Episode 184 Decisive Battle at Sea (3)

The Ming heavy cruiser fleet appeared, sank the Isuzu, .

Takasu Shiro felt that it was very unexpected, and the Ming fleet had no intention of leaving the battlefield at all, and seemed to have made up his mind to accompany the Japanese army in a night battle. Takasu Shiro thought it was incredible, and the staff officers on the flagship also thought it was incredible, and no one could guess what the Ming army was going to do. Could it be that the Ming army was very confident in their ability to fight at night? Could it be that he underestimated the level of the Ming fleet?

But judging from the first confrontation between the Isuzu and the Leyi, it seems that this is not the case, and the level of the two armies is already very clear. In the command room of the Mutsu fleet headquarters, Takasu Shiro and the staff officers briefly analyzed it, and they all reluctantly came to this conclusion: the Ming army may be worried about the weakness of its fleet, and feel that everyone can't see clearly in the night battle, which can offset part of the difference in strength, if it is daytime, everyone can see it clearly, then the numerical superiority of the Japanese fleet will be fully brought into play.

This explanation is a bit far-fetched, but there is no more plausible explanation at the moment. Moreover, in the face of a rapidly changing battlefield, any commander may be dizzy and make decisions that are unfavorable to him. This is not surprising either.

As a result, Takasu Shiro was happy to "accompany" the Ming fleet to fight night battles together. He ordered the main forces to continue to move forward, and it was necessary to take advantage of the night to complete the decisive battle of the main forces between the battleships of the two sides.

In the middle of the flagships, which were far apart from each other, the first wave of the "sub-main force" heavy cruiser fleets of the two sides was fighting. Although it was nighttime, because the distance between the two sides was already very close, and the flares in the sky were never interrupted, and the sea was as bright as day, the hit rate of the two sides at this time was much higher than that of the artillery battle that was separated by tens of thousands of meters during the day. In just two rounds, after two volleys each, all three heavy cruisers of the Ming army were wounded, and three of the four Japanese cruisers were also wounded.

The naval battle at this time was as tragic as the battlefield in the early days of the American Civil War. At the beginning of the war, both sides were already equipped with new weapons, rifles, but they still fought according to the old tactics of the smoothbore gun era: the two armies were only fifty meters apart, lined up in dense formations, standing straight and upright to shoot at each other, and in the blink of an eye, the first platoon of both sides fell in a pool of blood like wheat harvesting......

The current battlefield at sea is almost like this. While the Ming warships opened fire, they kept sticking forward, and the distance between the two sides quickly decreased: 4,000 meters, 3,500 meters, 3,000 meters, and 2,500 meters...... As the distance continued to shrink, the accuracy of the two sides quickly leveled off, and the Japanese army's artillery superiority was quickly neutralized. But at the price, after the three Ming warships reached the "ideal distance", each of them was already on fire. Similarly, the four Japanese cruisers were covered in bruises and fireworks.

Heavy cruisers on both sides dragged smoke and flames, still stubbornly firing at each other. Light cruisers and destroyers on both sides also shuttled back and forth, firing torpedoes at the opposing fleet and shelling the light cruisers and destroyers of the opposing side. Suddenly, a huge column of water rose from the side of the Japanese heavy cruiser Haguro, and then a huge fireball rose into the sky. The Haguro was hit by a torpedo.

Now, the situation has become three to three, the Ming army's Yue Fei, Shizhong, and Sun Wu, and the Japanese army's Mogami, Mikuma, and Myoko. Both are already suffering moderate to severe injuries. The Suntake, Yuefei, Mikuma, and Myoko were all tilted, their speed greatly reduced, and they barely supported the fire in the flames. There is only one left, the Shizhong and the Mogami are still relatively strong in combat, and they are still killing each other at close range.

At this time, the protagonist finally appeared. Three Japanese fast battleships, the Kongo, the Haruna, and the Kirishima, appeared from the darkness of the night, and entered the battlefield with three heavy cruisers, the Ashigara, the Atago, and the Maya, as well as several light cruisers. The battleship's loud voice lit up, and suddenly, the sea water on the side of the Ming cruiser fleet seemed to be boiling, and the tall water columns rose and fell one after another. Within five minutes, Sun Wu and Yue Fei were killed in the explosion of the main guns of the Japanese battleship, and only the Shizhong was slightly injured and was lucky not to be hit by the battleship's main gun.

The cruiser fleet of the Ming army, which just now regarded death as if it were home and faced it with all its fate, is now like a rabbit, whether it is a heavy cruiser, a light cruiser, or a destroyer, as long as it can run, all of them turn the rudder and speed up, fleeing from the battlefield as if fleeing, and at the same time firing torpedoes backwards to slow down the speed of the Japanese ships' pursuit.

How could the Japanese battleships that had just appeared tolerate the remnants of the Ming fleet running away, still firing artillery fire while speeding up the pursuit. Destroyers and light cruisers drove in front of the battleships, alerting the battleships with torpedoes. Once a torpedo is spotted, it is immediately tracked with a searchlight to allow the battleship to dodge in time.

The three "Kongo-class" battleships of the Japanese army are all fast battleships, and they have also been modernized and refitted, with a maximum speed of 30 knots. Despite this, it was still about 1 knot slower than the heavy cruiser Sechung. The ship was moderately damaged in the artillery battle, but the power system was not damaged, the part below the waterline was not damaged, there was no flooding, and the speed was still not reduced at all. Other light cruisers and destroyers were faster.

The detachments of the two armies pursued each other for nearly an hour, and the distance gradually increased from more than 5,000 meters to more than 7,000 meters.

Suddenly, a bright light streaked through the darkness in the distance ahead, and four giant warships could be faintly seen in the flash.

The Japanese fleet, which was in hot pursuit, was also mentally prepared, knowing that the main force of the Ming army would have to appear sooner or later. Now I'm waiting here.

Although it was three enemies and four enemies, the Japanese battlefleet was not frightened at all. From the captain to the artillerymen, they were very confident and knew that they were the battleships with the highest level of sea warfare in the world, and even more so the battleships with the highest level of night battles. The moment the Ming battlefleet appeared, the officers and men of the Japanese battlefleet understood that it was the moment that the whole country of Japan had been looking forward to for a whole generation. And I not only witnessed this moment with honor, but also wrote the history that is about to happen below.

The four battleships of the Ming army faced the Japanese ships in a favorable position of "straight and horizontal", and deliberately maintained a very low speed before the first round of fire, on the one hand, to reduce their own turbulence and improve the hit rate, on the other hand, they could also reduce noise, as far as possible not to be heard by the sonar of the Japanese ships, which was conducive to ambush.

After the first round of fire from the Ming battleships, almost at the same time, the Japanese battleships reacted extremely quickly. Before the Ming shells fell, the front turrets of the three Japanese ships opened fire. Immediately, the entire Japanese fleet turned at the same time, and the horizontal formation turned into columns, and all the turrets in front and behind gradually appeared as each warship stirred up the white waves.

The first round of shells of the Ming army fell in the Japanese fleet. Most of them were water columns, except for the Kirishima front turret that was hit by a main gun shell on the front side, and the fireball was accompanied by steel sparks in the explosion. But the flames and black smoke soon cleared, leaving only sporadic flames on the Kirishima foredeck, and the huge and stocky forward turret was still lying there, black and immovable, like a large cast-iron pier.

This, albeit a 15-inch main gun shell, hit the battleship's thickest armor. The King Kong took a shot, but it still did not slow down, spewing black smoke and turning violently, while the front and rear main guns and the barrels of the whole body were chirping and turning, ready to attack.

The first round of shells of the Japanese ships also fell in the Ming fleet, but it was only a column of water, and not a single shot hit. It's not that the Japanese ships didn't hit accurately, but that the Ming army did have a lot of coincidental elements, and the first round of salvo fired by the Ming army was the result of stopping there and aiming for a long time. Moreover, when the Japanese ships opened fire, they were still in a hurry to catch up, and they were not prepared, firstly, the speed was very high, and the firing platform was unstable, and secondly, the Japanese ships were facing forward, and only the front turret could fire, so it was not a salvo, and there were too few shells.

At this time, the two sides were about 6,000 meters apart, sailing in the same direction at a medium speed, and basically formed a standard zigzag "battlefleet" and began to officially fire at each other.

At this time, Commander Takasu Shiro, who was far behind the Mutsu, also received a report and knew that the Ming battlefleet had appeared. Not only did he show up, but he also "played a little clever" and actually tried to ambush three fast battleships of our army. Although Takasu, as the commander of the fleet, was very confident in his warships, he knew that now the other side had four ships, and his own side only had three. What's more, the King Kong is a fast battleship, and it is a high speed obtained at the expense of a certain armor thickness. And he also knew that the "Changping-class" battleships of the Ming army on the opposite side were one of the best battleships of the 20s, not only with thick armor, but also with a caliber of guns one inch larger than the "King Kong class".

Now the situation of the three Japanese battleships is very dangerous, and if the main "Mutsu" detachment does not enter the battle in time, the three Kongo-class Japanese ships will definitely suffer.

It's time. Takasu Shiro's grim gaze scanned the dark ocean outside the window, took a deep breath, and calmly ordered: Accelerate, left rudder, new course: 270.

In the darkness of the night, four huge battleships, the Michinoku, Isei, Hyuga, and Yamashiro, surrounded by the cruisers Tama, Kiso, Abukuma, and Kawauchi, and a dozen destroyers, began to slowly accelerate and turn due west.

The heavy iron-gray bow moved slowly in the water, and as it accelerated, it set off higher and higher white waves and sailed for the battlefield ahead.