Chapter Eighty-Five: The Italian Fleet Surrenders
Lin Daxin saw an Italian ironclad battleship raise the white flag on the Flying Bear, and all the ship's guns were raised to the maximum angle, Lin Daxin immediately ordered the warships of the Sailor Academy to let go of the surrendered ironclad battleship!
And not long after the Francisco raised the white flag, the ironclad battleship Mariapia, which was not far from it, also raised the white flag, and also raised all the ship's guns to the highest angle!
Inside the bridge of the Reberto, the flagship of the Italian expeditionary fleet, Roberte's face turned even paler, and he shouted angrily: "They cowards! Surrender to the Qing Dynasty without my orders! I'm going to take them to court-martial! ”
Although Robert was furious, the Italian naval officers and sailors on the bridge were very envious of their colleagues on the two ironclad battleships that had surrendered, at least their lives were guaranteed in this already doomed naval battle!
The surrender of the 2 ironclad battleships was like the last straw that overwhelmed the Italians, and the Italian navy, which was already weak-willed to fight, saw that there was no hope of victory in the whole battle, and its own hull was injured, the speed of the ship was reduced, and it was impossible to fight and escape, and soon 3 large armored cruisers and the ironclad battleship Carignano raised the white flag!
At this time, even the commander of the tough Italian expeditionary fleet, Roberte, realized that the powerful Italian expeditionary fleet had no hope of victory! In an instant, Roberte, who felt 10 years old, was silent for a long time, and his voice trembled and gave an order, so that the entire Italian Navy stopped resisting.
With the surrender order given by the commander of the Italian Expeditionary Fleet, the Italian Expeditionary Fleet's flagships, the ironclad battleship Reberto, the ironclad battleship Redria, the last large armored cruiser that did not surrender voluntarily, and the 2 fast protection cruisers, all raised the white flag, and all the naval guns were raised to the maximum angle! Surrendered to the naval fleet of the Naval Academy!
So far, the two fleets, which were originally evenly matched, fought for less than an hour, 50 minutes to be exact, and ended in the complete victory of the Navy of the Naval Division! The entire Italian expeditionary fleet was wiped out!
The Navy of the Naval Academy of Naval Masters, which has achieved such brilliant results, has suffered very little losses, only the Flying Wolf ironclad battleship, the Flying Eagle ironclad battleship, the Flying Tiger ironclad battleship, the second general armored cruiser and the third general armored cruiser, 5 warships suffered some minor injuries, which almost did not affect the combat effectiveness of 5 warships! The total casualties of the entire fleet were less than a hundred.
The only thing that made Lin Daxin feel distressed was the consumption of 20 533 mm battery-powered torpedoes purchased by modern time and space, these torpedoes with huge power and long range and fast speed, there is no place to replenish them at present, even the Odessa Naval Base where submarines were purchased, and as long as these stocks were bought, Lin Daxin bought. In total, Lin Daxin only bought 36 533 mm battery-powered torpedoes, and now nearly two-thirds of them were consumed in the First World War!
Originally, these torpedoes were prepared by Lin Daxin for the combined fleet of small Japan, but now they were first used on the expeditionary fleet of the Italians! However, these torpedoes were very worthwhile, under the attack of 2 cross-era submarines, and with the cooperation of the first fleet and the second fleet of the Naval Academy, the entire Italian expeditionary fleet was wiped out in Haizhou Bay, Jiangsu!
The ironclad battleship Rechner, with a displacement of 12,120 tons of the Italian expeditionary fleet, sank! 4 fast-protection cruisers with a displacement of 2800 tons were sunk!
The remaining 5 ironclad battleships were seriously wounded and surrendered! 4 large fast armored cruisers surrendered with serious injuries! 2 intact fast protection cruisers surrender!
Nearly 2,800 people were killed or missing, and more than 6,000 were captured, including the commander of the Italian expeditionary fleet, Roberte.
Even Lin Daxin didn't expect to capture so many Italian warships, and he found that the Italians were simply the transport captains of his own navy. In the last naval battle with the Japanese, the Italians gave Lin Daxin 4 ironclad battleships! This time, the Japanese purchased a large number of warships from the British, and their strength became almost on par with the entire Beiyang Naval Division!
After this naval battle, the Italians gave Lin Daxin most of the main warships in active service in their entire navy! As if he was afraid that Lin Daxin's fleet strength would not be comparable to the Japanese!
After all the warships of the Italian expeditionary fleet surrendered, the First Fleet and the Second Fleet of the Navy immediately transferred personnel from the warships, and boarded the warships of the Italian surrender in lifeboats, fully armed, and took control of the surviving warships of the whole of Italy.
Under Lin Daxin's order, the 14 main warships of the First Fleet and the Second Fleet of the Navy of the entire Naval Academy escorted 11 captured Italian warships and began to return to Weihaiwei.
And 10,000 meters away from the battlefield, there are three small cruisers that have just arrived, belonging to 3 countries, Britain, France and the United States! They had been following the Italian fleet and wanted to serve as observation ships when the Italian fleet was engaged with the Beiyang Naval Division. But I didn't expect that today because of some minor failures on the American cruisers, it took some time to troubleshoot, and the three warships just left a little late, and a big war actually ended!
The British, French, and Americans watched in amazement as the 11 surviving warships of Italy slowly sailed north under the escort of the naval warships of the Naval Academy!
What's going on? A powerful Italian expeditionary fleet was easily defeated by the Beiyang Naval Division! It looks like most of the warships were captured! And the warships of the Beiyang Naval Division seem to have not experienced any major battles!
Lin Daxin saw the cruisers of the three countries that appeared in the distance, frowned, and looked at the three foreign * ships calling them as the flag of the observation ship, Lin Daxin immediately gave an order to the Bayonet and the Sharp Knife, so that the 2 submarines should not show their heads, continue to sneak back to Weihaiwei, and not let the foreign observation ships find out!
The naval personnel on the cruisers of the three countries wanted to know what happened in this naval battle between the Italians and the Beiyang naval divisions? Why did the Italians lose so quickly and so completely? Therefore, the three foreign * ships have been following Lin Daxin's fleet and are also heading towards Weihaiwei.
Because most of the Italian warships were strictly flooded, the speed dropped a lot, and it took the entire fleet 2 days to return to Weihaiwei. Ding Ruchang, who got the return of the naval fleet from the Naval Academy, looked at the captured 11 Italian warships in the port, and the whole person was stunned!
Many of the officials of the Beiyang Naval Division who accompanied Ding Ruchang to greet the naval fleet of the Naval Academy also came to the port wharf of Weihaiwei, and they were also stunned when they saw the fleet of the Naval Academy escorting the captured Italian warships, and immediately discussed a lot.
"Oh my God! How many more warships! ”
"Look at those warships, they should be Italian warships!"
"I counted, there were 5 ironclad battleships, 4 large armored cruisers, and 2 smaller warships! This Sailor Academy is also too powerful! So many more warships were captured! ”
"Lin Daxin, the general manager of the Sailor Academy, is the son of Lin Yongsheng, the new Weiyuan pipe belt of our Beiyang Naval Division, and the quasi-son-in-law of Ding Ruchang, the commander of our Beiyang Naval Division, of course he is amazing!"
It wasn't until Lin Daxin got off the warship and came to Ding Ruchang's side that Ding Ruchang came back from the shock and asked Lin Daxin in disbelief: "Daxin! The old man is not dreaming, is he? You have captured so many Italian warships! There were 5 ironclad battleships! And also...... The old man counts! 1、2、3、4! And 4 large armored cruisers! Oh! There are also 2 protective cruisers over there! Daxin, you almost captured an Italian fleet! ”
Lin Daxin said proudly: "Uncle Ding, how is it?" My killer is amazing! The fact that I was able to annihilate the Italian fleet so easily this time is mainly due to my 2 killer features! However, I didn't expect the Italians to have such a weak will to fight, and as soon as they saw that they couldn't fight, they chose to surrender one after another! Otherwise, we would not have captured so many Italian warships! ”
Ding Ruchang was surprised and asked, "It's all the credit of the two submarines you said?" ”
Lin Daxin immediately lowered his voice and said, "Uncle Ding, be quiet!" I also want to keep 2 submarines as a killer feature, and then give the Japanese Combined Fleet a big surprise! ”
Because the fleet was always followed by 3 cruisers from Britain, France and the United States, Lin Daxin let the 2 submarines sneak directly into the bay north of Beigou Village to avoid being discovered by foreigners! At the same time, it was strictly ordered that foreigners should not be allowed to approach the captured Italian warships!