Chapter 135 Tsushima (Medium) (Ask for a monthly pass!) Read! ）

"Sailor! Queue for tea! ”

One o'clock down, as was the custom left behind in tropical voyages, such an order was given on every warship of the Second Pacific Fleet.

The tea prepared for the crew was packed in huge copper teapots, and the sailors lined up at various tea spots with porcelain cups in their hands, but most of them did not have time to drink tea, or did not have the opportunity to drink tea.

Five minutes later, the main force of the Japanese Combined Fleet had appeared in front of the starboard side of the Second Pacific Fleet, and the number of the Japanese fleet was increasing, and the Russian sailors could see with their eyes, and the Japanese fleet was advancing in columns and trying to block their way.

All the Japanese warships are heading towards the Second Pacific Fleet in two columns, and the Japanese warships have an absolute advantage in speed, looking at the high-speed ships, even idiots know that it is absolutely impossible to dodge this battle, and in this regard, naval and land battles are completely different.

On land, the soldier can flee to the pits, valleys, or woods, but at sea there is no cover, everything is in front of the people, on land, the commander does not have to be on the front line, but at sea, the commander has to watch the battle and share all the dangers.

And the flagship is the preferred target, when a battleship sinks, people do not have time to lay down the lifeboat, and by that time a person's life depends entirely on personal agility, personal physical strength, swimming skills, and of course, the most important thing is courage, after all, not everyone can swim and survive in the sea full of artillery fire. At that point, a young sailor has more hope of surviving than a middle-aged captain or an old admiral.

Of course, just hope!

At 13:39 p.m., when the sun was shining through the clouds and shining on the vast sea, the Japanese fleet was getting closer and closer, and the officers on the ships were trying to recognize the enemy warship, and a captain standing on the turret pointed to the warship in the distance.

"Look! That's the battleship "Mikasa"! ”

"Nonsense, I heard that the "Mikasa" has been sunk! ”

"Come on, if he's Mikasa, he's coming up from the bottom of the sea again! ”

In fact, the captain was indeed looking at the "Mikasa", and he sailed in front of the main Japanese fleet with the battle flag of Marshal Togo, and the battleships "Shikishima", "Fuji", and "Asahi", as well as the armored cruisers "Izumo", "Yakumo", "Asama", "Azuma", "Tokiwa", and "Iwate" were closely followed by him.

On the battleship "Oleg", a group of sailors gathered in the bow of the ship, looking at the main fleet of the Japanese with a melancholy expression. Father Persy, dressed in holy clothes, holding a cross in one hand and a sprinkler of holy water in the other, hurried up to the deck, followed by his assistant, a sailor with a dish of holy water, who stood in front of each turret, and the priest sprinkled holy water on it, and said a prayer in his mouth, and blessed the muzzle of the cannon with a cross.

When one of the sailors saw the priest's actions, he spoke.

"Brothers, look what the priest is doing! I don't think this thing will change our situation at all, we will sink to the bottom of the sea, and when we become bait, God will look at us and not even move an eyelash! ”

His words were immediately met with a wave of backlash.

"Shut up, you brute of offense against God!"

"Shut up this shit, don't let this shitch talk nonsense!"

"Throw this bastard into the sea!"

Just as the sailors were shouting, the signal "ready for battle" was issued, and everyone was busy preparing for battle, and the originally noisy deck immediately fell silent, as if everyone had stopped moving. The water jets began to spray water jets against the bridge, and the cistern was already filled with water, in order to prevent fires in the ensuing battle.

Then the flagship "Duke Suvorov" gave the next signal.

"Team 1 speed increased to 11 knots!"

The officers and men of the Japanese Navy on the bridge of the "Mikasa", the flagship of the Combined Fleet, finally saw the Russian Second Pacific Fleet, which they had been waiting for for a long time, and almost immediately saw the "mighty Second Pacific Fleet", everyone was stunned.

When the gunnery chief of the "Mikasa", Anan Kiyosa Shaosa, saw the Second Pacific Fleet, he first blinked, almost not believing what his eyes were seeing, and even thought that he was hallucinating, and when he opened his eyes again, he confirmed that it was the Second Pacific Fleet of the Lù country, and then he spat out a strange remark. ,

"The fleet of the country is majestically huddled together like a school of octopuses"!

Of course, the large fleet of more than 50 warships is majestic, but no one can understand the queue of these 50 or so warships, it seems to be a column, but I don't know whether it is two columns or three columns, anyway, it is in a hurry to the north, and what other formations there are are completely crowded together.

"Discover the main force of the Japanese fleet!"

When the scream sounded, Rogerstinsky also saw the capital ships of the Japanese Combined Fleet from the telescope, the size of the capital ships was far less than that of the Second Pacific Fleet, but Rogerstinsky did not have the slightest confidence in victory, and only sighed lightly. "It's finally here!"

The Combined Fleet sailed from both sides of the port side and the right side of the Second Pacific Fleet, and behind the capital ships and armored cruisers was the Sentinel Cruiser that had been in contact with the Second Fleet in the morning, and almost every Russian sailor or officer would be ashamed when he saw the Japanese fleet, compared to the formation of the Russian Navy, the Japanese Fleet was in a neat formation and admirable, and all the warships were like a huge machine, forming a whole and moving forward.

The speed of the combined fleet was about fifteen knots, but as they approached, it gave every Russian naval officer and sailor the illusion of being very fast, the blue-gray sè ships were very similar to the seawater sè, almost indistinguishable, and the black-painted Russian warships with their striking yellow sè chimneys were even more eye-catching.

At this time, the distance between the "Mikasa" and the "Duke Suvorov" was only 10,000 meters, and it had already entered the shè strike distance. Due to the fact that the Russian fleet was all equipped with rangefinders, it was generally about 12,000 meters to start shooting, but Rodger Stevensky really had no intention of fighting, so after entering 10,000 meters, he did not give the order to open fire.

Rozhest Stevensky, who had been regretting why he had transferred four of his best ships to form another separate column far from the starboard side of the main fleet, knew that he had no other choice in this situation, and that if he wanted to build a single column of right ships, then these ships would have to sail to the left for thirteen chains.

At the moment of lowering the binoculars, Rozhest Stevensky gave the order without even glancing at the officer in the bridge.

"Two knots faster! Turn left 45 degrees! ”

Despite his unwillingness to fight, Rogerstinsky, who knew that he had no way to escape, gave the order to fight!

At 1:40 a.m., the Duke of Suvorov turned forty-five degrees to the left, and the other three ships of the 1st Battleship Squadron also changed in turn, and in order to be able to sail back to the front of the column, the ships of the 1st Squadron, which had already turned left diagonally, each increased its speed by two nautical miles per hour, but this speed was not enough to enable the four battleships to sail together in front of the right column, because the ships of the right column continued to advance.

As a result, only the "Duke Suvorov" and the "Alexander III" sailed to the front, and when these two ships reached the front of the column, they resumed their course at 23 degrees north, ignoring the fact that the "Borodino" and "Orijo" behind were moving, and the two ships behind reduced their speed to nine nautical miles per hour in order to avoid collision.

In an instant, the formation of the Second Pacific Fleet, which was already in a group, became even more luàn, and the second and third fleets, because the flagship did not notify them to slow down, still moved at the original speed, so that it was impossible for the "Borodino" and "Oriyo" to sail to the front of the column, and then the "Oslyabia" took the initiative to reduce the speed in order to give the two warships a chance and avoid a collision with the Orilo, and then stopped the machine and raised the signal indicating its action, The warships behind the column had no choice but to reduce their speed and turn their bows to the left or to the right.

"Order, raise the "Z" flag! ”

At 13:55 p.m., after noticing the húnluàn that had occurred in the Russian fleet, Heihachiro Togo put down his binoculars and almost shouted "God bless", and at the same time he gave the order. Then the "Mikasa" raised the "Z" flag, and at the same time the flag bearer played the flag.

"The rise and fall of the imperial kingdom is in this battle, and everyone works hard."

At this point, this unprecedented gamble has come to an end.

"Roger Stevensky is defeated!"

Heihachiro Togo frowned and muttered, just seeing the húnluàn of the Russian Second Pacific Fleet, he finally believed that the Japanese Empire could win this naval battle!

A general is incompetent and exhausts thousands of troops! As he shouted in his heart, his right hand was raised high and slashed down. ,

14:02.

After seeing the commander's arm raised and slashed down, Chief of Staff Yuzaburo Kato immediately shouted to Captain Jihiko Jiro Osa!

"Left full rudder."

When Yuzaburo Kato gave the order, the atmosphere in the bridge of the "Mikasa" did not have any tension, but only solemnity and solemnity. Everyone understands that if they were defeated today, the Japanese Empire would probably cease to exist!

"Dongxiang is crazy!"

Roger Stevensky, who had no intention of fighting, was almost dumbfounded by the movements of the "Mikasa", so much so that he couldn't believe his eyes, and even repeated his eyes a few times to determine whether he was an eye.

Togo was actually within the shè distance of the Russian fleet and made this 145-degree left turn. Warships are not able to carry out shè attacks when they are doing turning operations, and now Togo's column has decided that all ships will turn in a fixed position, which is a fixed target position.

What do you want to do?

When this question arose in Rogerstwinsky's heart, he also knew that now he only had to fire at that position, and no matter how many battleships the Japanese had, they could send them to the cold seabed.

Indeed, this "T-shaped tactic" is an extremely dangerous tactic, and the danger is dangerous at the moment when the enemy is making a big turn, because the warships are all doing relative movements, and the difference between time and back is one minute, and the distance is 000 meters. If it is too far away, it will not only not be able to suppress the enemy fleet, but will give the enemy fleet a good opportunity to escape, and if it is too close, it will be a live target for the opponent.

Although this is a godsend, Roger Stevensky, who is in shock, will still be in the "runaway" thoughts, although he knows that he can sink the "Mikasa" by seizing the opportunity, but Roger Stevens did not grasp this opportunity at all.

Or that Roger Stevens is not a piece of material to become a hero at all, he did not seize the opportunity, and even he was passive from beginning to end, the change of formation of Togo's fleet, while Húnluàn's Russian fleet continued to advance without firing a gun.

"Your Excellency Commander, you must seize the opportunity to fire at the Japanese!"

The sound of the chief of staff's suggestion finally brought Roger Stevensky back to his senses, and he looked at his chief of staff and hummed.

"Fate...... Command, target "Mikasa"! Fire! ”

By the time Roger Stevensky came to his senses, Mikasa had already passed the most dangerous moment and completed the turn.

With the order given, the Russian Second Pacific Fleet, which had been waiting for a long time, first of all, the 12-inch main guns of the "Duke of Suvorov", and then the main guns and secondary guns of the main battleships all spit fire.

The Battle of Tsushima ensued, and although the main guns and secondary guns of the main battleships of the entire Russian Second Pacific Fleet were shelling towards the flagship of the Combined Fleet, Mikasa, Mikasa did not return fire, because it could not be fired back, and the turning movement of the successor ships was not over.

During this time, Mikasa withstood all the artillery fire of the Russian fleet. In the first three or four minutes, more than 300 shells flew from the Russian fleet, and the command tower was hit, and staff officer Hisunao Iijima, torpedo chief Yusamu Kanno, and deputy captain Matsumura Tatsuo Nakasa were injured.

"Wait!"

When Togo gave the order, there was a "whoosh", and a piece of shrapnel almost stuck to Togo's body, flying only a dozen centimeters away, while Togo was standing there, staring at the Second Pacific Fleet in front.

"Even if the "Mikasa" is sunk, as long as this "great turn in front of the enemy" can be successful, and the combined fleet can hold down the Russian fleet, even if the flagship is sunk, the entire battle will be half successful. ”

At this time, Togo's mind was full of the words of Akiyama Shinyuki when he formulated this tactic, and at this time, Togo was ready for the sunken god of Mikasa, but unfortunately, he didn't expect that Roger Stevensky was not a piece of material to become a hero at all.

Of course, it was not only the flagship that was hit, the successor "Shikishima", "Fuji", "Asahi", "Chūn Hichi", and "Nisshin" were all hit, and even the cruiser of the second Sentai of Hikonojo Uemura was hit, and the steering gear of the "Asama" was hit, and it was impossible to do it, and immediately withdrew from the battle sequence.

But the low hit rate of the Russian fleet, the low destructive power of the Russian shells, and the two minutes that Rodgerstwinsky missed were the precious fighters that allowed the Combined Fleet to hold out for a few minutes, and although every warship was constantly overwhelmed by artillery fire, and even burst into flames, none of the ships were sunk. ,

At 14:10, on the bridge of the "Mikasa", the gunnery chief security Kiyosa who had been waiting shouted loudly.

"Fire!"

When the order to open fire was given, the distance between the two sides was 000 meters at this time, and suddenly all the artillery fire of the "Mikasa" poured towards the Duke of Suvorov, and then the "Shikishima" completed the turning action and began to fire, then "Fuji", then "Asahi"...... The Japanese warships, having completed the turning maneuver, all began shelling.

The objects of the shelling were the Russian First Fleet flagship "Duke Suvorov" and the Second Fleet flagship "Oslyabya". In an instant, both ships were completely enveloped in artillery fire.

Three minutes later, the distance between the two sides was close to 5,000 meters, and it was already a white-knuckle battle for the battleship. The power of the high-explosive shells used by the Japanese Navy was fully demonstrated on the two ships, and within three minutes of the battle, almost all of their decks were leveled by the Japanese nòng, and the chimneys of the "Oslia Birai" were all blown up.

At 14:15, only five minutes after the combined fleet opened fire, the "Oslyabya" caught fire, followed by the "Duke Suvorov" and "Alexander III" caught fire one after another, even if the bomb was close to missing, it exploded at the moment of contact with the sea surface due to the use of the extremely sensitive Iji letter tube, which caused heavy damage to the Russian ** ship, and the shells that exploded on the sea surface produced an impact bō constantly pushing the sea water to hit the ship's side, the rivets were constantly collapsing, and the sea water continued to pour into the fleet, and the "Oslyabya" sank at 15:07.

At 14:50, the steering gear of the "Duke Suvorov", which had already caught fire, was hit, and the bow of the ship was all the way to the right and could not be cào, and the whole warship was making a large right arc. It looks like it is going to get rid of the "T-shaped tactics" of the combined fleet and move to the right.

"Let's turn left!"

At 15 o'clock, the order was given from the mouth of Togo!

Mikasa then raised the signal to "turn left together", which was Togo's biggest mistake in the Battle of Tsushima.

Then, at 15:06, Mikasa's signal was again "turn left together", so that the first team changed back to a column after a horizontal formation, only to be in the front line, traveling in the opposite direction, ready to continue to stop Rozhest Stevensky.

At this time, Rodzhestwinsky, who was already seriously wounded in the head and body, did not give any orders, but the steering gear, which could not be cào, was spinning in circles with the "Duke Suvorov".

At 15:08, Captain Alexander III, Colonel Buffostov, judged that the actions of the "Duke Suvorov" were due to a malfunction of the steering gear, and raised the signal flag "Follow me" to maintain the original course.

In this way, the Combined Fleet had turned 180 degrees and was now moving in the opposite direction to the Sea Fleet of Bōra, becoming the two fleets going their separate ways. By the time the Combined Fleet realized that something was wrong and turned back, the Bōlo Sea Fleet would have fled.

[.b.m]