Rise of the Overlord

Chapter 169 Unexpected Naval Battle
At the same time that an old medium-sized armored cruiser of the Royal Sharad Navy exploded, the commander Victor Rowe in the bridge of the Royal Navy's flagship Forester, shouted in a trembling voice: "The navy of the Great Tang Empire welcomes us! The Royal Navy of Sharad fired, and I ordered that the main guns of all battleships launch a salvo to the enemy. At the same time, the Imperial Navy of the Tang Dynasty first fired at our Royal Navy of Sharad and damaged the armored cruiser Swan River to the Empire. Admiralty report!"

Under the deliberate arrangement of Commander Victoro, the distance between the two battleships was less than 7000 meters, which basically entered the effective range of the 35mm main guns of the 305 armored battleships of the Royal Navy of Sharad.

Only then did Gracia, the captain of the Forester, know what Commander Victoro said about the arrangement. This made Gracia feel a little relieved. Even if it was framed, the Navy of the Great Tang Empire would not be able to tell clearly. After all, the armored cruiser Swan River did seem to explode after being hit by a shell.

On the bridge of the Edward VII-class dreadnought battleship Jianwei, Guan Xiong, the commander of the first battleship formation of the Fifth Fleet, and Song Haoqi, the captain of the Jianwei, saw a sudden explosion on a medium-sized armored cruiser of the Sharad Navy. There were surprised expressions on their faces, and then their faces darkened.

Guan Xiong gritted his teeth and said: "The Sharad Navy is trying to frame our Royal Navy of the Tang Empire. Is the Seven Kingdoms Alliance going to declare war on our Datang Empire and the Ziyue Empire? Sound the battle alarm and prepare to fight. Immediately send a telegram to Commander Wang to explain our situation here!"

Just as Song Haoqi was about to say something, the main guns of the [-] iron-clad battleships of the Sharad Royal Navy started bombarding the eleven Edward VII-class pre-dreadnought battleships of the Fifth Fleet of the Royal Navy of the Tang Empire.

Guan Xiong immediately shouted loudly: "Pass my order, the main guns of each battleship will immediately launch a counterattack against the enemy's battleship! At the same time maintain the formation and seize the T prefix!"

The Edward VII-class pre-dreadnought battleship is equipped with two twin-mounted 40-caliber 305mm main guns and four 45-caliber 234mm secondary main guns. The firepower of one is almost equivalent to the two ironclad battleships of the Royal Sharad Navy. Moreover, the defense of the Edward VII-class pre-dreadnought battleships is much stronger than the [-] armored battleships originally sealed in the Royal Navy of Sharad.

Just after several rounds of salvos by the battleships of the two sides, one iron-clad battleship of the Royal Sharad Navy was sunk, two iron-clad battleships of the Royal Sharad Navy were seriously injured, and eleven ships of the Fifth Fleet of the Royal Navy of the Tang Empire Only a few of the former dreadnought battleships of the Edward VII class suffered minor injuries.

Gracia, the captain of the Forester, immediately suggested to Commander Victoro anxiously: "Baron Victoro, these eleven former dreadnought battleships of the Datang Imperial Navy are much more powerful than our iron-clad battleships, continue If we continue to bombard, we will be at a disadvantage, why not let a hundred new torpedo boats launch a torpedo attack immediately, cooperate with our armored battleships, and encircle and annihilate these eleven former dreadnought battleships of the Datang Empire Navy!"

Commander Victoro said decisively: "Let forty escort cruisers and one hundred new-style torpedo boats launch an attack together. Except for eleven former dreadnought battleships, the opponent does not have many small and medium-sized warships, leaving ten old-fashioned medium-sized armored cruisers. And twenty escort cruisers are enough to protect our ironclad battleships from being attacked by small and medium-sized warships of the opponent."

Seeing the densely packed escort cruisers and torpedo boats of the Royal Sharad Navy rushing towards their own line of battle, Guan Xiong, the commander of the first battleship formation of the Fifth Fleet, frowned, and immediately sent eleven Edward VII-class pre-dreadnought battleships on board. The 152mm secondary guns, as well as 76mm and 47mm rapid-fire guns, try to suppress the escort cruisers and torpedo boats of the Royal Sharad Navy as much as possible, and prevent these escort cruisers and torpedo boats from approaching the eleven Edward VII-class former dreadnought battleships.

In addition, Guan Xiong also ordered the eight light cruisers and eight destroyers of the Fifth Fleet to try to protect the eleven Edward VII-class former dreadnought battleships from torpedo attacks by the escort cruisers and torpedo boats of the Royal Sharad Royal Navy.

Then Guan Xiong urgently asked Song Haoqi, the captain of the Jianwei: "When will the Seventh Defense Fleet return? There are too many small and medium-sized warships in the Royal Sharad Navy!"

Song Haoqi said in a deep voice: "The two armored battleships, one medium armored cruiser, two light cruisers, two destroyers, four gunboats and ten torpedo boats of the Seventh Defense Fleet have all left the port, but if they want to reach the battlefield, It will take at least half an hour."

After a pause, Song Haoqi suggested: "Commander, why don't we retreat towards the port of Xingang City, then we can get fire support from the sixteen forts in the port."

Hearing this, Guan Xiong showed a hint of hesitation on his face. Facing a group of Sharad Royal Navy fleet mainly composed of iron-clad battleships, old-fashioned medium-sized armored cruisers and escort cruisers, it would be too embarrassing for him to order a retreat. The face of the Navy.

At this time, a naval officer on the bridge ran to Guan Xiong and Song Haoqi with a telegram, "Commander, captain, the emperor sent us a telegram directly!"

Guan Xiong grabbed the telegram and saw that there was only one sentence written on it: "The truth is only within the range of the cannon, order a resolute counterattack!"

Guan Xiong handed the telegram to Song Haoqi, and said viciously: "Convey the emperor's telegram to all the warships, let the eleven battleships continue to maintain their formation and seize the T prefix!"

Although the forty frigate cruisers and one hundred new torpedo boats attacked by the Royal Navy of Sharad suffered heavy losses when they approached the eleven Edward VII-class pre-dreadnought battleships of the Royal Navy of the Tang Empire, they also made great achievements. Not a small result, soon one Edward VII-class pre-dreadnought battleship was sunk by torpedoes, and four Edward VII-class pre-dreadnought battleships were damaged.

At [-]:[-] noon on September [-]th, the Seventh Garrison Fleet of the Royal Navy of the Great Tang Empire joined the battlefield of the naval battle. light cruiser and two destroyers.

The addition of the Seventh Garrison Fleet of the Royal Navy of the Great Tang Empire slightly eased the pressure on the escort cruisers and new torpedo boats of the Royal Navy of Sharad on the remaining ten Edward VII-class pre-dreadnought battleships in the first battleship formation of the Fifth Fleet. Then the naval battle became more and more tragic.

When the sea battle lasted past five o'clock in the afternoon, the Royal Navy of the Tang Empire had already sunk three former dreadnought battleships, one armored battleship, five light cruisers, six destroyers, one gunboat and three torpedo boats. Eight former dreadnought battleships and one ironclad battleship were also scarred.

The Royal Sharad Navy suffered even worse losses. Fourteen iron-clad battleships, three old-fashioned medium-sized armored cruisers, 26 frigate cruisers, and 58 new-style torpedo boats had been sunk, and almost all the remaining iron-clad battleships were injured.

On the bridge of the Forester, the flagship of the Royal Navy fleet of the Sararad, Gracia, the captain of the Forester, held a telegram in his hand and said anxiously to Commander Victoro: "Baron Victoro, this is already the Ministry of the Navy. The sixth telegram sent us to leave the battle, we should withdraw! These warships are nothing, but the naval officers and soldiers on these warships are prepared for the next expansion of our Royal Sharad Navy!"

Commander Victor Luo said with red eyes: "The fleet of the Tang Empire Navy is almost unable to hold on. As long as we persevere, we will soon win the final victory of this naval battle!"

As if slapping Victor in the face, as soon as he finished speaking, an iron-clad battleship of the Royal Sharad Navy, which was already on fire, suddenly exploded violently, and then the iron-clad battleship was blown into two pieces. sink to the sea.

Gracia, the captain of the Forester, saw another armored battleship of his own sinking, and his face changed instantly. Then, with a wave of his hand, two naval officers on the bridge rushed towards Commander Victoro, killing Commander Victor. Luo took control.

"Let go of me! Gracia, what are you doing?"

Gracia smiled bitterly and said, "I'm sorry Baron Victor, I can't let you destroy the entire fleet. We have already sacrificed too much today."

Gracia Lang then shouted to a communications officer in the bridge: "Gore, immediately send an order to the ships to retreat to the east sea area, release smoke and mines while retreating, and stop the pursuit of the Datang Empire Navy! "

On the bridge of the former Edward VII-class dreadnought battleship Jianwei, the captain Song Haoqi smiled wryly and said to the commander Guan Xiong: "The Jianrong sent a telegram. Because of the serious water ingress, the speed of the Jianrong could not even reach 8 knots." If we can't reach it, we must immediately let the Jianrong also leave the battle line, so that there are only five battleships left on our battle line that can continue to fight."

Guan Xiong's face showed a little sadness, "I didn't expect that the first battle after the official establishment of the Royal Navy of the Tang Empire would be so fierce. It seems that we can only retreat towards the port of Xingang City."

At this time, an officer on the bridge suddenly shouted excitedly: "Look! The Sharad Navy can't stand it and wants to escape!"

Guan Xiong and Song Haoqi immediately picked up the binoculars and looked at the Royal Navy Fleet of Sharad in the distance. Guan Xiong slowly put down the binoculars in his hand, and said with a sigh of relief: "It's okay, it's okay, it seems that our Tang Dynasty The Royal Navy is the winner!"

(End of this chapter)