Master Yuan, start!

"Say!"

"The Russian Vladivostok fleet left the port an hour ago and is heading south!"

"coming!?"

Several captains from China and Japan looked at each other and saw a trembling and excited expression in each other's eyes.

...

As the maritime situation in the Far East becomes increasingly tense, European and American countries have also noticed that a war is about to break out here, a naval war.

Therefore, they sent out their own "Naval Observation Groups" to record this long-lost war up close.

After entering the era of ironclad ships, there were only a handful of major naval battles that took place around the world in the past few decades.

The first one can be traced back to the Battle of Lissabaai between Austria and Italy in 1866.

In this naval battle, ironclad ships played a significant role, proving that the artillery at that time had lost its effectiveness against armored warships.

After seeing the result of this naval battle, European countries began to make up their minds to retire all the sailing battleships in their navy and launch a large number of ironclad ships.

However, 1866 years had passed between 1896 and 30.

As ironclad ships became thicker and their protective areas increased, artillery technology also continued to improve.

Huge cannons with a caliber of 200 and 300 mm were continuously installed, and rapid-fire guns with extremely high firepower density were also brought onto the ship.

Are high-strength ironclad ships superior, or are large-caliber artillery gaining prominence again?

No one knows how the ending will be.

The late 19th century and early 20th century was a period of rapid iteration of military weapons and equipment. Even the British Empire, the world's hegemon, was somewhat confused about the future of warship development.

Therefore, in order to find out the truth, countries such as Britain, the United States, Germany, Austria, Italy and others all sent warships.

With the exception of the French, who were stopped in the East China Sea by the British, almost all the remaining powers gathered on the east coast of Korea.

They followed the thick smoke of the Sino-Japanese joint fleet from a distance, intending to observe a battle of the century.

"George, did you see that?"

On the British battleship Centurion, Captain Jeffrey put down his telescope and asked the first mate beside him: "What flag do these Chinese people fly on their ship?"

"Major General, it's the French flag!"

"Oh, my Queen, these naive yellow people." Jeffrey patted his head and said helplessly, "Are they trying to confuse the Russians with this?"

Although Jeffrey looked down on Russia, he did not think that these tricks would fool the Russian navy.

At best, it would only delay the Russians' discovery.

After getting close, it will be exposed in about 15 minutes, no, at most 610 minutes.

After all, the shape of the deck on a warship is completely different from that on a merchant ship.

"Wish them good luck."

Jeffrey looked at the Sino-Japanese joint fleet heading north with some pity.

...

At noon, the entire whale sea was shrouded in sunlight. At a glance, it seemed as if you could see the end of the world.

The Zhiyuan took the lead, the Naniwa followed closely behind on the left, and the Haiji appeared on the right side.

All three ships had a large blue, white and red French flag hung on the crossbar between the masts.

With his back to the sunlight, Liu Bohong stood at the bow of the Hailong, his eyes fixed on the north direction.

The French tricolor flag was flying in front of him, and at this moment he felt like a soldier under Napoleon.

Shaking his head, Liu Bohong smiled and put these unrealistic ideas out of his mind.

He raised the telescope again and stared at the sea in the distance.

Just when his eyes were dry and he had to blink, a few small black dots suddenly appeared on the blue ocean in the distance.

When Liu Bohong blinked and looked again, he found that the small black dot suddenly rose and turned into a thick black column of smoke.

"A fleet has been spotted ahead!"

Suddenly, the ringing sounded loudly.

The entire ship took quick action. The sailors rushed to the guns at the front, side and rear of the deck, picked up ammunition and began loading.

"Bow gun ready!"

"Tail gun ready!"

"Torpedoes ready!"

Torpedo mate Zhang Boling and his companions worked together to lift a huge torpedo and stuff it into the launch tube.

At this moment, the Russian battleship Alexander II also discovered ships coming from the south.

"Captain, it seems to be French!" The voice of the sailor came from the watchtower.

"French?"

Captain Alianowolf raised his telescope and saw the huge tricolor flag hanging on the ship led by Liu.

French, why didn't they ship supplies from the North Pacific route? Were the British so kind as to allow them to pass through the Korean Strait?

Alenov didn't think much about it and continued to head south.

The telegram from the Northern Kuril Islands said that the Japanese fleet seemed to have been dispatched as a whole and was nowhere to be found.

After receiving the news, Alenov ordered the entire team to go out to sea to prevent the Japanese from having the opportunity to attack the port.

He thought that the fleet would be safer after leaving the port, but he didn't know that this departure would eliminate the biggest worry of the Sino-Japanese Joint Fleet.

Without the support of port artillery, the Sino-Japanese joint fleet would fight even more unscrupulously.

"Captain, that warship doesn't seem to be a merchant ship!" The sailor's voice came again.

"What, not a merchant ship?"

Upon hearing this, Alenov hurriedly picked up the telescope.

He only saw a few black spots suddenly flying out from the "French" fleet in the distance.

In a flash, the black spot quickly grew larger in the telescope.

"Snapped"

Waves of water splashed up just a few hundred meters away from the Alexander II battleship.

Just when Alenov came to his senses and was about to fight back.

"Boom"

He heard a muffled sound and felt the warship shaking under his feet, and then he realized.

Alexander II, shot!

Chapter 325 Why doesn’t it sink?

"Captain Alenov, we've been hit! We've been hit on the right side of the ship!"

On the Alexander II, the chief engineer hurried to the command tower and reported the latest situation of the damage to the hull.

"Is it damaged?" Alenov asked without turning his head, holding the rudder.

Qunfei Lu Ba 2269856

"No, the enemy ship didn't fire an armor-piercing shell, and it didn't hit the enemy." Group D: Break through the underwater armor on the right side!

"The Chinese are so stupid! Do they think they can gain the upper hand by a sneak attack?"

When Alenov heard that Alexander II was safe and sound, he immediately started to speak wildly and mocked the bombardment of the Zhiyuan ship.

He has full confidence in the ironclad ship under his feet!

There were two Alexander II-class ships built: Alexander II and Nicholas I.

Both ships were started in 1885, launched in 1887, and put into service in 1891. They originally belonged to the Baltic Fleet.

In this time and space, in order to seize Japan's Southern Kuril Islands, the Russians transferred these two battleships to the Far East and stationed them in the port of Vladivostok.

Both ships weigh just over 9000 tons, have armor of about 350mm at the waterline, and a speed of 14.5 knots.

In addition, there are 2 305mm naval guns and 8 152mm guns.

It can be said that the most commendable thing about these two warships is the 350mm waterline armor and the 305mm twin main guns.

In East Asia at that time, if British and French warships were not counted, the Alexander II-class warships could be said to have the largest tonnage and the strongest firepower.

It is larger and stronger than the 8000-ton Dingyuan and Zhenyuan.

However, they also have all the shortcomings of Dingyuan and Zhenyuan.

Dingyuan had a speed of 14.5 knots, while Alexander II and Nicholas I had a speed of 14 knots.

定远号有4门射速缓慢的305毫米大口径舰炮，亚历山大二世级则是2门的305毫米舰炮和8门150毫米副炮。

However, they all had slow-firing recoil guns.

However, Major General Alenov obviously did not know what happened to the Dingyuan during the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 in the original time and space, and he was full of confidence at this time.

"Spread out the formation and form smaller groups: eight or seven in a deep V-shaped formation, aim at the Chinese warships, and fire!"

Alenov roared and gave what he thought was the most appropriate order.

When he was in naval school, he learned about the entire battle process of the Battle of Lissa.

It was also an ironclad ship, and it was also ambushed.

The Austro-Hungarian fleet at that time relied on three consecutive layers of V-shaped formations to break through the Italian fleet's formation.

"Captain Arenov, we don't have enough warships. We can only form a V-shaped formation at most!" The first mate of the Alexander II said worriedly as the sea swayed.

"One layer at a time. Now, signal Nicholas I and Ushakov to slow down and move to the opposite ends of the V!"

Captain Alenov did not change his order and repeated it again.

"Yes!"

The first mate gave no more advice and quickly ran to the deck, ordering the sailors to send out the latest flag signals.