The Borodino-class battleships, completed at the end of November 1903, are definitely the most powerful weapons of murder at present, and there is no one. In order to cater to the preferences of the Russian buyers, and in order to make a mistake during the Japanese attack on the military port, this class of battleships did not have a longitudinal partition of the underwater anti-torpedo that is necessary for German warships, but replaced this part of the weight with artillery weapons. The ship is equipped with 4 305 mm L40 guns and 8 254 mm L45 secondary guns on a small body of 13,600 tons, and its unique secondary gun arrangement can also ensure that 6 of the 8 guns can shoot at the same side. And this advantage has been most perfectly played in the current artillery battle.

Due to the fact that these two battleships were not in service for a long time, the run-in between officers and men and equipment did not reach the optimal level; In addition, due to the fear in his heart and the long-term lack of battle, the execution of a series of steps such as ranging, calculation, pitching, and ammunition delivery was naturally stumbling, and all the shells fired in the first few minutes were lost. However, when the main guns opened fire, the majestic momentum dispelled the uneasiness in the hearts of the Russian sailors, and they suddenly found that the Japanese battleships on the opposite side could not make any effective response to their own artillery bombardment because they were at the angle of facing the light! Aware of this, the Russian sailors calmed down, and with the help of 2 Zeiss rangefinders on each ship, the accuracy of the guns increased dramatically.

"Boom!" With a terrifying roar of thunder, a 305-millimeter shell fired from the Borodino was like a meteor falling in the sky, and exploded in the amidships of the Hatsuse. Thunder roared, scorching winds surged, and surging waves of air roared and swept in layers around them, twisted shrapnel and liquid metal swirling and flying; This area of the Hatsuse Amidship instantly turned into a hell on earth under this thunderous blow, with severed limbs flying sideways, blood mist drifting, and nearly 20 people fell in a pool of blood in an instant!

The flames were like torches, the flames were like demons, and the two lifeboats, along with all the combustibles nearby, burst into flames, destroying everything they could lick. More than a dozen Japanese damage management personnel wore gas masks and held hose water guns gushing with water waves, and began to fight fiercely against the fire demons. Fortunately for the Japanese, in order to ensure safety, the armor of the Russians' shells was weak cotton gunpowder, which was much inferior to the Shimose gunpowder made of picric acid in the Japanese navy in terms of explosive power and combustion effect, and the flames produced by it were completely within the control of the damage management team. In a few breaths, the fire slowly faded at a speed visible to the naked eye. Just when the whole of the Japanese ship breathed a sigh of relief, five rolling silver waves rose up around the Hatsuse without warning, and a 227kg 254mm shell was like a meteor thunderbolt, crashing into the unarmored 76mm rapid-fire gun in the bow of the ship; With a loud thunderous sound that even the entire battleship was shaken, a huge hole with a radius of two meters appeared in the bow of the ship. The twisted and shattered shipbuilding steel rolled outward like a barb, and the inky smoke rushed from it; By the time another group of damage management troops arrived at the scene, several corpses with only the upper half of their bodies were lying diagonally in a mess of artillery rooms, their skin charred by the intense heat, and their faces were unrecognizable.

Shortly after the attack on the Hatsuse, the Combine Fleet's flagship Mikasa suffered a heavy setback: at a distance of 5,000 yards, three shells hit the Emperor in quick succession in a round of fire. A 305 mm shell hit a twin 203 mm turret on the side of the gunwale, although it did not penetrate the 200 mm Krupp armor on the front, but the terrifying kinetic energy and thunderous sound released by the violent explosion not only killed and stunned most of the personnel in the turret, but also made the rotating machinery of this turret jam, completely losing its proper role; The other two 254-mm shells narrowly avoided Mikasa's large area of broadside armor and landed on the unprotected aft bridge and foredeck respectively, making a deafening explosion. Thousands of shrapnel were sprayed like a storm under the help of the high temperature and air waves, and they flew into the sky like a storm; Before more than a dozen Japanese sailors could react, their entire bodies were cut into dense blood holes by high-speed rotating shrapnel. Several Japanese sailors hiding in the bridge heard the dense clanging sound outside, and before they could rejoice, a large piece of shrapnel pierced the shipbuilding steel like a thunder beast's giant jaw, cutting their heads in half like cutting watermelons, and in an instant their brains splashed and blood surged.

After a thrilling life-and-death battle, the remaining 11 Japanese torpedo boats finally broke through the dense defensive line of Russian mine-striking ships and battleship secondary guns, and fired torpedoes at the Russian battle line from a distance of 1,000 meters, a heavy underwater demoman that would have terrified any battleship. After a burst of shouting and scrambling evasion, the Russian fleet was able to avoid these slower primary torpedoes, but the original neat battle line was twisted into an irregular twisted shape, and the fire suppression of the Japanese fleet was weakened. Although Makarov immediately regrouped and continued to bombard, the Japanese fleet had already taken advantage of this gap to make enough tactical maneuvers, and the Russian shells fell dishesively at a distance of about 200 yards from the Japanese battleships, and the steady firing situation had obviously been completely interrupted.

Looking at the slowly turning Japanese fleet, Makarov was extremely anxious: because the speed of his fleet could only reach 15.5 knots, he could not seize the T-shaped head of the approaching Japanese fleet in time to expand the results of the battle, so he could only passively turn with the Japanese fleet; in this way, it was bound to cause the Japanese fleet to complete the maneuver of the former enemy with less damage and completely get rid of the influence of direct sunlight. And now all he can do is pray that his gunners will perform extraordinarily, so that the Japanese fleet can suffer more in the coming time!

"Gala ......" accompanied by the tooth-sore sound of a sharp knife cutting through the glass, and a high column of water suddenly rose from the side of the battleship Mikasa; Before the damage management personnel could report the situation, Togo learned that this was due to the enemy's shell being bounced into the sea by the vertical armor of his battleship, and an explosion occurred in the sea. After thinking about this, his iron-faced face was finally normal, like a gambler who lost 10,000 yuan in a row and won 1,000 yuan. After a while, Togo turned around, looked at Akiyama Shinyuki's face that was still as calm as an ancient well, and said, "How is the situation with the fleet?" ”

"In the previous 20 minutes of maneuvering, except for the Fuji at the end of the fleet, which was unscathed, the rest of the capital ships of the Combined Fleet were hit to varying degrees, and the damage suffered by this ship was the most serious. We were hit 3 times by 305-mm shells, 7 times by 254-mm shells; 2 203-mm guns and 2 152-mm guns were lost, the bow was flooded 600 tons, the bow was tilted 2.5 degrees, the tail deputy control tower was blown away, the bridge was cut by a fifth, 66 officers and men were killed and 21 wounded. The rest of the ships also suffered about 30 casualties and some loss of firepower and equipment. In the face of Togo's inquiry, Akiyama Mayuki replied lightly, "However, all we suffered were skin wounds, the core area was not penetrated by a single shell, and the power and main gun remained intact. In another 10 minutes or so, we will be able to have a real battle with the Russians. ”

As soon as Akiyama finished speaking, another shocking explosion occurred on the battleship "Katori", which was followed by Mikasa, and fierce flames and billowing smoke rose rapidly from the huge hole in its foredeck, and all kinds of debris piled up next to it were also blown into the sky. Seeing this scene, Akiyama Shinyuki nodded slightly and said, "Na, this is the most typical injury suffered by the Combined Fleet just now. This shell should have destroyed only part of the inconsequential compartment, and did not have much effect on the real performance of the battleship, and all the shells that hit the key parts were bounced off. The Germans built the ships very well, and the large area of hardened armor in the amidships could easily bounce off even 305 mm shells, and if the Japanese Empire wanted to buy ships again in the future, it was obviously the best choice to order them from them. ”

Dongxiang's pale eyebrows twitched slightly, his hands clenched into fists, and he said astringently: "It's all because of my fault that hundreds of outstanding naval sons of the Great Japanese Empire have returned to the West before the war, how can I be at ease!" ”

"This time the battle is not to blame Togo-kun, but Makarov is too cunning." Akiyama Mayuki still had that unwavering expression, as if everything was under his control, "Togo-kun doesn't have to blame himself too much, even if Makarov jumps no matter how much he jumps, the disadvantage of his battleship itself is doomed to make it impossible for him to turn over any storms; As long as our soldiers can play normally, it is enough to completely capture the main force of the Lu Guo fleet in the next battle. As long as the main force of the Russian fleet is eaten, then Togo-kun will have more merit than demerit. ”

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The black clouds rolled, the sky and the earth were steeply dark, and Dongxiang looked up in amazement, only to find that a large thick gray cloud had appeared in the western sky at some point, completely blocking the dazzling sunlight. Akiyama shrugged his shoulders slightly, and said hesitantly: "It seems that there is no need to wait for those 10 minutes." Togo-kun, then please give the order to open fire! ”