July 15, 1894, 6:50 a.m., off the coast of Incheon, North Korea

The Japanese fleet was taking "Naniwa" and "Chicheng" as the advance ships, and the entire fleet formed a double column formation to reconnoiter along the coastline......

On the Naniwa, the flagship of the guerrilla detachment of the Combined Fleet, Heihachiro Togo, the commander of the detachment, was looking at the blue sea in front of him, and his heart fluctuated.

Between the water and the sky, I suddenly saw a few wisps of black smoke in the distance!

In recent years, due to the shortage of funds, the Beiyang Naval Division has burned all the inferior coal on its warships, and thick black smoke will come out when it is running at high power, and it is this wisp of smoke that has allowed the sentinels on the lookout of Japanese warships to discover the Qing fleet in the distance in advance.

"Enemy ship spotted on the port side!"

Just after 9 o'clock, the sailors on the lookout suddenly sounded the alarm!

Togo Heihachiro and other officers hurriedly picked up the binoculars on their chests and looked up-

Two or three black clouds began to appear on the surface of the sea in the distance, "Is it just a small group of enemy ships?" ”

But after that, the black smoke increased to 6, 9, 12, and 14.

"Send a signal to the ships!! It was the Beiyang Fleet that was all dispatched!! Togo yelled.

Almost at the same time, the Beiyang Fleet of the Qing State also discovered the ships of the Japanese.

"Discover the Japanese fleet!!"

Looking at the black smoke coming from the front, the Qing Beiyang Fleet also rushed towards the opposite pillar of smoke under Ding Ruchang's order......

"The battleships are in place !!"

The warships of the Beiyang Fleet, under the command of the flagship "Dingyuan," began to meet the enemy ships in an orderly manner.

On the side of the Qing Beiyang Fleet, the two absolute main forces in the fleet, "Dingyuan" and "Zhenyuan", were the core, and the other warships successively changed formations in the direction of their two wings, forming a horizontal formation that was slightly like a goose.

At the same time, the combined fleet of the opposite Japan, under the command of the flagship "Matsushima", formed a bold single column of warships.

The formation matched the equipment of their respective warships, and the large-caliber naval guns equipped with the two absolute capital ships of the Beiyang Fleet, "Dingyuan" and "Zhenyuan", were located directly in front of the battleships, which greatly strengthened the frontal combat capability of the bow and weakened the firepower on the side of the ship. On the other hand, the Japanese ships "Naniwa" and "Chicheng" were equipped with gunners on the side of the ship, so the use of column operations was precisely to give full play to the Japanese fleet's strengths.

Generally speaking, the goose-shaped formation of the fleet is often the nemesis of the column.

But the Japanese Combined Fleet had a speed advantage that its opponents could not match! As long as you can change your formation before your opponent can penetrate your formation, your fleet will be able to flank the enemy fleet on both sides!

The Beiyang Fleet also saw the opponent's intentions, and the Beiyang Fleet, which had discharged the geese-shaped formation, obviously wanted to charge in time at the best moment when the column of the Japanese Combined Fleet appeared directly in front of it, and completely destroy the Japanese ships with the advantage of the main guns in front of the capital ships.

Compared with the warships of the Qing Dynasty, the warships of the Japanese Combined Fleet also have a fatal weakness, that is, the short range of artillery.

So the Beiyang Fleet must give full play to its advantage of long range!

With the command of the pipe belts of the battleships in the Beiyang, the direction and angle of the main ship's guns in the bow of each ship began to be quickly adjusted.

"All guns in place!! ——”

"The gunner is in position!! ——”

"The shells are loaded!! ——”

Ito Yuhyeong, the commander of the Japanese Combined Fleet, raised his glasses and looked at the scene in front of him, shocked in his heart, and he had a feeling in his heart that the murderous Beiyang Fleet in front of him was deliberately luring him into a decisive battle.

July 15, 1894, 7:22 a.m

"Bang! Rumble! ——”

The former main gun of the Qing Beiyang Fleet "Dingyuan" fired the first shot of this naval battle.

For the first time in the history of human world warfare, a naval battle fought entirely by steam-powered ironclad battleships began!

At a distance of about 6,000 meters between the two fleets, the Beiyang Fleet took the lead in firing, and the Japanese fleet then returned fire.

"Five degrees to the port side, 5700 yards away, fire!"

"Eleven degrees to the port side, 5500 yards away, fire!"

"Fifteen degrees to the port side, 6100 yards away, fire!"

"Ten degrees to the port side, 5300 yards away, fire!"

"Seven degrees to the port side, 5100 yards away, fire!"

"Missed start!"

"Fix the shot!"

"Subtract 5 from the ruler, 03 to the left!"

"Shell reloaded!"

"Two guns in a row!! Fire!! ——”

"Fire!! ——”

In the first 20 minutes of the first 20 minutes, because the two sides were too far apart, the hit rate of each other's warships' naval guns was not high.

The Japanese Combined Fleet did not stop and settled, and the Zhener and 2 ships continued to shoot at each other, and a large number of capital ships continued to take the lead with several fast cruisers such as the "Naniwa" after passing through the formation, and turned the rudder to accelerate towards the right flank of the Beiyang Fleet.

"The Japanese fleet is trying to put my Beiyang Fleet in an obstacle zone for side shooting! Ships accelerate! Assault on enemy ship formations!! ——”

"All guns in place!"

"3,700 yards directly ahead of the target, open fire!! ——”

On the flagship "Dingyuan", Ding Ruchang gave orders to each warship in the fleet in turn.

"Bang!! Boom Boom Boom !! ——”

At 7:55, the 320mm caliber giant main gun of the Japanese "Matsushima" ship was accurately hit by a 210mm caliber main gun shell of the Beiyang Fleet's "Zhiyuan" ship.

"Hit the Japanese flagship 'Matsushima'!"

The first warship to be hit was none other than the flagship of the Japanese Combined Fleet, the Matsushima! The morale of the Beiyang Fleet has been greatly boosted!

One-sided shelling! The ships of the Japanese Combined Fleet could only be beaten passively because of the limitations of the main ship's guns and the firing range.

"Bang!! Boom Boom Boom !! ——”

"Bang!! Boom Boom Boom !! ——”

"Bang!! Boom Boom Boom !! ——”

Although the Japanese battleships were equipped with many small and medium-caliber secondary guns of 120mm and 150mm, the rate of fire was high, but the firing range was shorter. Therefore, Ito issued an order before the war, and the secondary guns of each battleship were allowed to fire at a distance of 3,000 meters.

"Bang!! Boom Boom Boom !! ——”

"Bang!! Boom Boom Boom !! ——”

"Bang!! Boom Boom Boom !! ——”

"Report! The third gun position on the port side is broken! ”

"Report! Boiler compartment damaged! ”

"Report! The foredeck is broken! ”

"Command! The secondary guns of the ships began shelling! Take advantage of our rapid-fire cannons!! Concentrate your fire on several enemy capital ships first!! ”

In this one-sided shelling, the commander of the Japanese fleet, Ito Yuhiro, could not hold back and ordered the secondary guns of the warships in the fleet to start joining the return fire.

"All guns in place!"

"Fire!"

"Keep shooting!"

In the chaos, a 320mm caliber shell from the main gun of the "Itsukushima" of the Japanese Combined Fleet suddenly hit the flybridge deck of the flagship of the Beiyang Fleet, "Dingyuan"!

"Bang! Boom!! In the explosion, the foremast of the "Dingyuan" ship was broken, and Ding Ruchang, the commander of the Beiyang Naval Division, who was originally commanding on the bridge, was also affected, and was shot in the leg, bleeding profusely.

"Ding Junmen!" "Ding Junmen! ——”

"Ding Junmen, how are you?! ——”

"Hurry up and take Ding Junmen down to the cabin!!" "Yes!! ——”

"Nonsense!! I'm the commander of the first army!! The naval battle has just begun, how can there be a reason to go down to the cabin and steal your life!! ——”

"Don't worry about me, the fleet will be taken over by Liu Buchan! Go ahead and attack the enemy ships! ”

"I'm just sitting here and watching how you kill the enemy!! ——”

"Ding Junmen!! ——”

At the same time, Ito Yuhiro, commander of the Japanese Combined Fleet on the "Matsushima," was overjoyed when he saw that his side had damaged the "Dingyuan," and hurriedly ordered again, "Let all the ships of the fleet concentrate their firepower and give me a fierce shelling of the opponent's flagship "Dingyuan"!" ”

"Fire!"

"Keep shooting!"

At this time, the distance was getting closer and closer, and the superiority of a large number of rapid-fire guns of the Japanese combined fleet began to slowly come into play.

In particular, the Japanese ship "Yoshino" was equipped with 42 rapid-fire guns of various types of small and medium-caliber guns, and for a time the fire on the foredeck of the "Dingyuan" gradually became somewhat uncontrollable as it was hit by shells fired one after another.

At the critical juncture, under Deng Shichang's order, the "Zhiyuan" ship suddenly and ferociously highlighted the formation of the fleet.