Episode 75 Kill the dark horse halfway

The Japanese ships were accurate in shooting at night, and they did not expect that in the middle of the night, with a little starlight, a pair of eyes could estimate the shooting elements so accurately.

Just approaching a distance of about 6,000 meters, the Zhengde seemed to have been hit hard by a sledgehammer, accompanied by a deafening explosion, everyone's feet were shaken, and they couldn't help but hold on to something next to their hands to stand firmly.

The phone rang immediately, and the first mate immediately grabbed the microphone:

"Bridge, speak."

After a moment, he hung up the phone, looked up and said to the captain:

"Captain, damage management report, the enemy's main gun hit the front of our No. 2 turret, the damage is moderate, you can continue to use it!"

The captain nodded:

"Good."

A 14-inch main gun shell from the Fuso hit the No. 2 turret in the front, which happened to hit the thickest part of the ship's armor. The smoke cleared, leaving only a shallow blackened pit on the front top of the second turret, which seemed to be fine.

"Order," said the captain, turning his head through his binoculars, "to let the destroyer ship fire torpedoes in the direction of the Japanese ships." All turned, new course 160. ”

The bridge communications officer repeated the command aloud into the microphone:

"Order the destroyer fleet and fire torpedoes in the direction of the Japanese ships! Summoned all turns, new course 160! ”

……

The Zhengde detachment began to collectively turn the rudder, from the original straight to the east, to the southeast. This slows down the speed at which the two sides are approaching, keeping a distance, and avoiding premature close-quarters scuffles. In that way, the Ming warships were few and the artillery was few, so they could only be beaten by groups. In addition, this would allow every ship in the fleet to cross and allow all the main guns to fire at the Japanese.

The number of artillery in the Ming fleet was already very bad, and now at least all the main guns must be used, and half of the main guns cannot be aimed behind them.

"Bathing" in the dense artillery fire of the Japanese ships, the Ming fleet completed the turn, and immediately came with a salvo, sending the largest batch of shells over.

While the main guns of both sides were firing at each other, the secondary guns were also firing flares. Now there are more and more flares in the sky over the fleets of both sides, and mutual visibility is already very good. Between the warships, the snow-white water column rises and falls, densely packed. With each round of the main gun, it spat out large balls of flames. The flames tumbled in the black smoke, drifting by and dissipating in the bright magnesium light.

Now, the flagships of both sides have become the object of concentrated bombardment of each other's fleets. Not only because it is a flagship and command ship, but also because the flagships of both sides are the only battleships in the sub-fleet, representing the main combat strength of the fleet. Once the opposing battleship is sunk, then this naval battle is tantamount to victory. And this principle is now more important to the Ming fleet, because the Ming army is at a numerical disadvantage, and it is urgent to "capture the thief and capture the king first" to turn the situation around. Although there were many Japanese ships, as long as the King Kong could be scrapped, then it would not be a problem for the Ming army to pack up three Japanese cruisers with one battleship and one cruiser.

The capital ships of both sides were concentrating their fire on each other's battleships, and the remaining bunch of destroyers did not care. In addition to firing torpedoes and flares at each other, the destroyers of both sides were also "helping" each other, using numerous 5-inch guns to greet each other's capital ships. From time to time, the Zhengde and Fusang would be hit by one shot. But the battleship was so "rough and thick-skinned" that the destroyer's 5-inch guns hit it like an itch.

At this time, two huge water columns rose in front of the Fuso in the distance, and then the third shell fell directly on the Fuso. This is a 15-inch shell for the main gun. Suddenly, the deck of the Fuso was filled with fireworks, and the smoke almost engulfed the back half.

A burst of cheers erupted from the bridge of the Zhengde. The gunners were also overjoyed, watching the eight light bulbs on the fire console turn green again, without a second of delay, and shouted into the microphone:

"Put !!"

The Zhengde shuddered again, and eight huge shells rushed out of the barrels with flames and black smoke and flew towards the Japanese ship.

The Fuso was surrounded by a column of water again. I didn't hit this time. Although it was hit by a 15-inch main gun shell, the Fuso still dragged the billowing smoke at high speed, and did not even change its course. Through binoculars, you can see that on the back deck of the Fuso, Japanese sailors are dragging water pipes and are trained to extinguish fires.

Soon, there was no open flame in the rear of the Fuso, and the black smoke gradually faded. The fireworks cleared, and the Ming army's observers found that the Fusang did not seem to be in serious trouble.

……

Another round of shells flew over the Japanese ships. This time the target was the cruiser Li Guang. More than ten seconds later, Li Guanghao was surrounded by the surrounding water column. At the same time, a large fireball exploded in the middle of the water column. - The fourteen-inch main gun shell of the Fusang hit the Li Guang.

The water columns fell one after another, and Li Guanghao's figure was revealed. The cruiser was already mortally wounded. One of its former main gun turrets had been torn off, leaving only a large crater with smoke billowing out. And the lower part of the turret leads directly to the ammunition depot. The second forward main gun turret next to it also appears to be completely damaged, and the barrel is unusable.

The commander of the Ming fleet held a telescope, stared at the tragic situation of Li Guang in the distance, and ordered in a loud voice:

"Send a signal to Li Guang and tell it to quickly withdraw from the battle!"

Then, he stared at the smoke-emitting turret pit of Li Guanghao, and muttered to himself:

"Hurry up and flood the ammunition depot...... Flood the ammunition depot with water...... Don't ...... big bang"

Fortunately, it should have been Captain Li Guang's timely handling, and the smoke from the large pit on the deck gradually decreased, and there was no explosion.

Suddenly—

The officers on the bridge of the Zhengde all heard the screaming of the air above their heads, and they all looked up at the cabin roof, and an extreme fear rose in their hearts. This sound, that means......

A 14-inch shell hit the conning tower of the Zhengde and exploded under the bridge command room. The relatively weak armor of the conning tower was blasted into a large hole, and billowing smoke and flames emerged from it.

The bridge command room on the upper floor was also completely silent. The glass was shattered, the pipes were staggering, the steel plates of the bulkheads and floors were twisted and deformed, the instruments and chart tables were in shambles, and a few papers were still fluttering in the air and blazing.

The officers in the command room were covered in blood and lay on the ground.

After a long while, the first mate struggled to get up, looked at the surroundings, leaned on the bulkhead to the porthole, slowly wiped the blood on his face, and roughly observed the surrounding battle situation.

He staggered to the microphone, put his mouth on it, and shouted hoarsely:

"Right hand rudder 20 degrees! Heading 200! Keep your distance! …… Order all ships to concentrate their firepower and bombard the Fuso! We must let the Fuso die before us!! ”

A few seconds later, the ship leaned toward its seat and began to turn right.

Now, the course of the Ming fleet is south-southwest, which means that it will gradually distance itself from the Japanese ships. Now the distance between the capital ships of the two sides is about 5000 meters. The frequency of Japanese naval fire was at least twice that of the Ming fleet, and at this distance, the accuracy of the Japanese naval fire was more than 1.5 times that of the Ming fleet. If the distance is shortened, then the accuracy of both sides will be greatly reduced, and it will tend to be leveled. If the distance is closer, then the accuracy of the Ming army's artillery fire will also be greatly improved, and the two sides will tend to be leveled. The Japanese ships had much more artillery, and the Ming army obviously suffered a loss when it was close to the battle. So now the first mate ordered to turn the rudder and began to close the distance.

As soon as the order was given, several military doctors on the ship also carried stretchers and climbed onto the bridge. They carried the officers lying on the ground on stretchers and carried them to the ship's hospital below.

After this blow, the Zhengde suffered serious losses in the command system. Even if a few of the officers on the bridge were only stunned, in that short period of time, the Zhengde - and indeed the entire Ming fleet - would be in a state of leaderlessness.

……

Just when the two sides were fighting 5,000 meters apart, 8 nautical miles to the south, a Ming submarine was rushing to the ground on the sea, dragging the white waves to the north at full speed.

In addition to a dolphin painted on the bridge, there is also a sword mark, on which there are two Chinese characters: Mo Ye.

This is one of the trump cards of the Ming Army's ocean-going submarine forces: the Moxie.

On the bridge of the ace submarine, the ace captain was wearing a raincoat, facing the waves of the sea, his head and face were covered with seawater, but he was still crowded between the four observers, holding the telescope excitedly and looking ahead.

"The battlefield is ahead!" She shouted to the men next to her, "Finally, let's catch up!" It's not easy! Wowhaha! ”

After saying that, she squatted down, put her face in the hatch, and shouted:

"The speed of the other party's course? Hasn't changed, has it? ”

Below a girl shouted:

"Nothing has changed! It's still coming for us! Both sides are traveling at around 20 knots! ”

"Good!" The captain nodded with satisfaction, "In ten minutes, we'll be on the battlefield!" Yes...... It's really rare for our submarines to have the opportunity to enter the battlefield of warships to participate in the battle! ”

The captain was both justified and excited. It's a great opportunity like that. The speed of submarines is too slow, the maximum speed on the surface is only a dozen knots, and the underwater speed is only a few knots, while surface ships move more than a dozen or twenty knots. If a submarine wants to bite a surface ship once, it is more difficult than climbing to the sky. That is, it can only deal with freighters and oil tankers that are equally slow. Hit the warship, it was all a coincidence.

And this time, it happened to be a melee between the warships on both sides, which just gave the submarine an opportunity to sneak into the battlefield and launch a torpedo attack with relative safety. The enemy destroyers were so busy dealing with surface combat that they had no chance to go in search of submarines and release depth charges as if no one was around. Once that happens, it will immediately become a target for nearby enemy ships. And in a chaotic battlefield with loud explosions, both sonar and acoustic detectors have little effect.

The captain was like a pirate leader, with one foot on the railing, and with binoculars in both hands, he greeted the waves of the sea with his head and face, and laughed:

"Onward! Advance! …… They can't be men, watch me kill the Fuso! Wowha......"