'Buzz~~~' The piercing siren sounded throughout the U.S. Navy's Task Force 99 warships, but this alarm was not an air defense alarm but a sea alarm. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

Previously, in order to get as close as possible to the Ming naval fleet, avoid the reconnaissance planes that the Ming army set off before the early morning. General Hunter led the 99th Task Force at a high speed towards the Ming fleet. When Hunter sent his own fighters, the distance between the two sides was just over 170 nautical miles. This is definitely a very close distance in a sea and air battle.

The U.S. Task Force 99 did not return after releasing its fighters, but continued to move in the direction of the Ming fleet. And the Ming fleet also did not turn, and the two sides were moving opposite each other at the same time. The range of activity of the Ming army's outer guard fleet was more than 100 nautical miles away from the core of the fleet.

After more than an hour of walking in the opposite direction, the distance between the two sides was very close. At this moment, the Ming army's peripheral guard fleet had received an order to attack. At the relative speed between the two sides, they were already within the range of the engagement.

Because it is a decoy fleet, the core of the U.S. Task Force 99 is four aircraft carriers. The fleet was not equipped with high-speed battleships, and the carriers were escorted by four heavy cruisers and one light cruiser, as well as nearly twenty fleet destroyers. The firepower of such an escort fleet is not strong, let alone encountering a battleship formation, even if it is a heavy patrol formation of the Ming army, it is difficult for them to deal with.

And the Ming perimeter alert fleet, with the large air defense ship Weishanhu as the core, has one large air defense ship, six heavy cruisers and six fleet destroyers in this direction. Although they are inferior to the U.S. fleet in terms of quantity, their quality is much better than that of the U.S. military.

The Weishanhu is a large air defense ship, and its main guns are four twin 200 mm guns. The power of this kind of artillery meets the battleship, that is, it is looking for death, and although the Weishanhu has the body of a battleship, it does not have the firepower and armor of a battleship. However, when it comes to dealing with heavy cruisers and destroyers, it is very powerful.

At this time, Hunter had no intention of retreating, because he knew that he would not be able to outrun the planes in broad daylight. As a decoy fleet, he already had the consciousness of death. When he found out that the Ming fleet was coming, Hunter immediately ordered several destroyers to cover the retreat of several aircraft carriers, and the other escort warships all stepped forward to confront the Ming fleet.

The two sides began to fire salvos at a distance of ten nautical miles, and dense shells rained down on the sea near the opposing warships, splashing up columns of water that soared into the sky. Because of its large body, the Weishanhu was subjected to the focus of the US fleet. The dense rain of bullets enveloped almost the entire hull of the ship.

Although the Weishanhu is not very well armored, it is not possible to penetrate a 203 mm gun at this distance. This is also because the quality of the Americans' heavy patrols is as outstanding as that of the Ming Dynasty. If it had been replaced by the powerful admiral class of the Germans, the situation of the war would have been different.

The two sides maintained a distance of about ten nautical miles and carried out intensive artillery shelling. The 200-millimeter gun with an automatic loading system had an extremely fast rate of fire, coupled with a 10-meter rangefinder and a unified command system for the whole ship, and the intensity of the battle even exceeded that of the battle line duel. After all, the rate of fire of a battleship could not be as fast as a heavy cruise.

Because of the distance, the Ming army was able to put in one large cruiser and six heavy cruisers for artillery battles. However, the U.S. military has only four heavy cruisers and one light cruiser capable of exerting firepower. The destroyers of both sides could not play a role at this distance because of the caliber of their guns, and the more than a dozen destroyers of the Americans became a kind of decoration.

After being hit by several shells in quick succession, Commodore Thompson, commander of the American cruiser's fleet, realized that something was wrong. He realized that he was not commanding a battle line duel, and then immediately ordered to move towards the Ming fleet, trying to take advantage of the numerical superiority of its destroyers.

The commander of the Daming artillery bombardment fleet was Colonel Fang Wenxuan, the captain of the Weishanhu, and after perceiving the intentions of the US troops, he immediately ordered the warship to turn and distance itself from the US troops, so as not to give the US troops a chance.

This is where the difference in strength between the two sides lies. The Ming army only needs to maintain their own advantages to slowly achieve the final victory, even if they are exhausted, they can win the final victory. But the U.S. military can only be dangerous.

"Concentrate your fire on their flagship!" Just like the U.S. fleet concentrating on the tall Weishanhu, Fang Wenxuan also ordered to concentrate on attacking the U.S. flagship. That is, the USS Puerto Rico, which was the head of the US heavy patrol line.

The Puerto Rico Heavy Cruiser had three triple 203 mm guns, and its guns were larger than those of the Weishan Lake. However, the Weishanhu is a new type of warship, and its main guns are all newly designed new guns, with a higher rate of fire and greater power under the twin load.

After several salvos, the Puerto Rico was hit by a series of 200 mm shells on the starboard side, and its four 127 mm secondary guns on the starboard side were dumbfounded. The deck building was cleaned as if it had been washed with water, and it also started a fire. Many members of the U.S. military damage management team collapsed in pools of blood in the dense rain of bullets.

The threatening shelling came from a main gun shell on the Weishanhu, which hit a large rangefinder above the bridge and instantly blinded the Puerto Rico. After several rounds of bullet rain, the deadly shelling came.

The ammunition depot for the Puerto Rico Heavy Patrol was located above the waterline. Doing so will effectively protect against the dangers posed by underwater attacks. And the thickness of the armor near the ammunition depot was enough to withstand the fire of guns of two hundred mm caliber. Of course, if it was shelled by battleships, then there was no need to say anything.

This construction scheme was feasible at the time. However, the technological progress of this era has been rapid. Especially under the stimulus of war, new technology soars almost like a wild horse without the reins. What was thought to be a problematic design at the time became a great threat after the advent of new main guns and new armor-piercing shells. But there is no way to rebuild it. It was a huge undertaking to rebuild the hull structure.

After Commodore Thompson gave the order to approach the Ming fleet, the distance between the two sides was constantly shortening. The shorter the distance, the faster the risk of breakdown. When an armor-piercing projectile from the Weishanhu armor turret smashed into the armor belt of the Puerto Rico's portside ammunition depot, the armor belt was punctured.

There is no need to say what kind of scene it was for a 200-millimeter armor-piercing shell to explode at an ammunition depot, and the entire Puerto Rico was almost completely blown in two by the detonation of thousands of shells of various calibers in the ammunition depot. The Puerto Rico sank to the bottom of the sea shortly after the violent explosion, and only a handful of crew members were able to escape.

The sinking of the flagship dealt a great blow to the fleet, and the American fleet was even in chaos for the next few minutes. Fang Wenxuan, on the other hand, seized the opportunity to carry out a fierce bombardment of the US fleet.

A few minutes later, Captain Donald, the captain of the Vincennes Heavy Cruiser, ordered the command flag to be raised. Because General Hunter's order was to fight until the last moment, because this American fleet did not choose to flee, but rushed towards the Ming army with all its strength. In particular, the more than 10 destroyers began to carry out strong ventilation to increase their speed, and prepared for lightning strike operations.

While Fang Wenxuan ordered to speed up the escape, he ordered all ships to use all their main guns and secondary guns to fire fiercely. The battle became more brutal and fierce at this moment.

The secondary guns of the Ming warships were all 155 mm caliber, and they were twin installations with a fast rate of fire. The purpose of equipping these secondary guns is to deal with lightning strikes from light warships. The dense artillery bombardment was almost as dense as the machine guns, and many American fleets moving at high speed were beaten into sieves.

Don't expect these destroyers to have the armored defenses of battleships. Their armor could not withstand the baptism of artillery fire of this caliber.

The destroyers USS Clark, USS Balch, USS McDougall, USS Moffett, USS Phelps, and USS Porter lost their combat effectiveness one after another in the intensive shelling and began to sink slowly. The worst was the USS Phelps, a destroyer that was hit by a shell in the boiler room during the strong ventilation and acceleration, and then ended its life like a giant firework.

A number of other destroyers were also wounded. Moreover, the six destroyers of the Ming army had also been killed at this time, and they were already going out to block the US lightning strike fleet head-on.

A total of fourteen destroyers soon lost more than half. However, these American warships did not have the slightest intention of stopping, and still rushed towards the Ming fleet in a lucky way, or rather, rushed straight towards the Weishan Lake. However, the Weishanhu with a battleship length of more than 200 meters looks like a very valuable target, and even if it is completely destroyed, it will be sunk.

The courage of the officers and men of the US Navy shocked the Ming army, and several US warships were already on fire, but without the slightest intention of slowing down, they frantically pounced on the Weishan Lake.

When the Puerto Rico was sunk earlier, the distance between the two sides had been reduced to about eight nautical miles. Because of the chaos caused by the U.S. military, Fang Wenxuan did not distance himself in order to seize the opportunity to severely damage the U.S. fleet, but got closer.

By the time the U.S. lightning strike fleet attacked, the straight-line distance between the two sides was only about six nautical miles. This is already a very dangerous distance, since the relative speed between the high speed of the destroyer and the heavy cruise, which has only a dozen knots in order to keep the firing platform stable, is not great.

"It's going to be bad." Looking at those U.S. warships that had obviously passed the standard lightning strike line but were still continuing to rush towards him, Fang Wenxuan's heart suddenly 'chuckled'. Because of the large volume and displacement of the Weishanhu, it is not a simple matter to accelerate. This gave the opportunity for lightning strikes by the US military, which completely disregarded casualties.

When the last few American destroyers, which were almost fired directly by artillery, rushed over the kilometer line, they finally released their torpedoes. All the torpedoes are pointed at the Weishan Lake! (To be continued.) )