The battle fleet of the Chinese leader was still advancing slowly, and at the same time it was carrying out continuous bombardment. As the distance got closer, the shooting accuracy of the Chinese leader's navy became more and more precise. Several Cossack warships were shot in succession, and the scene was very chaotic.
After persistent bombardment, the Cossack Navy finally achieved results. A 305mm shell fired from the 'Kniaz Suvalov' accurately hit the side of the 'Tongshan'
Surprisingly, the shell failed to penetrate the armor and exploded inside the ship, but it was not bounced off the armor either.
Because the Cossack Navy does not use a delay fuze like the Chinese Navy, but a very sensitive trigger fuze. The Chinese Navy's delay fuze can explode after the warhead penetrates into the hull, causing greater damage to the opponent.
.However, the artillery shells with delayed fuses also have defects. Once the warhead fails to penetrate into the hull, it will be bounced away by the rebound force of the armor, so that the armor will not be damaged by any explosive explosion.
The Cossack Navy's trigger fuse will explode as soon as it is touched. Although it cannot enter the ship and cause greater casualties, it will not be bounced away.
The shell exploded on the armor's surface, and the flames soaring into the sky made Marshal Bagramyan excited. Even the Cossack sailors on the deck cheered. The feeling of being beaten passively was really uncomfortable.
The cheers of the sailors did not last long. When the smoke cleared, naval attachés from various countries, Cossack officers with telescopes and lookouts were all surprised to find that there was no trace of dents or damage on the armor of the Tongshan.
At most, it's just a piece of patent leather that fell off.
In addition to the fact that the Cossacks are still using less powerful black powder, this result has a lot to do with the fact that the Chinese leading warships use alloy armor with a thickness of more than 300 millimeters. Seeing this scene, my eyes widened.
The naval attachés quickly recorded the armor problem in their notebooks.
"What? How is it possible?" Marshal Bagramyan stared at the almost unscathed battleship 'Tongshan' with his eyes wide open. He simply couldn't believe that such a thing would happen. This is not good for the concept of combat.
It was simply unimaginable for him to stay in the age of sailing battleships.
"Concentrate all artillery fire, and I must sink them." Marshal Bagramyan issued an order angrily. Although he thought that as long as he closed the distance, his artillery could threaten the opponent's warships, but in his heart
I had some vague premonitions.
The dense shells finally bore fruit. One shell hit the top cover of the rear main gun turret of the Far Eastern. Although it did not cause much damage to the turret, it shocked all the gun crew members in the turret and knocked them unconscious.
, the sailors hurriedly carried the injured and unconscious personnel to the ship's infirmary, and the new artillery crew immediately stepped forward to replace the injured artilleryman and control the main gun.
Seeing that the artillery fire of the Cossack fleet is getting denser and denser, and the distance between the two sides is getting closer and closer, even if the battle line formation is still maintained, it will not have much effect. It is better to disperse the attack and use one's own firepower and armor advantages to achieve greater results.
The results of the battle.
Now Liu Junguo was confident. He ordered the battle fleet to disperse and fight independently. When the 14,000-ton "Lanting" class battleship gradually accelerated to 16 knots, all the military attachés watching were amazed.
Got up.
Captain Jiang Ping of the Far East first received the order and rolled up his sleeves excitedly: "It's finally time for a big fight. Let's rush over and fight fiercely." For that kind of formal knight's duel,
He was already tired of ordinary battle line battles. Back then, there was nothing he could do about the wooden warships, but now his warships were rough-skinned and fleshy, with powerful firepower. It would be a shame not to give him a good fight.
Relying on his rough skin and thick flesh, he was not afraid of the opponent's artillery fire. The "Far East" rushed towards the opponent's fleet immediately. The front main gun fired continuously, arousing tall water columns in the Cossack expedition fleet, frightening the Cossack troops.
The warships could no longer maintain their formation, and the scene was chaotic.
"Hit the faster one first." Jiang Ping spotted the Cossack cruiser at the front at a glance. The distance was only two kilometers away. The 'Far East' almost leveled its main gun and started firing.
The first shell did not directly hit the hull above the water, but before the Cossack sailors could breathe a sigh of relief, the shell miraculously deflected when it entered the water and penetrated through the underwater bow of the cruiser.
Inside the hull, a hundred kilograms of colloidal explosives exploded under the action of a delayed fuze, directly breaking the keel of the cruiser.
After seeing that the opponent was doomed after the easy shot, the 'Far East' stopped caring about it, turned its bow slightly, and started looking for the next target again.
"Hurry up and speed up. You see, the 'Far East' has already achieved results. We have to work harder." This is Guo Yu, the captain of the 'Xing'an' who has not achieved any sinking results in the previous shelling.
Guo Yu, who was already eager to make meritorious deeds, did not expect that his warship failed to sink the ship after more than ten rounds of bombardment, which made him very anxious.
However, the meticulous Guo Yu did not rush into the enemy group like Jiang Pingxian. Instead, he made a small detour and cut into the flank of the entire Cossack fleet in one fell swoop. In this way, he could use broadside firepower to attack the enemy and use enemy warships to attack the enemy.
His body blocks most attacks.
Soon Guo Yu arrived at the position. Since the outermost layers were cruisers, he was not worried that the opponent's artillery could threaten him, although now he faced not one but two enemy cruisers.
Guo Yu didn't care about the numerical disadvantage. After all, the two warships combined were not as big as one of his, and the caliber of the main gun was half smaller than his own.
The Lanting-class battleship had numerous side guns, and the hull armor was completely immune to the cruiser's small guns. In addition, the distance was very short. In just ten minutes, the two cruisers sank in frustration.
Captain Qu Jintao of the Tongshan cleverly followed the Far East, attacking the enemy ships while covering the tail of the Far East. The two battleships cooperated closely and rushed into each other.
In the group of ships, there was a fierce fight between left and right, and several Cossack warships were hit one after another.
At this time, the cruise fleet led by Zhang Haiyang took advantage of its speed and took advantage of the opponent's focus on the battle fleet to make a large circle. At this time, they also completed the outflank, and they plunged into the rear of the Cossack fleet.
Zhang Haiyang was very clear about his own strength. He did not attack the ironclads but targeted cruisers. In addition to the sharp artillery fire, the torpedoes of the cruise fleet were also fired indiscriminately in close combat. The Cossacks were in a hurry and the Cossack fleet's cruisers
It's quite bad luck.
Originally, the cruisers of the Cossack fleet were smaller in tonnage and weaker in firepower than the 'Tongjiang' class cruisers. In addition, the Chinese leaders paid close attention to the cooperation between the cruisers, basically fighting two against one, which gave them an even greater advantage.
On this chaotic battlefield, the backward communication methods of the Cossack Army have completely failed. Each ship cannot obey the command of the flagship at all and can only fight on its own.
The warships of the Chinese Navy relied on radio communications and closely cooperated with each other to achieve flexible battlefield dispatch.
The Chinese leading fleet at this time was not a novice fleet when fighting the Japanese navy. After a large number of experienced Imperial Navy officers and soldiers joined the fleet, the fleet's combat effectiveness was greatly improved.
The establishment of the army requires a century-old navy, which means that the establishment of a navy requires a hundred years of accumulation and little by little experience to become strong, and the Imperial Navy has a very solid foundation.
With the participation of a large number of Imperial Navy officers and soldiers, the Chinese Leading Navy has saved a lot of accumulation time. In other words, the Chinese Leading Navy has borrowed the power of the Imperial Navy and bypassed the century-old naval accumulation period, making the Chinese Leading Navy a powerful force from the beginning.
A mature fleet.
Each warship broke into the opponent's formation and fought fiercely, using skilled techniques and tactics to effectively attack the Cossacks. This made Zhang Xiaobing, the captain of the Lanting, anxious.
He had already taken the lead in the charge according to his temperament, but his ship was now the flagship, and Navy Commander Liu Junguo was on his ship. If anything happened to Liu Junguo because of his recklessness, he could not bear the responsibility.
Seeing Zhang Xiaobing jumping up and down next to him, Liu Junguo suppressed his laughter and said, "Old Zhang, what are you doing?"
Zhang Xiaobing said: "You still don't know my temper. It's my style to play so unhurriedly from the outside."
Liu Junguo said: "Then you just rush in and fight." Zhang Xiaobing rolled his eyes at him and said: "If you hadn't been here, I would have been the first to rush in.
At this moment, the first mate suddenly broke in and said: "Commander, Captain Sun and the others have succeeded." Liu Junguo smiled and said: "Great, let's break away from the battle and just keep an eye on the other side."
In fact, the current naval battle situation has made Liu Junguo frown slightly. Although the veteran sailors on each ship are of high quality, they all used to use wooden sail battleships. Their tactical thinking always unconsciously moves closer to the direction of melee.
.
Although Fang Xiaoyu provided the navy with a large number of advanced ideas on advanced naval tactics, and they often trained during normal training, they still had the same mindset when it came to emergencies.
It was okay at the beginning, everyone could abide by the principle of long-range bombardment, but after free movement, they began to attack closer. The guns of the Chinese leading battleships have large caliber and long range, but they are not easy to use at close range.
Those warships that were too close could only attack with their secondary guns because they were too close. When Liu Junguo saw this situation, he immediately ordered a report to be sent to each ship, ordering them to distance themselves and attack, but the battlefield situation changed.
It happened faster than Liu Junguo imagined. Before his order was issued, Marshal Bagramyan couldn't stand it anymore.