In the Battle of Torres Strait, the capital ships of the Second Fleet of the Far East of the Tsarist Russian Empire were suddenly attacked by the submarine fleet of the Chinese Imperial Navy, and because no one had any experience in anti-submarine warfare, it lost 11 capital battleships and 2 cruisers in an instant. Only the flagship of the Second Squadron, Nicholas I, remained among the battleships, and the three battleships Borgo, Aurora, and Dmitry of the cruiser fleet, as well as a dozen gunboats and transport and supply ships, were trapped in a wide area of water in the middle of the strait.

"Didi! Tick tick! ”

Inside the bighead carp submarine, the dispatcher was urgently sending a report to the Dengyun, the flagship of the Pacific Fleet, to inform him of the results of the ambush in the strait.

"The submarine fleet raid was successful, and the main Russian fleet has been heavily damaged."

The bridge staff officer of the Dengyun hurriedly took a telegram and reported it to the fleet commander Lin Jianzhang.

Lin Jianzhang was overjoyed when he heard this, and hurriedly ordered the whole fleet to continue to search and advance towards the exit of the Coral Sea in the strait.

At 2:10 p.m., the 6th Squadron discovered several black plumes of smoke in the northwest direction, and immediately reported it to the fleet headquarters.

At 2:17 p.m., the Jianwei and Xuanwei of the Second Squadron of the Pacific Fleet put down two Jian-1C water reconnaissance planes and quickly took off and flew towards the sea area marked by intelligence.

At 2:55 p.m., the reconnaissance aircraft spotted the armored cruiser fleet of the Russian Far East Fleet, a total of six large armored cruisers of the admiral class and four old cruisers, as well as three torpedo boat destroyers.

The reconnaissance plane sent the Morse telegram code to the Sea Swallow via an electro-optical signal, informing it of the number, type, and direction of the Russian fleet.

Soon, the main forces of the Pacific Fleet advanced to the northeast and launched a combat attack formation.

At 3:40 a.m., the Sea Eater spotted the Russian fleet from the sea, and the 6th Sentai immediately entered combat mode.

"Battle alert, report from superiors!"

"Left rudder fifteen, combat speed!"

A series of orders were issued, and the four warships of the Sixth Sentai turned to the periphery of the Russian fleet to find their counterparts to fight. The Haiyue, Haibin, Haiyang, and Haigu are 5,000-ton lightly armored cruisers, and they are not capable of confronting the 10,000-ton heavy armored cruisers of the third echelon of Russia, so the Sixth Squadron is preparing to attack the four cruisers and several torpedo boat destroyers of the second detachment of the Russian cruiser detachment to clear the small enemy ships on the periphery first.

Half of the cruiser detachment of the Russian fleet was trapped in the strait, and there were only four old cruisers in the Coral Sea, with a tonnage of less than 3,000 tons, and the fastest speed was 19 knots, and the firepower was still the old semi-armored gun type, with a 210-mm 35-fold main gun in the bow and one in the stern. There was one 152-mm secondary gun on each side of the board, as well as four 57-mm rapid-fire guns.

The four Haiqi-class armored cruisers of the Sixth Squadron of the Imperial Chinese Navy are the most advanced cruisers at present, with a tonnage of 4,600 tons, a speed of 25 knots, all rapid-fire firepower, and equipped with 4 twin 45-fold extension 203mm main guns, 10 single-mounted 45-fold extension 119mm secondary guns, 12 50-fold extension 47mm rapid-fire guns, and 4 55-fold extension 37mm machine guns.

Comparing the two, the sixth team has an overwhelming advantage.

At 4:15 a.m., when the two sides were approaching 8,200 meters, the Brightlight, the flagship of the second detachment of the Russian cruisers, panicked and opened fire first, followed by the other three cruisers Diamond, Pearl, and Emerald.

"Knock knock!"

Four Russian ships concentrated twelve 210-mm main guns and four 152-mm secondary guns on the starboard side and fired at the approaching Chinese battleship in the distance.

Perhaps because of too much tension, the Russian army has loaded more propellants, and is still using a mixture of black powder and cotton gunpowder, resulting in black smoke from the muzzle. The long lack of live firing and the long voyage left the gun unmaintained, and the bore seemed to be rusty, and when the gun was ejected, a large spark was sparked, and Venus shone brightly. The inadequately burned gunpowder ignited from the muzzle of the gun, forming a large flame.

The shells slid into the gloomy sky, forming parabolas of different heights and whistles, whistling towards the Chinese Navy warships eight thousand meters away.

Because of the distance, the shells glided for more than five seconds for the longest time.

The officers and men of the ships of the Sixth Sentai looked at the shells flying in the sky, their faces full of indifference, and they were calm as usual. Because of such a long distance, it's strange to be able to fight?

Even the well-trained officers and men of the Chinese Empire's navy were only able to hit targets at a distance of about 6,000 meters, and this was only possible because of long-term live-fire training and the assistance of world-leading advanced fire control and sighting equipment. However, the Russian Navy's live-fire training time is less than one-fiftieth of that of the Imperial Chinese Navy, and there is no advanced fire control observation and sighting equipment, so it is good that they can accurately hit the target at a distance of 3,000 meters.

"Boom!"

One after another, violent explosions set off huge columns of water in the distant sea around the battleship. The smallest one is three or four meters high, and the largest water column penetrates more than ten meters above the sea surface, which is very spectacular.

However, the Russian fleet was obviously psychologically frightened to open fire so far away. At the same time, attacking targets 8,000 meters away, the maximum caliber of the shell was only 210 millimeters, and the projectile deviated too far from the intended trajectory, so the impact points were scattered on the sea surface within a radius of several kilometers, which was not dangerous for the Imperial Chinese Navy.

The four warships of the Sixth Sentai maneuvered quickly, taking advantage of their speed advantage to constantly approach the Russian fleet. At this time, the large Russian armored cruiser fleet also came and went to reinforce and try to protect.

However, the half-year-long voyage caused the speed of the Russian ship to plummet. The speed of ordinary cruisers dropped from 24 knots to about 19 knots, and the speed of large armored cruisers dropped from about 21 knots to about 17 knots, compared to the 25 knots of the opponent, and they were quickly thrown off.

After several orbit maneuvers, the four cruisers of the Sixth Squadron went around to the dead end of the shelling of the large Russian warships and continued to approach the Russian cruiser detachment. In the process of approaching the Russian ships, the main guns of the ships of the 6th battle carried out a single-shot fire test, with the intention of constantly correcting the trajectory and impact point in preparation for the fire salvo At 4:35 p.m., the 6th team approached to 6,000 meters.

"The left rudder is full, and the starboard artillery is ready!"

At the sound of an order, the Sea Swallow made a quick turn and seized the T-shaped horizontal position of the Russian cruiser fleet with its high speed.

"Full rudder left and starboard guns ready!"

"Fire!"

At the sound of an order, the Sea Swallow, which entered the T-shaped firing position, took the lead in firing the cannon, and 4 twin 45-fold extension 203mm main guns and 5 single-mounted 45-fold extension 119mm auxiliary guns opened fire in mourning, carrying out the first fire salvo on the Russian ship Guangming.

"Boom!"

Compared with the shells of the Russian ships, the shells of the Chinese Navy's black gold charge are more powerful, the water column is as high as dozens of meters, and the lowest 119 mm shells also cause huge waves of more than ten meters.

Immediately afterwards, the three ships of Haihai, Haiyang, and Haigu behind the Haiyu also made an emergency left turn with the flagship, entered the T-shaped shooting horizontal position in turn, quickly mobilized starboard firepower, and fired fiercely at the Russian ship Guangming.

The cannon roared, the sea rained down like bullets, and the sea boiled in an instant.

"Correct the elements, add two to the direction, add one to the elevation angle, and the distance is 5850 meters."

"Correction complete!"

"Ready-to-go!"

The well-trained officers and men of the Imperial Chinese Navy quickly corrected the ballistic elements of the ballistic elements in the distribution of the impact points, and in less than a minute, the second salvo of fire was fired again.

"Knock knock!"

The Sea Eater opened heavy fire again, shells whistling at the enemy ships.

"Boom!"

Several shells hit the Light, and the violent explosion immediately caused heavy casualties to the Russian troops on the ship Light. Because the Bright's guns were turret type and had no turret protective armor, the casualties were extremely heavy if they were hit.

The explosion of the shell of the black gold charge was particularly violent, and the violent shock wave wrapped in broken shrapnel instantly tore the bodies of the nearby Russian soldiers to pieces, and the blood mist splashed in the air, and then it was sprayed by the high temperature, turning into a touch of blood red, mixed with the flames of the explosion, with a trace of bewitchment.

Soon, the shells of the Haibin, Haiyang, and Haigu also roared, and a large number of shells poured down, and the Guangming was immediately severely damaged, and the fire spread to the hull, causing heavy casualties.

At 4:40, two 203-mm shells hit the port side waterline of the Guangming at the same time, and only 50.8 mm of armor was instantly penetrated, tearing into two holes more than half a meter wide in an instant.

Five minutes later, the Guangming lost its combat effectiveness due to the heavy fire, and at the same time, the hull tilted badly to the left, and the sinking was imminent.

By this time, the four warships of the Sixth Sentai had given up attacking the Bright and instead attacked the Diamond behind her.

The Diamond resisted for ten minutes, and suddenly a large number of fires broke out in the hull, with heavy casualties.

At 4:55 a.m., the Diamond made a heavy blow to the ship and withdrew from the battle sequence, and turned around and broke away from the battle.

Subsequently, the Pearl and the Emerald fled without a fight.

On the Pobedonosets, the flagship of the third echelon of the Russian army, which rushed to help from afar, the commander, Rear Admiral Nebogatov, was so angry that he cursed and vowed to shoot the captains of several Russian ships who had escaped.

Because the speed was too slow, Nebogatov led his detachment was unable to catch up with the 6th Squadron of the Pacific Fleet, and the long-range artillery bombardment could hardly hit the opponent, and he could only stare dryly.

At this time, the main force of the Pacific Fleet of the Chinese Empire had already arrived, and Lin Jianzhang ordered the first battle team of battleships and the third team of heavy armored cruisers to launch a diversion attack from the left flank, and the second battle team of battleships and the fourth team of heavy armored cruisers to intersperse with the Russian ships from the right flank. The 5th Sentai rushed to support the 6th Sentai and tried to destroy the Russian cruiser detachment first.

At the same time, the 1st and 2nd Hunting Ship Groups quickly entered the Torres Strait, taking advantage of the shallow draft and the dense smoke as a cover, waiting for an opportunity to attack the remaining Russian ships inside, and to pick up the submarine fleet from the battlefield.

The 3rd Destroyer Group is responsible for attacking and driving away the Russian Navy's torpedo boat destroyers on the periphery, covering the main fleet to completely annihilate the Russian armored cruiser.

"What a huge fleet!"

Rear Admiral Nebogatov looked at the main fleet of the Imperial Chinese Navy that was rapidly approaching him, and his heart was full of confusion, he still knew that with the six large armored cruisers in his hand, he was no match for the Imperial Chinese Navy at all. In particular, the nine main battleships of the Imperial Chinese Navy were invincible in front of him.

The main fleet of the Imperial Chinese Navy attacked from the left and right directions by virtue of its overwhelming superiority. The battleship relied on its rough skin and thick flesh to resist the fire of the Russian artillery, and the powerful 305 mm main gun, every shot shook the heart of the Russian Navy.

There was no way to fight this battle, and Nebogatov's only thought was to be able to run out of a few ships.

"Order the ships to break out separately!"

Nebogatov gave an order, and the six Russian ships suddenly broke through in different directions.

"Knock knock!"

The main guns of the nine battleships of the First and Second Squadrons of the Imperial Chinese Navy opened fire violently, and the deafening sound of artillery rang out loudly, and one shell after another fell around the Russian ship, which suddenly stirred up huge waves hundreds of meters high, and in an instant the sea water boiled and filled with smoke and rain.

Such a huge attack force made the officers and men on the Russian ship can't help but be frightened, and when they learned the news that the main fleet was ambushed and all the troops were annihilated, they already had no confidence to continue fighting, and at this time they found that they were surrounded by the main fleet of the Chinese Imperial Navy, and the huge battleship artillery fire suddenly collapsed the last line of defense in their hearts.

At 5:17, after the Russian ship Admiral Tmisk tried to break through and was intercepted by the Third Squadron of the Pacific Fleet, it immediately raised a white flag and stopped the ship and surrendered.

At the same time, the Russian ship Admiral Apraksin was heavily shelled by the Second Squadron of the Pacific Fleet, and the ship suffered a 305-millimeter shell, which pierced through the coal tank, and the high temperature instantly ignited the coal reserves, causing a fire. The fire isolated the passage between the boiler room and the coal tank, the fire was difficult to control, and the thick smoke made it impossible for the people inside to put out the fire, so they had to open the water valve like the boiler room to inject water to prevent the fire from burning to the boiler room and causing an explosion. But because of this, the battleship quickly stopped ignition, and had to raise the white flag and surrender.

At 5:23, the flagship Pobedonosets commanded by Nebogatov was besieged by five battleships of the First Squadron of the Pacific Fleet. The shells fired by the Russian ships were often named the battleship Tayun, but the thick-skinned Tayun easily blocked the shells. In turn, the 305-mm shells fired by the First Squadron easily tore through the Pobedonosets' armor protection, causing massive damage to the ship's hull and a large number of casualties.

In front of the battleships, Nebogatov's armored cruiser was not an opponent at all.

At 5:27 a.m., the Pobedonosets command tower was concentrated by the main guns behind the stern of the Cirrus, and the 400-kilogram shells instantly pierced through the command tower with only 180 mm protection, and the entire command tower was blown into several pieces in an instant, and all 17 officers of the Russian fleet, including Rear Admiral Nebogatov, were killed, and even the bones were turned into dust.

The Pobedonosets lost its command, and the frightened Russian officers and soldiers immediately raised the white flag and surrendered, but unfortunately, the opposing Imperial Chinese Navy saw it too late, and in the third round of fire, five 305-mm shells hit the Pobedonosets at the same time, one of which was a fatal through-hit bullet that pierced the ammunition depot.

With a thunderbolt on a sunny day, the battleship Bobeldonosets was instantly blown into two, and a series of explosions came and went, and the Russian soldiers above were swept away by the blast wave before they even had time to jump into the sea, and the fragile ** was torn apart in mid-air, and the stump and broken arm were spilled into the sea hundreds of meters away.

The detonation lasted three minutes, until the Pobedonosets was all like the sea, and the waves could still be seen on the sea.

After the flagship of the Russian fleet was magnificently sunk, the remaining Russian ships found that they had no chance of escaping, and the last shred of hope was dashed and surrendered.

At 5:13, the three large armored cruisers, Admiralseniavin, Admiralushakov, and Admiral Revere, lowered their battle flags, raised their white flags, returned their guns to their positions, and stopped their ships to surrender to the nearby Imperial Chinese Navy.

The large Russian armored cruiser fleet was wiped out in less than an hour of engagement because of its lack of speed, and it was impossible to escape. However, although the speed of several Russian cruisers has also decreased a lot, they are still very capable of running.

It was not until half past six in the evening that the Fifth and Sixth Fleets of the Pacific Fleet captured the Emerald and the next Russian cruiser.

At the same time, the last Russian battleship trapped in the Torres Strait, the Nicholas I, was also successfully attacked by the submarines of the Chinese Empire and ran aground on a nearby shoal.

As the 1st and 2nd Destroyer Groups rushed into the strait and fought together with the submarines, the only two remaining cruisers of the Russian Far East Second Fleet, the Borgo and Aurora, were sunk in one and the other chose to sink themselves after heavy damage.

At 7:18 p.m., Rear Admiral Giravsky, Chief of Staff of the Second Russian Far East Fleet, replaced the seriously wounded and comatose Commander of Vice Admiral Rozed Steffansky, and issued an order to abandon resistance, requesting the Imperial Chinese Navy to give them humanitarian treatment, and asking the Imperial Chinese Navy hospital ship to urgently treat the dying Vice Admiral Rozed Steffansky.

At 8:05 p.m., the Imperial Chinese Navy took over all the stranded and captured Russian warships, placed all the Russian officers and men of more than 3,000 people on the beach, and sent two naval hospital ships to urgently treat Vice Admiral Rozed Stfansky and wounded Russian naval soldiers.

At nine o'clock in the evening, Rear Admiral Giravsky boarded the Dengyun-class battleship and formally surrendered to Admiral Lin Jianzhang, commander of the Pacific Fleet of the Imperial Chinese Navy.

In this battle, the Imperial Chinese Navy dispatched 132 warships of various types, with more than 37,000 officers and men, 103 killed, two submarines were sunk, and six submarines were severely damaged. Of the 52 ships of various types of the Second Fleet of the Tsarist Far East, 27 were sunk, and the rest were captured. Tsarist Russia lost more than 13,000 killed and captured more than 3,000.

At this point, the elite navy of the Tsarist Russian Empire was completely wiped out, and it fell from the second largest naval power in the world before the war to the top ten in the world, and has since become a naval country that has not entered the stream.

The Imperial Chinese Navy once again won an unprecedented victory, capturing seven battleships, five large armored cruisers and two cruisers of the Tsarist Navy, with a total tonnage of 143,800 tons. Except for two large armored cruisers and two cruisers, which were old warships and had little value, the other warships were all newly launched by the Tsarist Russian Navy and were less than a year old.

As a result, the total tonnage of the Imperial Chinese Navy quickly rose to the second place in the world, surpassing the French Navy's 630,000 tons and reaching more than 770,000 tons, which is closer to the British Imperial Navy's 900,000 tons.

(To be continued)