Episode 77 Turn the rudder collectively and go home
Episode 77: Collectively turn the wheel and go home
The officers and soldiers of the Ming fleet watched helplessly as water columns rose up from the side of the Japanese ship opposite, first twice from the Fuso, then once from the Myoko, and then a fire broke out... After a few seconds, the Ming army officers and soldiers all
Understand, the opponent was hit by a torpedo.
Every warship in the Ming fleet erupted in cheers. The originally desperate situation was suddenly reversed.
The chief mate of the Zhengde now temporarily took over the duties of the captain and the fleet commander. He held the telescope and stared at the two Japanese ships in the distance, quickly recalling the way the water column rose just now...
Could it be that the torpedo we launched arrived just now? No way!
Not only the Zhengde, but also the officers and soldiers of every ship are quite strange. Even a small soldier can understand that it is unlikely to be the torpedo just launched by his own fleet. The torpedoes fired by the destroyers are fired in a fan pattern, and the distance between the torpedoes increases with the distance.
The greater the separation, the more Ming warships
There are five or six kilometers between the Japanese fleet and the Japanese fleet. The torpedoes have already been widely separated when they arrive there. It is impossible for two torpedoes to hit the same ship. The torpedo net launched from such a long distance between fleets is a probability of collision.
It's not bad to be able to hit an enemy ship.
This was obviously fired from close range.
The first officer, the new captain of the Zhengde, observed the position of the Japanese ships and ruled out the possibility of them accidentally injuring themselves by launching torpedoes.
"Send a signal to the destroyer fleet," he turned around and ordered. "There are our submarines near the enemy fleet. Let them continue to bombard the enemy destroyers and don't give them a chance to counter-submarine!"
"yes!"
After simple repairs and maintenance, the bridge has been barely restored to use. Most of the command officers who were knocked unconscious by the shock wave have returned to command. The communications officer picked up the phone and conveyed orders to the radio room.
The captain then ordered:
"The secondary guns fired at the enemy destroyer, and the main guns continued to bombard the Fuso!"
The gunnery officer repeated the order loudly, then arranged the bombardment targets of each secondary battery, and at the same time continued to operate the eight main guns to bombard the Fuso.
…
The Japanese fleet never expected that in a battle that was already guaranteed to win, its two main ships would suddenly eat torpedoes, and the Fuso ate two torpedoes in succession. They were obviously not launched from the Ming fleet in the distance. So this kind of
The only situation is that there is a submarine nearby.
It is also difficult for the Japanese to accept this fact. The Sea of Japan has always been regarded as their backyard. The Ming fleet came in as soon as it came in. They deliberately let it in; but after it was let in, several straits were closed and all the troops were sent.
The fleet was guarding it. I didn't expect the Ming submarine to be able to get in!
What they couldn't accept even more was that the Fuso, which was more than 30,000 tons, and the Myoko, which was more than 10,000 tons, were destroyed by a submarine of only a few hundred tons or more than a thousand tons at most! The warships built by the Japanese people in a frugal manner,
The results of the Japanese Navy's hard training day and night were wiped out by a small submarine at this moment.
The commander of the Japanese fleet, Captain Takasaki Takeo of the Fuso, was holding on to the chart table just now to avoid being knocked to the ground by the explosion. Now the ship has tilted several degrees to the right, and the pencil on the chart table quickly rolled to the side.
, blocked by the edge. The damage control center has called to report that the two torpedoes hit relatively close to each other and have torn the side armor. Now seawater is pouring in. Takasaki Takeo has ordered water to be injected on the other side.
Keep the ship balanced.
Several Japanese destroyers were already searching for submarines, but the rain of shells and the torpedoes fired frantically by the Ming fleet on the opposite side forced them to dodge left and right. These destroyers were now almost the main targets.
A destroyer had used a searchlight to cover a small white mark, and discovered that it was a periscope. Without saying anything, the destroyer fired a single shot from the main gun on the bow, and a column of water rose up near the periscope.
Then, the periscope was retracted very quickly.
——The submarine was below the surface of the water and was difficult to hit with artillery. The destroyer was about to move over to drop depth charges when the air above its head screamed and shells fell densely around it. It quickly extinguished its searchlight and turned on the
Full power and left rudder, leave the place. Otherwise, the probability of being hit in the next salvo will increase exponentially.
Now the destroyers of both sides have become targets. The battleships of both sides are still bombarding each other, and the destroyers of both sides no longer "help" and start bombarding the other side's destroyers.
For a time, explosions broke out on the sea, flames rolled, and fireballs shot into the sky. At this time, the Ming army had sunk three destroyers, and only three destroyers were left. The Japanese army only lost two destroyers, and there were ten more. And the top
The heavy cruiser USS Nagara and the light cruiser USS Nagara were basically undamaged.
, is still the main force in artillery battles. One side of the hull of the Fuso battleship was flooded, and the other side was artificially filled with water. In short, a large amount of water was flooded. Now the speed is greatly affected, and the fastest can only be driven to 19 knots. But the Fuso's artillery
Still fine, still firing deadly shells at the Ming fleet.
…
The captain of the Masanori understood that the best choice now was to use his speed advantage to quickly get rid of the Japanese fleet, highlight the Sea of Japan, and return home. Originally, the Japanese fleet was blocked in front of the Tsugaru Strait. Now, after a series of naval battles, the two sides have formed a line.
The battle lines were bombarding each other and had already traveled south for more than thirty nautical miles. If they turned around and headed north now and got rid of the Japanese warships at full speed, it should be feasible.
By this time, the Zhengde had already been hit by several 14-inch shells, and one of its forward turrets was no longer usable. The Li Guang had one of its turrets knocked off, was seriously injured, and fell far to the north.
The captain of the Masanori observed the surrounding situation and then looked at the time. It was already past four o'clock. In another hour, it will be dawn. Now we are driving north at full speed, and we will almost reach the entrance of the Tsugaru Strait in an hour.
And even if the Japanese warships pursue it fiercely, with the severely damaged Fuso's
The speed will be thrown down several nautical miles in an hour. And it will be dawn at that time, plus the distance of these few nautical miles, it can just take advantage of the range of the Zhengde's 15-inch main gun. Moreover, the Zhengde's two
The rear turret is intact, and this is the time to take advantage.
Having made up his mind, the captain ordered the three destroyers to fire all existing torpedoes at the Japanese fleet, and then collectively turned to a new course of 350, north-northwest, and headed straight for the Tsugaru Strait at full speed.
At the command, more than a dozen torpedoes flew off the decks of the three destroyers and fell into the sea, spraying white waves and heading straight towards the Japanese fleet.
Then, the four open ships concentrated their firepower and bombarded the Fuso.
A moment later, another dense column of water rose around the Fuso. Although the 15-inch shells did not hit directly, two more 5-inch shells exploded on the deck of the Fuso.
The Japanese fleet also fought back fiercely. Although the Fuso moved more slowly, it still proved its power with tongues of fire spitting out of its body. The Mogami and Nagara also concentrated their firepower to bombard the Masanori. And the ten Japanese destroyers also
Bullying the few with their numbers, they bombarded three Ming destroyers.
Soon, the Masantoku was hit by two 8-inch shells from the Mogami and three 5.5-inch shells from the Nagara. However, they did not cause any real damage.
The Fuso immediately proved the Japanese navy's night fighting advantage. After a salvo, the Masandoku was hit by a 14-inch shell on the side again. The armor belt was moderately damaged, but it was not penetrated.
At this time, the only three destroyers of the Ming Army were also seriously injured. The deck of one of the destroyers was burning with black smoke billowing, and the speed gradually slowed down.
The captain of the Zhengde used his telescope to see that the destroyer was severely tilted. It was basically destroyed. However, its 40mm cannon continued to fire at the Japanese ship.
The captain of the Zhengde was quite moved, sighed and said: