The Dutch were adamantly opposed to the withdrawal to Australia at first, but both the British and Australian sides wanted to concentrate the remaining fleets on "wider seas".

To stay in Java is to wait for death, to stay in the port will be blown up and sunk by planes, and to go out of the port to meet will be hung by battleships.

When we go to Australia, with a long coastline and a wide sea area to rely on, the situation will not be so passive.

Despite the reluctance of the Dutch, they finally compromised. Amsterdam sent instructions for the entire fleet to withdraw to Australia.

This mainly involves the presence of power and the right to speak, and if the army is stubbornly resisted and the whole army is annihilated, then the Netherlands will forever lose the qualification to speak and fight for rights in the affairs of the Far East.

The weak Netherlands no longer had the resources and energy to build a fleet from scratch, and the Dutch East Indo-Dutch had long been self-reliant in its defense problems.

In contrast, although it is very disgraceful to flee before fighting, it is indeed the wisest choice on a macro level.

The officers and men of the fleet reacted differently, and most of the sailors did not have such a high consciousness, but only felt that their uneasy hearts were relaxed at once; The officers, on the other hand, were more frustrated and felt that it was a disgrace.

Lieutenant General Herfrich clearly belonged to the latter group, and as a Batavia-born man, he regarded the Dutch East Indo-Dus as his homeland, which, combined with his status as an admiral, made him feel ashamed and depressed by his abandonment of Java.

But now, the sudden encounter has instantly reversed the state of mind of these two types of people.

The officers and men who were ignited with fighting spirit had blazing eyes and looked extremely excited.

And those officers and soldiers who thought they could avoid the war were much more depressed, and they sighed in their hearts - they couldn't avoid it.

The captain of the destroyer Iverson, who was always energetic, excitedly ordered: "God has given us this opportunity, we must prove the glory of the Dutch navy, turn to 115, and the main guns will be unified to control the firing!" ”

Although one of their own destroyers had been smashed into a floating campfire, the other coalition destroyers did not back down and bravely rushed towards them.

With only a little over 3,000 meters apart, the destroyer Iverson confronted it head-on, dodging incoming torpedoes while using her 120mm guns to bombard the nearest Kirijo.

"Boom! Rumble! ”

Different from the similar design of the French, the large-tonnage super destroyer Tongcheng also has a certain protection capability, its battle room can resist the vertical incidence of five-inch naval guns at a certain distance, and the power compartment can withstand three-inch naval guns, with the world's destroyers deserve the top protection.

The first shell hit the rear of the bridge, and the 120mm shell usually pierced through the thin steel plate and exploded inside, killing several of the Ming sailors on the spot.

The second and third shells hit the bow quarters, and there were no casualties as the sailors were in battle positions.

The Iverson quickly turned around, exposed its flank, and fired a torpedo as it opened fire with all its main guns.

Like a fish in the sea, the six torpedoes splashed into the water, and then swam forward at high speed.

"Watch the enemy ship thunder!"

With the help of flares, the lookout post of the Tongcheng clearly witnessed the scene of the enemy firing torpedoes in front of them, and immediately issued an early warning.

"Left full rudder!"

"Yes! Left full rudder! ”

"Left rudder, full!"

When the Tongcheng was dodging the incoming torpedo, a dull loud noise suddenly came from the opposite side.

At this time, the flare burned out and everyone could not see the situation in the distance, but only a few seconds later, another round of flares lit up again in mid-air.

I saw that the sky-high water column set off by the explosion of the 512mm ship's torpedo was fading, but countless metal fragments reflecting the brilliance fell one after another like scattered flowers of the heavenly maiden.

The British destroyer Forester was the unlucky one who was hit, because the battle was so fierce that the Royal Navy officers and men did not fail to detect the torpedo track in time, and by the time they realized it, it was too late.

The power of more than 300 kilograms of Qin's mixed explosives was terrifying, and the port side of the Forester was violently torn open with a large hole five or six meters wide, and the power compartment was almost completely lost, and the power was lost in an instant.

The shockwave and high-energy bubbles ignited some flammable materials, causing a fire in the middle of her hull.

The captain, who fell in the violent tremor, was helped to his feet, and he said loudly: "Don't rescue, we can't do it, give up this ship!" ”

The sirens swirled and flashed dark red, and one by one the British sailors in life jackets jumped over the railings and into the sea amid the terrible sirens.

", pretty!"

"Cool!"

Less than a quarter of an hour after the start of the battle, two enemy warships were sunk one after another, and the sailors of the Ming army burst into a burst of enthusiastic cheers.

Although the initial battle was unfavorable, the coalition fleet still showed no cowardice, and they knew that there was no point in escaping in this battle - even if they escaped tonight, they would be bombed and sunk by Ming planes tomorrow morning.

At this time, the fleets of both sides had basically clarified the size of the other side, and all the warships of the Ming escort fleet rushed to the scene and participated in the battle one after another.

The BDA coalition forces can roughly determine that this Ming fleet, which met them unexpectedly, is not the main force, but only a detachment fleet, and it seems that it may be escorting the landing force?

The chaotic and hasty encounter affected their judgment, and with the language barrier between the British and the Dutch, it took a while for Lieutenant General Herfrich to determine the current situation.

From the previous to the present, the units that have been engaged in the war have only been the first wave of the coalition fleet, and the fleet that has withdrawn to Australia has been divided into two waves.

Because the Lombok Strait was so narrow that it was difficult to carry out, the first wave of reconnaissance consisted of only five destroyers, but the second wave under Herfrich was different.

The allied fleet consisted of more than 30 ships of various types—2 heavy cruisers, 3 light cruisers, 6 destroyers, 9 minesweepers, 5 minelayers, and 10 torpedo boats.

In comparison, the detachment fleet, which only escorted the Ming landing force, was much weaker.

They consisted only of the heavy cruisers Yinshan, the light cruisers Talamhe and Nujiang, as well as the large destroyers Tongcheng, the standard fleet destroyers Leping, Luxi, Pingyao, and Tangyin, as well as several minesweepers.

In the face of such an opponent, Vice Admiral Herfrich made a decisive decision and was determined to defeat this not strong Ming fleet and fight a bloody road to Australia!

He then ordered the remnants of the three destroyers, which had been engaged from the beginning to the present, to fight and withdraw, and the second wave of the fleet to adjust their formation and join the battle.

Four British destroyers in front and two Dutch destroyers on the left, turned into a trapezoidal formation and launched a resolute charge;

Three light cruisers followed at a slow pace, providing cover;

The two heavy cruisers accelerated to seize the T-shaped cross-head position and carry forward the superiority of gunfire.

"Damn! Fix fix! It's a heavy cruiser! Heavy cruisers! ”

"Misidentification!"

The Ming fleet actually regarded the Royal Australian Navy's Canberra Heavy Cruiser as a light cruiser, and all of them were not worried at first - friend and foe were heavy cruisers, and there was nothing to fear.

After this miscalculation was corrected, some officers involuntarily panicked.

"I'll go, it's not good."

"The enemy's heavy patrol is turning and speeding up, and they want to grab the artillery position!"

However, Shen Mingxun, the captain of the Yinshan and the commander of the fleet, was surprisingly calm, and just said calmly: "Pass my order, and the troop transport fleet will immediately turn around and leave at full speed; The ship turned to the ninetieth and advanced three, and the armor-piercing shells suppressed the enemy's heavy patrol; The destroyers shrank their positions and prepared to be pinned down by a re-formation. ”

This easy-going, talkative colonel is a serious noble direct line, when the second son of Zhaoping Bo, although the people around him do not despise him much, but his temperament is also difficult to trust.

Shen Mingxun, who is now Chinese New Year's Eve Jiu, is in a state where he has played enough tricks when he was young, and now he is tired of most things, and now it seems that only the fight between blood and fire can arouse his interest.

A telegram for help has already been sent, and the 24th Shelling Fleet is far away, and it will definitely not be able to catch up, and the only hope is the 25th Air Attack Fleet.

Until then, the first task of the escort detachment was to stall for time, both to allow the transports to escape and to get reinforcements to annihilate the enemy in front of them.

It was 4:03 a.m. at this moment, and after learning of the unexpected situation, the chief officer of the 25th Air Raid Fleet did not hesitate to dispatch troops to rush to support.

Two aircraft carriers could not provide support for the time being, but two battle cruisers were just right.

So the Yongyuan and Yuanxing battle cruisers immediately broke away from the fleet and rushed to Bali with three destroyers.

Both warcruisers overloaded their boilers to reach a top speed of more than 32 knots at maximum steam pressure and temperature.

The bow of the S-type broke through the dark sea, set off white bow waves on both sides, and sped away towards the destination of more than 100 kilometers to the southeast......

【Admiral-class destroyer > Kent-class heavy cruiser】

[Schematic diagram of the engagement]

And in the warring seas, it didn't take long for this narrow naval battle to enter the white-hot stage.

Both sides were reluctant to approach the narrow Lombok Strait, so they invariably turned north and were in a state of simultaneous warfare.

At 4:21, the Yinshan, which opened fire from the back, completed the straddle fire ahead of the enemy, and eight 192mm armor-piercing shells fell on the left and right sides of the British Cornwall, splashing eight tall water columns.

But just because you get the shot doesn't mean you're going to get a hit, and a lot of the time it's really a matter of luck.

Just a minute later, a salvo from the HMS Canberra hit the Yinshan, and two 203mm cap-and-semi-armor-piercing shells hit the middle and rear of the hull respectively.

Flames and debris erupted from the breach, looking from a distance like a flickering alcohol blowtorch.

Shen Mingxun reached out and grabbed the table on the side to stabilize his figure, and said lightly: "Report the loss." ”

The ship's mate walked to the side and asked loudly into the microphone.

After a few moments, he walked back and replied aloud, "Tell back!" The No. 4 boiler was shut down and could not be repaired, and the rest was not damaged! ”

At this time, the four twin turrets pointed at the enemy ship completed another reloading, and the fourth salvo was immediately fired under the coordination of the firing commander.

For the adrenaline-pumping officers and men on the front line, the flight time of more than eight seconds of artillery shells was as long as eight minutes, and everyone looked forward to seeing the dazzling light burst out when they hit the enemy ship.

The result of everyone's wishes has really arrived - on the enemy ship in the distance, a large group of firelight suddenly flashed!

"Long live !!"

"Accurate! Looks like it's a turret! ”

One of the eight armor-piercing rounds that had just been fired landed impartially on the B turret of the Cornwall.

The Kent Class Heavy Cruiser was the first Treaty Class Heavy Patrol designed and built by the British, and was contemptuously called the "White Grave" by the Royal Navy officers and sailors because of its weak armor protection.

The turret armor was only a measly 25mm thick, and was as fragile as an eggshell against incoming 192mm armor-piercing shells.

The armor-piercing projectile that drilled into the interior exploded the loaded cartridge and shell, and the huge explosion instantly tore the top of the turret open, and the flames rushed like a furnace.

The glass of the bridge shattered in many places, and many officers and men had their faces bloodied and fell to the floor covered in glass shards.

Thanks to the fact that the silo door is closed, otherwise the Cornwall could be shot into the soul.

The battles between the heavy cruisers came and went, but the destroyers on both sides were different, and the destroyers on both sides were more like brave cavalry waiting for an opportunity to charge.

Six of the BDA's combined destroyers attacked in a left trapezoidal formation, with the British Diana taking the lead and firing torpedoes, followed closely by the Dutch Bankett.

Not to be outdone, the Ming warships returned fire, and the sailors manipulated anti-aircraft guns, main guns, and even anti-aircraft machine guns to fire desperately at the other side.

Countless shells flew over the sea, and torpedoes passed under the sea.

Light or dim flares hang under parachutes and fall slowly, and flying tracer bullets tear through the night with a conspicuous trail.

In the fierce melee, the stern of the destroyer Yuin was unlucky to be hit by two 102mm and one 152mm shells in succession, and the rudder was damaged and the steering was inconvenient.

But she still resolutely rushed forward to engage the enemy ships on the port side in hand-to-hand combat, firing all the torpedoes at a distance of just over a thousand meters.

The Sumatra light cruiser was hit by two Ming destroyers with seven 128mm shells and hundreds of 20.8mm shells, and the bridge was blown to pieces.

Then, the mediocre old battleship crashed into a torpedo fired by the Yuin, losing its combat effectiveness in two violent explosions in a row, and a large amount of water caused her to quickly lean to one side.

After ending the Sumatra, the Yuyin, whose rudder was damaged, tried to turn around, but found that the effect was extremely poor, so it simply boldly rushed forward and inserted itself into the enemy formation.

Although the destroyers of the Ming army were brave, they were still in danger in the face of the BDA coalition forces in a superior position.

At 4:51 a.m., the destroyer Luxi was hit continuously, and only two main guns remained functional; The Yuin disrupted the coalition fleet, but it was also attacked by concentrated fire and turned into a slowly sinking fireship.

Shortly thereafter, a torpedo struck the left front of the Yinshan, nearly ripping off her bow, and the broken shape and pouring water sent her speed down to 15 knots.

At this time, the battle situation fell into a temporary stalemate, and the two sides were inseparable, but there was no pause button for the war, and everyone had no chance to regroup, so they could only see the adjustment of the formation.

The Yinshan had just been hit by a 203mm armor-piercing bullet on the bridge, killing and wounding more than a dozen people in an instant, and the floor was covered with broken fragments and stumps and broken arms, and blood pooled in all directions.

The ship's mate staggered over and said anxiously: "Two more boilers have been stopped!" ”

(End of chapter)