Two, six, seven, spears like shuttles

"What time is it?"

Lefei stood on the flybridge that stretched outward to the left of the bridge, like a straight green pine, looking at the dark Uraga waterway, letting the sea breeze pass through his cheeks. (Vertex Hand Hit)

Due to the unique three-story design of the Jinghai-class command tower, navigation bridge, and shelling bridge, the flat and wide observation flybridge at the top of the navigation bridge has quietly disappeared, and the top layer is cylindrical, and a rangefinder runs through the observation tower from the middle.

Now the officers have to squeeze into the narrow side flybridge if they want to rest and blow the wind, although the space is much smaller, but no one complains, after all, this is a warship, not a comfortable cruise ship.

"Five minutes to go."

The staff officer responded, looking at the unsmiling, stern, and resolute young captain, his eyes full of admiration.

In the first naval battle, he ordered the reconnaissance ships to open fire to lure the enemy, and in a short period of time he sank two Japanese light cruisers and three destroyers, allowing all countries to see the firepower superiority of the Jinghai-class light cruisers. The next three attacks, although not brilliant, but the elusive style still made the Japanese fleet frightened, and finally had to meet the main force in a tired state.

On the day of the interception battle, it was this young captain who led the light patrol formation, forced the Japanese to disperse the formation, and quickly solved the remaining two Japanese light cruisers. Taking a fancy to the weakness of the weak armor at the rear of the Yashima turret, he directly pressed into the area of five thousand meters and directly exploded one of the turrets, and also made the other main turret lose its combat effectiveness, laying the foundation for the main formation to solve the battleship in one fell swoop.

Then, in the naval battle at noon today, he saw the weakness of the opponent who could not return fire when he turned, and concentrated all his forces to shell a little, opening the gates of hell for the Iwate.

This young captain has become the most dazzling star in the fleet after Ji Weishan, and it also makes everyone understand why the young master personally ordered him to be directly promoted from the test ship to the captain of the Jinghai-class lead ship

To be able to follow such a captain across the world, even if he is a staff officer for the rest of his life, it is worth it" The time has come. The staff officer was stunned, but Le Fei suddenly turned his head, and a rare smile hung on the corner of his mouth: "Let's start." ”

The staff officer woke up suddenly, looked at the distribution watch, and the hands were really ten seconds away, and couldn't help but admire this captain who could pinch the time so accurately without looking at the watch, and hurriedly made a gesture to the partner in the bridge.

"Boom, boom."

Standing on the protruding flying bridge, you can clearly see the twelve naval guns, each of which has risen to the maximum elevation angle, because this is not the official beginning, just to divert the attention of the Japanese to cover the smooth passage of the submarine force, so Lefei chose to fire at the maximum distance, not only let the Japanese look at the ship and sigh, but also take the opportunity to exercise the long-distance artillery ability of the gun crew.

Le Fei knows very well that with the Jinghai-class being exposed to the world, its unique naval gun layout structure and long-distance rapid-fire capability will completely change the traditional thinking that the larger the caliber of the world's naval guns, the better.

The speed of naval guns, the uniform caliber of artillery, high speed, and large endurance will all be put forward for study one by one. There is no doubt that the Pacific Fleet will encounter more serious challenges in the next few years, because all countries will soon come up with new warships to restrain the Jinghai-class, especially the United Kingdom and the United States, whose scientific research capabilities and financial capabilities are far more powerful than their own side, so long-range artillery warfare and artillery warfare will become the main means in the future

However, this alone cannot keep the Pacific Fleet alive, so what will the young master come up with to deal with those greedy jackals?

Suddenly, a roar that sounded almost at the same time interrupted Le Fei's thoughts, only to see more than a dozen red flames suddenly erupt from the starboard side, and the sharp whistling sound from tearing through the air echoed on the night sky paper, and the exciting artillery battle began again.

Almost at the same time, the three sister ships also erupted into a roar, and before the fire erupted in the darkness in the distance, the forty-eight naval guns erupted again with a second salvo.

This is what Le Fei and the other three captains found after summing up, because of the small caliber of the naval guns, so don't care about the hit rate, after hitting six rounds at the fastest speed, and then use the rangefinder to constantly correct the trajectory, instead of only one round of testing like large-caliber naval guns, and try to improve the accuracy.

This is the essential difference between light cruisers and capital ships, from the day the four Jinghai-class ships were put into service and handed over to them, there was only one fast word left in their hearts.

The rumbling sound of artillery broke the silence of the night, and hundreds of fire clusters erupted from the Japanese shore artillery base in the distance, and such a dense artillery bombardment caught many Japanese artillerymen who had not slept all night to monitor the enemy by surprise, they couldn't think of just four black shadows, how could they shoot so many shells? What would it be like if all the warships hidden in the darkness in the distance came by?

A few minutes later, the two large batteries outside the Uraga waterway finally opened fire, and at the same time that nearly a hundred flames burst out of the darkness, a formation composed of three Grayverte-class and four mackerel-class submarines headed for the Uraga waterway at the depth of a snorkel under the rumbling gun, and they would reach the middle section, and then dive underwater to avoid the last large batteries and stealthily enter Tokyo Bay-

"Yamamoto-kun, it's time for you to rest."

Looking at Yamamoto Gonbei, who was sitting opposite, pouring glass after glass of wine, like a down-and-out ronin, Saigo sighed.

In the distance, the dock was still busy, and the four main battleships that had been brought back were lying crookedly on the edge of the dock, temporarily being taken over by maintenance workers, but they could only draw the water from the warship, remove the damaged barrels and armor, and roughly clean them up, and wait for the only remaining Yokohama shipyard to be free in two days before they could be towed to where they could be overhauled.

As for the original sailors and officers, they were all arranged to rest in a secluded barracks away from the dock, because they were so tired, after an interception battle exhausted all their physical strength, they were chased and killed by the four warships that seemed to be full of cannon barrels all the way and harassed thousands of nautical miles day and night before finally returning here, so that many people fainted directly when they got off the ship just now, and more did not even eat, so they hid in the barracks and fell asleep.

Faintly, bursts of muffled thunder came from the sky, and both of them knew very well what it was, but they were not too worried, even if the two batteries at the mouth of the waterway were lost, the mines densely packed in the waterway and the large shore artillery base in the center were enough to block the enemy, not to mention that they still had three capital ships and two second-class cruisers that could be put into battle immediately, and two more would be added in two days, when they joined forces with the batteries to hold the waterway, it was impossible to enter without paying a huge price.

Unless the opponent stupidly sends troops to land, otherwise the Pacific Fleet will lose at least five or six capital ships, so the two of them still wish that Li Mo stupidly sent the fleet in immediately, and even as long as they defeat the opponent's two capital ships, then their side will also regain the advantage in the number of battleships.

So the only thing to worry about at this moment is how to make the battleships that broke out of the siege repair as soon as possible, due to the blockade for more than half a year, now Japan is already in urgent need of supplies, if it weren't for Saigo Congdao from the beginning to make the worst plan, ordering all ships to prepare a set of naval gun barrels and equipment to bring back by themselves, I am afraid that at this moment even the naval guns can not be repaired.

"It's time for me to go." Saigo got up from the road and took one last look at Yamamoto Gonbei: "The base camp is still waiting for my report, I want to go and negotiate with them as soon as possible on how to repair the warship as soon as possible." Rest assured, even if I can't fix them completely, I can guarantee that all of their cannons will be in good condition within ten days. ”

Yamamoto Gonbei nodded numbly, and he didn't know if he was admiring the taste of the wine, or if he listened to Saigo's words, and after taking another sip, he staggered and fell to the ground, and in less than half a minute, the sound of thunderous snoring had already sounded from the room.

"Protect the generals well, and try not to disturb their rest in the next few days"

"Hey."

After taking care of it, Saigo made a final inspection of the four badly damaged battleships, and then boarded the steamboat, preparing to rush to the Tokyo base camp immediately to report the situation here in person.

The steamboat made a white track on the sea, and Saigo, who was standing on the deck, took advantage of the turn to look at the black and oppressive waterway behind him, and did not notice that in the darkness not far away, an eye was staring at him.

Through the periscope, Qin Shou saw the departing steamboat, and also saw several officers who came to see him off, licked his lips and secretly said that it was a pity, if it wasn't for the time at this moment, he might have caught a big fish.

"How much longer?"

"Half an hour."

"Grandma, why is there still half an hour?"

The words of the first mate made Qin Shouzhi rub his hands, seeing that the three Japanese capital ships that were still intact were dangling in front of him, but he couldn't eat because he had to cooperate, it was like marrying his daughter-in-law and making trouble in the cave room, but he found that he had pulled his stomach all night, which was really disappointing

While Qin Shou was waiting, outside the Uraga waterway, except for the damaged Antarctic Star and the Polar Star, which would be stationed at the mouth of the waterway, the rest of the ships had quietly entered the battle position under the cover of rumbling guns.

"The port of Yokosuka has not yet begun to lay mines." Tan Xiaozeng handed the telegram from the Gray Spine Shark to Long Guozhang and said with a smile: "It seems that the Japanese really think that this mine array can stop us." ”

"Hmph, you're looking for a dead end." Long Guozhang didn't read the telegram, grabbed the telescope and walked to the porthole: "Let's start, stop playing"

Soon, when the order was conveyed to the ships, the remaining 11 capital ships were immediately incorporated into the shelling formation of the four warships in Jinghai, and the bomb planes brought up one shell after another with three conspicuous red lines drawn from the ammunition depot.

"Open the gun"

When a piercing electric current came to the ears of every gunner, the starboard side of the eleven capital ships burst into huge fireballs at the same time, and the Jinghai Light Patrol, which had been shelling at a low speed of two to three rounds per minute, seemed to be awakened by this earth-shattering loud noise, and the speed of the shelling suddenly doubled.

The sound of such a loud and neat shelling frightened the Japanese artillerymen in the two batteries to look at the sky at the same time, and they did not know what would happen to them in ten seconds.

rumble

A 152-mm shell that landed first landed smashed into the distance of the cement bunker of the 250-mm French shore gun, which frightened several Japanese soldiers and hurriedly shrank their heads to dodge.

After the cannonball exploded, instead of a huge fireball as usual, countless white fog points were erupted, which flew out and poured into a space of nearly 100 square meters, and then suddenly all of them lit up.

The slightest point of mist suddenly turned into countless sparks, bursting into all parts of the bunker, and a few drops of it even burrowed into the bunker, falling on the officer's body and the shells next to him.

The officer was so frightened that he hurriedly slapped it, but no matter how hard he tried, these sparks refused to be extinguished as if they had life, and a piercing pain from the place where the sparks splashed into his heart, and made him fall, but after less than a circle, his clothes were all set on fire, and in a moment the flames engulfed his entire body.

The soldiers next to them widened their eyes, wondering what time it was. How could it suddenly turn into a fireball? Before they could figure it out, more shells exploded in all directions, and these shells, which had been just a big crater and took a few lives at most, brought countless flames this time, and scattered sparks spread between the positions with the wind flying rapidly.

The fact that the enemy suddenly changed the intensity of the shelling has not yet been figured out to everyone, everyone feels as if they are stuck in a sea of fire, burning everywhere, on the branches, on the blades of grass, even on steel, on cement

When the soldiers of the artillery group were so frightened that they picked up the tools that had been prepared to extinguish the fire, a strange scene left all eyes with only a large area of whites of the eyes, and the sparks that fell on the shell of the cannonball did not go out, but became more and more intense.

The soldier did not understand that steel was not a fire, so why had the flames not been extinguished. Instead, it's constantly expanding, what the hell is that?

But they couldn't think about it anymore, and a huge fireball burst out of the bunker, and the thick concrete bunker was overturned in the blink of an eye, intertwining into more sparks, scattering like fireworks, splashing everywhere, and then turning into a violent fire again, engulfing everything around it.

The flames that rushed to the sky were wrapped in thick smoke, and they continued to spread outward from the two shore artillery positions, and a puff of phosphorus powder with a very low ignition point turned into countless sparks, enveloping the entire fort, and even those things that would not burn if thrown into the fire began to burn under this strange spark, and even the sky seemed to be burned red.

"Oh my God, what the hell is it that you hit out?"

In just 30 rounds of shelling, many gunners and sailors who had seen this scene for the first time stopped their movements, staring blankly at the two batteries in the distance that were completely covered in flames, and many of them rubbed their eyes and swallowed their saliva.

"Here they are."

Tan Xiaozeng pushed Long Guozhang, who admired the masterpiece of the fleet, handed him the binoculars and pointed to the sky, only to see more than ten small black dots passing over the fleet's head along the firelight.

"All put on protective masks and go" -

"Signal received, signal received"

The dull atmosphere in the Greyverte Shark was broken by the sudden ticking of the radio station, which had been silent for most of the day, and the communications men in the cabin almost jumped up in excitement, and when the characters were born from his pen, almost everyone gathered around the communication hatch that had been opened separately and could only be accessed by the captain and the signal men.

In less than a moment, the hatch was suddenly opened, and the red-faced communication soldier handed the translated telegram to Qin Shou, and even forgot to salute: "Report, they are coming, right next to us"

Qin Shou excitedly spun the periscope, and when he turned to the direction of the entrance of the waterway, his right arm waved fiercely, only to see that on the water in the distance, several periscope masts had been raised, like a shark swimming outside the beach with only its dorsal fin, and it was approaching the gray spine shark little by little.

As soon as he wanted to speak, there was another ticking sound in the communication, and the telegraph operator rushed in, and began to write again without thinking about sitting down, and when he put down his pen and began to translate the message according to the special codebook, his eyes suddenly became blood-red.

"The fleet has entered the waterway and is expected to arrive in an hour."

"The trebuchet squadron will arrive in fifteen minutes."

"Authorized, free to ...... at any opportunity."

"Offense"

When the correspondent said the last two words, there was a sudden chaos in the Gray Spine Shark, Qin Shou didn't give an order at all, and the torpedo soldiers had already stepped through the narrow hatch, locked the isolation cabin, and rushed into the battle position, and began to unlock the torpedo.

There was a loud clanging sound in the power cabin, and I don't know which daredevils fell, and through the thick sealed hatch, the laughter and scolding could be heard in the command cabin.

"Send a telegram, form a team according to the plan, and report after each selects a target."

"Leave the Anyun to Lao Tzu"

The commander's words provoked a burst of joking laughter, there seems to be a tradition in the submarine force, whoever leads the team must keep the best fat for himself, although the Anyun also has a sister ship, the Satsuma, but it is obvious that the submarine commander is a grudge-minded guy, just because the reckless Japanese sailor glanced at it casually, it has made him think about the American-made battleship in his heart.

The radio waves, along the small antenna on the buoy, spread throughout the submarine force, and the four Gray Ridge shark class first selected the target, and the remaining four mackerel-class had to be bullied by the bosses because of the small torpedo, and quietly touched the surveillance waterway sub-fleet led by an Austrian light patrol team and led by two gunboats.

Driven by batteries, the submarine maintained the maximum depth of the periscope was almost silent, and even the sound of the waves when the propeller slowly rotated was drowned out by the sound of the tide around it.

The improved and lengthened 433 mm old torpedoes had a maximum range of only 1,000 meters, so the four mackerel-class ships had to approach very carefully to ensure a hit, but fortunately, the Japanese detachment's attention was all focused on the direction of the waterway, and there was no underwater shadow sneaking in from behind the bay.

In the torpedo compartment of the Gray Spine Shark, the torpedo chief quickly pulled off the safety bolt at the tail of the last torpedo, closed the launch tube and twisted the valve to lock it before nodding at his partner.

Several torpedo men immediately opened the compressed air valve, and the slightest sound suddenly sounded in the pipe, and the torpedo chief nervously stared at the pressure gauge on the side of the four torpedo tubes, and when the pointers on the dial reached the yellow warning line, everyone closed the valve, grabbed the telephone, and reported with suppressed excitement.

"The torpedo compartment is ready."

After getting the response, the torpedo chief walked over to the two thick torpedoes left on the left shelf, and stroked these cold big guys, as if he had seen his own son, and the corners of his mouth whispered to himself.

550 mm, maximum firing range 3500 meters, speed 35 knots, triggered fuse, charge reached an unprecedented 150 kg

Boy

Although the torpedo commander does not know a few words, and even his name is only learned in the cultural class in the army in peacetime, he has a good memory that ordinary people do not have, and the above data may be a little difficult for him to write down with a pen, but it has already been deeply engraved into the depths of his brain.

As for Qin Shou, who was sticking to the periscope and getting bigger and bigger in front of the camera, Qin Shou made his whole body tremble with excitement, and he knew better what he was holding in his hands, this spear heavy thermodynamic torpedo not only condensed the efforts of dozens of research institutes in Honolulu, but even the young master was involved.

But Qin Shou didn't know, in fact, Li Mo was not satisfied with the performance of the spear, originally he was going to put on the oxygen torpedo, but he didn't understand the principle of the oxygen torpedo very well, and with the current industrial capacity and danger, he finally chose a safer thermal power plant.

Austrian designer Ludwig Aubrey came to Honolulu with the introduction of talents, immediately joined the Navy Design Department, his innovative plan to install gyroscopes on torpedo servos has been Tang Xiao's attention, after testing, we found that the torpedo installed with gyroscopes has been greatly improved in terms of hit accuracy and the most annoying depth fixing.

Later, Li Mo "proposed" the design of the combustion chamber, and proposed the method of mixing fuel and air and spraying it into the combustion chamber to ignite, changing the method of relying on gas propulsion, using the rapidly expanding gas to drive the torsion bar, and then driving the propeller to propulsion.

Finally, with the efforts of so many engineers, water mist was sprayed into the combustion chamber at the time of fuel combustion, generating water vapor, which caused the gas in the combustion chamber to expand sharply to increase the power. In addition, fresh water was stored in the minebody, circulated around the walls of the combustion chamber, and some of it was used to cool the combustion chamber, and the other part was used to spray water mist to produce steam to enhance the power of the torpedo, and the "wet thermodynamic torpedo" was developed eight years ahead of schedule, and this design also made Honolulu lead the world average for eight years in a single weapon for the first time

However, when everything was completed, the new torpedo, named "Lance", made everyone fall through the glasses in the live-fire test, and after the power was enhanced, because it was too heavy, the rate of fire of the torpedo still could not exceed 30 knots, which was a big difference from the target of at least 35 knots proposed by the young master, and the maximum range was only 3,000 meters.

If the design of the combustion chamber is just a concept he heard when he was in the Naval Museum of the restaurant, and it is completely the fruit of concentrating manpower, material and financial resources, then the only torpedo knowledge he knows, the "pirated" Italian designer of later generations, added a sharp cap to the torpedo head, so that the torpedo moves at high speed underwater to form an air hole, and greatly reduces the resistance in the water, it can only be said to be shameless

A simple little hat, just like he installed a delay device for the triple gun, completely convinced all the designers, and directly let Master Li become a god in the torpedo world, if it weren't for the problems of too little power in the first-generation combustion chamber, it is estimated that it is possible to run at a speed of more than 40 knots

Now everything is ready

This spear, which embodies the efforts of thousands of people in Honolulu and represents the highest level of torpedoes in various countries, has been quietly aimed at the huge hull of the Anyun

Qin Shou raised his wrist and looked at his watch.

Five minutes

The trebuchet should already be overhead, so let the spear light up the target for them

"Torpedo No. 1 No. 2, launched"

Bang bang, two muffled voices came from the front.

The Greyvertebrate Shark shook slightly, speared like a shuttle, and jerked out of the launch tube.

A few seconds later, six swift white wakes were pulled out of the dark sea next to them almost at the same time