"Turn right 90 for the whole team!"

Seeing that 10 coalition warships occupied the "T" position in front of the left front of the first formation of the Russian fleet, Rozhestvensky did not intend to sit back and wait to be beaten, and gave the order with a gloomy face.

In about a quarter of an hour, the ships of the first formation of the Russian fleet completed their turn, and their course turned to azimuth 170 (southeast near south), which was nearly parallel to the course of the second combat group of the combined fleet. During this period, the 10 armored cruisers of the 2nd Squadron with 24 305 mm and 16 203 mm guns followed the flagship "Hangzhou" at a distance of 7000 to 9000 yards, and the main guns of each ship fired an average of more than 10 salvos, and almost all of the fire was concentrated on the Russian flagship "Duke Suvorov", although the southwest wind was blowing at that time, the single column of the Second Squadron was located in the headwind position, and the smoke affected the observation of the coalition warships, However, the concentrated bombardment of the 2nd team's 40 large-caliber main guns and 54 150/152 mm secondary guns available on the starboard side still caused the "Duke Suvorov" to fall into a cage of hell composed of towering water columns, shining fires and thick black smoke in the blink of an eye, and the first salvo destroyed the entire rear chimney of the "Duke Suvorov", and its rear reserve command post was blown off the roof by a 305-mm shell that drilled into the interior. The twin 152mm turrets on the aft starboard side were swept into the sky with a violent explosion, "the deck and superstructure were pierced everywhere, shrapnel and warship fragments swept across the exposed officers and men around them, the twisted gangway and other steel ruins that were once unknown were filled with bloody stumps, and the flames swirled wildly throughout the upper deck, everything was like the hellscape of Hades Hades......"

The second and third salvos completely destroyed the bridge of the "Soviet" ship, and its command tower was directly hit by a large-caliber armor-piercing shell, Rozhestvensky and the captain Ignazius were killed on the spot, and the staff officers were almost completely wiped out, and the command of the Second Pacific Fleet was directly disintegrated by a single shell.

In less than a quarter of an hour, the two chimneys of the "Duke Suvorov" all disappeared, the masts all collapsed, the front main turret was penetrated, the explosion destroyed the entire turret, and the two 305 mm main guns were lifted into the sea, the rear main turret was shot on the side and completely lost its effect, the port side was full of large and small bullet holes, and a large number of breakdowns near the waterline caused the battleship to enter the water quickly, and the main armor on the side of the gunwale, which was only 190 mm thick and only 1.83 meters above the waterline, soon became "waterline armor" due to the increase in the draft of the battleship, The destruction of the Suvorov was exacerbated by the terrible vicious circle of seawater pouring in from the unsealed shafts of the 75-mm rapid-fire guns, which were mounted very lowly, and the unprotected hull above the armor belt was frequently penetrated by Allied shells.

The "Duke Suvorov" was blazing in full view of everyone, every bullet hole above the water was spewing fire, it quickly lost power, lost control, floated like a dead fish between the two fleets, involuntarily and quickly tilted to the port side, during which there were also earth-shattering explosions from time to time, no warship wanted to approach it now, 40 minutes after the battle began, that is, at 14:40, the bottom of the "Duke Suvorov" turned out of the water, The hull of more than 15,000 tons gradually submerged in the warm waters of the South China Sea.

Although the flagship and the commander-in-chief were melted and shattered under the fire of the coalition forces, the ships of the Russian fleet still counterattacked separately after completing the turn.

The "Borodino", which was attacked at the same time as the "Duke of Suvorov", was hit as many as 19 times in 15 minutes, of which 6 were large-caliber shells, two of the three twin 152-mm auxiliary turrets on the port side were destroyed, and the superstructure was seriously damaged, but the ship's command system and two 305-mm main guns were not damaged.

The flagship of the second detachment of the Russian fleet, the "Oslyavia", was also hit hard, its foredeck was shattered, the top of the front main turret was easily lifted like a can, and the fighters inside did not survive, but the ship did not lose its combat effectiveness, not only insisted on returning fire with the two 254 mm main guns of the rear main turret and the six 152 mm secondary guns available on the port side, but also raised the command flag after the sinking of the "Duke Suvorov", indicating that the deputy commander Rear Admiral Nebogatov took over the command of the fleet.

As the ships of the first formation of the Russian fleet completed the turn one after another, the situation began to reverse, the weakly protected armored cruisers of the coalition forces were not enough to resist the blow of the opponent's heavy artillery, although the gunnery of the Russian fleet was stinky, but it was not enough to hit one of the hundred shots, the flagship of the second battle team, "Hangzhou", became the first choice of the Russian ships, and was hit 11 times in 10 minutes, of which 4 were large-caliber shells, one of the shells exploded near the command platform, and the shrapnel cut off the right ear of the commander of the second team, Major General Ma Shengyu, Another 305-mm shell pierced the starboard front armor below the waterline, and the battleship began to flood.

Ma Shengyu, who was bleeding profusely, endured the pain and ordered: "Turn left 30, maximum combat speed, keep shooting until you disengage with the enemy." ”

The ships of the second squadron quickly withdrew from the battle, and due to the difference in speed between the two formations by more than 9 knots, the Russian fleet was unable and unable to pursue.

In fact, at the same time that the Second Squadron was blocking the first formation of the Russian Fleet, the six heavily armored battleships of the First Squadron were copied by the Russian Fleet, and during this time, they adjusted their positions many times to maintain the posture of encircling the Russian Fleet left and right with the First Fleet. By about 15 o'clock, the first formation of the Russian fleet had been forced to turn south under the interception of the second fleet, and the single column of the warships of the first column of the combined fleet was almost parallel to the first column of the Russian fleet, but the ships of the first battle were located relatively south, basically in front of the right of the Russian fleet, and the distance was only 7 nautical miles.

At 15:15, Vice Admiral Lin Taizeng, who personally commanded the first squadron, ordered the squadron to turn 90 to the left and turn to course 80 (Northeast Near East) in an attempt to cut the course of the Russian fleet at maximum combat speed, and then added an order: "This ship raises the Z-shaped flag."

It is also a signal of "the rise and fall of the empire, in this war", since the current naval commander-in-chief Liu Buyun used this signal in the Battle of Dadonggou, Lin Taizeng in this war was only used in the first Battle of Vladivostok, although deliberately imitating Nelson seems to have no personality, but as a former naval student in the United Kingdom, Liu Lin's complex is also reasonable, and such a signal is also determined by his country after all, since there is indeed such an inspiring signal in the "Naval Signal Manual", What reason is there to abandon it before facing the enemy?

Fifteen minutes later, the six heavy battleships of the first squadron of the first squadron were horizontally in front of the right front of the first formation of the Russian fleet, at this time the two sides were 11,000 yards apart, and the battleships "Ruixiang" and "Ruixian", which were equipped with three-year main gun commanders, opened fire first outside the effective range of the main guns of the Russian ships, and a total of 12 305-mm main guns of the two ships were pointed at the "Oslyavia", which has become the new flagship of the Russian Second Pacific Fleet. The data was quickly transmitted to the "Ruixian" with a light signal, and the gunners of the two ships immediately calculated the parameters and adjusted the guns, and only waited for Lin Taizeng's order, and the main guns of the two ships would be fired together.

"Fire!"

Within 10 minutes, the "Oslyavia" was hit by large-caliber shells more than ten times, and there was no chance to fight back during this time! Its superstructure was almost covered in flames, and the smoke-emitting battleship was completely out of control, and the wounded Rear Admiral Nebogatov, the acting commander of the fleet, boarded the destroyer "Fury" with a blood-stained command flag, and after hastily bandaging the wounds on the ship, he transferred to the coastal defense ship "Admiral Ushakov" and said to the captain, Colonel Berimke: "I am ready to fight to the death here." ”

"We don't have a chance not to fight to the death," replied. ”

The "Oslyavia", which lost power, began to tilt before Nebogatov's transfer, because most of the artillery was destroyed and there were heavy casualties, the captain ordered to stop shooting, and all the crew abandoned the ship to escape, and then the Chinese army expelled the 8 destroyers of the 2nd Sentai Squadron and surrounded them, and at a distance of 500 yards, they first fired directly at the "Austrian" ship with 120 mm naval guns, and then fired several torpedoes in succession, at 15:50, the "Osliavia" finally flipped to the right and capsized, revealing the bottom of the ship covered with seaweed, 20 minutes later, The 12,000-ton warship, launched six years ago, sank into the sea with a copper propeller on its buttocks.

As the distance gradually narrowed to within 8,000 yards, the other four warships of the first squadron also began to fire artillery bombardment, at this time, Lin Tai had ordered to adjust the distribution of firepower, the three Ruizi battleships of the first detachment turned to attack the "Borodino" of the first detachment of the Russian first formation, and the three electric ships of the second detachment concentrated on attacking the "Emperor Alexander III" after the "Borodino".

The "Borodino" had become the lead ship of the entire first formation, and the captain of the "Borodino", Colonel Vanierisi, perhaps out of consideration for the development of his own ship's firepower, resolutely ordered to turn 100 degrees to the right and turn to azimuth 270 (due west) under the blazing fire of the allied warships, so as to move parallel to the column of the battleships of the first warring group of the allied forces.

As soon as the "Borodino" turned, the follow-up ships also blindly followed, and for a while, under the muzzle of the 30 305-mm main guns of the first squadron of the combined fleet and the 33 150-mm secondary guns available on the port side, the 12 battleships of the first formation of the Russian fleet were slowly making sharp turns at approximate right angles, and before the turn was completed, their artillery firing effect was almost zero......

"Here's the time!" Sa Zhenbing exclaimed in surprise.

Lin Taizeng thought further: "In a quarter of an hour, we will pass by the enemy...... Send a telegram to the commander of the second team: Turn your team to the west, pass opposite to the south of your team, and chase the enemy from the south at maximum speed, and this team will turn north to pursue it from the north. ”