The encounter with the Maria Teresa angered the other ships of the Spanish patrol formation, and a more violent counterattack ensued. The bombardment of dozens of naval guns put the three Pennsylvania-class ships in a difficult situation as well.

At a distance of 3,000 meters, especially the 254 mm 40L guns fired uniformly on the two Garibaldi-class patrol ships, the hit rate was even more amazing.

According to later statistics, in the 3,000-meter hand-to-hand combat with the Pennsylvania-class, the 254-mm main gun had a hit rate of 26%, and 70 of the 268 shells fired hit the target.

And the hits of the three Pennsylvania-class mounted cruisers were much worse, and the hit rate of the three battleships was only 13.4%. Among them, the most threatening 305-mm guns, which fired a total of 42 guns, hit 6, and the 152-mm secondary guns, which fired 284 guns, hit 38.

In terms of firepower projection and hits, the three Pennsylvania-class cruisers are far from being comparable to the two Garibaldi-class.

This also led to the sinking of the Maria Teresa and gradually falling into a disadvantage.

Sometimes, though, it's not enough to just look at the hit rate, and luck is also a very important factor.

Now, for example, a 305-mm armor-piercing round fired from the USS New Jersey slammed into the porch of one of the 140mm guns on the Viscay, with a piercing sound that pierced the air. The shell pierced through the steel plate outside the gallery without hindrance, and the flying debris instantly killed everyone in the gallery.

Subsequently, the shell continued to move forward, and after successfully penetrating the next door of the cabin, it finally exploded at the bow flue, and the huge explosive force directly destroyed the entire flue, and the yellow smoke produced by the explosives and the black smoke gushing out of the flue instantly filled the entire amidships, and a thick smoke screen rose into the air. Due to the destruction of the flue, nearly half of the boilers of the Biscay were forced to stop due to smoke exhaust problems, and the speed of the entire battleship was gradually reduced to about 13 knots

"Let Biscay get out of the way."

Colonel Ramos, who led the team, was shocked when he saw the speed of the Biscay, fearing that this precious cruiser would step into the fate of the Maria Teresa again.

But it was not easy to leave, how could Colonel Simpson allow his prey to slip away like this.

"Concentrate your firepower and give priority to solving the opponent's Biskai."

Following his order, the muzzles of the three Pennsylvania-class patrol ships were aimed at the Biscay. Dozens of shells from various artillery pieces directly covered the Biscay, and the nearly missed column of water and the smoke of the shell explosion covered it like a curtain. As a ship with a displacement of only 7,000 tons, it was not expected to be targeted in this way.

Several 305mm armor-piercing rounds easily shredded the Biscay's armor, and the flying armor fragments directly cut off several steam pipes. And even worse, one of the shells exploded outside the boiler room. The huge explosion force directly shut down 3 boilers. This directly caused the speed of the Philadelphia to drop to 6 knots immediately, and the ship's deadline had been reached.

While the three Pennsylvania-class patrol ships were besieging the Biscay, the counterattack of the Spanish patrol formation continued.

"Hit the firepower and take out the opposing Colorado."

Seeing that there was nothing to be done, Colonel Ramos decided to prioritize the gathering of fire for an enemy patrol. He really chose the Colorado, which had been bombarded against the USS Francicos. This battleship suffered a lot of damage in the previous duel, and it was just right to use it to gather fire.

In the fire of the three Spanish patrols, the 305 mm twin guns in the bow of the Colorado were hit twice in a row within three minutes, and they were directly declared scrapped.

More shells still landed on the sides of both sides. After the Colorado's forward main gun was destroyed, three more armor-piercing shells were chiseled into its sideboard, one of which opened a large hole in the bow. The other shot hit the main armor belt of the hull, which, although unable to penetrate, still caused the armor to crack and knock out a gap of several square meters.

Another shell pierced the Colorado's upper armor belt, and after splitting the 6-inch upper armor, the huge shell exploded near a twin 152mm secondary gun, and then the raging flames and shrapnel destroyed the fragile protection near the hoisting channel.

A fire dragon rolled through the passage, and despite the fire doors in the ammunition depot, it ignited the picric high-explosive shells that had accumulated inside the passage and on the gun emplacements. Then I saw that a large piece of the Rurik's sideline was suddenly torn off by a huge explosion, and steel, flames, gunsmoke, and minced meat erupted in an instant, and the entire battleship was shaken like chaff by such a strong explosion.

The massive influx of seawater has tilted the hull about 5 degrees. Several steam pipes also burst under the blows of various shells. Colorado's speed has dropped dramatically, and its maximum speed can only remain at about 11 knots.

This is really a feng shui turn, and now it is the turn of the Spanish side to fight the water dogs.

"Kill the Colorado!"

With the order of Colonel Ramos, the three ships were more powerful.

Among them, a 254-mm shell from Columbus officially pronounced the fate of the Colorado. The shell penetrated the 6-inch armor belt at the stern of the ship and shattered the Colorado's wheelhouse, so that the Colorado, which had lost two-thirds of the firepower of the fighting flanks, was completely out of control, and slowly floated on the surface of the sea like a dead fish under the action of its own power and ocean currents. He can't go back, and even if he lets it go, it will be sent into the depths of the ocean by a destroyer.

At this time, there were only 5 of the 10 ships on both sides on patrol, which was really bloody.

Of course, the bloody battles of the patrol formations were fierce, and the battleships were not bad on their side.

Compared with the direct movement fighting dog fighting method of the patrol, the battleship is much more rigid, and of course, the Turin class also occupies some advantages by virtue of its speed.

The 330mm guns and 203mm guns of the American battle formations, and the 356mm guns and 152mm guns of the Spanish battlefleet spat deadly flames at each other incessantly. Both sides are attacking with all their might, and attacking supremacy is the only option for both sides.

With veterans of ten years with battleships, the Spanish fleet achieved more effective hits. The Massachusetts, which was bombarded by the battleship Empress Isabel, in just twenty minutes. At least 5 hits from a 356mm gun! One of them directly turned a twin 203 mm turret into a flaming flare, while the other 356 mm blasted the barrel of a 330 mm gun in two, and the rest hit the upper deck. Beat the 3 4-inch guns and numerous 6-pounder guns on the side line into piles of scrap metal!

The situation of the Indiana in the back is not very good, because the freeboard is low, and every shell that hits the side of the hull will greatly lead to water ingress, and as a low-freeboard battleship, the small reserve buoyancy directly determines that it is very sensitive to water ingress, as more and more shells open one opening after another in the side chord.

The first real American battleship has already tilted to the right, and its speed has been gradually reduced to about 13 knots! But fortunately, the firepower is okay, but a twin 203mm turret has been knocked out. At the same time, almost all 57-mm guns were lost. The twin 330-mm guns on the aft deck were not destroyed, but had to temporarily stop firing due to water ingress.

As for the third Oregon, it is still in pleasant shooting training while no one is taking care of it.

On the Spanish side, the situation of Empress Isabel and Isabel II was relatively good, except for the inevitable fire accident, the loss of armament was the destruction of two 152mm twin turrets of the Empress Isabel, and the destruction of a 152 mm twin turret on the Isabel II. In addition, the hit on the hull caused a certain degree of water ingress, especially a 330 mm shell that hit the middle of the hull, which cracked the connection of the entire armor belt, and a crack with an area of about 2 square meters caused a large amount of water into the hull, and the destruction of the ship type also increased the resistance of the battleship, and slowing down was necessary.

The two Turin-class and the three Indiana-class also played superiority, which was a result that no one expected.

"If I had known that this was the case, I should have fought a direct battle with the US Navy."

Lieutenant General Sedra looked at the situation in front of him with some remorse at this time. Not only him, but no one thought that the level of the first battleship of the United States was so stretched, and these two or three could fight back.

Well, in fact, the main reason for this, in addition to the design performance of the battleship, is also the human factor. For example, in terms of the performance of the battleship, if the combat effectiveness of the Turin class is calculated in 100 points. Then the Indiana class has only 85 points. Of course, this is only a comparison of the performance of the battleship.

Everyone knows that a battleship requires the cooperation of many personnel, and only the more skilled the personnel, the more they can give full play to the performance of the battleship. In this regard, the officers and men of the three U.S. Navy ships on the Indiana-class ship have only been on board for three years at most. Moreover, in the past three years, they have not experienced any tempering of war, and they can only play 80% of the performance of the battleship at most.

On the Turin-class side, the ships are all elites who have been tempered by several battles, and they can bring out 120% of the Turin-level combat effectiveness.

With such a plus-and-subtract calculation, it is also very reasonable that the three Indiana-class ships are at a disadvantage.

Of course, according to common sense, although they are at a disadvantage, the losses of the three Indiana-class battleships are not large, and they can continue to fight with the Spanish formation for 300 rounds.

However, at this time, there was an accident on the battlefield, a 356-mm shell fired from the Empress Isabel hit the deck of the Massachusetts, accompanied by a sharp crash and the sound of twisting and tearing of the steel plates, the twin 8-inch gun mount on the side of the Massachusetts was torn apart by the 356-mm armor-piercing shell. Hundreds of kilograms of shells crashed directly into the raising channel under the 8-inch gun emplacement! Blows the bomber inside into a pile of twisted metal, which is detonated along with the shells and projectile packs on it.

The first explosion was followed by a loud bang, and an orange fireball burst out of it! The tremendous energy tore the entire front of the turret to shreds, and the upper 8-inch turret was also distorted. Then thick smoke and flames spread in the front of the battleship, and flames more than ten meters high rose into the air. To add insult to injury, the Americans did not follow the operational requirements. The intensity of the intense fighting, which made the Americans nervous, forgot to close the fire doors of the ammunition depot section during transmission. Then an even larger fireball burst out, and the ammunition depot was detonated.

The USS Massachusetts was blasted open a huge gap, and the raging sea water poured violently into the hold. In just 10 minutes, the Massachusetts was filled with nearly a thousand tons of seawater. At this time, the Massachusetts was unusually dangerous, it had tilted 15 degrees to the right, and due to the influx of seawater, the speed of the Massachusetts was reduced to 10 knots, but fortunately the power compartment was not affected, otherwise the Massachusetts would have died.

"Get out of the Massachusetts quickly! The USS Oregon was ordered to take its place. ”

Seeing the desolate appearance of the Massachusetts, the startled Rear Admiral Samplin hurriedly asked the Massachusetts to evacuate.

And after heavy damage to one of the opponent's warships, the confidence of the Spanish battleship formation increased greatly. I want to continue to chase after the victory, and make persistent efforts.

"Aim at the enemy Indiana, and we'll sink them."

Following the orders of Vice Admiral Sedra, the two Turin-class battleships aimed all their guns at the Indiana, which was in the lead.

Everything was so skillful, ranging and then half a salvo was illuminated, and after forming a crash, it switched from slow to fast fire. The roar of eight 14-inch naval guns resounded throughout the battlefield, like the horn of the Doomsday War, which made people's hearts palpitate. The Indiana, in the lead, was enveloped by an oval-shaped drop zone, and after the collapse was over, there was a near-miss, and a 14-inch shell hit the stern.

This is a high-explosive shell, because of the problems with the angles of both sides, it is difficult to penetrate the main armor belt even with armor-piercing shells at large angles of incidence. The shell successfully tore through the unprotected zone at the stern, opened a large hole of more than ten square meters at the stern, and then drilled into the hull.

Along with the activation of the fuse, more than twenty kilograms of explosives were detonated in the hull. A firestorm swept across the stern of the ship. With the impact of the explosion, the cracked steel plates, bracket beams, etc., turned the entire stern of the ship into a purgatory, and a bright yellow fire dragon soared into the sky, billowing smoke rising from the stern to obscure the firing boundary of the stern cannon.

While the Americans were still frightened by the blow just now, another 14-inch shell fell from the sky, and because of the angle of incidence, this shell still hit the stern.

"From my vantage point, I could see a fireball moving across the stern sideline at high speed. The shell may not have hit the target directly, or it may have grazed the side of the ship. A huge fireball then rose over the water on the starboard side of the hull. Unexpectedly, the damage to the hull from this shell was greater than from a shell that hit the hull directly, and the whole ship shook a little, followed by a slight tilt to the right. A large amount of seawater poured into the hull of the ship through the blasted hole. ”

Afterwards, Leffel recorded the second hit in his report.

At this time, the Indiana was already in an extremely dangerous situation, and two 14-inch shells hit the stern of the ship, causing a significant reduction in speed, although not as bad as the Massachusetts, but definitely not much better.

In the battle of battleships and loadouts, the Spanish side had the advantage, and the two Venetian-class loadouts that had made great sacrifices were at a disadvantage. Although the armored cruiser is superior to the protective cruiser in terms of firepower and armor, if the number is at an absolute disadvantage, then the side that is beaten will definitely be the patrol.

And the two Venetian-class cruisers are a good proof of this, and the tigers are also afraid of wolves.

In the exchange of fire with a protective cruiser, the two Venetian-class cruisers suffered heavy losses in just over half an hour.

The Duke of Ulloa (Venice) was destroyed with two 254-mm guns, along with four 152-mm guns and several 57-mm guns. In addition to the artillery losses, the hull of the Duke of Ulloa was also a mess, with a lot of armor plates having fallen off and even some bullet holes left on it.

As for the Marquis de Venaditto (Brescia), it was no better than the Duke of Ulloa. In addition to the broken barrel of one 254-mm main gun, three 152-mm guns and several 57-mm guns were lost. In addition, the second chimney of the Marquis de Vinadito was also broken, and the smoke from the loss of restraint seriously affected the firing of the rear main gun. As for the hull, it is also the same as the Duke of Ulloa, it is scattered and not miserable.

Of course, for this group of opponents, the two ships are also fighting back hard. Among them, the Philadelphia and the San Francisco were hit by 254 mm guns, and after losing 4 152 mm guns, they did not dare to get too close.