30 nautical miles southwest of the Hachinohe Japanese landing site.\\ Major General Essen stood on his flagship and looked into the distance, holding a piece of information he had just received. With a long breath, he said: "They are finally here, ask the Russian and the Vostok, report their location, the attack ship is ready to evacuate, let the Vostok, try to approach the Japanese fleet, and constantly report the direction." ”

"We engage the enemy first, and after dragging the other side, the Russian and Vostok will go into battle again, and we want annihilation rather than defeat." After the telegraph operator left, Makanov turned to a cadre of officers and said. The Prince then began heading towards the preset battlefield 20 nautical miles south of the Hachinohe landing site. According to intelligence, the two Japanese armored cruisers will enter the area in 1 hour, and if everything goes according to the plan, they will fight the Japanese Navy in 1 and a half hours, and at 2 hours, the Russian will appear from the south direction and then flank the Japanese fleet, and the most rear, the Dongfang will completely cut off the back of the Japanese fleet and finally annihilate the enemy!

Essen's idea is very good, and for the realization of this plan, Essen has indeed made a bloody investment. In order to prevent the Japanese Navy from discovering the abnormality, Essen did not tell all the attacking fleets about the possible arrival of the Japanese fleet, so that a surprise attack ship was blocked by the Japanese patrol that suddenly arrived! A 4,000-ton auxiliary cruiser was smashed by the Japanese Navy's 8-inch guns, and none of the 340 crew members on board survived! Essen is not afraid of losses, as long as this loss can be exchanged for enough returns!

At the same time, after smashing a 4,000-ton auxiliary cruiser to pieces, the tense nerves of Mayuki Akiyama and Hikonoki Uemura finally relaxed a little. Judging by the engagement, the Russians were unprepared for the arrival of the Japanese navy, and it can be seen from the hasty counterattack of the other side that they had too easy a life in this sea area, dealing with some ships that had no ability to resist all day long, so that they seemed panicked when a strong enemy arrived!

Overall, Akiyama was quite satisfied with the sortie, except for a French warship on the way here. This French ship, Akiyama Chirachi, is the 6,000-ton armored cruiser Potuhuau, a light armored cruiser that France transferred from mainland China to the Far East. The firepower is average, but the speed is fast. The battleship flying the French flag passed proudly in Japan's territorial waters, and did not fire a cannon salute after seeing the lieutenant general's flag on his ship, knowing that the two warships met at sea. The side with a lower rank should salute the side with a higher rank. Then the other party returned the salute. As a result, the Japanese even prepared the artillery for the salute, and the French left as soon as they slipped away, do you say that the angry people are not angry?

"A weak country has no diplomacy. Since the defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War, all countries have been able to act recklessly in the Sea of Japan, and it is a shame that the once powerful Japanese Combined Fleet has not even been able to protect its own territorial waters. A staff officer next to him said depressedly while remembering the once powerful Japanese fleet.

"One day, the Japanese Navy will become the master of the Western Taiping. Definitely. The other officer glared at the staff officer fiercely and said through gritted teeth.

"Let's do what is in front of us, we need to open a way for the timid convoy. Now, we need to get rid of some of the forces that are holding us back! Akiyama said dissatisfied. This gunpowder dispute was stopped!

According to the plan, the Japanese fleet began to clear the "suspicious ships" around Hachinohe. "All the ships that appeared nearby were hunted down by two 8,500-ton behemoths. Everything went so smoothly until a huge figure appeared at the meeting of the sea and the sky! The towering mast, the superstructure like an iron fortress, and the inward-tilted side all indicate its identity, the battleship Prince. The most powerful battleship of the Russian Navy!

Although there are still traces of the last great war on the side chords of this battleship, bullet marks on heavy armor, damage and ablation marks on the superstructure abound, but its strength is still undeniable! Its well-equipped turret, main gun and thick armor all show its power. Two 12-inch guns and one 274-inch gun on one side were slowly aimed at the Kasuga. This sense of coercion made many Japanese sailors who participated in the war for the first time feel great pressure, and the choice of war or escape was placed in front of Akiyama Shinyuki!

"With only 8-inch guns, we can't destroy a steel behemoth of more than 10,000 tons. The 10-inch guns and 11-inch guns of the Beiyang Fleet did not keep it, and we definitely can't. A voice sounded in Akiyama's head.

"Afraid of what? The Prince had already suffered heavy losses in the battle with Beiyang, and now the ship was in extremely poor condition in a hurry, which was our chance to be ashamed. How can you back down? What is the use of a fleet that cannot gallop on the seas? Another voice hurriedly objected. At this time, Akiyama's mind was extremely chaotic, like two people constantly arguing in their own brains. So much so that Akiyama thinks he has schizophrenia!

"General. General Uemura sent a signal asking us whether we would fight or withdraw? At this time, an officer pointed to a signal flag in the distance.

"Do you have the determination to win?" Looking at the Hyuga in the distance, Akiyama looked around at the officers. Most of the officers around him had a look of fear on their faces, which made Akiyama very unhappy, in his philosophy, the spirit of the navy and equipment are equally important, just like when the Beiyang dared to challenge the five warships of the Japanese Navy with three warships in the naval battle off Izu, in the battle off the coast of Gunsan Bay, the Beiyang Fleet dared to fight a decisive battle with the main force of the Japanese fleet that had the advantage, and this time, the junior named Sa Zhenbing actually braved the attack of two Russian cruisers to complete the reconnaissance mission, which was all under extreme adversity conditions, A typical example of winning victory with indomitable will and strong fighting consciousness, if a fleet does not even have the most basic fighting spirit, then even if it has excellent warships, it will not have any combat effectiveness!

"I can't leave behind a fearful officer corps, and before I leave the Navy, I have to give my successors the courage to challenge." Akiyama Shinyuki silently made up his mind, deep down he had no hope of winning this battle, this battleship alone had already made it difficult for the two patrols to deal with, and he could only fight them away at most, but he still finally decided to fight, not only to prevaricate the blame of the government and the people, but also to let his subordinates undergo a baptism of blood, at least to let them understand what a real naval battle is! After the First Sino-Japanese War, the Japanese Navy was almost completely wiped out, and the new recruits were all graduates of Haida, and they had not experienced real battles, so Akiyama had to let them experience it once!

"General, they decided to go to war with us." Looking at the Japanese fleet approaching in the distance, a Russian officer said.

"Very good, I didn't expect that after the Qing-Japanese War, the Japanese fleet still had the courage to fight, not bad, not bad." Essen nodded in satisfaction, as if praising his opponent. "Tell the Russian and the Vostok that our prey has been delivered to the door on its own, and we have to treat them well!"

In the face of the two Japanese armored cruisers that were menacing, the Prince did not have a trace of fear, the two sides approached quickly at a relative speed of more than 30 knots, the distance was rapidly approaching, and soon, the distance between the two sides was reduced to about 5000 meters, and at this distance, the Japanese first launched an attack, the eight 8-inch guns on the two armored cruisers took the lead in spewing out tongues of fire, orange flames erupted from the muzzles, and the roar of the giant cannons once again resounded throughout the western Pacific!

After the Japanese preemptively attacked, the Prince also used its own main guns and secondary guns to return fire, in order to ensure the hit rate, but also in order to allow enough secondary guns on the Prince to exert their combat power, Essen ordered the battleship to approach quickly, because he knew that at the middle distance, the projection of 8 8-inch guns was much higher than his own, and only when they were close, the projection of the two sides could tend to be closer, and the closer distance allowed their 12-inch guns to have a chance to penetrate the opponent's armor! As for protection, since the Prince can resist the German-made 11-inch 40L guns and the British-made 10-inch 40L main guns in Beiyang, then the British 8-inch guns naturally have no problem.

Both sides want to completely suppress each other by projection at close range, and the armor protection of both sides is quite comprehensive, most of the armor of the Prince can be immune to the attack of 8-inch shells, and the Japanese armored cruisers are also immune to the attack of 6.4-inch and 5.5-inch guns, so that both sides have invariably given up armor-piercing shells and used high-explosive shells, (the Russians use high-explosive shells except for the main guns) For a time, the sea was covered by a rain of bullets. Balls of flames erupted from the muzzle of the cannon, and the battle began to heat up!

High-explosive shells continued to explode on the hulls of both sides, and clusters of bright yellow flames joined together on the deck, crackling the teak planks. Except for the gunners who operated the machine guns, no one dared to operate in the open air, and the flying shrapnel and flames turned the outside into a real hell! All the personnel were mobilized, even the cooks and orderlies were grouped to stand by the gun emplacements to take over the wounded and tired comrades. 45kg of 6-inch shells and more than 10 kg of medicine bags were lifted from the loafers, and then carried to the gun position by manpower, opened the hot gun latch, and then filled the shells and firing waist bags, locked, aimed, and fired! And so on until you are replaced or die in battle.

Capture the thief and capture the king first! The Prince focused its main firepower on the Kasuga, which was flying the commander's flag, and the dense rain of bullets soon enveloped the opponent, while the unnoticed Hyuga accurately supported the flagship, with shells from four 8-inch guns and four 6-inch guns constantly exploding on the stern of the Prince. Blazing flames and smoke enveloped the entire aft deck. The unfavorable situation of the Prince had to split part of the artillery to attack the Hyuga, and the Kasuga, which had a sharp decrease in pressure, also attacked the Prince with accurate counterattacks, and in the arson battle with a close range of projections, the Prince still suffered some losses.

If the situation continued like this, then the result should have been that the Prince was finally forced to evacuate, but soon, a 12-inch shell hit changed the course of the battle!

Thank you for the reward of the book friend Patriot 55, as well as the monthly ticket support of the book friend My Heart is Fan, xhguo~~. The subscription is dismal——!

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