Chapter Seventy-Three: The Battle of the South China Sea (3)
Sa Bingzhen decided to take the initiative to attack, so he asked the ships to speed up their advance, and let the submarines follow, this time it was likely to be a good opportunity to dismiss the British Far East Fleet in one fell swoop.
All warships in China are urgently checking their equipment and barrel ammunition, and with the experience of the previous time, the naval soldiers in Huaxia are not very nervous, and their current strength is no worse than that of the British.
Since the fog has not yet dissipated in the morning, the visibility on the sea is very low, and the difficulty of naval warfare in this situation is not ordinarily great, and it is even more unfavorable for the nascent navy of Huaxia.
Vice Admiral Winslow was very happy to look at this white mist, he knew that this kind of weather was simply God's favor for them, his soldiers did not know how many times they had experienced this kind of weather, and the experience of the Huaxia Navy was definitely not as good as his own soldiers, this was an advantage, he knew that he was very likely to win.
Sa Bingzhen looked at these annoying fogs and felt helpless, but he had no room to turn back, because the shadow of the British Far East Fleet began to appear in the high-powered telescope, and he knew the flaws of his soldiers, so he asked the ships to get as close as possible to prevent being beaten by the British.
When both sides saw each other's faint figures, they all opened fire in unison, and the countless artillery fire did not drive away the fog, and it was still white.
......At 18,000 meters and 15,000 meters, the distance between the two sides became closer and closer, until at 12,000 meters, both sides began to attack frantically.
The "Xianyang" and "Chang'an" fired a salvo at the flagship of the British Far East Fleet and the two "invincible" class battle cruisers, and the "booming ......" artillery fire neatly fired at the British "Dreadnought."
"Octave of the right rudder, accelerate."
Acceleration
The flagship of the British Far East Fleet and the two 'Invincible' class battleships saw the shells rushing in front of them and urgently made evasive actions, but one of the 'Invincible' class was still hit by a shell in the stern, this shell penetrated the armor layer of the 'Invincible' class, a huge hole appeared there, a large amount of sea water poured into it frantically from the gap, and the soldiers inside were washed down before they had time to remedy, and slowly the whole ship began to tilt back, and the speed of the ship kept decreasing.
The British 'Dreadnought' narrowly escaped the attack of the shells, but those shells exploded near the battleship, and a large number of air waves made the entire hull shake non-stop, and it was very difficult for the British soldiers to fight back, even Winslow and others in the flagship room were staggering, and the situation of the other 'Invincible' class was basically the same.
"Hurry up and let the battleship that was shot report the number jΓΉ, we will shoot back, shoot back!" Winslow shouted loudly.
A herald immediately staggered out, and Winslow's assistant only found out that the lieutenant general had been smashed on the forehead, and a large amount of blood was running down his cheek, and he immediately shouted: "Medic, medic, lieutenant general is wounded!" β
Several medics happened to pass by the door of the flagship room, and when they heard it, they immediately ran in with tools to help Winslow stop the bleeding.
The shaking 'Dreadnought' bravely fired back at the 'Xianyang' and 'Chang'an', but the 'Xianyang' and 'Chang'an' avoided the shells with their fast speed.
The British 'Empress of India', 'Hood', 'Determination' and 'Royal Oak' surrounded the Chinese 'Ryukyu', 'Taiwan' and 'Hainan' on one side. Half an hour later, the ammunition depot was hit, and with a "boom" the entire tail of the "Hood" burst into flames, and the tragic shouts of the British troops and the continuous explosions made the Chinese navy terrified to hear it, and after a while, the "Hood" continued to sink, and half an hour later it completely sank into the sea.
The battle has entered the white heat, dozens of minutes later, the "Hainan" was hit, the cabin is constantly overflowing by the sea, fortunately it is not very big, after the Chinese soldiers frantically repaired the overflow finally stopped, but the "Hainan" did not dare to continue to advance, it can only continue to shell the British ship in the same place.
After losing the help of the Hainan, the pressure on the Ryukyu and Taiwan increased dramatically, and the Determination, Royal Oak and the Empress of India attacked them even more frantically. Just when they couldn't support it, the Sovereign-class "Pearl River" and "Heilongjiang" broke free from the shackles of the British ships to support them, while the "Determination" and "Royal Oak" and "Queen of India" were unwilling to retreat.
The 'Qin Han' was hit three times under the siege of an 'Old Man Star' class battleship and a group of armored cruisers, and it also hit the 'Old Man Star' class battleship, and the 'Qin Han' was killed along with the enemy ships.
Sa Bingzhen looked at the sinking 'Qin Han' very heartbroken, he knew that the 'Qin Han' could not be saved, and then looked at the difficult battles of the ships against the enemy ships, and when they were somewhat damaged, he began to order the submarines to attack. Just after he finished giving the order, suddenly the 'Xianyang' began to shake, and he fell on the deck when he couldn't stand steadily, and after a while he stood up, and a soldier happened to run to his side to help him, and he asked the soldier sternly: "Did the 'Xianyang' be hit?" β
"Report to the commander, yes, the 'Xianyang' was hit by a shell just now, and a hole was blown up in the armor layer, but it did not penetrate the armor layer."
Sa Bing was glad to hear that the armor layer had not been pierced, but the situation was a bit bad now, and he hoped that the submarine could play its best role in killing the enemy ship.
Fifty meters below the battlefield, ten submarines were moving slowly, and they immediately prepared their torpedoes as soon as they received the order, and the first war belonging to their submariners was finally about to begin, and they had been waiting for a long time.
They drove the submarine under the British Far East Fleet, and they each went to look for a target, and when they found the target, they were ready to launch a torpedo.
"Three o'clock, big guy, launch!"
"...... at five o'clock"
"Directly above, launch!"
ββ¦β¦β
The submarines launched attacks on the enemy, one after another torpedoes continued to rush towards the enemy ships, and more than half of the torpedoes fired in the first fire hit the target, and the rest missed.
The British Far East Fleet battleship that was fighting fiercely with the Chinese fleet suddenly shook violently, and when the British soldiers checked it and found that the bottom of their battleship was suddenly hit by a torpedo, and there was a gap, which surprised them, how could the bottom be attacked, just when they were about to remedy it, a torpedo suddenly came in from that gap, and with a "boom" the gap was even bigger, and those soldiers were also blown to pieces.
More and more British ships were torpedoed by submarines, and the Chinese warships also took advantage of the inspection of the British ships to attack the British ships frantically, and those British ships were sunk one after another under the attack of submarines and battleships.
Winslow suddenly received the news that a large number of battleships were torpedoed by unknown things and could not hold on now, he immediately guessed whether it was a new type of warship from Huaxia, but when he thought that the empire did not have weapons that could attack from the bottom of the sea, he dispelled the consideration that it was a Huaxia weapon. The current situation was very unfavorable for them, and he knew that they had lost by looking at the sinking battleships Philmantle, and he was considering whether to die with the Chinese navy or surrender.
While he was thinking about it, a soldier came running up to him and said, "Both the 'Determination' and the 'Royal Oak' have been shot, and they have been wounded by Yan Zhan, and the other ......" Before the soldier could finish speaking, the 'Dreadnought' shook violently, and the soldier suddenly fell, and Winslow held on to the iron rod and did not fall, and he was just trying to stand firm when suddenly there was a violent tremor.
Just then a soldier ran up to Winslow and said, "Admiral, the 'Dreadnought' was hit by two shells on the hull and a torpedo on the bottom of the ship, and the bottom of the ship is slowly starting to flood, and we are tinkering with it." β
Winslow was horrified when he heard this, he didn't know what to do when the situation was so serious, he immediately gathered a group of men to discuss.
The Chinese naval soldiers on the Xianyang and Chang'an cheered when they saw the flagship of the British ship, but they were soon taught a lesson by Sa Bing, and they stopped attacking because they were happy during the engagement, which was death.
Lieutenant General Winslow was very helpless when he saw his men, these officers were more or less injured, and most of them were injured by hitting something. He said to them: "Since our warships have been attacked by unknown things, many of them have lost their ability to fight, and even the flagship has been traumatized by Yan zhΓ²ng, so let's discuss what to do now." β
His assistant said at this time: "Let me talk about the basic situation of the fleet now, the flagship has suffered three wounds, the 'Determination' and the 'Royal Oak' have also received heavy damage, the 'Old Man Star' class battleships are now gone, there is only one 'Invincible' class left, and some other warships have also been somewhat traumatized, and the entire fleet is not the opponent of the Huaxia Navy at all, so everyone wants to take a look." β
The officers thought for a moment and did not say anything, because it was up to Lieutenant General Winslow to decide whether to fight or surrender, which was the most normal for a disciplined British army.
Winslow looked at these subordinates, looked up to the sky and sighed and said: "Prepare to surrender, now you don't even have a chance to fight hand-to-hand with the Huaxia warship, the empire still needs you, so surrender." β
As soon as he finished saying surrender, a soldier pushed open the door of the flagship room and came to his side and said: "The report will make up for the gap in the flagship, but there is still seawater pouring in, and it is estimated that it will sink in more than ten hours, please transfer the lieutenant general to the 'Empress of India'." β
After the soldier finished speaking, Winslow said weakly, "Surrender, don't make indifferent sacrifices." The officers also agreed with the lieutenant general's words, so they asked the ships to surrender with white flags.
The Chinese naval soldiers cheered when they saw the battleships of the British Far East Fleet raise the white flag, but the cheering soldiers were taught a lesson by Sa Bing again, what if this was a fake surrender.