I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 410 Fishing Law Enforcement
Although individual weapons are important, the real king of war must be artillery.

Today's artillery has a longer range and greater power than before. Relatively speaking, the requirements for artillery are decreasing.

In the past, all artillerymen were scientists, and they were all good at angles, ballistics, surveying, and distance. It was not easy to train a qualified artilleryman.

Nowadays, artillery shells have fixed charges, and there are more range-measuring methods. There are special instruments that can be used to measure range.

It doesn't matter if the measurement is not accurate. Fire two rounds first to see where they hit before making adjustments. Anyway, Amur artillery shells are abundant and not as valuable as the Japanese army. One shot is less than one shot.

However, Peter did not have much time to become familiar with the battleships. Another result of the Battle of Vladivostok was that it strengthened the determination of the Pacific Fleet to break through.

After Arthur's Fortress was surrounded, Nicholas ordered Alexeyev to wait for an opportunity to break out of the siege and leave Arthur's Fortress for Vladivostok.

After Makarov's death, the commander of the Pacific Fleet was concurrently appointed by former Chief of Staff Withoeft.

Witthoeft made the same mistake as Kuropatkin. He was a qualified staff officer who could formulate appropriate tactics, but he was not an excellent commander.

Witthoeft has been holding back on the grounds that the enemy is strong and he is weak, and is waiting for reinforcements.

The "Letvizan" was the first to be heavy, and it took a full two months to tow it back to the dock. Until the end of August, the repair work had not been completed.

Witthoeft had no choice but to order overtime work to carry out emergency repairs on the "Leetwezan".

After receiving the news from the scout ship, Dongxiang led the first team to set off.

9月11号凌晨3点，太平洋舰队的6艘战列舰和4艘巡洋舰，以及8艘驱逐舰和一艘医院船编队出发，离开亚瑟港。

The Siberian fleet didn't even have a single battleship, and it was able to defeat the Sixty-Sixth Fleet in Vladivostok and flee. This shows that the Sixty-Sixth Fleet was not as strong as Witthoft thought.

At 13:30, Dongxiang finally lost his patience and took the initiative to fire on the Pacific Fleet flagship "Crown Prince".

Although the Pacific Fleet lost the "Petropavlovsk", after all, it still has 6 battleships. In terms of the number of main guns, it still maintains an advantage over the 4th Fleet, which only has battleships left.

Therefore, the Pacific Fleet can actually use only 4 battleships.

In fact, Witthoeft's reasons are not entirely excuses.

During the torpedo night, the "Kronprinz" suffered minor damage and was quickly repaired.

On September 9, the emergency repair work of the "Letvizan" was basically completed and it can accompany the fleet in operations.

As soon as the fleet left the port, it was discovered by the reconnaissance ship of the combined fleet.

At 12 noon, the Pacific Fleet and the Combined Fleet met.

On September 9th, the Pacific Fleet spent a day clearing the waterway in preparation for the breakout on September 10th.

At this time, Dongxiang did not realize that the Pacific Fleet was trying to escape, but thought that the Pacific Fleet was fighting a decisive battle with the Combined Fleet.

After the Battle of Vladivostok, Alexeyev ordered Witkhft to break out immediately.

After the Battle of Vladivostok, the reason that the enemy is strong and we are weak is no longer appropriate.

After the Battle of Vladivostok, in order to guard against the sneak attack of the Siberian fleet, Togo deployed the second team in the Tsushima Strait, and he personally led the first team to settle on Round Island, which was only 40 kilometers away from Arthur Military Port.

In order to seize a favorable position, the naval battle did not break out immediately. Both fleets were looking for a more suitable position.

If the Pacific Fleet breaks through, it will have to leave the "Kronprinz" and "Letvizan" in Port Arthur, which have not yet been repaired. This is something Witthoeft cannot accept.

The two most outstanding battleships of the Pacific Fleet, the "Kronprinz" and "Letvizan", caused heavy damage to the Japanese army during the torpedo night, and have been undergoing repairs during this period.

At this time, the two fleets were about 9 kilometers apart. Even Mao couldn't hit them if they fired at this distance.

The two fleets fought against each other for 15 minutes, but found nothing.

The combined fleet adjusted again.

However, the Pacific Fleet seized the opportunity and turned around directly towards Vladivostok.

By the time Dongxiang realized that the Pacific Fleet did not want to fight decisively at all, but wanted to escape, the Pacific Fleet had already run far away.

Dongxiang still has the last hope at this time. If Uemura Hikonoshima reacts quickly, the second team still has hope of blocking the Pacific Fleet.

Fate played a trick on the Pacific Fleet.

The Combined Fleet did not pursue for too long and actually caught up with the Pacific Fleet.

Due to time constraints, the repairs of "Letvezan" were not thorough. Not long after the high-speed sailing, "Letvezan" began to take in water, and the entire fleet was slowed down by "Letvezan".

Dongxiang made no mistake this time and shot directly at close range.

After actually entering the shooting range, the gap between the gunners on both sides finally became apparent.

Not long after the war started, the combined fleet flagship "Mikasa" was hit multiple times. The rear main gun was completely jammed, and the front main gun lost its steering ability. Only one can be slightly adjusted up and down, and the other one was also jammed.

The "Fuji" was not much better, and a main gun in the forward turret was also unusable.

The front and rear bridges of "Shikishima" were blown up, and one main gun was also lost.

Due to distance reasons, more than one-third of the secondary batteries that could participate in the battle were also lost.

Only then did Togo realize the gap between the Japanese Navy and the established Imperial Navy.

Fate played another joke on the Pacific Fleet at this time.

Just when Togo wanted to retreat, a 12-inch shell hit the bridge of the Pacific Fleet flagship "Crown Prince". Fleet Commander Withoeft and all Pacific Fleet officers on the bridge were killed.

To make matters worse, the steering wheel of the "Crown Prince" was damaged, the direction failed, and it deviated directly from the course.

At this time, the flag slogan of the "Crown Prince" was "Follow me", and all ships of the Pacific Fleet followed the "Crown Prince". The "Crown Prince" plunged into the queue of the Pacific Fleet, causing chaos in the formation.

Dongxiang was stunned to see this sudden change, this was God's will!

After losing command, the breakout plan completely failed, and some ships fled to neutral ports and were disarmed.

Most of the warships returned to Port Arthur, the guns were removed to strengthen land defenses, the sailors were organized into defense forces, and nothing was done since.

After Peter received the order to break out of the Pacific Fleet, he also deployed all his main forces to assist the Pacific Fleet in evacuation.

Almost at the same time that the Pacific Fleet encountered the main force of the Combined Fleet, the Siberian Fleet encountered the second fleet led by Uemura Hikonoshima in the Tsushima Strait.

The second battle group is composed of armored cruisers, with a total of six heavy cruisers. Their strength is not much different from that of the Siberian Fleet.

The officers and soldiers of the Siberian Fleet have not yet become familiar with the performance of the battleships, and they are only superficial and have no combat capabilities.

Therefore, Peter did not take the initiative to attack, but waited for the Pacific Fleet to appear, and then cooperated with the Pacific Fleet internally and externally.

Just wait until 2: pm.

"The Pacific Fleet's breakout plan failed and has withdrawn to Port Arthur."

Fleet Chief of Staff Kzhakov held the latest telegram received with a solemn expression.

"how is this possible?"

Peter was in disbelief. He had no idea what was happening.

Witthoeft's biggest mistake when he returned was that he did not determine the command sequence, which led to the annihilation of his headquarters and the loss of command of the entire fleet.

After the battle between the Pacific Fleet and the Combined Fleet, Witthoeft did not notify the Siberian Fleet.

After the "Letwezan" took on water, Witthoeft did not give up the "Letwezan" decisively. Instead, the entire fleet stopped and waited for the "Letwezan" to be drained. This decision directly ruined the Pacific Fleet. .

Witthoeft's death was not a pity, and the failure of the Pacific Fleet to break out was the heaviest blow to the Russian Empire since the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War.

After knowing the situation, Peter said nothing and directly ordered the fleet to return.

George was not surprised by the result.

Since the outbreak of the war, the Russian Empire has made almost every mistake it can.

So it’s not that luck doesn’t favor Russia. Luck gives equal opportunities to everyone. The Japanese caught it, but Russia didn’t.

At this time, George did not know that the warships had returned to Port Arthur, and even the guns had been removed to strengthen the land defense.

If George knew, he would probably vomit three liters of blood.

Although "Letvizan" was seriously flooded and its speed was seriously affected, it still struggled to return to Port Arthur.

The "Kronprinz" was not sunk and escaped to a German-controlled port where it was disarmed.

Compared with the United Fleet, the Pacific Fleet's losses were actually not serious, and it was completely possible to reorganize the army and fight again.

But the Pacific Fleet directly dismantled all the guns——

Even if the Pacific Fleet cannot shrink, the Combined Fleet cannot concentrate its forces against the Siberian Fleet.

I’m actually not afraid now.

Even if Dongxiang repaired the "Mikasa", he would not dare to come to Vladivostok.

Unless Dongxiang has a way to deal with submarines.

The biggest problem now is that the submarine's legs are too short to reach Nagasaki.

In fact, this is not impossible to solve.

When Peter returned to Vladivostok from East India, he used a supply ship to solve the supply problem, and then returned to Vladivostok smoothly.

The supply of submarines can also be solved by supply ships.

So on September 9, Uemura Hikonoshima, who led the second team to guard the Tsushima Strait, was surprised to find the supply ship of the Siberian Fleet parked on the sea less than 21 kilometers away from the Busan Port.

Uemura Hikouchi was very angry, but he did not dare to act rashly.

Because next to the supply ship, there are also the light cruisers "Wolf" and "Fox" of the Siberian Fleet.

The light cruisers of the Siberian Fleet are as fierce in firepower as the Japanese armored cruisers.

If the combined fleet also dispatches light cruisers, they will probably not be able to defeat the light cruisers of the Siberian fleet.

If a heavy patrol is dispatched.

Who can guarantee that there are no submarines under the sea?

But allowing the supply ship of the Siberian Fleet to park there in such a grand manner would be a slap in the face to the Combined Fleet.

After thinking about it, Uemura Hikonoshima sent a mixed fleet led by the armored cruiser "Asami" to directly seize the supply ship of the Siberian Fleet.

Supply ships aren't stupid either.

As soon as the armored cruiser left port, the supply ship ran away.

No need to ask, there must be a submarine next to the port, otherwise the supply ship would not be able to run so fast.

(End of this chapter)