The eight airships that took off from Russky Island again had not yet flown to the heads of the remnants of the French Navy's expeditionary fleet and the Russian Navy's Second Pacific Fleet, and the warships of the two countries had already become chaotic, and then under the helpless order of the commanders of the fleets of the two countries, the remnants of the warships of the two countries began to scatter and flee to avoid the bombing of the airships.

Lin Daxin, who was commanding the Northeast Naval Fleet to pursue the Franco-Russian Combined Fleet, saw that the enemy ships began to scatter and flee because of the appearance of airships, and immediately said with great joy: "The French and the Russians can't stand it!" Order all ships to cooperate with the airships, pursue the escaped 2* ships, and leave as many as possible! ”

The airship units of the Northeast Air Force and the three fleets of the Northeast Navy fiercely pounced on the French and Russian warships that had fled in all directions.

After the two commanders of the Franco-Russian combined fleet ordered a scattered retreat, the morale of the remaining warships of the entire combined fleet had fallen to the bottom, and some of the warships chose to surrender to save their lives.

The French Navy's all-steel battleship Estrider not only had a twin 40-caliber main gun turret blown up by the airship, but also was hit by a 305-mm shell that pierced the waterline armor and destroyed a large number of boiler pipes, reducing the speed of the Estridan to just over 12 knots.

When the captain of the Estridium saw the airship approaching and the warship of the Northeast Navy approaching while firing guns in the distance, he sighed, knowing that there were only 2 ways for him to choose. One is to surrender and save his life, and the other is to fight to the end and be sunk in the sea. So the captain ordered the power compartment of the warship to turn off the power, and the warship raised the white flag. The second path was chosen, surrendering to the Northeast Navy.

When Lin Daxin saw the all-steel battleship of the French Navy with the white flag raised, he immediately ordered the guns of the navy ships to avoid it, and at the same time ordered a fast protection cruiser to immediately move closer to the surrendered warship and receive the all-steel battleship.

The Russian Navy's all-steel battleship Tukum, which was almost as far behind as the Estrid, had only lost half of its main gun fire in the airship bombardment, but in the confrontation just now. It was again hit by a 305-millimeter shell in the sea more than 2 meters near the warship, and the underwater armor on the side of the hull blew a large hole more than 7 meters long and 2 meters wide. Although it did not sink, the speed had dropped to 12.5 knots.

As soon as the captain of the Tucum saw the French all-steel battleship, which had fallen last almost like his own warship, the white flag was raised without much hesitation. He ordered the power compartment to turn off the boiler, raise the white flag, and surrender to the Northeast Navy, so that the Russian naval officers and sailors on the bridge of the Tukum were suddenly overjoyed, and their lives could finally be saved.

Immediately, a fast-protection cruiser of the Northeast Navy quickly approached the Tucum, ready to accept the all-steel battleship.

At this time, there was another rumbling explosion, and the Alexander II-class ironclad battleship Alexander II, with a displacement of 9,900 tons, was hit by a 305-mm shell from the all-steel battleship Zhaojun of the Northeast Navy during its escape. The shell pierced the Alexander II's waterline armor and exploded inside the ship's hull, detonating an ammunition compartment for a main gun shell. The power of nearly 100 rounds of 305-mm shells exploded at the same time, and the Alexander II was blown in two at once, and it disappeared into the sea not long after, and only 15 of the more than 600 Russian naval officers and sailors on the warship finally jumped into the sea to escape and became prisoners of the Northeast Navy.

The French Navy's Charlemagne-class all-steel battleship Penelope was hit in a battle line confrontation. Seriously wounded, the speed dropped from 18 knots to 13 knots. Seeing that a warship had raised the white flag, and the Russian Navy's ironclad battleship Alexander II not far from him was sunk, the frightened captain of the Penelope ordered the boiler in the warship's power compartment to go out, and at the same time raised the white flag and chose to surrender to the Northeast Navy.

The all-steel battleship Prudence, which is not far from the Penelope, has only lost half of its main gun firepower so far, and its speed has not been affected, but the French captain of this all-steel battleship saw several airships flying rapidly in the distance, and the warships around him kept raising the white flag, and he also ordered the French naval officers and men on the Prudence to close the power compartment, raise the white flag and surrender.

The pursuing Northeast Navy fleet immediately dispatched 2 fast protection cruisers to receive the Penelope and the Proudens.

As soon as the Franco-Russian combined fleet began to disperse and escape, there were 4 all-steel battleships that chose to surrender, which made Lin Daxin very happy, with the captured 4 all-steel battleships, it basically made up for the losses of the Northeast Navy in the naval battle, Lin Daxin looked at the remnants of the 2 navies that were desperately fleeing in the distance, and said to Sun Xitao, the commander of the First Fleet beside him: "Send a telegram to the Fourth Fleet in Lushun and the Fifth Fleet in Manila, and let them immediately dispatch to intercept these warships on the way to escape from the remnants of the French and Russian warships." It's time to beat the water dogs! ”

When the remnants of the Franco-Russian combined fleet began to flee in all directions, it was not yet half past 11 o'clock in the afternoon, and the three fleets of the Northeast Navy and the airship units of the Northeast Air Force pursued them until about 2 o'clock in the afternoon, and then returned to the temporary supply point on Russky Island under the order of Lin Daxin.

The whole pursuit process can be described as brilliant results, in addition to the 4 all-steel battleships that chose to surrender at the beginning, and then after being caught up by airships, the French Navy has a displacement of 13,500 tons of Cecilia-class all-steel battleship Beatrice, a displacement of 11,100 tons of Emperor Charlemagne-class all-steel battleship Natjavida and a displacement of 11,693 tons Charlemat-class all-steel battleship Charlemart, as well as the Russian Navy Borodino-class all-steel battleship Belkakite with a displacement of 13,500 tons, All 4 all-steel battleships raised the white flag and chose to surrender to the Northeast Navy.

In addition, the remaining three Desai, Kleber and Bayonna, the remaining three large fast armored cruisers of the Duprai class with a displacement of 10,500 tons, were also chased by airships during the escape, raised the white flag and chose to surrender.

The Russian Navy's large fast armored armored cruiser with a displacement of 11,092 tons, the Serafima, which was injured and reduced its speed to 16 knots, was caught up by the airship, and the white flag was also raised.

The three surviving ironclad battleships of the French Navy with a displacement of more than 10,000 tons, the Goddess of War, the Defender and the Bouvet did not pursue the airship in the direction of escape, but there were several all-steel battleships of the Northeast Navy chasing behind them, and the leading warship was the Shenyang all-steel battleship that Lin Daxin was riding, and the remaining 6 all-steel battleships of the first fleet of the entire Northeast Navy were pursuing these three French ironclad battleships.

Although these three ironclad battleships of the French Navy were not seriously injured in the engagement, the highest speed of their three warships was less than 16.5 knots, and sooner or later they would be overtaken by the all-steel battleships behind that were faster than themselves, so it didn't take long for them to raise the white flag one after another and choose to surrender to the pursuing Northeast Navy.

In addition to this, 2 protective cruisers, 3 destroyers and 9 torpedo boats of the expeditionary fleet of the French Navy, 2 protective cruisers, 2 destroyers and 2 torpedo boats of the Second Pacific Fleet of the Russian Navy, chose to raise the white flag and surrender to the Northeast Navy.

After 5 of the 30 transport and supply ships of the French Navy's expeditionary fleet and the 20 transport and supply ships of the Russian Navy's Second Pacific Fleet were sunk by the Northeast Navy, the remaining 45 transport and supply ships with a maximum speed of less than 16 knots were all hoisted under the white flag.

Of course, there were also some stubborn and desperate remnants of the Combined Fleet's warships, which were mercilessly sunk into the sea.

The Joan of Arc class large fast armored cruiser Kelly, with a displacement of 11,092 tons, ran wildly with a high speed of 21.8 knots, but it was still not as fast as the airship.

Zhang Guoxin, the captain of the Hercules supership, saw that the Kelly was so ignorant, and immediately ordered the bombardier to prepare to drop the bomb, and then 4 800-kilogram bombs smashed into the Kelly, but fortunately, the Kelly escaped the attack of these 2 bombs one after another.

Zhang Guoxin frowned when he saw that the four 800-kilogram bombs did not hit the large fast armored cruiser below, knowing that in order to return to the battlefield quickly, the Hercules supership was loaded with 12 800-kilogram bombs.

Zhang Guoxin immediately ordered: "The airship lowers its altitude, maintains 1,000 meters, and then prepares to continue dropping bombs!" ”

Anyway, now the remnants of the French and Russian warships are fleeing, and their own airships are just lowering the altitude, and they don't have the time to shoot at their own airships with small-caliber rapid-fire guns.

Soon after, the supership Hercules lowered to an altitude of 1,000 meters and dropped four 800-kilogram bombs on the large fast armored cruiser Kelly, which was fleeing below.

This time the good luck of the large fast armored cruiser Kelly ran out, 3 bombs hit it, and the most lethal was that 1 bomb penetrated its 51 mm thick deck armor, and penetrated 2 layers of steel plates, directly into the ammunition compartment of a main gun shell, and detonated nearly 193 mm shells inside, after a violent explosion and dazzling fire, this large fast armored cruiser broke in two, and soon disappeared into the sea, with more than 500 French naval officers and sailors on the warship, all for their valor, paid the price, with the warship sinking to the bottom of the sea.

The Catherine II-class ironclad battleship Sinop with a displacement of 11,500 tons of the Russian Navy was also sunk with an 800-kilogram bomb by the supership Hercules on the way to escape.

There were also some protective cruisers, destroyers, and torpedo boats in the navies of the two countries that were sunk by airships or warships of the Northeast Navy during their escape. (To be continued)