Travel through the Qing Dynasty and become emperor

Chapter 137
More than a dozen warships from the Hokkaido Fleet headed towards Nagasaki mightily, including four fast fleets with an average speed of 19.4 knots, including "Yoshino", "Takachiho", "Akitsushima", and "Matsushima". , "Chiyoda", "Itsukushima", "Hashidate", "Saikyo Maru", and "Akagi" are six warships with an average displacement of 3500 tons.

Yan Fu looked at the northeast sea with a telescope on the "Changsheng", and saw that the "Chengfeng" was returning quickly, and spotted the Japanese fleet with a semaphore.

"Break the anchor, discover the fleet, and prepare for battle." Yan Fu said to the soldiers beside him.

The second formation slowly formed a formation that had been practiced for a long time on the surface of the East China Sea, waiting for the arrival of the fleet.

The commander-in-chief of the fleet, Togo Heihachiro, also discovered the Qing fleet on the deck of the "Yoshino".

"Send a semaphore to tell the fleet behind. The Qing fleet appears ahead, ready to fight."

Yan Fu set up a guerrilla formation, that is, among the four ironclad ships "Changsheng", "Invincible", "Victory", and "Triumph", "Riding the Wind" and "Breaking the Waves" were in charge of the left, and "Rising" was in charge of On the right, the five gunboats "Jingyuan", "Laiyuan", "Zhiyuan", "Jingyuan", and "Pingyuan" are in the rear, "Guangjia", "Guangji", "Guangbing", and "Guangding" Follow the cruisers on the left and right respectively, looking for opportunities.

The fleet was originally going to reinforce, and the four fast ships "Yoshino", "Takachiho", "Akitsusu" and "Namiwa" rushed to the forefront, while "Matsushima", "Chiyoda", "Itsukushima", " "Hashidate", "Xijing Maru", and "Akagi" dragged behind, and changed positions hastily after encountering the Qing fleet.

On the one hand, "Yoshino", "Takachiho", "Akitsushima", and "Namiwa" were divided into left and right sides, revealing a huge gap in the middle to avoid the main ironclad ships of the Qing army, and detoured to the left and right sides of the Qing army, allowing the "song" behind Several high-tonnage iron-clad ships followed up, "Chiyoda", "Itsukushima", "Hashidate", "Saikyo Maru", and "Akagi", while the four fast ships attempted to use their fast speed to detour to the Qing Dynasty. At the rear of the fleet, attack its gunboats.

Yan Fu had already anticipated this tactic of the Japanese army. The torpedo ships on the left and right sides continuously fired submarine torpedoes at the cruisers.Make it unable to drive in a straight line, and let "ride the wind", "break the waves", and "rise" attack it when dodging left and right affects its speed.

This method of warfare was learned by Yan Fu in the Jiangnan Naval Academy's "Shuo Shuo of Ship Array". , The number of teams can be reduced or increased at will, and it is not a one-size-fits-all situation.” It means: the number of warships that make up the tactical unit in the illustration, and the number of units that form the formation are not rigid rules. A tactical unit It can be composed of 2 or 4 ships.It can be modified and used flexibly according to the specific situation on the basis of following the unit's combat rules.

Now Yan Fu has expanded this formation to three teams. There are two cruisers and two torpedo ships on the left, one cruiser and two torpedo ships on the right, and four ironclad ships and five gunboats in the middle. As long as Lu can resist the roundabout outflanking of the tame ships, and the main fleet in the middle will go forward and destroy the six main ironclad ships of the Japanese army, the victory is basically guaranteed.

But Yan Fu still underestimated the strength of cruisers such as "Yoshino". A warship that can reach a speed of up to 26 knots can easily dodge more than two torpedoes launched at the same time.

The first ones encountered were "Changsheng" and "Invincible" on the left side and "Yoshino" and "Takachiho" from the fleet. After the two sides entered the range, the sea level of the East China Sea became a panorama of silvery white and orange flashes. It hit Daqingshui division with a hail of huge explosive shells. The uniform artillery attacks of "Yoshino" and "Takachiho" showed "Chengfeng" and "Breaking Waves" what the strength of Asia's first-class cruisers is.

"Yoshino" is the flagship of the Hokkaido fleet, and the captain Togo Heihachiro is also the commander-in-chief of this fleet.He desperately waved the saber in his hand, and shouted at the two 5700-ton giant cruisers of the Qing Dynasty: "Full left rudder, attack with sidestring."

The sidestring of the "Yoshino" is equipped with four 4mm rapid-fire guns. According to the analysis of British naval experts, the firing speed of the modified British rapid-fire guns is six times that of the original guns. breech-loading gun, but only twice the rate of fire.Based on this calculation, the firepower of the fleet is actually three times that of the Qing fleet.

Shells exploded around the Qing fleet one after another, causing water columns more than 50 meters high to appear in many places. The torpedo ship "Guangding" was directly sunk without firing a single shot.

Li He, the leader of "Changsheng", tried to get close to "Yoshino" many times to give a fatal blow, but the speed of "Changsheng" at 19 knots was as difficult as a child chasing an adult in front of "Yoshino" with a speed of 22.5 knots .

The "Yoshino" also slapped the "Chengfeng" chasing him twice from time to time, and finally revealed its true purpose to destroy the gunboat behind the main battleship of the Qing army.

Although the close-range power of the gunboat is huge, the warship will never give the gunboat a chance to get close.The gunboats of the Qing army were continuously hit by long-range rapid-fire guns.

The "Yoshino" is like a mangy dog, who can't catch up with him but is often bitten by him.Although these five armored gunships manufactured by the Mawei Shipyard have 87mm thick steel plates, they cannot withstand multiple attacks.

After being bombarded by "Yoshino" continuously, the "Pingyuan" was the first to catch fire.Withdrew from the battle under Yan Fu's order and retreated to Lushun Military Port for emergency repairs.

"Don't worry about the small cruiser, all the gunboats follow me at full speed. Destroy the main fleet ahead!" Yan Fu shouted loudly at the semaphore soldiers.

"boom"

A loud noise came from the "Invincible", facing the oncoming fleet. The 420mm artillery fired one after another and hit the enemy ship "Matsushima" for the first time. However, due to the relatively long distance, it did not cause fatal damage, but it also shook the 4278-ton ironclad ship for a while. Although the steel plate was not pierced, However, some damage was still caused by the explosion.

At this time, the two cruisers facing the "Rising" had already encircled it. Facing the huge cruiser with a speed of only 19 knots, "Akitsusu" and "Naniwa" also used roundabout methods to continuously attack "Rise". This is the first ironclad cruiser produced in China, and it was named "Rise". ", caused a sensation in the world when it was built.At that time, it was indeed a very advanced cruiser, but now the British dual steam engine shipbuilding concept makes the cruiser's speed easily exceed 25, which pales in comparison to the "rise".

"Give the semaphore, let Chengfeng go to the reinforcements to rise up. The torpedo ships should not launch torpedoes at the enemy ships, but instead launch torpedoes on the route of the enemy ships." Yan Fu seemed to have seen something.

In actual combat, problems can be found immediately, and tactics can be changed according to the problem.This is what Yan Fu was evaluated by the German instructors when he graduated from the Jiangnan Naval Academy.

Indeed, now Yan Fu has accurately discovered the crux of the problem.The torpedo ship fired a torpedo at a speed of 4000 kilometers per hour at the opponent's warship at a distance of 80 meters, which was no threat at all to those cruisers that could reach a speed of 24 or more.

Even if you see a torpedo flying towards you, you can easily change the course in 1 minute to avoid it.

Now, Yan Fu asked the torpedo ships to launch torpedoes on their course of action.It was the turn of these cruisers not to adapt. They often saw the Qing cruisers approaching themselves, and when they were about to retreat, they found that there were torpedoes launching on the route behind.In such a short period of time, it is impossible to visually detect whether they will encounter them, so they can only wait for the torpedo to pass by before leaving. This will give "Riding the Wind", "Breaking the Waves", and "Rising" the opportunity to attack the cruiser.

In the real confrontational battle within the range, the cruisers of the Qing Dynasty will not suffer much.On the one hand, the "Chengfeng", which has an obvious advantage in tonnage, has much better resistance to attack than cruisers.In addition, the caliber of the artillery is much larger than that of the cruiser, but the firing speed is slower.But basically one shot can deal a fatal blow to "Yoshino" and others.

In this way, while the torpedo ships of the Qing Dynasty were "drawing grids" around the cruisers such as "Yoshino", the cruisers of the Qing Dynasty such as "Chengfeng" began to counterattack.

"Boom" "Boom"

"Call me, rush in and kill that Naniwa with one shot." Chen He said loudly.

Just when the entire battlefield situation was reversed, "Yoshino" first adapted to this tactic of the Qing Dynasty.Just like playing video games in later generations, attacking the gunboats of the Qing Dynasty on the sea while avoiding the torpedo attack.

The 320mm main gun on the front deck of "Yoshino" trembled for a while, and white smoke came out slowly.A shell easily tore through the thin steel plate of the "Jingyuan".Exploded inside the warship.The hull was immediately enveloped in yellow smoke.The flame ignited by the explosion itself is extremely destructive, and the large internal components and the partition in the cabin of the "Jingyuan" are all made of wood.And the immaturity of the Qing Navy is also reflected here. In order to whitewash the appearance, a large area of ​​flammable paint was painted on the interior cabin, so the fire soon became out of control.The fire spread in all directions in the "Jingyuan", converging into pieces of raging flames, and its hull slowly sank.

The Qing Fleet, which was a little excited because the situation had been reversed, seemed to be poured with cold water, completely losing the excitement just now.It's just mechanically repeating what it should do.Completely lost the passion just now.

(End of this chapter)