Travel through the Qing Dynasty and become emperor

Chapter 294 Surprise Attack on Manila

"The semaphore asked them to identify themselves, and ordered the ships to prepare for the enemy!" Lieutenant General Rostrav tensed up, set up his binoculars, and looked at the sea ahead through the window of the command room of the flagship Peter the Great. , I saw a fleet of ships approaching their own direction. Rostrav roughly counted them, and the number was more than fifteen.What ghost fleet?Rostrav couldn't help but gasped. If it was an enemy, the number of enemy ships would be comparable to that of the Baltic Fleet.However, judging from the intensity of the artillery fire, it seems that it has surpassed its own fleet. Moreover, after traveling all the way from the Baltic Sea, two main cruisers have been hit and damaged, and three gunboats have run aground on a small island in the Indian Ocean. Half of the four fast cruisers had problems with their power systems and became slow cruisers.Thinking of this, he looked up at the bursts of blue light in the dark sky in the northwest direction, and a fine layer of cold sweat oozed from his forehead.

"Report to the general, it is the flag of the Chinese fleet." A communications soldier ran in in a panic.

"Order the ships not to panic, and the Flying Fish will lead the team to rush out of the mouth of the bay first." Rostrav almost shouted this order.He picked up the binoculars again, and at the slightly cloudy sea and sky intersection in the north, the five-clawed golden dragon flag fluttering in the wind was particularly dazzling on the black background.But Rostrav's expression seemed to have seen a nightmare.He stared firmly at the two ships in front. From the field of view of the telescope, the displacement of these two warships seemed to be higher than that of the Peter the Great.Although he has heard that China has built the world's first-class warships, such as the Zhonghua-class warships, prior information shows that the so-called Zhonghua-class warships have not been seen in Southeast Asian naval ports. For many Russian naval officers, the Zhonghua-class warships are only It's just a legend, and this includes Rostrav.But the sight in front of him still stunned Rothstraf. Judging from the shape of the two warships, it is obvious that they cannot be Chinese-class warships, but they look like the masterpieces of Armstrong Shipyard.While being suspicious, the deputy commander beside him said: "General, those are two imperial-class battleships ordered by China from the United Kingdom last year. One is called Raging Wave and the other is called Hurricane. It is said that these two warships were once in China. It played a huge role in the British Malacca naval battle."

After hearing this sentence, Rostrav was already drenched in sweat. He was not sure whether the sea force in his hands could withstand the Chinese artillery fire.

At this time, the Chinese fleet in sight suddenly made a detour and turned around from the southeast.Under the moonlight, the fleet was like a giant python, slowly turning its body, and its greasy body was emitting a frightening light.During this turn, Rostaff also counted the total number of the fleet, a total of seventeen ships!

"Damn it!" Rostrav suddenly came to his senses, angrily took off the binoculars, and pressed the combat siren heavily!
Seventeen warships with five-clawed golden dragon flags took advantage of the opportunity to turn around and quickly formed a combat formation!The fleet was divided into three teams, the left, middle and right wings, the center wing was dominated by the two largest warships in the middle, and a dense row of broadside gunboats opened fire on the spot.The left and right wings are basically fast cruisers.More than [-] gunboats and torpedo boats are attacking here at the fastest speed.Rostrav's astonishment was interrupted by the sound of rumbling guns, and he was stunned for a moment, only to see gunpowder smoke rising from the sea.

At this time, the Flying Fish, which was in charge of breaking through the mouth of the bay, had just left Manila Bay, and was confronted by a formation of torpedo ships that was rapidly attacking, followed by five medium-sized gunboats.In an instant, more than a dozen fast-moving white tracks appeared on the sea surface, and a dozen high-speed aerodynamic torpedoes rushed towards the poor Flying Fish like a dozen sharks. At the same time, five gunboats fired at the same time, and the Chinese hooked a shell A three-dimensional attack net composed of torpedoes, even if the Flying Fish could really fly at this time, it would not be able to escape the opponent's net.Since the Flying Fish is a small and medium-sized fast cruiser, the hull is only covered by a symbolic layer of thin armor, coupled with the rough shipbuilding style of the Russians, this warship suffered a devastating blow from the enemy without firing a single shot. .This wave of attacks alone dismembered the Flying Fish, and the two steel beams supporting the rear of the hull were completely broken. The bow of the ship quickly turned up, and the sailors on the deck fell into the sea like ants. inside.There is no doubt that the Chinese no longer have to waste ammunition for this warship, and the only thing to wait for the Flying Fish is to sink.

But the Flying Fish's sinking was still very valuable. If it hadn't attracted most of the enemy's artillery fire, the rest of the warships stuck in the harbor would have been difficult to get out of the bay.

As soon as the fleet rushed out of the mouth of the bay, Rostrav immediately ordered to form a T-shaped battle formation.The Chinese gunboats and torpedo ships immediately slowed down, and the main force of the fleet quickly stepped in.

At this time, no one was in a hurry to attack, and the two giant steel dragons floating on the water were slowly approaching each other.

The commander in charge of commanding the Singapore Fleet is Lieutenant General Lin Yongsheng, the senior combat staff officer of the Ministry of the Navy. He put down the binoculars and said to the young adjutant Wu Peifu: "Order the fleet to line up. Our vitality is stronger than the enemy. Try to use the main guns to fight against the opponent. .Order the Hurricane to advance forward, place the Guin and the Triumph on the left and right wings, aim at the opponent's flagship and hit hard!"

"Yes!"

Before the Hurricane fired the command gun, a shell from the opponent Navarin roared and went straight to the Guin.A huge explosion sounded 300 meters in front of the Guin, setting off a nearly 40-meter-high water column in the sea, and the falling sea water sprinkled on the soldiers who were waiting in front of the bow's main turret.Lin Yongsheng, who was standing on the deck, was also drenched by the splashing sea water, "Tell the Hurricane not to worry, and aim at a closer point before hitting." Bah, bah, Lin Yongsheng spat out two mouthfuls of seawater.

As soon as the fleets of both sides entered the effective range, fierce artillery fire began to intersect on the sea level, and large-caliber naval guns became the protagonists at this time.This kind of face-to-face confrontation quickly demonstrated the power of Lin Yongsheng's one-line formation. The distance between the Chinese warships caused the Russian fleet's artillery fire to be relatively scattered, and it was difficult to increase the hit rate.Most of the Chinese artillery fire was concentrated on the Peter the Great and the Navarin at the T prefix.As the flagship was heavily attacked by the opponent, the warships on both sides began to gather towards the flagship in order to attract the opponent's firepower.

"Order Chengfeng and Polang to detour to the two wings of the enemy fleet and attack the opponent's torpedo ships with broadside fire. The Guin and the Triumph rushed over to disrupt the enemy's formation, and the rest of the warships circled to divide and encircle the enemy ships." Lin Yongsheng commanded the operation. The biggest advantage is that it can adapt to local conditions, be flexible, and through ingenious tactical arrangements, give full play to the role of each of its own warships.

With an order, ride the wind and break the waves to suddenly speed up and turn around to the Russian fleet from the left and right, and the four ships of Juin, Triumph, Changsheng, and Unbeaten also rushed towards the center of the Russian fleet with full power. The rest of the blue whales and sea lions , Yangfan, Nanxiang and other ships followed closely, ready to insert from the rear to divide the enemy's formation at any time.

(End of this chapter)