1825 My New Daming

Chapter 124 hit! (Second update, call to subscribe)

Zhuge Weidao held on to the binoculars tightly, and there were a few black spots that were so fast that they were almost invisible in the lens, whizzing towards the Lushun. The flight time of ten seconds or eight seconds seemed very short, but in anticipation The moment when the enemy's shells were empty seemed extremely long.

"boom boom"

The first wave of artillery shells fired by the British and Japanese formations fell. Of course, none of them hit, but one of the shells unexpectedly landed at a position 50 meters from the starboard side of the Lushun, followed by a violent explosion. A water column more than ten meters high rose into the sky, and the broken waves spread to the deck of the Lushun.

Looking at the water column and spray, you can know that the shells cannot be 4-inch or 5-inch shells, at least they are also royal-level 13.5-inch shells!Moreover, the warhead of the shell should not be filled with black powder or nitrocellulose, but the famous picric acid, otherwise it would not be so sensitive, and it would explode immediately if it hit the water!
If this hits.
Whether it was Zhuge Weidao, the officers and soldiers of the Ming navy on the deck, on the bridge, and on the observation post of the Lushun, or the officers and soldiers of the other three Ming warships following the Lushun, they were all hit by this "almost" The Lushun's shells were taken aback.

Although these people are the best naval officers and soldiers who have received the best education and training, their actual combat experience is nothing more than fighting a pirate and chasing a ship.

Compared with that kind of battle, the real confrontation between steam warships is the real decisive battle at sea!

The scene of dozens of cannons blasting and firing salvos was like a landslide!
Just now, Zhuge Weidao, who seemed to have a plan in his chest, was so nervous at this moment that he couldn't speak.However, Military Adviser Zhuge still had to put on his airs. He still habitually maintained an impeccable standing posture, held up his binoculars, and watched intently the second round of salvo fired by the British fleet ahead.In the eyepiece, sparkling fireballs lit up one after another, and several black spots roared towards them, and finally landed on the sea surface fifty to one hundred meters away, blasting out several jets of water that soared into the sky.

still miss
"Haha, the British Royal Navy's artillery skills are not very good." Amidst the rumble of artillery, Zhuge Weidao's Chief Staff Officer Wang Wen was the first to react, licked his mouth, and seemed to feel that it was not enjoyable enough, and said with a smile : "Looking at it, it can be a little closer."

"Closer?"

Zhuge took a deep breath for Dao, and then checked the distance with his eyes, it seemed that he was already very close, and the next round of salvo by the British would not.
"boom boom"

Raindrops of shells fell again, and dozens of thick water columns rose again from the starboard side of the Lushun cruiser. Among them, the closest one to the Lushun seemed to be 30 meters away!
However, the Lushun still led the Vladivostok, Xinchang, and Xincheng to advance at a high speed of 24 knots, but did not fire a single shot.The reason for not firing a single shot was, of course, to maintain speed.Because the Lushun class also means that there are many small guns on the ship. If the tactic of salvoing from one side is adopted, there are 10 155mm rapid-fire guns that can fire at the same time.The huge recoil force will push the ship sideways. If the speed does not slow down, the hull will shake from a distance. Not only is it very dangerous, but the accuracy of the hit will also be greatly reduced.

And in order to grab the T position in the fastest time, the cruisers and destroyers of the four Ming Dynasty can only rush forward with their heads covered!

"Is this to grab the T word?"

George Elliot is not stupid, he immediately guessed the opponent's intentions - although naval battles in this era have two routes of facing the enemy with the bow and facing the enemy with the side, the Ming Navy obviously bet on the route of facing the enemy with the side .Therefore, Ming's warships have no ramming angle, and the main guns are arranged on the centerline of the bow and stern, and the speed is generally high, which is very suitable for grabbing the T position.

Although the speed of the British fleet was nearly 10 knots slower than that of the opponent, it was impossible to grab the T-shaped formation, but George Elliot would not give up the T-shaped formation easily.

"Left rudder 15!" After predicting that the opponent was about to turn left, George Elliot said "turn first" as a respect, and turned the rudder to the left first!
With his turn, Zhuge Weidao couldn't turn left.Because Zhuge turned left for Dao, he had to say goodbye to George Elliot's formation.Moreover, the Lushun cannot turn to the left, otherwise the formation would have to be taken to Osaka.

"Right rudder 15!"

Zhuge Weidao saw that the lead ship of the British fleet started to turn left, so he had to order to turn right, preparing to use his faster speed to get ahead of the British fleet.

"Left rudder 15!" George Elliot soon discovered that the Ming Fleet formation was also turning with him, so he gave the order to continue turning right without hesitation.

After two left rudders 15, the course of the British fleet was facing the Pacific Ocean.And the distance between them and the bright ship formation has also been shortened to 4000 meters. This is already the distance at which the 6-inch rapid-fire gun and the 155mm rapid-fire gun can exert their best power!
If the Ming naval formation continues to adopt the tactic of not firing and running at full speed to grab the T position, then the 6-inch secondary guns of the British fleet will show their talents!

Moreover, the British fleet now has the advantage of the inner circle, and can use the method of circling on the sea to keep the T position. It has to be said that the Royal Navy of the British Empire is not weak.

"Sir, it seems that we can't get the T position, so let's slow down and start the artillery battle!" Wang Wen has already made a judgment at this time, "The formation of the British fleet is relatively long. If you circle the sea, the ships behind the formation will The artillery will be blocked by our own ships in front, and it is not easy to use. But we can still focus on bombarding the Sovereign class."

"What's the speed?" Zhuge Weidao asked.

"Reduce it to 16 knots." Wang Wen said, "In this way, we can still force the enemy to keep turning left with the posture of trying to seize the T position."

"Okay!" Zhuge Weidao nodded, "Let's put a semaphore on the Vladivostok!"

"Yes, sir."

Almost at the same time, Li Chenghui in the bridge of the Vladivostok also knew that this T position was a bit difficult to grab.

"Sir, Lushun requested to abandon the T position tactics and slow down to 16 knots to start shelling!" The signal officer's voice sounded at this moment.

Li Chenghui nodded: "Slow down, 16 knots, target, hit me hard at the sovereign level!"

On the bridge of the Lushun, Zhuge Weidao also issued almost the same order: "Target, monarch level. Hit it hard!"

The gunner who received the order immediately raised the phone and ordered loudly: "Target No. [-], monarch level! Focus fire!"

There are telephones on each gun position of the Lushun class, and the gunner can directly give orders to each gun. When his order is transmitted to each gun position through electric current, all 155mm cannons that can be aimed at the battleship Revenge have already been fired. Point the muzzle at the target.The squad leaders of each artillery squad immediately gave the order to fire, and the gunner pressed the firing button.The 24 155mm guns on the Lushun, Vladivostok, Xinchang, and Xincheng burst into roars almost simultaneously, and orange-red fireballs bloomed from each muzzle, and the huge recoil pushed more than 5000 tons of guns Lushun and Vladivostok moved several meters to the other side, and the hulls also swayed violently, making Zhuge Weidao in the bridge feel as if he had been pushed violently, and almost fell down. His hand was already on the railing, and he quickly grabbed it firmly to stabilize his body.

And Zhuge Weidao held the binoculars in his other hand and raised it in front of his eyes. It took only a few seconds from the launch of the shell to the target 4000 meters away. Numerous jets of water exploded around the Revenge, making the most powerful warship in the British Empire seem to have fallen into a violent storm.

But before the water mist from the first round of shelling dispersed, just 20 seconds later, 24 155mm guns fired a second round of salvo again!

Although this speed does not reach the combat rate of fire of 4 rounds per minute, it is still faster than the rate of fire of the British ship's secondary guns on the opposite side.And more importantly, the Revenge and the Indomitable, which are currently in the best positions in the British fleet, have few secondary guns at all. Among them, the Revenge has only 10 6-inch guns, and only 5 on one side.

The Indomitable was even worse, with only 6 doors, and because the Indomitable was an old ship that was launched during the Napoleonic Wars, there were no 6-inch rapid-fire guns at that time, so a 20-pound rear-loading gun (87mm) was installed. With the 6-inch rapid-fire guns, the Indomitable was modified and replaced with 6 6-inch rapid-fire guns.

So now the Sovereign and Indomitable have only 8 6-inch guns that can fight the Lushun, and 3 of them are semi-rapid-fire guns, and the firepower density is not comparable to that of their opponents.Although the three British second-class cruisers had many 3-inch and 7-inch rapid-fire and semi-rapid-fire guns, they were a bit out of reach of the Lushun, so they could only use part of their firepower on the other three Ming warships.Once the firepower is dispersed, the probability of hitting is naturally lower.

Therefore, an unexpected scene appeared on the sea. The British and Japanese formations, which clearly had the advantage in terms of military strength, were at a disadvantage in terms of firepower output.They can only concentrate at most 8 6-inch guns, 4 13.5-inch guns, and 2 18-inch guns, a total of 14 cannons to bombard the Lushun, while the Ming army can concentrate 24 cannons to bombard the Vengeance, and the latter's rate of fire is still Much faster!
Seeing the enemy's shells raining down like raindrops, while the shells from his own side were very few, George Elliot immediately felt that something was wrong. The ships of the British Empire seemed to be "wrongly built". What should we do?
Before he could think of a way, the floor under his feet suddenly jumped like a magnitude [-] earthquake. He was knocked to the ground when he couldn't stand still, his eyes caught stars, and the glass windows of the command tower were also smashed. It was shattered, and fiery air waves rushed in from the window, carrying broken glass and flying violently inside the bridge, and cut many officers and soldiers in the command tower, and screams rang out one after another.

"It was hit?"

As soon as this idea came to George Elliot's mind, the bridge floor under his body shook violently again, and a huge fire suddenly erupted outside the bridge, and then it was hot and choking. Farm smoke pours in from the window
(End of this chapter)