Open an aircraft carrier to fight against Japan

Just as the Zhiyuan ship rotated its muzzle, the two German cruisers launched another salvo. A 150mm high-explosive grenade exploded in front of the Zhiyuan ship's stern gun, and the shrapnel danced like a dancing god of death. Several gunners were shot and killed.

At this time, the two-mounted main guns on the bow had been turned around, the main guns fired, and the shells accurately hit the port side of the cruiser, and one of the cruiser's guns immediately lost its combat effectiveness.

The Zhiyuan ship's main gun has a recoil control mechanism, and its rate of fire reaches 2.5 minutes. Such a rate of fire is already relatively fast among large-caliber artillery, but it still seems to be under the rapid-fire gun of a cruiser. It's too slow, and the speed of the Zhiyuan ship is far behind, so it is difficult to avoid the artillery fire of the opponent's cruiser. The current Zhiyuan ship is like a boxer trapped in a corner. There is no way to retreat, so he can only swing desperately Fist, hoping that the opponent will fall first.

The remaining 150mm main gun of the Zhiyuan ship turned its head and began to attack the German ship. More than a dozen machine guns also poured artillery fire on the German ship. Soon the deck of a German ship caught fire, and the German ship adjusted its artillery. Pitch angle, concentrated firepower to attack the waterline position of the Zhiyuan ship, so a dozen shells hit the waterline heavily, and the sea water began to pour in. The sailors on the German ship thought that the Zhiyuan ship would sink soon, so There was a burst of cheers!

If the Zhiyuan ship was an ordinary cruiser, it would tilt and sink very quickly, but it is a dome cruiser. The so-called dome cruiser means that its hull is not covered with armor like an ironclad ship. The hull is still a wooden structure, but an additional layer of armor is installed above the engine room and ammunition depot. The bottom of the two slopes extends just below the waterline, so that even if the hull near the waterline is damaged, the seawater will be blocked by the armor and will not flood into the hull in large quantities.

At this moment, the Pingyuan ship, which was far behind, finally arrived. The large-caliber artillery of the Pingyuan ship only had one 260mm main gun and two 150mm main guns. The warship posed a threat, and when the German warship saw the arrival of the Pingyuan warship, it did not bother to fight, and quickly sailed out of Jiaozhou Bay.

The previously injured cruiser and the Weisenborg ship with mechanical failure have left the battle. The Zhiyuan ship and the Pingyuan ship were unable to catch up and returned to the temporary port in Jiaozhou Bay.

This confrontation made the German fleet commander Dietrich more confident. He strengthened his previous view. This is a contest between cavalry and artillery. The cavalry can destroy the cannons of the artillery and then leave calmly. Injure the Beiyang Fleet at the right time, and then strive for the greatest benefits for the German Empire at the negotiating table.

So Dietrich reported his thoughts to William II by telegram, and the extremely ambitious William II immediately ordered Dietrich to act cheaply. Although the weak Qing Dynasty was vulnerable, it was like a dying bird. Hedgehog, the Beiyang Fleet is the thorn on its back.

This conflict was called the "Jiaozhou Bay Naval Battle" by later generations. The German government subsequently accused the Qing government of launching an attack on its own warships. The port of Cam Ranh Bay was opened for the German fleet to rest and refuel. The United Kingdom also expressed its willingness to provide the port of Hong Kong for the German warships to rest. Although the Western countries had been at odds before, their attitudes towards dealing with the Qing Dynasty were surprisingly unanimous.

The Qing government also accused the German warships of unprovoked provocations and called on the Western powers to remain neutral.

On November 1894, 11, the Weissenberg ship repaired the mechanical failure of the power system, and the injured cruiser went to Hong Kong to rest. On November 7, the German fleet entered Jiaozhou Bay and bombarded Qingdao, killing 11 civilians and injuring 8. , The Beiyang Fleet was organized to patrol in Jiaozhou Bay.

At 11 o'clock on November 9th, the German fleet found a lot of soot in the northern sky. Dietrich knew that this was because the Beiyang Fleet used inferior coal to burn a lot of soot, and the German fleet was two years ahead of the Beiyang Fleet. Hours found each other.

At 10:30, the German fleet found more and more smoke columns, and the outlines of warships under the smoke columns became clearer and clearer. Dietrich judged that they had found the main force of the Beiyang Fleet, a total of nine warships.

Dietrich discovered that the Beiyang Fleet adopted the "stacked formation of geese". In this formation, five warships were in front and four warships were behind, and the warships behind fell at around 45 degrees behind the previous warship.Dietrich decided to adopt a column tactic, which is convenient for broadside firepower. Since the German ships are generally faster, Dietrich ordered the fleet to adopt a flanking and outflanking tactic, trying to form a partial formation to fight more. Withdrew from the battle after sinking two or three Qing ships.

After 10 minutes, the German fleet completed its formation. At 11 o'clock, Dietrich ordered the fleet to serve meals in advance, and even allowed soldiers to drink a small amount of alcohol and even smoke freely after meals. You must know that the main body of warships in that era was made of wood, and smoking was very likely to cause a fire.

At this time, the Beiyang Fleet finally discovered the German fleet, a total of seven warships.Admiral Ding Ruchang knew that Dingyuan and Zhenyuan, the most combat-capable ships in the fleet, were far short of the 15 knots they were originally designed for because of their long service periods, long-term use of low-quality bituminous coal, and boilers in disrepair. The speed of the opponent's three Brandenburg-class battleships can generally reach 15 knots, not to mention the four faster cruisers.

Ding Ruchang found that the opponent's fleet was in a column, with the side facing his own fleet, heading towards the southeast of his own, knowing that the opponent wanted to outflank him, so Ding Ruchang decided to deflect the bow of the ship to the northeast of his own, and the faster-speed dome armor The cruisers Zhiyuan, Jingyuan, Jiyuan, and Jingyuan rounded to the northeast, forming a siege of the German ship with five warships including Dingyuan and Zhenyuan.

Ding Ruchang hoped to use the artillery power of the Dingyuan and Zhenyuan ships to severely damage one or two enemy ships and force them to withdraw from the battlefield.

In the era of steam power, the formation of naval battles is convenient for the participating parties to display their firepower and increase their survivability, so the decisive battle of the fleet begins when they seize the position.

At 11:[-], Ding Ruchang ordered a meal. After drinking and eating, the decisive battle was coming. Most of the sailors in the Beiyang Fleet were veterans, so facing the upcoming battle, they did not have the excitement and anxiety of recruits.

At 12:10, the German warship entered the firing range of Dingyuan's four 305mm naval guns. At this time, the German warship did not reach the predetermined outflanking position, and the Beiyang Fleet did not complete the outflanking of the German warship. As a result, the battle situation formed a situation in which the Beiyang Fleet attacked the German column with two horizontal teams.

Ding Ruchang is very clear that if this continues, he will inevitably fall into a chaotic battle. The closer the distance is of course good for the large-caliber artillery of Dingyuan and Zhenyuan, but because the speed of the ships of the Beiyang Fleet is generally slow, they will not take advantage of it in the chaotic battle. It was too cheap, so he ordered to fire first.

A huge roar echoed on the sea, and the first battle of armored fleets in human history began.