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The Fourth Empire of China Piaotian Literature www.piaotia.com Chapter 707 The Great Victory

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    For the British and French navies, the naval battle that broke out in the Red Sea on December 11, 1902 was simply an asymmetrical naval battle.  The British and French navies were attacked by submarines and lost most of their capital ships. Compared with the Chinese Navy's Indian Ocean Fleet, the remaining fleet was completely at a disadvantage.  Although the British and French governments strictly ordered them to fight to the last moment, they still failed to complete their mission.  Until the battleships "Formidable" and "Paris" were sunk, they were not able to severely damage any capital ship of the Chinese Navy's Indian Ocean Fleet!

    At 8:32 in the morning, the battleship "Paris" fired a salvo. In this salvo, changing the previous decline, a 305mm naval gun hit the rear owner of the "Prince Fusu"  gun.  However, the armor of the main gun of the battleship "Prince Fusu" is 343 mm thick, and the power of the main gun of the Rule of Law is too small, and the penetration performance of the armor-piercing projectiles is not enough.  After the shell hit the main gun of the "Prince Fusu", it did not penetrate the main gun armor.  Although, the violent explosion killed all the Chinese naval soldiers in the turret.  But it did not cause any damage to the main gun.  After replacing the spare gunner, the main gun continued to pour fire on the Paris.  And this was the only result achieved by the battleship 'Paris' before it fell silent.

    When the battleship Paris hit the Dauphin Fusu, thousands of French naval officers and soldiers on board the battleship Paris cheered.  They thought that this time they could at least severely damage the 'Prince Fusu'.  However, in less than ten minutes, the rear main gun of the "Prince Fusu" began to pour shells again, which undoubtedly defeated the confidence of the French.  In the ensuing battle, the French navy seemed to have lost confidence and performed very poorly.

    "Compared to the French Navy, their ally the British Navy is very tenacious.  However, God does not seem to be on their side.  In this naval battle, the battleship "Awesome" never caused fatal damage to the battleship "Qin Shihuang".  Although, they hit the battleship "Qin Shihuang" twice.  One time, a large hole was blown in the front deck of the battleship "Qin Shihuang", but apart from killing a dozen sailors on the front deck, there were no other results.  The second time it hit the side of the Qin Shihuang, destroying two secondary guns.  If this shell can move a few meters further down and explode near the waterline, then the 'Qin Shihuang' will be in trouble.  Unfortunately, there can be no assumptions about war.

    The Chinese Navy¡¯s Indian Ocean Fleet has been in a favorable position from the very beginning of the naval battle.  Originally, the capital ships of the Indian Ocean Fleet did not have an advantage compared with the British and French navies.  Moreover, with the help of the geographical conditions of the Bab el Mandeb Strait, the British and French navies can easily block the strait. The Chinese Navy's Indian Ocean Fleet may have to pay a heavy price if it wants to break through the Bab el Mandeb Strait.  However, the Chinese Navy boldly used submarines to conduct sneak attacks on the British and French navies, and achieved very satisfactory results.  This not only severely damaged the British and French navies, forcing them to give up the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, but also created favorable conditions for the Chinese navy and even the Chinese army to win this war.

    Ten Chinese Navy submarines participated in this battle. Except for one that was sunk, the remaining nine submarines all escaped the pursuit of the British and French navies.  However, two submarines were damaged by depth charges from the British and French navies, and cracks appeared in the hulls of the submarines, making it impossible to continue fighting.  But even so, exchanging three submarines for four battleships was still a huge profit.  At this moment, while the navy's capital ships and the British and French navies continued to fight fiercely, these submarines had returned to their respective submarine motherships.  They will continue northward under the leadership of the submarine carrier.  According to the plan, after the Chinese army seizes the Suez Canal, they will be deployed to the north of the canal to continue to deter the British and French navies to ensure China's control of the Suez Canal.

    "Boom! Boom!" At 8:52 in the morning, the battleship 'Qin Shihuang' fired a fatal salvo against the battleship 'Formidable'.  In this salvo, one of the eight shells accurately hit the battleship "Formidable", and another shell exploded less than 20 meters to the left of the battleship "Formidable", forming a  Nearly missed!  The shell that accurately hit the battleship "Formidable" hit the rear main gun of the battleship "Formidable".  Although the armor of the main gun turret of the "Formidable" battleship is 280 mm thick, it still cannot withstand the frontal bombardment of the 305 mm main gun shells fired by the "Qin Shihuang" battleship.  The shell tore through the armor of the turret and overturned the entire main gun.  The layout of the main guns on the "Formidable" battleship is one at the bow and stern, one at the center line of the hull, behind the boiler room, and one on each side symmetrically, between the two boiler rooms.  Therefore, the maximum firepower on a single side is eight main guns, and the maximum forward firepower is six main guns.  After the main gun was destroyed, the number of main guns that allowed the "Formidable" to continue firing at the "Qin Shihuang" dropped to six.  Compared with the shells that directly hit the battleship "Formidable", anotherA near miss caused greater damage to the battleship Formidable.  The shell exploded below the waterline of the battleship "Formidable". After the explosion, the shell formed huge pressure and directly tore open the underwater armor of "Formidable". Three underwater armors were left on the left side of the battleship "Formidable".  A gap of more than two meters wide was created.  A large amount of seawater surged into the "Formidable" battleship under the influence of huge pressure.

    The damage control personnel of the battleship "Formidable" immediately carried out rescue operations.  However, the hole was too big. The damage control personnel on the battleship "Formidable" tried their best but could not plug the hole. Hundreds of tons of seawater had poured into the battleship "Formidable".  middle.  Even with the watertight compartment closed and a large amount of seawater poured in, the hull of the battleship Formidable has tilted slightly to the left by 15 degrees.  This greatly affected the performance of the main gun on the "Formidable" battleship.  It can be said that the battleship 'Formidable' has been severely damaged.  Being sunk is only a matter of time.

    At 9 a.m., two other battleships of the Chinese Navy¡¯s Indian Ocean Fleet appeared on the battlefield.  After the battleships 'Yanhuang' and 'Shenzhou' joined the battlefield, they immediately joined the siege of the 'Formidable'.  The battleship 'Formidable', which had been severely damaged, was unable to withstand the attack.

    At 9:12 a.m., the battleship "Qin Shihuang" fired a salvo that ended the battleship "Formidable".  A shell hit the stern of the battleship 'Formidable'.  Not only was the steering gear of the HMS Formidable battleship knocked off, but a huge wound was also caused at the stern of the ship.  A large amount of seawater poured into the battleship 'Formidable' from the stern.  The damage control personnel on the battleship Formidable were powerless to do anything about it.  As a large amount of seawater poured into the "Formidable", the bow of the "Formidable" tilted upwards and gradually broke away from the sea.  Ten minutes later, the battleship "Formidable" sank into the sea with its stern down and its bow up, leaving a curling nest on the sea.  Lieutenant-Admiral Howard, commander of the British Navy's Mediterranean Fleet, issued the order to abandon the ship 5 minutes ago.  Of the more than 700 British naval officers and soldiers on the battleship, less than half of them escaped the sinking HMS Formidable battleship in time and survived!

    After the battleship Formidable was sunk, the captain of the battleship Paris gave the order to surrender very simply.  The battle between the British and French naval battleships of the Chinese Navy's Indian Ocean Fleet ended here.  The Chinese Navy's Indian Ocean Fleet sank a British Navy battleship and captured a French Navy battleship at the cost of minor damage to two 'Qin-class' battleships (which did not affect the battle).  Including the previously captured French Navy battleship 'France', two of the four 'Guba-class' battleships of the French Navy were sunk and the other two were captured!  It can also be seen from this that the fighting will of the French is much worse than that of the British.

    After the battle between the battleships was decided, there seemed to be no need to continue the battle between the cruisers and destroyers.  Of the five armored cruisers, three were sunk and the remaining two surrendered directly.  Many other light cruisers and destroyers were also sunk, but there were still about a dozen light cruisers and destroyers fleeing frantically northward.  Even though they were defeated, they were not willing to be prisoners.

    In terms of heavy cruisers, China also paid the price of one ship being severely damaged and two ships being slightly damaged.  Two light cruisers were also lost, and four destroyers were lost.  The battlecruiser "Wang Ben" also performed very well in this battle. The armored cruisers of the British and French navies were no match for him.  Among the three armored cruisers that were sunk, two were sunk by the battlecruiser "Wang Ben".  Overall, compared with the huge results achieved, the Chinese Navy's Indian Ocean Fleet undoubtedly achieved another great victory.  In this battle, one-third of the British Navy's new battleships were sunk, and the French Navy also lost all its new battleships, leaving only a few old 'Dandong-class' battleships to support their appearance. This will undoubtedly give the world  The structure of the navy has a profound impact.  The naval strength of the Allied Powers will be greatly reduced as a result.  Even if China does not provide help, the German Navy will still have an absolute advantage!  If Britain and France had known that this would be the outcome, they probably would not have participated in this war at all!  (To be continued. Please search Piaotian Literature, the novels will be better and updated faster!)
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