Episode 78 I can't spare Hakodate

The Zhengde detachment now has one moderately damaged battleship, one heavily damaged cruiser, . And the Fuso of the Japanese fleet was already badly damaged, three cruisers were moderately damaged, and ten destroyers were moderately or slightly damaged.

A Ming destroyer rescued the officers and men of another destroyer who had abandoned the ship and escaped, and then the Zhengde gave the order to turn the rudder.

At this time, Li Guanghao, who had withdrawn from the battlefield with serious injuries before, now drove over to participate in the battle again. Just in time for the Zhengde to issue the return order, Li Guang also used the only two remaining rear turrets to participate in the covering shelling. Li Guang is lucky now, the two intact turrets are in the rear, which is suitable for the current situation.

The two Ming destroyers went first, and the Zhengde and Li Guang followed the palace, and at the same time shelled the four Japanese capital ships evenly. Soon, the three cruisers of the Japanese army were also shelled one after another. A 15-inch shell was fired from the Mogami side, and the flames burst into the sky, smoke billowed out, and the hull began to tilt slowly. Myoko and Fuso received several rounds of cruiser main gun shells and battleship secondary guns. The Fuso was clearly durable, and it didn't seem to get worse. But smoke rose from the Myoko, and like Mogami, it withdrew a little later.

The four Ming warships all pulled up their top speeds and headed north. Although the four Ming warships were all scarred, none of them entered the water, and the power system was not damaged, and they were still able to maintain their previous top speed. But the Japanese were not able to do it, and the Fuso was hit by two 533 caliber heavy torpedoes, although it was not fatal, but the side armor was torn, the hull was seriously flooded, and the speed was seriously slowed down.

Originally, the speed of the Fuso was about the same as that of the Zhengde, both of which were a little more than 24 knots, but now the Fuso can only run up to about 18 knots. The Fuso is the core of the fleet, and the entire Japanese detachment must use the speed of the Fuso as the basic speed. Although the other three cruisers could drive faster, they did not dare to break away from the cover of the Fuso to chase the Ming battleships. The Fuso is now the shortest plank in the "barrel" of the Japanese fleet.

But as soon as the Japanese fleet saw that the Ming fleet was turning around and leaving, they knew that the worst fears had happened. This time, if the Ming fleet was allowed to seriously injure the Japanese flagship and sink two destroyers, and still return home at large, then the commander of the Japanese fleet, Takasaki Takeo, would probably have to apologize.

Takasaki Takeo ordered the fleet to pursue, and the Fuso drove to maximum speed and continued to shell the Ming fleet. In addition, the destroyers flanked at high speed from both sides, waiting for an opportunity to fire torpedoes.

……

So, something unexpected happened to the Ming fleet.

Six Japanese destroyers, with long black smoke trailing their bows and long white waves trailing behind them, chased after them from both sides at a speed of nearly thirty knots. At the same time, the captain of the Zhengde saw through the telescope that one after another the torpedoes jumped from the deck of the Japanese destroyer into the sea, and chased him straight after him in the white waves.

And by this time, the eastern sky was no longer black, but had turned a deep blue. Visibility on the sea was much better.

The captain of the Zhengde shook his head and muttered:

"I can't imagine that the Japanese would dare to come up and send them to their deaths."

He turned his head and said:

"Let Li Guang aim at the first Japanese destroyer on the port side and fire a salvo of four rear main guns."

Immediately afterwards, he instructed the gunners of his ship:

"Aim at the first destroyer on the starboard side and fire a salvo from four rear main guns."

The command was repeated quickly. Moments later, the Zhengde's four aft deck guns roared angrily. The smoke and flames cleared, and the two rear turrets of the Li Guang on the left could be seen firing.

A few seconds later, the first Japanese destroyer in the right rear was surrounded by a column of water. Almost at the same time, a bright light flashed out of the water column, followed by a large fireball with smoke rushing up - the first Japanese destroyer was shot.

The 15-inch main gun shells of the Zhengde pierced the almost unarmored destroyer. After the explosion of the shell itself, the entire destroyer suddenly exploded tenfold with great power, and the ammunition depot exploded.

Like a volcanic eruption, the entire bridge, turret, and deck flew into the air, and the hull of the ship cracked, breaking into two pieces in a cloud of fireworks, and quickly sinking. The surrounding sea engulfed the hot steel, and the "zilala" boiled, and large white mist and black smoke drifted into the sky together. The surrounding wreckage floated along with the corpses, undulating in the burning waters.

A few seconds later, the Japanese destroyer on the other side also received an 8-inch shell from the Li Guang. Although the caliber was twice as small as that of a battleship, it was far beyond the capacity of a destroyer. The bridge of the Japanese destroyer was blown off by a small half, dragging billowing black smoke, still rushing forward, and the front turret was still firing at the Li Guang.

Li Guanghao fired another salvo at it. However, this time it did not hit, and the shells fell into the water. The Zhengde's main guns were being loaded, but several 5-inch secondary guns fired heavily at the badly wounded destroyer. There was another explosion, and the hapless destroyer was hit by another 5-inch secondary shell. This time it hit the front turret.

Although the 5-inch shells did not cause much damage to the destroyer, because the destroyers were unarmoured, at most a little thin armor against small arms, so despite the small caliber, each gun would bring real damage. This shell hit its front turret. In the explosion, the main gun barrel of the first turret of the Japanese destroyer was scrapped. Moreover, the captain of the Zhengde saw through a telescope that its foredeck torpedo launcher seemed to have been blown up as well.

The Japanese destroyer finally gave up the pursuit, made a sharp turn with a full left rudder, and retreated.

Of the six destroyers sent out to release the torpedoes, one was sunk and one seriously wounded, the Japanese destroyer gave up the senseless casualties and stayed behind, searching for survivors while waiting for their own battleships and cruisers to catch up.

……

The Ming fleet also stopped shelling, lowered the barrels, and continued to break away at high speed.

And at this time, two waves of torpedoes fired by Japanese destroyers also arrived. However, because it was "chasing" from behind, the relative speed was very slow. In addition, the Ming ships were all stern in the direction of the torpedo, and the attack surface was very narrow, so it was easy to avoid it.

By this time it was already beginning to dawn. In the east, the belly of the fish is white, and the visibility at sea is greatly improved. The Japanese fleet would not necessarily catch up again. Even if it catches up, the Zhengde's 15-inch main gun can also give full play to the range advantage.

The officers on the bridge of the Zhengde breathed a sigh of relief at this time, looked at each other, and smiled bitterly.

After a night battle and heavy casualties, the Zhengde detachment finally broke free from the encirclement of the Japanese fleet, was able to break through the Sea of Japan, and returned home.

On the other hand, the casualties of the Ming fleet were not without value. First of all, the Japanese fleet was also severely damaged, the Fuso was seriously damaged, Mogami was seriously damaged, and the Myoko and Nagara were slightly damaged, sinking three Japanese destroyers. - Of course, the mysterious Ming submarine played a big role in the naval battle. The seriously injured Fusang is mostly due to its credit.

Secondly, the first naval battle against the Japanese army also tested the combat effectiveness of the Ming Navy. Now it seems that the performance of the Ming Navy in actual combat is still worthy of the title of "traditional naval power".

The Zhengde detachment pulled full speed and quickly disappeared into the north of the Japanese fleet, and the Moxie submarine also took advantage of the opportunity of the Fuso detachment to pursue the north, surfaced and ran south. It is also tasked with disrupting the lines of communication between Japan and Russia, and it will continue its mission in the Sea of Japan. Then, according to the follow-up order, it will be decided whether to go to the Pacific Ocean or not.

……

The captain of the Zhengde sat on the bridge, smoking a cigarette wearily.

"By the way," he said suddenly, "won't you have to pass through Hakodate when you go through the Tsugaru Strait later?" ”

The second officer nodded:

"yes. Hakodate is also Japan's largest port city in the Tsugaru Strait. ”

The captain took a hard puff of his cigarette and said:

"No, we can't just leave. Let's shell Hakodate to go! …… Later, let the destroyers watch the wind at the mouth of the strait, and we and the Li Guang stopped at the sea of Hakodate and smashed the harbor again. ”

With that, he threw the butt of his cigarette on the ground, smashed it with his foot, and strode over to the chart table to study it.

In the bridge command room, several officers looked at each other, and their faces showed expressions of pleasure for revenge.