Moreau, you're from it. ※※※※※I ※ I ※ ※

"yes, take off, take off!"

"Damn, it's all big men here, you're afraid of a ball*......"

"Aren't they two balls? We're a fresh graduate with tender skin. ”

In the front turret of the Star Antarctica, there was a burst of laughter, and Morrow glanced down on these guys who had been with him for more than three months, took a breath, stripped off his military uniform under the gaze of his comrades, wore only shorts, and rushed out of the turret with a waterproof maintenance kit, and flew to the top of the turret.

The torrential rain was pouring down, and the raindrops the size of beans hit the skin painfully, and in less than a moment they were soaked as if they had fallen into a pond.

After climbing to the top of the turret, Moro took a big wrench and unscrewed a lens of the optical rangefinder, and then carefully took out a lens from the maintenance bag.

This is a technical job, although this turret optical rangefinder was designed with speed in mind, but now that it is raining heavily outside, if water vapor is allowed to seep into the lenses, it will have a great impact on the observation of the artillery battle that will start later.

So he had to crawl, press the lens unscrewed with his body, and then take out a dry cotton cloth from the waterproof repair kit and carefully wipe the lens clean before reattaching it.

Although it is said, in fact, such a change also takes more than ten minutes, so when he returned to the turret, the skin of his whole body was washed away a little white, and the veterans immediately brought hot tea to warm him up, and at the same time, they also flew up to the narrow position of the observer hand in the turret to check the effect of the lens change.

The rainstorm of the brush brush, so that the world in the rangefinder is still chaotic, the rangefinder can only detect the effect through the distant Akashi anti-collision fog lamp, to really know whether it is repaired, you must wait for dawn.

This is a hidden danger, but no one can do anything in this kind of ghost weather, who makes these newly equipped turret ** rangefinders so delicate.

In the last skirmish in Borneo, it was revealed that once the Jinghai-class left the formation, the rest of the fleet's capital ships lacked long-range ranging and aiming means, the armament department immediately organized a key attack according to the requirements of the navy and successfully came up with a resolute rangefinder similar to a 13-meter-long bamboo tube for each main turret.

Originally, the armament department was preparing to put the rangefinder into the turret as a whole, and open it at the left and right ends. stretched out, but due to the huge cost of replacing the turret, all the resources and steel quotas of the navy are basically occupied by the six capital ships that have already started, so they have to add a thin layer of iron sheet on it and install it directly on the top of the turret.

This method is simple and easy to maintain, but it has also caused the current situation, due to the sealing process problem, some of the rangefinder lenses are fogged by water vapor, and the effect is greatly reduced, so the mechanic Morrow has to be replaced.

Seeing that Moro began to get dressed, several noisy members of the artillery crew were still preparing to make trouble, and suddenly a figure flashed at the door of the turret, and the captain Yang Tai had already appeared in front of everyone. (Full text reading, all in. (.i. Want. Wen. Learning Network)

"Stand upright!"

Yang Tai smiled and returned the salute with the soldiers, as the first mate of the original Antarctic Star, after Ji Weishan was promoted to the commander of the fleet, he took over the position of captain of the Antarctic Star, and also continued the rule that the commander had to inspect each battle position before the war.

How is the "Moreau" rangefinder *......"

"Report to the captain, the lenses have been replaced, but it's too dark, and there is heavy rain, and I can't find a distant reference for debugging for the time being." Morrow saluted.

Yang Tai smiled and patted Morrow on the shoulder: "It's okay, it's going to be dawn in a while, and it's not too late to test it later......." After speaking, he glanced at the gun crew again, and said, "Everyone do a good job, don't give us the Antarctic Star off the chain for a while!" ”

After Yang Tai finished speaking, he was about to continue to inspect the next battle position, when an old gunner suddenly called out to him at this time: "Captain, how is the battle in front?" ”

Yang Tai knew, don't look at everyone giggling" In fact, they were all worried about the three destroyers that accelerated away last night, and said with a smile: "Don't worry, what else can this hell weather do?" A few shots were fired at each, and then they all withdrew. ”

"So, it's up to us!! ”

I heard that the destroyer was fine, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief, but they were all veterans who had fought a few battles, and the destroyer formation returned in vain, which also meant that he and the British were on the same starting line again!

"No, I'll have to go up and have a look!" Looking at the back of the captain's departure, Moreau suddenly took off the pants he had just put on, and everyone knew what the technician was worried about.

Ji Weishan in the command tower looked at the haze in the east, and he was also worried.

The destroyer formation sent out fought a terrible battle, because the visibility of the sea surface in the torrential rain was so poor that the two sides did not find each other until they were close to 3,000 meters, although the British had the numerical advantage, but their own side was fast, and as a result, no one could achieve the result, wasting hundreds of shells and then chasing each other across the Bass Strait and finally withdrawing from the battle.

He didn't know if Philettman had gotten the battle report, at least according to the news he had sent back, the misty rain had caused big trouble for the fleet to target, and the effectiveness of the rangefinder that he had relied on would be greatly reduced in this kind of ghost weather!

"Report!"

"The ranging results have appeared, and at present, most ships can only accurately locate about 10,000 meters, and the accuracy will suffer greatly if it is far away!"

Ji Weishan flew from the barrel of the gun to measure the data, his eyebrows were tightened, 10,000 meters, which means that both sides can penetrate the opponent's main armor, and the long-distance artillery advantage on their side is completely lost, it depends on who is lucky!

Is God winning? Or does Guan Gong dance the big knife smoothly?

"Report, Hurricane signal received, he is forty kilometers southeast!" In Ji Weishan's thoughts, the shout of the communications staff officer was heard, and when he found the Hurricane, he waited to find the British fleet, so he flew with a ruler to mark the location of the Philippman fleet, and then measured the position of the Bass Strait with a compass.

At the same time, almost all the way around! In this situation, whoever grabs the Bass Strait first will be the winner! With the two battleships having similar speeds, they can rely on their respective cruisers!

"Pull the alarm, muzzle direction 060."

"Jingwei, the Self-Defense will set off immediately!"

"The heavy patrol formation will go forward and block the Bass Strait first!"

Order Lan Jianshu to cooperate with ....... *......" Ji Weishan Fei gave the order, but before he could finish speaking, an alarm had already sounded throughout the fleet. "12,000 kilometers, British cruisers!"

Ji Weishan's heart sank again, "Philitman has also discovered himself!"

"Fire!"

Inside the bridge of the Old Man Asterisk, Filletman and all the officers pricked up their ears, and the faint thunder that came from the sea breeze made them understand that the enemy was far away!

On the deck beside them, the thick gun muzzles were all aimed in the direction of the cannon sound, "The sailors stood in the wind and rain, and the rain slid down the collar of their hoods onto the dusty deck that had been washed by the wind and rain all night.

"This damn rainstorm! It's all to blame on that damn Li Mo, why did he provoke the empire! ”

The medical officer, who was hiding below deck, looked at the foggy sea and stamped his feet in anger, knowing that even if the fleet was to win, many soldiers would surely fall ill in this kind of ghostly weather.

Philettman didn't know how difficult the war was in this weather, but he had no choice: "From the moment he was spotted by the airship last night, he understood that the war for the interests of the Far East had begun, and although Britain and China had not yet declared war, he knew very well that it was only a pretext for future diplomatic negotiations."

The Far Eastern Fleet is not here for a vacation!

"Left full rudder, let's go!" Philitman took a deep breath, and as soon as he gave the first order, the observer immediately shouted: "Two o'clock" enemy ship! ”

In the shouting, everyone saw that the two sharp and large torpedo ships of the Chinese Navy suddenly showed their bodies from the mist, and almost at the same time, their gun muzzles were already spewing fire.

Almost copied tactics, the only option in typical harsh climatic conditions.

In the case of low visibility, sending small ships to find and take the initiative to attack, inducing the enemy to show a specific position, this is a tactic that every British naval officer knows" So it is not surprising that the opponent's small warships appear, what is really resentful is the style of the opponent who has grown up on the shoulders of the British Navy, but then used it against the British Navy!

"Fire!"

At 6:40 a.m., Filitman gave the order to open fire, and the dense artillery fire rushed towards the two Defender-class destroyers, and seeing the enemy open fire, "the Defending and Jingwei, which had completed their mission, accelerated again and flew into the rain."

When their figures quickly drowned in the white mist, Abandon Litman immediately gave the order.

At 6:45, the formation of the British Far East Fleet changed: "The five Rui Old Man star battleships quickly formed a straight line, while the five first-class armored cruisers took the rest of the ships like light cavalry, quickly broke away from the formation, and went out into the rain and fog.

Ten minutes later, when the fleet was reorganized, Philettman slowly raised the telescope, and at this time, the staff adjutant realized that this was the first time that the vice admiral had used a telescope after going to sea!

When his eagle-like gaze locked on the direction in which the destroyers left, the First Fleet led by Ji Weishan also completed the tactical formation, and the four Vladivostok-class heavy cruisers and the six destroyers that returned also formed a driving patrol group, and also swooped towards the Basra Strait at the same time.

At the same time, the six capital ships turned their rudders at the same time, and they also chose to take the initiative to approach after Filitman.

No one knows if this is a coincidence, the two commanders actually handed over the work of delaying the enemy, helping the capital ship to clear the forward passage, and seizing the important T-position to the fleet at the same time!

Seven twenty o'clock!

The observers on both masts spotted the smoke rising from the rain and fog at the same time, and when five minutes later, the two fleets, which were almost in the same direction, showed their respective figures, and the mournful shouts rang out at the same time, and the muzzles of the guns that had been prepared began to move up and down, trying to focus on the hazy shadow of the ship in the distance.

"Distance 130,125,120...*......".

When the observer on the phone just shouted out the number, two Polaris and four Duke-class, twenty-four 5/305mm guns roared at the same time!

When the fire flickered out in the rainstorm, Philitman's pupils in the lens suddenly shrank into a cold star.

"Good!"

At 7:30, the First Fleet of the Royal Navy of the Chinese Empire preemptively fired the first salvo, and only five seconds later, the second round was fired by 16 second-class 203mm secondary guns on the four Duke-class ships at the same time!

At the same time, the British Far Eastern Fleet also fired the first salvo!