Just when the Tianjin and Rurik were fighting to the death, the Lushun and Weihai also fought with 3 Azov-type armored cruisers. In the face of 2 armored cruisers of the Garibaldi type in good condition, 3 of the Sea of Azov type were at a disadvantage. With the long and fierce confrontation of the battle line, the problems of the Russian fleet in design and personnel quality were gradually exposed!

Since the main guns on the three Azov cruisers were only 8 inches at most, Lushun and Weihai did not hesitate to choose to increase the intensity of the strike by closing the distance. After many naval battles, both high-ranking officers and ordinary soldiers trusted the protection of the Garibaldi series of armored cruisers, covering the 6-inch armor up to the upper deck, the armor up to 4.7 inches thick at the end and the tail, plus the armored gun gallery and turret, when Garibaldi came out, its protective area was the largest of all the battleships! And the new hardened armor is far superior to the ordinary steel-faced iron armor, so in the face of the Russian Navy's 8-inch guns and 6-inch guns, they are not afraid at all.

On the other hand, the Russian Azov-type armored cruiser, this cruiser in the Russian Navy's positioning is mainly aimed at dealing with the opponent's protective cruisers and ocean-going broken diplomatic relations, and occasionally can deal with the French armored cruisers with small boats and fast guns. Under the domination of this guiding ideology, the Russian battleships were armed with only 8-inch guns. And in terms of protection, because there was no such powerful battleship as Garibaldi, which the British classified as a second-class battleship in the imaginary enemy, (the Rurik class was designed to overwhelm the Garibaldi class), so the main armor belt only covered the lower deck. There is some armor in the gun gallery, but there is little protection on the middle and upper decks, as well as the bow and tail! It's also the price that has to be paid in order to balance seaworthiness and range!

If you can still rely on high-rate guns and fairly good armor in the previous battles against the Beiyang Fleet, Garibaldi, who has a greater tonnage than you, is designed to overwhelm armored cruisers of the same class, and the fire protection is superior. The weakness of armored cruisers of the Sea of Azov type was fully exposed.

As the distance approached, the 5 armored cruisers on both sides did their best to spit out a deadly rain of bullets. 10-inch guns on the Weihai and Lushun. The 6-inch and 4.7-inch guns were combined with the explosion of a powerful picric acid high-explosive bomb, and most of the hulls of the three Russian battleships were surrounded by smoke and flames shortly after engagement. The lower deck, covered by the main armor belt, was naturally impenetrable. However, the huge non-protective zone has become an area where fire demons can run wild.

Every hit of a high-explosive shell is a disaster for the Russians! Shells of various calibers easily shredded the hull plates, which were only more than 20 millimeters thick, and then exploded in the cabin, splashing shrapnel and flames that smashed the next door of the cabin, and the picric acid charge that could burn the metal slowly eroded the broken next door and spread to the other cabins through the breaches and pipelines! The Russians tried to glow with green flames, but the smoke and the occasional rapid-fire shells made it difficult for them to protect themselves! One group after another got in, but the fire didn't go out much!

"From my vantage point, you can see a dense array of shells firing from the Lushun and Weihai, while the counterattack fire of the three Russian patrols on the opposite side is getting weaker and weaker. Because their artillery is constantly losing! From time to time, gun emplacements were directly hit by shells or burned by the diffuse fire, and the entire battleship was shrouded in flames and smoke, and the shells and fires constantly ate away at the Russian warships, personnel and fighting spirit. Tycho, who was aboard the Weihai, wrote in his diary.

"The value of the Garibaldi-class battleships is vividly demonstrated in the long and fierce battles of the battle line! Perhaps he was not fast enough to pursue the fastest protective cruisers, perhaps he was inferior to battleships in armor protection and firepower, but at the lowest possible cost and tonnage, by properly sacrificing endurance and seaworthiness and good design. (neither of these points is very important, either off the coast of China or in the Mediterranean baths) the Garibaldi-class armored cruisers achieved maximum firepower and fire retention capabilities, and were able to evacuate the battlefield with mid-to-high speed and armor protection in unfavorable conditions! The above is from Vittorio's assessment of the Garibaldi class after the war. …,

As the battle continues. A simple fire was no longer the biggest enemy of the Russian battleship, as the number of bullets increased, a large number of them still poured into the hull from the breaches and cracks, and the unreasonable division of the compartment made the battleship's water ingress uncontrollable. The armor belt, which was not wide in the first place, sank into the water little by little as the water ingress increased! But this is not the most deadly, the damage to the non-protected zone at the end is even more serious! The bow of the Bayan, which fought against the Weihai, has almost been smashed! The entire battleship had a serious first tilt, and the speed of the battleship was further reduced!

"The Bayan is almost finished." Makanov looked at the Bayan, which was staggering through the rain of bullets.

"You mean we can't take the Bayan anymore?" The captain of the Rurik, Toyarev, asked in a low voice.

"I'm afraid so. He should still give us a chance to retreat, though. Makarev said calmly.

"You are the best admiral in Russia, you must have a way to save the Bayan, the long battle has caused huge losses to the Beiyang Fleet, you see there, the No. 2 battleship of the Beiyang Fleet was also hit by the Bayan, and at least one of the 6-inch guns was useless by the 8-inch guns. As long as you hold on for a while, maybe there will be a turnaround! Toyarev said loudly, trying to awaken the fighting spirit in Makanov's heart.

"It's useless, look at the two Garibaldi-class battleships, they firmly grasp the initiative in the battle. Their shells could not penetrate our core compartment directly, but the fire caused by the extremely incendiary picric acid charge was enough to destroy the battleship, and although our shells could also set fire, the Qing fleet always kept a proper distance by sailing in a polygonal line, and when their fire was under control, they would approach to intensify the attack, and if the fire on the ship could not be controlled for a while, they would pull away. Makanov explained carefully.

"We can do the same." Toyarev said unwillingly.

"No, we can't, the Bayan and the Pearl are badly damaged, and their maneuverability has been greatly affected. The Rurik and Azov-class formations, because of the differences in their respective movement parameters, made our maneuvers more cumbersome, and more importantly, even if we closed the distance through maneuvering, we could not inflict significant damage on our opponents. Speaking of this, Makanov paused and pointed to the Bayan in the distance and said: "The firepower of the Bayan has been greatly reduced, and it is estimated that when the Beiyang Fleet approaches the next time, the limit of the Bayan will return!" ”

It has to be said that Makanov's vision is very accurate. After more than 1 hour of fierce artillery fighting, only 4 warships were able to basically maintain their firepower, the Tianjin, Weihai, and Lushun in Beiyang and the Rurik in Russia! The perfect protection system and compartment design allow these 4 warships to maintain a certain combat power after a long period of shooting! As for the three Azov-class warships? After a long artillery battle, it was already lucky that it had not yet been burned.

"It's time to wrap up." Deng Shichang looked at the Bayan not far away and said, the long artillery battle has caused the Russian battleship to lose too much blood, this is like a bullfight, when the matador wounds the bull with a javelin, it is the turn of the knight with the spear to enter the field to give the bull the last blow. And the whole Beiyang is waiting for such an opportunity!

The staggering Bayan struggled to return fire with the four 8-inch guns at the bow and tail, and caused some trouble for the Lushun, but finally, a 10-inch shell crossed a distance of less than 2KM and crashed headlong into the twin main guns on the bow of the Bayan. The hydraulic pitching system of the 2 main guns was destroyed by the force of the massive impact. Soon the two main guns were temporarily ineffective. BUT THIS WAS ONLY THE BEGINNING, ANOTHER 10-INCH SHELL PENETRATED THE UNARMORED UPPER DECK FROM THE DIAGONAL REAR, AND A CANNON HIT THE BAYAN'S GUN SHAFT, BUT THE GUN SHAFT PROTECTED BY HARVEY ARMOR WITH LESS THAN 100MM COULD NOT STOP THE ARMOR-PIERCING SHELL WEIGHING 227KG, AND AFTER THE EXPLOSION OF THE DISTANCE, THE FLAMES MIXED WITH DEBRIS RUSHED TOWARDS THE AMMUNITION DEPOT ABOVE AND BELOW THE BATTERY. …,

The defenseless Russian officers and soldiers in the turret never dreamed that a flame would erupt from the hoist, and in an instant, the high-temperature and high-pressure gas filled the entire turret, the smokeless powder was ignited by the flames, and the entire front main turret seemed to be placed on the entire crater, and then the huge explosion turned the entire turret into a burning iron box. Luckily, the flames rushing towards the ammunition depot were blocked by the fire door of the ammunition depot that was closed in time, so that the Bayan did not sink immediately, but as a battleship, his fate was already decided, and it would sink in the near future!

"Summons the Bayan, let him cover our evacuation." Makanov's heart tightened, and he said after a moment of silence. In fact, abandoning a battleship and launching a decisive charge to win the opportunity for the entire fleet to retreat could have been implemented at the beginning, but as a fleet commander, Makanov really couldn't bear to lose an armored cruiser in vain. So he is insisting, hoping that his fleet can inflict heavy damage on the opponent, hoping that the opponent will retreat in the face of difficulties.

But the truth is cruel, the difference in technology and state between the two sides has made this battlefield a nightmare for the Russian Navy. The Russian fleet, with the exception of the Rurik, suffered heavy losses. Now, the solution is that one battleship must be sacrificed for the entire fleet in exchange for a way to survive.

"Your Excellency, Commander, the Bayan shows that he is willing to give everything for the glory of the Banner of St. Andrew!" At this point, an officer said.

"May God bless the warriors of Russia. The order, with the exception of Bayan, was to move at full speed on the left side of the ship, with the exception of Bayan. Makanov said with a look at Bayan's last look.

"The Russians are going to run." Everyone could see the Russians' plan, and the entire Beiyang Fleet also began to turn its rudder to the left, but just as the Beiyang Fleet was about to accelerate the pursuit, the Bayan, which was already half dead, suddenly rushed towards the Beiyang Fleet with full rudder on its right! "Bayan, this is desperate. Right rudder evasion. Deng Shichang looked at the Bayan not far away and immediately ordered. If it hits it, the Weihai will be seriously injured if it does not sink, then this battle will be lost!

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