Chapter 77: Closed war? War of attrition!

"Since the Hokkaido offensive operation has moved inland and the main force of the enemy fleet has been deeply trapped in the Vladivostok naval port, it is planned to dismantle the first mobile fleet established before the war and the Hokkaido offensive support fleet composed of the main force of the fleet, and reorganize its forces.

Most of them were assigned to the Combined Fleet to meet the force requirements of the Combined Fleet's plan to completely blockade Vladivostok Port. Some were deployed to the Second Mobile Fleet to perform security missions in waters near China's mainland. Others were transferred back to Japan's local fleets to take on the responsibility of

Security missions in the waters east and south of the Japanese archipelago. The China-North Korea joint third mobile fleet has been withdrawn, and the main forces have also been incorporated into the combined fleet..."

On a vast imaginary beach, Wen Yi lay on the water bed with empty hands, basking in the gentle sun, sleeping soundly. Next to him, lying with a beautiful woman in his left hand and champagne in his right hand, Yang Zhengjin, gently humming to heaven and hell.

Related songs. People's dreams sometimes really connect together. Do you believe it?

Late at night on October 1, 1903, 15 nautical miles (approximately 27 kilometers) south of Vladivostok Port, a string of black ship shadows was quickly passing over the gray sea.

Navy Lieutenant Commander Shu Shide huddled on the narrow command platform of the flagship "Snow White" and searched the sea with wide eyes. There was nothing within a 180-degree range in front of him.

Lieutenant Colonel Shu Shide's first destroyer team came out that night, with a total of eight "Songxue" class destroyers with a standard displacement of 850 tons: "Baixue", "Feixue", "Songxue", and "Linxue"

, "deep snow", "twilight snow", "mountain snow", "falling snow".

Each destroyer carried sixteen mines in an attempt to lay a small minefield 10 nautical miles (approximately 18 kilometers) south of the port of Vladivostok.

In addition to expelling the first battle group, also participating in this operation was Major Fu Kesi's fifth torpedo squadron, which has a standard displacement of 480 tons. The large torpedo boat "Hanshui", "Jiangshui", "Heshui",

There are eight ships in total: "Weishui", "Liaoshui", "Lishui", "Xiangshui", "Yongshui", "Huaishui" and "Ganshui". These torpedo boats do not carry mines and are mainly responsible for escorting and laying mines.

The area is cleared in advance.

Since the beginning of the war, this is the thirteenth time that the Chinese Navy has carried out mine-laying operations around the port of Vladivostok.

Shu Shide was very aware of the dangers of this kind of combat.

From midnight on September 14th to the early morning of September 15th, the mine-laying fleet led by Colonel Wang Luogong encountered the patrol fleet of the E-forces while sailing to the scheduled mine-laying field. The Chinese army sank the cruiser of the E-forces with fierce artillery and torpedo attacks.

The "Bo Yalin" and the destroyer "Terrible" suffered minor losses, but during the subsequent minelaying operations, the Chinese cruisers "Chun Yu" and "Qiu Yu" and the destroyer "Ping Yue" hit mines and sank. The mission failed.

Four hundred and ninety-eight people were killed in the battle. After this battle, the Combined Fleet decided not to incorporate cruisers into the Breeze fleet.

On September 17, the Chinese army formed a mine-laying flotilla with seven destroyers of the "Zhu" type to destroy the fifth battle group and eight large "water" torpedo boats of the fifth torpedo squadron, and carried out the fifth mine-laying operation. This time they did not encounter any enemies, but

At the end of the minelaying operation, the destroyer "Xingyue" hit a mine and sank, killing 25 people.

On September 22, the Chinese army expelled the eight Yuezi destroyers of the Third Torpedo Squadron and the six seventy-ton small torpedo boats of the Third Torpedo Squadron to form a mine-laying fleet to carry out the seventh mine-laying operation. Shortly after starting the mine-laying operation, they were

The enemy patrol squadron discovered that the two sides were engaged in a fierce battle. The Chinese army's "Haoyue" was sunk by a torpedo. In addition, two torpedo boats were lost. The e-forces lost a small destroyer "Resolution".

In view of the fact that the destroyer "Yuezi" has a too deep draft and is prone to hitting mines, starting from the eighth mining operation, the destroyer "Snow" with a shallower draft will play the leading role in the minelaying battle, and large torpedo boats carrying minesweeping devices will be dispatched to escort it.

Before booking the minefield, torpedo boats would first clean it up and then start minelaying operations. Sure enough, from the eighth battle to the twelfth battle, there were no more mine-hit losses in five consecutive battles.

"But in an encounter, the firepower of the Snow Type Hao is weaker than that of the Yue Zi Hao."

Shu Shide thought as he gently touched the railing of the command podium of the "Snow White" and suddenly had some inexplicable distracting thoughts.

A small thing like a destroyer, which is only a hundred tons, is ridiculously weak compared to a main battleship of more than 10,000 tons. However, when torpedoes are widely used, the main battleship without destroyer escort is pitifully weak. Two

Three torpedoes worth hundreds of pounds, or even one or two ridiculously cheap mines, can potentially send a giant armored ship costing tens or millions of pounds into the bottom of the sea. No matter how powerful things are, they still have their flaws.

It is a critical point that is about to collapse. But no matter what, the role of the battleship is still irreplaceable. Destroyers, torpedo boats and the like are just doing miscellaneous tasks for the battleship, such as reconnaissance, mine clearing, patrolling, escorting, and lightning strikes.

When necessary, you have to be a backup, "be ready to sacrifice yourself for the battleship at any time." If you really want to do it, you have to rely on the battleship for support. It's a bit like a chess game, the elephant eats the lion, the lion eats the tiger, and the tiger

Eat wolves, wolves eat cats, and cats eat mice. Rats can get stuck in the trunk of an elephant and kill it, so mice can eat elephants. When used in naval operations, torpedo boats eat battleships, and battleships eat cruisers.

Cruisers eat destroyers, and destroyers eat both torpedo boats and battleships. But the fact is of course not that simple. The densely packed artillery on the battleships can still drive the torpedo boats and destroyers far away in broad daylight. Let’s not talk about the effect, just think about it.

The wide hull, towering masts, chimneys and bridges, the huge main gun barrels and turrets, the densely packed secondary guns and portholes. Thinking about the majestic appearance of a 10,000-ton ship chopping through the waves, how could you not...

How can you not feel envious if you feel heroic?

"If nothing else, the food on the battleship is definitely better than the food on this little thing."

Shu Shide immediately thought of today's dinner. The recipe had been repeated ten thousand times. Just listening to it would make him lose two-thirds of his appetite.

"Hurry up and get promoted, work hard, work hard, you must be on a battleship, at least a cruiser. If you think about a light cruiser, it won't be much better. Three thousand tons and eight hundred tons, when you think about it, there is not much difference.

"

Although Shu Shide was not optimistic about light cruisers, it was Colonel Liao Shengzhen's Fourth Light Cruiser Group that provided close support to his mine-laying fleet that night. This group had four "standard displacement" ships with a standard displacement of 3,620 tons.

The "Burmese Rain" class light cruisers are "Xiayu", "Burmese Rain", "Thunderstorm" and "Shanyu", as well as Major Licorice's six destroyers "Songyue" and "Suigetsu" destroying the third battle group.

"Jiang Yue", "Hu Yue", "Hai Yue", and "Gui Yue" are responsible for escorting the cruisers. The close support force is lingering twenty nautical miles (36.5 kilometers) south of Vladivostok Port. If the mine-laying fleet

When encountering a superior enemy, you should move closer to the close support fleet as soon as possible.

Sixty-seven nautical miles south of the close support force, Lieutenant General Lin Taizeng personally led the main force of the combined fleet to suppress the battle. Its force included six battleships, six armored cruisers, four cruisers and six destroyers. If the close support fleet encountered an advantage,

The enemy should move closer to the main force as soon as possible.

This is the three-layer defense system of the Combined Fleet. When the mine-laying fleet is not dispatched, this system consists of the outpost reconnaissance fleet, the close support fleet and the main fleet, which are half an hour apart from each other, plus the mine field at the front, and

Special warfare boats (small submarines) were deployed in rotation, trying to seal the Russian fleet tightly in the Vladivostok military port.

After looking at the dark sea for a long time, Shu Shide felt his eyes hurt, so he entrusted the battle station on the command platform to the captain of the ship and walked to the chart room to confirm the route.

The space of the destroyer is very small, and the chart room is not much larger. Apart from the chart table, it is just big enough for six people. There are already two navigation staff lying there marking the route.

Shu Shide did not disturb them and just stood quietly looking at the chart. One of the staff officers noticed his arrival and was about to stand up to salute, but he stopped him with a gesture.

"There must be no problem. Let's go back to the command podium."

Shu Shide thought this way, and was about to step onto the gangway leading to the command platform when he heard the captain's cry from above: "Spot the ship's shadow ahead on the port side, the route is opposite to the ship, prepare the forward main guns, prepare the torpedoes!

"

Shu Shide hurriedly took three steps and jumped up to the command podium. He raised his telescope and looked forward to the port side. Sure enough, he saw a long series of ship shadows emerging one after another from the dark night.

"Searchlight ready!"

The captain issued the third order.

"Send the signal, the whole team is ready to fight against the enemy on the port side!"

Shu Shide issued the first order.

"Send the signal, the whole team is ready to fight the enemy on the starboard side!"

Lieutenant Colonel Yereseyev, commander of the e-force's destroyer fleet, issued a battle order. His fleet included the "Tenacious", "Awesome", "Thunderbolt", "Astute", "Silent", and "Fearless"

"", "Cruel", "Fanatical", "Nurturance" and "Guardian", a total of ten destroyers, are tasked with patrolling outside Vladivostok Port to expel the possible Chinese mine-laying fleet. Now they have discovered the mission

Target.

The searchlights of both sides were turned on almost at the same time. At a distance of three to four chains (one British naval chain is equal to 1,85.31 meters), the shadows of the warships on both sides were clear and huge. Lieutenant Colonel Shu Shide even saw them through the telescope.

"The excited expression of the bearded officer on the command platform of the opponent's flagship when he waved the order to fire the cannon."

"Fire!"

"Fire!"

The flashes of cannons tore through the darkness, one after another, in continuous succession, stinging people's eyes. At a fighting distance of several hundred yards, the hit rate of the artillery on both sides was astonishingly high, and soon several warships were hit.

It had to burn, and the broken boilers and steam pipes spewed out large clouds of mist, covering the sky above the damaged warship. The clouds and mist reflected the firelight, lights and muzzle flashes, adding an alluring and dreamy atmosphere to the battlefield.

"Boom, boom, boom!"

Shu Shide was shocked by a series of loud noises from the rear that made his eardrums numb. He turned around and saw that the "Feixue" following the flagship had turned into a large bright and huge fireball, which must have been a mine.

It must have been detonated.

"Damn it, what are the torpedo boat troops doing!"

Shu Shide complained, and when he looked back, he saw a torpedo boat rushing from the starboard side to the front of the flagship, 'inserting' through the flagship channel and then turning to attack the side of the enemy fleet. After a while, a few sparks sprayed out from the side of the boat, and then

The hull of the boat turned sharply again, and then 'inserted' back from the front of the flagship channel.

Just as Shu Shide was marveling at the proficiency of the crew on this boat, a dazzling fireball suddenly flashed from behind the enemy ship's column.

"It was hit by a torpedo. It was the torpedo launched by that boat. Well done!"

Shu Shide knew very well that a fireball like that was definitely not produced when a cannonball hit or the ammunition exploded. It was a unique sign when a 460mm torpedo hit a light target.

"The enemy ship turns left!"

The flagship captain reported.

"Send the order, turn the entire ship to the left, and pursue at maximum combat speed!"

Shu Shide waved his hand and ordered. He had just experienced the intense excitement of the first night battle, and now he couldn't bear to eat all the enemy ships in one go - tearing them alive like shredded beef and swallowing them.

Within a few minutes of the exchange of fire, Lieutenant Colonel Yereseyev saw clearly the lineup of the Chinese army—a total of sixteen destroyers and large torpedo boats!

The concept of destroyers in the e-force is relatively vague. Some torpedo boats of 70 to 80 tons are also classified as small destroyers. Most destroyers have a displacement of less than 600 tons. In the Chinese Navy, the displacement of less than 500 tons is mainly torpedoes.

Ships with attack weapons are all classified as torpedo boats - although these so-called torpedo boats will also be equipped with too many small and medium-caliber artillery.

The ten destroyers in Lieutenant Colonel Yereshenov's hands were all under 600 tons, and the caliber of the main guns did not exceed 75 mm. Although he was lucky enough to destroy a Chinese destroyer (the "Flying Snow") shortly after the battle began,

The disadvantages in quantity and quality were quickly exposed. The "Weifeng" was beaten to a pulp by the 100mm cannon on the Chinese destroyer Xuezi, the boiler exploded, and it quickly capsized. The "Nailao" was fired by the Chinese torpedo boat

The torpedo hit, broke into two pieces, and sank quickly. Several other E-State destroyers were also hit and burst into flames. Seeing that the situation was not good, Yereshenov hurriedly ordered a left turn to retreat, and sent a request for help to the Fleet Headquarters.

telegraph.

At 23:50, at the Vladivostok naval port, on the Russian Pacific Fleet flagship "Petropavlovsk", the fleet commander, Lieutenant General Makarov, held a request for help telegram from Lieutenant Colonel Yelesenov and calmly ordered:

"Order, first, Rear Admiral Leizinshteying led the cruisers Rulik, Thunderbolt, Diana and Askold, and four destroyers of the 3rd Destroyer Detachment to set sail along the safe channel to rescue Ye

Major Reshenov's destroyer fleet. Second, the armored ships Petropavlovsk, Sevastopol, Dawn and Victory immediately set fire to the port, and the cruisers Novik and Hercules

, six destroyers of the 2nd Destroyer Detachment set sail together, ready to support the detachment of Rear Admiral Leizinshte at any time."

At almost the same time, twenty-five nautical miles south of Vladivostok Port, on the Combined Fleet flagship "Ruixiang", Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Fleet, Lieutenant General Lin Taizen, received Lieutenant Colonel Shu Shide's report on the defeat of the enemy patrol fleet, and immediately ordered

Colonel Liao Shengzhen's close support force went to meet Schuster's Brezhi fleet, and the main fleet moved five nautical miles north for follow-up contact.

At 0:30 in the morning on October 2, on the destroyer "Snow White", the commander of the first destroyer team, Lieutenant Colonel Shu Shide, was in full fighting spirit. He frequently ordered the mine-laying fleet under his command to turn or speed up to seize the retreating enemy.

The e-force patrol flotilla used violent artillery fire and frequent torpedo attacks to hinder the retreat of the enemy ships. Forty-five minutes had passed since the battle started. Shu Shide's flotilla lost the destroyer "Feixue" shortly after the start of the battle.

", but in the subsequent battle, Shu Shide witnessed his own ships beating at least three E-country destroyers into scrap metal.

Captain Wang Shiyi, the captain of the "Baixue", saw that his pursuit was taking too long and was worried that the fleet would fall into the enemy's minefield or encounter enemy support forces, so he suggested that Shu Shide temporarily stop the pursuit.

"It's enough to sink another ship. Quan should avenge the Feixue. Besides, we follow the enemy ships closely and don't have to worry about the minefield. As for the enemy's support force, if it is a destroyer, it must not be

If our opponent is a cruiser, we can also use our speed advantage to escape."

Shu Shide said.

Both emotionally and rationally, Captain Wang Shiyi could not refute this.

Shu Shide glanced at him and added: "You also want to avenge your third brother."

Wang Shiyi nodded, said nothing more, and continued to direct the battle seriously.

Wang Shiyi was the second eldest brother in the family. His eldest brother Wang Shouzhong joined the army and served as the captain of the Imperial Guard. Wang Shiyi and his third brother Wang Zhijie joined the navy and were both captains before the war. Wang Shiyi served as the flagship of the first destroyer team "Snow White"

Captain, Wang Zhijie served as the captain of the third torpedo boat squadron. Wang Zhijie led the third torpedo boat squadron to raid Vladivostok Port at midnight on September 8. His boat "Shan 2" was destroyed by fierce artillery fire from the e-country warship. Captain Wang Zhijie and the boat

The other twenty-three officers and soldiers on board died immediately.

How come Wang Shiyi doesn't want to avenge his brother, but in this era of battlefields, the situation is unpredictable. Is it possible to kill generals, seize flags, and defeat the enemy's army just by relying on the idea of ​​revenge?

Wang Shiyi just couldn't resist the orders of his superiors.

A few minutes later, an observer on the right side of the command podium suddenly shouted: "Ship shadows were found on the starboard side, numbering four, five, six... numbering eight. Preliminary guess is that there are two battleships, two cruisers, and four destroyers!"

"

"What! The battleship is also coming out!"

Shu Shide exclaimed and hurriedly looked through the mirror. Sure enough, he saw the shadows of ships approaching each other on the starboard side. The first two ships were quite large, must be more than 10,000 tons. After careful identification, he found that the two ships were not armored.

The battleships are actually two first-class cruisers "Rurik" and "Pili". The former has a displacement of 11,690 tons and the latter has a displacement of 13,880 tons, which is no less than the battleships in the same fleet. Although it is recognized that the enemy ship is not a battleship but

Being a first-class cruiser (that is, an armored cruiser or a heavy cruiser), Shu Shide still felt great pressure. "Rulik" and "Pili" were each equipped with four 203mm main guns and 16 152mm medium-caliber secondary guns.

There are countless other secondary guns with a caliber of less than 152 mm, and there is a circle of destroyers and light cruisers (actually the 5,900-ton Diana and Askold) surrounding them. If they are caught by this large group of enemies, they themselves will

The thin destroyers and torpedo boats we have on hand should be left with nothing to eat.

Thirty-six strategies are the best strategy. Facing a powerful enemy, there is nothing you can do about it. The "Snow White"'s small bow inlaid with golden dragon patterns briskly drew an arc wave on the sea, carrying it with it.

Behind them, a large group of "Snow" destroyers and "Water" torpedo boats were running at full speed along the route they came from.

Although the Shu Shide fleet moved quickly, because the distance between the two sides was less than five chains (about 930 meters) when it encountered the E-force support fleet, the Russian ship still had enough time to turn on its searchlight and pursue it with fierce artillery fire.

Shooting at the Chinese warship. The E-country destroyer that was originally being chased now turned around and kicked the Chinese warship in the butt and beat it randomly.

In the dark night, the beam of searchlight light sweeps across the forest-like water column, making you feel like you are falling into a dream.

The "Luoxue", which was at the bottom of the battle sequence to destroy the first team, could not escape the dense rain of bullets. First, its steam pipe was broken, and the whole ship was like falling into the clouds and fog. After the steam dissipated, the "Luoxue" could no longer escape.

After catching up with our own fleet, we lagged far behind (what a shame, who called it "Luo" Xue), and was beaten hard by the E-country warships with large-caliber artillery. The surface of the ship was almost flattened and tilted.

The ship was submerged into the water, and only 18 of the 115 officers and men on board survived.

The other Chinese ships had no intention of rescuing their comrades, and just wanted to escape for their lives. The commander of the Russian support fleet, Major General Leizinshteying, seemed to be in the mood to fight, and ordered his destroyers to pursue them, while the cruisers pressed behind, hoping to catch another two.

A Chinese warship.

As the saying goes, the mantis stalks the cicada, but the oriole is behind it. The destroyers of country E are chasing happily. Unexpectedly, a group of Chinese warships emerge from the diagonal stab. It is Colonel Liao Shengzhen's close support force, four cruisers "Yuzi" and six "yuezi"

The destroyers turned on their full power and turned on their searchlights, which made the e-forces dizzy. They took the opportunity to fire hard with their cannons. Each ship of the Yuzihao was equipped with 4 150mm main guns and 10 120mm rapid-fire guns. Each ship of the Yuezihao also had

The three 120mm rapid-fire cannons directly beat the e-country destroyers equipped with only a few 75mm cannons, and they all turned around and retreated. The destroyer "Tenacity", which was flying the flag of Lieutenant Colonel Yereseyev, escaped.

Unable to catch up, the engine was damaged by gunfire, and the torpedo in the starboard torpedo tube was detonated again. The whole ship burned into a dazzling fireball, which gradually disappeared and became silent. Lieutenant Colonel Yereseyev was subsequently captured by the Chinese ship "Weishui"

Captured by torpedo boats.

Seeing that the enemy destroyer had been repulsed, Colonel Liao Shengzhen was just about to give up. Unexpectedly, Lieutenant Colonel Na Shu Shide was chased all the way. He held his breath. Now that he had backup, he happily led his troops to chase back.

, Liao Sheng was really afraid that something would happen to him, so he had to lead his troops to follow him closely.

Shu Shide chased all the way, and then suddenly thought that there must be a few huge cruisers behind the E-country destroyer, and quickly sent a light message to Liao Shengzhen's flagship "Xia Yu": "Stop the pursuit, there are enemy armored cruisers ahead.

"

After Liao Shengzhen heard the messenger translate the lantern language, he said angrily: "Tell him that our fleet has begun to return and ask him to make his own decision."

As soon as he finished speaking, the destroyer of country E rushed back with four large ships behind it, with large-caliber searchlights turned on. The ship's cannon blasted over, knocking out the right front main gun of "Xia Yu".

Liao Shengzhen gritted his teeth and said: "Well, you are named Shu. I will take care of you later. Send the order, turn the rudder and return to sail. Retreat at full speed! Retreat!"

The Chinese army retreated hurriedly, but the Russian ships did not stop and pursued them even more fiercely. The Russian general Leizinshijieying had been waiting in the harbor for three weeks and was bombed by airships and planes every day. He was already depressed and finally managed to escape.

Going into battle will naturally lead you to be extremely excited, so you won’t be willing to make a truce and return home easily.

The mantis stalks the cicada, the oriole is behind, and after the oriole, the shotgun is waiting. On the "Rulik", Major General Leizinshijieying saw the Chinese army being killed and was so pissed that he ran away in a panic and felt proud in his heart.

, suddenly heard a panic report from the observer from the top of the command platform: "Six, eight, nine...twenty-two ships were spotted forward on the port side! Twelve armored ships and large cruisers, and ten small and medium-sized cruisers and destroyers!

"

Rear Admiral Leyzenshteying jumped up in fright, hurriedly slapped the railing of the command platform and shouted: "Retreat, give the order! The whole ship retreats!"

On the joint fleet flagship "Ruixiang", Lieutenant General Lin Taizeng clasped his hands behind his back and shouted in a deep voice: "Turn on the searchlights and prepare the main guns to fire."

In an instant, six battleships and six armored cruisers opened their searchlights one after another, twenty-six main gun turrets slowly rotated, and fifty-two 305mm cannons with a diameter of 40 times were pointed at the Russian ship one after another.

There was a row of loud noises. The three main guns of the "Ruixiang" fired first, and then the main guns on the eleven warships also fired one after another. The dazzling flash shocked the fragile soul of Major General Leyi Zengshijieying, and then

A 305mm artillery shell fired from a distance of less than 2,000 yards simply sent this fallen soul to heaven or hell.

The upper part of the bridge of the "Rurik" was smashed to pieces. In addition to Major General Leizinshteying, the captain was also killed. None of the observers and combat staff on the command platform survived. The "Rurik"

The first officer, Major Tarabesu, automatically took over the command and continued to direct the battle from the backup command position under the aft mainmast. Major Tarabesu ordered the ship to turn around, return to the base, and use all large and medium-caliber artillery to attack China.

The ship fired back.

When the "Rurik" completed its turn, there was no Russian ship behind it.

At this time, the "Thunderbolt", which was originally following the "Rulik", had already turned its rudder at full power and left, and the "Diana" and "Askold" behind it only followed the "Thunderbolt"

After retreating, the E-force destroyer fired a burst of torpedoes randomly and disappeared at a high speed of 278 knots.

The main fleet of the Chinese army delayed some time to avoid the torpedoes fired by the destroyers of the E country, allowing the "Rulik" to escape for a certain distance, but its speed of 18 knots was not enough to escape the Chinese battleships and armored cruisers.

It is a pursuit, not to mention that there are many Chinese destroyers tightly surrounding it.

Seeing that all the ships on his side had fled into the darkness, and only his own ship was being chased and intercepted by many Chinese ships, Major Tarabiesu took out the chart and browsed it briefly, and then ordered the "Rulik" to sail at full speed.

Towards a minefield that our side deployed not long ago.

The Chinese army did not know the deceit and clung to the "Rulik". Lin Tai once ordered the armored cruiser force to go back to the front of the "Rulik" at a maximum speed of 20 knots. The destroyer force frequently fired torpedoes to obstruct the ship.

The ship moved in an attempt to surround this 10,000-ton ship and devour it alive.

At 2:15, an explosion suddenly occurred on the port side of the "Rulik", and the speed suddenly dropped to ten knots. Lieutenant General Lin Taizeng on the "Ruixiang" thought that a torpedo fired by his own destroyer had hit the enemy ship, so he

Order the battleship force to move closer to the port side of the enemy ship so that they can use the fire caused by the explosion of the enemy ship to launch a salvo of main guns at it.

A few minutes later, an explosion occurred on the right side of the bow of the "Ruixiang". The entire warship was shaken and bounced up, then fell heavily. There was a terrible snapping sound inside the hull, and turbulent water poured into the anchor chain cabin and the sailors' quarters.
Chapter completed!