In war, it's not about who is smarter, it's about who makes fewer mistakes. It should be said that until this point, Yamamoto Gonbei has not made any mistakes in the strategy and tactics of this naval battle so far, but he is not only a chief of staff, but also a fleet commander. So he made the worst mistake Yamamoto made that he forgot his duty as commander, that is, he did not lead his fleet well, and as a result, he neglected the management of his fleet while constantly fighting for the best attack formation with the Qing State, and caused his fleet to be extremely chaotic. Yamamoto was frustrated that there was no qualified fleet commander in the entire Japanese Empire, including himself, and that he could only let this man who was longer than scheming lead the fleet into battle, which was the biggest drawback. But at this point, he could only persist for the sake of the empire's national fortunes. So he worked hard to reorganize the fleet, but what he didn't expect was that in the black smoke deliberately released by the Qing State, the Qing State actually hid three fleets.

Win more chances to win. This tactic was novel and worth learning, but it was not enough to surprise Philistine, who could only deal with Japan, which had no experience in major wars. It is useless for Britain with a century of history. To Philmante's surprise, how did four parallel warships turn to the Qing state at the same time? It seems that the British Empire has not been able to do this in the shortest possible time. When did the Qing navy become so powerful?

And Fischer next to Filimante also looked surprised. He was not concerned with tactical issues, he was only concerned with the design of warships. It's just that what kind of warship is that?! With a hull of more than 10,000 tons, a bow protruding forward, a bridge towering like a pagoda, and the installation of a knapsack central axis on the deck, there are four turrets - a triple turret!

"Oh God." Fisher exclaimed in surprise: "Verse 23." Fisher was amazed not only by the strange appearance and firepower of these four warships, but also by the astonishingly high speed, which was no ordinary small cruiser. This is a large warship with a size of more than 10,000 tons. How did the Qing people manage to push such a large hull to a speed of 23 knots, is it full of boilers?

After the Battle of Dadonggou in the Qing Dynasty, Fisher discovered it from the information provided by Phillimante. The main guns of the two battleships in Dingzhen actually did not achieve substantial results, and the rate of fire of the twelve-inch main guns was only one shot every two minutes, although one ship had four guns, but the extremely low rate of fire and the lack of accuracy. As a result, one salvo simply does not meet the requirements for fire coverage. Rather, it was the faster small-caliber guns of the Japanese fleet. The main guns of Dingyuan and Zhenyuan were completely suppressed, and the reason for this situation was not the power of the artillery, but the problem of fire output. Therefore, within the British Navy, there was a lot of talk about a massive increase in the number of secondary guns to compensate for the slow rate of fire and insufficient coverage of the main guns, and some people even put forward the idea of abolishing the large-caliber main guns and installing 6-inch guns in a unified manner. But Fisher did not see it that way, and according to his estimates, if the number of main guns could be increased to eight. In this way, one salvo can fully achieve the required coverage. It's just that the designer told him that to install eight main guns plus secondary guns and armor, it would require a displacement of about 20,000 tons. Such a warship would be as slow as a snail, and the recoil of eight main guns firing at the same time would be enough to shatter the deck. Since it was impossible to install eight main guns on a battleship, it was better to test it as an experiment. He ingeniously designed five twin L40/152 mm guns on the two heavy cruisers built for Japan, Asama and Tokiwa.

Although each of the four warships of the Qing Kingdom had only four batteries, they were triple-packed, which was still two more than the British-designed Asama class. The point is that the 9,000-ton displacement of the Asama-class cruisers is only 21 knots, while the four strange warships of the Qing Dynasty with more than 10,000 tons have reached 23 knots. When did the Qing have a stronger ability to design warships than the British Empire? Fisher was surprised to find that his friend William White, who was also the best warship designer in the British Empire, died in a car accident many years ago. If he had been there today, he would have been able to understand these four strange Qing ** ships.

The German Army is powerful, and the German Army can be proud of the army of any country in the world. But the navy is not good, not to mention Britain and France, even the experienced Chinese navy can defeat the German navy. Even against the Japanese fleet in front of you, I am afraid that the German Navy has nothing more powerful than the Japanese Navy in front of you, except for the momentum of fighting harder. Therefore, the Qing navy staged a clear naval battle in front of their eyes, a closely interlocking strategy, a precise movement, and what surprised Tirpitz and others even more was that the time when each branch of the Qing State appeared was so appropriate. You must know that because of the arc of the earth, the maximum distance that can be seen even from the highest bridge is only 20,000 meters. No matter how precise the pre-war plan is, it cannot avoid the changing environment on the battlefield, how did the Qing State mobilize the detachment outside the line of sight to cooperate so accurately? How did the Qing people do it?

Spectators can analyze and discuss every detail of the battlefield, but both sides in the battle can only think about how to defeat each other. The war theory that it is better to cut off one finger than to hurt ten fingers has long been deeply rooted in the hearts of everyone in the Chinese Navy, so all the gun barrels of the four ships in Dinghai are aimed at the Japanese cruiser Izumo at the front. When the first round of artillery fell into the sea, the fifteen-meter-long periscope rangefinder on the bridge observed the effect and error of the first round of shelling, and the gunner, through a phone on his lips, shouted to report the data to the fire control calculation module under the bridge command tower, which was protected by thick armor.

Under the calculations of the five hand-cranked computers in the fire control calculation cabin, the new shelling elements, which collected all kinds of data from the whole ship, were quickly calculated. It was then passed on to the turrets via telephone lines. The time between this was only thirty seconds, and when the shells of the first round of tests fell into the sea two minutes later, the firing of the guns had been corrected. The gunners gave the order again: three rapid fires from all ships.

Thereupon. In front of Britain and Germany, countless fireballs were bursting out of the barrels that seemed to fill the deck, and the rumbling cannons were denser than the beat of drums, and in the blink of an eye, a large number of water columns appeared around the number. There was a "boom" and a fireball appeared on the Izumo.

"Hit hit, hit." The gun factory shouted loudly: "Full fire, five minutes of saturation strike." ”

Saturation Strike, a concept from the Emperor's mouth, means that all firepower attacks at full force at the fastest rate of fire. In this way, sufficient fire coverage can be formed in the target area, which can not only effectively damage the enemy ship, but more importantly, the force of such a blow is enough to prevent the opponent from returning fire. The Qing Dynasty borrowed the Italian naval artillery technology to improve the body fifty times the body. The triple 152-mm naval guns fired at a rate of six rounds per minute, so the Dinghai Fourth broke out. Each of the four ships in Dinghai has four triple turrets, and the four warships have a total of 48 guns, each of which fires six rounds per minute. In total, 288 152-mm shells were projected in that minute. Five minutes. In just five minutes, 1440 shells were projected. Because of the short training time of these four ships and the lack of run-in between men and ships, the hit rate still reached 105 in the pre-war test. That is, in these five minutes, the cruiser Izumo was hit by 216 shells.

Within five minutes of the Kiyoshi firing with all its might, the Izumo burst into flames like a bunch of huge firecrackers, and in the violent explosion, brown gunpowder smoke rose into the sky. It wasn't until five minutes later that a huge explosion suddenly sounded in the bow of the Exit, and a shell smashed into the No. 1 ammunition depot before it exploded. The explosion led to the detonation of the entire ammunition depot. As a result, the Izumo, which did not fire a single bullet, was blown in two, and the bow of the ship sank rapidly to the bottom of the sea.

The Izumo's close-range explosion frightened the other five ships. The five ships then turned around and ran. The officers and men on the four ships in Dinghai were also stunned, but they had just installed a rangefinder and a rudimentary fire control system, and the power and accuracy of the ship's guns could be brought into full play. But the Qing army must be a veteran of the battle for a long time, only a short time to wake up by a huge victory, since five minutes can kill one, then catch up and kill the other five together is a great military feat. When they saw the four ships in Dinghai running away, they turned their heads and chased after them.

The Iwate, which was of the same class as the Outgoing, was two knots slower than the Dinghai class, and because the Dinghai Fourth needed to adjust its course, it took five minutes before the Iwate was caught up. The Dinghai 4 ships turned again and aimed all their gun barrels at the Iwate. This time, there was no need to test fire in advance, and the gunner directly ordered three rapid fires. Two minutes later, the ships that had re-corrected and fired at the Moto again struck a saturation blow at the Iwate. Because this shelling was carried out on the port side of the Iwate, the Japanese ship's shell area increased, so it took only three minutes for the intensive artillery fire to completely hit the Iwate to the left. The captain of the Iwate raised the white flag in fright, and asked Kiyokoku to stop the shelling.

If it weren't for the fact that other countries were watching the battle, Zhou Haicheng would definitely blow up the Iwate completely, because this would shock every Japanese soldier on the Japanese fleet. But now Zhou Haicheng could only pout and chase towards the Fuji that fell at the end, this time after a full twelve minutes, only to see that Chitose, who was running the fastest, was about to rush to the side of the Japanese main fleet. Seeing that he had lost the regrouping shelling, Zhou Haicheng ordered the four ships to attack the Fuji with the bow guns.

The density of the firepower of the four ships in Dinghai, which had lost half of its firepower, immediately decreased, and the captain of the Fuji was quite experienced, seeing that he could not escape and began to maneuver in a serpentine way to avoid the artillery fire of the Qing army, but the Fuji must be a small ship, so it began to sink after holding out for five minutes, so he saw that the four ships of Dinghai, which had no chance, turned to the north to avoid.

Yamamoto Gonbei was dumbfounded when he looked at the Kongo, it took about half an hour from the appearance of the four strange Qing ** ships to the sinking of the Fuji, and in this half an hour, the three cruisers were gone, or they were gone without firing a shot. How do you explain to the cabinet this time? In particular, the sinking of the Fuji at a distance of only two thousand meters from the main formation of the fleet made Yamamoto Gonbei afraid, and the firepower of the Qing ** ship was too strong...... Yamamoto, who had lost his claim, only thought about how to bring the fleet back, forgetting about the mission and forgetting about the counteroffensive. So he ordered the fleet to continue to move at full speed in the southeast direction, trying to use the speed to get rid of the Qing pursuit.

Fisher just looked through the telescope in a daze at the slowly sinking Iwate. Izumo and Iwate in Japan, Ninghai and Jihai in the Qing Kingdom. These four warships were cruisers of the same class built by the United States as a whole, and although British Admiral Fisher, who was in a substantial alliance with Britain and Japan, did not directly see the drawings of these warships from the Japanese, he still knew the main technical parameters. This would have happened if Izumo and Iwate had been hit by a 305 mm shell. Fisher thought that was normal, but Qingguo used 152 mm shells. Although Japan reduced the thickness of its armor in pursuit of speed, it retained the ability to resist 152-mm shells. But this layer of armor was as thin as paper in front of Qing Guo's shells, and in three minutes, Qing Guo only took three minutes to penetrate the armor of the Iwate and cause it to capsize, what kind of shells did Qing Guo use?

There was something else that surprised Fisher in the Qing shelling. Fisher was also a professional artillery specialist, and he knew it very well. At present, although the naval guns of various countries can theoretically shoot more than 10,000 meters, the problem is that the firing angle is too small, and once the naval battle distance exceeds 10,000 meters. The requirements for gunners are very high, so countries basically regard 5,000 meters as the best artillery combat distance, which is a measured distance. However, after the Battle of Dadonggou and the Battle of Tsushima, the Qing navy always launched artillery bombardments at a greater distance, so the warships designed for the Japanese fleet this time were designed according to the optimal artillery battle distance of 6,000 meters. Fisher believed that once the distance was exceeded. The hit rate will drop significantly. However, this time, the Qing country's artillery bombardment distance was 8,000 meters, and the second shot hit, and the dense explosions on the Japanese ships proved that the Qing country still had a sufficient hit rate at this distance.

Fisher's eyes widened, and he searched for the four warships of the Qing Kingdom, but he did not find that there were more than 100 mm caliber guns, and the hull of nearly 10,000 tons was only arranged with four triple 152 mm naval guns, is it a bit of a waste? Perhaps the Qing were not as good as the British Empire in battleships, but Fisher understood that at least in terms of light cruisers, the Qing were ahead of the British Empire. This is a red flag. There is also a long-distance shooting from 8,000 meters away, how did the Qing people do it? Are they all clairvoyants?

Clairvoyance, of course. Otherwise, how to aim. It's just that this clairvoyance does not refer to the naked eye, but with the help of a rangefinder. A 15-meter-long periscope rangefinder on the bridge accurately provides the speed, distance, and course of an enemy ship. In addition, there are also rangefinders up to eight meters long on each turret, which can also provide firing data such as the shelling deviation of each turret. These rangefinders, along with the production process, were exchanged from Germany with mortars and grenades. When the shelling data is transmitted to the fire control room by telephone, the shelling Zhuyuan calculated under the accurate data can be accurate? !

The American admiral who came to watch the battle was George Dewey, and he just shook his head lightly again, and he was shocked by the novel warship, the special triple naval guns, and the powerful shells. The Izumo, which was sunk in five minutes, and the Iwate, which tilted in three minutes, only proved that the Japanese would not be able to use these warships, but also proved that the warships designed and produced by the United States could not meet the requirements of fierce naval warfare. This is the consequence of the fact that the United States has the largest production capacity in the world, but does not have enough production technology. But these things on the assembly can only be done step by step, he can only feed these things back to the US Department of the Navy, and now he is only concerned with tactics. Although the serpentine maneuver of the last Fuji was well done, the Japanese panicked and only remembered to escape, forgetting that their ship's tail guns could still be used when retreating. Although it was outside the effective range, it was a straight-line pursuit, and even if it could not hit the Qing ship, it could effectively slow down the speed of the Qing ship's pursuit, but the panicked Japan forgot that they only knew how to escape. As a result, the Japanese fleet sank three ships before firing a single shot. The suddenness of the tactics of the Qing Kingdom and the special warships played a very good effect, completely suppressing the Japanese, and now the entire Japanese fleet began to flee.

Everyone seems to have forgotten one thing, there is also a Qing third task force composed of old warships with a speed of only 16 knots in the northeast of the Japanese Combined Fleet, and this fleet led by Deng Shichang himself began to sprint towards the Japanese fleet at full speed.

Gonbei Yamamoto was not a qualified fleet commander, but he still had enough vision, and he spotted the third task force of the Qing Kingdom that was slowly but aggressively rushing towards him. Once intercepted by them, the entire Japanese navy was in danger of being destroyed.

"Fire, stop them." Yamamoto ordered the fleet to open fire, and it was necessary to block these Qing fleets. However, Yamamoto still miscalculated the timing of his own fleet reorganization. Because in the past half hour, Yamamoto still hasn't finished regrouping the fleet, and he still needs at least twenty minutes. And behind him, the main fleet of the Qing State was getting closer and closer.

Deng Shichang is also an old navy, although his fleet has increased the firing angle of artillery, so that it can also reach an effective firing range of 5,000 meters, but neither speed nor firepower is enough to compete with the Japanese fleet, and if you want to successfully intercept the Japanese fleet, the only opportunity is to take advantage of the fact that the Japanese ships are reorganizing and the speed has not yet been raised. Once the Japanese ships completed the formation and began to accelerate, they could no longer catch up.

"Full speed, full speed. Leave these shells alone, give me a shot at close range. Deng Shichang led the fleet to meet the shelling of the Japanese ships as soon as they entered the firing distance of the Japanese ships at a distance of six thousand meters. It's just that the Japanese fleet in a panic did not have a unified command, and the messy cannon sounds sounded everywhere, making the Japanese fleet, which was far stronger than the Qing State, unable to give full play to its superiority in firepower. The level of the Japanese gunners was also so poor that none of the shells of various calibers, from 102 mm to 305 mm, hit. The 3rd Task Force of the Qing Kingdom rushed safely towards the course of the Japanese fleet under the seemingly dangerous rain of bullets.

"Right rudder, keep your distance from the ship. The other ships immediately went to the array. "Distance is the best way to keep the Japanese ships able to get rid of the Qing ships smoothly, Yamamoto ordered the artillery to block the attack, and on the other hand to speed up the adjustment of formation. It's just that he is still not a qualified fleet commander, and he will not be able to reorganize his fleet in a short time. And the Qing capital ship group behind him is getting closer and closer. Yamamoto doesn't want to line up the fleet as neatly, as long as he can make a look.

When the Japanese ships began to fire at the approaching Task Force 3, the 2nd Task Force was still 10,000 meters away from the Japanese ships' main formation. Because it was a Japanese fleet in pursuit of a formation at a speed of 14 knots, it took a full ten minutes to reach the optimal firing range of 8,000 meters. And in these ten minutes, the formation of the Japanese fleet was not yet neat, but at least it had a shape, with the flagship Kongo taking the lead, and Hiei, Hatsuse, and Shikishima following closely behind. Asama and Joban are sandwiched in the middle, followed by Toyama, Yashima, Asahi and Mikasa, and behind Azuma and Yakumoden. Chitose, Kasaki, and Suma are approaching the fleet at the very end. So Yamamoto ordered the Japanese fleet to begin to accelerate.

Deng Shichang was going crazy, no matter how much he asked the fleet to speed up, but the speed of the fleet was so fast. It was not that he did not want to let the four cruisers of his squadron accelerate forward, the key was that these old cruisers could not stop the Japanese fleet that was colliding head-on, and the Japanese fleet was constantly deflecting its course, making it impossible for Deng Shichang to approach the Japanese ships to the effective range, and stopped the third task force in the east direction, which could not stop due south due because of its speed. So Deng Shichang watched as the Japanese fleet began to accelerate.

"What is Lao Deng doing? Why don't you fire yet. He ordered the four ships of Dinghai to rush forward, and the combined fleet was to be stopped no matter what. Tell Zhou Haicheng that even if he runs out of all, he will go back to Lao Tzu to smash the pot and sell iron, and build him four more ships. Wu Deren jumped to his feet in a hurry, and if he couldn't intercept the Japanese fleet again, he slipped away: "Open fire, open fire, fire on the Japanese ships that enter the firing range." ”

Yu Dinghai's four ships bypassed the Third Task Force at a speed of 23 knots and plunged southward. Whether it is effective to use light patrols to intercept battleship formations, whether it is Deng Shichang, Wu Deren, Feng Qi or Cheng Cheng, who is in charge of Lushun, has no bottom in his heart. (To be continued......)