Since the declaration of war between China and Japan, the world has been watching Japan and China, two Asian countries, the former after decades of hard work to defeat the Qing and Russia to become the world's most visible powers, while the latter since the liberation of the country, abandon all domestic problems, seek military power, so as to revive the name of the great powers.

battleship

Observers almost all over the world believe that for China or Japan, the real decisive battle is not on land, but at sea, but in naval battles.

The December 9 issue of the British magazine "Techno-World" discussed the Sino-Japanese naval battle that could break out at any time in the future, which is destined to be an event that will be of the world's attention.

"The impact of this imminent naval war on history will be an unprecedented naval battle in history, and the focus will be on sea supremacy. Japan, like the British, had similar geographical conditions as an island empire, and it was not here to belittle the value of the Japanese Army, which could not break through the defense line of the Yalu River, but the victory in the land battle should have played only an auxiliary role in this Sino-Japanese war. For China and Japan, the war can only be won if they gain sea supremacy. To use an analogy, it can also be said that in this war, for China, which has a superior army, even if they occupy the whole of Korea, they only won the Battle of the Nile, and the Battle of Trafalgar has not yet begun. If Admiral Nelson loses to Admiral Vernowe of France, the British Army will not be able to play any role on the Tunisian peninsula, just as the Duke of Wellington cannot be expected to win at Waterloo.

What would happen if Liu Guanxiong lost to Heihachiro Togo in a naval battle? Then having an elite army and winning many battles will only become a glorious past......"

After a sharp discussion, it also made a comparison between the Chinese and Japanese fleets.

It begins with the decisive battle strength of the two sides and the warships. The Japanese side has nine warships (including five cutting-edge warships), while China has 11 warships, and China has two Zhiyuan-class giant ships, so Japan is at a numerical disadvantage. However, of the 11 warships owned by the Chinese side, five are on their way home, and two are deep-sea floating warships, which is another disadvantage for China. In terms of the quality of naval officers and men, Japan has a slight advantage in this respect.

China surpassed Japan in the number of warships and the number of guns over nine inches. The Japanese had an advantage in the number of armored cruisers and rapid-fire guns under eight feet, and the material conditions of the battle were essentially the same on both sides. Another fact is that the Chinese Zhenyang Fleet is divided into two fleets, one is the First Fleet stationed on the mainland, and the other is the Second Fleet, which is composed of old Anglo-German warships and cruisers that were urgently purchased after the declaration of war.

This gave Japan the opportunity to break through and avoid the convergence of the First and Second Fleets of the Zhenyang Fleet.

In the commentary, the naval battle was defined as "a naval battle in which modern fleets fought each other on the premise of destroying each other."

On the premise that the material conditions of the two armies are basically the same, the quality and technology of the officers and men who use these materials will determine the victory or defeat of this naval battle, and it is impossible to quantify all these things, so it did not continue to comment.

"The facts of the South China Sea encounter have proved that the quality and technology of China's naval soldiers are by no means as vulnerable as the world imagined, and their will to fight is not inferior to that of any other country's navy."

While commenting on this, it also thinks that the Japanese side is also very good at this. After all, for the world, the Japanese Navy had just won a sea battle with a huge disparity in strength seven months ago, and in this sea battle, the Japanese Navy won a huge victory with almost zero damage, which was enough to give him the capital to be proud of the other countries.

The most important point is whether the Second Fleet of the Zhenyang Fleet can safely arrive at Sanduao, and whether the Zhenyang Fleet can be fully engaged in naval warfare, which is directly related to whether the Chinese Navy can win, and it is precisely because of this that the world will pay so much attention to the Second Fleet of the Zhenyang Fleet of the Imperial Chinese Imperial Guards Navy.

On December 20, at 15:02 p.m., after the Jiyuan ship fired the first shot, the naval battle in the South China Sea began.

At 15:03, after two calibrations, the seven warships of the Second Fleet formed the first salvo, targeting the flagship of the Combined Fleet, the "Shikishima", which was turning in front of the enemy and was powerless to fight back.

"The Second Fleet's shooting was accurate and ferocious."

Lieutenant Commander Wick of the British Royal Navy standing in the command tower of the "Shikishima"? Dulus couldn't help but praise from the bottom of his heart as he looked at the bullet column that completely surrounded the "Shikishima" and the flames that continued to explode from the side of the "Shikishima". ,

A grenade, perhaps a grenade of about 6 inches, exploded on the front deck of the bridge, and the moment the flames rose, shards of steel flew into the command tower from the observation window, and several officers and sailors were hit by shrapnel in an instant.

"True to the Nelson of the East"

When looking towards Togo, Wick? Dulus couldn't help but praise inwardly, at this time Marshal Togo was still standing there, and beside him was a junior officer who had been hit in the head by shrapnel and his brain was splashing, not even a foot away, but at this time, he was still standing there with an unchanged face.

“…… The first salvo, a ten-inch shell, hit the 152-mm auxiliary gun gallery of No. 1 on the port side in front of our ship's amidship, and the shell immediately tore through the armor belt of our ship and exploded inside the gun gallery, and the No. 1 gun was destroyed immediately, and the backup ammunition was detonated......"

From the officer's report, Wick, who can speak fluent Japanese? Dulus couldn't help but admire the Chinese gunners 12 kilometers away, their shelling was really ...... It's so accurate

At this time, the "Shikishima" had not yet fired, and even it would take him a few minutes to complete the turn, and it would take even ten minutes to fight back.

It seems that it was the Chinese who played a role in the training of long-range artillery warfare.

"Hmm"

Dongxiang, who was expressionless, just nodded.

He was really not expecting the Second Fleet's firepower to be so fierce, and it would take five minutes to complete the turn, which meant that he could not fight back at all, and in these five minutes, how many salvos would the Chinese find?

At this time, Togo even began to consider whether it was a little unwise to turn forward in the face of five Chinese battleships

But at this time, Heihachiro Togo no longer had any choice

His eyes were fixed on the columns of water that had formed near-misses, and as a veteran admiral, it was just the rising columns of water, which allowed him to see some details that were not noticed.

The shells that fall in the sea will blow up a huge column of water, and the water column will stay in the air for about 5 seconds, while the shells fired by the Chinese Navy are divided into two types, there is a large water column, which can stay in the air for more than 7 seconds, and this water column is yellow-green from the root to half the height, and Togo Heihachiro is very familiar with this color, this is picric acid explosives, and the lower gargle explosives used by the combined fleet are also picric acid explosives, and after the Battle of Tsushima, the entire sea area of the battle was completely dyed yellow.

The other type of water column with a slightly smaller volume and height can only stay in the air for three to four seconds, and this water column is white from the root, which indicates that it uses other types of explosives, and the charge is very limited, which is an armor-piercing projectile

Nearly half of the near-miss shells were not very large white water columns, and as for those large water columns, from the analysis of the size of the columns, they should be 150 mm shells.

"Whew"

In just a few seconds, Heihachiro Togo, who made a judgment, breathed a sigh of relief at this time.

This means that to some extent, they do not need to consider the damage caused by the near miss, the same quality, the same performance of the explosive, if it explodes in the seawater, the impact force is 800 times that of the air, under such an impact force, it only needs to be repeated several times to make the enemy ship's hull, especially the connecting rivets fatigue and break, close misses have a better effect than direct hits, which is the reason why the Iji Shin tube was used in the first place, and it can even be said that it is one of the reasons for the victory in the Battle of Tsushima.

At this time, the unexpected discovery made Dongxiang breathe a sigh of relief, if the Chinese Navy used high-explosive bombs, then these near-miss bombs were enough to make the hull of the "Shikishima" cracks into the water.

It seems that the facts have proved his judgment, and after the end of the first round, there was no news of the flooding of the "Shikishima" units, only the port side No. 1 gun was hit, the gun position was destroyed, and the ammunition was detonated, but the damage was bearable.

"Very good"

The unimaginable hit rate made Cheng Biguang praise vigorously.

"Fight hard, you must sink the "Shikishima"

Almost at the moment when his words came out, another loud bang sounded in his ears, and the salvo of the main gun in front of the Dingyuan only allowed a scorching burst of flames and a stream of heat to rush into the command tower of the Dingyuan, which was the second salvo

Although the 254-millimeter guns used in the Dingyuan-class battleships can only fire 500-pound shells, which is inferior to the 800-pound shells fired by the 305-mm cannons, compared with the 305-mm main guns, his rate of fire is higher, and he can reach a rate of fire of 3.5 rounds a minute, which can not only preemptively strike, but also give full play to the best results they can achieve during training along the way. ,

Especially after the first salvo, the passive beating of the opponent and the effect of hitting the enemy ships, when the gunners of the Second Fleet shouted excitedly, quickly calmed down, and they began to aim and shoot like an artillery exercise. And the operators of the 3.5-meter vernier rangefinder on the top of the mast, in order to further enhance the hit rate, they have mobilized the magnification wheel, with the help of several sets of optical lenses, magnified the Japanese battleship at a distance of 12,000 meters by 20 times, which has reached the maximum magnification of the rangefinder.

"Your Excellency, we should use the Blossom Bomb instead"

Almost immediately after the second round of salvo fire, Zheng Rucheng put forward his own suggestion, he wanted to use high-explosive shells to form a near-miss bomb has increased the habit of damage to "Shikishima", and the flowering bomb is just a personal habitual title.

"Blossom Bomb"

Cheng Biguang's brows furrowed, and he shook his head as he looked at the front main turret that was preparing for the third salvo.

The 10-inch naval gun has a low trajectory and a faster rate of fire, but the shells are too light, the charge of the high-explosive shell is limited, and the lethality of the close missile is small, which is the biggest deficiency of the 10-inch naval gun.

"The caliber of the cannon is too small, and the estimated damage can be achieved within less than 5 meters, and even if it is a salvo, one hit, it is enough to severely damage the "Shikishima" " "

“20、21、22……”

When Cheng Biguang rejected Zheng Rucheng's suggestion, the chief of staff of the Second Fleet took a stopwatch to calculate the falling bombs.

With accurate ranging, the Second Fleet's usual emphasis on rate of fire began to play into play, and the high rate of fire brought about by the hit rate was also demonstrated.

In just 20 seconds between the first salvo and the second salvo, the Japanese sailors on the "Shikishima" fully demonstrated their quality; on the deck where the bombs were falling and burning, the high-pressure water dragon dispersed the flames, and the sailors pushing the wooden mops desperately dragged away the flames with wet sand, and the instinct generated by strict training made them move very quickly, and it took almost only a few seconds for a few flames on the deck to be swept away.

Chirp......

When the shells and planes came, the whistling sound that tore through the sky and even the explosion was muffled After the second round of salvo fire, the battleship "Shikishima" was completely surrounded by water columns tens of meters high, and the hull was surrounded by water columns that soared into the sky, higher than the chimney, and then splashed on its body. Occasionally, the sailors would notice something flying in front of them even in a flash of light or a black shadow, and it was scattered shrapnel.

The second salvo of the Second Fleet only landed on the hull with only a few explosive shells, which made Wick, who was arranged as a military attache to watch the battle? Dulus was in a relaxed mood, although he was watching the battle, but here, he really needed to be prepared to die in battle.

"Maybe I could have caught a cannonball flying over just now."

Wake who was relieved and took a photo? Durus was also in the mood to joke, and said with a smile that he said this because he was carrying a camera, but it would take a lot of courage for a military attache to get on the bridge during the battle, but he didn't care much.

At the same time, Togo, who was standing on the bridge, did not use a telescope but silently watched the port side. It wasn't much use to use a telescope at this time, the weather was good today, and the line of sight was very wide. In this state, you don't need a telescope, and it is enough to look at it with the naked eye.

However, he still had a telescope on his chest, and Togo, who looked solemn, looked up at the sky, and at three o'clock in the afternoon, the sun was in the west.

Only then did Togo pick up his binoculars and look at the Second Fleet to the west, then shook his head again.

When Dongxiang looked up at the sky, Cheng Biguang also looked at the sky, and he knew that he was in the west.

"When does the sun start to set in the South China Sea?"

"Sir, 5:20 p.m. to 50 p.m."

Well

Nodding his head, Cheng Biguang understood that he still had an hour to spare, naval warfare has always been a war of technology and calculation, and the battle between warships is battleship construction and artillery construction, but the most important thing is precise calculation, not only in terms of ranging and other artillery calculations, but also in calculating the impact of various natural conditions on naval warfare.

In naval warfare, the western side is undoubtedly at a disadvantage, especially when the western sky is clear and the sea horizon is clear, the side silhouette of the fleet living in the western region will be completely captured, and the impact point of the opposing side will be easily recognized, and as the sun sets in the west, the problem will only get worse. ,

After the third salvo fired, with a raised right hand, Cheng Biguang gave an order.

"3rd degree right"

"3rd degree right"

The order was repeated, and the 3-degree turn would not affect the next artillery battle, but the most important thing was that Cheng Biguang knew that he had to seize the natural advantage, at least when everything was still in a hurry, to get rid of the disadvantage that he would face in an hour.

The third turn, in the eyes of 12,000 outside, almost did not change, but this Second Fleet continued to fly towards the "Shikishima" like artillery training, the third round, the fourth round, at least three salvos per minute, which is far beyond the rate of fire of any decisive battle of the main fleet.

At 15:04, in the third round of volleys, "Shikishima", which was still being transferred, was attacked unilaterally. The sound of explosions around the warship was earth-shattering, and the port side of the "Shikishima," which had been completely facing the muzzle of the Second Fleet with its port hull, was constantly hit as if it had been hit by a huge hammer again, and the secondary guns on the port side and the secondary guns on the port side were damaged even before a single shot was fired.

After the armor-piercing shells penetrated the fleet, the torn fragments of armor steel and the steel fragments after the explosion of the shells flew everywhere in the ship, sweeping the sailors to the ground like mowing grass, and the decks and cabins were instantly bleeding.

"Boom ......"

When the fourth salvo of shells flew, there was a loud bang like a bell, which once again shocked everyone, and it was definitely the port side armor belt that the ten-inch shell accurately hit.

A 10-inch mild steel armor-piercing shell accurately hit the portside armor belt near the waterline, like a giant's heavy fist armor-piercing projectile in the penetration of the armor steel at the same time, the kinetic energy impact, vibrating the fixed "Shikishima" armor belt and dozens of mild steel rivets on the ship's board, the armor-piercing bullet first penetrated the armor steel, and then penetrated the ship's board, and the accurate hit of the downward trajectory hit a boiler, at the moment of breaking through the boiler, the shell exploded on the inside of the boiler, and the 5 kg of TNT explosives may not be very powerful, But after the explosion in the boiler, it exerted its maximum power.

In an instant, the sailors who were constantly shoveling coal in front of the boiler rushed towards them with white mist in the explosion, which was the boiling water in the boiler, and the boiling water and debris exploded on their bodies, instantly scalding off their skin, and the next fragments, like God's favor, took their lives before they let out a painful scream......

The sailors in the boiler room on the port side were all thrown to the ground like dominoes, and at the same time, the boiler explosion also splashed countless debris in all directions, and the shock wave of the internal explosion directly hit the bulkhead, and after the ship's side was injured by rivet breakage, it was torn open again and a larger hole was torn open, and seawater poured into the boiler room shrouded in boiling water and flames along a gap of tens of centimeters.

"Water ingress from the explosion in the port side boiler compartment"

Although he has a lot of respect for Togo, after the explosion of the fleet, the explosion of flames gushing out of the ventilation pipes, and the smell of old eggs mixed with water and coal after that, even at this time, Wick? Duluce also had a hunch that Togo was about to lose his flagship

The goddess of victory smiled at Cheng Biguang.

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