"Boom, boom, boom......"

The first round of shelling was a check shot, with one shell fired from each twin 44-caliber 305-millimeter turret, and the three battleships and two heavy cruisers of the entire formation fired a total of 30 shells, spanning a distance of 17.5 kilometers, and densely landed around the battleship "Connecticut," which was the first in the US ranking, and sputtered up a high column of water, with the nearest distance of only 120 yards.

"Oh sell Ga Di...... Near miss? ”

"Every shot must hit...... How is this possible? ”

"It's incredible!"

The British battlecruiser "Lion", who was watching the battle, let out a low exclamation, and after the first round of shelling, Rear Admiral Sherman looked very serious, picked up a telescope and carefully observed the battle, not missing a single detail.

It is not surprising that the Royal Navy of the Great Ocean Empire has a unique skill, and the 44 times caliber 305 mm twin-mounted main ship gun developed by the Azure Weapons Company is only equipped with the Great Ocean Imperial Navy, and its range has always been highly secret, and the British are also mentally prepared for this.

Fools know that 44 times the caliber is farther than the 40 times caliber 305 mm naval guns.

The question is how far away?

Whether you can hit this far accurately is the key.

In the era of big ships and cannons

Hitting a near-miss bullet means that the measurement data is accurate, and it is just luck that you don't hit, so you only need to make a slight correction according to this measurement data, and then bomb hard, and the pursuit is the ammunition coverage density and the amount of ammunition projected per unit time.

The first round of shelling was close missed, and it was at a very long distance, and what this meant, Rear Admiral Sherman, knew very well in his heart.

The mystery has been revealed;

The new 305 mm naval guns of the Ocean Imperial Navy have a range of more than 17.5 kilometers, no matter how much they can, there is not much more, the scary thing is that their ranging is very accurate, what is possible or hidden in it?

Otherwise, the optical rangefinder alone will not be able to achieve such a high accuracy, such a hit rate is terrible, and it is an out-and-out "every shot must hit"!

If this kind of fight continues, the US Navy's Great White Fleet will be in danger.

Sure enough, after a slight pause, the "Three Marinda" ship formation opened fire at full power.

In the second round of shelling were dropped 60 rounds of 305-mm armor-piercing shells, only a distant "boom...... was heard Bang...... Boom ......" three violent explosions sounded, and the battleship "Connecticut", which was rushing like a bison, hit the three elements, and a huge orange fire ball rose from the bow, and the two main turrets in front of it were blown up and discarded.

This ferocious blow that slashed the head and covered the face stunned the US Great White Fleet at once.

However, before the fish that slipped through the net of the US Great White Fleet came back, the third round of accurate artillery bombardment roared.

This round was unlucky, and only one of the 60 rounds of 305-mm shells hit, blowing away the command tower of the flagship battleship "Connecticut", leaving a terrifying large fragment of the wall, like a burning garbage heap.

However, the third round of shelling fired six near-misses, and the huge water pressure pushed the battleship "Connecticut" horizontally, sliding more than 170 meters sideways on the surface of the sea.

There is no merit, which can only be blamed on a little bad luck, but the thought of 6 close misses makes people's backs chill, which is really terrible.

The ruthlessness of the Ocean Empire fleet evoked fearful memories in the hearts of the US Navy fleet, and the battleship "North Carolina," which was in third place, suddenly turned sharply and attempted to break away from the battle formation without an order.

This kind of behavior is a standard escape!

The flagship battleship "Connecticut" was beaten across the sea, and the entire command tower had been scrapped, and it was estimated that the commander Vice Admiral Doug and the other generals were in a pot, and there was no possibility of survival.

So

The battleship "Georgia", which was in second place in the battle line, completely leaked out and was about to bear the brunt of the fierce shelling of the Royal Navy, and in extreme fear, the battleship "Georgia" opened fire almost simultaneously with the fourth round of artillery bombardment of the opponent, firing back.

The battleship "Georgia" could only go back with two twin 305-mm guns in the bow, and fired four shells at a time, while the other naval guns had no firing angle, and the shells it fired deviated from the target by 3.2 kilometers, which simply shocked everyone's big teeth.

First, the distance between the two sides is 15.6 kilometers, and there is still 1 kilometer away from the range of the US ship's main guns of 14.6 kilometers.

On the other hand, the "Sanmarinda" formation again achieved results in the fourth round of artillery bombardment, when a 305-mm shell hit the starboard side of the bow of the battleship "Georgia" and blew a large hole of 7.2 meters by 1.77 meters in the bow without armor protection.

What are you really afraid of...... Two more 305-mm shells hit the battleship "North Carolina", which was in 3rd place, and exploded with a bang.

The battleship "North Carolina" suddenly turned to expose the huge hull side, which greatly increased the surface of the bullet, but also increased the chance of being hit, a 305 mm shell hit the main armor belt on the waterline, tearing open a large gap of 2.7 meters by 0.32 meters, and the sea water continued to pour in as the battleship rose and fell.

Fortunately, this laceration was almost a meter above the sea surface, and there was not much damage.

After another shell hit, the chimney exploded, blowing up the rear chimney entirely, and the violent explosion broke the nearby high-pressure steam pipe, and a large thick white smoke mixed with black smoke came out, and the battleship was filled with a foul smell of roasting meat, and I don't know how many sailors were killed.

Only 4 rounds of shelling, seriously damaged one battleship, lightly damaged two battleships.

Lost the command, the original momentum of the big white fleet of the fish that slipped through the net instantly exploded, regardless of the battle line and fled separately, although the distance at this time was close to 14 kilometers, but these warships of the big white fleet had no intention of fighting, and only wanted to escape.

The main guns and auxiliary guns of the battleship also fired back fiercely, regardless of whether the range was enough or not, whether they were aiming or not, and the fighting was very lively. However, the impact points were scattered, and it could be seen that the officers and men on the ship were all panicked from top to bottom.

Such a change was unexpected by the "Three Marinda" fleet, but it received an unexpectedly good evasion effect, and its fifth and sixth rounds of shelling were successively missed, but they did not receive anything.

On the sea

The five warships of the US Great White Fleet were scurrying at full speed in five directions like headless flies, and constantly changing directions, and this drastic change of trajectory was extremely unfavorable to the shelling, and the two sides were separated by more than 13 kilometers, so it was very difficult to hit.

After the seventh round of shelling failed, the "Three Marinda" fleet finally came back to its senses, and mobilized all its guns to aim at the battleship "Connecticut," which had been heavily damaged on the sea, and fired the eighth and ninth rounds of shelling one after another.

These two rounds of shelling hit the battleship "Connecticut" with seven shots, and it was covered in flames, and thick smoke billowed out, as if it were an illegal building on the sea.

At this time, more than ten minutes had passed in the battle

The US Atlantic Fleet, which was closely pursuing from the rear, appeared at the end of the line of sight, and the huge array of ships was pressed in the dark and could not be seen at a glance, and the distance between the two sides was no more than 23 kilometers, which posed a serious threat to the "Three Marinda" formation.

In order to accurately shell the ship, the speed of the "Three Marinda" formation has been reduced to 6 knots, and it is moving laterally relative to the US Atlantic Fleet, which means that the distance between the two sides is shortened by 1 kilometer every two minutes.

And it took at least 15 to 20 minutes to accelerate from 6 knots to 15 knots, so the formation of "Sammarinda" gave up continuing the shelling, immediately accelerated and turned, and fled into the distance.

As for the fish that have been seriously injured or lightly injured, they have no time to take care of it, and it will be too late if they don't run.

Once surrounded by the Atlantic Fleet and fired hundreds of cannons, the fun was great.

With his rich experience, Major General Sherman calculated the trajectory and relative distance of the two sides within 10 seconds, and made a rough judgment in his mind; The formation of ships in the foreign countries is very slippery, and the Atlantic Fleet cannot catch it.

Far from the end of sight

The Atlantic Fleet's huge group of warships split into three, spreading like a dark cloud covering the top, almost obscuring the southern seas.

It is a pity that the fish that slipped through the net of the Great White Fleet have been frightened and only care about fleeing for their lives, and not a single ship has come up desperately to entangle the "Three Marinda" formation.

All ships are firing their guns indiscriminately, and the sea surface is boiling like a pot, but such an unorganized and indiscriminate shelling is a waste of shells, what can it do?

It really takes a lot of courage to face death!

The shells flew indiscriminately on the sea, and a few of them even hit the left close position of the battlecruiser "Lion", and Rear Admiral Sherman's face was blackened with anger;

This is obviously caused by the US warship, and no matter how far it goes, it can't get up to the position of the observation ship.

Now is not the time to reason, the French and German observation ships in the rear have already sailed into the distance, and the "Lion" battlecruiser can only pinch its nose and leave in a huff, and their sense of virtue and sensuality that the US Navy cannot afford to lose is even worse.

Twenty minutes later

The formation of "Three Marinda" accelerated to 13 knots, and the distance between the two sides was shortened to about 12 kilometers, and they launched fierce artillery bombardment from each other, heading northwest to the depths of the Pacific Ocean.

At this time, the twilight was heavy, and the view from overseas was poor

From time to time, the two sides of the battle fired flares to light up the sky, and the accurate artillery bombardment of the "Three Marinda" formation damaged several enemy ships, and it itself was hit by several bullets, and the chimney in front of the battleship "Melbourne" was interrupted, and thick smoke billowed from the entire battleship, and it fled all the way to the northwest.

The armored cruiser of the US Atlantic Fleet "Nebraska" saw the bargain and ran to the front with a fierce attack, but a large battleship "Matsue" came from the left and was already close to it at a distance of about 7~8 kilometers under the cover of night, and then fired a salvo of gunfire from the side of the ship.

"Boom, boom, boom......"

Two 305-mm shells were hit in just one round of fire, which turned the 14,500-ton "Nebraska" armored cruiser into a torch on the sea, 4 in the 2nd round, 1 in the 3rd round, and ......

There was no fourth round, and after being exposed in the night, the "Matsue" fired three rounds of artillery fire in a short period of time, and then fled for its life, and soon disappeared into the night deep in the Pacific Ocean.

The poor armored cruiser "Nebraska" was a representative of the thin skin and big stuffing, without the heavy armor of a battleship, and the young lady was killed, and after being hit by seven 305-mm shells, the ammunition depot exploded, exploded in two, and sank into the deep bottom of the Pacific Ocean.

This is the end of the short and fierce "Battle of the Strait of Magellan", which also represents the end of the second phase of the Pacific Pursuit, thus opening the third round of the Battle of Buenos Aires.

In this battle

The tragic armored cruiser "Nebraska" was the only battleship to sink on the battlefield.

On the US side, the battleship "Connecticut," the flagship of the Great White Fleet, was seriously damaged, the battleships "Georgia" and "North Carolina" were slightly damaged, and four cruisers were slightly damaged.

In the fleet of the Royal Navy of the Ocean Empire, the battleships "Three Marinda" and "Melbourne" were lightly damaged, and the "White Tiger" was lightly wounded.

The three battleships of the "Three Marinda" formation were slightly wounded, and all of them were hit by the indiscriminate artillery of the swarming Atlantic Fleet.

The US Navy's intention to encircle and annihilate the "Three Marinda" formation failed, but it was bitten hard, which was really painful.

This cannot be said that the combat intentions of the US side are wrong, and we can only blame the Royal Navy of the Ocean Empire for being too strong in combat effectiveness, and it has sacrificed the magic weapon of ultra-long-range strikes.

Young people don't talk about martial arts, what the hell is the "Mangu" tactic?

As far as the Atlantic Fleet of the US Navy was concerned, the night of 23 December 1908 was extremely long and painful, and the "Connecticut" was already paralyzed on the sea like an illegal building with 11 305-mm shells in its body, the hull of the ship was seriously tilted, and the flames were blazing.

In order to save the battleship, the Atlantic Fleet did everything it could, and finally extinguished the fire at about 5 a.m.

Then more than 200 members of the damage management rescue team were gathered, and they ventured aboard the battleship "Connecticut", which had been burned to pieces, and used more than a dozen large pumping machines to save the battleship with all their might.

The rescue operation lasted for two days, and the huge hull of the "Connecticut" was finally put in order, and then slowly left under the tow of the two cruisers, heading for the stormy Strait of Magellan.

Why go to all the trouble to save a pile of rags?

This has to say that the face of the Citigroup government and the US Navy, no matter how seriously damaged the ship is, it cannot be regarded as sinking, and the four battleships and one cruiser of the Great White Fleet have gone through a lot of hardships and finally got rid of the enemy's pursuit of thousands of miles and embarked on the road home.

What a touching and inspirational story!

It can save some face and arouse the people's resistance mentality of hatred and hatred of the enemy, after all, the war is still going on, and we must not admit it now.

President Roosevelt was looking at the stars and the moon in the White House, and his eyes were almost blind, and he sent almost all the ships that could move in the Atlantic Fleet to take the Great White Fleet home.

And the battleship "Connecticut", as the flagship of the Great White Fleet, has great symbolic significance.

In the Battle of the Strait of Magellan, 711 of its 876 officers and soldiers were killed, 103 were wounded, 53 were missing, and only 9 were intact.

Even if the officers and men on the ship almost died from top to bottom, as long as the battleship "Connecticut" could be towed back, it would not be a complete loss of face.

What's ......, as long as the fire is still there, there is hope.