The output machine of the divine calculation made a clicking sound and spit out a long paper tape full of round holes. Major Ou took one end of the paper tape and skillfully read out a series of shooting parameters.
The gunnery commander repeated the firing parameters loudly, and then the Overlord's turret began to rotate. The vibration caused by the powerful electric motor could be clearly felt even in the armored tower where the bridge was located.
At this time, inside the main gun turret, a dozen burly men were pushing the shells hung by the winch into the gun chamber. Then they began to stuff the propellant into the gun chamber one by one. The gunner was still shouting next to him: "
Pay attention to the standard number of the medicine package, and don’t fill it in wrongly. If you fill in the wrong location, you can end up at your grandma’s house!”
After a lot of work, the sergeant in charge of directing the loader closed the barrel and closed the locking gate.
"Report, loading completed!"
Seeing this, the gunner turned around and pulled down the switch painted with the word A-1, and the indicator light above the switch immediately turned green.
On the bridge, the gunnery commander loudly reported: "The loading of the No. 1 gun target is complete and the test firing is ready."
Lin Guoxiang glanced at Major Ou and said calmly: "You decide the launch time, let me see what you are capable of."
Landebel's major nodded and made a firing gesture to the gunner.
The No. 1 main gun of the Overlord immediately sprayed out a ball of orange flames, and a large-caliber shell roared towards the unsuspecting Japanese fleet in the distance.
This is a special artillery shell called a "target shell". The internal charge of the shell is much less than that of normal ammunition, but it is equipped with a timing system. After the specified time of flight, the shell will eject a shell coated with metal powder.
The balloon is the reference object for the so-called celestial eye.
This is also a "dumb way" that Lin Youde's technical team came up with when the technical performance of the Sky Eye system cannot be improved in the short term, but a "dumb way" is better than "no way".
"Target confirmed," the sergeant operating the Sky Eye reported loudly, "Coordinates x34y4."
The input hand immediately turned the mechanical digital disk to input the new data into the divine calculation. Soon, the output machine of the divine calculation clicked again.
"Prepare the ammunition for the second target." Major Ou ordered while taking the paper tape and then read out a new string of shooting parameters.
At this moment, Lin Guoxiang suddenly spoke: "The trajectory will deviate a little to the west, and there is a westerly wind blowing over the Japanese fleet."
The veteran didn't know when he opened a porthole at the front of the bridge, and the cold winter sea breeze poured in from the window, tearing everyone's faces.
"What are you doing standing still? Keep firing!"
Then the second round was fired, and the target bomb roared into the mist with a murderous roar.
"Report to the general, Nie Dutong asked again whether to attack!"
"Let her wait. I will notify him when it's time to attack."
"Second target confirmed! Location..."
After the operator reported the coordinates, there was a brief silence on Landebel's side, and then Major Ou's voice came: "Report to the General, I think the current data can already form a straddle attack on the enemy ship. Please load conventional ammunition and carry out the main operation."
Gun salvo!"
"Go do it."
"yes."
"But..." Gunnery Commander Lei looked a little hesitant, "The two main guns in turret B have also been loaded with target ammunition..."
"It doesn't matter, just mark the bullets." Lin Guoxiang simply dispelled Gunnery Commander Lei's doubts.
To put it bluntly, Lin Guoxiang did not expect to hit the target with the first salvo. In fact, the hit rate of artillery fire at this time in the naval battle was quite bad. Not counting the Sino-Japanese War in which both sides were actually fighting with bayonets. In the Russo-Japanese War, the Russians
In terms of shooting technology, they basically gave up a blank sheet, and the Japanese data were actually not very good; later in the Battle of Jutland, the Germans' hit rate of 3.3% surpassed the British's 2% hit rate.
Above the rate, he has won a reputation for being well-trained...
Jutland, Britain and Germany fired more than 10,000 artillery shells in total, and only hit a few hundred shells in total. It can be seen that the artillery battle at this time was to fire one out of 100 shells, so in the Sino-Japanese War of 1891, the Japanese Navy was superstitious about fast boats and fast artillery.
…
The waiting time for reloading was so long. Everyone was staring at the six indicator lights next to the gunner. Every time one of the lights turned from red to green, the staff officer smacked his lips or swallowed his saliva.
Finally, a staff officer couldn't sit still and asked Landebel's group: "Didn't the Japanese fleet change its course?"
"No." As he spoke, Major Ou stretched his neck to check the display screen himself, and repeated again, "There has been no change. They still maintain the original formation, course and speed."
"At nights like this," Lin Guoxiang said, "the visibility is so poor that light signals and signal flags don't work, and they don't have convenient radios like ours, so they can only use telegraphs to communicate with each other. Of course, they can't change the speed and course at will at this time.
Yes, once the formation is messed up, they will lose 10% or 20% of their strength by ramming into ships without us fighting."
Before Lin Guoxiang finished speaking, the last indicator light in front of the gunnery commander turned green. So he ordered the operator: "Salvo alert."
The next moment, three short electric bells rang throughout the Overlord. Upon hearing the electric bell, everyone immediately put down their work and fixed their bodies nearby.
In several turrets, the loaders were withdrawing from their fighting positions like a tide, sitting on the seats arranged along the inner wall of the turret, their mouths wide open.
On the bridge, the mine gunnery commander turned around to face Lin Guoxiang in a standard posture, stood at attention, and made a crisp sound when he put his legs together.
"The salvo is ready, please give instructions."
Lin Guoxiang's left index finger and middle finger nervously tapped on the shell of the telescope. After brewing for two seconds, he let out the accumulated breath in his chest.
"Fire." The veteran said decisively.
Without waiting for the gunnery commander to repeat the order, his men pulled the lever for the salvo.
A current was stimulated from the switch and quickly transmitted along the lines to the three turrets of the Overlord, activating the primers of the guns one after another at intervals of a few tenths of a second.
The tens of thousands of tons of steel body of the battleship shifted to the side by a full 3 centimeters at that moment. The flames ejected from the muzzle turned into a hurricane, setting off a one-meter-high wave on the side of the battleship. The roar of the shooting filled the bridge.
All the glass trembled, emitting a resonant sound that made people's skin crawl all over.
After the shooting is completed, the high-raised gun body hangs down like the one at the end of the shooting, returns to the horizontal state, and waits for reloading.
Hot air poured in from the window opened by Lin Guoxiang. The old man squinted his eyes and faced the hot air, feeling like he was bathed in the spring breeze.
"Ah, this wind, this feeling." The old man faced the cold wind and sniffed the remaining smoke in the wind, and then said in a voice full of vicissitudes of life, "This is the smell of war, this is my war."
The young people on the bridge looked at each other in confusion. To be honest, they didn't quite understand the old man's emotion, but the majesty of the main gun salvo just now really impressed them.
At this time, the Sky Eye operator reported: "The third and fourth targets have been confirmed, and the target is still alive."
"Reloading is in progress, and the second salvo is expected to be launched in one minute." Gunnery Commander Lei also gave a report.
This minute is as long as a year.
After all the lights came on, Major Ou gave the latest shooting information. At this time, Lin Guoxiang interrupted again: "They know how to drive left."
"What?" Gunnery Commander Lei didn't hear what the veteran said clearly.
"I fought against Togo Heihachiro in the Battle of Toshima. At this time, he almost realized that he was being bombarded and it was time to make a decision to make evasive maneuvers. When the enemy's position is unknown, he is used to maneuvering to the left first. This is also the case for Etajima Marines
The program recorded in the school’s standard tutorial, that tutorial was written by Togo Heihachiro.”….
"Yes, make corrections based on the assumption that the enemy ship will maneuver to the left."
Ten seconds later, the salvo warning bell rang throughout the Overlord again.
**
It was exactly eight-thirty when Togo Heihachiro was called to the bridge by his adjutant.
As the flagship of the Combined Fleet, the bridge of the battleship Asahi is completely different from the design of the Overlord. It still uses the now popular open bridge. Therefore, not long after Togo Heihachiro got on the bridge, his military uniform was covered with a layer of fog.
.
"what happened?"
"Report to your Excellency, Commander, the lookout hand found something strange on the sea surface, and something seems to have fallen into the water."
Togo Heihachiro frowned. At this moment, he heard the clear sound of heavy objects falling into the water in the misty night.
This sound made Togo Heihachiro suddenly alert.
"Send Shen Ji to check the situation. This may be a Chinese war crab."
"Do you want to order all the Shenji Team to take off?"
Togo Heihachiro was silent for a while and shook his head: "No, this may also be a deceptive action taken by the Chinese in order to consume our Kamiki's physical strength. The Chinese are cunning and cunning. Just order the Kamiki Team and send a small team to check the situation.
"
"yes."
Soon, Kamiki, who was ordered to attack, brought back something incredible to Togo Heihachiro.
"Your Excellency, Commander," the girl in a miko costume reported respectfully, "We found this in the sky, it seems to be a kind of balloon."
Togo Heihachiro squinted his eyes and looked at the thing in the miko's hand. He waved and held the angry adjutant closer so that the light of the kerosene lamp could completely illuminate the entire balloon.
Togo Heihachiro stretched out his hand and touched the surface of the balloon, and his white gloves were immediately stained with a layer of gray metal powder.
The commander-in-chief of the combined fleet immediately felt a bad premonition in his heart.
As if to echo this premonition, a sharp neighing sound came from Dongxiang's head.
Soon enough, six huge water columns rose up from the water outside the Asahi's sides almost simultaneously. For a moment, a man-made downpour washed over the open-air bridge, and a few unlucky fish were thrown on it.
deck.
The huge noise alerted the Japanese naval officers and soldiers who were still resting in the ship. They rushed to the deck and looked at the sea curiously.
Finally, someone reacted: "Enemy attack! It's an enemy attack!"
After a brief period of confusion, the Japanese soldiers began to rush to various battle positions on the battleship.
"Notify the fleet that we are under attack!" Togo Heihachiro ordered to the first mate who was unable to prevent himself from stepping on a fish and slipping. He picked up the phone installed next to the row of sound tubes on the bridge - Japanese warships are not as good as
The Overlord only has a telephone line connecting the key mast lookout post and the engine department. To communicate with other departments, you can only rely on a microphone.
"Lookout post! Where is the enemy? The enemy has already fired, you should be able to see the fire!"
"Your Majesty Commander, we didn't see anything!"
"This is impossible! The enemies are all attacking us!"
At this time, Togo Heihachiro suddenly realized that the first thing he needed to do now was not to confirm the situation, and he quickly escaped from the enemy's cross-fire from an unknown location.
So he temporarily took the microphone away from his mouth, turned to the helmsman and shouted: "Full left helm!"