The Austro-Hungarian Navy had never experienced a naval war since the Battle of Lisa in 1866. The French were no better than the Austrians, except for bullying the weak Qing Navy in the Far East in 1884, and also losing the commander-in-chief of their Far East Fleet, after whom Vice Admiral La Perel's current flagship was named.

So this time it is destined that the French will not have good luck today.

The French, after an initial panic, immediately began to return fire.

Suddenly the cannon roared on the sea, and the half-ton shells streaked across the sea and sky with a screeching sound, stirring up huge columns of water that rose into the sky - at such a close engagement distance, the two rookie fleets still failed to hit their opponents in the first three volleys. The sea was filled with gunsmoke, and the smoke from the muzzles of the guns almost obscured the figure of the warship.

The gunners mechanically repeated the tense maneuver: opening the bolt at the end of the gun, pushing the shell from the helicopter into the chamber with a ramrod, then loading it into the firing bag wrapped in silk, then closing the bolt, adjusting the firing angle according to the command of the firing commander, and pulling the firing hammer after receiving the firing command. The sailors in the bilge were busy carrying hundreds of kilograms of shells and launch packets from the ammunition depot to the hoist, and theoretically a gun could fire 1.5 shells per minute, but in practice, a salvo every two minutes was already very good for a warship.

At a distance of 9,000 meters, the secondary guns of the warships on both sides also joined the ranks of shooting, and the entire sea surface looked even more messy.

The Austro-Hungarian battleship, which was the first to open fire, was hit by a shell, and a 203-mm high-explosive shell fired from the second stage main gun of the French dreadnought "Fatherland" hit the rear of the "Prinz Eugen" amidships, and a fire suddenly broke out on its rear deck. The fire and smoke were particularly conspicuous on the gloomy sea, and the poor "Prinz Eugen" became the target of the other party's attention.

After this, the sailors of the Austro-Hungarian battleship seemed to have become hostile because of the attack on the brethren, and the guns were fired accurately, and the French warship "Jean. The "Barr", the "Truth" and the "Justice", especially the "Justice", received two salvos in quick succession.

The French were very strange that the three dreadnoughts "Lone Pull", "Jean. The "Barr" and "Dido" formed a formation with the three former dreadnoughts "Fatherland", "Truth" and "Justice", which were very incongruous. And the side firepower of the four battleships on the Austro-Hungarian side was not much worse than that of the French.

After the exchange of fire lasted for more than ten minutes, both sides seemed to be in a state of flux, and the two fleets were heading eastward almost in parallel, about 9,000 to 10,000 meters apart, shelling each other, and the hit rate began to increase.

In a loud thunderous roar, the fire from the muzzle of the cannon instantly illuminated a large area of the sea, and then fell silent again. Such a loud bang sounded rhythmically on the sea, and the main guns on the battleship fired salvos at about the same interval, and the main guns of the two "Radetzky" classes were faster, but the "Prinz Eugen" was almost heavily damaged, and the superstructure became a mess, leaving only three main turrets still firing back.

Wagener glanced at Lehedon, who had been staring at the sea with a telescope and an expressionless face.

"General, are we distancing ourselves from each other?" As chief of staff, it is his duty to remind the commander-in-chief. The navy is not an army, the chief of staff in the army is the formulator and implementer of the campaign, and the commander is the issuer and coordinator of orders. But the commander of the naval fleet has the right to decide a qiē, and the chief of staff also has only the power to build yì.

"That's all, keep going!" Lehairdon said with a determined expression, he lowered his binoculars and came to the chart table, Negovin's fleet was about half an hour away from the battlefield, and as long as they could survive this half hour, the French would be caught in a flank.

As soon as his words fell, he heard a loud bang, and the entire bridge shook violently, and the people in the command tower were staggered, and the ground was full of debris.

"We've been shot!" Maritime Staff Officer Hurt shouted.

"Report the injury!" Captain Vukovich got up from the ground, and the burly admiral yelled at a lieutenant, "Damn it, keep shooting!" ”

Leadon sat down in a chair, and just now his right leg had hit the corner of the chart table, and now his heart hurt.

Soon the casualties were reported, a large-caliber armor-piercing shell hit the second floor of the bridge, killing three officers including the comptroller in charge of logistics on the ship, and wounding five others. However, the combat effectiveness of the "Combined Forces" has not diminished, and all the guns on it can still fire.

At this distance, the 150-mm secondary guns on both sides also took part in the battle, and although they could not threaten the main armor of the opposing side, they did not cause much damage to the superstructure.

"Oh my God, 'Prince Eugen' is enveloped in smoke and fire, and now it only has one main cannon left to fire!" The shouts of lookouts could be heard over the speakers.

Commodore Vagena ran to the observation port behind the bridge and took a telescope to carefully observe the situation of the "Prinz Eugen" behind him. The battleship had been under the heavy care of the French since the beginning of the war, and by now it had received at least a dozen shells, its bridge had collapsed, its foremast had been reduced, and only the No. 2 main turret and three secondary guns were still stubbornly firing at the enemy ship.

Its fire had been brought under control, but the "Prince Eugen" was billowing black smoke and the hull was tilted to the right a little.

"Order it to withdraw from the battle!" Lehairdon said after hearing the report.

But the radio on the "Prinz Eugen" seems to have been broken, and it is impossible to contact at all, and the light signal given is not visible. It continued to follow between the fleets, withstanding enemy artillery. After a while, its fourth main turret resumed firing.

Helton ordered the fleet to increase its speed to 18 knots, which would affect the accuracy of the warships, but it would be possible to throw off the three French dreadnoughts, and it would be difficult for the old ships with reciprocating steam engines to maintain a high speed all the time.

The fleet slightly distanced itself from the French battleships.

Lehidon led the entire fleet to the right and concentrated fire on the enemy's flagship.

At 3:53, after nearly 10 minutes of all-out shelling, a fireball rose over the sea in the distance, and the "Lone Pull" received a series of heavy blows, and black plumes of smoke rose from it.

"Okay, hit, keep attacking!" Woodwich excitedly waved his right hand and shouted into the microphone.

There was a slight panic in the formation of the French fleet, which seemed to be "letting. The "Barr" raised its command flag, and the "Lone Pull" began to turn outward, slightly out of the battlefield.

Just when they were frightened, adjusted their formation, and prepared to continue to respond calmly, the shouts of the lookouts almost made them lose their souls: "Left rear, the enemy is found at 19 o'clock!" Oh my God, they have four battleships! ”

The fleet led by Vice Admiral Negovan finally hurried to the battlefield.

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