On the night of July 27, 1916, on the bridge of the battle cruiser "Thunder" on the sea east of Malaita Island, Admiral Yuan Feng, commander of the Southeast Theater Fleet, who personally led the artillery attack troops, was anxiously waiting for the signal of the shore observation detachment with his staff officers.

The observation detachment, which was responsible for directing targets to the artillery unit, was composed of personnel from the special reconnaissance battalion directly under the Marine Corps Command, and arrived in the coastal waters of Malaita Island on the night of 26 June on two submarines, and then transferred to a paddle boat to land.

In order to avoid the detection of the enemy, after surfacing the surface to unload the observation detachment, the submarine in charge of transport immediately dived away, and until the scheduled time point for liaison with the artillery force arrived, the small radio station carried by the observation detachment would remain silent, so until this time, no one could be sure whether the observation detachment had successfully landed and entered the predetermined position.

The battle clock hanging above the porthole on the front of the bridge ticked and ticked, and the atmosphere became more and more solemn as the second and minute hands crossed one circle after another.

Finally, Colonel He Yuting, the chief operational staff officer, couldn't help but take a step forward, leaned into Yuan Feng's ear and whispered: "Commander, it's been almost a quarter of an hour since the contact point, and the observation detachment still can't be contacted, do you want to ......?"

Without waiting for Staff Officer He to finish speaking, Yuan Feng waved his hand: "Activate the aerial observation plan." ”

The aerial observation plan in Yuan Feng's mouth was that a carrier-based maritime reconnaissance plane, each of the "Lightning Thunder" and the "Haruna," dropped flares at the approximate direction of the target, so as to give target designation to the artillery troops from the air.

Compared with the original plan, this method is obviously easier to startle the snake, so that the sudden action is lost, and it may even reveal the position of the shelling unit at the first time.

As soon as Yuan Feng's words fell, the messenger on duty who was waiting by a certain transmission pipe suddenly raised his head and shouted: "The fourth lookout post reports that a fire has been found at three o'clock on the starboard side!" ”

Yuan Feng and his staff officers immediately raised their binoculars and looked towards starboard, and sure enough, they recognized a small cluster of faint fires in the dark background, and then tried to keep their eyes open, and finally recognized the "T" word composed of one fire point after another—it was the backup indication signal of the shore observation detachment.

He Yuting was the first to put down the telescope: "It seems that there is a problem with the radio station of the observation detachment - commander, the enemy should also see this fire." Time is not waiting for me, and the shelling should be launched immediately. ”

Yuan Feng held his saber in his left hand and nodded domineeringly: "Well, let's start." ”

At this moment, Yuan Feng's artillery troops lined up in a column, starting with the destroyers Wenyang and Shunyang, followed by the light cruiser Fenghua (North Korean army). The battle cruisers Shine Thunder and Haruna (Rì Army), and the light cruiser Rehwa (Korean Army). and the destroyers Zhenyang and Liangyang.

From the Truk anchorage to the coast of Malata, the shelling unit has sailed southward for 75 hours at a cruising speed of 18 knots, with a range of 1,150 nautical miles (about 2,100 kilometers) in a straight line on the map, but in fact the actual range is more than 1,350 nautical miles (about 2,460 kilometers) due to the "zigzag" anti-submarine route adopted from time to time.

Even so, Yuan Feng believes that his super pocket version of the East Asian Combined Fleet is still highly motivated. Always ready to give the island's "Ah Mei Menstrual Young Master Soldier" a head-on blow.

The staff officers marked the location of the target on the chart, drew the shelling route, calculated the time points of entering and leaving the shelling route, and then transmitted the relevant data to the bridge in a standard password, and then the signalmen sent it to the other ships in the formation with light signals.

With a high-powered electric motor and a massive hydraulic transmission, the eight twin main turrets of the Lightning and Haruna slowly turned to starboard. The 50-fold-diameter barrels of the sixteen 350-millimeter guns slowly rose, and the muzzles of the black holes pointed into the boundless darkness.

Pointing at the darkness were five 150 mm secondary guns each mounted in the starboard gun frames of the Thunder and Haruna, and five 150 mm main guns each mounted on the bow and stern and starboard sides of the Fenghua, Lihua.

According to the plan, the formation will enter the shelling route at a speed of 12 knots at a distance of 5 nautical miles (about 9.1 kilometers) from the coast, and carry out the first round of shelling for 15 minutes. The closest was less than 3 nautical miles (about 5.5 km) from the coast, and then turned north and re-entered the shelling route from the opposite direction, with a second round of shelling from the port side.

The battle bell continued to tick, punctuated by short and powerful commands, Yuan Feng stood solemnly with his sword, and the staff officers behind him held their breath. The dimly lit bridge was filled with an atmosphere between tension and fate.

It's time.

In an instant, lightning and thunder roared outside the porthole, and everyone on the bridge shook violently - the recoil of the eight 350 main guns on the same side was enough to make the 30,000-ton hull instantly deviate several meters to the opposite side.

The trajectory was traceless, and the 16 650-kilogram 350-caliber high-explosive bombs, plus 20 45-kilogram 150-caliber high-explosive bombs, swept over the sea and land more than 10 kilometers in about 10 seconds, and almost simultaneously smashed into the depths of the rainforest far from the coast.

The dazzling bursts of light blooming side by side clearly reflected the tall outline of the Zhōngyāng Mountains on Malata, and also reflected Yuan Feng's eyeballs, making him confident that this trip would definitely live up to his mission.

Fifteen seconds later, for the first time, the 150 sub-artillery group was in unison.

Thirty seconds later, the main and secondary artillery groups were again in unison at the same time.

Forty-five seconds later, the 150 sub-artillery group was alone for the second time.

A minute later, the main and auxiliary artillery groups were in unison for the second time......

In just five minutes, the four warships of Yuan Feng's artillery bombardment unit had already dumped as many as 122 tons of steel and explosives on the target area with a radius of only 2.5 kilometers!

At this time, flares began to fall sporadically in the night sky, the light pillars of the searchlights swayed in all directions, and cannon flames flashed on the shore from time to time, but this did not affect Yuan Feng's determination in the slightest.

"Commander, do you want to turn a little left three or five degrees to avoid it?"

He Yuting's proposal is clearly out of place.

"Maintain the course, maintain the firepower."

Yuan Feng is like a pillar.

The clocks ticked, the guns thundered, the first round of shelling in 15 minutes passed in a flash, the formation began to turn around according to the plan, the 30,000-ton "Lightning Thunder" was deeply tilted to the port side, and the staff officers grabbed the armchairs and chairs nearby to lean on, but only Yuan Feng remained motionless.

The pointer on the compass plate crossed nearly a quarter of a circle, and when the bow of the "Lightning Thunder" inlaid with dragon patterns was about to point to the direction of the rising sun, the hull of the ship suddenly shook, as if it had been hit by an invisible bowling ball...... (To be continued.) If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendation and monthly passes, and your support is my biggest motivation. )

ps: Author's note: Fenghua and Rehwa belong to the Fenghua class of the Korean Royal Navy, that is, the Leopard light patrol ordered from China, with a standard displacement of 5,860 tons, a maximum speed of 30 knots, and 8 single-mounted 150 mm main guns (1 at the bow and 1 at the end, 3 on the left and right sides), 8 90 mm anti-lightning speed shè guns, and 2 75 mm high shè guns.