In a sea area less than 300 nautical miles northwest of Sri Lanka Island, a naval battle between the main fleet of the Royal Navy of the Chinese Empire and the combined expeditionary fleet of the Allied and Allied powers had been going on for nearly three hours, and the three subfleets of the two sides had already closed to a distance of 7,000 meters, and the confrontation between the battleships of the two sides was becoming more and more fierce.

The closer the distance, the higher the hit rate of the main guns, and the greater the losses of both sides, just from 10,000 meters to 7,000 meters, the United Expeditionary Fleet had 10 dreadnought battleships and up to 22 all-steel battleships sunk by the shells of the main guns of the battleships of the Imperial Chinese Navy.

The entire Combined Expeditionary Fleet, except for the navy of the Ottoman Turkish Empire, the navies of other countries have suffered losses to varying degrees, which has also fundamentally reversed the comparison between the main fleet of the Royal Navy of the Chinese Empire and the battleships of the Combined Expeditionary Fleet.

The Ottoman Turkish Empire sent a total of 2 Dante-class dreadnought battleships, 2 large fast armored cruisers, 4 fast protection cruisers, 4 destroyers, and 8 torpedo boats to join the joint expeditionary fleet, which can be said to have taken out the strongest strength of the Ottoman Turkish Imperial Navy.

However, the Ottoman Turkish Empire's 1 Dante-class dreadnought battleship has been sunk, and it is still the flagship of the entire Ottoman Turkish Empire's fleet, and the main battle mode of the two fleets is the confrontation between the battleships, and the Ottoman Turkish Imperial Navy, which is still under the command of the fleet commander Ismail, follows the battleships of other countries in the right side of the joint expeditionary fleet, and keeps firing the main gun salvo at the battleships of the Royal Chinese Navy.

The fleets of both sides are at a distance of 10,000 to 7,000 meters. The luck of this Dante-class dreadnought battleship of the Ottoman Turkish Empire was much better than that of the sunken warships of other countries. Not a single shell from the main guns of the battleships of the Chinese Empire fell on its head, otherwise the commander of the Ottoman Imperial Turkish naval fleet, Ismail, might have had to change the flagship again.

The Royal Navy of the Chinese Empire is at a distance of 10,000 meters to 7,000 meters. It gave the Entente and the Allied Joint Expeditionary Fleet a very heavy blow, and the dreadnought battleships and all-steel battleships combined with 32 were sunk, which is not counting the serious injuries, and the results of the battle can be described as quite brilliant, but the battleships were bombarded, and the losses were unavoidable, although the losses of the Royal Navy of the Chinese Empire itself were much less than those of the Combined Expeditionary Fleet, but it also made the commanders of the Royal Navy of the Chinese Empire tremble in distress.

In the confrontation at a distance of 10,000 meters to 7,000 meters, the Royal Navy of the Chinese Empire lost 4 Dragon-class dreadnought battleships and 1 Feng-class dreadnought battleship. In addition, 1 Dragon-class dreadnought battleship and 1 Phoenix-class dreadnought battleship were seriously injured by the main gun shells of the battleships of the Combined Expeditionary Fleet, and had to temporarily withdraw from the frontmost battle line and retreat to the back of their own fleet.

In just over half an hour, 11 all-steel battleships were sunk by the battleships of the Combined Expeditionary Fleet, and 4 all-steel battleships were seriously injured and retreated to the rear of the fleet. It is almost impossible to describe in words, and it has never happened in history that so many battleships on both sides have been sunk in such a short period of time.

Now there are 21 dreadnought battleships left in the Chinese Empire that maintain combat effectiveness, including 7 provincial-level super dreadnought battleships whose combat effectiveness is significantly higher than that of ordinary dreadnought battleships. In addition, there were 7 seriously damaged dreadnought battleships, 33 all-steel battleships remained in combat effectiveness, and 4 seriously damaged all-steel battleships.

The reason why it was in this more than half an hour of confrontation. was able to sink so many battleships of the Combined Expeditionary Fleet, and these 7 provincial-level super dreadnought battleships of the Chinese Empire contributed a lot. Opposite them the British Navy, sunken battleships. Many of them were sunk by their 406-mm main gun shells with a single hit.

However, only 17 dreadnought battleships remained in combat effectiveness in the combined expeditionary fleet of the Entente and Allied powers, 13 dreadnoughts were seriously damaged, only 34 all-steel battleships remained combat-ready, and 5 seriously damaged all-steel battleships were evacuated from the battle line.

When the distance between the two fleets was shortened to 7,000 meters, if only the battleships were counted, the Royal Navy of the Chinese Empire had achieved a turnaround, but counting other types of warships, the Royal Navy of the Chinese Empire still did not have an advantage, and at this distance, the large fast armored cruisers of the Royal Navy of the Chinese Imperial Navy and the Joint Expeditionary Fleet also entered the effective firing range, began to talk to each other with their main guns, and joined the confrontation.

The 24 Taishan-class large fast armored cruisers and 22 Trotto-class large fast armored cruisers of the main fleet of the Imperial Chinese Navy did not lose anything before entering the effective range, but the 66 large fast armored cruisers of the Joint Expeditionary Fleet had already sunk 5 and seriously damaged 2 in the bombardment of the Sea Hawk bomber group, but in the comparison of the number of large fast armored cruisers on both sides, the Combined Expeditionary Fleet still had an advantage.

In addition, after the distance between the two fleets was shortened to 7,000 meters, the main guns of another warship of the Joint Expeditionary Fleet also began to fire at the warships of the Royal Navy of the Chinese Empire, and this type of warship was the ironclad battleship sent by the countries of the Joint Expeditionary Fleet.

Originally, the Combined Expeditionary Fleet had 20 ironclad battleships, but in the bombing of the Sea Hawk bomber group, 4 of these ironclad battleships were also sunk and 2 were seriously damaged, that is, 14 more ironclad battleships of the Combined Expeditionary Fleet joined the bombardment.

In the bridge of the British Navy's flagship Giant, the commander-in-chief of the Combined Expeditionary Fleet, Bridget said angrily to the captain of the Giant, Ryan Meade: "I really didn't expect that our Joint Expeditionary Fleet had an advantage in the number of battleships just now, but in this more than half an hour of bombardment, the losses were so heavy, and the entire fleet sank 10 dreadnought battleships and 22 all-steel battleships combined. Are we still the combined expeditionary fleet of the most powerful Entente and Central Powers in all of Europe? The main guns of the battleships of the Chinese Empire were also too accurate, could it be that the navy of the Chinese Empire was really so powerful that it could not be matched? ”

The losses of the British Navy in more than half an hour were quite miserable. 2 dreadnought battleships and 7 all-steel battleships were sunk, and several more battleships were seriously injured and withdrew from the battle line. Combined with the losses of the navies of other countries of the Joint Expeditionary Fleet, it really reached a jaw-dropping level, and Bridget's liver fire literally erupted like a spring.

Captain Ryan Mead of the Giant said with a wry smile: "The quality of the officers and men of the Chinese Imperial Navy has always been very strong, and the successive victories of the Chinese Imperial Navy and their predecessor Northeast Navy, and even the fleet of the Beiyang Naval Academy of the Great Qing Dynasty are not accidental, in addition to their endless means, the quality of their naval officers and men. It is also a big reason why they have won so much. It is true that the main guns of the battleships of our Combined Expeditionary Fleet are not as accurate as the main guns of the battleships of the Chinese Empire, and if the commander, if we continue to bombard like this, the situation of our Combined Expeditionary Fleet may become more and more unfavorable. ”

Commander-in-Chief Bridget sighed and shook his head, he didn't know that if he continued like this, the Combined Expeditionary Fleet would probably lose in this decisive naval battle, otherwise he wouldn't be so annoyed.

Bridget picked up the telescope in his hand and looked in the direction of the main fleet of the Imperial Chinese Navy. After a while, he put down his binoculars and asked Ryan Mead in a deep voice: "Now the dreadnought battleships and all-steel battleships of our Allied and Allied Combined Expeditionary Fleets are no longer inferior to the Chinese Imperial Navy on the other side in terms of strength?" ”

Ryan Mead didn't pick up the binoculars in his hand to look at the battle line formed by the dreadnought battleships of the Chinese Imperial Navy on the opposite side, and said with a sigh: "It's true that the situation is not good. The officers and men of our Giant have just counted that there are only 17 dreadnought battleships left in our joint expeditionary fleet that can continue to stay on the battle line to fight against the battleships of the Chinese Empire, and only 34 all-steel battleships remain. The main fleet of the Imperial Chinese Navy opposite us currently has 21 dreadnought battleships and 33 all-steel battleships that are bombarding us. It is worth mentioning that among the 21 dreadnought battleships of the Chinese Empire. Including those 7 super dreadnought battleships, our joint expeditionary fleet does not occupy a slight advantage in the strength of battleships compared with the battleships of the Imperial Chinese Navy. ”

Bridget frowned and asked, "How many battleships did we withdraw to the rear that were seriously wounded?" ”

Ryan Mead immediately replied, "There are 13 dreadnought battleships and 5 all-steel battleships. ”

Bridge nodded and said: "Send a telegram to the seriously wounded battleships, convey my order, let these seriously injured battleships get out of danger as soon as possible and return to the battle line, we must let some battleships that can continue to fight rejoin the battle." ”

Ryan Mead hesitated for a moment and said: "The battleships that were seriously injured and evacuated from the battle line are not lightly injured, and there should not be many battleships that can return to the battle line to continue fighting, but commander, now that we have shortened the distance between the main fleet of the Chinese Imperial Navy to 7,000 meters, the large fast armored cruisers and ironclad battleships of our joint expeditionary fleet have also joined the confrontation, which can temporarily relieve the pressure on the battleships, after all, the number of large fast armored cruisers on both sides is compared, Our joint expeditionary fleet still has the advantage, and the main fleet of the Chinese Imperial Navy did not send a single ironclad battleship to join this naval battle this time, which means that we have 20 ...... more than them No, it's 14 more ironclad battleships. ”

Bridget picked up the telescope in his hand again, looked in the direction of the main fleet of the Chinese Imperial Navy, and then put down the telescope and said to Ryan Meade: "There are some more large fast armored cruisers and ironclad battleships, which will not play a big role in this form of bombardment between the two fleets, it seems that we must change our tactics and can no longer continue to bombard with the main fleet of the Chinese Imperial Navy, otherwise the joint expeditionary fleet formed by our Entente and the Central Powers this time, The odds of losing this naval battle are very, very high. ”

Ryan Mead was surprised and asked, "Change tactics?" Commander, what do you mean? ”

Bridget stretched out his hand and pointed in the direction of the main fleet of the Chinese Imperial Navy and said: "If we continue to bombard like this, the distance between the two sides will get closer and closer, the main guns of the 7 super dreadnought battleships of the Chinese Empire, at a closer distance, the hit rate will be higher, and 1 shell can kill 1 dreadnought battleship of our British Navy, in that case, our squadron in the middle will definitely collapse, so I decided to let us unite the expeditionary fleet with a part of the large fast armored cruiser fleet, the protective cruiser fast team, The destroyer squadron and the torpedo boat squadron launched a straight line attack on the main fleet of the Imperial Chinese Navy, disrupting the battle line composed of the Chinese Imperial Dreadnought battleships and all-steel battleships, and creating an opportunity for the battleships of our combined expeditionary fleet. ”

After a pause, Bridget continued: "In addition, immediately order all battleships to immediately turn around, not to maintain a 'figure-eight' direction with the main fleet of the Chinese Imperial Navy, to change to parallel sailing, and not to let the distance between the two battle lines be shortened any longer, which will be unfavorable to the battleships of our joint expeditionary fleet." ”

Ryan Mead frowned and said: "In this way, those warships responsible for the attack are likely to withstand the bombardment of the main guns of the Chinese Imperial battleships, and those attacking warships are in a straight line, and the probability of being hit by the main guns of the Chinese Imperial battleships is higher, and the losses are not too great." ”

Ryan Mead didn't say something explicitly, at this time, letting some large fast armored cruisers, protective cruisers fast, destroyers and torpedo boats launch a straight line attack on the battle line of the Chinese Empire is basically equivalent to letting these warships be cannon fodder, and the losses must be very, very large.

Bridget sighed and said: "Our joint expeditionary fleet also has nearly 60 large fast armored cruisers, more than 170 fast protection cruisers, more than 230 destroyers and more than 300 torpedo boats, it is worth taking out some of them for launching an attack, who let us have no bombers, we can only rely on these warships to disrupt the battle line of the main fleet of the Chinese Imperial Navy." (To be continued.) )

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