Episode 77 Collectively turn the rudder and go home

The officers and men of the Ming fleet watched as the jets of water rose one after another on the side of the Japanese ships on the opposite side, first the Fuso twice, then the Myoko, and then a fire...... After a few seconds, the Ming officers and soldiers understood that .

Every warship of the Ming fleet burst into cheers. What had been a hopeless situation has now been reversed.

The first mate of the Zhengde has now temporarily taken over the duties of the captain of the ship, and also temporarily took over the duties of the commander of the fleet. He held the binoculars and stared at the two Japanese ships in the distance, quickly recalling the appearance of the water column rising just now...... Could it be that we fired a torpedo, and this time has arrived? No, it won't!

Not only the Zhengde, but the officers and men of each ship are quite strange. Even a small soldier understands that it is unlikely that it is the torpedo that his own fleet has just fired. The destroyers fired torpedoes in a fan, and the farther the distance between the torpedoes became, the greater the distance between the torpedoes, and there were five or six thousand meters between the Ming fleet and the Japanese fleet, and the torpedoes were already very separated when they arrived there, and it was impossible for two torpedoes to hit the same ship. This kind of torpedo net launched from a long distance between fleets is a matter of probability, and it is not bad to be able to hit an enemy ship.

This was apparently launched from a close range.

The first mate of the Zhengde, that is, the new captain, observed the position of the Japanese ship and ruled out the possibility that they fired a torpedo and accidentally injured themselves.

"Send a signal to the destroyer," he commanded, turning his head, "there are our submarines near the enemy fleet, let them continue to shell the enemy destroyers, and don't give them a chance to fight against the enemy!" ”

"Yes!"

The bridge has been briefly repaired and has barely been restored to service. Most of the commanding officers who were stunned by the shock wave also returned to command. The Communications Officer picks up the phone and communicates the command to the radio room.

The captain then ordered:

"The secondary guns bombarded the enemy destroyer, and the main guns continued to bombard the Fuso!"

The gunners repeated the order in a loud voice, and then arranged for the secondary guns to bombard the target, while continuing to operate the eight main guns to bombard the Fuso.

……

The Japanese fleet never expected that the two capital ships of their own side would suddenly eat torpedoes, and the Fuso ate two in succession. It was obviously not launched from the Ming fleet in the distance. Then in this case, it can only be a submarine in the near distance.

It is also difficult for the Japanese to accept this fact. The Sea of Japan has always been regarded by them as a backyard, and the Ming fleet came in as soon as it came in, and they deliberately put it in; But after being put in, several straits were closed, and fleets were sent to guard them. I didn't expect the Ming army submarine to be able to touch it!

What they couldn't accept even more was that the more than 30,000-ton Fuso and the more than 10,000-ton Myoko were destroyed by a submariner of a few hundred tons or at most more than a thousand tons! The warships built by the Japanese people and the results of the Japanese Navy's hard training day and night were wiped out by a small submarine at this moment.

Takeo Takasaki, commander of the Japanese fleet and captain of the Fuso, was holding on to the chart table just now, so that he was not knocked to the ground in the explosion. Now the hull of the ship had tilted several degrees to the right, and the pencil on the chart table quickly rolled to the side, blocked by the edge. The damage management center has called to report that the two torpedoes hit each other relatively close together, that the side armor has been torn, and that sea water is now pouring in. Takasaki Takeo had already ordered water to be poured on the other side to keep the hull balanced.

Several Japanese destroyers were already searching for submarines, but the raining shells and the frantic torpedoes of the Ming fleet on the opposite side forced them to dodge left and right. These destroyers are now almost the main target.

One of the destroyers had covered a small white mark with a searchlight and had discovered that it was a periscope. The destroyer didn't say a word, the main gun in the bow "snapped" into a cannon, and a column of water rose near the periscope. Immediately after, the periscope was quickly put away.

- The submarine is below the surface and it is difficult to hit with artillery. The destroyer was about to sail over to drop depth charges when the air above it screamed, and shells rained around it. It quickly extinguished its searchlight, increased its horsepower, left the rudder, and left the place. Otherwise, the chances of it being hit in the next salvo will increase exponentially.

Now the destroyers of both sides have also been targeted. The battleships of the two sides were still bombarding each other, and the destroyers of both sides were no longer "helping" and were also bombarding the destroyers of the opposing side.

For a moment, explosions erupted on the sea, flames rolled, and fireballs soared into the sky. At this time, the Ming army had already sunk three destroyers, and there were only three destroyers left. And the Japanese lost only two destroyers, and ten. And the Mogami heavy cruiser and the Nagara light cruiser were basically undamaged and were still the main force in the artillery battle. One side of the hull of the battleship Fuso was flooded, and the other side was artificially filled with water, in short, a large amount of water, and now the speed is greatly affected, and the fastest can only drive to 19 knots. But the Fuso's guns were still unhindered, still firing deadly shells at the Ming fleet.

……

The captain of the Zhengde understood that the best option now was to take advantage of the speed advantage, quickly get rid of the Japanese fleet, highlight the Sea of Japan, and return home. Originally, the Japanese fleet was blocked in front of the Tsugaru Strait, but now after a series of naval battles, the two sides lined up in a line of battle columns to bombard each other, and they have already sailed south for more than 30 nautical miles. If we turn north now and get rid of the Japanese ships at full speed, it should be feasible.

By this time, the Zhengde had already received several more 14-inch shells, and there was already a front turret that could not be used. Li Guang was torn off a turret, seriously wounded, and fell far to the north.

The captain of the Zhengde observed the surrounding situation, looked at the time again, and it was already past four o'clock. In another hour, it will be dawn. Now head north at full speed, and in an hour you will almost reach the entrance to the Tsugaru Strait. And even if the Japanese ships were to catch up, at the speed of the seriously injured Fuso, they would have been thrown off several nautical miles after an hour. And at that time, the sky was also bright, and with the distance of these several nautical miles, it was just right to give full play to the range advantage of the Zhengde 15-inch main gun. Moreover, the two rear turrets of the Zhengde are intact, which is the right time to play to the advantage.

Having made up his mind, the captain gave the order to the three destroyers to shoot all the existing torpedoes at the Japanese fleet, and then collectively turned around, headed for 350, north-northwest, and went straight to the Tsugaru Strait at full speed.

At the sound of an order, more than a dozen torpedoes flew down from the decks of the three destroyers, fell into the sea, and spurted white waves towards the Japanese fleet.

Then, the four Ming ships concentrated their fire and bombarded the Fuso.

A moment later, a dense column of water rose around the Fuso. Although the 15-inch shells did not hit directly, two more 5-inch shells exploded on the deck of the Fuso.

The Japanese fleet was also fiercely returning fire, and the Fuso, although it was relatively slow, still proved its might with its tongue of fire. Mogami and Nagara also concentrated their firepower and bombarded the Shotoku. And the ten Japanese destroyers were also shelling the three Ming destroyers with more and less to bully the less.

Soon, the Zhengde was hit by two 8-inch shells of the top number and three 5.5-inch shells of the Nagara. But it didn't do any real harm.

The Fuso immediately proved the superiority of the Japanese Navy in night battles. After a salvo, the Zhengde received another 14-inch shell on the side of the ship. The armor belt was moderately damaged, but did not penetrate.

At this time, the only three remaining destroyers of the Ming army were also seriously injured. The deck of one of the destroyers was burning, black smoke was billowing and the speed was slowing down.

The captain of the Zhengde saw through his binoculars that the destroyer was seriously crooked. It's basically destroyed. However, its 40-mm cannon continued to fire at the Japanese ship.

The captain of the Zhengde was quite moved, sighed, and said:

"Order it to abandon the ship."