Kowloon wins

Chapter 1126 The Elegy of the Swan ([-])
The tactical maneuvering of the Qing army was extremely fast. Just as the United Fleet approached at half speed and was one and a half nautical miles away from the battle line of the Qing army, the two wings of the Qing army suddenly rushed out. The possibility of the United Fleet maneuvering to both ends, the whole plastic surgery is like a huge pocket opened on the ocean, waiting for the United Fleet to break into it.

"Stay in line and get ready to hoist!"

Although the Qing army's tactical maneuver was sudden, it could not be hidden from Edward Vernon's observation on such an empty ocean. However, the number of warships under his command was limited. Although he saw through the Qing army's tactical intentions, He had no choice but to command his warships to continue moving forward at a constant speed, and gradually, they reached the edge of the big pocket arranged by the Qing army.

"Every ship is ready, full sail, thirty degrees to the left, full speed ahead!"

Walking into the pocket formation of the Qing army meant being besieged from three sides, and there was absolutely no reason for it to be outnumbered. Edward Vernon knew this very well. Unwilling to let the Qing army be at the mercy of the Qing army, just as the United Fleet was about to step into the Qing army's pocket formation, Edward Vernon suddenly raised his hand and loudly issued an order to change direction.

"Order: The No. 17 and No. [-] Squadrons move forward with full sails to block the enemy ships. The No. [-] and [-] Squadrons turn to the left to prevent the enemy from maneuvering to the right. The rest of the ships turn around and turn to the left to maintain their formation. In order to prevent the enemy from taking advantage of the chaos to break through!"

Wang Changgeng has been keeping a close eye on every move of the United Fleet. Seeing the United Fleet suddenly speeding up to the left, he immediately understood Edward Vernon's tactical intentions. He just wanted to rely on the powerful sailing ability of the United Fleet sailors to destroy the Qing army. Wang Changgeng didn't dare to be careless about this tactical arrangement, and with a wave of his hand, he hastily issued the order to change formations to meet the enemy.

When it comes to sailing ability, the Qing army is indeed slightly inferior to the British fleet, but the gap is not too great. In addition to having radio communication, the adaptability is actually much faster than that of the combined fleet. Following Wang Changgeng Under the order of the Qing army, all the squadrons of the Qing army moved in unison, especially the first and second squadrons responded the most quickly. A swift advance has already blocked the front of the combined fleet. Two large warships, six The medium-sized battleships lined up, firmly grabbing the T-head. If the combined fleet dared to move further to the left, it would inevitably be ransacked by the artillery fire of the two major squadrons of the Qing army. Small, if it is intercepted by the main fleet of the Qing army that has completed its turn, the United Fleet will lose all opportunities, and I am afraid it will be difficult to fight.

"Every ship listens to the order: turn thirty degrees to the right, and go straight into the enemy's formation!"

Seeing the Qing army changing formation so quickly, Edward Vernon's heart sank, but he didn't mess up his position because of this, let alone go to the first and second points of the Qing army foolishly. The battle line of the fleet has been deployed, but seeing it waved its hand, it made another tactical maneuver adjustment.

"Order: The No. [-], No. [-], No. [-] and No. [-] Squadrons maintain their formations, block the wings of the enemy ships, and keep the course of the other ships unchanged, sailing slowly with half sail!"

With such a change of direction and high-speed oblique insertion of the United Fleet, it has rushed to less than one nautical mile from the Qing army's array line in an instant. Arranged in a line, the formation will inevitably be a little disordered, and it is difficult to concentrate fire and attack. Seeing this, Wang Changgeng hastily issued another adjustment order.

"Order: Each ship is centered on this ship, immediately turn [-] degrees to the left, and is arranged in a battle line, ready to engage the enemy!"

The reason why Edward Vernon kept adjusting his course was not only to test the response ability of the Qing army, but also to see if he could take advantage of the chaos to break through. After a hard battle, Edward Vernon had a general understanding of the Qing army's tactical literacy. He knew that if the fleet in front of him was not inferior to the Bohai Fleet, the United Fleet would not be able to break out of the siege without a fight. Therefore, Edward Vernon's real purpose is actually only one, and that is to rely on constantly mobilizing the formation of the Qing army to achieve the goal of getting as close as possible to the battle line of the Qing army. The reason is very simple. The artillery of the Qing army is too powerful. If you can't get closer In terms of the distance between the two sides, the artillery of the United Fleet is not enough to threaten the Qing warships. It can only be beaten, and it is difficult to cause a fatal attack on the Qing warships!
"Order the ships to maintain a tight formation and prepare to meet the enemy with the squadron as the unit!"

As the combined fleet changed direction again, the distance between the two sides was getting closer, so Wang Changgeng didn't order to change formation again, but he waved his hands solemnly and issued the last order before the battle.

As the saying goes, there are gains and losses. Although the United Fleet managed to grab the customary combat distance of about 200 meters from the battle line of the Qing army through continuous changes of direction, it failed to achieve the tactical maneuver of traveling in the same direction as the Qing army. , as the two battle lines got closer, the nerves of the soldiers on both sides became tense, and the battle was on the verge of breaking out.

The East China Sea Fleet has used its main force this time, with a total of 88 large and small warships. Excluding the eight high-speed cruisers wandering around the periphery of the battlefield, there are as many as 17 ships that actually participated in the battle. Sixteen battleships from the Eighty-Four Squadron blocked both ends, and there were still 64 battleships lined up on the battle line, including 31 large battleships, and the rest were all medium-sized warships. The difference is that the United Fleet only has [-] battleships, including three second-tier battleships, nine third-tier battleships, fifteen medium-sized battleships, and four cruisers. However, the United Fleet was at the end of its rope, and even cruisers with a pitifully small tonnage were put into the formation line.

"fire!"

"fire!"

……

As time went by, the front ends of the two parallel lines finally converged at a distance of 200 meters. The Qing Fleet was headed by the "Zhencheng" and its captain, Major General Lin Shuangrong, while the United Fleet was headed by the Spanish Second Ship. Class battleship "Tornado", captain Lieutenant General Aranda Dias, both sides gave the order to fire almost at the same time.

"Boom, boom, boom..."

Following the orders of the two captains, the two ships started their violent bombardment almost simultaneously. Amidst the rumble of the cannons, shells of different sizes criss-crossed in the air, roaring and hitting their respective targets, and the hit rates were quite equal. Not bad, among them, the "Zhencheng" had five heavy shells hit the "Whirlwind", and another eight medium shells also hit the front and rear decks of the "Whirlwind", and it was also hit by four heavy shells. Solid rounds and five medium bloomers and six small shotguns.

Judging from the hit rate, the "Whirlwind" is obviously slightly better, but judging from the results obtained, it is the complete opposite. Not to mention, the Spaniard's 32-pound shells are not small, but three hits At the thickened part of the side of the "Zhencheng", only a few not-so-shallow craters were smashed, and then they were bounced away. Only one hit the porthole of the three-story gun of the "Zhencheng", and was destroyed on the spot. A heavy cannon from the Qing army killed or injured several gunners. As for the small and medium-sized shells that hit the deck, the sound of the explosion was not small, but the damage to the "Zhencheng" was not too great. , only a few sailors were injured by flying projectiles, and another sail was broken. Generally speaking, the attack of the "Whirlwind" did not cause too much damage to the "Zhencheng". After being bombarded by the "Zhencheng", five huge holes were blown out of the ship's hull in an instant by five heavy-duty explosive bombs. The bottom gun deck was raging with fire, and four heavy guns were destroyed on the spot. , the gunners at each gun position suffered heavy casualties, and a heavy artillery shell hit near the waterline, creating a huge hole in the waterline of the "Whirlwind", and a large amount of seawater rushed into the watertight compartment In the middle of the attack, the speed of "Whirlwind" was suddenly reduced, and the medium-sized explosive shells that hit its front and rear decks caused a skyrocketing fire. With just such a single shot, "Whirlwind" was severely damaged. There is no doubt that , This is not a gap caused by tactics. The fundamental reason is that the artillery power of the two sides is too different!
The Qing army had many warships, so they formed a dense formation. The "Whirlwind" had just fought against the "Zhencheng", and the "Weiyan" and "Weishan" followed closely behind the "Zhencheng". They rushed up one after another, unceremoniously directed at the already severely damaged "Fury" and bombarded them wildly, until the "Whirlwind" burst into flames, and soon lost the battle. With such force, the officers and soldiers on it jumped into the sea like dumplings, struggling and shouting wildly in the water.

"Fire the cannon and sink it for me!"

Although the "Whirlwind" had basically lost its combat power, the last battleship of the third squadron, the "Weiren", did not intend to let it go. Following the order of the captain Yao Xuwu, twenty cannons were fired together. Fire was fired, and a total of fourteen shells suddenly hit the immobilized "Fury". Amidst the violent explosion, the huge "Whirlwind" could no longer hold on. After hovering a few times on the sea, it slowly Slowly sinking into the water, the captain, Lieutenant General Aranda Diaz, refused to abandon the ship and sank with the ship. As soon as the battle started, the United Fleet was severely damaged!

"Order: All ships concentrate on attacking the enemy's first ship, aiming to sink it!"

Edward Vernon tried his best to narrow the combat distance between the two sides. He thought that he could rely on his own tactical quality to compete with the superiority of the Qing army's artillery, but he never thought that the distance was shortened. The advantage of the Qing army's artillery power But it became more and more obvious. Facing the unfavorable result of the first battle, Edward Vernon's eyeballs turned bloodshot and flushed, and his face twitched for a while, before he gave the death order in a cold voice.

(End of this chapter)