At a distance of 18,000 yards, passing through the forest of water columns stirred up by a 381-millimeter bomb, the No. 2 ship of Yuan Feng's reconnaissance unit, the "Thunder," which had sailed to a parallel position of the "war-weary," began a test firing in a group of four.

The first group, all near!

The second group, the fork!

The third group, hit a bullet!

Thanks to a complex optical data synchronization transmission system, the "Thunder" shared the test firing data of the previous "Thunder" almost in real time, and after only one set of test firings, it achieved a clamp fork, and even achieved a hit within two minutes after the first firing, and then switched to a full salvo of eight main guns, and hit four "war-weary" bombs one after another within three minutes.

At the same time, Yuan Feng's lead ship "Thunderbolt" aimed at the "Barham", which was in the penultimate position in the main column of Betty's troops, and resumed the test firing, and the "Balham" had already set its sights on the arrogant "Thunderbolt". Relying on the new firing command instrument that had not yet been installed in time for the "war-weary," the "Balham" suddenly fired a full salvo with all the main gun doors when the water column stirred up by the first group of test firing of the "Thunderbolt" had not yet dissipated! During the second salvo, a clamping fork was formed, and during the third salvo, a single bullet hit the bow of the "Thunder", and the powerful 15-inch shell chiseled through the almost unprotected bow horizontal deck from diagonally above, penetrated the bottom of the ship and exploded in the water!

The bow of the "Thunderbolt" was lifted heavily, and Yuan Feng, who was not moving like a mountain in the bridge, was also shocked forward with everyone, of course, he did not know that another time and space occurred on May 31, 1916 in the Battle of Jutland between the British Home Fleet and the German High Seas Fleet, and it was the "Barham" that directly hit the "Von de Tann" at the end of the Hipper's fleet at a distance of 19,000 yards, creating the farthest hit record in the history of naval warfare at that time......

Yuan Feng, who broke his gums, wiped the blood from his mouth, stood up with his saber, raised his hand and tilted his military hat to the right: ", the cannon is great, don't play with it and keep full speed, turn two compass points on the port side." Avoid the enemy! ”

Thanks to the complex and solid watertight structure and effective damage management measures, and the fact that the hit was not critical, although the bottom of the bow of the "Thunderbolt" was pierced and blasted out of a hole with a diameter of more than one meter, and hundreds of tons of seawater poured into it in an instant, it did not affect the operation of the ship and the artillery fire, but the speed dropped by more than 1 knot, resulting in the maximum speed of the column could only be maintained at 26 knots, and the speed advantage over Betty's column was reduced to less than 2 knots.

At this time, the "Bravery", which was in the penultimate position of Betty's column, also joined the shelling of the "Thunderbolt", which was limited due to the firing range. For the time being, only the four main guns in the stern of the ship could be used, and even so, immediately after the "Barham" once again had eight bullets, and suddenly the four new water columns that were stirred up two or three hundred yards in front of the "Thunderbolt" still made Yuan Feng startled. Immediately ordered: "The smoke screen of each ship is covered, and the main column is transferred to the aviation school firing!" ”

Yuan Feng's reconnaissance unit carried a total of 18 "Seagull" three-seater seaplanes on board the six battle cruisers and light cruisers. It can be ejected and taken off by the Type 11 gunpowder catapult, of which 12 J-type aircraft are mainly responsible for calibration tasks on the combat patrol, and 6 Z-type aircraft on the light patrol are mainly responsible for reconnaissance and liaison missions.

A calibrator looking down at the sea from a high altitude can quickly observe the impact of a projectile from a long distance, and it is also helpful for determining the accurate ground distance between the ship and the enemy. It is also not susceptible to interference from muzzle smoke, chimney smoke, smoke screens cast by friends and foes, and bullet water columns, and is an indispensable means when shooting beyond smoke screens and ultra-long distances.

Before entering the artillery battle. Yuan Feng had already ordered all the planes to take off, and according to the pre-war grouping, four calibrators of each of the two ships were grouped together to make observations from four different directions, and according to the results of the ground observations of the four calibrators, they made a comprehensive calculation to obtain relatively correct data on the orientation of the target.

However, in addition to the aircraft carriers, the Betty Advance Guard also carried 18 aircraft on board 4 battlecruisers and 5 high-speed warships, all of which were camel fighters that could not land on ships, and took off through improvised wooden decks laid on turrets, which could only be used in the sea near land airfields. Therefore, it will not be used unless it is forced to do so.

But before getting into the artillery battle. These "flammable materials" had to be removed from the ship, and Betty gave the same order at almost the same time.

As a result, the situation suddenly became that the British army's light and nimble "camels" unilaterally pursued and killed the clumsy "seagulls" of the East Asian Army with heavy floating boats, before the covering fighters of the mobile forces arrived to repel the camel group. At least half of the "Seagulls" were sifted into dead birds by Lewis machine guns.

Knowing that air supremacy had changed hands, Yuan Feng had the confidence to order a smoke screen and carry out aviation school shooting, but before the smoke belt was pulled up, Betty suddenly moved: "Lion" took the three battle cruisers behind it to the port side and turned at a large angle, copying Yuan Feng's column course extension line!

", turn around and grab Lao Tzu's T head, watch me kick your head!"

While cursing indignantly, Yuan Feng's big face was full of light, but a cold smile unconsciously appeared.

"The whole team follows the flagship and turns left 8 compass points together!"

Under the cover of tens of thousands of yards of gray smoke belts dragged out from front to back, the six battle cruisers of Yuan Feng's column turned 90 degrees to the left at the same time, and moved away from the angry super dreadnought battleships at high speed in a butt-to-enemy attitude.

At 13:15, seeing that the distance between the five genuine battleships of the opponent had increased to more than 22,000 yards, and the main gun shooting of the war-weary, barham, and Gangyong 3 ships was also obviously inaccurate, Yuan Feng blinked his eyes and resolutely ordered: "The pilot ship maintains full speed, and slows down and changes back to the column from the last ship!" Prepare for engagement with the starboard enemy ship! ”

On the starboard side is the battle patrol detachment led by Betty himself, which has accelerated to 26 knots at this time, slightly away from the battleship detachment with a formation speed of 24 knots, what is Betty thinking about taking the risk of dismantling the column?

"Hmph, I want to fight on both sides, when I'm stupid...... It's going to be 6 against 4 right away, and it's up to you how you get deflated! ”

Yuan Feng was rubbing the handle of the knife in his hand to take care of himself, but the alarm of the air observation post came from the loudspeaker: "At 4 o'clock, the large group of aircraft is approaching!" ”

Yuan Feng twisted his eyebrows, and stomped his feet dryly: "Dry, dead flies are coming to grab credit again!" ”

"Lion".

A minute before receiving the same air alert as Yuan Feng, Betty received an urgent telegram from the "George V".

"Get out of the fight and move closer to me."

Betty's heart trembled, and she immediately realized the commander-in-chief's voice: "The situation is unfavorable, prepare to run away." ”

Shamefully fleeing from under the nose of the enemy in the first battle? Watching centuries of glory of the Royal Navy be wiped out?

What's more, the opponent's formation is relatively fast, and at this time, the enemy's front rotation can only make the troops behind the palace suffer losses in vain, right?

But......

"At 4 o'clock, a large group of aircraft is approaching!"