Chapter 494: The Last Naval Battle in the Far East II
April 1, 1902 AD was also April Fool's Day in the West. The weather was sunny and cloudless.
Based on the supply information of the Tsarist-Russian allied naval fleet, Marshal Liu Qinghui, commander of the Far East Navy, concluded that the Tsarist-Russian combined naval fleet would go directly to attack the Far East Naval Base Vladivostok through the Bering Strait, so on the afternoon of April 1, 1901, Liu Qinghui ordered that the entire Far East Yellow Sea Fleet enter
The combat position, in a tense atmosphere, awaits the arrival of the Tsarist Russian Navy's combined fleet.
On April 2, the Tsarist Russian Navy Combined Fleet set out and arrived near the sea off Vladivostok at 1:03 pm on the 2nd. They began to form a battle formation and headed for the Vladivostok base. However, at this time, they did not know that they had already penetrated into the Far East Yellow Sea Fleet.
In a large encirclement, and due to the shortcomings of the Tsarist Russian Navy's combined fleet in anti-submarine capabilities, they adopted a steady and steady march.
At 2:45 p.m. on April 2, the 3,000-ton Huaxia-class destroyer "Xiangyang" of the fifth combat detachment of the Far East Yellow Sea Fleet discovered the Tsarist Russian Navy's combined fleet. At 3:50 p.m., the commander of the Yellow Sea Fleet, Lieutenant General Huang Haitao, ordered the entire fleet to launch an attack.
An hour later, the Far East Yellow Sea Fleet began to follow the Tsarist Russian Navy Fleet. At 3:15 pm, the two sides conducted the first tentative exchange of fire. The Far East Yellow Sea Fleet accompanied the Tsarist Russian Navy Combined Fleet like a ghost throughout the afternoon.
This directly put great mental pressure on the officers and soldiers of the Tsarist Russian Navy Combined Fleet, which also made the already low morale even lower.
At 3:30 pm, based on the disadvantage of his overall speed, the commander of the Tsarist Russian Navy's Combined Fleet, Rozhides, ordered to change the battle formation and use his own advantageous battle formation to launch various defeats. He ordered the first officer of the Tsarist Russian Navy's Combined Fleet to
The second detachment accelerated to 14 knots so that it could sail in front of the third detachment. Because the order was not issued at the same time, the third detachment suddenly decelerated, which plunged the formation of the entire Tsarist Russian Navy combined fleet into chaos.
How could the Vice Admiral Commander of the Far East Yellow Sea Fleet Huang Haitao let go of such a favorable opportunity? So the two submarine formations of Swordfish and Electric Fish, which had been lurking under the water waiting for orders, launched the first wave of underwater attacks. At 3 p.m.
At 55 minutes, the Far East Yellow Sea Fleet and the Tsarist-Russian Combined Naval Fleet were close to about 11 nautical miles, and the Tsarist-Russian Combined Navy Fleet had not yet completely recovered from the chaotic formation. Under the attack of two submarine formations in the Far East, Tsarist Russia at this time
The Combined Naval Fleet has lost a battleship and a heavy cruiser.
At 4:50 p.m., Lieutenant General Huang Haitao, commander of the Far East Yellow Sea Fleet, issued an all-attack command signal. At 4:15 p.m., the second combat detachment of the Far East Yellow Sea Fleet, the flagship "Tianjin", and the remaining six battleships "Lanzhou" and "Kunming"
"No.", "Chengdu", "Xi'an", "Xining", and "Zhengzhou" all obtained favorable attack positions, but Ye Yongjun, the captain of the second combat squadron, resolutely ordered a large turn in front of the enemy. This is the famous Far East Navy
A "u" turn.
At 4:18, the flagship of the Fourth Squadron of the Tsarist Russian Navy Combined Fleet, "Prince Suvorov", opened fire on the Far East Yellow Sea Fleet. At 4:26, the Yellow Sea Fleet's Second Combat Squadron, which had completed its turn, had seven 10,000-ton armored battleships.
The warships of both sides began to fire back fire, and the warships of both sides started an artillery battle that lasted for an hour within a distance of 5000-6000 meters. From then on, the last large sea battle in the Far East officially began.
The Second Squadron of the Far East Yellow Sea Fleet completed the "U" turn in 16 minutes, seizing the T-shaped crosshead position, and using tactics to pass through the Tsarist Russian Navy Combined Fleet, and took the lead in launching an attack on the Fourth Squadron warship of the Tsarist Russian Navy Combined Fleet.
Attack, but the Second Squadron of the Yellow Sea Fleet was still damaged by the Fourth Squadron of the Tsarist Russian Navy's Combined Fleet during the turn. The "Kunming" and "Lanzhou" were damaged. However, after completing the turn, the Second Squadron of the Yellow Sea Fleet immediately
Taking advantage of its higher speed and rate of fire, coupled with the power of artillery and ammunition, it gradually seized the initiative on the maritime battlefield.
The Far East Army, whether at sea or on land, often uses beheading tactics, so after the Second Squadron of the Yellow Sea Fleet turned to a favorable situation, it immediately concentrated its artillery fire to attack the flagship "Prince Suvorov" of the Fourth Squadron of the Russian Navy.
Under intensive artillery fire, at 5:02 p.m., the propeller of the flagship "Prince Suvorov" was damaged by a shell. From then on, the Fourth Squadron of the Tsarist Russian Navy Combined Fleet lost the command of the flagship. The squadron commander
Tvinsky was seriously injured, and the entire superstructure of the flagship "Prince Suvorov" was beaten to pieces by artillery fire from the Far East. Finally, the "Prince Suvorov" was forced to withdraw from the battle sequence and began to float on the sea without power.
The Fourth Squadron of the Tsarist Russian Navy Combined Fleet fell into a chaotic situation without command.
During this all-out attack on the flagship "Prince Suvorov" of the Fourth Squadron of the Tsarist Navy, the "Kunming" of the Second Squadron of the Yellow Sea Fleet was seriously injured and withdrew from the following battle, but the entire Second Squadron
The strength is still preserved.
While the Far East Yellow Sea Fleet and the Tsarist Russian Navy battleship squadron were engaged in a sea battle, the cruiser squadrons of both sides were also engaged in a fierce exchange of fire. The battle between the cruiser squadrons started at about 3:45 pm and ended at 5:15 pm.
It was fought between the 3rd and 6th squadrons of the Yellow Sea Fleet and the 2nd and 4th cruiser squadrons of the Tsarist Russian Navy Combined Fleet. During the entire battle, three heavy cruisers of the Far East Yellow Sea Fleet were damaged and withdrawn from the battle, but all the auxiliary ships of the Tsarist Russian Navy were completely destroyed.
Boat.
It turned out that before the battle, Marshal Liu Qinghui, commander of the Far East Navy, had made destroying all the supplies of the Tsarist-Russian Navy combined fleet his top priority. Therefore, the Fourth Combat Detachment and the Fifth Combat Detachment of the Yellow Sea Fleet were merged, and the two Yellow River-class ironclad battleships "Hangzhou" were combined.
", Under the leadership of the "Wuhan", thirty Huaxia-class destroyers pursued relentlessly and launched non-stop attacks on the supply ships and torpedo ship formations of the Tsarist Russian Navy's combined fleet.
The 3,000-ton Huaxia-class destroyer is the most advanced maritime warship of the Far East Navy. Both in terms of speed and artillery firing rate, it has reached the highest level of configuration. Therefore, surrounded by two squadrons, the fourth of the Yellow Sea Fleet
The four warships of the detachment "Ningbo", "Shaoxing", "Jiaxing" and "Wenzhou" took a roundabout way to intercept.
The "Yiwu", "Zhoushan", "Huzhou", "Jinhua" and "Lishui" were the vanguard and rushed at full speed towards the Tsarist Russian Navy Combined Fleet, the First Squadron, which was protecting the supply ships. After successfully attracting the Tsarist Russian Navy
After the combined fleet, the "Taizhou", "Hengzhou", "Ruian", "Yueqing", "Cixi" and "Jiande" attacked from the right wing, while the "Huangshi", "Xiangyang" and "Xianning" attacked from the right wing.
"Huanggang", "Xiaogan", "Ezhou" attacked from the left wing, "Huanggang", "Jingzhou", "Yichang", "Shiyan", "Suizhou", "Jingmen", "Shennongjia"
, "Xiantao", "Qianjiang", and "Tianmen" ten warships formed a sharp knife formation and charged directly towards the supply fleet of the Tsarist Russian Navy's combined fleet.
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