Due to the shift of the Japanese First Guerrilla Fleet to the right, when the distance between the two armies was reduced to 5,000 meters, the 283-mm main guns on the battleship "Kaiyuan" were still in a state of loading. Although there is still a certain gap between 5,000 meters and the best hit point of the Beiyang Naval Division's major caliber guns, if no action is taken at this time, the First Guerrilla Fleet will have to circle its right flank almost unharmed, which Liu Buyun absolutely does not want to see. At this point, it is necessary to take the lead through large-caliber artillery!

With the order of Shen Shoukun, the first mate of the "Dingyuan" gun, the main battery on the starboard side made a loud sound like the sky was cracking; Two shells weighing 292 kg were excited by the huge bore pressure, and in a very short time they were accelerated to a supersonic speed of 500 m/s, and spun wildly in the long sky, roaring towards the Japanese fleet 10 miles away. This symbol of the power of the Beiyang Naval Division, which has long been known as the "No. 1 Giant Ship in the Far East", finally issued its own fierce roar to the enemy after nine years of silent silence.

Liu Buyun took out cotton from his ear, eagerly looked at the window outside the command tower, and saw two red and gorgeous fireballs in the air across a graceful arc, slamming into the sea 200 meters away from the front of the "Yoshino", rushing up with a white foam splash more than three feet high. In all fairness, it is not easy for Dingyuan to have this accuracy at a distance of 5,000 meters under the condition of using an old-fashioned observation instrument, a sextant, but Liu Buyun did not have the slightest joy in his heart. Due to the speed of the formation, all he could do now was pray silently, hoping that his large-caliber cannon would make the other party suffer soon.

"Boom! Rumble! Rumble! ”

The opening of the Dingyuan was the issuance of the order to attack, and not long after the flagship opened fire, the front main guns of the ships of the Beiyang Naval Division let out a deafening roar. Countless cannonballs flew across the wide ocean, like a rain of meteors shooting down from the sky, and one after another water columns rose into the sky, and the sea suddenly seemed to be boiling!

"Ding Junmen, look, we've hit!" Hannagan, a foreigner, suddenly shook Ding Ruchang's body violently and said loudly with excitement.

Ding Ruchang was overjoyed in his heart, and hurriedly looked over, only to see that the last warship of the combined fleet was burning with raging fire, and the thick black smoke was already higher than the mast of that battleship; Looking at the appearance of that ship, it seems to be the old ironclad ship "Fuso". Listening to the thunderous cheers of the sailors around him, Ding Ruchang was in a good mood; Although it was not the main ship of the Japanese Navy that was hit, it was a good start to the battle after the first round of shooting! Inside the armored command tower, Liu Buyun's dark and round face finally showed a little smile after seeing a battleship at the end of the Combined Fleet being hit and on fire.

In just a few minutes, the Japanese officers and men of the Combined Fleet were in hell. They had to summon great courage to expose a large area of unprotected areas on the side of the battleship to the large-caliber naval guns of the Beiyang Naval Division. During this period of time, the only thing that made the commander of the guerrilla fleet, Tsuboi Kozo, happy was that because he ordered the fleet to turn in time, the accuracy of the largest battleship of the Beiyang Naval Division was finally not as terrifying as the second round of firing, and the next two rounds of shells were all lost. A cannonball hit, setting off a huge column of water on the side of the "Matsushima", through the scattered splashes, the commander-in-chief of the combined fleet, Ito Youheng, found that the Qing fleet in front of him had become quite clear, and was about to ask the adjutant next to him, the voice of the rangefinder had already come from outside the command tower: "Xue An(General), the Qing fleet is only 3,500 meters away from us!" ”

Although before the war, due to the characteristics of small-caliber rapid-fire guns themselves, the Combined Fleet had strict rules that did not allow artillery firing at less than 3,000 meters, but the rule was that the dead were alive. Ito Youheng is very psychologically clear, in this case, if the sailors are allowed to strictly abide by this regulation and wait until a distance of 3,000 meters to fight back, those recruits under his command may not be able to withstand this psychological impact!

Looking at the expectant expressions on the faces of the officers in the command tower, Ito Yuhyung sighed lightly in his heart and said, "Let's shoot!" ”

"Hey!" A group of Japanese officers replied excitedly, as if they had grasped a life-saving straw.

"Boom!" Only 10 seconds later, the 320-mm main gun at the stern of the cruiser "Matsushima" spit out a large area of red-purple red light, and the fiery red shells danced in the air, breaking through the sky and groaning, and its power was even several times more powerful than the 283-mm main gun on the "Kaiyuan"! However, the Japanese sailors were greatly disappointed by the fact that the shell was completely untargeted, and it was clearly aimed at the "Kaiyuan," but it landed in the sea area 200 meters in front of the "Dingyuan," stirring up a rolling wave like a mountain.

Seeing that the cruiser "Matsushima" was the first to open fire, the sailors of the combined fleet, who had long been unable to contain their inner tension, began to shoot at the Beiyang Fleet one after another. Since the "Matsushima" 320 mm cannon missed the first round of shooting, Ito Yuheng pinned all his hopes on the "Itsukushima" and "Hashidate" behind him, if their 320 mm cannon could hit a certain evil Qing warship, with the picric acid explosives equipped by the combined fleet, it would be enough to deal a devastating blow to it!

The earth-shattering explosion shook the sky.

Looking at the column of optimus water rising 500 meters away on the port side, Claude couldn't help but snort coldly, and Fangzheng's face was full of contemptuous smiles. As a veteran officer who had served on a battleship at the time of the establishment of the German Navy, he knew all too well the disadvantages of this small boat-mounted cannon; On such a small hull, it requires both heavy artillery and speed, and if it can still be accurate, is it still a warship that earthlings can build?

The 320-mm cannon was not to be feared, and Claude turned his attention to the "Takachiho" and "Naniwa" of the 1st Guerrilla Fleet. These two armored cruisers, which were started in 1884 by the British Armstrong Arsenal, have a standard displacement of 3,650 tons, a main engine power of 7,000 horsepower, two-shaft propulsion, and a speed of 18.5 knots as "Zhiyuan" and "Jingyuan". The key is that its ship is equipped with 2 260mm main guns, except for the 320mm cannon on the Sanjing ship, this kind of gun is the most powerful in the combined fleet!

At this point, a very tempting opportunity lay out in front of Claude. The 1st Guerrilla Fleet sailed to the right flank of the Beiyang Naval Division, and the "Kaiyuan" under him was moving in the opposite direction, and the distance between the two fleets had broken through to within 3,500 meters. The main turrets of the "Kaiyuan" are all arranged along the central axis, and like the Japanese battleships, they are the products of broadside operations, and if you choose to shoot the "Takachiho", which is second in the queue of the first guerrilla fleet, the six main guns will be able to exert all their combat effectiveness!

"Pass the order, turn the muzzle, and hit the second Japanese ship with 260 mm cannons first!" Claude lifted the snow-white navy cap on his head and conveyed his latest order to the officer.

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A century later, naval historians of the Celestial Empire still dispute Colonel Claude's order. Most people said that if Claude had not ordered a change of objective and continued to attack the "Yoshino", with the hit rate shown by the German battleships in this naval battle, it was very likely that the fastest ship in the Combined Fleet could be severely damaged or even sunk in half an hour, and the tactical pattern laid out by Ito Yuhiro would be shattered in one fell swoop. Once the "Yoshino" had been heavily damaged at the beginning of the war, where would there have been those things that followed?

But there are also many people who believe that Claude's decision is understandable. This was because judging from the formation at that time, if the "Yoshino" had been attacked, only the tail and amidship main turrets of the "Kaiyuan" would have a firing range, and the bow main guns would only have to find other targets, resulting in a great dispersion of firepower. Claude was originally a traditional naval officer, and the concept of "large-caliber artillery wins" was deeply ingrained in his mind, and at that time, small-caliber rapid-fire guns were just a novelty; Even the commander of the Combined Fleet, Ito Yuhiro himself, had no idea that these fast-firing small cannons could have such a huge impact on the battle situation. In Claude's view, the threat to his side from these two battleships armed with 260 mm guns was obviously much greater than that of the Yoshino, which was armed with only 152 mm guns; Those small cannons could not penetrate the heavy armor of the Kaiyuan, and even a 120 mm thick shield could bounce a 4.7 inch (120 mm) shell with its excellent bulletproof shape, while a 260 mm shell would be devastating if it hit the turret!

According to the order of Colonel Claude, the hydraulic system that controlled the horizontal angle of the main gun on the battleship "Kaiyuan" began to operate, and every movement of the 45-ton cannon made people's blood boil. At a distance of less than 3,500 meters, the elevation angle of the two main turrets at the bow and tail of the "Kaiyuan" was close to that of flat fire, and only the main gun in the turret in the amidship still had a certain angle to the horizon. This is due to the fact that at the beginning of construction, in order to save money, the barrels of the two 283 mm guns in the amidships were cut from 40 times the diameter to 35 times the diameter, and the muzzle velocity of the guns was also reduced to 685 m/s, so it had to choose to increase the elevation angle to obtain the same range as the nose and tail guns.

This practice of castrating the main guns of the amidships was indeed not conducive to salvo fire due to the inconsistent ballistics, but at the end of the 19th century, there was no such thing as a salvo of all the main guns in naval warfare, and they were all fighting separately, and this situation continued until the first decade of the 20th century. During this period, the hit rate of the guns on the battleship was directly related to the personal experience of the gun commander.

"Boom!"

The light burst out, the red flames rushed away, and the rear main gun of the battleship "Kaiyuan" broke out for the first time in this battle with an inspiring roar of wind and thunder; Before Claude could come to his senses, the four heavy guns of the two main turrets in the amidships and the front also opened fire one after another within a few seconds, and the thunderous sound rolled and exploded, instantly resounding in every corner of this battleship!

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