The sky was overcast, the sea breeze was howling, and the cannon from the South China Sea was roaring like thunder.

After a series of tactical changes, the Pacific Fleet of the Imperial Chinese Navy completed its tactical positioning, intercepted the British fleet's advance horizontally, and formed a favorable "T" horizontal attack posture for the British Asian Fleet.

At 2:18 p.m., 5,600 meters apart, five battleships of the First Squadron of the Pacific Fleet fired their first salvo of fire at the British Asian Fleet's flagship Counterattack.

"Knock knock!"

Five Xia Dynasty-class battleships, forty 305-mm guns fired a salvo, instantly smashing 16-ton shells at the counterattack.

"Boom!"

A series of violent explosions caused huge columns of water to rise on the surface of the sea. The waves splashed hundreds of meters, instantly enveloping the counterattack in mist and smoke. The huge blast wave set off huge waves more than ten meters high, and wave after wave crashed into the counterattack, causing it to roll badly.

"See? This is the salvo power of a new concept battleship! Lyons said to Chief of Staff Bill with an anxious expression.

"What a lot of firepower!" Bill couldn't help but marvel, and only then did he understand why Lyons had been refusing to leave the port to fight the main forces of the Pacific Fleet. The firepower of one of the opponent's Divine Bow battleships was on top of its own two battleships, and the fire of five Divine Bow battleships fired a salvo, and the counterattack was suddenly in great danger. So he said: "Their goal is very clear, that is, to be the first to sink our flagship and paralyze our command." ”

"It's a pity! We didn't catch the golden five minutes just now, otherwise Lin Jianzhang's flagship would have sunk into the sea by now. Lyons was still remorseful about his mistake.

At the same time, four battleships of the Second Squadron of the Pacific Fleet also launched a fire salvo on the Bulwark, the flagship of the British Asian Fleet's Second Fleet. Similarly, the other sub-divisions of the Pacific Fleet also completed tactical maneuvers one after another, and took the lead in attacking the flagships of the British sub-divisions in accordance with the predetermined battle plan.

Nearly 40 warships of the Pacific Fleet fired a salvo of more than 500 cannons on their sides, and the momentum was earth-shattering.

In an instant, more than 500 shells of various types pierced through the fire at the muzzle of the cannons, slid into the gloomy sky, formed parabolas of different heights and lengths, and smashed into the British Asian Fleet thousands of meters away, raining down bullets.

Looking at the overwhelming number of shells flying over, because of the distance of five or six kilometers, the shells glided for seven or eight seconds, and the whistling sound frightened the British officers and men to turn pale.

"Boom!"

One after another, violent explosions set off a series of sky-high water columns on the sea around the battleship, the smallest ones were three or four meters high, and the largest water column was caused by 305 artillery shells, piercing through the sea surface for 100 meters, and the power was astonishing and spectacular.

More than 500 shells, but it is enough to make people tremble. However, because it was the first round of firepower, the hit rate was almost zero, and the shells deviated from the intended trajectory by up to 150 meters, so the impact points were scattered over the sea in a radius of more than ten kilometers, and for the British Navy, this round of shelling was not dangerous.

The objectives of the various sub-divisions of the Pacific Fleet were very clear, and they were all aimed at the flagships of the various sub-divisions of the British Fleet. Lyons immediately ordered: "All detachments immediately evade!" ”

The Counterattack immediately raised the flag and turned to the left, trying to avoid the T-fire of the Pacific Fleet. But before the counterattack could complete its turn, the second salvo of fire from the five battleships of the First Squadron of the Pacific Fleet began.

"Correct Zhuyuan, the distance is 5500 meters, the elevation angle is increased by 1, and the square deviation is corrected to the left by 4." After judging the distribution of the impact points of the first fire salvo, the ships of the First Squadron quickly corrected the firing parameters.

"Preview azimuth 010, calibration 120 meters in advance, two rounds of rapid fire ready!"

"Ready~put!"

The order was given, and the five battleships of the First Sentai immediately opened fire, and forty 305-mm shells whistled towards the surface position that the Counterattack would enter in the next ten seconds.

The 400-kilogram bomb made a long arc in the air, flew for ** seconds and then fell into the predetermined sea, exploding one after another in all directions of the counterattack.

Shells exploded violently, causing smoke and rain in the sky. One 305-millimeter shell from each of the two ships, Zhongkang and Dixiang, hit the bow and amidships of the counterattack.

"Boom! Boom! ”

Two 400-kilogram shells, one exploded on the bow deck, instantly tearing open the horizontal deck, tearing a hole more than three meters wide on the deck up to 127 mm thick, and flames and smoke poured out from the hole. Another shell hit the starboard ship island, instantly penetrating the 67-millimeter protective wall of the ship island, and continuously penetrated through three layers of protection walls, and exploded inside the second floor of the ship island, instantly blasting a huge hole more than two meters wide in the middle and rear of the ship island, and dozens of British officers and men were blown to minced meat on the spot.

The violent explosion caused a torrent of fire and billowing smoke, and nearby British firefighters rushed forward to extinguish the fire and rescue the wounded.

The huge blast wave of the explosion made the officers such as Lyons and Bill, who were staying in the command tower, feel it instantly. The second round of shelling was already a hit, and they were shocked by the accuracy of the shelling of the new concept battleship.

"Left rudder 15 immediately evade!"

Lyons relied on his experience to make drastic adjustments quickly.

Thunderbolts roared in the gloomy sky, the sea was rough, and the ships of the British Navy were like boats in a storm, swaying with the shock waves of the huge waves.

At 2:22 p.m., the battleship Fortress, the flagship of the British Second Fleet, was hit by a third salvo of fire from the Second Squadron of the Pacific Fleet, with two 305-mm shells piercing through the 230-mm protective armor on the starboard side of the ship's amidship, and then two layers of 35-millimeter-thick decks, exploding in the lower cabins.

Suddenly, two 400-kilogram shells exploded violently, blowing a huge hole with a diameter of five meters in the middle of the fortress. The fierce fire followed the shock wave into the cabins of the various layers of the ship, and immediately ignited the fire and released billowing smoke, so that the entire rear of the battleship was filled with thick smoke, and the personnel could not breathe, and a large number of people suffocated to death. At the same time, thick smoke erupted from the blast vent and enveloped the entire battleship.

The British Navy was shocked by the hanging of the flagship of the second division, and for the first time they saw the cruelty of naval warfare, even their battleships seemed to be incapable in front of the new concept battleships of the Pacific Fleet.

"Boom, boom!"

The successive shelling of the ships of the Pacific Fleet made the British fleet tremble, although most of them were still close to missing, but the impact point of the bullets was already very close to their warships, and the rich naval experience and strict gunnery training of the Chinese Imperial Navy suddenly highlighted their superiority at this moment. In particular, the nine Divine Bow battleships of the First and Second Squadrons had a much higher hit rate than the other battleships, and they were much faster. The first hit was almost made in the second and third rounds, and the hits were even faster after that.

This is real naval warfare! British sailors, who had never experienced such a large-scale naval battle, suddenly lost the glory that had accumulated for hundreds of years at that moment, and was replaced by fear.

The biggest weakness of the navy, which has not experienced naval battles, is the lack of psychological quality and the fear of facing enemy artillery fire. Even if they are well-trained elite soldiers in peacetime, they cannot bring into play their usual training level because they do not have good actual combat experience and mental quality at this moment. This is difficult for even the British Navy to avoid.

Because of the previous radio failure, the British fleet became disorganized in formation, and when it was fiercely attacked by the Pacific Fleet, the British fleet was suppressed by fire everywhere due to its lack of actual combat experience. The L-shaped turn of the Pacific Fleet not only intercepted the British fleet, but the nine battleships of the 1st and 2nd fleets defended the British main fleet with their strong and durable armor, and broke through the formation of the main force of the British fleet. The other squadrons of the Pacific Fleet, on the other hand, concentrated their superior firepower and slammed the flagships of the British sub-squadrons, causing further loss of control in the command system of the British fleet.

"Avoid! Evade it now! ”

Many British flagship commanders gave orders, but when they were nervous, they forgot to order the team to avoid to the left or to the right. They either evade to the left or to the right. Suddenly, the original queue formation was all out of order. At this moment, every British battleship was only dodging the shells of the Imperial Chinese Navy, completely forgetting the formation.

On the battleship Diqi, Lin Jianzhang was very happy to see the British flagship being shot and catching fire, and the other British fleet formations being scattered. At this moment in the naval battle, the Pacific Fleet had seized the initiative and taken a big step towards victory.

"Order the ships of the First Squadron to concentrate their firepower on their fleet flagship, and the other squadrons to continue to maintain the offensive and strive to paralyze the command system of the enemy fleet as soon as possible."

The interrogation room over the island quickly reported the error in the distribution of the impact points to the central fire control command room. The central fire control command room quickly corrected the ballistics further and gave orders to the artillery commander in the turrets of the four twin main guns.

"Correct the elements, the azimuth remains the same, the elevation angle is increased by 1, and the distance is 5400 meters!"

"100 meters in advance, two rapid fire ready!"

"Ready~Fire!"

Less than a minute after the previous round of shelling, after a quick correction of the elements, the next round of salvo fire. The main guns roared again, and 305-mm shells burst into the sky, whistling and smashing towards the British flagship Counterattack with the breath of death.

At 2:43 p.m., the British Asian Fleet's flagship counterattack was attacked by the First Squadron of the Pacific Fleet, and the hull was hit by bullets in many places, and half of the fragile island was blown away, and the flames were blazing and thick smoke billowed out. After the destruction of the flag suspension system, the Counterattack was no longer able to relay command messages to other British warships.

The Counterattack had a composite armor of up to 356 mm, and the Pacific Fleet's 305 mm shells could not inflict fatal penetrating damage and could theoretically sink it. However, after being bombarded by more than a dozen 350 shells, the counterattack suffered heavy casualties among the personnel on the deck, and under the explosion of 400 kilograms of shells, more than half of the casualties were killed, and the fire extinguishing team on the deck was even dead, the fire extinguishing equipment was destroyed, and the fire could not be controlled.

As a result, the flames on the Counterattack were ablaze, and the smoke obscured the artillery firing range, and even Lyons in the Commander Tower could not see the situation outside. Lyons wanted to go out to command, but was desperately held back by Bill and others, so he became blind and at a loss about the development of the battle situation.

At the same time, the Fortress, the flagship of the Second Squadron of the British Fleet, was besieged by four battleships of the Second Squadron of the Pacific Fleet: the Tihuai, the Dimang, the Digao and the Yinjia. No matter how the Barrier evaded, because its speed was less than 16 knots, in the face of the enemy fleet with a speed of up to 21 knots, the Barrier was always in a passive position.

At 2:45 a.m., the Fortress Command Tower was directly hit by two 305-mm shells fired from the No. 2 turret of the Dihuai. The command tower, which was only 254 mm protected, was suddenly penetrated, and the shells exploded, killing and wounding 17 British naval officers in an instant, and the British Navy Second Squadron also lost its command.

Similarly, the British Navy's Third Squadron Flagship Republic, Fourth Squadron Flagship Speed, and Fifth Squadron Flagship Warrior were all severely damaged, and the flagship command failed, causing the British fleet to be in complete and obvious chaos. The various warring units of the Pacific Fleet carried out effective communication with each other through radio, attacked in a joint attack, and adopted various tactics to attack the lone British battleships, and successively inflicted heavy damage on the four battleships Hannidial, the Mars, the Pafleur, and the Captain of the Centurion.

At 2:49 a.m., when the Pacific Fleet's Sixth Squadron's four ships, the Chasing Wind, the Wind, the Hunter and the Brave, were besieging the British Fleet's Seventh Detachment's flagship Blake, the Hunter hit the Blake's stern rudder with a main gun shell, damaging her rudder and rendering it incapacitated. The Wind Chaser then inserted diagonally from the Blake's firing blind angle and fired two bow torpedoes, one of which hit the Blake's waterline belt.

With a loud bang, a huge hole was blown open on the starboard side of the Blake, and fire and smoke erupted, and then the sea poured violently into it. The sailors on the Blake were drowned before they could close the gap, and the battleship sank rapidly.

Three minutes later, the Chengfeng approached again and fired a torpedo, sending the 13,000-ton cruiser Blake to the bottom of the sea.

At 2:50 a.m., the main force of the British fleet completely fell into a situation of passive attack, and after the fleet lost the command of its flagship, the flagships of each detachment were also severely damaged by various detachments of the Pacific Fleet, and they lost their command ability one after another, causing the ships of the British fleet to collapse as a result.

At 2:53, the Minotaur, the fourth ship of the fifth division of the British fleet, was the first to break away from the formation and fled to the east. Immediately afterwards, the fifth ship of the fifth division, the defense, and the sixth ship, the Shannon, also broke away from the formation and turned around and retreated with the Minotaur.

At 2:57, the Republic, the flagship of the third squadron of the British fleet, was bruised all over the body by the four ships of the fourth squadron of the Pacific Fleet, namely Jianwei, Xuanwei, Zhiwei, and Panyun, and played the flag of "this ship has been heavily damaged and exited the battle sequence", and handed over the command of the second squadron to the second ship, the New Zealand, as a result, the New Zealand immediately turned around and sailed westward, leading the Indians and the Nelson to try to break away from the battle.

Ten minutes later, the 3rd Squadron of the Pacific Fleet received a request from the 4th Squadron to assist in interception, so it temporarily gave up attacking the 6th Detachment of the British Fleet, took a detour from the northeast to the right front of the 3rd Detachment of the British Fleet, and fired a cannon onslaught on the New Zealand, forcing the New Zealand to turn around and evade. At this time, the 4th Squadron of the Pacific Fleet quickly caught up and flanked the New Zealand, the Indian, and the Nelson with the 3rd Squadron.

As the New Zealand became the flagship, it was immediately subjected to saturated shelling from the left and right flanks, and soon the New Zealand was hit by a bullet and caught fire. The Indians and Nelson tried to block the shells for the New Zealand, but were intercepted by the Jianwei and Xuanwei respectively, and the two sides immediately fought fiercely.

At 3:15 a.m., the New Zealand sank. The four ships Tayun, Chongyun, Cirrus and Bayun turned around to reinforce Jianwei and Xuanwei, and together they besieged the Indians and Nelson.

At 3:45, the Indian lost its combat effectiveness and hoisted a white flag in surrender. The Nelson was badly damaged and tried to escape to no avail, but was captured and chose to sink itself.

On the other side, the Mars, the acting flagship of the Second Squadron of the British Fleet, led more than a dozen British warships to due south, trying to break away from the battle.

At 2:58, the 1st Pacific Fleet gave up attacking the British 1st Detachment and cooperated with the 2nd Fleet to attack the British Fleet trying to break away from the battlefield.

At 3:17, the first and second teams of the Pacific Fleet flanked the British fleet together, and the Mars was besieged by the three ships of the Dihuai, Dimang, and Digao, and the hull was shot and caught fire in many places.

At 3:23, Caesar tried to come up to relieve the siege of Mars, but at this time, the first team of the Pacific Fleet happened to implement a fire salvo on Mars, but Mars evaded, and most of the shells hit Caesar.

The Caesar, which had only 228 mm of broadside protective armor, was pierced by six 305 mm shells in an instant, two of which were fatal through-hit shells, which directly penetrated the ship's amidship boiler room and caused a large explosion, and the entire Caesar was instantly blown into four pieces and disintegrated on the sea, and none of the 670 people on the ship were spared.

The Mars took advantage of the chaos to escape, and the other British warships had no intention of fighting, and followed the Mars to constantly turn around in an attempt to avoid the deadly attack of the Imperial Chinese Navy's artillery fire.

Beginning at four o'clock in the afternoon, the sea breeze was getting stronger, heavy rain began to fall in the overcast sky, and the reconnaissance aircraft of the Pacific Fleet were forced to retract.

Half an hour later, the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd fleets of the Pacific Fleet successively lost visual contact with the British main fleet.

However, the 4th, 5th, and 7th Fleets of the Pacific Fleet continued to bite the remnants of the British fleet and continued to fight in the east, south, and northwest directions.

At 4:35 a.m., the remaining three warships of the British Navy's Seventh Division, the Blenheim, Cumberland, and Cornwall, were sunk one after another, and the three ships of the Fifth Squadron of the Pacific Fleet, the Brave and the Brave, were severely damaged and were forced to withdraw from the battle sequence, and at the same time, the Brave of the Sixth Squadron also withdrew from the battle because of more than half of the casualties.

These battleships were all relatively old armored cruisers, respectively from Italy and France, with a tonnage of only about 7,000 tons, and they were sure to suffer losses in the battle against the three 13,000-ton first-class cruisers of the British Navy's Seventh Division.

The tactic pursued by the Imperial Chinese Navy was to take the initiative to withdraw from the battle sequence once its own warships were heavily damaged, and preserving strength was the first priority, rather than the previous Beiyang Naval Division's fatal rule of preferring to sink rather than quit the team. Because for the navy, the construction period of a warship is too long, once the war sinks, there will be no chance, because the war will not last that long, and the new warship will not be able to catch up with the war after the war sinks, so saving the warship is the first criterion during the war.

Of course, for the current main force of the Pacific Fleet, victory is a foregone conclusion, and the four brave battleships that have withdrawn from the battle sequence have nothing to do with the overall situation.

Now the primary purpose of the Pacific Fleet is to find the remnants of the British fleet that have escaped as soon as possible, and to destroy them in line with the principle of taking advantage of your illness and killing you.

(To be continued)