The Republic of Heroes

The torpedo pulled out five white lines and left the Suidong ship like an arrow off the string, and Cheng Fan went away one after another.The Asahi obviously spotted the galloping torpedo immediately, and suddenly accelerated and turned, and the bow gradually pointed to the Suidong.However, the torpedo did not give it a chance to completely turn to face the Suidong ship vertically. The first torpedo passed the port side of the Asahi without exploding, and the second and third also fell short one after another.

Wu Xiaoliang held the telescope in the command room and made a series of regretful sounds, while Petrov said:

"Your Excellency, don't worry, you will definitely hit."

He had estimated from the trajectory that one of the last two torpedoes must hit.

Sure enough, the fourth fish slammed into the Asahi's waterline armor belt at a 60-degree angle. The sailors on the Asahi even heard the sound of metal impact clearly. Some people closed their eyes in despair and were caught. When a torpedo with such a large caliber hits, the warships must be far too many, and their chances of surviving are even smaller, but surprisingly, there is no explosion.

On the Suidong ship, Wu Xiaoliang scolded his mother: "Is there any mistake? The torpedo has hit the target, can it still bounce off? Are the little Japanese things so unreliable?" It turned out that Yu Lai was hitting the Asahi ship After the body, it miraculously bounced away.

Petrov also complained again and again, but this is common in naval battles. There are roughly two reasons that affect the failure of the torpedo. One is that the impact angle is too small, and the contact between the fuze and the hull is not sufficient.The second is the failure of the impact fuze, which leads to the failure of the torpedo.These two points are the defects of all steam impact torpedoes, and the magnetic trigger fuze produced later solved this problem very well.

After the fourth torpedo also missed the target, the Asahi's good luck came to an end. The fifth torpedo came one after another and hit the waterline of its bow. The violent explosion lifted the Asahi's bow out of the sea. Then it fell back hard, smashing out a large wave of water.The crack in the bow of the ship blasted by the torpedo was terrifying, and the sea water rushed in crazily.

There was a burst of cheers in the command room of the Suidong ship, and Petrov decisively ordered the two turrets on the port side that had been prepared before to fire immediately, and four shells were fired quickly.After the Asahi's good luck came to an end, bad luck came one after another. Two of the four shells hit and exploded.One of them hit the waterline armor, blowing a large hole on the starboard side.Another landed in the engine room.The Asahi ship lost power in an instant and became a living target floating in the sea.

Good luck came suddenly, Petrov immediately gave up the idea of ​​salvoing the Settsu, and ordered the No. [-] turret on the bow to aim at the Asahi at the same time. Before the reinforcements of the Japanese ships entered the combat position, he decided to kill the Asahi first.

Six salvos were fired, and one of the shells hit the only 305mm main gun turret at the bow. The warhead tore the armor of less than 150mm on the top of the turret, and then tore a layer of splint in the gun chamber, hitting the ammunition. indoor……

A few seconds later, Wu Xiaoliang saw through the binoculars that the front main turret of the Asahi suddenly separated from the hull, flew into the sky, slammed into the sea after a few circles, and sank quickly.On the other hand, raging flames and billowing black smoke emerged from the base of the turret.Petrov couldn't hide his excitement anymore, he shouted hello in Russian, then turned around and gave Wu Xiaoliang a bear hug beside him.

Although Wu Xiaoliang has been in contact with Petrov for a long time and has been hugged by him many times, he still cannot accept this form of celebration.After pushing him away with great effort, he straightened his military cap and re-examined the bearded duke.His performance in the defense of Vladivostok was so bad that Wu Xiaoliang thought that Tsarist Russia is full of such incompetent people in important positions, how can the Romanov dynasty survive?But this bearded man seems to have changed since he boarded the warship. He is calm, calm, and brave...almost all the advantages and qualities of an excellent commander are reflected in him.

The former main turret of the Asahi was lifted into the sky and lost its power. It was no longer a threat to the Suidong ship. However, the other two Japanese battleships with a displacement of more than 305 tons began to adjust their firing formations. The new battleships that joined the attack queue were Another Japanese ship that had high hopes when it was built, but fell behind immediately after it was built, was the lead ship of the Satsuma-class battleship, the Satsuma.But like the Asahi, he also only has two 0mm main guns, and the remaining secondary guns with a caliber of less than [-] mm are almost no threat to the Suidong.

Petrov asked through the megaphone: "When will the No. [-] turret be repaired?"

There was a moment of silence in the microphone, and then came the sailor's Chinese: "Report to the general, the turret hinge is seriously damaged, and the power cannot be restored in a short time."

Hearing this answer, Petrov's heart sank. It seems that he can only use the existing six 305mm main guns to deal with the Japanese army's 10 305mm main guns. The number of main guns is nearly half less than the opponent's, and the ammunition is already stretched. However, the situation faced by the Suidong ship is indeed not optimistic.

The Satsuma, which had recently joined the battle, was the first to fire. The double-mounted 305mm artillery roared and projected the shells. The first salvo missed without any suspense and landed 100 meters away from the Suidong ship. The shock wave of the explosion Two water columns more than ten meters high were shaken.At the same time, the Setjin, which gradually resumed its command, also aimed its eight main guns at the Suidong ship again. The strong recoil after a salvo made the entire ship shake from side to side on the sea.

A shell unfortunately landed on the stern deck and easily penetrated the 78 mm thick deck armor, causing a violent explosion in the cabin on the first floor.At the same time, the explosion caused a raging fire at the stern of the ship, and the battle damage team rushed into the flames to fight the fire, and the high-pressure water jets repeatedly sprayed towards the ignition point.This explosion had a great impact on the attitude of the Suidong ship, and the newly adjusted shooting elements of each turret immediately failed.

So the Japanese ship fired again first at the Suidong ship, and the Satsuma and the Settsu fired in unison.The Suidong ship was shot again. The mast at the stern of the ship was hit and collapsed. The chimney near the mast was also deformed due to the impact of the explosion, which seriously affected the smoke exhaust of the warship and greatly reduced its power.Another shell crossed the battleship and hit the port deck. Several secondary guns were blown away, and the deck armor behind 76mm was torn again. Due to the detonation of the secondary battery shell, a fire broke out amidships. The battle damage team began to be stretched, and the officers immediately organized sailors to put out the fire. After being shot twice, the Suidong ship became chaotic.

Petrov heard the reports of battle damage everywhere, and a big stone fell in his heart. Although he was shot in many places and the fire was very strong, they were all in key parts such as engine rooms, ammunition depots, etc., as long as they are handled properly, Sui The combat effectiveness of the East Ship will not be discounted too much. The six 305mm main guns are ready to tear the armor of the Japanese Ship at any time.

"The No. [-] turret is ready, target Settsu!"

"The No. [-] turret is ready, target Settsu!"

……

The long-awaited report finally sounded, and Petrov ordered in a deep voice: "Fire!"

Tens of seconds later, six water columns more than ten meters high exploded around the Settsu, but none of them hit.