The "Inchibach" is an old steam ironclad ship with a displacement of 2,000 tons of the Turkish Navy, which is old, slow and weakly armed, and is mainly used for coastal defense and escort of fleets passing through the strait, as well as communication with the shore. A sneak attack on such a warship, Makarov can be said to be effortless, and he succeeded in one blow - at that time, the "Demolition" was equipped with White? The latest type of "white-headed torpedo" produced by the Head company, when the attack was launched, although the Turkish sailors on the "Incichbach" discovered the "Demolition" and immediately opened fire, but the Turks' gunnery was too poor and the artillery was too old, so the shells fired by the Turkish artillery with a slow rate of fire did not hit a single shot, and the "Demolition" approached the "Inchibach" almost calmly, and fired a torpedo under the terrified eyes of the Turks, causing the old ship to sink to the bottom of the sea with a loud bang.

But now the Russians are aiming for a 1,000-ton gunboat with a displacement of 2 120-mm Krupp breech guns and 4 75-mm Krupp breech guns, which can reach a speed of 11 knots.

"Then let's have a good fight with them!" Makarov looked at the "Mt. Fuji" from the observation window, and turned back to his subordinates and said loudly.

"No problem!" Someone laughed and replied, "Let's kill all the Japanese yellow-skinned monkeys!" ”

"That's right! Kill all the yellow-skinned monkeys! Someone said.

"Kill the Togo Monkeys!" Someone screamed loudly.

"Let them taste our awesomeness!"

"Yellow-skinned infidels! We're here to send you to hell! ”

Seeing everyone's morale high, Rysakov also became full of confidence.

Makarov is the kind of person who can change the morale of an entire group. Born as a civilian, he was the boss of the Russian sailors, and in real life he barely spent time in the office. Instead, he jumped from one warship to another with his abundant energy and well-developed muscles. Issuing all sorts of appropriate orders to subordinates. And strictly supervised their execution, he could be said to have moved more than any sailor.

The Russian Navy's policies, strategies and tactics generally had nothing to do with ordinary sailors, but Makarov's command was done in such a way that everyone knew why they were doing what they were doing before they knew what to do, and by making everyone aware of the strategic purpose of the battle.

Unlike those who wanted to go to large warships, Makarov preferred light and fast warships, and he was very dissatisfied with the fleet commander's frequent selection of large ironclads as flagships, often saying: "Can you command the whole army while sitting on such a bulky battleship?" ”

"Only fast warships are suitable for flagships!"

"The commander's flag should be flying in the place where the bullet rain is most dense!"

Makarov knew. The reason why the fleet commander chose the ironclad ship as the flagship is because the heavy armor of the ironclad can greatly increase their sense of security, and the defense power of the ironclad ship is incomparable to that of ordinary warships, as long as it does not suffer a particularly heavy blow, it is generally much lower than the sinking rate of ordinary warships, which can reduce the mortality rate of the commander and prevent the chaos of the entire fleet caused by the death of the commander. Moreover, the large ironclad ship has a huge command room that can accommodate a large number of subordinates, so the flagship should still choose the ironclad ship. But Makarov was naturally fond of fast battleships. Rysakov knew that if he were to be the commander of the fleet, he would definitely choose the cruiser as his flagship. And not only cruisers, as long as it is a fast warship, he will jump on it and attack immediately.

And the reason why he chose his "Demolition". In addition to the fact that the "Demolition" was the first warship of the Imperial Russian Navy to use torpedoes as the main offensive weapon, the high speed of the "Demolition" was also an important reason.

The displacement of the "Blast" mine-strike ship is only 469 tons, less than half of the "Mt. Fuji", its hull is long and narrow, the length of the ship is nearly 54 meters, the width is only 6 meters, and the draft is 3 meters, but the general speed can reach about 13 knots, and if it is the strongest state, it can reach 18 knots. In this era, if such a small ship really had to sail at such a high speed, it would be impossible for the people on board to stand firm, let alone operate complex torpedo weapons to aim and attack. The "Demolition" ship is equipped with a 14-inch torpedo tube, fixed installation of the bow, a large part of the launch tube is buried deep in the hull, and there are 4 sailors in the dark and narrow space below the bow deck to carry out the launch. At the end of the tortoiseshell-shaped bow of the ship, there is a bunker-like command tower, and there are a total of 4 people in the command tower of the "Demolition" at this moment, one is a sailor at the helm, and the other is Makarov, who is responsible for observation and aiming, and the captain Rysakov and the first mate are responsible for specific command, because the torpedo tube in the bow is fixed, so it must rely on the whole ship to aim, so Makarov, who has the responsibility of directing the course, is actually responsible for the work of the bow torpedo sighter. Since the width of the lightning strike ship is only 6 meters, if this launcher is more than 4 meters long when it turns to the side to launch, the launcher even needs to tie himself to the shelf, like a juggler hanging in the air outside the lightning strike ship, the courage it has to pay can be imagined, and the difficulty of aiming and launching is not difficult to imagine. In connection with the fact that in wartime, the mine-striking ship still needs to advance at high speed in the face of enemy artillery fire, and if it appears in the waves, and the stern launcher in the open air fights in a hostile environment where even standing firm is a problem, what an arduous and thrilling task it will be.

At this time, the "Blast" rushed to "Mt. Fuji" at high speed, passing through the valley and wave peaks, like a dragon entering the sea. Makarov was directing his warship to challenge the "Mt. Fuji" at this time, when the "Mt. Fuji" turned to the left, just exposing the broadside to the "Demolition". Makarov immediately captured the fighter.

The bow of the "Demolition" is high. Break the waves. Makarov stands in the command tower. A firm gaze looks straight at Mt. Fuji through the small observation window on the command tower. Waves crashed onto the deck of the Demolition, seawater poured in from the observation port of the conning tower, and as the distance approached, the shells fired from the Mt. Fuji formed columns of water on the sea around the Blast.

Makarov recounted the scene of this moment in a secret post-war memoir: "...... The fire of the enemy ships (referring to the 'Mt. Fuji') was fierce and accurate, and the roar of the 120-mm cannons was so impressive that every time the enemy ships fired, a shell would explode not far from our warship. The waves crashed against the hull of the ship, causing the hull to tremble violently, and the sea water poured in through the viewing window again and again, and the people in the command tower were all wet, and because of the number of times the sea water was poured in, I could not even see the situation outside, and I could not correct the course of our warship. On one occasion, a 120-mm shell almost hit our warship, it was so close to us, and the loud sound of the explosion was so terrifying. I thought at the time if this shell hit our warship. We're all going to be crushed together. …… After a while, the 75 mm cannons of the enemy ships also joined in the firing, these guns had a faster rate of fire, forming a wall of water on the sea, and our warships bravely advanced against the rain of bullets fired by the enemy ships. The Inchbach was much more difficult, and soon a 75mm shell hit our warship, it exploded outside the conning tower, and a large amount of shrapnel swept across the hull of our warship, and I heard screams, it should have been hit, but I didn't bother to look at the wounded, because I knew that there was a more important task now, and if we could not sink the enemy ship, it would mean the total destruction of all of us. At this time, I was most worried about those 75-mm shells that hit our torpedo tubes......"

The "Demolition" charged forward against the rain of bullets, and soon approached the "Mt. Fuji", while turning to avoid the impending lightning strike, the "Mt. Fuji" opened fire violently, because the distance was too close, the direction of the "Demolition" was also very tricky, and it entered the blind spot of the "Mt. Fuji" 120-mm main gun and 75-mm secondary guns, and although the gunners of the "Mt. Fuji" tried their best, they could no longer hit the "Demolition".

"What a cunning enemy!" Heihachiro Togo sneered as he looked at the approaching "Demolition".

"They haven't tasted our more terrible weapons yet!" Shichiro Kataoka snorted and gave a new battle order.

"The enemy's torpedo, the firing distance should be about 400 meters, pay attention to the distance." Heihachiro Togo reminded Shichiro Kataoka.

"Understood, sir." Shichiro Kataoka said, waving his hand.

Heihachiro Togo saw the Satsuma sailors pushing a 40-mm Haggaeth five-barreled cannon in the direction of the enemy ship, and the Gatling gun in the mast was ready, and he knew that now was the beginning of the enemy's nightmare.

In order to strengthen the melee firepower of the Satsuma warship, Lin Yiqing secretly purchased from Qianguo the 40-mm Haggaeus five-barreled machine gun manufactured by the shipmaster guns under the jurisdiction of the Fuzhou Shipbuilding Bureau, as well as the Gatling machine gun ("Lin's machine gun") improved by Lin Yizhe, and the "Mt. Fuji" was equipped with a total of four 40-mm five-barreled Haqikais machine guns and three Gatling machine guns, which would now constitute the most lethal blow to the "Blast".

In order to make it easy for the gunners and gunners to aim and prevent the waves from the explosion of the shells from interfering with the shooting, Shichiro Kataoka ordered the 120-mm main gun and 75-mm secondary gun to stop firing, and the sea instantly calmed down.

Due to the high-speed impact of the "Demolition" on the sea surface, coupled with the heavy artillery fire of the "Mt. Fuji", the Russian sailors on the deck of the "Demolition" all hid in the cabin in order to avoid the rain of bullets and prevent the waves on the deck from rushing into the sea, and after the "Mt. Fuji" stopped firing, no one appeared, as if it was a ship of death.

"Knock knock!" The five-barreled cannon of Haggakis began to fire, and then the Gatling gun on the mast also fired, and countless machine shells shot down, forming a dense network of fire, and in an instant the "Demolition" was completely enveloped.

Both Heihachiro Togo and Shichiro Kataoka clearly saw that a machine shell hit the hull of the "Demolition", and the deck of the "Demolition" instantly burst into flames. But then the waves that rushed to the deck were extinguished. Billowing smoke came out.

Seeing the bullet-riddled "Demolition", it was still charging at the "Mt. Fuji" regardless of it. The distance from the "Mt. Fuji" was close to 500 meters, and Heihachiro Togo's face changed slightly, "Accelerate the turn!" Avoid it! They're going to launch a torpedo! ”

Shichiro Kataoka was also aware of the danger, and gave the order loudly, and the whistle of the "Mt. Fuji" sounded for a long time, and began to turn to prevent the side from facing the bow of the "Demolition", but the captain of the "Demolition" had apparently judged the intentions of the "Mt. Fuji". It also began to turn and remained facing the side of the Mt. Fuji.

Soon, the "Demolition" rushed to a position 400 meters away from the "Mt. Fuji", and under the order of Commander Tari Makarov, the sailors under the bow deck pressed the pressure valve, and under the impetus of compressed air, a German "black-headed torpedo" in the bow launch tube jumped into the sea at high speed and headed straight for the "Mount Fuji".

Just as Heihachiro Togo feared, the torpedoes used in the "Blast" mine-strike ship were German "black-headed torpedoes" with extremely advanced designs at the time, and were manufactured by the German Brush Kaulf factory. Slightly superior in performance to the white-headed torpedo. This kind of torpedo is composed of nine segmented tenon and tenon riveting from head to tail, among which the thunder head and the depth machine are the most critical. The head of the torpedo is the warhead of the torpedo. It is divided into a thunder head and a war thunder head, there is no charge in the thunder head, and the discus is used to counterweight it, which is mainly used for peacetime training, because the torpedo is of high value, it is impossible to actually consume a large amount in training exercises, so the training time hits the target and will not explode the mine head, so as to facilitate repeated recycling. When fighting, the thunder head with the charge is changed, and the shape of the thunder head used by the black-headed torpedo at that time is similar to that of the thunder head, which is conical, and the special thing is that there is an advanced collision fuse at the tip of the thunder head, and after touching the target, the fuse is retracted backwards to excite the detonator and detonate the thunder head. The charge inside the black-headed torpedo warhead is divided into three parts, layer by layer, the innermost is a detonator containing detonating charge, the outer is a primer tube filled with a small amount of dry cotton gunpowder, and the outer space is all wet cotton gunpowder, totaling nearly 20 kilograms. The whole process of torpedo detonation is: the fuse collides with the target, the fuse is retracted, the detonator is triggered and the detonator is ignited by a chemical reaction, the primer tube filled with dry cotton gunpowder is ignited by the detonator, and the wet cotton gunpowder in the warhead is ignited by the primer tube to cause a large explosion. Due to the large amount of charge and the violent chemical reaction caused by the encounter between the detonator and the cotton gunpowder, once the torpedo hits the underwater and other vital parts of the warship, it is tantamount to a catastrophe for the warship, and from this point of view, the power of the torpedo is far greater than that of the cannonball.

This is also the reason why Togo Heihachiro changed color the moment he saw the torpedo enter the water.

The "Mt. Fuji", with a displacement of only 1,000 tons, could not withstand a blow from a black-headed torpedo at all.

However, whether the torpedo of this era can exert its due power is still affected by a variety of factors.

The first is the man who operates the torpedo weapon. Because the effective range of the torpedo at this time is short, it must be close to the target when attacking, and the mine-striking ship will be hit by a high hit rate at close range from enemy fire. Under such circumstances, whether or not the planned attack plan can be resolutely carried out requires extremely high courage on the officers and men of the mine-striking ships, and therefore the requirements for the navy of various countries to recruit the officers and men of the mine-striking ships are those who must dare to face death head-on. In addition to having the courage to be bold and careful when facing the battle, and not to panic, compared with artillery, the structural principle of torpedo weapons is more complex, and there are higher requirements for the technical proficiency of the operator, and the space on the lightning strike ship is narrow, it is impossible to carry too many personnel, and each crew member must be a technical expert in his or her own position. For this reason, the training of torpedo officers and men of the navies of various countries is different from that of ordinary sailors; some countries have set up special torpedo schools to train sailors, and naval officer schools have been set up to train noncommissioned officers. Only when they possess the two elements of courage and technical proficiency can the officers and men of the mine-striking ship be able to bring into play the power of the torpedo, and this also shows the difficulty of the officers and men of the mine-striking ship.

Having a brave and skilled torpedo officer and soldier does not mean that the torpedo will definitely hit the target. The torpedo weapons of this era still had too many immature and imperfect technical aspects, which restricted the hit rate in wartime. Among them, the German brush Kaop factory said that the effective range of the black-headed torpedo can reach a distance of 400 meters, but the actual results of use show that only when the torpedo is launched at a distance of 150 meters, there will be a more reliable hit rate, however, at a distance of about 2300 meters, the lightning ship has already entered the range of the enemy's machine guns, and it is in danger of being destroyed if it continues to sail to 400 meters in a dense rain of bullets, and if it is as close as 150 meters, it is like a suicide attack, and the ship may be destroyed before the launch distance is reached.

Makarov commanded the mine-strike ship "Demolition" to charge to a distance of 400 meters under the fierce and intensive artillery fire of the "Mt. Fuji", and the courage of himself and the officers and men under his command can be said to be unparalleled in the Russian Navy. (To be continued......)

PS: I wish you all a happy Chinese New Year! Happy Year of the Goat! Collect! Ask for recommendations! Ask for a subscription! Click! Ask for a commuter pass!