In the final analysis, Hu Weidong came up with this tactic on a whim, and he didn't have time to think about it carefully before he made such a big mistake, but since Sa Shijun discovered this problem, he naturally wouldn't stupidly pull the distance too far, in his opinion, as long as the torpedo could not hit, so that the tonnage and armor of the heavy cruiser Yuan, as long as he was not unlucky enough to hit the weakly defended main turret and detonate the ammunition depot even more unlucky, the main gun of the Japanese light cruiser, which was no more than 140, could not pose a mortal threat at all. And destroyers are not to mention

As the distance closes, the hit rate of the main guns after the Zhiyuan is getting higher and higher, and the 240 caliber shells are absolutely fatal to the light cruisers and destroyers with small tonnage and thin armor, and it didn't take long for the Japanese to have 1 light cruiser and 2 destroyers sunk, and another 1 light cruiser was heavily damaged. But at the same time, the hit rate of enemy ships was getting higher and higher, and a major flaw in the design of the Zhiyuan was completely exposed under the concentrated fire of many enemy ships

When he first boarded the Zhiyuan, Hu Weidong complained about its main turret armor with a thickness of only 25, but this is actually not a big flaw in the face of warships of the same class, because 203 mm or even larger caliber armor-piercing shells are enough to penetrate the turret, and the result is often that it explodes after penetration, but it is difficult to cause fatal damage. But the problem is that the current battles with the Zhiyuan are all light cruisers and destroyers with small main guns, which is a big problem, especially the destroyer's main gun of only 127 mm caliber, even if the distance is closed. It is also difficult to penetrate the main turret of the Zhiyuan, but it can just penetrate and explode

Moreover, out of the precaution against the devil's torpedo, Sa Shijun always let the butt of the ship face the enemy, but after the distance was shortened, the devil's warships turned one after another and faced the Zhiyuan with a side chord, and the firepower density increased greatly. As a result, after the Zhiyuan sank and damaged many Japanese ships by bullying the small, its two rear main gun turrets were also bombarded by shells from enemy ships like raindrops, and the four rear main guns were silent. It's lucky. Due to the huge consumption of kite flying before, there were very few shells left in the ammunition depot of the two rear main turrets at this time, otherwise a pile of 240 shells would have exploded. Even if the displacement of the Zhiyuan reaches more than 10,000 tons, it is difficult to keep it

The rear main guns all failed, and the speed also decreased. Sa Shijun rarely burst into foul language, "Bastard, the little devil is even a warship, and he has killed Lao Tzu"

But at this time, he only heard a series of terrible sounds of breaking the air overhead, and after a while, he saw that around the destroyer that rushed to the front, a column of rushing water suddenly rose up and almost submerged it, Sa Shijun was stunned for a moment, but immediately reacted and complained casually. "Why is it only here now?"

Of course, Sa Shijun actually knew very well in his heart that the Zhiyuan was not waiting somewhere fixedly, but was constantly maneuvering, and it was not easy for the Dingyuan to find its own ship so quickly. This is still thanks to the blessing of radiolocation jishu, if in the era of the Beiyang Naval Division, this kind of sea response can only be feasible if one party waits for an ambush in a sea area in advance, but Sa Shijun is also complaining, and he will never dare to say these words to the uncle on the Dingyuan

As the flagship of the Third Fleet, the quality of the naval officers and men on the Dingyuan is higher than that of the Zhiyuan. Under the guidance of the fire control radar, even if the long-range artillery attack launched from more than 30 kilometers away, it also has a certain hit rate, and the 356 caliber shells weigh more than 1,000 catties, and the power is far above the main gun of the Zhiyuan, for those destroyers with small tonnage and thin armor and even light cruisers, as long as they are hit, they will be directly shattered, and the cursor displayed on the radar will disappear quickly, plus the rate of fire of the 356 giant cannon is also slow, so it is not a waste of shells like the Zhiyuan, But those gunners from the army were still somewhat reluctant to think of the cost of more than a thousand oceans per shell, and the old man Sa Zhenbing kept pending, Shen Honglie resolutely ordered the flagship to continue to move forward to further improve the hit rate.

Seeing the flagship coming to help, the officers and soldiers on the Zhiyuan were all demoralized, and Sa Shijun couldn't help but rush up with some enthusiasm, "Left full rudder, turn around, turn around, and fire with the front main gun!" ”

Before the Zhiyuan could fully turn around, a sharp-eyed sailor suddenly shouted, "Torpedo!" Torpedo! ”

Sa Shijun was also shocked when he saw the inconspicuous white wake, but it was too late for the warship to make evasive moves, but fortunately, the torpedo was still a little off after all, almost grazing the stern of the Zhiyuan. Sa Shijun stretched out his hand to wipe the cold sweat on his forehead, and hurriedly asked the ship to turn around and resume the old tactics, even if the Zhiyuan was now under silent fire with the main gun in the rear, it could only use anti-aircraft guns to attack when it turned its back to the enemy ship

Sa Shijun did this not because he was greedy for life and afraid of death, but he felt that he could avoid the threat of torpedoes 100%, so why take unnecessary risks? What's more, Hu Weidong told them before the war that it is not easy for China to have two big ships, and the officers and men of the navy have only such a few seeds left, and they cannot be sacrificed easily

Seeing the Zhiyuan turn around and retreat, Sa Zhenbing couldn't help but scold his nephew for being cowardly, but as soon as the words fell, the Dingyuan was also threatened by torpedoes. Although the distance was considerable, the battleships were obviously far more hated than the heavy cruisers, and the Japanese destroyers and cruisers fired torpedoes at them as long as they could reach them. Although the speed of the oxygen torpedo can only be set at 36 knots due to the long distance, the problem is that the Dingyuan is different from the Zhiyuan, which turned away from the enemy ship before, it is now facing the direction of the enemy ship, and the enemy's torpedo is seven or eight times faster than the relative speed, coupled with the huge size of the battleship and the fact that the steering is not as flexible as that of a heavy cruiser, even if Shen Honglie, the commander of the fleet, personally commanded the Dingyuan to turn and evade, he still got a shot after all, only to hear a loud "boom", and the Dingyuan exploded a big hole when the first ship landed

Fortunately, the Dingyuan is a battleship after all, and the damage management treatment is also timely, and the oxygen torpedo in it is Type 93 Type 1 with a charge of 490 kg, not Type 93 Type 3 with a charge of up to 780 kg, otherwise it will sink directly. Sa Zhenbing was somewhat relieved to learn that the warship had been saved, but since then he has been noticeably reticent on the ship......)

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