The Republic of Heroes

Although the Suidong ship took the lead, it still did not gain an advantage. Petrov was worried. He was waiting for the turret to report the message that it was ready.But what he waited for were ten 305mm shells from the Asahi and Settsu ships.This time God did not favor the Japanese, all the shells fell through, and water jets were stirred up around the Suidong ship one after another.

Fang Qidao was very dissatisfied and helpless with the current state of the Suidong ship being beaten. After all, the sea is different from the land, and sea battles focus on actual combat power. The difference is so great that it is almost impossible for the weak to defeat the strong by relying on tricks.But he still spoke his mind.

"Your Excellency the Duke, can you win by feigning defeat?"

Petrov was noncommittal, Fang Qidao was making fun of himself, and resentfully stopped talking.At this time, the news came from the microphone that the turrets were ready to be loaded, and the No. [-] turret still had not recovered its combat power.Petrov firmly issued an order: "All turret main guns, target Settsu, fire"

Six salvos were fired, and Fang Qidao shook his hand a few times while holding the binoculars, and the Settsu within his field of vision was intact.Petrov stubbornly stared at the Settsu. His plan was to concentrate all firepower to destroy the sister ship Settsu of the Suidong ship first. At that time, the old Asahi would not only have weak armor, but also only had a 305mm main gun. Two doors, when the advantage and disadvantage are reversed, the Suidong ship can win in an upright manner, and he can also taste his long-cherished wish for many years.

But reality always likes to play tricks on people. He missed the target in the next two volleys, but one shell accidentally hit the Asahi again, but this time the Asahi was not as lucky as before. A half-ton shell It hit the front main turret where his only two 305mm naval guns were located.The large-caliber shells tore through the Krupp steel armor on the top of the turret, drilled into the interior, and exploded in the gun room. The gunner was killed, and the hatches were blown away and fell into the sea.Fortunately, the shells did not continue to drill into the ammunition compartment under the gun room, otherwise the consequences would be disastrous, and the entire ship might be blown in two. There are countless examples of sinking in history because the ammunition compartment was hit.

After being hit, the front main turret of the Asahi was like a defeated duck, turning in circles on the sea surface. At first Petrov thought that its rudder was malfunctioning, but it was not the case. It turned on the sea surface. After a circle, we broke away from the array with the Setjin and headed straight for the Suidong ship.

"No, it's going to commit suicide!"

Fang Qidao expressed Petrov's worries at the moment, but Wu Xiaoliang felt that it was not that simple. Sure enough, the Asahi, which was sailing at high speed, quickly aimed its bow at the Suidong ship, and two torpedoes escaped from the launch tubes. The propeller blades at the tail of the steam torpedo rotated at high speed and produced a large number of air bubbles, dragging out two long trajectories, spreading rapidly towards the Suidong ship like two death lines.

The officers from the army were unaware of the crisis at this moment. Petrov was startled and broke out in a cold sweat at the moment, and hurriedly issued an order: "Turn the rudder to the right, and the whole ship speeds up!"

The ship suddenly turned the rudder and everyone in the command room was pushed by the strong inertia to stand still. Wu Xiaoliang had watched too many naval battle movies in his previous life, and he knew that as long as a torpedo of this caliber hits the hull and explodes, it will inevitably penetrate the main armor of the waterline .He nervously watched the torpedoes drawing two long lines on the sea getting closer and closer, but the maximum speed of [-] knots could not compete with the torpedo's speed exceeding [-] knots anyway. His torpedoes were getting closer and closer. The hull of the ship still couldn't sail out of the attack range, and a heart couldn't help but raised his throat.

Petrov calmly watched the situation on the battlefield without saying a word, and the message that the turrets had been reloaded came again from the microphone, but he did not give the firing order as before, but stared closely at the two guns and went straight to Suidong. The white waterline from the ship.At this moment, the eight main guns of the Japanese ship Settsu fired another volley, bursting through the air, but they all missed at once. Their good luck seemed to have left.But the torpedoes are approaching non-stop, and the Suidong ship can escape, can these two big guys?

When the first torpedo was about to touch the hull, Petrov once again ordered the helmsman to turn full rudder, and the big guy barely passed the hull.But before everyone could breathe a sigh of relief, the second torpedo directly hit the Suidong ship's waterline armor.

Everyone was stunned, waiting desperately for the sound of an explosion after contact.But the expected explosion never came.It turned out that the impact fuze of the second torpedo failed due to the small contact angle. The entire torpedo wiped the waterline armor and went in the opposite direction of the Suidong ship.The explosion did not come, and Petrov knew that the torpedo would be empty without any torpedoes, so he gave the order.

"Full starboard rudder, reduce speed..."

The eight main guns of the Suidong ship fired dazzling flames again. This time, the god of luck favored them. A half-ton shell hit the midship of the Setjin, and the buildings on the ship were instantly blown to pieces. This time, the sudden The hit obviously broke the firing rhythm of the Japanese ship, and cheers came from the command room.

Suddenly, someone shouted.

"Look, the Japanese ship is going to escape!"

Sure enough, the two Japanese ships drew a semicircle and headed east.At this time, someone exclaimed again.

"No, *** fired another torpedo, this time four!"

"Oh my God."

Some Russian officers have begun to pray to God, and the probability of avoiding four torpedoes at the same time is as low as the probability of hitting an enemy ship with four shells at the same time.

Petrov knew that he could not panic at this moment, so he ordered the helmsman to starboard and head straight for the torpedo.The first, second, and third all passed by, and just when everyone thought that the fourth would also be able to escape, the explosion happened.

The slight shaking of the hull told everyone in the command room that the Suidong ship had been shot, and the room was immediately silent. Everyone held their breath, waiting for the report of the damaged team in the microphone.

"The torpedo exploded at the bow, the cabin was filled with water, the crack was small, and it is being repaired!"

Hearing this report, the generals of the army were all heartbroken. In their view, water ingress was a serious problem, but Petrov's explanation quickly dispelled their doubts.

"Don't worry, guys, everything will be fine. The injury on the bow is equivalent to a scraped knee."

Everyone was skeptical, but in the end they all chose to believe the words of the bearded duke.A group of staff officers from the headquarters should have landed with the second division, but suddenly, Fang Qidao ordered Liang Yuchun, the deputy commander of the division, to act as division commander on his behalf.

After avoiding the torpedo, the Suidong ship accelerated to pursue the fleeing Japanese ship, but due to the bow injury, the maximum speed dropped from [-] knots to [-] knots, which was just equal to the fleeing Japanese ship, and it could not catch up or fall behind.

Half an hour after the pursuit battle, in Wu Xiaoliang's field of vision through the telescope, a billowing black cloud suddenly appeared in the sky ahead.At the same time, Petrov, who was also holding a telescope, yelled bad!