Looking from the sky, I saw that the Imperial Navy's fast mobile fleet commanded by Vice Admiral Wang Liyong suddenly turned to the right as it approached the British fleet.

As soon as he turned, he caused his fleet to go around the rear of the British fleet, making the relative speed of both sides very fast.

In just a few minutes, the mobile fleet had already run behind a number of old British battleships, and then Wang Liyong ordered to turn 90 degrees, trying to directly pass through the junction of a British battleship and an armored cruiser in the rear.

As the flagship, the Ziyuan took the lead, leading five Taiwu-class armored cruisers in the rear, interspersed with a high speed of about 19 knots.

When approaching the British fleet, the six 250-mm guns on the Ziyuan also opened fire one after another.

When the Ziyuan led the other five Taiwu-class armored cruisers to rush up, the British reacted without hesitation, two old battleships and a number of old armored cruisers, and the first-class protection cruiser had already turned one after another in a few minutes, and aimed their main guns at Vice Admiral Wang Liyong's mobile fleet.

However, these British battleships are all second-line battleships, and their capital ships are still in front of the Imperial Navy's eight former dreadnought-class battleships, five Shaohao-class battleships, and four Laurel-class armored cruisers.

At this time, the warships that could free up their hands to fight against Wang Liyong's mobile fleet were all second-line warships, and the more cutting-edge ones were several first-class protection cruisers, but although the tonnage of first-class protection cruisers was not small, their firepower and protection capabilities were worse than those of regular armored cruisers.

In particular, the armored cruisers in the Imperial Navy, although they are classified as first-class cruisers, but when the Imperial Navy developed armored cruisers, it regarded armored cruisers as battleships that could go to the battle line to participate in decisive battles, and the main guns were all 250 mm main guns, and the protection capability was also comprehensive protection.

This is especially true of the Purple Yuan, which is not highly rated within the Imperial Navy, but this is not high because of its lack of performance, but because it is too expensive to build.

When the Ziyuan was fighting, the full load displacement reached more than 15,000 tons, which was comparable to the first-class battleships of the same era, although its firepower was weaker, only 250 mm caliber, but the number was six, and the number of 150 mm secondary guns also reached 14.

Although its protection capability is not as good as that of the battleships of the times, it is no worse than those second-class battleships, and it is much better than those armored cruisers of about 10,000 tons, and those first-class protected cruisers cannot be compared with the Ziyuan.

Whether it is in firepower, protection, or speed, the Ziyuan has almost achieved the ultimate of modern armored cruisers.

The consequences of such an armored cruiser as the flagship and the other five Taiwu-class armored cruisers into the rear of the British fleet were extremely serious.

Just when Vice Admiral Wang Liyong's fast mobile fleet entered the rear fleet of the British, it was only less than five minutes, and the many armored cruisers of the fast mobile fleet cooperated with the Ziyuan to paralyze the firepower of an old British battleship blocking the front by means of concentrated strikes.

After the numerous shells hit, although the ship could not be sunk on the spot, it caused a large number of casualties, and more importantly, the British battleship burst into flames!

Such a fierce fire not only made the British battleship completely lose its combat effectiveness, but if the fire was not extinguished in time, it is estimated that the battleship would burn to only an iron shelf, and then sink into the icy sea!

Like wolves, six armored cruisers smashed into the rear fleet of the British, relying on high speed and rapid maneuvering, seizing the opportunity to besiege a British warship.

Although the British tried their best to resist, there were seven or eight British warships involved in intercepting Wang Liyong's fleet, and three of them were battleships of tens of thousands of tons, but their speed generally could not keep up, and their protection and firepower were also slightly inferior.

The gap between the old warship and the new one is very thorough at this moment!

Relying on the fast speed, Vice Admiral Wang Liyong's mobile fleet always maintained a straight column, and relied on the strong combat effectiveness of the Ziyuan to tear through the interception of the British, and then went deep into the rear fleet of the British to massacre!

Another five minutes later, after an Orlando-class armored cruiser Immortal was hit with an additional 250 mm shells, the captain of the ship reluctantly announced the abandonment of the ship after the British tried to control the damage due to too much water.

Although the displacement of this Orlando-class armored cruiser is relatively small, the standard displacement is only more than 5,600, and the full load displacement is more than 6,000 tons, and its tonnage is even inferior to other first-class protective cruisers in the hands of the British, but the armored cruiser is still an armored cruiser, and its firepower and protection capabilities can barely be regarded as a second-tier capital ship in the British fleet in front of them.

But now, the Immortal has been seriously rolled after being abandoned by the British because of the heavy damage and too much water, and even the propellers under the bottom of the ship have begun to surface, and it is estimated that the armored cruiser will sink completely after a few more minutes.

The sinking of the ship became one of the first capital ships to be officially sunk in the warring fleets of the two countries.

Although the Immortal was only a small-tonnage armored cruiser, and even in the British fleet, it was only a second-tier battleship, but in any case, it was still one of the first capital ships to be officially sunk.

The sinking of the Immortal was even more demoralizing of the officers and men of the mobile fleet under the command of Vice Admiral Wang Liyong!

Half an hour later, Vice Admiral Wang Liyong's mobile fleet had already rushed out of the rear fleet of the British and began to sail forward at increased speed.

At this time, the six armored cruisers in the mobile fleet were already covered with scars, and the Jade Patrol at the rear of the palace was even more seriously damaged, and the turrets behind it were all gone, and the hull was full of cratered bullet holes, and it was also blazing and emitting billowing smoke.

But the British rear fleet behind the mobile fleet is a mess, the Immortal has already sunk, its sister ship Narcissus is also floating on the sea like a dead fish, the fire is not a big fire, but there is a huge hole in its position near the waterline armor belt, a large amount of sea water is pouring in, and countless sailors are struggling to manage the damage to avoid the sinking of the battleship.

In addition to the Waterline, a battleship of about 10,000 tons, which was famous in the 80s, was slowly sinking, which was quite famous in the British Royal Navy Admiral-class battleship.

It is a pity that this battleship, which can be called the most outstanding battleship of the low-freeboard era, does not even play the role of those cutting-edge first-class protection cruisers or armored cruisers in today's showdown.

The three major elements of firepower, protection, and speed are seriously backward!

As for the capital ships in service in various countries in the 80s, except for a few warships that were commissioned in the late 80s, most of the others were not good.

It is normal for them to encounter the latest armored cruisers of our time, and it is normal that they cannot resist.

In just half an hour, Wang Liyong's mobile fleet had already sunk two enemy ships, paralyzed one enemy ship, and severely damaged several of them, while only one of them was seriously damaged.

No matter what the background of the era is, this record is enough for Wang Liyong to hand in a high-scoring answer sheet.

But Wang Liyong knows that this is far from enough!

Admiral Lin Tongshu, commander-in-chief of the fleet, organized six armored cruisers, which were second only to the eight former dreadnought battleships in the fleet, and were the most cutting-edge in modern times, and led this armored cruiser fleet into the rear of the British.

The goal was definitely not to just bully and bully some second-tier battleships of the British, sinking an Admiral-class battleship and an Orlando-class armored cruiser, which was completely overkill for these six armored cruisers.

You must know that in order to vacate these six armored cruisers, the main fleet personally led by Admiral Lin Tongshu is currently facing the most severe test since the establishment of the Imperial Navy!

Lin Tongshu was leading nearly twenty capital ships in the main fleet, and the capital ships with a considerable number of British were engaged in the most brutal line battle.

In the past half hour, the Imperial Navy has already suffered the greatest losses since the founding of the country!

At 9:18 a.m., the Imperial Navy's No. 1 Battleship Detachment was attacked by the British fleet, hit multiple large-caliber shells, and then detonated the ammunition depot of the rear main turret, and the huge power of the explosion of the ammunition depot directly broke the battleship of more than 10,000 tons, and in less than a minute, the ship sank rapidly, and there was no time for the sailors to abandon the ship and escape.

At 9:24, the armored cruiser Tiangong, which belonged to the Third Cruiser Detachment of the Imperial Navy, was forced to abandon the ship because the fire was too fierce to control.

At 9:29 a.m., the flagship of the Imperial Navy's Pacific Fleet, the Houyi, the ship of Lin Tongshu, was hit by a 343-millimeter shell, and the front half of the broadside armor belt was pierced, and then a huge hole was blown out, and the speed was forced to drop to 14 knots.

In just over half an hour, the Imperial Navy had already suffered a lot of losses, two capital ships were sunk, more than five capital ships were severely damaged, and the other ships were also injured.

Although the Imperial Navy had inflicted more damage on the British on the other side, one of the only three Sovereign-class battleships of the British, the Counterattack, had sunk completely at 9:26.

Another old battleship, the Nile, to which the Trafalgar-class battleship belonged, also sank in the footsteps of the Counterattack. Although the Nile is said to be an old battleship, it was actually commissioned in 1891 and was only five years old.

However, the age of the ship is no longer important, but some specific characteristics, such as power, firepower, freeboard, armor, etc.

The new warships on the British's side can be counted from the Sovereign class, while on the Imperial side, they can be counted from the Yandi-class battleships and Taiwu-class armored cruisers.

Although the main fleet of the Imperial Navy was also a great blow to the main fleet of the British, in the current situation, the main fleet of the Imperial Navy, which lacked six cutting-edge armored cruisers, was at most on par with the British fleet, and it was estimated that if it continued to fight like this, it would be a lose-lose situation.

And if both sides lose, the British may accept it, but it is absolutely unacceptable to the Empire.

Because for the British, even if the entire East India Fleet was exhausted, if it could be exchanged for the destruction of the main fleet of the Imperial Navy, it would definitely be a pretty cost-effective thing, because in a few months, the British would be able to draw capital ships from the Mediterranean Fleet and the Channel Fleet and re-form a large East India Fleet to continue the war.

And what about the Imperial Navy? Once the main fleet suffers too much loss, then it can be tossed away, even if there are several new battleships in service one after another, but such losses will not take more than ten years, and it will absolutely not be able to recover.

As for talking about the Philippine War and seizing the Spanish colonies, it will become an empty talk.

Therefore, Lin Tongshu would not allow his main fleet and the British to lose both, but to change this situation, Lin also put his hope on the six armored cruisers.

If these six armored cruisers were to go to the battle line with the main fleet, although they could play a certain role, they were far from being able to use them individually.

His order to Vice Admiral Wang Liyong was very simple, that is, to let them cooperate with the main fleet as much as possible to inflict heavy losses and annihilate the main fleet of the enemy fleet.

As for how to cooperate, this is up to Vice Admiral Wang Liyong to make a decision on the spot, after all, things on the battlefield, especially in this very fierce and time-critical battle, will not give too much time for Lin Tongshu to personally command the mobile fleet to fight.

Therefore, Lieutenant General Wang Liyong's impromptu decision is very important.

Vice Admiral Wang Liyong was well aware of the heavy responsibility on his shoulders, so when the fleet rushed through the rear fleet of the British to intercept it, he did not care to pursue these enemy ships to expand the results of the battle, and even a few enemy ships that had obviously been heavily damaged and could sink them as long as they approached and could sink them with a few more rounds of artillery bombardment.

"Maximum speed!" Wang Liyong ignored the British warships in the rear, but increased the speed of the fleet to more than 20 knots.

The mobile fleet cut through the wind and waves, and then went straight to the main British fleet in front, and depending on the course of the mobile fleet, they were going to sail to the right side of the British main fleet.

If Wang Liyong's mobile fleet is allowed to catch up, then it will be able to form a left and right attack on the British fleet with the main fleet led by Lin Tongshu.

This kind of left-right flanking attack was definitely very uncomfortable for the British, because no matter how the battleship was designed, it was impossible to say that after exerting a lot of firepower on one side, it could still exert the same firepower on the other side.

For example, the Houyi-class battleship could concentrate two turrets on the left and right sides, with a total of four main guns, but this also meant that when they concentrated fire on one side, the other side had only five or six 150mm secondary guns.

Under normal circumstances, this kind of thing usually doesn't happen to the left and right, because the enemy is not stupid, and the fleet is not motionless waiting for you to come up.

In the time of the battle, both sides are always in motion!

But today's situation is a bit special, why? Because the speed of Wang Liyong's fast fleet far exceeds that of contemporary battleships, the speed of the fast fleet can reach 20 knots, you must know that this 20 knots is a formation voyage, which means that the six armored cruisers are sailing at this speed.

And for comparison, what is the speed of the main fleets of both sides? Before the engagement, the eight former dreadnought battleships of the main fleet of the Imperial Navy once maneuvered at a speed of sixteen knots, but after the two sides broke out in a formal line battle, in order to maintain the stability of the battleships, improve the hit rate, and also to allow the five old battleships in the rear to keep up, the speed of the ship did not continue to increase, but decreased.

At this point in the battle, in fact, the formation speed of the main fleet has dropped to fourteen knots!

The same thing happened with the British, who had more old ships and slower formations.

The speed of the main fleet was slow, which gave Vice Admiral Wang Liyong's mobile fleet a chance, a chance to bypass it, and then catch up and attack left and right! (To be continued.) )