The frenzied rain of bullets fired by the Japanese ships caused considerable casualties to the "Dingyuan" and "Zhenyuan" ships, and the flying shrapnel spread to the people on the flybridge; two Qianguo sailors died on the spot in order to protect the naval admiral Ding Yuting, and the blood-stained flybridge caused Ding Yuting, Ding Yuting, Deng Zhengqing, the chief soldier of the left wing of the "Dingyuan" ship's management belt, and the officers had to retreat into the armored command tower. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Ding Yuting, who was still standing in front of the observation window staring at the battlefield, had a hint of perseverance in his eyes, and this diligent naval admiral had become the opponent of the Qing faction in Korea and China since the Battle of Toshima. The Qingliu scholars, who had no understanding of the navy and Ding Yuting, only relied on their imagination to wantonly slander the generals of the country's former enemies, intending to go as quickly as possible, so as to achieve the goal of expelling the Westernist forces from the navy. Ding Yuting, who was in the command tower, hoped that his subordinate generals would give full play to their tactics to annihilate the hateful Japanese warships and dispel all kinds of suspicions between the DPRK and China about themselves and the navy.

Since Ding Yuting's main role on the ship was to supervise the war, his retreat to the command tower did not affect his performance of his functions. The tactical command of the Qianguo fleet was still carried out by Liu Buchan, the commander-in-chief of the right wing, and was not affected in any way. Most of the Qianguo warships were following the flagship "Dingyuan" in their movements, and there was no chaotic situation in which there was a complete loss of command that existed only in the imagination.

Due to the great damage caused to the enemy in a short period of time, the Japanese fleet has not yet been able to cross the front of the Qianguo fleet and create results, and the four fast cruisers of the 1st Guerrilla Squadron, which have been heavily damaged, have already turned away from the battlefield (in fact, Kozo Tsubai did not leave, but planned to put out the fire and save himself before returning, and at that time they would meet and engage the Qianguo warships "Ningyuan" and "Jiyuan" to form another battlefield), as the distance between the warships of the two sides gradually approached, although the first guerrilla group was missing, However, the Japanese Combined Fleet had already moved to the best distance conducive to artillery battles, and began to give full play to the ferocity of their firepower in artillery battles.

At the same time that the six ships of this squadron were setting fire to "Dingyuan" and "Zhenyuan" on the left flank of the Qianguo fleet, the combined fleet headquarters in front of the Qianguo fleet in a column formation could not pass through the Qianguo fleet, and although they used intensive broadside firepower to pose a huge threat to the Qianguo ironclad ships in the artillery confrontation, they were faced with all the elite warships participating in the Qianguo fleet after all, and at the same time that a large number of warships of the Qianguo fleet were attacked one after another, they fell into the "Jingyuan" and "Laiyuan" attacks of the two high-speed ironclad ships of the Qianguo Navy Passive position of interception and flanking.

When the "Dingyuan" and "Zhenyuan" squadrons were struggling to shoot at the six ships of the Japanese fleet's main squadron, the "Jingyuan" and "Laiyuan" squadrons had already rushed to the front of their own units; the "Jingyuan" and "Laiyuan" had planned to pursue the first guerrilla group that had suffered heavy losses and had fled, but after discovering that the flagship "Dingyuan" had been attacked by a concentrated attack, they approached from the left side of the bow of the "Shancheng" and formed a flanking situation, and began a fierce bombardment of the ships of the squadron in order to relieve the pressure on the "Dingyuan" and "Zhenyuan."

At 13:04, the flagship of the combined fleet, the "Yamashiro", was hit for the first time, a 140-mm shell penetrated the main deck, and just landed on the port side of the "Yamashiro" ship's secondary gun position, and the 87-mm caliber Krupp rapid-fire gun was immediately destroyed, and three gunners and one signalman were killed on the spot.

Soon after, the No. 2 ship of the squadron, "Fuso", was also hit, first of all, a 140-mm Cannonian cannon fired a flowering shell hit the port side of the "Fuso", causing an explosion that killed 11 sailors. Immediately afterwards, another 140-mm armor-piercing blast shell fired by a 140-mm Ghanaian gun hit the port side again, exploding near the waterline at the rear of the "Fuso" ship, killing six people, including Captain Yuken Tachii.

At 13:10, the "Itsukushima" ship of the Japanese fleet was hit by the "Jingyuan" ship. The shell hit the 320-mm main turret in the bow of the "Itsukushima", and shrapnel scattered in all directions, and the detachment leader who was supervising the battle in the turret, Captain Hihihama Kiima, the chief gunner, Captain Shinosuke Uekiyonosuke, and Private Higashino Tsunenosuke, who were supervising the battle in the turret, were killed on the spot, and seven Japanese sailors were burned by the stray fire and died.

At this time, as the battle report of the ship "Saikyo Maru," which was sailing outside the squadron at that time, said, "At about 1:05 p.m., the enemy and our fleets shelled each other most intensely, and it can be said that they were evenly matched. ”

However, Inoue Yoshio, the head of the Japanese Navy's military command department on the "Saikyo Maru," would not have known that the situation he saw as "evenly matched" would soon undergo unexpected changes.

Due to the flanking attack of the two ironclad squadrons of the Qianguo Fleet, in accordance with the tradition of fighting on the battle line in the sail era, Ito Yuheng ordered his squadron to start turning the rudder and sail to the left, preparing to make a big turn and then use the artillery fire on the left side to fight the Qianguo Fleet, so that the right gun position could be rested and replenished. In order to facilitate maneuvering, Ito also ordered the formation speed of his warships to be increased from 8 knots to 10 knots. In the midst of the fierce battle, the commander of the Japanese Combined Fleet seemed to have forgotten something. Taking the actions of "Yamashiro" as an example, each ship was executed in turn, and the captain of the ships "Fuso", "Matsushima", "Hashidate", "Itsukushima", "Chiyoda", ......... "Chiyoda", Navy Masatoshi Uchida suddenly got a report, and the follow-up "Akagi" and "Saikyo Maru" did not follow up and broke out of the queue!

It was only then that Ito thought of the two warships that had been following behind his squadron to avoid artillery fire and watch the battle, and that his order might put the weakly armed ships of the Navy Chief Inoue Yoshishin under the attack of the torpedo cruisers of the Qiankuni, Ito broke down in a cold sweat for a while.

At this time, all he could do was pray for Inoue Yoshika.

Just as he was muttering the words, "The enemy ship will not hit the 'Saikyo Maru' blessed by God," an earth-shattering explosion suddenly sounded in the queue of the team.

Just as it was turning, the stern of the "Matsushima" was hit by the main guns of the "Dingyuan".

On the steam warships of this century, the huge steam power equipment and complex and bulky ammunition, armament and other devices usually occupy a lot of space in the ship, so the space that can be used to arrange other living and functional cabins on the warship is very limited. For this reason, since the era of sail warships, a maritime custom has been continued, that is, the spacious officer's canteen located at the stern of the warship will be used as a first-aid station in wartime, and the cramped interior of the warship cannot be luxuriously used as a cabin only for one function. The long oak dining table in the officers' canteen is used as an operating table for officers to sit around or meet or dine in peacetime, and in wartime. In Nelson's time, it was not uncommon for some veteran sailors to tell visitors to the ship which marks on the tablecloth were left by the soup and which were stained with blood, and then wait to see the shocked expressions of the audience.

The "Matsushima," like most of the Japanese and dry warships on the naval battlefield, hastily converted the officers' canteen located under the main deck into a military hospital shortly before the start of the naval battle. Medics and paramedics were standing at the tables to operate on the wounded, the sand on the floor to prevent slipping had turned red with blood, the cafeteria was filled with the heart-rending wails of the wounded, and the air was filled with the disgusting smell of blood.

Suddenly, there was a roar like the roar of a giant beast in the distance, and the low voice came from far and near, and the air in the room seemed to tremble, and a 305-millimeter-caliber large-diameter flowering projectile launched horizontally by the "Dingyuan" ship pierced through the hull plate of the rear of the port side of the "Matsushima" ship with a thunderous momentum, and shot into the ship, followed by a thunderous explosion, fragments, gunsmoke, and shattered limbs...... For a time, the interior of the "Matsushima" became a terrible hell.

"Suddenly, a huge bomb flew and destroyed the officer's quarters of the 'Matsushima,' and more than 60 people, including military doctors and wounded soldiers, were blown to shreds and their flesh and blood flew ......" ("Records of the Japan-Dry War," "The Brave Battle of the 'Matsushima' Ship"). Several Shimose gunpowder shells placed on the aft deck were also detonated, igniting a raging fire accompanied by yellow smoke.

Witnessing the tragic situation on the "Matsushima" ship, the opposing Qianguo warship had not had time to enjoy the joy of victory, and soon they discovered that the shell that had just hit was not enough to make the Japanese warship sink to the bottom of the sea immediately. The "Zhenyuan," a sister ship of the same group on the right side of the "Dingyuan," quickly got into action, and the 305-millimeter guns of the left battery had also turned to the side and rear, aiming at the "Songdao" ship; Cao Jiaxiang, the first mate of the gunnery, and Heckman, the German gunnery adviser, commanded the sailors to load a huge cannonball into the breech, and the gunnery officer of the "Zhenyuan" ship planned to "shoot a single shell from the bow to the stern of the ship in a diagonal line to kill him." Because of the close distance, the sailors easily hit the "Matsushima" with flat fire, and Ding Yuting, the commander of the Qianguo Navy, who was standing in the commander of the "Dingyuan" ship, looked at the officers and men around him who were celebrating with their foreheads, and was very excited, and the blow of two 305-mm huge bombs in succession made it seem that the Japanese warship in front of him was doomed. However, to everyone's surprise, the shell fired by the "Zhenyuan" exploded inside the "Matsushima" ship, causing the "Matsushima" to ignite a raging fire, but it still failed to sink it!

Under the astonished gaze of the officers and men of the Qianguo Navy, the "Matsushima" hung up the signal flag that "this ship is seriously injured," broke out of the Japanese fleet's array with thick smoke and flames, fled desperately into the distance, and disappeared into the smoke of gunpowder......

Because the battlefield was shrouded in smoke and visibility was not high, some Japanese naval officers and men who could no longer see the "Matsushima" mistakenly believed that the "Matsushima" had definitely been sunk, and they were all flustered and depressed.

"We should retreat now, sir." The captain of the "Yamashiro" ironclad ship, Isobe Baoyi, suggested to Ito Yuhiro with a pale face, "The enemy is all four main ironclad ships, and the firepower is too strong. ”

Just as Ito hesitated, a loud bang came from the direction of the match.

As if to refute Isobe Baoyi's point of view, at this moment, the ironclad ship "Fusang" suddenly performed a miraculous feat, and a 305-mm main gun in the gun room on the waist of the "Fusang" ship hit the "Dingyuan" ship, and the shell just hit the unprotected bow part of the "Dingyuan" ship, easily penetrating the hull plate on the outer wall and going straight into the ship!

Once known as "Asia's No. 1 Giant Ship", the "Dingyuan" class ironclad ships not only stand proudly in East Asia with four 305 mm Krupp guns equipped with each ship, but also have quite heavy armor protection. In order to protect the ammunition depot, boiler room, steam engine and other critical facilities located in the middle of the hull, around the middle of the entire warship, an armor belt with a thickness of 305-355 mm was laid near the waterline, and there was no doubt that it was not easy to penetrate this thickness of armor, but in addition to protecting the middle of the hull within the ironclad fort, the head and tail part of the "Dingyuan" class ironclad ship was no longer protected by an erected armor belt. Since it is not a vital part of the ship, the protection of the bow and tail is only the horizontal and longitudinal laying of a 75 mm thick armored deck under the waterline, so that the part on the waterline of the bow and tail of the "Dingyuan" class warship does not have any additional protection, and it has become the weakest place of protection on the ship.

The structure of the bow of the "Dingyuan" ship can be roughly divided into three layers, of which under the 140 mm Ghana turret is the first floor of the warship, and the space on the left and right sides of the first floor is the passage through which the anchor chain passes. Between the anchor chain passages on both sides is the ship's sailor's toilet. The space in the bow of the ship below the deck on the first floor is the military hospital of the "Dingyuan" ship, which is equipped with a large number of medicine cabinets and hospital beds, and there are oak wall skirts on the walls, and the 305-mm shells fired by the "Fuso" happened to penetrate here, and exploded in the military hospital. Because it was expected that the military hospital in the bow of the ship would be the front of the enemy during the war, and that there was basically no protection, it was too dangerous to shelter and treat the wounded here, and the "Dingyuan" wartime treatment center was actually changed to a space inside the ironclad fort, and the military hospital in the bow of the ship was empty. Therefore, this shell did not cause many casualties, but the Shimose gunpowder filled with a large amount of warhead was very powerful, and for a time almost endangered the survival of the "Dingyuan" ship.

After the explosion of the 305-mm shell fired by the "Fuso", the gunpowder of Shimose burned sharply, and a fire immediately broke out in the bow military hospital, which had a large number of wooden components and furniture. The raging fire consumed everything that could be ignited in the room at a rapid speed, and the flames spread rapidly from the bullet holes and the stairway hatches in the ship with scorching heat, and soon there were fires on the first floor and the main deck, and even the spare cables in the cabinets on the first floor were ignited. What is even more serious is that the yellow poisonous smoke that permeated the burning of Shimose gunpowder and the black smoke from the wooden components inside the ship completely enveloped the entire front of the "Dingyuan" ship, and it was impossible to distinguish it at hand, and all weapons pointed in the direction of the bow of the ship, including the four 305-mm main guns, could not be aimed and fired, and the "Dingyuan" artillery fire was forced to stop. "The enemy ship 'Dingyuan' was hit by a shell fired by our army and caught fire in the belly of the ship, and the flames erupted from the hole where the shell exploded, and the hole was like a flamevent, and the fire was extremely fierce" (The Brave Battle of the "Mountain City" Ship, "Records of the Japanese-Dry War")

For a time, the warships in the center of the battlefield could clearly see that the "Dingyuan" ship was almost completely surrounded by thick smoke, and the bow part of the ship was still bursting out with fire, just like a dragon struggling in the flames. Seeing this situation, the warships of the Japanese Combined Fleet were filled with an atmosphere of revelry; for nearly 10 years, the whole of Japan has regarded "Dingyuan" as a tiger and a leopard, and has been unable to sleep and eat, and has stripped back on food and clothing and gone to great lengths to destroy this largest ship in Asia and the Qianguo Navy it represents.

"The belly of the famous 'Dingyuan', the No. 1 ship in the Orient, was hit, and it seemed to have suffered great damage, losing its ability to operate freely, and its speed was greatly slowed down. At this time, all the ships of our fleet lost no time in firing their guns at 'Dingyuan' in unison. A fire broke out inside the 'Dingyuan' ship, and the flames filled half of the sky. The crew of the 'Dingyuan' stopped firing their guns and concentrated their efforts on fighting the fire. However, the fire was fierce and showed no signs of being extinguished......" ("The Brave Battle of the 'Fuso' Ship", "Records of the Japanese-Dry War")

But at this moment when the Japanese naval officers and men were most excited and excited, a huge disaster suddenly struck.

Just two minutes after the main guns of the "Fusang" hit the "Dingyuan" and caused the "Dingyuan" to ignite a fire, the main guns of the "Zhenyuan" hit the waist gun room of the "Fusang"!

The shell fired by the "Zhenyuan" was a new type of armor-piercing blasting projectile, which directly penetrated the outer wall of the gun room, leaving a terrifying hole in the gun room. The hull of the "Matsushima" ship, which was hit by a huge bomb, trembled, but this was only the beginning of the disaster.

The 305-millimeter projectile mixed with Lin's gunpowder and picric acid exploded in the gun room, and the huge air flow and fragments generated by the explosion swept in all directions, and the fragile human body looked so vulnerable in the face of such an impact.