Mikhail. When Vice Admiral Sergeyevich arrived at the battlefield with four battle cruisers, the Kokang was dragging the badly wounded Honorable away from the battlefield. At that time, the rear admiral was stunned and wiped his eyes twice, unable to believe that this was true.

Yes, the Kokang's actions were undoubtedly quite dangerous, the Noble had lost power, and most of the hull was soaked in seawater, and even more dangerous was the hordes of Japanese battle patrols and heavy patrols a few kilometers behind them, which once caught up, there was only a dead end!

Anyway, everyone on the battlefield at that time felt that Yurisic had made a stupid decision, not only could he not save the Honorable, but he wanted to take the Kokang into it. But Urisic doesn't think it's that dangerous, and he thinks it's worth the risk.

"From the first day I entered the military academy, I was told that I should fight side by side with my comrades, and that I must never give up on every comrade-in-arms in danger. There were more than a hundred commanders and fighters of the Red Navy on board the Honorable, how could I slip away alone and watch them being devoured by the Japanese devil. My conscience and conscience tell me that saving lives comes first! ”

In fact, the Honorable was shocked by the behavior of both Uurisic and the Kokang, and neither Burkic expected that Urisic would approach and drag them along. When he reacted, he was moved and flatly refused Yurisic's request, when the captain stood in front of the blown up bow and shouted at Yurisic on the side of the Kokang more than ten meters away: "Are you crazy Vasily (Yurisic's name), hurry up, leave immediately." The sooner the better! Get out of here. You lunatic! ”

Burkić was in tears when he shouted this. It was clear that he was also moved by Yurisic's feat, but as a soldier he also knew one thing - he must not put his comrades in extreme danger for the sake of his own safety. So at the end he roared loudly at the top of his throat: "Vasily, get out, get out of here!" We don't need you! ”

It's just that Burkic completely underestimated Urisic's determination and will, and he was completely unmoved by Burkic's shouts, personally steering the Noble to move closer, and threw the towing steel cable over regardless of the three-seven-twenty-one.

"Nikolai, stop talking nonsense. Hurry up and tie up the steel cable, Lao Tzu will definitely not leave. Today, either let's get out of danger together, or go to the sea together to feed the fish, you choose one! ”

At Urisic's insistence, Burkic relented, and after tying the cable tightly, the Kokang dragged the Noble on the way. At that time, the situation was really quite dangerous, the shells from the Japanese battle patrol and heavy patrol kept falling around the two ships, and the distance was getting closer and closer, and the honor and Kokang were constantly being hit at that time. However, the officers and men of the two ships did not give up or give in, and they continued to fire back with their guns.

The "strange" behavior of these two destroyers also greatly impressed the Japanese. Kurita Keno sighed with emotion: "Beautiful animals also have warriors!" ”

Of course, Kurita Keno sighed and sighed that he would never be polite when he should be ruthless, and he personally ordered: "Complete the feat of American animals as soon as possible, and surpass them with the strongest blow of the Great Japanese Navy!" ”

The heavy artillery fire instantly overwhelmed two destroyers, and even broke a towed steel cable at one point. However, the Kokang and the Noble did not give in, even if they could only move forward step by step, they continued to retreat towards their own battle patrols, this was their only hope of survival!

Gorshkov, who witnessed all this, was also moved, he ordered his cruisers to cover the Kokang and the Noble as much as possible, and was ready to order the ships to turn around, but Yurisic and Burkich flatly rejected the offer on the radio, and they refused to risk the cruiser!

Mikhail. Sergeyevich immediately regained consciousness after a brief moment of consternation, and he ordered the four battle cruisers to increase their speed as much as possible and to go "as fast as flying" to relieve the destroyer.

At the same time, the Kongo and Hiei, led by Mikawa Gunichi, also discovered the four battle cruisers of the Red Navy, but the Japanese muttered a little, because from the body, the opponent was definitely the capital ship, and it was very likely to be a battleship. However, Mikawa Junichi, who had studied all the capital ships of the U.S. Navy in detail before the war, was completely unable to connect these four big guys with known U.S. battleships.

"It's not like North Carolina, it's not like South Dakota, it's the latest battleship that the United States has just built?"

Anyway, at that time, the Mikawa Army attracted great attention, and these four capital ships that could soar to about 30 knots were definitely not easy to deal with, and he only had two old Kongo-class and Kondo Nobutake's Atago and Chokai in his hands, and the only good news was that Kurita Keno and Takagi Takeo also followed with four other heavy cruisers, and he still had a bit of an advantage in numbers.

As soon as the Mikawa Army was determined to give full play to its advantages in long-range warfare, the Japanese Navy conducted high-intensity long-distance artillery training before the war, and its hit rate in long-range artillery bombardment once ranked first in the world. He thought he had to take out one or two enemy battleships from a distance, and then the battle would be easy to fight.

Of course, Mikawa Junichi did not forget his housekeeping skills: "When can the heavy cruiser start lightning strikes?" ”

"Chief Kondo Nobutake said that he was taking up positions and would soon be able to fire torpedoes," the chief of staff replied loudly, "but Chief Kurita Keno and Chief Takagi Takeo replied that the torpedoes were exhausted and could not be attacked. ”

This result made Mikawa Junichi very dissatisfied, only the Atago and Torikai could launch torpedoes, what was this torpedo enough for? He couldn't help but complain a little that Kurita Keno and Takagi Takeo had wasted too many torpedoes, and even complained that his destroyer was too ineffective, and was blown up by several cruisers of his opponent.

However, the matter has come to this point, and Mikawa Junichi has no choice but to order: "Once the ships have identified the target and aimed accurately, they can open fire!" ”

At that time Mikhail. Sergeyevich's four battle cruisers were about fifteen kilometers away from the King Kong and Atago. It should be said that this distance is very close, at least for the battleship-class capital ships, this distance is enough for their main guns to exert their full power.

Let's put it this way, the four battle cruisers of the Red Navy at that time, after three modernizations, all had four twin 305 mm guns (two knapsack turrets in the stern and bow) with the main armor of about 305 mm. The maximum speed can reach 30 knots. And the King Kong was also modernized. But the extent of the transformation was not as large as that of the Red Navy's battle patrols. The main thing is to lengthen the hull, replace the engine and increase the anti-aircraft firepower, but the defense level of the King Kong class is basically still in the World War I period, and the main armor is still maintained at the level of 203 mm, but the horizontal armor has thickened significantly.

Of course, judging from the firepower of both sides, at the level of fifteen kilometers, everyone can penetrate each other's armor, so the key to victory or defeat is who can get the hit faster.

The King Kong fired first. The salvo of 8 356-mm guns was so dazzling in this night, but the blow was thunderous and rainy. Sergeyevich's words: "The deviation is so great that there is no threat to the ship!" ”

The Japanese, however, did not think so, and were somewhat proud of their preemptive attack, and after a few simple corrections, a second salvo was soon fired. But this time it was still not ideal, it was still too far away, and just when the devil's gunner was sweating profusely and reloading the shells to launch the third blow, Mikhail . Sergeyevich finally broke the silence. Ordered to return fire.

The Red Navy's battle cruiser main guns were of slightly smaller caliber (305 mm B36 guns), but their power was still good. The 471-kilogram armor-piercing bullet was enough to tear through the armor of the King Kong. And with a fire control radar, they are more likely to hit the target. However, tonight, the luck of both sides was not good, and most of the first volley of the flagship Red Samara (Hindenburg) missed closely, but did not touch the enemy in the slightest, and the Red Kharkov (Dwringer) in the back also went adrift. The third Red Caucasus (Setritz) was a little luckier, as she aimed at the Atago Heavy Cruiser, when the captain mistook the Atago for a battleship and did not follow the friendly ships in front of her to attack the enemy's cruiser. As for the Red Orenburg (Moltke), which fell behind, it was still on the way to turn at this time and did not participate in the attack.

When the Red Navy's battle patrol entered the battlefield and began to fight, Gorshkov was also thinking nervously. He was ready to make a decision, at this time the Tallinn had been heavily damaged, basically incapacitated, and the Baku that retreated with it was not much different, so it was probably unrealistic to let the two heavy cruisers continue to fight.

But Gorshkov was not willing to leave the battle like this, he still had the idea of making meritorious contributions, and he didn't want to just watch the white play. So after some thought, he ordered the staff officers to board the transport boat with him and go to the Riga to continue directing the battle.

At first glance, this seems to be nothing, Fletcher didn't also transfer after the Yorktown was heavily damaged, and Nagumo Tadaichi was slow to transfer when the Akagi died and let the staff officers below have a stomach. The problem is that at this time the situation is different, the first two are facing both aviation battles, and there is no problem with the transfer. At this time, Gorshkov was facing a serious traditional naval battle, in which speed and formation were emphasized. Wanting to switch to other armies at this time is likely to disrupt the rhythm of the battle.

However, Gorshkov did this in the end, and in order not to interfere with the battle as much as possible, he did not order the Tallinn to slow down, and it was really dangerous to let go of the transport boat at high speed, but he resolutely insisted on doing so.

He later recalled: "I thought it was the right thing to do, four of our fleet's battlecruisers were firing at the enemy's battleships, and there were still a considerable number of Japanese heavy cruisers on the battlefield. Mikhail. Comrade Sergeyevich probably did not have time to take care of the other cruisers of our fleet on the battlefield, and this required someone to unify the command of our cruisers in order to share the pressure of the battle cruise. ”

Fifteen minutes later, Gorshkov boarded the Riga, and it has to be said that the speed was quite impressive, and the helmsman of the Tallinn transport boat later recalled: "Comrade General ordered me to approach the Riga as fast as I could, and not to slow down even if I was very close to the Riga...... In the end we almost ran headlong into the Riga, and then Comrade General jumped like a leopard on the gangway where the Riga was lowered, and after only five minutes the transport boat sank......"

However, no one cared about the situation of the transport boat at that time, and as soon as Gorshkov rushed into the bridge, he gave unified orders to the Riga, Vilnius, Kronstadt and Murmansk, as well as the destroyers Storm and Unforgettable.

"You're all under my command now, the Storm and the Unforgettable are ready to launch a lightning strike and target the enemy's capital ship to hit me hard! The other cruisers followed the Riga to intercept the enemy cruiser and drive the pack of dog mongrels away! ”

With the four cruisers of the Red Navy reconstituted the finished formation. Keno Kurita, who was originally going to support Mikawa Gunichi and Kondo Nobutake, had to turn to dealing with the harassment of the Red Navy cruisers. The two sides were strangled together. Continue with the first handicap. Intestinal war.

However, the distance between the two sides is too close. This close-quarters grappling is still a continuation of the script of the last time - Bombardment! During the fierce battle, the cruisers on both sides gradually caught fire, but in general the losses of the Japanese ships were greater. Because the Red Navy's small- and medium-caliber naval guns had a faster rate of fire, they could use a rain of bullets to strafe the hull of the Japanese ship above the waterline. After a fierce battle, Kurita could only order his heavy cruiser to retreat temporarily, because the fire was too great and almost all the turrets were destroyed.

Not to joke at all, the Mogami, who struggled to return to Japan, found that the five main gun turrets were riddled with bullet holes when they were docked for maintenance. On average, each turret hits fifty rounds, and most of the turrets become as transparent as a sieve. As for the sailors in the turrets, 85% were killed. As for the bridge being hit by a bomb, it was even more tragic, with hundreds of bullet holes up and down, and the loss of the command tower was armored, and most of the small-caliber ammunition did not penetrate, otherwise Kurita Keno really didn't want to go home.

While the cruisers were fighting each other, the battle between the battleships of the two sides also entered a white heat. As the distance is further reduced, the threat of shells on both sides is multiplied. The first to hit was the Japanese, and the Atago's 203-mm guns finally hit the Red Samara after the thirty-ninth fire. The shells tore a hole in the stern waterline more than a meter long and 60 centimeters wide.

Immediately afterwards, the Torikai also made a hit, but he attacked the Moltke at the end of the Red Navy formation. The shell hit the Moltke's main armor, digging a shallow crater before being shot into the sea.

Compared with the heavy cruisers that took the lead, the Kongo and Hiei were much less lucky, and the main guns bombarded the sky, but there was no rain when the thunder was light, and most of the shells were either far away or close, which made the Mikawa gunichi almost crazy.

Fortunately, with the heavy cruiser piercing the window paper, the Hiei finally got out. In the 22nd salvo, a 356-mm armor-piercing projectile accurately hit the hull of the Red Caucasus, and after tearing through the main armor with little effort, destroyed part of the cabin of the Red Caucasus and caused a fire.

At that time, Mikawa Gunichi jumped up with joy in the bridge, and he really hoped that he would see such a scene next: the hull of the enemy ship spewed flames or huge fireballs, whether it was the explosion of the ammunition depot or the explosion of the engine room, which would seriously damage the enemy. Then, as the enemy gets more and more bullets, it inevitably begins to sink and finally finishes.

It's just that Mikawa Junichi really miscalculated, and he didn't inquire about who the predecessor of the Red Caucasus was, the famous "unsinkable battleship" Setritz. In the Battle of Jutland, 22 rounds of large-caliber ammunition plus a torpedo were hit, and all five main guns were paralyzed, and they all returned to the port at that time, and now a mere 356 mm shell is nothing.

In fact, it was nothing, although the red Caucasus had a cabin flooded, but it was not serious, its combat effectiveness was still there, the four main guns were still firing, and soon the Bieri was still colored.

Only five minutes later, the Red Caucasus returned the Hiei with a 305-mm armor-piercing round, which accurately hit the middle of the Hiei's hull. Compared with the German battle cruiser, the bottom plate of the British battle patrol is much worse, and even the Japanese have not been able to fundamentally solve this problem even if they have transformed the King Kong class. The armor-piercing shell tore through the main armor belt of the Hiei with great ease, and then carried the remaining kinetic energy through several compartments until it reached the vicinity of the engine room before exploding "stubbornly".

The violent explosion immediately reimbursed one of the Hiei's boiler compartments, and incidentally shut down a steam turbine. As the scorching steam erupted violently, the injured area was temporarily "kept out of sight".

This armor-piercing shell instantly slowed down the speed of the Hiei, but this was not the worst thing, and what was worse was to seize this opportunity to seize this opportunity for the Red Caucasian main and secondary guns to make persistent efforts and constantly greet the Hiei with a rain of bullets.

In the third salvo after that, the Red Caucasus hit the front gun of the Hiei again, and although the projectile did not penetrate the shield of the main gun, the huge kinetic energy caused the turret seat to deform and lose its ability to fire. During this period, the 130-mm secondary guns of the Red Caucasus also opened fire one after another, and in just seven minutes 85 rounds of 130-mm shells were hit, almost knocking the superstructure of the Hiei into a sieve!

The main guns of the Red Caucasus were also quite powerful in these seven minutes, firing 75 shells in one breath and hitting five shells, turning the Hiei into a big fire!

Because the fight was so smooth that Lieutenant Colonel Boris, the gunners of the Red Caucasus, miscalculated, believing that the opponent had been destroyed, and ordered to transfer fire to attack the King Kong. It wasn't until five minutes later that two flares were fired to illuminate the sea near the Hiei, and seeing that the battleship could continue firing, that it was again aimed at the ship for a second assault......

With the Hiei badly wounded, Mikawa felt the pressure, and now he had to hurry up and decide whether to continue the fight or run away...... (To be continued.) )

PS: Let's talk about one thing first, because the old man in the family is going to be hospitalized for surgery, and the update time may be more disordered in the next half a month, but I try to ensure that the update is normal. If the update is not timely or interrupted, then we can only ask for your understanding. Thank you.

Bow and thank you to cjsky, idle reading of the world, zmcyhh, giant panda baby, Linhai Da and Nanyue Manlong!