"Boom !!"

After the Russian torpedo boat fired the second torpedo, the fragile torpedo protection wall finally failed to block the fierce attack of the rapid-fire guns on the side of the Yuyong. After being hit through the torpedo bay by a 10-kilogram shell, it caused two torpedoes inside to explode violently, making an earth-shattering noise.

The captain of the Yu Yong, Du Xigui, closed his eyes tightly, he thought that the torpedo hit the Yu Yong was a deep repentance for his carelessness that led to the destruction of the Yu Yong.

However, the next moment, the violent explosion did not happen on the Yu Yong, and Du Xigui suddenly opened his eyes. I saw that the Yu Yong was intact, but what came into view was the raging fire after the explosion of the enemy's torpedo boat.

"Yay!!"

The Yu Yong was fine, and after the two catastrophes, all the officers and soldiers immediately cheered.

It turned out that because the enemy's torpedo boat had already gotten too close when the second torpedo was fired, the torpedo plunged into the sea water after firing and passed through the bottom of the ship before it could float, so that the Yuyong escaped again.

Du Xigui and Li Chengmou glanced at each other, almost crying with joy. As commanders, the two of them almost made an unforgivable mistake, and at this moment they both felt an irrepressible guilt in their hearts.

However, the enemy did not give them time to repent. By the time the Yuyong opened fire on the torpedo boat, Nebogatov had already ordered the Rurik to set sail, and the entire ship moved into combat positions.

With the torpedo boat relieved of the crisis, the Rurik was already in a state of combat readiness, and due to the explosion of the torpedo boat's distance, the firelight illuminated the battleship Yuyong, which was hidden in the night, giving Rurik's artillery an excellent aiming reference. As the Rurik made a left turn, the two 203mm guns in the bow of the ship quickly turned, and they aimed at the Yuyong for the first time.

In the darkness of the night, the fire flickered on the bow of the Rurik, and then the sound of cannon was heard.

"Boom! Boom! ”

The sound of the enemy's main artillery firing immediately dispersed the short-lived joy of all the officers and men of the Yuyong, and the cannonballs roared and landed on the sea 100 meters away from the port side of the Yuyong, causing two columns of water dozens of meters high to splash in an instant.

"Evade it now!"

"Prepare for shock!"

"The main gun is ready to return fire!"

…… A series of orders were issued, the battleship Yu Yong urgently carried out evasive actions, the battleship galloped, and the officers and men adjusted the direction of the artillery while preparing to return fire while taking defensive measures against the impact of artillery fire.

"The main guns at all levels are ready!"

"Combat speed, sail to the Northeast!"

Du Xigui saw that the Rurik was making a sharp left turn, and its starboard artillery array was about to form full fire coverage of the Yuyong. At this point, the enemy ship will complete the "T" transverse turning maneuver in favor of the attack before the Yuyong, so Du Xigui chooses to continue the evasive maneuver.

At 11:32, Rurik was the first to complete a tactical maneuver.

"Knock knock!"

In the darkness of the night, the starboard side of the Rurik was blazing, and its starboard side concentrated four 203mm guns, eight 152mm secondary guns, and eight 88mm rapid-fire guns to launch the first fire salvo on the Yuyong.

"Boom!"

A series of violent explosions resounded in the sky, and huge waves were set off on the sea near the Yu Yong, and the waves splashed, and the icy sea water sprinkled onto the battleship, splashing a cold air, which made people shiver.

"Everyone, calm down!"

"The enemy can't see us! They can't beat us! ”

"Everyone is waiting for my order to open fire!"

…… At all deck gun positions, the staff officers walked in the cabins and stairways with their bodies bowed, and patted the shoulders of the gunners and sailors next to them from time to time to reduce their nervousness as much as possible.

In the darkness of the night, the Brave never fought back, using the cover of night to avoid the Rurik's artillery fire. At the same time, the Mast's Interrogation Room was constantly correcting her position by the light of the Rurik's guns, and directing the guns at all levels to revise their firing elements.

At 11:38, the Yu Yong maneuvered to the waters near Qiuzishan Island in the southeast direction of Luohua Mountain. At this time, the Rurik had already fired several rounds of shells, but none of them hit the Yuyong, which confirmed Du Xigui's judgment that it was difficult to hit the opponent even if it was less than two nautical miles away in the dark night, and it was foolish to continue to attack the target to expose the target.

At 11:46, the Yu Yong bypassed Qiuzishan Island and Reef and appeared northeast of Dongkushan Island and Reef. However, the Rurik was slowly approaching the Qiuzishan Island and Reef, thinking that the Yuyong was nearby.

Rurik kept firing guns, revealing her location.

At 11:58 a.m., the Yu Yong appeared less than a nautical mile behind the side of the Rurik. Doe Seok-gyu had intended to attack when he had formed a more favorable "T" position, but the Rurik quickly spotted the Yu Yong approaching the middle and made an emergency evasive move.

"Attack now!"

Not wanting to lose the opportunity in front of him, Do-Seok-gyu immediately ordered an attack.

"Knock knock!"

The two 203mm guns in the bow and stern of the Yu Yong were the first to fire to take revenge on the enemy. I saw a large ball of flame more than one meter long erupt from the muzzle, and then a shell weighing 200 kilograms rushed out of the barrel, and the red-hot shell rubbed against the cold air and made a piercing whistling sound, drawing a streamer in the night, and shooting rapidly at the enemy ship.

"Boom! Rumble! ”

The hot shells hit the sea less than fifty meters away from the Rurik, and when they touched the icy seawater, they exploded instantly, stirring up a huge column of water dozens of meters high. In an instant, the waves splashed, and the icy sea crackled and fell on the hull of the Rurik, which made the officers and men of the Russian ship gasp.

"It's so powerful!"

Major General Nebogatov couldn't help frowning, but it was obvious that the opponent had only two 203 guns, while the Rurik had four 203 guns, which had a clear advantage.

At this time, eight 152-mm secondary guns and four 88-mm rapid-fire guns on the starboard side of the Yu Yong opened fire, and shells whistled. With a distance of less than a nautical mile, the Rurik had previously opened fire and exposed its position, causing the hull to be hit by shells in several places.

"Boom!"

Several shells hit the stern and deck of the Rurik, and the shells exploded, sending up a fiery red mushroom cloud.

The Rurik urgently accelerated to evade and at the same time fired back fire. The two sides bit each other's stern within a distance of less than a nautical mile, and both tried to seize the other's "T" prefix horizontal, but neither could do so. Artillery battles can only be carried out in a "V" shape at a large angle.

The Yu Yong suffered significantly in terms of the number of 203 main guns and 88 rapid-fire guns, and after 20 minutes of engagement, the hull was already riddled with bullets.

At 18 a.m. on the 9th, the starboard side of the Yuyong was hit by a 203-mm shell from the Rurik, and the violent explosion caused the No. 4 secondary gun to lose its combat effectiveness and killed more than a dozen people. But Du Xigui still did not flinch, and in order to hold off the Rurik and buy time for the fleet to encircle and destroy the Rurik, the Yuyong continued to fight valiantly.

At 25 a.m., the Weiyuan, the flagship of the First Squadron of the Pacific Fleet, sailed to the southwest sea of Qiuzishan Island and Reef in Huang Zeyang, about 3 nautical miles behind the side of the Rurik.

"Report the situation!"

"The second team has arrived at the predetermined location in the northeast of Shengshan Yangpan Mountain, the third team is still an hour's voyage away from the predetermined location, Dajiyang Daqi Mountain, and the Sea Scale is still half an hour away from the predetermined position, the report is complete!"

On the bridge of the Weiyuan, Lin Jianzhang looked at the Yuyong and Rurik in the fierce battle in the distance, and found that the Yuyong's firepower was obviously at a loss, and the hull was on fire, and the midnight lieutenant general provided accurate reference coordinates for the Rurik's guns. Lin Jianzhang decided to let the Weiyuan immediately enter the battle to relieve the pressure on the Yuyong, and at the same time work with the Yuyong to contain the Rurik and prevent it from escaping.

"Order the second team to strictly blockade Shengshanyang and move closer to me. Order the Third Sentai and the Sea Scale to speed up and rush to the intended location as soon as possible. ”

"Yes!"

The bridge staff officer was ordered to leave, and Lin Jianzhang immediately ordered the Weiyuan to go into battle.

At 30 a.m., the Weiyuan appeared about 1,200 meters away from the starboard side of the Rurik, and rushed towards the Rurik with the tactics of meeting the enemy in the bow.

"Fire!"

At the sound of the order, a 240-mm 35-diameter Ghanaian gun located on the bow deck gun mount of the battleship Weiyuan was the first to fire, followed by two single-barreled 240mm Ghanaian guns located in the earrings on both sides of the bow.

"Boom! Knock knock! ”

Three 250-kilogram Ghanaian shells pierced the night sky and whistled towards the Rurik.

"Boom!"

Three shells hit the sea less than 40 meters from the starboard side of the Rurik, instantly stirring up a huge column of water 100 meters high and soaring into the sky. The violent blast wave rolled and crashed into the side deck of the Rurik, and in an instant, the sea burst out, like a tide crashing against the Qiantang River embankment, and rushed to more than a dozen Russian sailors.

The Rurik shuddered violently, and Rear Admiral Nebogatov, who was directing the port side operation, stumbled and almost fell over.

"What's going on?"

Rear Admiral Nebogatov turned to starboard and noticed that an unknown enemy ship had suddenly appeared on the right. Judging by the power of the explosion, he immediately guessed that the attacker was a battleship with a large-caliber main gun.

"Shoot back!"

At the sound of an order, 16 guns on the starboard side of the Rurik opened fire at the same time, and shells rained down on the Weiyuan.

Since three of the four main guns of the Weiyuan are arranged in the bow, like the Dingzhen Second Ship, the Weiyuan uses the bow to meet the enemy when facing the enemy. In this way, the Rurik was directly in the horizontal position of the "T" prefix against the Weiyuan without having to turn the battleship around, which also made it easier for the dense shells to hit the Weiyuan.

"Boom, boom!"

Cannonballs from Rurik's starboard side continued to hit the bow of the Weiyuan, and a series of explosions instantly shattered the outermost planks of the bow deck, and the shattered wood chips were ignited by the hot air waves, causing clusters of flames. However, the Weiyuan was protected by epoch-defining fortress-style armor, with 11-inch thick frontal armor that even Rurik's 203 main gun shells could not penetrate it.

In the midst of the smoke and flames, the Weiyuan continued to rush at full speed without fear. Two minutes later, three 240 Ghanaian guns in the bow fired another salvo.

"Knock knock!"

Three main artillery shells whistled again and fired at the Rurik. As a result of Rurik's fire, the flare provided accurate firing parameters for the Weiyuan's main gun aiming. The first two shells hit the sea, and the third hit the port side of the USS Rick with a direct hit on the No. 7 gun position, instantly penetrating the frontal armor of the gun emplacement, destroying the 152-mm secondary gun on the gun position. The violent explosion caused the explosion of ammunition boxes stacked near the gun emplacement, killing more than 20 Russian troops and causing a violent fire.

"Hit!"

The officers and soldiers in the turret of the Weiyuan made a good start, and they couldn't help but rejoice. Not far behind them is the 10.5-inch-thick Weiyuan Command Tower. The personnel of the Pacific Fleet command watched the battle with great ease, knowing that the Rurik's shells could not hurt them at all.

As a first-class armored iron battleship, the Weiyuan interprets her strong combat effectiveness with practical actions. More than an hour after the start of the battle, in front of the Weiyuan, the arrogance of the Rurik was suppressed for the first time.

The Weiyuan continued to rush forward, approaching the Rurik. At the same time, the fire that ignited on the Rurik provided an excellent reference for the guns of the Yuyong at all levels on the port side, so that the shells of the Yuyong hit the Rurik more and more accurately.

In the face of a flank attack from both sides, Rear Admiral Nebogatov did not dare to fight, and immediately ordered Rurik to leave the battlefield at full speed and flee towards the Shengshan Ocean sea east of Huaniao Mountain in the north.

In terms of speed, the Weiyuan was quickly left behind, but the Yuyong was able to haunt the Rurik to the death.

Without the threat of the Weiyuan, the Rurik was able to continue the battle against the Yong. The second ship sailed along the Caiqi Waterway and headed towards the sea, moving rapidly on the sea less than a mile apart, while engaged in a fierce artillery battle.

Due to the heavy fire of the Rurik, the Yuyong always maintained a distance of one nautical mile from the enemy ships. The Yu Yong does not need to rush up to confront the enemy ship, because the second squadron of the Pacific Fleet is moving closer to this side in the Shengshan Ocean area, and the Yu Yong has reinforcements, so there is no need to fight, just bite the enemy ship and prevent her from disappearing from sight.

The night sky was dark, the fire was shining, and the cannon roared, like lightning and thunder. The Brave kept an eye on the Rurik, preventing her from disappearing from sight. At the same time, Du Xigui constantly sent reports to the other warships of the fleet, even informing them of the location of the Rurik.

At 1:05 a.m., the southeast of Huaniashan Island is in the sea area of Shengshanyang. While the Rurik and the Yuyong were fighting fiercely, two warships of the Second Squadron of the Pacific Fleet, the Brave and the Douyong, rushed to join the battle.

In the dark of the night, the Rurik failed to spot the two enemy ships ahead. In turn, the position of the Rurik was exposed to the Daring and Daring as a result of the firing.

"Two unidentified ships have been spotted ahead!"

It wasn't until the second squadron entered a distance of about 1.5 nautical miles from the Rurik that the Rurik's reconnaissance sailors noticed the huge silhouette of the opposing battleship.

"Damn it!"

Rear Admiral Nebogatov spat hard, and it was obvious that Ken in front of him at this time were two enemy ships.

"Left full rudder, sail to the northwest!"

Nebogatov's order was given, and the Rurik made an emergency left turn to change course.

At the same time, on the bridge of the second squadron's flagship Courage, Commander Chen Qingping also issued a tactical maneuver order at the same time.

"The right rudder is full, and the port side guns are ready!"

The order was given, and the two large armored cruisers of Italian ancestry, the Brave and the Douyong, quickly turned right and made an "L" turn to intercept Rurik's attempt to flee to the eastern ocean, and at the same time to seize the "T" prefix to shoot at the enemy ship.

"Full rudder right!"

"The port guns are ready!"

"Maintain the pace of battle and prepare to fire!"

At 1:15, seeing that Rurik was being intercepted, Rear Admiral Nebogatov, realizing the intention of the Pacific Fleet to encircle and annihilate Rurik, immediately ordered a cannon attack, trying to open a bloody road with artillery fire.

At the same time, the second team had already seized a favorable firing position, and Chen Qingping immediately gave the order to attack.

"Fire!"

The 2nd Sentai concentrated all its firepower on the port side, with a total of 8 203 mm guns, 14 152 mm secondary guns, as well as 12 80 mm rapid-fire guns and 8 47mm rapid-fire guns to fire a salvo at Rurik.

In an instant, the artillery fire glowed brightly, illuminating most of the night sky. Shells whistled and rained down on the Rurik.

"Boom!"

Hot shells exploded one after another in the waters around the Rurik, and huge columns of water suddenly rose on the sea, and the sea water boiled in an instant. The Rurik was hit in many places in the hull, among which the position of the ship was attacked by a large number of rapid-fire artillery shells at close range, although the hull was protected by armor and the damage was slight, but the personnel were killed and injured by a large number of fragmented shrapnel, and the damage was very large.

Seeing that the enemy's firepower was too fierce to rush out, Major General Nebogatov again ordered to turn around and sail to the sea area west of Flowery and Bird's Mountain Island.

Seeing that the Rurik was sailing in the direction of the Great Ocean, the Second Battle Team of the Pacific Fleet continued to pursue, but was not in a hurry to go up to fight with the Rurik, but only prevented the Rurik from escaping into the deep sea in the outer waters. At the same time, the fastest Yu Yong also caught up and was assigned to the second team.

After receiving the report, the flagship Weiyuan immediately gave up taking the Shengshan Ocean, turned around and turned to the direction of Luohuashan Dajiyang, and joined the Sea Scale.

At 1:45 a.m., the Pacific Fleet's Third Squadron Fen Yong and Gang Yong had arrived at the predetermined sea area of the Daji Ocean and lined up in the northwest direction of Bird and Flower Mountain to wait for Rurik. At this point, the Pacific Fleet's carefully planned plan to trap the Rurik had completed its final deployment, and the operation to encircle and annihilate the Rurik had begun.

At 3:25 a.m., the Rurik entered the waters of the Daji Ocean northwest of Huanaishan Island and ran into the Third Squadron of the Pacific Fleet head-on.

"Report! Two enemy ships were spotted right ahead! The distance is about 1.5 nautical miles! ”

"What? Enemy ships again? Avoid it right now! ”

"Report! Two enemy ships spotted in the south! The distance is about 2 nautical miles! ”

"General, it looks like we're surrounded!"

"Can anyone tell me what magic their commanders used and how they moved their fleets in the dark of night?"

Major General Nebogatov was almost mad, they had never seen such a situation. In his impression, it was very difficult for the ships of the fleet to communicate with each other at night, especially separated by a large area of mountains, forests, islands and reefs and the vast sea, and he really couldn't figure out how the Pacific Fleet could achieve fleet scheduling.

"It is said that their ships have installed a wireless telegraph communication system that does not rely on telephone lines, and I think that is what their commanders rely on to communicate and mobilize at night, unless they are clairvoyant and ear-blowing."

Levstey explained that under the dim light of the command tower, Nebogatov looked depressed.

Without Nebaugatov having time to think about it, the 3rd Squadron of the Pacific Fleet directly in front of the Rurik was already making tactical maneuvers to seize the horizontal position of the "T" prefix on the Rurik. Even if he couldn't see the other side clearly, Major General Nebogatov could imagine that the sideside guns of the opposing side were preparing to launch a fire salvo.

At 3:30 a.m., two battleships of French origin of the Third Sentai concentrated eight 210-mm Ghana guns, sixteen 152-mm secondary guns, eight 88-mm rapid-fire guns, and eight 47-mm rapid-fire guns to fire a salvo at the Rurik.

In an instant, the waters around the Rurik splashed, the waves rolled, and the smoke and rain filled the air. The Brave and Brave were roughly equal in firepower to the Rurik, lacking only armor, speed and tonnage, and the eight 210mm Ghanaian guns were extremely powerful and threatening to the Rurik.

A few minutes later, the Rurik was hit by multiple bullets in the bow and caught fire, and Russian sailors tried to extinguish it. At this time, three battleships of the 2nd Squadron of the Pacific Fleet in the direction of Rurik to starboard, and two battleships of the 1st Squadron of the Pacific Fleet in front of the starboard side opened fire on it almost simultaneously.

In an instant, hundreds of shells were overwhelmingly fired at the Rurik, although the Rurik was large, the armor was thick, and the firepower was fierce, but it was also difficult to parry the siege of seven warships at the same time, and soon the hull was damaged in many places, exploded and caught fire, and the casualties were heavy.

In less than five minutes, one of the main gun turrets in the bow and stern of the Rurik was damaged, 7 auxiliary guns and 12 rapid-fire guns were lost, and more than half of the casualties were lost.

Inside the command tower, Major General Nebogatov was disgraced, although the shells could not destroy the strong armor of the command tower, but there was a sea of fire outside the command tower, and thick smoke rushed in from the lookout, which choked people and affected the command of the operation.

"Commander, we are completely surrounded, and we can't rush out at all."

"Even if you die in battle, you can't disgrace the honor of the Imperial Navy soldiers."

Nebogatov gritted his teeth, coughed, pointed to the chart, and said fiercely: "Pass the order and drive the battleship to the left water!" ”

Levstey asked: "General, you are going to run the battleship aground!" ”

Nebogatov nodded and said resolutely: "Fight to the last soldier!" ”

Levstey hesitated, but took the order anyway.

At a quarter past four, under the heavy artillery fire of seven battleships of the Pacific Fleet, the Rurik was already scarred, and the second main gun in the bow was also destroyed, leaving only one main gun in the stern to resist. More than half of the ship's secondary guns and rapid-fire guns were also destroyed, and more than two-thirds of the casualties had been lost. The Russian army held on only by its last will and sat on the last resistance.

At 4:20 a.m., the Rurik retreated step by step and headed for the shallow water area of Luohua Mountain. At the same time, the seven warships of the Pacific Fleet also bent inward, intending to inflict greater damage on the Rurik by bullying more and attacking at close range, and sinking or making a forced landing on the Rurik as soon as possible.

At half past four, while retreating to shallow water, the Rurik accidentally ran aground, causing the stern to sink rapidly. Major General Nebogatov scolded God for not helping him, and did not even satisfy his demand that he should fight to the last soldier.

The stern sank rapidly, so that Nebogatov had to give the order to abandon the ship. Originally, Rear Admiral Nebogatov was going to sink to the bottom of the sea with the Rurik, but Levstey forcibly stopped him and swam to the shore with the remaining fifty-three officers and men.

Twenty minutes later, the Rurik sank to a depth of 12 meters in Huashan Bay.

At five o'clock in the morning, the Pacific Fleet sent a 100-strong Marine Corps to land in small boats to pursue and hunt down the remnants of the Rurik. Because Levstey and the others had no weapons on them when they escaped, and there were many wounded, they were soon arrested one after another.

At about seven o'clock in the morning, Major General Nebogatov passed out from the cold, so Levstey gave up his escape and surrendered on his own initiative.

At this point, the Pacific Fleet won the first battle, successfully encircling and annihilating the Rurik, the largest tonnage battleship of the Russian Far East Fleet, and eliminating a huge enemy for the Qing Imperial Navy.

(To be continued)