As the Japanese First Guerrilla Fleet moved to the right, when the distance between the two armies was closer to 5,000 meters, the 283mm main gun on the Kaiyuan battleship was still in the loading state. Although there was still a certain gap between the best hit points of the Beiyang Navy's major caliber artillery, if no action was taken at this time, the First Guerrilla Fleet would have to go around its right wing almost without any injuries, which is something that Liu Buchan would definitely not want to see. Now that things have come, we must first use the large caliber artillery to win!

With the order of the "Dingyuan" gun mate Chen Shoukun, the main turret on the starboard side made a loud noise like the sky and the earth cracked; two shells weighing 292 kilograms were stimulated by the huge pressure, and in a very short time it was accelerated to a supersonic speed of 500 meters/second, spinning wildly in the sky, roaring towards the Japanese fleet 10 miles away. This symbol of the power of the Beiyang Navy, which has been known as the "No. 1 giant ship in the Far East", finally sent its own powerful roar to the enemy after 9 years of silence.

Liu Buchan took out cotton from his ears and looked anxiously at the window outside the commander tower. He saw two bright red fireballs passing through a graceful arc in the air, colliding in the sea 200 meters away from the front of the Yoshino, rushing to the sea surface 200 meters away, and rushing to the water splashes of more than three meters high. To be fair, it was not easy for Dingyuan to have this accuracy at a distance of 5,000 meters under the condition of using the old observation device sextant, but Liu Buchan was not happy at all. Due to the limited speed of the formation, all he could do now was pray silently, hoping that his large-caliber giant cannon could make the other party suffer soon.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The firing of the Dingyuan was the issuance of an offensive order. Shortly after the flagship fired, the front main guns of the Beiyang Navy ships made deafening roars one after another. Countless shells flew over the wide ocean, like a meteor fire rain shot down the sky, one after another of water columns soared into the sky, and the sea surface suddenly seemed to be boiling!

"Look at Ding Junmen, we've hit it!" Foreign officer Hannagan suddenly shook Ding Ruchang's body violently and said loudly excitedly.

Ding Ruchang was overjoyed and hurriedly looked at it. He saw a raging fire ignited on the last warship of the United Fleet, and the thick black smoke was already higher than the mast of the warship. Looking at the appearance of the ship, it seemed to be the old iron-clad ship "Fusang". Listening to the thunderous cheers of sailors around him, Ding Ruchang was in a good mood. Although it was not the main ship of the Japanese Navy, he had achieved something in the first round of shooting, which undoubtedly set a good start for the subsequent battle! In the armored command tower, Liu Buchan finally showed a smile on his black and round face when he saw a warship of the last warship of the United Fleet being hit and caught fire.

In just a few minutes, the Japanese officers and soldiers on the joint fleet seemed to have entered hell. They had to muster up great courage to expose the large area of ​​unprotected areas on the side of the warship to the large-caliber guns of the Beiyang Navy. During this period, the only thing that made the guerrilla fleet commander Hiromi Tsuii rejoice was that because he ordered the fleet to turn in time, the accurate head of the largest battleship of the Beiyang Navy was not as terrifying as the second round of shooting. The next two rounds of shells were all lost. One shell came and a huge water column was raised on the side of the "Songdao". Through the scattered water splashes, Yuuki Ito, the commander-in-chief of the joint fleet, found that the Qing fleet in front of him had become quite clear, and was about to ask a question to the adjutant next to him. The voice of the range-finding soldiers had already heard outside the commander's tower: "Learn anal (general), the Qing fleet is only 3,500 meters away from us!"

Although before the war, due to the characteristics of the small-caliber rapid-fire cannon itself, the joint fleet had strict regulations that the fire was not allowed to be fired less than 3,000 meters, but the rules were that dead people were alive. Yuki Ito was extremely clear that in this case, if the sailors were asked to strictly abide by this regulation and wait until a distance of 3,000 meters before counterattacking, the new recruits under his command would probably not be able to withstand this psychological impact!

Looking at the expectant expressions of the officers in the commander tower, Yuuki Ito sighed in his heart and said, "Fire the fire!"

"Hi!" A group of Japanese officers replied excitedly as if they had caught a life-saving straw.

"Boom!" Just 10 seconds later, the 320mm main gun at the stern of the cruiser "Songdao" spewed out a large area of ​​red purple-red light. The fiery red shells danced in the air and roared for a long time. Its power was even several times stronger than the 283mm main gun on the "Kaiyuan"! However, the result disappointed the Japanese sailors. The shell was completely dead. It was aimed at the "Kaiyuan", but it landed in the sea 200 meters ahead of the "Dingyuan", which aroused the rolling waves that rushed like mountains.

Seeing that the cruiser of the Songdao was the first to open fire, the sailors of the United Fleet, who had long been unable to contain their inner tension, began to shoot at the Beiyang Fleet. Because the first round of shooting of the Songdao 320mm cannon was lost, Yuki Ito put all his hopes on the "Imajima" and "Hashita" behind him. If their 320mm cannon could hit a vicious Qing warship, the picy acid explosives equipped by the Joint Fleet would be enough to cause a devastating blow to it!

A shocking explosion, and the sound shook the sky.

Looking at the sky-high water column rising from the port side, Claude couldn't help but snorted coldly, with a contemptuous smile on his face. As a senior officer serving on warships when the German Navy was established, he knew the disadvantages of a small boat carrying cannon; on such a small hull, he had to have both heavy artillery and speed. If he could still shoot accurately, would it still be a warship that the Earthlings could build?

The 320mm giant cannon was not afraid, so Claude turned his attention to the "Takachisui" and "Langsu" of the First Guerrilla Fleet. These two armored cruisers started construction by the British Armstrong Arsenal in 1884. The standard displacement is 3,650 tons, the main engine power is 7,000 horsepower, and the dual-axis propulsion can reach the same speed as "Zhiyuan" and "Jingyuan". It's fine. The key is that its ship is equipped with two 260mm main guns. In addition to the 320mm giant cannon on the Sanjing ship, this kind of artillery is the most powerful in the joint fleet!

At this time, a very attractive opportunity was placed in front of Claude. The First Guerrilla Fleet sailed to the right wing of the Beiyang Navy, and was moving in the opposite direction with the Kaiyuan under his seat. The distance between the two fleets had exceeded 3,500 meters. The main turrets of the Kaiyuan were all arranged along the central axis, and like Japanese warships, they were the products of side combat. If you choose to shoot the second-ranked "Takachiho" in the first guerrilla fleet at this time, the six main guns will be able to exert all their combat power!

"Send the order, turn the gun, and fire the second Japanese ship equipped with a 260mm cannon!" Claude held the snow-white navy cap on his head and conveyed his latest order to the officer.

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A century later, naval history researchers from later Celestial dynasties still had controversy over the order given by Colonel Claude. Most people said that if Claude did not order to change the target and continue to attack the Yoshino, with the hit rate shown by the German battleship in this naval battle, it is very likely that the fastest-speed ship in the combined fleet would be severely damaged or even sunk within half an hour, shattering the tactical pattern arranged by Yuki Ito in one fell swoop. Once the Yoshino was severely damaged at the beginning of the war, how could there be any future happenings?

But many people also believe that the decision made by Claude was understandable. Because from the formation at that time, if we continue to attack the Yoshino, the Kaiyuan ship had only the tail and main turrets with the firing boundary, and the bow main gun could only find another target, causing a huge dispersion of firepower. Claude was originally a traditional naval officer, and the concept of "big-caliber artillery winning" in his mind was deeply rooted, and the small-caliber rapid-fire gun was just a fresh product at that time; including Yuuyuki Ito, the commander of the Joint Fleet, he did not know the speed of these firings.

The fast cannon can actually have such a huge impact on the situation. In Cloud's view, the threat of these two 260mm cannon warships to their side is obviously much larger than the Yoshino, which is only equipped with 152mm cannons; those cannons cannot penetrate the heavy armored parts of the Kaiyuan. Even a cannon shield with its excellent bulletproof appearance can blast 4.7-inch (120mm) shells with excellent bulletproof appearance. If the 260mm shell hits the turret, it will be a devastating disaster!

According to Colonel Claude's instructions, the hydraulic system controlling the horizontal angle of the main gun on the Kaiyuan battleship began to operate, and every movement of the 45-ton cannon made people excited. At a distance of less than 3,500 meters, the elevation angles of the two main turrets at the head and tail of the Kaiyuan have been close to the level fire, and only the main gun in the turret in the turret in the turret still has a certain angle with the horizontal line. This is because at the beginning of construction, in order to save money, the body tubes of the two 283 mm main guns in the turret were cut from 40 to 35, and the initial velocity of the muzzle was reduced to 685 meters/sec. Therefore, it was necessary to choose to increase the elevation angle to obtain the same range as the main turret in the turret.

Due to inconsistent ballistic trajectory, this method of castrating the main guns of the troops was indeed not conducive to volleys, but in the late 19th century, there was no such thing as volleys of the main guns in naval warfare. They were all fighting on their own. This situation continued until the first 10 years after the 20th century. During this period, the hit rate of the artillery on the warships was directly related to the gunner's personal experience.

"boom!"

The red light burst out, the red flames rushed to fly, and the main gun of the "Kaiyuan" battleship burst out for the first time in this battle. Before Claude could recover, the four heavy artillery of the two main turrets in the front opened fire one after another within a few seconds. The thunderous sound exploded and instantly resounded in every corner of the battleship!
Chapter completed!