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Text Chapter 507 Showdown!  This is fate!  (middle)

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    November 3, 1919

    , Yellow Sea.

    16:27.  .

    It is 76 kilometers west of the former Dadonggou Sea War Zone and 73 kilometers south of Lushunkou.  The well-deserved naval power in the Far East, the Korean cruise fleet composed of two Kongo-class ships of the Japanese Navy, and the First Fleet of the Republic of China, which wanted to avenge their shame, discovered traces of each other at the same time when they were 35 kilometers apart.

    Twenty-five years ago, the Japanese fleet experienced a life-and-death battle and turned around from here to return to Dadonggou to search for fallen and lost ships.  25 years ago, the most powerful Beiyang Fleet in the Far East stared here, scarred and afraid to fight again, and sadly returned to Lushun.  Fate, a word with a strong connotation of feudal superstition, has dramatically reappeared today, 25 years later.  Decades later, historians regarded this decision as a turning point in the geopolitics of the Far East, and the Communist Party tried hard to restore the scene at that time.  From the aspects of personnel, naval guns, ammunition and even weather, etc., the conclusion is that they are evenly matched. This makes many new party members wonder why the duel between 356mm naval guns and 305mm naval guns is considered to be evenly matched?  Only veterans know best that armor and protection determine the ability of both sides to completely penetrate the other!

    King Kong class, a test product before the British Empire's Lion-class battle patrol.

    Anhai-class, American firepower and German-style large ship and small guns emphasize the combination of protection and survivability.

    If these two warships are placed in Jutland, then the winner will undoubtedly be the latter, because the Anhai-class has a higher comprehensive protection capability, while the similar Lion-class King Kong class has been proven to have huge hidden dangers in the protective structure.  But the problem is that the Chinese Navy, whose talent has not yet fully emerged in just a few years, does not have that many elite sailors.  Although their opponents are slightly inferior in structure, they possess a group of ascetic-like tenacious killing machines that even Europe envy.

    All the data points to a close match.

    But some people who love to delve into the stories behind the war discovered something strange in a declassified document from the National Archives of the Republic of China.  They discovered that at the same time that Cheng Biguang and Nozaki Kojuro were encountering each other, there were at least 24 Dapeng bombers and 36 Haidongqing fully armed on the tarmac at the Lushun Naval Base, and the Uzbekistan of the First Fleet half a month ago  The Liang Hai training aircraft carrier was inexplicably transferred to Shanghai for renovation.  What¡¯s even stranger!  There is no trace of the submarine force that established a great reputation in the first Sino-Japanese War and is at least one generation more advanced than Japan.  The two submarine commanders, Chen Shaokuan and Bai Yutang, who are known as the leaders of the First Fleet, were actually on board the cruiser Qingdao.

    what happened?  !

    Cheng Biguang knew, but he never mentioned these things.  Many officers of the First Fleet at the time knew about it, but they all carried the secret into the coffin.  But one thing is clear.  A few days later, the Japanese navy was tied to the cross together with the smuggling ship that was publicly displayed in front of Britain and the United States in Tianjin.  Under the cross, there are piles of gunpowder and dry firewood.

    People who vaguely guessed but had no evidence focused on a figure that had shrouded the Far East for decades, and then summed up this strange and unpredictable naval battle in one sentence.

    War is a continuation of politics

    Zhang Zhaoyang also guessed the meaning above.  But he would not tell it either, because it was related to the honor of the country and the navy. Instead of focusing on the war, it was better to concentrate on work.  The 27-year-old comes from the Chinese community in San Francisco. He returned to China in 1913 and was hired by the Navy. After graduating from the gunnery department of the Nanyang Naval School in 1916, he was recommended to the Annapolis Naval Academy in the United States. During this period, he participated in three Atlantic escort operations, eight  Yue has just graduated and returned to China. He is currently the deck gunnery officer of the Zhenhai, responsible for the command and coordination of all secondary guns on the port side.

    Deck guns are a very important job.  If the gunnery officer is the brain, then the deck gunnery officers are the nerves. Every order must be issued to each gun position through them, and the situation of each gun position must also be transmitted to the command center through them.  At the same time, he is also responsible for auxiliary ranging, observing and observing enemy ship losses, etc. This is a very professional job.  So far, only a dozen people in the Chinese Navy have passed the professional gunnery assessment after the dreadnought era.

    Life jacket, imitation American anti-burn hood, diagonal first aid kit, flare gun, shipboard phone, 6x scaled Zeiss naval telescope, fixed 1.5-meter side auxiliary rangefinder.  This is all his equipment and instruments.  Compared with the upper main deck, due to the installation method of the profile gun, the secondary guns are lower than the main deck, so the sight line and working environment are not very good. To enhance protection, each secondary gun is actually a closed space wrapped in steel.  , so the secondary guns can only be connected through internal corridors.

    From where he stood, he could still see the thick smoke billowing from the northeast.  At the same time, Nozaki Kojuro also saw the smoke column of the speeding First Fleet, and the report of the mast watchman made him frown suddenly.  There is no doubt that the Kurama has already exchanged fire with the Chinese Navy at this time, but a cruiser exchange of fire and a fleet-level exchange of fire are completely different. The former can be interpreted as a maritime conflict, while the latter is a war!  Compared with the fanatical mainland?, these naval officers are obviously much calmer. They know very well whether Japan can fight a war. Although they all look down on the army, once a full-scale war breaks out, it will definitely lead to a full-scale war between North Korea and Taiwan. They don't believe in the army jackasses.  The ability to fight against millions of elite defense forces.

    The navy doesn¡¯t want to fight just for this reason, but the problem is that since the Kurama has opened fire and two Anhai-class ships have also appeared at this location, if they don¡¯t fight, it means that the Kurama has no chance of surviving and leaving!  An armored cruiser can still be lost, but face and the dignity of the navy will never allow the Kurama to be sunk in front of the fleet!

    So he has no second choice.

    "Send a telegram to the base camp. The Kurama is surrounded and our ship is intercepted." Kojuro Nozaki sent this telegram before the attack.  The sudden appearance of the Anhai class here explains the whole situation. Since they can't avoid it, let them know the price of challenging the Imperial Japanese Navy!

    "33,000 meters!"

    "30,000 meters!"

    "Speed ??25 knots, still approaching!"

    "Report to Colonel. Colonel Yoshioka Hoitsawa has sailed around the Miaojima Islands and is heading towards us. He reported that he has discovered three Chinese destroyers again. Now there are as many as five destroyers pursuing him!"

    The navigator quickly drew a situation map based on the information provided by the Kurama.  Judging from the situation, at this time, the bows of the two King Kong ships are pointing to the Bohai Strait, while the bow of the distant First Fleet is pointing to Yantai. The two fleets are in a T shape, and the Kurama is being pursued by a total of 5 destroyers along Yantai.  The outer sea fled eastward.  If the first fleet fights in this situation, it can get the T position.  And it can quickly block the Kurama's retreat route!  From this point alone, it can be seen that the opponent's commander is fully prepared and completely premeditated!

    At 16:55, when the distance was 28,000 meters, Nozaki Kojuro ordered to turn left.  Actively paralleled the First Fleet but did not give the order to fire immediately.

    At this time, the soldiers on both sides knew that the war would start in a few minutes, because there was no way out for both sides!  If the First Fleet is escaped by the Kurama, it will become another big shame after the Sino-Japanese War.  Therefore, Cheng Biguang also ordered the Tsukuba to break away from the formation and lead two destroyers to block the Kurama first.  For Nozaki Kojuro, if the Kurama is sunk in front of him, the history of the Japanese navy's rampage in the Yellow Sea will be rewritten.

    At 17:03, Zhang Zhaoyang saw the majestic appearance of Kongo and Hiei through the rangefinder. Because the sun was approaching sunset, the sea surface was shining with golden light, and the two enemy ships were like gods of war bathed in the glow.  This made him a little nervous, so he picked up the phone and reported: "The wind speed measured at the port side secondary battery position is 3, the distance is 25,000 meters, and the enemy ship's speed is 25 knots. Correction angle is 11."

    "Fire!"

    "Fire!"

    Almost at the same moment, Cheng Biguang and Nozaki Kojuro issued the order.

    ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

    The low, harsh sound of main gun fire that could even affect the heart's contraction rate suddenly penetrated everyone's ears. Zhang Zhaoyang only felt a shaking under his feet. Two huge hemispherical water waves formed on the sea towards the bow of the ship on the right, and two hot masses of water were formed.  Muzzle fireworks spread violently in all directions.  Even after being several dozen meters away, my mouth feels dry due to the hot wind!  But now he and everyone else had no intention of lamenting that the main gun's first full-power explosion was so terrifying. Instead, they clung to the telescope to find the point where the shell hit the water.

    As soon as I saw the rising water column on the opposite side, I was blocked by several water columns. The 16 356mm naval guns of the Kongo and Hiei were much larger than the Ankai-class in terms of explosion power and splashing water column.  The colleagues on the opposite side are also observing the landing point. No one thinks that they will be lucky enough to hit the opponent in the first round.  Therefore, the most important thing for the lookout and range finder at this time is to transmit the data back to the bombardment bridge as soon as possible, and the fire control will correct the muzzle according to the impact point of the gun.

    Zhang Zhaoyang has just reported the data he observed. The second round of shelling was fired again, followed by the third and fourth rounds. When it comes to the speed of the main gun, the American naval gun, which has always emphasized firepower and density, has the advantage, 305mm.

    The L50 naval gun¡¯s speed of 2.5 rounds per minute is second only to Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire¡¯s 3 rounds per minute, while the King Kong-class 356mm

    The speed of l45 is 1.5 pieces per minute.  It seems that there is a difference of one round per minute, but in fact this difference is meaningless in actual combat. No commander will order continuous rapid artillery fire at 25 knots. In that case, it is nothing but waste.  The reason why I chose haste in the first five rounds was entirely because I wanted to create momentum first and give the sailors who were engaging in a decisive battle for the first time a psychological hint that "our cannons are faster and more powerful" in order to relieve their pressure, and at the same time, we also hoped to create more opportunities for the stepped fire.  The control system provides more data and strives to lock the target earlier than the enemy.

    In this era, the commanders of battleships and battlecruisers are undoubtedly the fastest and most capable people in the world. They needConsiderations include soldier psychology, equipment disadvantages, environmental advantages, etc.  Cheng Biguang tried to use rapid firepower to inspire soldiers and quickly calculate coordinates at the same time. He has shown that his command ability is higher than that of domestic naval generals, but compared with his opponents this time, he is somewhat inferior.

    Because Zhang Zhaoyang suddenly discovered that something was wrong with the Hiei's trajectory

    According to the principles of engagement of capital ships of various countries, as long as they are in formation, they must move with the flagship, and the course and speed must not be changed unless necessary.  However, the Hiei suddenly slowed down a little, and at the same time, the bow of the ship deflected and formed a misalignment with the Kongo ahead.  If Hakan were here, he'd be shouting Beware!  Because this is a new battle cruiser formation combat bombardment tactic used by the British Royal Navy after Jutland, which is to let the battleships distance themselves to form equidistant staggered layers.  In this way, an irregular triangle will be formed between the enemy ship, flagship and mobile ship, so as to provide more data to the mechanical computer and quickly calculate the accurate coordinates of the enemy ship!

    This maneuver is not suitable for large fleet operations, because when the large fleet is arrayed, the linear array is several kilometers long and can easily form a long equilateral triangle. However, due to the short array of the small formation, the maritime ranging baseline is not as long as that of shore artillery.  Up to hundreds of meters or even thousands of meters, so the Royal Navy uses this method to find the impact point difference between two shells to solve the accuracy problem when the small fleet encounters the enemy.  This is a new tactic discovered by the British Navy after Jutland. Germany also mastered this tactic through spies, but obviously the Chinese Navy does not know this tactic yet.

    "Boom boom boom"

    At this time, Zhang Zhaoyang saw that the Japanese fleet's firing was obviously different.  Although both the Kongo and the Hiei opened fire, there was an apparent gap of two to three seconds between the two.  He didn't understand what was going on. The most important thing about warship engagements was intensive firepower. The more dense the firepower on a single platform, the better. However, Japan's behavior clearly violated its principles.  Why did the Japanese navy, which was so stubborn that it did not move even when turning in front of hundreds of naval guns in the Battle of Tsushima, make such a mistake?  Just when he was wondering, two water columns suddenly fell 700 meters away on the port side of Zhenhai. This was the closest impact point so far in the battle, and Zhang Zhaoyang couldn't help but become nervous.  This strange move was also grasped by Cheng Biguang and the officers in the command tower. Everyone did not understand what was wrong with the Japanese navy. Why was it staggered by a certain distance and there was an obvious interval between shelling?  Is it because both sides are battlecruisers?  This is possible. After all, the whole world knew at this time that battlecruisers were not suitable for the linear array tactics of battleships. Did the Japanese Navy figure out a new tactic?

    Zheng Zuyi frowned deeply and walked slowly towards the chart table, trying to figure out the reasons behind Japan's strange behavior. However, a sharp roar suddenly came from the top of the Anhai, and two thick water columns  Taking off from the starboard side of the Anhai!

    ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Cross shot!

    Everyone¡¯s expressions changed drastically. After eight rounds of shelling, the King Kong was the first to complete the cross-fire!

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