingyuan, the heavy cruisers Yanjing, Suzhou, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Jinan, and Guangzhou were all formed in two columns to meet the allied forces. ”

At 13:32 p.m. on March 24, 1862, the Empress Victoria took the lead in firing at a distance of 3,000 meters from the Zhenyuan and Dingyuan formations. William looked at the eight-ship formation that rushed out from behind the Big Yellow Fish Island on the opposite side and smiled slightly.

James. William knew that he had won, especially when he saw the flagship orange flag on the opponent's giant ship, and the bad breath that had been suppressed in his heart for several years seemed to be able to finally relax!

At 13:51 p.m. on March 24, 1862, James. The fifteen warships of the Allied Navy under the command of William and the first main squadron of the Imperial Navy under the command of Lin Haijiang of the Chinese Empire were at a distance of 2,600 meters, which is almost the distance of infantry fighting bayonets for naval warfare.

At 14:23 p.m. on March 24, 1862, under the command of Vice Admiral Duvitnier of the French Navy and Rear Admiral Nimanko of the Netherlands, commander of the Second Formation of the Allied Forces, the commander of the Third Formation, the Second and Third Formations appeared behind the flank and right flank of the First Main Force Detachment of Lin Haijiang, completing the division and encirclement of the First Main Force Detachment of the Chinese Empire.

It can be said that the tactics of the battle arrangement have undergone some changes here and have not followed the rules of James. William's arrangement was carried out, not to mention the expected development of Lin Haijiang, and the six ships of the third main force squadron of the Chinese Empire actually appeared within a distance of less than 1,000 meters on the left flank of the fourth formation of the coalition forces, and the commander of the fourth formation of the coalition forces, Vice Admiral Duraveyev, was suddenly shocked, because the unfortunate fourth formation was originally the weakest formation, and the ten warships were owned by four countries, and most of them were only about 5,000 tons, and the artillery was basically all 150 mm caliber.

Their opponents were the 12 ships of the Second Main Squadron of the Imperial Chinese Navy, all equipped with 260 mm guns and four main gun positions in the foreground, and the Imperial Chinese Navy, which had already seized the T-shaped prefix, beat the fourth formation commanded by Duravyev, and the warships of the other four countries did not obey Duraveyev's command at all and fled on their own.

The two fleets that are engaged in the war are not of the same level in terms of ship armor protection, number of naval guns, caliber, etc., and now there are six other battleships in the rear of the fourth formation of the coalition forces!

The destruction of the fourth formation was for James. William was a little shocked when wisps of black smoke came out of the distance to James. William brought an ominous premonition, especially the front main gun of the Queen Victoria, the steel core bullet fired by the nine-inch cannon of thirty times the caliber hit the waterline of the Zhenyuan and was actually bounced away? James. William was already shocked beyond measure?

In fact, this can only be regarded as James. William was unlucky, he just hit the Zhenyuan ship that deliberately thickened the armor for anti-torpedo as an attempt, if it hit the Dingyuan ship, I am afraid that the waterline will be immediately penetrated, even if the Zhenyuan and Dingyuan ships with hull sealed isolation cabin design, their combat effectiveness will be greatly affected.

The Zhenyuan ship is riveted with steel block armor covering the whole ship, the thickest part is the armored control tower and turret, the thickness is 470 mm, the side is 405 mm, the deck is 1005 mm, the bridge is 380 mm, the armor weighs 2,461 tons, and the internal watertight compartments of the hull are as many as 326. Otherwise, the 260 mm artillery would almost tickle the Zhenyuan ship.

However, the steel core bullets fired by the nine-inch main gun of the Queen Victoria still made the Zhenyuan ship shake violently, and Lin Haijiang, who was standing in the bridge, almost fell, it can be said that sixty percent of the artillery fire of the coalition team and the second and third formations was concentrated on Zhenyuan and Dingyuan, two behemoths that were obviously different from other warships. William saw that the steel-core bombs were ineffective, so he ordered all ships to replace the anti-personnel scattered grenades and high-explosive bombs to bombard the Zhenyuan ship in a concentrated manner.

Under the bombardment of a storm, four of the five secondary guns on the port side of the Zhenyuan ship were dumbfounded, because it was a semi-enclosed turret, the required 100 mm projectile body was not transferred and loaded from the inside of the turret like the main gun, but was carried by sailors from the cabin, whether it was the gunner on the gun position or the sailor who carried the shells, they were directly exposed to the damage of the grenade, more than 40 sailors fell in a pool of blood, and several medical soldiers who rushed out of the cabin to rescue the wounded were also gone.

However, the luck of the six ships, including the Yanjing heavy cruiser and the Suzhou heavy cruiser, did not seem to be so good, and was surrounded by more than 30 warships on the coalition side, and the six heavy cruisers were covered with bruises, and the waterline of the Hangzhou heavy cruiser was broken down in many places.

Seeing this, Lin Haijiang resolutely ordered the fleet to make a small-angle high-speed turn to rescue the Hangzhou ship, but the Hangzhou ship played the flag of abandoning our ship, because once the first main force detachment carried out a small-angle high-speed turn, its radius also needed to be nearly two kilometers, and the ships that reduced the speed of the rotation would become a live target for the allied fleet, which was equivalent to sending the T-shaped head to the enemy.

At 15:39 p.m. on March 24, 1862, the second main squadron of the Chinese Empire appeared on the battlefield. William immediately realized that the fourth formation of the coalition forces under the command of Lieutenant General Duraviev was probably too bad for him.

(To be continued)