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Piaotian Literature of the Fourth Empire of China www.piaotia.com Chapter 469 The Irreconcilable Gap

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    "Haha! Good job, boys, beat those Chinese bastards hard and throw them all into the sea to feed the fish!" Lieutenant General Benson, deputy commander of the U.S. Navy's West Coast Fleet, saw the Chinese Navy  The USS Xikang shouted excitedly after being hit by the USS Wisconsin battleship.

    Admiral Mahan, commander of the U.S. Navy¡¯s West Coast Fleet, also had a happy smile on his old face.  Being able to hit a Chinese Navy warship at this distance requires some luck.  But in general, the soldiers of the U.S. Navy have made considerable progress.

    "Boom! Boom!" At 10:25 in the morning, the "Hawaii", which was at the end of the Chinese naval battle line, also achieved results.  A 305mm artillery shell accurately hit the rear deck of the USS Massachusetts battleship. The shell penetrated the armor of the rear main gun of the USS Massachusetts, overturned the main gun directly, and the barrel was damaged.  Exploded into twists.  Fortunately, when it was hit, the shells in the barrel had already been fired. Otherwise, if it had been killed, the battleship "Massachusetts" would have shed a layer of skin even if it was not dead.

    The Chinese Navy's "Hawaii" battleship is the "Oregon" battleship among the "Indiana-class" battleships of the U.S. Navy that was captured in a naval battle two years ago.  Afterwards, a year-long refit was carried out at the Jiangnan Shipyard in China.  The secondary guns were removed, the armor was thickened, and the power was replaced.  This greatly enhanced the combat effectiveness of the "Hawaii" and increased its speed to 17 knots.  It is already far stronger than the US Navy's Indiana-class battleships.  However, due to the fact that the structure of the battleship has been finalized, it cannot further improve its combat effectiveness.  After this naval battle, old battleships such as the USS Hawaii will probably be gradually decommissioned.  In future naval battles, the survival probability of this old-fashioned battleship will not be too high.

    "Very good, keep it up! Our luck will not be worse than that of the Americans!" Admiral Li Dingxin, commander of the Chinese Navy's Pacific Fleet, said with great satisfaction.

    The fierce battle between the Chinese Navy¡¯s Pacific Fleet and the U.S. Navy¡¯s West Coast Fleet is still in full swing.  So far, both sides have won and lost.  But overall, the Chinese Navy still has the advantage.  However, it is very difficult to say whether the advantage can be maintained and further expanded.

    While the battleships of both sides were engaging in fierce exchanges of fire, the battle between the heavy cruisers of the Chinese Navy's Pacific Fleet and the armored cruisers of the U.S. Navy's West Coast Fleet had reached a fever pitch.  It had only been more than an hour since the battle started, but already several battleships had been hit.  And some were seriously injured.

    At 9:20 a.m., the heavy cruiser Chengdu took the lead and hit the front deck of the armored cruiser USS New York of the US Navy with one shot.  Although this shell failed to cause fatal damage to the armored cruiser USS New York, it almost killed all the American sailors on the front deck of the armored cruiser USS New York.

    At 9:45, the heavy cruiser "Chongqing" achieved great results.  A 280mm main gun shell successfully hit the USS Brooklyn armored cruiser, and the hit place was near the waterline of the USS Brooklyn.  This shell exploded a large hole of more than one meter near the waterline.  The turbulent water poured into the armored cruiser "Brooklyn". When the damage control personnel of the armored cruiser "Brooklyn" worked hard to seal the hole, the armored cruiser "Brooklyn"  At least one hundred tons of seawater have been poured into it.  This caused the hull of the armored cruiser Brooklyn to tilt, seriously affecting the shooting of the Brooklyn.  It is said that taking advantage of his illness to kill him, the heavy cruiser "Chongqing" seized this opportunity and directly advanced to a place five kilometers away from the "Brooklyn" and opened fire.  At 10:15, the heavy cruiser "Chongqing" once again dealt a fatal blow to the armored cruiser "Brooklyn".  During this salvo, two shells hit the armored cruiser Brooklyn.  A shell hit the rear deck of the "Brooklyn" and destroyed the steering gear. The armored cruiser "Brooklyn" lost the ability to turn the rudder, and its speed was also greatly affected.  Another shell killed the armored cruiser Brooklyn.  This shell penetrated the turret armor of the front main gun of the Brooklyn.  Moreover, it penetrated directly into the ammunition depot from the bottom.  After the shell exploded, it directly detonated hundreds of shells in the ammunition depot.  The huge explosion directly blew the bow of the USS Brooklyn armored cruiser into pieces.  After that, in less than thirty seconds, the USS Brooklyn armored cruiser sank into the sea, becoming the first large warship to be sunk in this naval battle.

    At 10:08 a.m., the Chinese Navy¡¯sThe heavy cruiser USS ?' also successfully hit the armored cruiser USS Pennsylvania of the US Navy.  The shell hit the "Pennsylvania" amidships, and the shell blew out one of the chimneys of the "Pennsylvania" armored cruiser.  The collapsed chimney caused extensive damage to the Pennsylvania's superstructure.  At the same time, the power was also greatly affected, and the speed dropped from 25 knots to 12 knots.  As a last resort, the Pennsylvania withdrew from the battle after consulting Admiral Mahan.  However, this caused the armored cruiser USS Pennsylvania to be besieged by destroyers of the Chinese Navy.  At 11:50 a.m., the armored cruiser USS Pennsylvania was hit by two torpedoes and sank into the sea.

    In addition, among the armored cruisers of the U.S. Navy, the USS Colorado and the USS Maryland were also severely damaged. In the former, the bridge was hit, and the commanders, including the captain, died cleanly, and finally withdrew from the battlefield.  .  The latter had a large hole blasted into its side and was seriously flooded. In the end, it staggered out of the battle and headed towards the United States.  However, in the end, it was still unable to persist and returned to the mainland, and sank into the sea 800 kilometers away from the San Diego Naval Base.

    In the battle between the Chinese Navy's heavy cruisers and the U.S. Navy's armored cruisers, the Chinese Navy's heavy cruisers have an overwhelming advantage.  By 11:30 a.m., only four of the U.S. Navy's eight armored cruisers were still fighting, and these four were still somewhat injured.  Of the remaining four ships, two were sunk, one sank into the sea on the way back, and only one escaped back to the country.

    Of course, the Chinese Navy¡¯s heavy cruisers also paid a certain price.  The bridge of the heavy cruiser "Lanzhou" was hit and the captain was killed. In the ensuing battle, both main guns were destroyed and the battle effectiveness was lost.  Finally, under the protection of the destroyer, it left the battlefield.  In addition, the most unlucky one is the heavy cruiser "Xi'an".  During the battle with the USS California armored cruiser of the US Navy, it was hit by a near-missile.  The shell exploded less than ten meters away from the heavy cruiser "Xi'an".  The huge water pressure directly tore open the underwater armor of the heavy cruiser 'Xi'an', creating a three-meter hole.  Such a trauma cannot be rescued at all.  The damage control personnel of the 'Xi'an' were unable to plug the hole despite their efforts.  Finally, the captain gave the order to abandon the ship.  At 11:04 in the morning, the heavy cruiser "Xi'an" sank into the sea, becoming the first large warship lost by the Chinese navy in this naval battle.  However, fortunately, the sailors on the battleship successfully evacuated.  The Chinese Navy does not advocate sinking with ships.  Although this would appear heroic, in Wang Yuze's view, people are more valuable than battleships.  If the battleship is gone, it can be rebuilt, but if the people are gone, it is the real loss.

    The overall condition of the remaining six heavy cruisers of the Chinese Navy is much better than that of the armored cruisers of the U.S. Navy.  There will be no suspense in the next battle.  The victory of the Chinese Navy's heavy cruiser is certain.  However, the final price at which victory can be achieved depends on the specific situation.

    The battle between light cruisers and destroyers was even more fierce.  At 11:30 in the morning, two Chinese navy light cruisers were sunk, namely the "Neijiang" and the "Yibin".  Three ships were severely damaged, namely the 'Zunyi', the 'Zigong' and the 'Guangyuan'.  Most of the remaining nine ships were injured.  The losses of destroyers were even greater: 5 were sunk, 4 were severely damaged, and 11 were left.

    ¡°Of course, they caused greater losses to the U.S. Navy¡¯s West Coast Fleet.  Of the light cruisers of the U.S. Navy's West Coast Fleet, you sunk 9, severely damaged 4, and left 8.  Thirteen destroyers were sunk, 8 were seriously damaged, and 14 were left.  The numerical advantage the U.S. Navy's West Coast Fleet had in light cruisers and destroyers no longer exists.

    Overall, the Chinese Navy still has an absolute advantage.  Although the U.S. Navy had a numerical advantage before the battle began, the gap in warship performance and the quality of its soldiers was difficult to make up for with numbers.  As time goes by, the gap between the two sides will only grow wider.  The situation of the U.S. Navy's West Coast Fleet in this naval battle will become increasingly worse.  The balance of victory in naval battles seems to have begun to tilt toward the Chinese Navy. The U.S. Navy is almost going to repeat the same mistakes it made two years ago!  (To be continued. Please search Piaotian Literature, the novels will be better and updated faster!)
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