In a naval battle, whoever can seize the advantageous position will have a greater chance of victory. In the Russo-Japanese naval war in the world, the reason why the Japanese army was able to win with very small losses was that it always grabbed the position of the T-head, and the tactics of each breakthrough played an extremely crucial role.

Now, this tactic has been well known to the nations, and it has been practiced accordingly, but when it comes to actual combat, it is not so brilliant to use it well.

The coalition forces first guessed the Chinese Navy's tricks wrongly, and suddenly saw that there was only one battleship in front of them, blocking at both ends, and they did not know whether to attack forward or backward when they landed. Sending two fast armored cruisers to deal with it was originally just to contain it, and it was not enough to count on sinking something. With so many bodies and such high shooting accuracy, don't think too much!

But they didn't expect that Yang Haiwei didn't want to contain and lure the enemy, he just grabbed the opportunity and fought hard! Don't look at the "Tianjin" as just a warship, on which the best officers and sailors of the Chinese Navy are gathered, and what a waste it would be if they did not give full play to their combat effectiveness!

The "Tianjin" lightly billowed the smoke from the two enemy ships, and immediately turned right to maneuver to intercept the allied fleet. The slender hull crosses the sea, skimming out a bright wave track, the action is beautiful like a giant whale swimming, and the foreign devils on the two warships are dumbfounded!

"Oh! My God! I must have been too badly injured and hallucinating, otherwise I would have seen such a strange thing! ”

"It's incredible! With such a huge hull that can make movements as flexible as a shark, is it really a battleship? It's still a monster under the control of the sea god! ”

Otherwise, it is not enough to express the horror in their hearts!

How fast the battleship could run, no one knows the exact number. But for the navies of various countries, the power of the steam engine can make the steel hull of more than 10,000 tons run twenty knots. It's already the limit. If you want to be faster. Higher metallurgy is required to provide a stronger keel; More advanced steam turbine power leads to greater power output; Better boilers provide sufficient amounts of superheated saturated steam; Larger propellers result in higher propulsion efficiency .......

An innovation in warship technology. It usually means an all-round improvement of the entire industrial technology, which is not something that can be obtained out of thin air dreams. Otherwise, even if you give him the drawings, you won't be able to make the same thing without technical improvements in materials and metallurgy.

In the nineteenth century, the generational difference in industrial technology was not so obvious, so the United States, as the world's largest copycat country, tried its best to plagiarize various British invention patents, and the whole world pulled things. can quickly keep up, but it is far from surpassing.

On the other hand, in the 80s of the 20th century, China was faced with a huge generational gap of hundreds of years in some fields and decades in most fields. Therefore, after the reform, everything was left to be rebuilt, and the national science and technology investment allocation was only equivalent to a few tenths of the United States, and it was not until the 21st century that it slowly caught up to more than half.

In the first decade of the 21st century, it seems that China's scientific and technological research and development achievements have skyrocketed. Every day, there are various good news of "world-advanced" and "world-leading", and the number of papers in authoritative journals and journals is also catching up quickly.

Don't forget the jì. Scientific research needs to be accumulated. The United States has been investing in the current proportion of funds for seventy or eighty years or more! For more than 100 years, it has been the world's largest industrial country, and has never hesitated to invest in technological research.

It is only a matter of one or two years before China reaches the level of investment from other people. Even from the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the total amount of investment is not one percent of that of the other side!

If you want to use one percent of people's investment to catch up in all fields, it can only be said that this idea is more outrageous than a dream. To engage in technological research, we must be down-to-earth and catch up little by little. The gap between the 100 years of investment in basic materials science can not be smoothed out by a sudden surge in investment in 10 or 20 years. If you don't accumulate steps, you can't make thousands of miles, honestly.

Looking back at the armored cruisers, which now represent the highest level of world industry at the end of the XIX century, they themselves have done everything they can. It's not that you don't want to make the battleship bigger, in addition to the change in concept, the most practical metallurgical technology, keel strength can't be solved, no matter how big you get, it's just a tofu boat. If the maneuver attitude is a little less regular at high speed, you may fall apart.

So when I saw that the "Tianjin" was so big and still playing drifting, I felt scared when I boarded.

The distance between them was about ten kilometers, and the two ships that had suffered heavy losses could roughly see the appearance of their opponents from a distance. The "Tianjin", which is about the same width as theirs, has nearly doubled the slender hull, which makes people extremely worried about whether it will break its waist if it makes a sharp turn at such a high speed.

But the result was a big surprise, not only did it not break or overturn, but it could always maintain a steady attitude, and after the steering was completed, it quickly restored its balance, not even a bump, and even a heart-pounding inclination angle could be seen, and the weird triple gun couldn't wait to fire!

A hundred years of warship design concepts and levels, and more than a hundred years of material metallurgical construction technology, means that there is a huge gap that cannot be caught up at all.

Yang Haiwei was experienced and bold, and he didn't wait for the battleship to recover on its own, and immediately gave the order to open fire when it was aimed sideways at the two smoking enemy ships! The three main turrets aimed at the soft waist ribs of the significant target in the distance at a large elevation angle, and brazenly fired multiple rounds of volleys!

"Boom! Rumble! Rumble! ”

The long-barreled eight-inch cannon that surpassed the times shook the ocean, and the instantaneous impact high pressure sent out by the combined force swept the water surface on the right side of the hull into a furious whirlpool that was enough to tear apart! The recoil evenly spread over the hull, urging the slender steel body to quickly level to the left.

A wave of nine warheads broke through the air at high speed, and with terrible accuracy, they fell densely in front of and behind the first armored cruiser, and suddenly a shot crossed into the waist ribs, and the terrible kinetic energy penetrated into the inner compartment like tearing a piece of paper, and the surging impact of the explosion rushed in all directions, tearing out a terrifying hole in the weak horizontal armor, and spreading a turbid fireworks unscrupulously!

After a round of explosions, the cruiser, covered in smoke, suddenly shuddered and let out a dull roar. but not the resurrection of the dead. In the distance, I saw a blazing firework soaring up into the air. At the same time, a shock wave visible to the naked eye swept through the infinite fragments and swept the sea water to advance rapidly, forming an impact surface covering a kilometer in diameter, and converging into a huge mushroom under the black and red umbrella cover that rushed into the sky for hundreds of meters!

That cruiser's ammunition pile caught fire, and the explosion tore it to shreds!

The battleship in the back, which was also wounded, was so frightened that it ran away regardless of its life. But it was hit by a shell before, the boiler compartment caught fire and the hull was damaged, and it was not salvageable, and the steam engine accelerated and slow. If you want to avoid it, it's not that easy!

The speed at which the "Tianjin" occupied the place sideways was too fast, and it did not give the other party any chance to react at all. The British cruiser barely turned half of its position, half pulling its ass and still facing this side, and was immediately chased by a dense number of shells, and after a few volleys, several shells hit the stern, rear main gun, rear mast and boiler compartment respectively, and finally even the armored command tower was ended!

The successive explosions cut a terrifying crack in the middle of the battleship, and finally the keel completely disintegrated under the explosion of ammunition, leaving only the front half of the steel structure relatively close. Scattered into the depths of the ocean, it's completely finished!

It hasn't been an hour since the war began. The two armored cruisers sank first, what kind of combat effectiveness is this Nima!

The two "Fuji-class" battleships in the rear had just just maneuvered into place, and together with the other cruisers, they formed an arc-shaped column to intercept the bow of the "Dingyuan", and the explosions here created a one-sided slaughter!

Not only that, the "Tianjin" approached at an alarming speed, and it was obviously more than ten kilometers away, but now it actually hit the position that was level with the waist of the coalition fleet from about ten kilometers to the side! The large, hulking bodies of the two most conspicuous battleships are under the threat of their three main turrets!

Liu Buyun saw it clearly, and laughed: "Well done, the lure is over, let's move away!" ”

The "Dingyuan," which was making a right-turn rudder to attack the enemy's formation, suddenly slowed down, filled its right rudder, and fiercely brushed aside the water in a terrifying attitude, and ran in a circle to the right rear crookedly!

Yamamoto Gonbei looked back and forth, and when he understood what was going on, he shouted angrily: "Bastard! That battleship is here to be a decoy! The main force of their attack is the latter one, and we were fooled! ”

Who would have thought that the fierce battleship formation would kill it, but only one capital ship would attack and play the generals alone. When he got closer, he made a posture of riding a thousand horses, but the result was only to induce the coalition forces to change formations.

It's too late to regret it, Yamamoto Gonbei stared at the left and right attack posture of this pair of ghosts slamming the door, quickly weighed the pros and cons in his head, and quickly judged that it seemed that the slender weird guy behind him was more threatening!

Nothing else, the "Tianjin" fired too fast! Nima's three turrets and nine main guns can fire two salvos in one minute! The lethality of the shells seems to be not small at all, and it can quickly destroy the two armored cruisers in front, and I am afraid that the gang here will not be able to carry it! Whether the two battleships will be able to hold up is still unknown.

Contemporary naval main guns, one shot in two minutes is considered high-speed, and then counting the number of barrels, two "Fuji-class" eight guns against others' nine, which end is more scary, isn't it obvious?

But the problem is that the allied fleet has now formed an arc encirclement of the "Dingyuan", and the outside of the arch is facing the "Tianjin", and if you want to turn around and encircle and kill, it will take at least an hour to maneuver and change direction, provided that the speed of the people cannot keep up with the run, and the warships behind can block it.

All of a sudden, a dilemma!

Yamamoto Gonbei was helpless, he knew that if he had been led by the nose, he would have to pay the loss of at least one or even more cruisers when the two battleships turned around. The accuracy and lethality of the opponent's artillery are too terrifying, and the price cannot be afforded!

He turned his head and stared fiercely at the "Dingyuan" that he wanted to get rid of, and ordered through gritted teeth: "Continue to intercept and kill the encircled enemy warships, Fuji Yashima intercepts the enemy ships with tail guns, don't care about attrition, fire with all your might!" ”

Get out!

At this time, the number of shells carried by each main gun on the battleship was only 50-80 rounds, and the number of shells including armor-piercing shells and grenades did not exceed 100 rounds. This is still the standard of the rich British, and even fewer of the poor Japanese. In naval battles with a general hit rate of one or two percent, it is understandable that the enemy was not sunk even after running out of shells.

Yamamoto Gonbei was distressed about the loss of ammunition, and every shot was saved by the Japanese people from the rations! But in order to achieve victory. I can only grit my teeth and spend it!

At this time, it was ten kilometers away from the "Tianjin". A 305mm gun with a 40x barrel can be reached. But don't mention the accuracy or anything, you can't hit a percent of the shots. Under the attitude of outflanking and intercepting, the hull of the ship swayed, and it was good to think about it with precise aiming.

Yamamoto Gonbei originally thought that he would fire when he was close to the enemy 5,000 to 7,000 meters, but now he had to make do. The "Fuji" issued a flag, and the "Yashima" in the rear immediately responded, and the twin 305mm guns behind the two ships immediately opened fire, throwing heavy armor-piercing shells at the "Tianjin".

The first wave of four armor-piercing shells smashed messily between a large number of 152mm shells. Around the "Tianjin" around the far and near scattered left and right more than a kilometer, the chaos of the landing point is simply indescribable.

All the officers and men below Yang Haiwei could not even form a sense of tension, and understood that the enemy ships were firing indiscriminately, and that they could only rely on luck to ensure that they could hit, and that was really no way to maneuver and evade. With the armor and strength of this ship, it is completely possible to use a heavy cruiser as a battleship.

The "Tianjin" did not have to maneuver, continued to maintain course, turned the three turrets sideways to aim at the rear of the "Fuji", and fired a volley of bang bang after another, in the messy explosion. After a short time, a close miss and a hit are formed.

The advanced eight-inch gun uses 152kg heavy armor-piercing shells, which can deliver a terrifying penetration of 254mm at 10,000 meters. The Fuji uses the most advanced Harvey nickel steel available at the moment, rather than the composite armor in the design. With an underestimation of defensive capabilities, the British piled up the thickness with all their might, making it almost impossible to destroy with modern artillery. But in the face of more than half a century of advanced cap-piercing shells, except for the armor with a thickness of 360-457mm on the waterline, the rest is still not enough!

The hull of the ship, which floated on the surface of the sea like a huge bathtub, was hit by armor-piercing shells that broke through the side hull and blasted in, and billowing smoke came out of the tear in the waterline armor, but fortunately, there was a coal bunker to protect it and did not cause a fatal explosion.

But the shells that pierced through the horizontal armor were not so gentle, and the explosion smashed the steel plate and wood upwards and forwards, tearing out huge holes and shattering an obstruction!

In just a few minutes, the "Fuji" was hit one after another, two of which killed the mast and bridge in the left rear, and one shot pierced the armor on the top of the rear main gun, and the conning tower, the illumination tower, the auxiliary loader and other mechanisms were all blown up, and the rotating gun mount and even the surrounding crew were torn apart by the raging steel fire, and tons of shells rolled all over the ground in the pear-shaped turret!

That is, they were lucky enough, and the propellant raised below had just been emptied, and it did not cause a fatal explosion. But the fire is raging, and when it spreads to the ammunition depot below, no one can say!

Yamamoto Gonbei and the other officers were shaken by the huge shock coming from behind, especially the few people who insisted on commanding outside, they were almost roasted into roast pigs by the roaring heatwave, and the wolf Bèi who had no choice but to flee into the armored command tower, heard the miserable howl and deafening explosion, and his face was pale and trembling!

What a terrible blow!

Gonbei Yamamoto, Waiyoshi and others looked at each other, not knowing how to judge.

As far as they know, the 12-inch main gun equipped with the "Fuji" is already the most advanced mass killer in the world today, and its 40 times the body barrel brings a terrible muzzle velocity of 780 meters per second, and can penetrate the considerable power of the eight-inch Krupp armor at a distance of 6,100 yards - theoretically (in fact, in the later Russo-Japanese War, the penetration depth did not exceed six inches, which shows that the number is unreliable, and the key is that the contemporary armor-piercing bullet is not powerful).

So ten kilometers away, not to mention the strange thing like the hit rate, the other party can easily kill their own armor, what kind of monster artillery is that!

At the thought of this, the Japanese officers felt bad. What they are most afraid of is a fatal blow at a long distance, and when they can't get close to the other side and can't give full play to the power of their ship's main guns, the consequences of being beaten passively all the time are worrying!

Looking at everyone's faces, Gonbei Yamamoto immediately chose the wisest way to do it, and shouted hoarsely through the brass pipe to the whole ship: "You don't have to be nervous, the enemy ship will definitely not be able to penetrate our super thick armor, as long as he is hit by our main gun, he will definitely die!" Work together to sink enemy ships! ”

"Hey! Fight hard! ”

The howls of ghosts and wolves came and went, realizing that if they didn't play with their lives, they would die, and even affect the future of the Japanese Empire, and the Japanese army, which was full of mission, burst out with unprecedented enthusiasm.

But it's useless to have fighting spirit and no weapons! In the case of the failure of the rear main gun, give them enough time to rescue, and don't think about restoring their combat effectiveness for a while, not to mention, the hit rate of the "Tianjin" behind is still steadily improving!

For the advanced artillery from the 21st century, the engagement distance within 10,000 meters is already considered the smallest, which is almost the same as the fire of a sniper rifle. The smoking enemy ship is like a bright target, and the three turrets after stabilizing the body consciously aim to ensure that each round can be stable, so that the hit rate is getting higher and higher, and the shells falling on the "Fuji" are increasing!

After more than a dozen salvos, a series of shells pierced through the horizontal armor and almost blew up the superstructure of the back half of the "Fuji"! The rear chimney and the boiler below were blown up, the main engine was unlucky and damaged, the red-hot steam and raging fire roared, and with the explosion of a secondary gun, it tore a hideous mouth in the rear and even in the middle, and the fire that swept most of the hull burned the Japanese army above screaming to the sky! (To be continued......)