On the bridge of the Mercury Memorial, Eberhardt watched the sea with a telescope, expressing cautious optimism about the current state of affairs compared to the confident Garanin, or rather satisfied with the previous performance of the Ruthless and Fury.

While the Ruthless and Furious have a great technical advantage over their opponents, war has never been a stunt thing. It's not that you can firmly grasp the victory if you have advanced weapons, just like football, upsets and accidents are everywhere, similar to Guan Gong's careless defeat of Jingzhou and Maicheng.

Moreover, it must be known that after a year of blind tossing and turning in 1917, the combat readiness and military training of the Black Sea Fleet fell into a low point. In this case, the bold attacks of the Ruthless and the Furious are actually extremely risky, and the slightest misstep will make a completely different difference.

Now, the Ruthless and the Furious have almost successfully completed the task assigned to them by Eberhardt, defeating the opponent's vanguard, disrupting the opponent's formation, and stirring the opponent's formation into a pot of porridge, which can be said to greatly reduce the pressure of the next battle.

"Signal the Ruthless to get them out of the fray!"

Completely different from Garanin's imagination, the Ruthless and the Furious did not intend to retreat on their own initiative. For them, who are killing and rising, Galanin's fleet is simply a group of chickens and dogs, and it is the time to make achievements with hot iron, how can they retreat?

The captains of the Ruthless and the Fury were quite disagreeable about the order to withdraw from the battlefield, and if it weren't for Alberhardt's repeated insistence that they had to carry out the order, they really wouldn't want to leave.

Of course. It wasn't just the captains of the Ruthless and the Fury who had a problem with Eberhardt's order. The commissar of the Mercury Memorial also complained about this. However, his starting point was not to fight bravely, but out of a concern:

"Comrade Director, isn't it too dangerous to let the Ruthless and the Fury withdraw from the battlefield, after they leave, we will be left alone, and the enemy's destroyers may outflank us at any moment to launch lightning strikes! It's quite dangerous! ”

Does Eberhardt understand this? I must understand, he is an old navy, although the two remaining Lieutenant Shestakov and Lieutenant Colonel Saken on the other side are a bit old Zhong Longtai, and the speed is still faster than the Mercury Memorial after all. When the Mercury Memorial is stuck head-on by the Ascade, the two destroyers can strike from the side.

Everyone knows the power of torpedoes, and when World War I broke out, German submarines taught British armored cruisers a lesson, and within 75 minutes, the U9 sank three 10,000-ton armored cruisers, the Crécy, the Abukir and the Hogg. For an old cruiser, one torpedo would have disabled it, and two would have completely destroyed it.

And for the Mercury Memorial that is temporarily fighting alone, whether it is paralyzed or finished after being thundered, the meaning is almost the same. If you don't want to die, it's better to put the enemy's ships capable of lightning strikes. For example, the faster the destroyer, the farther the better.

And Eberhardt actually "weirdly" ordered the destroyer to flash first, which is tantamount to opening the door to self-defeating martial arts. That's why the commissars will object. However, Eberhardt insisted on his opinion, as if there was some special purpose, and as the commander of the formation, he had the right to do so.

With the Ruthless and the Fury temporarily withdrawn from the battlefield, there was no longer any obstacle between the Mercury Memorial and the Ascade, and the two protective cruisers with almost identical technical performance collided head-on.

At a distance of eight thousand meters, Galanin, who couldn't wait, first gave the order to open fire, "For the sake of Russia, kill all the Bolshevik rebels, I order, fire!" ”

However, the Askod's bombardment was not at all as impassioned as Gallanin had said, because the Askder had been busy accelerating, and the Askard had almost rushed in the direction of the Mercury Memorial with its bow, because the angle of fire was very limited. After Galanin gave the order to fire, apart from the main gun in the bow and a 152-mm gun in the lower gun frame on the starboard deck, it was not spectacular.

Not only was there no momentum, but even the results were not ideal, because of the hasty firing of the cannonballs, the shells were more outrageous, and they all hit the sea in front of the Mercury Memorial, and they were not even next to the Mercury Memorial.

Looking at the rising water column, Eberhardt asked very calmly: "Gun officer, distance?" ”

"40 chains (about 7400 meters). Need to fight back? Sir? ”

Alberhardt smiled lightly, "No need! ”

Dissatisfied with the first round of shelling, Garanin urged the gunners to re-range, and on the other ordered a turn, ready to expose the entire starboard side in order to exert all his firepower.

"The enemy is turning!" The commissar reminded in a whisper.

"See!" Eberhardt put down his binoculars and let out a lighthearted laugh.

The commissar reminded again: "Are we also turning? ”

The meaning of the political commissar is very clear, the other party obviously wants to use his firepower to sweep them, if he is stupid and continues to move forward straight, very passive, it is better to simply turn around, and everyone will fight with a cannon skill in a dignified manner.

However, Eberhardt didn't mean that, he shook his head slightly, "Keep course, accelerate to 18 knots!" ”

In the opinion of the political commissar, the current distance is just right, and at a distance of about seven kilometers, the power of the 6-inch gun can just be exerted, and it can advance or retreat, and it is good to retreat if there is danger. If you continue to advance, as the combat distance is shortened, the hit rate of the artillery will be greatly improved, and at that time, if there is an accident, it is difficult to escape, and the other side is too strong no matter what it says, and the risk of being entangled is too great!

Once again, Alberhardt rejected the commissar's kind reminder, and the Mercury Memorial continued to speed forward. Undoubtedly, this was very much to Garanin's appetite, he had always been worried about Eberhardt's escape, and now the other party told him with practical actions that he had no intention of escaping, which made him greatly relieved.

Moreover, with the completion of the rudder of the Askede, the entire starboard side is aligned with the bow of the Mercury Memorial, which can perfectly exert the sideboard firepower, which is a big advantage.

Faced with this situation. Once again, Garanin strengthened his confidence. He said triumphantly, "Layman! Our enemy is an out-and-out layman! He said. He also shook his head contemptuously: "Only those laymen who don't understand naval warfare will stupidly face the artillery fire and advance, gun officer, fire, hit hard, let me see your performance!" ”

A cloud of smoke rose from Ascade's starboard side, and eight 152-mm guns finally completed a perfect salvo, and the shells whizzed over a distance of 7 kilometers and plunged headlong into the sea around the Mercury Memorial.

The soaring water column rises at least 30 meters high. Splashes of spray and shrenchel crackled the hull of the Mercury Memorial. It was a beautiful straddle, and although it didn't hit the Mercury Memorial directly, it was undoubtedly not far off.

"Good, keep it up!"

For the first time, Kalanin was also satisfied, and the first salvo formed a straddle, which was a very good sign for him, and if it continued, it would only be a matter of time before he hit the Mercury Memorial.

On the other side, on the Mercury Memorial, the commissar's face was a little ugly. The opponent's artillery skills are really good, and the first salvo can form a straddle shot. Although there is a certain element of luck, you can do without anything in naval battles, but you can't do without luck, and character determines everything.

"Do we turn or not!" The commissar asked again.

In fact, this is also the standard practice in naval warfare in the face of straddle fire, the so-called straddle fire refers to the rain of bullets that did not hit directly, but covered the perimeter of the ship. For the attacking side, this means that there are not too many problems with ranging and aiming, and there is no need to make too many adjustments, and it can go directly to the potency shot.

For the attacked side, the situation is not optimistic, being straddled means that you have a good character and escaped, but you need to start maneuvering immediately, preferably accelerating or changing course. Otherwise, the next time someone shoots a salvo, it's not just a straddle shot.

Eberhardt pondered for a moment, although he wanted to continue to quickly cut forward to shorten the distance, but this did not mean that he wanted to be shelled, "Right rudder 5, full speed ahead!" ”

To tell the truth, the commissar felt that it was better to turn the rudder to the left at this time, and to turn the rudder to the left could offset the advantage of a part of the enemy in occupying the T-head, which would help the ship to gain a shooting advantage instead. Turning the rudder to the right is to drive in the direction of the enemy, and to put it mildly, this attitude is still to be beaten. Obviously, you can transform your disadvantages, so why not do it?

However, this time he didn't wait for the commissar to ask, but Alberhardt preemptively asked: "How long will it take for the Ruthless and Fury to reload their torpedoes?" ”

This question is not very easy to answer, more often the destroyer completes the lightning strike operation is a hammer deal, and it is good to have a chance to fire a salvo, and considering the high winds and waves at sea, it is not particularly convenient to reload the torpedo, and the time it usually takes is relatively long, half an hour to an hour is not unusual.

Anyway, the commissar didn't expect the Rage and Ruthless to launch a second lightning strike right away, which was a bit unrealistic, but since Alberhardt asked, he had to answer: "The preliminary estimate is that it will take about half an hour......

Eberhardt looked at his watch, then nodded, as if talking to himself, "Then we will have to play with Galanin for half an hour......"

The commissar's eyes widened, and he understood that Eberhardt seemed to be intending to have the Ruthless and Fury torpedo the problem, which was quite advanced and bizarre in this day and age, to tell the truth.

In 1918, although the destroyer was no longer as it was when she was first born, it existed in the Navy only as a large torpedo boat. But no orthodox naval commander felt that destroyers would be the protagonists of naval warfare, and no one would regard them as the core force that would determine victory or defeat. Now, Eberhardt is betting on the destroyer, and he is ready to fight the opponent on the Mercury Memorial to buy time for the destroyer to reload the torpedo.

As an old navy, he has always been taught to use artillery to solve problems, and what can determine the victory or defeat of the sea is who has more guns and whose guns have a large caliber, and as for destroyers and torpedoes, this is the auxiliary force used to disrupt the enemy's formation, and it cannot play a decisive role. And now, Eberhardt is completely going to turn it all upside down, and that's really ......

Anyway, Comrade Political Commissar was already stunned and didn't know what to say. His expression was really real to Eberhardt, and for the traditional old navy, his way of doing it was indeed a bit deviant. But Eberhardt felt that he had done nothing wrong. As an expert in tortomines. There are only two magic weapons that he has won in the Black Sea Fleet over the years: one is to attack and lay mines. The second is to make good use of the new fast destroyers.

In Eberhardt's view, the reason why the Black Sea Fleet was able to control the Black Sea was not entirely dependent on dreadnoughts. Truth be told, those three Queen Maria-class dreadnoughts of the Black Sea Fleet played a very limited role and almost did not change anything. Without these three dreadnoughts, he also fought with the Turkish Navy and the Goeben for more than a year with a bunch of old-fashioned former dreadnoughts. For more than a year, the Black Sea Fleet was just as firmly in control of the Black Sea.

At that time, Eberhardt's most powerful weapon was not a battleship or a cruiser. Rather, it is an inconspicuous ruthless-class destroyer. This "large-tonnage" new type of fast destroyer is the best weapon for controlling sea supremacy in the Black Sea, and it is because they have come out of nowhere, attacking the Turkish fleet everywhere and cutting off the Goeben's coal supply, that they firmly control the initiative.

Now, in Eberhardt's opinion, the Askard is much easier to deal with than the Goburn, and with a speed of more than a dozen knots, the Ruthless and Fury will be able to easily occupy the torpedo firing position. All he and the Mercury Memorial need to do is attract and suppress the Ascade's firepower as much as possible. Take the pressure off the two destroyer sprints.

On the contrary, if the Mercury Memorial and the Ascade are allowed to have a gunnery duel. The results are hard to say. No one can overwhelm anyone, and even if the most reckless victory can be achieved, I am afraid it will be a miserable victory. And Eberhardt didn't want a crushing victory, he wanted a complete victory!

Garanin didn't know what Eberhardt was planning, so after seeing the Mercury Memorial's clumsy response, he slapped his palm and smiled, he felt that this was God sending him food again, and if he missed such a good opportunity, he would be struck by lightning!

"Rapid fire, fast!"

With Galanin's order, the gunners of the Ascade were like doping, frantically reloading and firing rapidly. The rumbling cannons came and went, and for a while, a column of water continued to rise around the Mercury Memorial, and the scene was very spectacular!

Soon, the Mercury Memorial's good fortune ran out, and shortly after the rudder turned, it was hit by a bullet near the bow anchor compartment, and the 152-mm armor-piercing shell effortlessly tore through the hull, piercing several layers of compartments, and then exploding on the other side of the bow. The black billowing smoke was swept up by the sea breeze and slammed into the bridge.

"Damn it!"

The political commissar scolded, it wasn't that he was angry because he was shot and damaged, this little injury was nothing in a naval battle, anyway, the anchor was not an important facility, even if it was completely destroyed, it didn't matter.

What really upset him was that this smoke affected the view of the bridge and interfered with the work of the rangefinder, the accuracy of which would directly affect the effectiveness of the shelling.

"Tell the damage management team to put out the fire for me immediately and let this smoke go away!"

In fact, there was no need for the damage management team to go out, and the waves caused by high-speed navigation were poured directly into the anchor compartment along the damaged hull, and the armor-piercing ammunition charge was relatively small, the damage caused and the fire caused were limited, and the flames and smoke quickly disappeared as the sea water poured in.

Without the danger of fire and the interference of smoke, it stands to reason that Comrade Political Commissar should be happy, but soon he will not be happy again. It was also a matter of seawater pouring in, and as more and more water was in the anchor compartment, the Mercury Memorial inevitably appeared to bury its head.

To put it bluntly, it is top-heavy, and the bow of the ship is plunged into the sea. This state of affairs has a considerable impact on high-speed sailing, even if the maximum speed of the Mercury Memorial is only 23 knots, but with the emergence of the phenomenon of burying the head, the speed immediately drops.

"Damn it!" The commissar cursed again.

In artillery warfare, high speed does not have a particularly significant significance, and even high-speed navigation has an adverse effect on the conduct of artillery warfare. The speed is too fast, which affects the work of fire control equipment. In general, no one will fire at full speed at the same time, it doesn't make sense.

In the early twentieth century, both sides of artillery battles would maintain their speeds at about a dozen knots for artillery battles. High speed is only required when the position is grabbed before the artillery battle or when the situation is not good and ready to run away.

Now, the Mercury Memorial in an unfavorable firing position needs a high speed, not only does it need to get rid of the opponent's accurate shooting at high speed, but it also needs to seize a favorable firing position. The speed of the ship has dropped, which will be very detrimental to his next battle.

However, it is useless for Comrade Political Commissar to scold his mother in this matter, unless he quickly plugs the hole in the anchor cabin and drains the stagnant water in the cabin, the speed will not come back. But to do both, it takes time.

Alberhardt shook his head, although he was not particularly satisfied with the current distance, he preferred to compress the distance to 25 to 30 chains, in order to save as much distance as possible for the destroyer to sprint, and shorten the time for the Ascade to counterattack and dodge. However, as the speed decreases, if he does not quickly return fire and destroy the effectiveness of the opponent's shot, then I am afraid that the Mercury Memorial will stop before the destroyer returns to the battlefield.

"Full right rudder, adjust the course to 170 degrees, two-thirds of the speed!"

The commissar was in good spirits, and he knew that Eberhardt was ready to start firing back, and that the 170-degree course was just enough to exert the full firepower of the broadside. To tell the truth, he has been waiting for this moment for a long time, and he didn't fight back when he was beaten in the light just now, suffocating him, and even he felt that the old man should have done it a long time ago. (To be continued......)

PS: Bow and thank you to DougLos, Comrade Potato in seconds!