The Masanori squadron now has one moderately damaged battleship, one severely damaged cruiser, and two moderately damaged destroyers. The Japanese fleet's Fuso has been severely damaged, three cruisers have been moderately damaged, and ten
The destroyers suffered moderate damage or minor damage.
A Ming destroyer rescued the officers and soldiers of another destroyer who had abandoned the ship and escaped, and then the Zhengde issued an order to turn the rudder.
At this time, the Li Guang, which had previously been seriously injured and withdrawn from the battlefield, now came over to participate in the battle. Just in time for the Zhengde to issue a return order, the Li Guang also used its two remaining rear turrets to participate in the covering bombardment. The Li Guang is now
Fortunately, the two intact turrets are at the rear, which is suitable for use in this situation.
The two Ming destroyers went first, with the Zhengde and Li Guang behind, and shelled the four Japanese main ships evenly at the same time. Soon, the three Japanese cruisers were also hit by shells one after another. The Mogami was hit on the side.
A 15-inch artillery shell suddenly burst into flames and smoke billowed into the sky.
, the hull of the ship began to tilt slowly. Myoko and Fuso received several cruiser main gun shells and battleship secondary gun shells. Fuso was obviously very resistant and did not seem to be worse. But Myoko emerged.
Out of the thick smoke, like the Mogami, it retreated a little later.
The four Ming Army warships all increased their maximum speed and headed north. Although the four Ming Army warships were all scarred, none of them had been flooded, and their power systems were not damaged. They could still maintain their previous maximum speed.
But the Japanese army was in trouble. The Fuso was hit by two 533-caliber heavy-duty torpedoes. Although it was not fatal, the side armor was torn, the hull was seriously flooded, and the speed was seriously slowed down.
The original speed of the Fuso was similar to that of the Masanori, a little over 24 knots, but now the Fuso can only reach a maximum speed of about 18 knots. The Fuso is the core of the fleet, and the entire Japanese squadron must operate at the speed of the Fuso.
Operating at basic speed. Although the other three cruisers could drive faster, they did not dare to leave the cover of the Fuso to pursue the Ming battleships. The Fuso has now become the shortest plank in the "barrel" of the Japanese fleet.
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But when the Japanese fleet saw that the Ming fleet was about to turn around and leave, it knew that what they were most worried about had happened. If the Ming fleet seriously damaged the Japanese flagship this time, sank two destroyers, and still returned home, then the commander of the Japanese fleet, Takeo Takasaki, would probably
I have to have a caesarean section to apologize.
Takasaki Takeo ordered the fleet to pursue, and the Fuso drove to its maximum speed and continued to bombard the Ming fleet. In addition, destroyers surrounded it at high speed from both sides, waiting for opportunities to launch torpedoes.
…
As a result, something unexpected happened to the Ming fleet.
Six Japanese destroyers trailed long black smoke on their heads and long white waves behind them, catching up from both sides at a high speed of nearly 30 knots. At the same time, the captain of the Zhengde saw through the telescope that torpedoes were coming one after another.
One by one, they jumped from the deck of the Japanese destroyer into the sea, and the white waves rushed towards them.
By this time, the eastern sky was no longer black, but had turned dark blue. The visibility on the sea was much better.
The captain of the Zhengde shook his head and murmured:
"I never thought the Japanese would dare to come here and die."
He turned and said:
"Have the Li Guang aim at the first Japanese destroyer on the port side and fire a salvo with its four rear main guns."
Immediately afterwards, he ordered the gunnery officer of the ship:
"Aim at the first destroyer on the starboard side and fire a salvo with the four rear main guns."
The order was repeated quickly. After a moment, the Zhengde's four rear deck main guns roared. The smoke and flames dispersed, and the two rear turrets of the Li Guang on the left could be seen firing.
A few seconds later, the first Japanese destroyer on the rear right was surrounded by a water column. Almost at the same time, a bright light flashed out from the water column, followed by a large fireball with thick smoke rushing up - the first Japanese destroyer
Played.
The 15-inch main gun shell of the Zhengde penetrated the almost unarmored destroyer. After the shell itself exploded, a big explosion ten times more powerful suddenly occurred throughout the destroyer, and the ammunition magazine exploded.
Just like a volcanic eruption, the entire bridge, turrets, and decks flew into the air, the hull cracked, broke into two pieces in a ball of fireworks, and sank rapidly. The surrounding seawater swallowed up the hot steel, boiling "Zi La La",
Large swathes of white mist and black smoke floated into the sky together. The surrounding wreckage and corpses floated together, rising and falling in the burning seawater.
A few seconds later, the Japanese destroyer leading on the other side also received an 8-inch shell from the Li Guang. Although the caliber was twice smaller than that of the battleship, it was far beyond the capacity of the destroyer. This Japanese destroyer
A small part of the destroyer's bridge was blown off, dragging billowing black smoke, but it was still rushing forward, and the front turret was still firing at the Li Guang.
The Li Guang fired another salvo at it. However, it missed this time and all the shells fell into the water. The Zhengde's main gun was loading, but several 5-inch secondary guns were aimed at the seriously damaged destroyer.
Heavy fire. Another explosion, and the unfortunate destroyer took another 5-inch secondary battery shell. This time it hit the forward turret.
Although the 5-inch shells will not cause much damage to the destroyers, because the destroyers are unarmored and have at most a thin armor that can withstand light weapons, every shot will cause real damage despite the small caliber.
This shell hit its front turret. In the explosion, the main gun barrel of the Japanese destroyer's No. 1 turret was scrapped. Moreover, the captain of the Zhengde saw through his telescope that its torpedo launcher on the front deck seemed to have also been blown up.
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The Japanese destroyer finally gave up the pursuit, made a sharp turn with full left rudder, and retreated.
Of the six destroyers sent out to launch torpedoes, one was sunk and the other was seriously damaged. The Japanese destroyer fleet gave up unnecessary casualties and stayed behind, searching for survivors while waiting for its own battleships and cruisers to catch up.
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The Ming fleet also stopped shelling, lowered its gun barrels, and continued to escape at high speed.
At this time, two waves of torpedoes launched by the Japanese destroyers also arrived. However, because they were "chased" from behind, the relative speed was very slow. In addition, the Ming warships were all facing the direction of the torpedoes with their sterns, so they were attacked.
The area is very narrow, so it's easy to get around it.
At this time, the sky has begun to light up. The fish belly appears in the east, and the visibility at sea has greatly improved. The Japanese fleet may not catch up again. Even if it catches up, Zhengde's 15-inch main gun can still exert its range advantage.
The officers on the bridge of the Zhengde finally let out a sigh of relief, looked at each other, and smiled bitterly.
After a night battle and heavy casualties, the Masanori squadron finally got rid of the Japanese fleet's encirclement and was able to protrude out of the Sea of Japan and return to the country.
On the other hand, the casualties suffered by the Ming fleet were not worthless. First of all, they severely damaged the Japanese fleet. The Fuso was seriously injured, the Mogami was seriously injured, the Myoko and Nagara were slightly damaged, and three Japanese destroyers were sunk.
- Of course, that mysterious Ming army submarine played a big role in the naval battle. It was largely responsible for the serious damage to the Fuso.
Secondly, the first naval battle against the Japanese army also tested the combat effectiveness of the Ming Dynasty Navy. Now it seems that the Ming Navy's performance in actual combat is still worthy of the title of "traditional naval power".
The Zhengde squadron opened at full speed and quickly disappeared to the north of the Japanese fleet. The Moye submarine also took advantage of the Fuso squadron's northward pursuit, surfaced, and ran away to the south. It also shouldered the responsibility of
With the mission of destroying the Japan-Russia communication line, the mission will continue to be carried out in the Sea of Japan. Then, it will be decided whether to go to the Pacific Ocean based on subsequent orders.
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The captain of the Zhengde was sitting on the bridge, smoking a cigarette tiredly.
"By the way," he said suddenly, "when we take the Tsugaru Strait later, won't we have to pass through Hakodate?"
The second officer nodded:
"Yes. Hakodate is also Japan's largest port city on the Tsugaru Strait."
The captain took a long drag on his cigarette and said:
"No, we can't just leave like this. Let's bombard Hakodate!... Later, let the destroyer keep watch at the mouth of the strait. We and the Li Guang will stop in the sea of Hakodate and smash the port."
After saying that, he threw the cigarette butt on the ground, crushed it with his foot, strode over to the chart table, and started studying it.
In the bridge command room, several officers looked at each other with expressions of revengeful pleasure on their faces.