At 12:45, the flagship of the reconnaissance unit of the East Asian Army "Xunlei".

"Twenty thousand yards away!"

The telefinder's report came out of the loudspeaker, and Vice Admiral Yuan Feng, who was standing solemnly at the front of the bridge with his saber, stretched out his hand to rub the sweat droplets oozing from the back of his bare head, and described his fierce face to the side: "This ship is aimed at the last ship of the enemy's main column, and the test launch has begun." ”

"It is the tail ship of the main column of the target enemy, the Queen-class battleship, the first test launch of this ship, the left gun door of the whole gun, the grenade, and the data is ready for synchronous transmission"

Forty minutes earlier, the first shot of the surface battle between the two armies was fired between the four light cruisers of Colonel Zhu Qun's 1st Light Patrol Squadron and the two leading cruisers of the Allied Army.

The 7th Destroyer Team (light cruiser "Shenbao" and 8 Yangzi destroyers) on the starboard side of the main column accelerated forward to the front of the main force, and the 1st Lightning Strike Team (light cruiser "Golden Leopard" and 8 Yangzi destroyers) on the starboard side of the main column accelerated to the front of the main force, and the 1st Lightning Strike Team (light cruiser "Golden Leopard" and 8 Yangzi destroyers) on the starboard side closed down and moved behind the main force.

At this time, the main column of Betty's avant-garde force was located in the southwest of Yuan Feng's main column, at a distance of 26,000 yards, still maintaining the northeast course, and Yuan Feng's column turning due west was not enough to seize the T-shaped head of Betty's column, but temporarily distanced itself from Betty's column.

Yuan Feng needed this space to maneuver, otherwise, with the previous posture of the two sides, they would either collide head-to-head at a relative speed of more than 50 knots and fall into a close-range melee, or they would have to turn to the same course and fight in parallel in the ancient battle line way.

From the reports that have been received from all sides in the past few days, Yuan Feng has already confirmed the strength of the opponent in front of him: 4 battlecruisers with thin skin and big stuffing and 5 high-speed battleships with strong guns and thick armor, while Yuan Feng only has 6 Thunder battlecruisers in his hand, although the Thunder Word has the thickest 300 mm landlord armor belt far better than the opponent's "Lion" class (3 ships) with only 228 mm main equipment and the "Tireless" class (1 ship) with 152 mm main equipment. The overall performance of the 8 350 mm/50 x diameter main guns that can all be pointed at one side is also above the 8 343 mm/45 x diameter of the "Lion" class, not to mention the poor 8 305 mm/45 x diameter main guns on the "Indefatigable" class, however, in the face of the next 5 main armor ships with the thickest 330 mm (4 Queen-class) to 343 mm (1 Revenge-class), and at the same time installing 8 381 mm/45 times the diameter main gun ground "super dreadnought" battleships, Yuan Feng knew that it was difficult to win. Of course, he refused to switch to a dignified battle line at the beginning. What's more, the main column of our own side still has a speed advantage of more than 3 knots, "it is really a waste not to show off."

First open a distance to the west, and then suddenly make a 145-degree turn, and cross the front of the enemy's main column in a southeast course, so as to achieve the goal of seizing the T head, this is the small abacus in Yuan Feng's heart.

However, Lieutenant General Betty, who was in the limelight in the Battle of Dogger Sandbank, was not an idle person, and saw through Yuan Feng's attempt at a glance, and remained silent for the time being, watching Yuan Feng's column complete the first turn. Less than a quarter of an hour later, just at the start of the second turn, the team was unexpectedly ordered to turn 8 compass points (90 degrees) to the right. Changed to the southeast course, and at the same time ordered the main column to slow down to 18 knots, so that Yuan Feng's column was formed from the flank and rear with a speed difference of 10 knots and a parallel tail chasing Betty's column.

"How. Yuan? Do you dare to come over and taste the 15-inch cannon ground first? ”

Yuan Feng, who had just commanded the battle patrol column to complete the second turn, seemed to hear Betty's scorching ridicule on the bridge of the "Lion" 25,000 yards away. Dengshi was furious. I can't care about any more fancy intestines. The whole team was immediately ordered to pursue at full speed. "Attack on the tail of the enemy fleet". Then he ordered "turn 1 compass point to the right." those women for me

That's it. The "Thunderbolt" led a total of six battle patrols with "Thunder", "Thunder", "Thunder", "Thunder", "Kirishima", and "Haruna". Pursue Betty's column in a south-southeast direction. Soon overtook the last ship "War Wereary". At this very moment. Yuan Feng gave the order for the "Thunderbolt" to be test-fired.

Twenty thousand yards away. The speed difference is 10 knots. The "War Weathiness" will soon be out of the ground firing boundary of the two front main turrets of the "Thunderbolt". At this time, the test launch began. For the earth is ......

Ignore the questioning eyes that come from left to right. Just wait for the shooting command center to report "ready". Yuan Feng poked the floor with the tip of his scabbard. Categorically shouted: "Call me!" ”

The ten-year stereo rangefinder at the top of the mainmast had already locked on to the enemy ship. The rangefinder continuously reads out the distance data for the measured ground. Meanwhile. Operate the geodesic to read out the target ship's route and speed. The herald reports the data in real time to the fire control room located below the bridge with an armored deck through the ship's telephone (commonly used) or the sound transmission tube (spare). The fire controller enters the above data into the twelve-year-old fire console, a thick iron table composed of various shafts, gears, chains, and buttons.

The left side of the fire console resembles a printer's distance indicator. Continuous data from the rangefinder is being continuously transmitted through complex mathematical calculations, and the changes in the distance and velocity of enemy ships based on the time axis are displayed by printing a graph. This is followed by a meter-like wind calculator, which continuously records and calculates the wind direction and force and shows the appropriate amount of correction through the data provided by the four wind measurement points on the ship.

The cylinder in the middle of the fire console is the "brain" of the entire fire control system, in fact, it is a mechanical computer with a single function, which can calculate the distance change rate and the correction of left and right deviations according to the speed of the ship, the position of the enemy ship, the course and the speed.

To the right of the fire console is an azimuth indicator similar in appearance to a distance indicator, which is used to process and display changes in the distance of enemy ships and their rates. This is followed by the Gun Distance Calculator and the Impact Point Corrector, which are mainly used to correct and display the firing elements generated by the fire console according to the relevant information provided by the Collision Observation Group.

More than 20 operators or liaison officers gather around the fire console, and the liaison officers continuously receive the information collected from each observation point, and the operators input the information into the various devices of the fire control console, and then transmit the results to the main turret and main gun firing command post of each combat post.

The sight in the turret adjusted the position of the turret and the elevation angle of the main gun according to the instructions, and the two twin 350-mm guns in the front and rear of the "Thunderbolt" were all pointed at the "War Wey", and at the same time, the loader quickly filled the warheads and propellant packs in the side-closed double-layer fireproof bomb box into the huge chamber with the help of a mechanical sliding arm, and the left gun of each turret was filled with a 650-kilogram grenade warhead and several smokeless powder packs weighing 90 kg each.

After confirming the completion of aiming and loading, the gun commanders of each turret will report to the main gun firing command post located below the rangefinder on the top of the mast, and the gunner, after receiving the data from the fire control center and the report that the gun position is ready, can press the firing gate from the battle position and fire according to the commander's order, or weigh the situation of the battleship himself.

In the blink of an eye after receiving Yuan Feng's order to "open fire," Major Zhou Junshi, the gunnery chief of the "Thunderbolt," pressed the main gun salvo gate with the thumb of his right hand, and the hull of more than 30,000 tons was shocked, and four huge orange-red cannon flames spewed out to the starboard side at the same time, and the light green smoke was blown to the other side by the strong southwest wind.

Zhou Junshi approached the thick binoculars in front of him, and waited with bated breath with several bullet observers on both sides for the moment when the shells splashed with water.

Five seconds, ten seconds, fifteen seconds......

Even if the speed of the discharge is several times the speed of sound, it will take more than half a minute for the heavy 350-millimeter giant bomb to fly over the sea surface of 20,000 yards in a parabola, and when Zhou Junshi finally saw from the eyepiece the long-lost four tall columns of water with green centers compared to the gray ship shadow that was not very clear, the sweat droplets that had gathered on his chin had fallen more than once.

"Bounced 500 yards to the right, left

Of course, the impact point of the bullet was far from the target, and because the distance and direction from each other were changing dramatically, Zhou Junshi did not think that this kind of test firing had any significance, but the order from the bridge soon came from the headset: "Continue the test firing." ”

Zhu Yuan was quickly corrected through the fire control console, and the main turrets were prepared one after another, Zhou Junshi weighed the opportunity and pressed the electric door again, this time it was a salvo of the right guns of the four main turrets, and it was a small period of waiting, and the observer on the left first reported: "The bullet is 200 yards to the left, 2 to the right!" ”

"It's useless...... Three or four more hits will be out of the front firing boundary......"

Zhou Junshi muttered in his heart, but he couldn't disobey the order, since the bridge ordered "continue", it couldn't be stopped until he shouted "stop" below.

Correct, prepare, press the electric door, this time it is the turn of the left cannon salvo, wait, wait, wait, Zhou Junshi's heart is shocked: 4 water columns are covered...... No, just from the other side of the ship's shadow...... Cover something, in this case, it is too early to rejoice.

"Quanyuan, next 6!"

What exactly was the commander thinking?

Can this really defeat Betty's fleet, which seems to have the advantage at first glance?

The doubts in Zhou Junshi's heart became more and more entangled with the sudden cannon flame on the side of the shadow of the "war-weary" ship......