It's cool to look at it without ads!

m.cOm\ The foreign fleet that received Li Hongzhang's order also left Kaohsiung Port, and their task at this stage was not to join up with the Beiyang Fleet, but to search for the three Russian armored cruisers that were cruising in the open sea, destroy them, or drive them back to Muroran Port. As long as the main forces of the Russian fleet are forced to retreat into the port and cannot get out, then the task of the Beiyang Fleet and the Foreign Ocean Fleet will be quite easy, as long as they can blockade the opponent and make the Russian fleet unable to play their role, as for the storming of Muroran Port, it is not necessary, and it is impossible to hit the Russian Far East Fleet with mine arrays and shore artillery cover, and more importantly, the Beiyang must leave enough strength for the Russians to ensure the suppression of the Japanese Navy. After all, Xu Jie doesn't want Japan to be reunited!

So, under the command of Admiral Lin Taizeng, three King-class battleships and one fast cruiser embarked on their journey. Four warships sailed in a column across the vast western Pacific, led by the first large armored cruiser built in Beiyang, the Fuzhou (well, to be honest, assembled in pieces), and the second two behind were its German brothers, Kaohsiung and Taipei. The same ships of the same type of these three battleships were already in the limelight in the Spanish-American War. The officers and men of the Nanyang Fleet are quite confident in their own quality and the warships in their hands. As for the last warship, the Japanese can recognize it at a glance, this battleship is the Yoshino of the Japanese Navy during the First Sino-Japanese War, and now this battleship, which has been renamed Cathay Pacific by the foreign navy, will serve as the eyes and ears of the entire Nanyang Fleet.

Before leaving, Lin Taizeng and others had a coordination with Xu Jie. Because it was learned that the South Sea Fleet would be involved in the task of escorting transport ships. And in order to prevent the loss of important supplies due to the Russian fleet's break-up operations, for example, the transportation and supplies of the army will be transported by British merchant ships. In line with the principle of being a good man to the end and sending the Buddha home, the British also moved some of the capital ships of the British Far East Fleet to Shanghai. The meaning of this is very clear, my brother's fleet has come, and if the Russian fleet dares to attack the merchant ships flying the flag of the British Empire again, it will be a slap in the face. At one's own risk! Although I don't know if this kind of intimidation will work against the Russians. Although I don't know if the British will really meet the swords of the Russian fleet once the road is really fought, it is better than nothing. And in order to diversify the risk. Beiyang decided to transport part of the supplies and troops through canals and offshore transportation. No matter how ruthless the Russian Far East Fleet is, it will not dare to run to the near sea, right? Let's not talk about the sea conditions, let's just say that such a long distance is enough to consume the Russian fleet. In case of encountering the Beiyang Fleet, which is encircled. That's the end of it. Therefore, because of the above reasons, Lin Taizeng's foreign fleet could go farther and block the Russian fleet near the edge of the East China Sea.

Of course, the ocean-going fleet is definitely not looking for 3 Russian armored cruisers on the sea. Long before the official declaration of war in the Beiyang, the Beiyang camouflage reconnaissance ships flying various national flags had already spread out in the vast western Pacific Ocean, and they did not enter the war zone demarcated by the Russians, let alone go to the coast of Japan stupidly, they just wandered in the sea, and then looked for the Russian warships. Intelligence is then transmitted by radio. And now, with a piece of intelligence, a Russian armored cruiser of the Sea of Azov is heading in the direction of Okinawa. Therefore, the elite of the entire foreign fleet decided to speed up the pursuit, and the maximum speed of a warship and the speed that can be achieved in peacetime are completely two concepts, and the speed of the trial run is limited by the condition of the ship and the fuel carried by the ship in actual combat. The Azov-type battleship, which has been fighting in the ocean for more than 20 days in a row, will not be very good in terms of ship condition and fuel. In this case, Lin Tai had sufficient confidence to catch up with the other party near Okinawa.

And at this time. The Russian armored cruiser Turquoise had no idea of its situation, and they did not know that a powerful fleet was coming towards them. Although he had already learned by telegram about the entry of Beiyang into the war, although Makanov had ordered all fleets to shrink. (Note, it was the concentration of the fleet, not the retreat) in which the command given to the ocean-going breaking fleet was concentrated near Okinawa, and then resupplyed. Waiting for an opportunity to enter the East China Sea. In order to give the main fleet a reasonable avant-garde as a reconnaissance force, Makanov transferred the Rurik from the Broken Fleet. With another armored cruiser of the Sea of Azov type as a reconnaissance force of the fleet. As a result, Essen's fleet had only 3 ships to cruise. Only one of them can be used for fleet warfare.

After receiving Makanov's order, the armored cruiser Turquoise rushed to the area of the scheduled assembly and did not find the battleships that had come to rendezvous. It turned out that the Russian and Bayan were a little bolder and had already penetrated deep into the East China Sea. And after receiving the order, the two armored cruisers were a little far from the assembly point, so it took time to rush over. In this way, only the Turquoise was waiting to be resupplied near Okinawa. Coupled with the fact that the French supply ships had not yet arrived, this directly caused the mobility of the Russian fleet to be greatly limited.

In this way, when the clock of history came to 7 o'clock in the morning of April 28, 1899, the first collision between the Beiyang and the Russian Far East Fleet finally began.

"It's an old friend, we fought him four years ago, but we didn't destroy it at the time. But today, we will make up for the regrets of the past! Raise the flag and get ready for battle! Lin Taizeng said excitedly.

"Captain, we can't run away." The first mate of the Turquoise said in fear.

"Immediately evacuate to the southeast direction, send a telegram to Admiral Essen, saying that the foreign fleet has reached the vicinity of Okinawa, the original supply plan cannot be carried out, and our fleet has led the other side to the southeast, I wish Admiral Essen good luck." The captain of the Turquoise was very calm, and he said after looking at a King-class armored cruiser and a protective cruiser that had separated in the distance.

"Let the Taipei and Cathay Pacific pick up that trash fish, we need to see if there is any other prey nearby." Lin Tai once looked at the Russian ship that was fleeing at a speed of 14 knots in the distance and said. He received 2 days ago that the Turquoise was heading for Okinawa, but by now, the ship is still here! There are only two possibilities, the first possibility is that the other party is out of fuel and waiting for supplies. Another possibility is to wait for other Russian warships, or the Turquoise is here for both! Besieging the other side with an entire fleet is a bit of a fuss. He needed to have some troops in place to deal with the other Russian ships.

Four ships together are actually the same as two ships. The Taipei and Cathay Pacific under the command of Cheng Biguang launched a pursuit at a speed of 19 knots, and the distance between the two sides is slowly getting closer with the change of time, and the distance between the two sides will be shortened by about 7km per hour, that is to say, at most an hour and a half, the two sides will be able to communicate directly with naval guns!

Knowing that it couldn't dodge, the Turquoise resigned itself to its footsteps, and then began to turn, lighting up the side chords equipped with powerful rapid-fire guns. The dark muzzles shimmered in the sunlight, but in the face of the King-type armored cruiser Taipei, the 8-inch and 6-inch guns on the Turquoise were just tickling.

Faced with the challenge of the Russians, Cheng Biguang ordered the fleet to turn around and line up with the Russian battleships in two battle lines in the same direction. 4 powerful 11-inch 40L Krupp guns slowly rotated and aimed at the lone Russian cruiser in the distance, and the distance between the two sides kept approaching, 8000 meters, 6000 meters, 5500 meters! When the data calculated by the rangefinder is transmitted to the gun position, the gunner then uses a telescopic sight to refer to the gun table to aim at the Turquoise in the distance, and then fires the gun!

"Boom" was accompanied by a thunderclap-like loud sound, and the first of the Taipei was instantly enveloped by a rising fireball, and four 11-inch shells flew at a speed of more than 700 meters per second towards the Russian battleship 5,500 meters away. High-velocity shells rubbed against the air and made a screeching sound. In an instant, it resounded throughout the battlefield. Like a magic sound, it flew towards the Russians with cannonballs. A few seconds later, the turquoise was surrounded by a column of water.

The rangefinder then re-ranged by calculating the distance of the water column from the enemy ship. Then the modified distance and course data are re-transmitted to the gun position, and then the gun commander calculates the shooting elements for the next round of comparison. This set of artillery principles proposed by Xu Jie is very close to the fire control principle of the dreadnought period, but the current ranging and direction finding are still relatively primitive, and the calculation task is handed over to the gun commander at the turret to solve instead of using a special console to solve. And now the artillery technology adopted by Beiyang does not have a special solution department, after all, the current range is not very far, and systems similar to Drake and Lompo have not yet been made, as long as it is enough, there is no need to engage in those flashy things!

Although this system is not as obvious as a warship, the revolutionary change in naval warfare brought about by it will be no less than the birth of the Garibaldi series of cruises. Today, the Ocean Fleet will use a new gunpowder concept and fire control system to swear the strength of the Chinese Navy. And the Turquoise will be a test piece for this historic moment!

The operation of this system has been smooth after many exercises. After just 3 rounds of salvo, an 11-inch shell accurately hit the fleeing Turquoise at a distance of 4,500 meters, and the 11-inch shell landed in the middle of the turquoise's hull, and after a violent explosion, two 6 guns were blown away, and a bright yellow flame began to spread on the hull!

Thanks to the light reward of Shuyoushan, as well as the monthly ticket support of Dramekyo and Olio, and the evaluation vote of Shuyou WBP. In other words, the subscription in the past few days is very sad, only 400. How does this make the author embarrassed——! Your support is my biggest motivation. m

The latest and fastest chapters, please log in, reading is a pleasure, it is recommended that you collect it.

For more full txt novels, please download here