Relying on the strength of the second column, it was impossible to stop the departure of such a behemoth as Hector and the Resistance through artillery battles, and the forced breakthrough of the Hector just now was a proof that the second column wanted to leave the British Resistance.

There's only one way, and that's to just hit it!

Don't think that this is because the commander's patriotism is too noble or irrational, but because in contemporary naval warfare, the ramming tactic is still very practical, and at the same time it is a very efficient tactic.

Using a sturdy bow to hit the middle of the enemy ship, it is basically nine out of ten, although its own losses are not small, but the enemy ship will be more tragic, a bad one will be directly hit by the waist and broken, no matter how bad the hull will be broken a big hole, and then cause a large flood.

In the Battle of Lisa in 1866, which had not yet taken place at this time, the naval artillery battle between the ironclad ships of the two sides was the same as the battle of the Pearl River Estuary today, and failed to achieve decisive results, so the Ferdinand and Marx ironclad ships of the Austrian Navy decisively and directly rammed the Italian flagship King of Italy and successfully sank the ship, thus deciding the victory or defeat of this steel giant.

At the same time, this naval battle in history, the naval battles in the following decades have had a profound impact, warships began to retro retro ramming angles, and made the V-shaped wedge tactics popular, which also directly led to the use of V-shaped wedge tactics by the Beiyang Navy during the First Sino-Japanese War, and tried to ram the Yoshino.

However, the Battle of Lisa has not yet broken out, and the Battle of the Battlefield will not break out until 1866, that is, in July of this year.

However, before this, the naval battle of the Pearl River Estuary between China and Britain had fully embodied some of the tactical essence of the Battle of Lisa.

For example, before the start of the battle. The British used the V-shaped wedge tactic, trying to rely on two large ironclad ships to disrupt the formation of the Imperial Navy. And lead more wooden battleships into the melee.

In the face of the V-shaped wedge tactics of the British, out of cautious conservatism. Or simply because of the lack of self-confidence, the Imperial Navy did not turn directly in front of the formation, as the Italian Navy in history, and then continued to pass and shell in front of the enemy fleet in a straight column.

Instead, a more ancient tactic was adopted, that is, a column rushed directly up, and used the huge combat power of the flagship of the Yandi to directly tear apart the formation of the British East India Fleet, and then led the follow-up Shaohao and four Pangu-class ironclad ships to penetrate deep into the British wooden battleship group.

When the commander of the East India Fleet, Rear Admiral Liszt, found out that something was wrong, he directly ordered a turn and began to pursue the first column of the Imperial Navy, at this time. The Second Column of the Imperial Navy, which was responsible for entangling the Hector and the Resistance, tried unsuccessfully to intercept them with naval guns, or even with the hull.

The commander of the second column of the Imperial Navy's Combined Fleet, Rear Admiral Qian Bingjun, finally decided to adopt a lose-lose tactic, that is, to try to make the female snail directly ram the Resistance.

Now that the British Hector has been freed from the entanglement of the second column, if the Resistance is also freed from the interception of the second column, then when these two huge ironclad ships turn successfully and catch up with the first column, then the first column will be in great danger of being surrounded by the front and rear.

In the face of such a crisis, Qian Bingjun had no time to think about whether the female snail would sink due to the impact. All he had to do was decisively and quickly order the Snail to crash directly into it.

Regarding the order of Rear Admiral Qian Bingjun, the commander of the second column, although Colonel Guo Chengjing, the captain of the female snail, was a little hesitant, but this hesitation only lasted for a short period of a few tenths of a second.

Immediately after that, he immediately gave the order: "Turn right forty degrees, maximum combat speed!" ”

At this time, the Snail was about 350 meters away from the Resistance. The Resistance is in front of the Snail to the right, and the Resistance is following the Hector in its turn.

If you want to hit the Resistance, you have to follow the steering. Then calculate the distance and bearing, so that you can hit it accurately.

The ships behind saw the batting battle flag hoisted by the Snail. One by one, they watched with wide eyes, they didn't want to mourn for the officers and soldiers on the Snail. In fact, to put it mildly, the officers and soldiers on both sides in the melee now don't care much about the deaths and injuries of each other's officers and soldiers, and they only care about one point, that is, whether the Female Snail can collide with the Resistance.

If it can succeed, even if the Snail itself sinks in the end, but by exchanging a Snail for a Resistance, the Imperial Navy will make a profit.

Fleet engagement is a mode of combat that doesn't care much about casualties, and its biggest goal is to sink enemy ships!

As long as the Resistance can be left, even if the second column is completely wiped out, it will be worth it for the Imperial Navy!

Just when the female snail hung up the battle flag and rushed towards the resistance at maximum speed, on the Yandi in the distance, Shen Tongdeng also saw the flag sent from the female snail!

"God bless China!"

At a distance of only two or three hundred meters, and still on a cross course, the Resistance did not have much reaction time at all!

The British officers and men on the ship, especially the sailors on the starboard side, saw that the Snail was approaching at high speed in front of them, and they didn't know what the Snail was going to do.

"Crazy, these Chinese are crazy!" The British sailors on the starboard side shouted and cursed as they quickly ran away from the emplacements of the guns on the side guns.

If there is a collision, it will be 100% hell on earth, and if you don't want to die, you might as well run away early!

Time passes by second!

On the Female Snail, Major General Qian Bingjun looked at the Resistance that was getting closer and closer, and his face did not have the slightest look of fear!

At this time, Captain Guo Chengjing also issued the last order in his life: "All hands are ready, impact!" ”

At the last impact, he almost roared out with the loudest voice, and there was even a hint of hoarseness in the roar!

At this time, the crew of the Female Snail was just grabbing the fixed objects around them, waiting for the huge impact that was coming!

Qian Bingjun's white-gloved hands also grabbed the iron railing in front of him, and his eyes were still looking at the increasingly huge Resistance in front of him!

Fifty meters, thirty meters, ten meters!

In the next moment, the bow of the Snail crashed into the middle of the starboard side of the Resistance!

The squeak of the steel twist sounded, and the sight could almost clearly see the fragments of iron and wood chips and iron nails flying sideways on the part where the two ships collided!

The huge impact force made the crew on the Snail prepare in advance, but there were still many people who fell and even collided and were injured.

Even Major General Qian Bingjun, who had not changed his face, stumbled and fell to the ground, but he quickly got up, and after standing up, he still looked like a senior general, only to see him wave his hand, and then adjust the hat on his head.

But Colonel Guo Chengjing, who was only a few meters away from him, was not so lucky, he was also thrown out by the huge impact, and then his head hit the steel bulkhead, and the blood instantly stained his entire head red.

A lieutenant next to him hurriedly took two steps forward to check, but found that Colonel Guo Chengjing had stopped breathing, and the wound on his head was not a fatal injury.

The command room was a mess, in fact the first half of the Snail was still worse for the crew in other directions, not everywhere there were railings for the crew to grab and hold them in place, and there were some crew members who couldn't get out of their jobs even before impact.

These crew members are a large number of casualties!

What did the massive casualties of the Snail crew bring?

They managed to smash the entire bow of the Snail into the middle of the Resistance, and it went as deep as four or five meters, although the bow of the Snail was almost completely destroyed, and the launching line was flooded with a lot of water due to the many cracks.

But the Resistance is worse than them!

If the two ships had collided head-on, the small-tonnage Snail would have died miserably, but now it was the Snail that actively hit the middle of the Resistance with the bow, which was usually more fragile than the bow.

For the ironclads, their 4.5-inch armor is enough to protect all the guns of the current day, resulting in almost useless artillery battles between the ironclads.

But the solidity of the hull still could not cope with such a strong impact!

Just now, the Hector took the initiative to hit the Zhenbei, and the Zhenbei was just a little guy of more than 400 tons, even though Hector successfully knocked over the Zhenbei, but its bow position was also broken a large hole several meters wide, but it did not affect Hector's actual combat effectiveness.

However, now it is more than 1,800 tons of female snails hitting the Resistance at high speed!

This collision almost tore a huge hole more than ten meters wide on the right side of the Resistance, four or five meters deep into the ship, and although such a heavy blow did not cause the Resistance to be smashed in two on the spot, the huge crack brought a large amount of water.

The speed of its water ingress is terrifying, in just a few minutes, the Resistance has already entered five or six hundred tons of water, and this is because the bow of the Snail is still stuffed in the Resistance, if the Snail reverses and pulls out the deep bow, then the Resistance will undoubtedly sink in an instant.

It's a pity that the current female snail can't be reversed!

In the first time after the impact, Qian Bingjun listened to the loss report, in addition to a large number of casualties, the bow of the ship was almost completely destroyed, a large amount of seawater was pouring in, and the steam engine also failed because of the violent impact, the rupture of the hull of the Female Snail was not limited to the bow position, because of the huge impact force, the cracks in other positions of the Female Snail were also larger or smaller, and the boiler room had seawater entering, and the crew inside had almost not escaped one.

Faced with this situation, Qian Bingjun knew that there was no possibility of recovery for the Nu Snail, and it and the captain Guo Chengjing had completed their mission with their lives! (To be continued.) )