Soot billowed and waves blew up, and shells roared and roared into the sea, stirring up towering columns of water. Judging from the momentum of the water column, there is no doubt that the Russian battleship rose much higher than the opponent.

On the battleship "Sultanselim", the expression on the face of German Rear Admiral Ekomann finally became soothed when he saw the vigorous flames rising from the Potemkin in the distance. Due to the short run-in training time, the hit rate achieved by his own battleship is really unsightly, and it is completely unworthy of the glory of the world's second navy. And the current hit was undoubtedly a long drought and rain for him: according to the observations sent back by the mainmast's watchman, the speed of the Russian former dreadnought was decreasing sharply, and he only needed to find the average impact point with a half-salvo step by step, and he could completely end it with salvo fire.

"General, the torpedo boats of the Russians have broken away from the array and are rushing towards us at a speed of no less than 25 knots!" There was a rush of voices from the microphone. Eckoman's heart sank, and he quickly grabbed the binoculars and looked out, only to see a dozen gray shadows the size of peas changing course and aiming the bow at the southwest of his place. Seeing this, Eckerman's mind began to calculate quickly.

Currently, this fleet flying the Star and Moon Flag has two options. The first is to change the course to avoid it, and the second is to maintain the original course and speed regardless of it. The former has the advantage of avoiding torpedo boats and increasing the amount of time these unprotected ships are exposed to their rapid-fire guns. This can not only greatly reduce the probability of the battleship being struck by enemy lightning, but also teach these little things who dare to rush to the tiger's mouth to pull their teeth. In fact, the torpedo boats of the current navies of various countries are called cannon fodder. It is for this reason that it is for this reason. As long as the enemy makes a suitable tactical maneuver. It was not only difficult for torpedo boats to make a fatal lightning strike in one shot. Unarmoured and running naked, their loss rate was undoubtedly the highest in the entire service when faced with an overwhelming barrage of rapid-fire shells.

However, if Eckman chooses to maneuver evasion, there is a corresponding disadvantage, which is that he will lose the firing parameters against the Potemkin. As the course changed, the original firing parameters no longer applied, which meant that the Sultan Selim had to re-launch a half-salvo to find its position. And if the course and speed are kept constant. The pros and cons are the opposite of evasive shifts: your own ships can maintain effective strikes against enemy capital ships, but they are also more vulnerable to enemy torpedo boats!

Although Eckerman was desperate to knock the Russian Intrepid to the bottom of the sea and reap the first victory of his life; However, careful consideration stopped his adventure, and he gave the order to turn after a dozen seconds of silence. Compared with the Russian dreadnought, the super-dreadnought he was riding on was obviously much more precious, and there was no room for any mistakes; What's more, the Russian dreadnought was already wounded and slow, and when he repelled these torpedo boats, there was still a good chance that he could take them out.

"Didi ......" rang throughout the ship with the sound of a fast-turning bell, and the bow of the Sultan Selim began to crash into a large splash of water; The four majestic main turrets also began to whimper. Aimed at these little ones looming in the waves. Although these two or three hundred ton Russian torpedo boats were of many classes, their lightning strike capabilities were all about the same: the speed was between 26.5 and 27.5 knots. All are armed with 2 or 3 381 mm torpedo tubes. At the time of the Russo-Japanese War, the performance of these torpedo boats was still unsatisfactory; By World War I, however, this was no longer enough. With the Sultan Selim, a battleship nearly 100 times larger than them, capable of driving 23 knots, with the range of less than two kilometers of old Russian torpedoes, it was even more difficult to occupy a suitable firing position!

"Boom!" After more than a minute of silence, the German-made 350 mm SKL45 naval guns once again erupted into a deafening roar, and the flames shot into the sky. The Russian sailors had less than ten seconds to enjoy this spectacular scene before a terrible scream suddenly came to their ears; Moments later, a large-caliber shrapnel exploded on the surface of the sea. Although the height of the stirred water column was much lower than that of a shell with a normal charge, this was the last thing an experienced Russian sailor would want to see!

Steel balls burst into the air, shrapnel danced wildly. Countless fist-sized steel bullets swept away in all directions like a torrential rain, and an unlucky Russian torpedo boat was located exactly fifty meters away from the explosion point of the shrapnel bomb, and in an instant it was enveloped inside. A dozen or so Russian sailors exposed on the open deck didn't even have time to snort before they were torn into several pieces by the dense burst of shrapnel; The blood erupted like a flash torrent, spurting straight out more than ten meters away. A series of tooth-wrenching tearing sounds rang out, and the unprotected part of the torpedo boat was pierced through a shocking, honeycomb-like hole; A large amount of sea water poured into it, and the torpedo boat shook violently, slowing down at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The orange light of the "Boom ......" exploded in anger and arrogance, and after the main gun fired, the 150mm secondary gun and 88mm rapid-fire gun on the side of the Sultan Selim also let out the first roar of the battle. The shells were like a rain of meteors, whistling and crashing around the torpedo boats, the water gushing and white flowers splashing. Considering the lack of frigates in the Ottoman Navy, the German designers equipped the Sultanselim with 12 standard 150-mm secondary guns and 12 88-mm rapid-fire guns, which were discarded on German capital ships, for use as anti-torpedo boats. Compared with the 150 mm secondary gun, which weighs 45.3 kg, although the weight of this rapid-fire gun is only 9.5 kg, which is far less powerful than a single shot, its rate of fire can reach 15 rounds per minute, which is more than twice that of the 150 mm secondary gun. When dealing with such unprotected small torpedo boats, this rapid-fire gun will be even more effective than the 150 mm gun. At the same time, the battleship Khairettin and four other Turkish torpedo boats also began to fire at the charging Russian torpedo boats; For these Russians, the Turks, who have a grudge with them for hundreds of years, are even more enemies when they meet, and they are very angry!

Artillery fire roared, and loud noises exploded. Under the intensive attack of the rapid-fire fire of more than 30 single-port rapid-fire guns of the Turkish fleet, the Russian torpedo boats that rushed forward were shot one after another. The amidship of a Russian torpedo boat suddenly burst into a red and brilliant cloud of fire, and the violent explosion directly destroyed the boiler blower and a large area of pipeline; With the blazing high-pressure steam rushing through a sea of fire, the torpedo boat slowed down. After a while, five or six more shells whistled in, and the red light erupted; The bridge collapsed, the waterline curled, and the entire torpedo boat tilted sharply in a sea of smoke and fire, and the surviving Russian sailors all rushed to the sea.

A few minutes later, another Russian torpedo boat was hit: a 150-mm grenade smashed into the bow of one of the Russian torpedo boats like the open mouth of a giant shark. The terrifying wave of air produced by the violent explosion was like a torrent pouring down, splitting gold and iron along the way, and the wind swept into the torpedo compartment at the bottom of the bow of the ship. With an earth-shattering roar that was even more violent than thunder, its entire bow was blown into thousands of pieces, and all kinds of metal fragments shot into the sky with flesh and blood stumps; The Russian torpedo boat plunged headlong into the sea in a matter of seconds, and the deadly whirlpool left none of the sailors on board alive!

Although, theoretically, these torpedo boats, armed with only 381 mm torpedoes of caliber and with a speed of no more than 27 knots, will have little chance in front of this Turkish fleet; However, due to the lack of run-in training of the sailors on the Sultan Selim, the accuracy of the shelling was very unsatisfactory; After paying the price of 2 sunk, 1 heavily damaged, and 2 withdrawn from the battle, the Russian torpedo boats still managed to rush to a position 3,500 meters from the Turkish fleet. Shell after shell exploded around them, stirring up a high wall of water. At this time, four Turkish torpedo boats formed the last line of defense of the Turkish fleet; Covered by the gunfire of the battleships, they began to bravely rush to their Russian counterparts, several times their size. While firing their guns with all their might, they also fired torpedoes at the Russians; Although it was difficult to hit the delicate and agile Russian torpedo boats, it could force the opponent to turn and prevent them from calmly occupying the torpedo firing position.

"Despicable little Asiatic bad horses, this is your own death!" Seeing the oncoming Turkish torpedo boats, all the officers and men on the Russian torpedo boats burst out with irrepressible anger. These fighting nations originally had the blood of brave and fierce beasts, and they usually bullied others by themselves; Today, he was beaten by the sick man Turk, and the anger in his heart was like a volcano. Without waiting for the commander's order, the two 75-mm cannons on each Russian torpedo boat were aimed at these vicious Turkish torpedo boats. With a loud roar, several Turkish torpedo boats landed as if they were sailing in boiling water!

Artillery fire flew and waves swayed. Both sides are doing everything in their power to kill each other; Far north, the main Russian fleet was still providing almost futile long-range artillery support for the Thunderstrike fleet. With the turn of the Turkish fleet, the distance between the two sides was re-opened by more than 10 kilometers, and the Russians could only rely on God's help to get a hit. After paying the price of two more torpedo boats being hit and slowed down, and then being surrounded by indiscriminate artillery, the rest of the Russian torpedo boats finally rushed within range of their old torpedoes. (To be continued......)

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