Travel through the Qing Dynasty and become emperor

"My lord, I can't turn left anymore. There are three enemy ships in front of me."

"Going southeast, and rushing there at full speed, I don't believe that the British ship is solid." Wu Shizhong, the leader of the Haitian, said calmly.

The Haitian formed an angle of about 60 degrees with the enemy ship. Because the angle was too large, it was difficult for the 7 main guns to exert their power, and only 14 of the 5 side guns on the side could participate in the counterattack. Therefore, Wu Shizhong ordered the rudder to turn left The purpose is to let the main gun play a role and break through the enemy's defense line.

Haitian, formerly known as "Douwell", was a heavyweight cruiser captured from the French fleet during the Sino-French War. Later, it was specially sent to the German Voltron Shipyard for transformation, and the hull armor was strengthened to make its displacement leap. It reached 5698 tons, and the length of the ship reached 99.6 meters. It was very difficult to turn around. Fortunately, at this time, the high-horsepower unit installed on the ship played a role, and the turnaround was completed in less than a minute. After the direction, the slender Haitian rushed towards the enemy ship Odyssey at a speed of 1 knots!

At the same time, the seven 7mm main guns in front of the ship fired together, the blue and red flames intertwined, drawing a long arc across the sea, and the three shells instantly tore open the side hull of the Odyssey, A shell was sent directly into the inner compartment of the Odyssey, and exploded inside the hull, immediately destroying the two power boilers on the ship.Seeing that the Odyssey was damaged, the other two enemy ships immediately hit the bow of the Haitian with artillery fire.

Soaring Front: The First World War Chapter 221 Sea Hegemony 2

Under Liu Buchan's command are two imperial-class battleships just bought from the British, plus the main configuration of four Dingyuan-class ironclad ships, but these six behemoths were buried in the middle of eighteen fast cruisers. Can't play the role of the main attack.

Eighteen cruisers, with a full-load displacement ranging from 7000 tons to 280 to 152 tons, are mostly equipped with two or more [-]mm main guns, coupled with a tail gun of the same caliber, and eight [-]mm fast guns on each side. gun.This is a fleet composed of the elite of the Chinese navy, and its strength must not be underestimated.But the consequences of being out of formation after a surprise attack could be disastrous.

After being modified by the Germans, the Haitian has more power than the 7200 horses of the Dingyuan ship. The area of ​​​​more than 70% of the entire ship has been protected by thicker armor. The ship's power equipment is still functioning perfectly.

The Yangwu behind it was also at full power at this time, and quickly plugged in from the left wing of the Haitian, forming crossfire with the Haitian to help the Haitian make a breakthrough.

Under the attack of these two heavy cruisers, the broadside artillery offensive of the three British ships that formed the joint blockade was broken.In particular, after a shell from the Haitian directly penetrated the top deck of the first floor of the Double Star, it destroyed the ammunition delivery device in the first floor, causing the Double Star, which was in a powerful firing position, to immediately lose its ability to supply ammunition, and had to retreat in embarrassment. far sea.

The Haitian broke through the defense line of the British ship, causing the formation of the entire fleet to be arranged at once.

The formations of both sides are being adjusted, and the artillery fire has temporarily weakened.The two parallel lines formed by the two giant steel dragons are approaching at high speed during the movement, and the unprecedented large-scale battleship sea battle is about to break out at this moment.Regardless of the total tonnage or the total weight of ammunition fired in a salvo, this will be the largest naval battle in history.

Liu Buchan ordered the four ships Dingyuan, Jiyuan, Zhenyuan, and Weiyuan to rush forward, and the two imperial-class battleships, Nutao and Hurricane, were distributed on the rear two wings, forming two rows of super fire offensives. Kaiji, Huantai, Jingqing, Thinly armored cruisers such as Yangwu, Haitian, Baomin, Jiangyuan, Jiangheng, Jiangli, and Jiangzhen formed the third echelon, while the rest of the torpedo ships and gunboats were distributed among the main ships, and each ship maintained a distance of 5000 meters. Adjust the distance and speed to 9 knots, and slowly approach the enemy ship.

At this time, the sea fog had begun to dissipate, and Liu Buchan could see clearly that the British fleet also began to change its formation. A huge main battleship slowly came out from behind the fleet, and four imperial-class battleships were distributed on its left and right wings. , each of which has a displacement of [-] tons, but compared to that capital ship, it's like four sharks surrounding a whale!

Hamilton stood on the deck of the Dreadnought-class battleship, watching the situation ahead with binoculars.Under his feet is the pride of the British Empire Navy. With a displacement of nearly 21 tons and a speed of 305 knots, it seems like an elephant with the speed of a cheetah.The front, middle and rear are equipped with 8mm main guns, and 180 of them have a theoretical shooting range of 15000 degrees and a range of [-] meters. The crazy designer William White really armed this battleship to the teeth.In front of the Dreadnought-class warships, the Chinese mosquito ships were simply vulnerable.

With a loud bang, a main cannon on the bow of the dreadnought roared, like a giant sea beast about to go mad, showing its terrifying teeth at the opposite Chinese warship.The scorching shock wave rushed out of the front of the gun barrel with the fire and white smoke after firing, and at the same time carried the suffocating smell of gunpowder.The advanced tube retreat gun mount is pushed up the retreat slope by the huge recoil force brought by the shooting.While people were still marveling at the power of this cannon, the cannonball grazed the mast of the battleship Kaiyuan and accurately landed on the bow turret of the cruiser Jiangyuan, blowing up the two-layer armored turret to pieces. The barrel was thrown into the sea by the powerful explosion force.If it weren't for the intensive artillery fire quickly fired by the Chinese warships, the British sailors had already planned to celebrate the victory in advance.

Liu Buchan, who pays close attention to the development of the world's navies, certainly knows about the Dreadnought class, but according to his information, the mysterious Dreadnought class should still be at the Portsmouth Shipyard, and he did not expect the British to send it out in advance this time.

"Signature, order Zhenyuan, Kaiyuan, Nutao, and Hurricane artillery to press on, and deal with Wuwei with all our strength." Liu Buchan wanted to use these four heavyweight warships to suppress Wuwei's fire offensive. The four Imperial Power-class battleships fired first, and the advanced rapid-fire guns on the sides reached a rate of 8 shells per minute, forming a powerful cross-fire network that covered the sky above the four ships including Zhenyuan. Raging Wave and Hurricane belonged to the Imperial Power-class battleships, Needless to say, although the displacement of Zhenyuan and Laiyuan does not reach the level of imperial power, the armor technology of the Germans and the firepower equipment of the French make the overall performance of these two warships not inferior to the imperial power level at all.The eight warships on both sides launched a fierce battle, and the white smoke and fire from the gun bore illuminated the entire mouth of Sihanoukville.

A shell fired from the main gun at the rear of the dreadnought penetrated above the gun position on the port gun deck of the Jiangyuan, then swept across the entire gun gallery, and then passed upward from the right side, on the starboard main deck of the Jiangyuan A frighteningly large hole was left, and the powerful shell penetrating force caused the entire hull to tilt close to 20 degrees. Many sailors on the starboard side were thrown into the sea by the sudden tremor.

Because the Jiangyuan is in the command position of the tactical unit, Fearless took Jiangyuan as the main target. Under the command of the Fearless artillery fire, five British gunboats and three torpedo ships inserted from the rear and cooperated with the Fearless to attack Jiangyuan. Number.

The high-precision calculation method of the fearless artillery was reflected to the greatest extent at this time, and a subsequent shell hit the Jiangyuan again, and the hit position was close to the previous shell, still on the port side, but this one The power of the shell was far greater than that of the one just now. The shell directly hit the mantlet of the No. 140 140mm secondary gun on the port side.The huge impact airflow and shrapnel produced by the explosion made the gun mantlet look vulnerable, and instantly turned into scattered steel fragments.The [-]-meter secondary gun that was originally shielded behind the gun mantlet was also attacked. The entire gun body was blown up, and then fell heavily, and the steel gun barrel was twisted into an incredible crescent shape.What's even more frightening is that since the Jiangyuan was not equipped with an advanced automatic bomb retrieval device, a large number of shells were piled up on the deck at this position, and the sensitive gunpowder reacted immediately after being hit hard. It's a huge powder keg about to ignite.

Boom... The Jiang Yuan made a series of huge explosions, and the choking yellow poisonous mist immediately filled the ship.The impact generated by the explosion of the gunpowder tore apart a larger gap in the port side of the ship’s shell, while roaring and penetrating through the various compartments inside the warship. The fire in the interior compartments of the warship burned endlessly, and the entire warship turned into Made a ball of fire.

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Soaring Front: The First World War Chapter 222 Sea Hegemony 3

Jiangyuan, Henghai, and Guangjia have all been severely damaged by enemy ships. Jiang'an was hit by fierce artillery fire, leaving only one-third of the hull still exposed on the sea. The young Guandai Zhou Jun was covered in blood. Standing on the top of the tower, holding up and waving the flag, he played the semaphore of "killing the enemy and serving the country with generosity". All the Chinese sailors who saw this semaphore couldn't help being moved. It was torn apart, and Zhou Jun and more than 500 officers and soldiers of the entire ship were all killed in the line of duty.

The bow main guns of Jiangyuan, Henghai, and Guangjia have almost been paralyzed. They used the zero-boundary angle of the steering to forcefully turn their bodies, and fired at the Imperial Power-class battleship Warspite and Severn with their side cannons. At the same time, when the three ships completed their turn, they turned to face the British army with a wide side, and the bombing area was larger, and the situation would become more severe.

Seeing the sinking of the Jiang'an with his own eyes, and the three warships being battered with holes, Liu Buchan felt as if he had been pricked by a needle. Yang Yonglin angrily said to him: "Zixiang (Liu Buchan's word), don't be so reckless again. Now, our broadside artillery is not as powerful as the enemy ships, if this continues, Henghai, Guangjia, and Jiangyuan will be sunk in a short time."

"You want to do this?" Liu Buchan's face was sullen, his eyes fixed on Yang Yonglin.

"Send a tactical unit to rush over, just like what the Austrians did in the Battle of Lissa, and disrupt the British column." Yang Yonglin's eyes sparkled. In 1866, the then weak Austro-Hungarian Navy used horizontal formation tactics to ram the Italian fleet in a T-shaped formation, sinking the Italian flagship Italia in one fell swoop.Thus establishing the victory.Almost all the officers of the Chinese navy have learned this battle example. Yang Yonglin is now going to use this method to rush through the middle of a column lined up by the British and completely disrupt the enemy's formation.

Liu Buchan snorted, glared at Yang Yonglin and said, "It's okay if we succeed in adopting horizontal team tactics. If the British find out in advance, we will have to sacrifice a tactical unit in vain. The price is too high. At present, the two Dingyuan class and two Imperial Powers have already entangled eight enemy ships Imperial Powers. Taking this opportunity, I want to send a tactical unit to rush to the front of the British fleet, seize the position of the T prefix, and then attack with close-range artillery fire. Intrepid. However, the risk of doing so is too great, I am afraid they will be sunk before they can seize a favorable position."

"General, Jiang Yuan, Guangjia, and Henghai have all played semaphore!" A sentinel said, pointing to the southeast.

The three warships raised their semaphore, wanting to storm the T prefix, and hoped that the rest of the ships would do a good job of artillery cover.Looking at the three dilapidated warships, Liu Buchan frowned tightly, and shouted in a hoarse voice: "Send ten gunboats and five torpedo boats to quickly plug in, and Kaiji, Yangwu, Zhaohe and the gunners will face each other. Quasi-Dreadnought, hit hard!"

There was a raging fire on the interior cabin and deck of the Jiangyuan. The leader Lin Guoxiang organized soldiers to discard all exposed wooden structures on the ship that could be dismantled into the sea, and ordered the fire brigade sailors to lift the heavy fire pump to the appropriate position. A long rubber water pipe was connected, and the drains on the outer deck were blocked to store water on the deck to prevent the fire from spreading further.

At this moment, the engine room at the bottom of the warship has already become a purgatory on earth.In order to prevent the fire from entering the engine room, all the passages leading to the upper deck have been sealed. The heat is scorching every officer and soldier here, their hair has long been curled up, and everyone's skin is flushed.The chief engineer was still pulling his neck and shouting: "Add more coal, don't stop, don't touch the bulkhead..."

Although the fire was under control for the time being, it was impossible to completely extinguish it, not to mention that the enemy shells were still firing crazily here. They seemed to have made up their minds that they must sink this warship that was on the verge of collapse first.

"My lord, abandon the ship. If you don't leave, it will be too late." A sailor persuaded Lin Guoxiang.

With a smoky face, Lin Guoxiang put down four words: "The ship is here and the people are here!" He turned and ran to the position of the command tower.

Lin Guoxiang stared at the front and said to the sailor in charge: "Full left rudder, heading 40 degrees northeast, and rush over with full power!"

"My lord, the power cabin is overheated, and full power may cause the boiler to explode." The sailor reminded.

"Don't worry about it so much, listen to my order and drive at full speed!" Lin Guoxiang emphasized his tone.

Both the Guangjia and the Henghai saw the semaphore played by the Jiangyuan. In a short moment, the pipe belts of the two ships ordered almost at the same time: "Full left rudder, heading northeast, full power!"

At this time, the dense fog had dispersed, and a round of red sun rose from the sea, dyeing the entire seawater golden.

On the surface of the sea, Jiangyuan, Guangjia, and Henghai three ships rushed towards the huge Intrepid with billowing smoke and flames at the fastest speed. Many British sailors saw this scene and thought the Chinese were crazy .

"Three Chinese warships are rushing here at a high speed of 15 knots." A sentinel reported to Hamilton.

"Concentrate the artillery fire, and we must sink them before they arrive." Hamilton said sullenly.

Since the three ships were traveling at high speed, and the bows of the ships were facing the enemy head-on, the bombardment area was very small. In addition, although many of the naval guns at that time had a range of more than 5000 meters, due to the turbulence at sea and the large recoil force, etc., The hit rate of the shells is not very high, and the effective distance of the actual firing is within [-] meters. Therefore, many shells fired from the British ships hit the sea. At the same time, Kaiji, Yangwu, and Zhaohe formed The artillery offensive was extremely fierce, attracting a considerable amount of firepower from the opponent, which played a great role in covering the three Jiangyuan ships.

Lin Guoxiang's eyes were red, he stared at the giant ship Intrepid, and listened to the report of the ranging sailor.

7300 meters...

6700 meters...

5000 meters...

4400 meters...

At the same time, a power boiler on the Jiangyuan finally exploded because it could not bear the pressure of high-load driving. The huge shock wave directly tore apart two airtight compartments, and a hole more than one meter wide was made in the bottom of the ship. It poured in backwards. Although the sailors quickly closed the water blocking gate, the pressure of the sea water was so great that the gate could not support it, and the entire hull began to slowly tilt to the left.Guangjia and Henghai, who followed closely behind it, were also riddled with shells.

"Fire!" Lin Guoxiang gave the order decisively. The only remaining main gun on the Jiangyuan finally burst into flames. Insignificant in front of the Dreadnought, the shells can't even penetrate the thickened steel plate of the Dreadnought.

"Keep going!" Lin Guoxiang said calmly.

Even Liu Buchan, who has experienced the baptism of war, did not expect that the three warships could pass through the heavy artillery fire of the enemy ships with an unstoppable momentum. He ordered Jingqing and Huantai to immediately participate in the artillery cover, attracting the artillery of the surrounding ships of the Intrepid .

At this time, in the middle of the firepower network intertwined with heavy artillery shells, the Jiangyuan, which was burning ragingly, came within a fatal distance of 1350 meters. Lin Guoxiang was ecstatic, and he immediately ordered the right full rudder to turn the entire hull. Within range, most of the well-preserved rapid-fire guns on the starboard side can tear through the thick armor of the Dauntless.

Ps: Thank you for your support, I guarantee that there will be two updates a day in the future. If the flowers and subscriptions increase rapidly, updates will be added at any time.In addition, I would like to thank my good friend baoquan9001 for his comments. The chapters entered into V cannot be modified, and I will modify them in future chapters.

Soaring Front: The First World War Chapter 223 Sea Hegemony 4

Although the Dreadnought is unparalleled, it also has a weakness that has been criticized. When it was designed, the crazy designer White resolutely abandoned the 225mm secondary guns used by large warships, because he believed that it had thicker armor and 10 180mm guns. With the main gun that shoots at a high speed, there is no need to worry about any problems at all.But today, in the course of the Intrepid's first sea battle, an exception was encountered. This exception was the three Jiangyuan, Guangjia and Henghai ships that were on the verge of sinking.