Chapter 162: Fight to the Death! The Decision of the South China Sea (14)

Screaming cannot solve any problem.

In just a few minutes, five battleships were hit by the starboard thunder, including three of the Dandong, two of the "Javal" and two of the "Britania", one of the "Malaya", the "Giant" and one of the "Nelson".

Before and after this, the Malaya ate three airdrop torpedoes on the port side. In contrast, the Java ate two, and the Giant and Dandong ate one each.

The "Malaya" is so strong and lucky. The three holes on the port side had already made it tilt left to 7 degrees quickly. The sudden gap on the starboard side poured into a large amount of sea water, which helped the hull to restore balance. Fortunately, after being hit by four consecutive torpedoes, the power system of the "Malaya" did not fail at all, and most of the pipe damage equipment was operated normally. With the efforts of the ship's pipe damage personnel, the water-inlet cabin was closed and isolated in time. The bridge fire caused by the impact of the plane during the air strike was quickly extinguished - Bernie's flagship finally escaped the disaster.

The Dandong, which the French Lieutenant General Desert, was not so lucky. After eating an airdrop torpedo on the port side, three large-caliber torpedoes fired from the torpedo boat exploded on the starboard side. The hull of 20,000 tons quickly tilted right, overturned and sank within a quarter of an hour, leading 291 French officers and soldiers to the bottom of the sea.

The Dutch Lieutenant General Rupert's ship, "Java", hit two torpedoes on either side. The last torpedo that he ate triggered an explosion in the boiler compartment, causing the "Java" to completely lose power. The warship quickly sank, and the tail first sank into the sea, followed by the rear main turret, rear mast, chimney, bridge, and finally a high-rise bow. This dreadnought built by Germany and exchanged for the Sierian Island disappeared into the bay of the US Philippines less than half an hour after eating the fourth torpedo.

The old battleship "Britania" which is located behind the main column is the most unfortunate. After hitting two torpedoes, it tilted rapidly. Within just a few minutes, it disappeared from the sea with 578 crew members, which made the captains on the surrounding friendly ships stunned.

Similar to the "Malaya", the "Giant" that ate a torpedo on the port side first tilted slightly at one point. After the thunder in the starboard side entered the water, the warship restored its balance without injecting water, and it also did not hurt the key points.

Major General Binson's second battleship squadron flagship "Nelson" took a torpedo on the starboard bow, and half of the bow was knocked out, but no serious consequences were caused - shortly after the lightning, the "Nelson" sent a signal to the "Malaya" that "This ship is not hindered".

Gradually, the sound of cannons and explosions in Lingayan Bay became sparse.

After the East Asian Army succeeded in the second lightning wave attack, it was leaving the Banshilan Peninsula at full speed, with large waves of bubbles flying from behind. More than a dozen injured lightning boats were sluggishly between their retreating companions and the enemy warships in chaos. Some were sinking, and some were still struggling. From time to time, a string of angry shells flew over their thin boat walls, emitting a crisp and pleasant metal ensemble.

The first lightning strike wave of the East Asian Army, who had been entangled with the coalition destroyer troops, seemed to have received some signal. He suddenly turned around and left behind a bunch of companions who were burning fire and emitting black smoke. The coalition destroyers did not dare to chase them far away, so they had to turn around and finish the wounded ships of the East Asian Army who had lost their resistance.

The three-ship attack team in the sky probably had torpedoes and was busy gathering in the northeast of the bay, preparing to return.

At this time, the seven old cruisers on the blocking line of the left cruiser also completed their mission. In fact, while the main column of the coalition forces was attacked by sea and air, they restrained the entire vanguard of the opponent. In the battle with the enemy's superior forces, they sank the rapid protection cruiser "Dartmouth" and injured several other enemy ships. However, they also paid the heavy price of the five cruisers "Gaosa", "Chengsui", "Yinyu", "Zhenhai" and "Ulsan" sinking. Among the two ships that were lucky enough to escape at that time, the "Yuanshan" was finally stranded and scrapped on the southeast coast of Lingayan Bay, and the "Ligan" was also scarred. One hundred and fifty-seven of the 338 crew members on the ship were killed or disabled.

Temporary silence does not mean that danger has been away.

Bernie knew very well that the opponent's almost crazy torpedo assault just now was very clear - to consume the main combat force of the joint fleet to facilitate the opponent's main force to enter the decisive battle.

Is it possible for the current joint fleet to destroy the enemy's main force in the decisive battle on the water?

According to the information at hand, all the East Asian Alliance's fearless battleships and battle patrols should have gone to Hawaii. The opponent can assemble the main force in the South China Sea is at most 10 old battleships. Although 7 of them are the "Ruixiang" class and its improved versions equipped with three twin 12-inch main turrets, Bernie is not optimistic about this unique weird battleship of the East Asian Alliance - the hull with a platoon of only 15,000 tons is installed with one more main turret than other old warships of the same tonnage. Although it has an advantage in main artillery fire, it means that this class of ships sacrifices a certain degree of protection and maneuverability, and it is even more unbearable to withstand the attacks of the new dreadnought.

What made Bernie even more incredible was that the East Asian coalition was also equipped with a large number of armored cruisers equipped with 12-inch main guns - God knows how much they would sacrifice in terms of protection and power! It was probably like half a century ago, when Chinese soldiers with braids were still running towards our cannons with their exaggerated "green dragon roar knife"!

If the East Asian Alliance gathered all their old battleships and armored cruisers equipped with 12-inch main guns - a total of 27, the number of 12-inch main guns carried by this fleet would reach an astonishing 122! And all of them could shoot at any side! When the four-nation joint fleet set off from Singapore Port, the 10 battleships and one battleship only had 8 15-inch main guns in total, 68 12-inch main guns, of which the number of main guns available on any side was 8 15-inch and 52 12-inch. At that time, the protection and maneuverability of the main warships on their side were far greater than those of the opponent's "naked" strongmen", so even if two battleships returned due to injuries when leaving the port, the remaining troops were still enough to win - even a unilateral maritime massacre.

However, after the melee since noon, the main force of the joint fleet was only three fearless battleships and two old battleships. The total number of main guns available on one side dropped to 8 15 inches and 24 12 inches, which was even more disparate from the expected enemy fleet. Among them, the "Malaya", "Giant", and "Nelson" have been damaged to varying degrees, and their speed has dropped greatly. The main column has no advantage in maneuverability, and the armored cruiser units of the forward guards have also suffered huge losses, and the destroyer units have also suffered considerable damage in the fierce battle just now. As for the colonial cruisers of the guards who are not fast and have small guns, they were originally just dragged them to clean the battlefield, and they had no hope of playing any meaningful role in the main force's decisive battle.

There is nothing I can do. No matter how you look at it, you can only retreat as quickly as possible to preserve your strength.

But at this point, can we still rush out? The opponent's main force has probably been guarding outside the bay, waiting to repeat their victory ten years ago.

There is no choice! If you procrastinate until dark here, the entire fleet will be ruined - being torn to pieces by those crazy lightning-striking ships.

Bernie made up his mind and returned to the bridge: "Send the order, all ships will rescue the survivors as soon as possible, reorganize the third formation, and prepare to return to Singapore!"

At 15:00, a huge fleet of ships in the north of Lingayan Bay has been hashed from northeast to southwest, extending for more than ten nautical miles, lying between Lingayan Bay and the South China Sea.

At the forefront of the entire fleet are four "Ball Mill"-class cruisers of the Japanese Light Cruiser Team, as the "tennis" of the entire fleet, ready to discover the enemy fleet and repel the enemy reconnaissance ships that came to spy on.

About 5 nautical miles after this "Tennale" line is a forewarp column commanded by Lieutenant General Takasaburo Oguri (Japan). Among them, "Miaogao" of the 6th Japanese Armored Patrol Team, "Yiju" of the 2nd Korean Armored Patrol Team, and "Yiju" of the 2nd Korean Armored Patrol Team, a total of four "Suzhou"-class improved patrol teams, and the 1st Korean Armored Patrol Team were equipped with four "Suzhou" and "Shangyun" of the 4th Chinese Armored Patrol Team, and "Taibai", "Taichi" and "Taiyu" of the 1st Korean Armored Patrol Team, a total of five "Yun" of the 1st Yun-font-sized patrol team, and were commanded by Major General Wang Luogong.

5 nautical miles to the left of the Forward Column, four new light patrols of the North Korean Light Patrol Team, sailed in parallel, as supplementary "tennis" to the flanks of the Forward Column.

On the right side of the Forward Column are 8 destroyers of the 1st Japanese Lightning Strike Team and 4 "Chao Chao" class of the 2nd Team.

On the right rear of the Forward Column, 10 old-style battleships of the main column were slowly moving forward with black smoke. At the front of the column was the second fleet and the South China Sea fleet flagship "Ruixiang", which was headed by General Ma Shengyu. Then there were "Ruiji", "Ruixian", "Ruihe", "Kaga", "Tosa", and "Seoul", and a total of seven modified battleships of Rui and Rui, which were temporarily organized into the first team of the battleship, led by Commander Ma. The three "Pyongyang", "Thunder and Lightning" and "Yundian" behind the palace were organized into the second team of the battleship, commanded by Major General Li Rui (Chorus).

On the right side of the main column, there are Huajun Lightning Strike 1, and the Second World War Team has a total of 2 light patrol ships and 16 Yang and Yue destroyers.

The guards are commanded by Brigadier General Kim Cheolan (Korean), including the 2nd Korean Light Patrol Team and the 3rd Japanese Light Patrol Team.

Above the fleet that was moving forward in a bloated medium-sized airship and several mosquito-buzzing seaplanes hovered back and forth.

More than 20,000 naval generals from the Three Kingdoms of East Asia were still waiting quietly, waiting for the appearance of prey.

Is it a dying tiger covered in scars and staggering steps that are about to appear from under the sea? Or is it a giant elephant rushing in anger?
Chapter completed!