Just as the Beiyang Fleet entered the coast of Japan and prepared to fight the Russian Far East Fleet, the Overseas Fleet, which received orders from Li Hongzhang, also left Kaohsiung Port. Their mission at this stage was not to rendezvous with the Beiyang Fleet, but to search for those cruising in the outer seas.

Three Russian armored cruisers, destroy them or drive them back to Muran Port. As long as the main force of the Russian fleet is forced to retreat into the port and cannot get out, then the Beiyang Fleet and the overseas fleet will

The task of the fleet is quite easy, as long as it can block the opponent and prevent the Russian fleet from functioning. As for the storming of Muran Port, it is not necessary, and it is impossible to do it under the cover of mine arrays and shore artillery.

The Russian Far East Fleet, and more importantly, Beiyang must leave enough power for the Russians to ensure the suppression of the Japanese navy. After all, Xu Jie does not want Japan to be reunified!

Therefore, under the command of Lin Taitsang, the admiral of the Overseas Navy, three King-class battleships and one fast cruiser embarked on their journey. The four battleships sailed in a column in the vast Western Pacific. The flagship headed by Beiyang was built

The first large armored cruiser Fuzhou (well, to be honest, it is assembled from parts), and the next two ships are its German brothers, Kaohsiung and Taipei. These three ships

The same type of battleship has already made a splash in the Spanish-American War. The officers and soldiers of the Nanyang Fleet are quite confident in their own quality and the warships in their hands. As for the last warship, the Japanese can recognize it at a glance. This battleship is exactly

The Yoshino of the Japanese Navy during the Sino-Japanese War of 1888-88, and now this battleship, renamed Cathay by the overseas navy, will serve as the eyes and ears of the entire Nanyang Fleet.

Before departure, Lin Taizeng and others had a final coordination with Xu Jie. Because they learned that the Nanyang Fleet would participate in the task of escorting the transport ship. And in order to prevent the loss of important supplies due to the Russian fleet's breaking of diplomatic relations, for example, the army

Transportation and supplies will be carried by British merchant ships.

.The British adhere to the principle of good people doing their best and sending Buddha home. Some of the battleships of the British Far East Fleet also moved to Shanghai. The meaning here is very clear. My fleet is here. If the Russian fleet dares to attack the British again,

A merchant ship carrying the imperial flag is a slap in the face.[.

Do it at your own risk! Although I don’t know if this kind of intimidation will work on the Russians. Although I don’t know if they actually fight,

Will the British really go to war with the Russian fleet? But something is better than nothing. And in order to spread the risk, Beiyang decided to transport part of the supplies and soldiers through canals and offshore transportation. No matter how ruthless the Russian Far East Fleet is, they will never dare to escape.

Going offshore? Let’s not talk about the sea conditions.

, it can be said that such a long distance is enough to consume the Russian fleet. If it encounters the encircling Beiyang Fleet, it will be completely finished. Therefore, because of the above reasons, Lin Taizeng's overseas fleet can

Run further and block the Russian fleet near the edge of the East China Sea.

Of course, the Overseas Fleet is definitely not looking for the three Russian armored cruisers endlessly on the sea. Long before Beiyang officially declared war, Beiyang camouflaged reconnaissance ships flying various national flags had already spread out in the vast Western Pacific.

They did not enter the war zone designated by the Russians, let alone go to the coast of Japan. They just wandered on the sea, and then looked for Russian warships. Then they transmitted the information via radio. And now, as an intelligence piece shows that a ship

Russia Asia

The high-speed armored cruiser was heading towards Okinawa. So the elites of the entire overseas fleet decided to speed up the pursuit. The maximum speed of a warship and the speed it can achieve in normal times are completely different concepts. The speed achieved during the trial voyage is much different in actual combat.

Restricted by the ship's condition and the fuel the ship carries. The Azov sea-type warship, which has been fighting in the ocean for more than 20 consecutive days, will not be very good in terms of ship condition and fuel. In this case, Lin Tai had enough

Be sure to catch up with the opponent near Okinawa.

At this time, the Russian Azov Sea-type armored cruiser Turquoise still knew nothing about its situation. They did not know that a powerful fleet was heading towards them. Although it had learned about Beiyang's participation in the war through telegrams,

Although Makanov has ordered all fleets to shrink (note that the fleet is concentrating rather than retreating), the order given to the ocean-going breakup fleet is in the conflict.

Concentrate near the rope, then carry out supplies, and wait for an opportunity to enter the East China Sea. In order to allow the main fleet to have a decent vanguard as a reconnaissance force, Makanov transferred the Rurik from the break-up fleet and teamed up with another Azov.

The sea-type armored cruiser serves as the reconnaissance force of the fleet. As a result, the fleet in Essen's hands only has 3 armored cruisers. Only one of them can be used in fleet battles.

After receiving Makanov's order, the Turquoise armored cruiser rushed to the scheduled assembly area but did not find the warships coming to rendezvous. It turned out that the Russia and Bayan were a little bolder and had already penetrated deep into the East China Sea. After receiving

After the order, the two armored cruisers were close to

It's a bit far from the assembly point, so it takes time to get there. In this way, there is only one ship, the Turquoise, waiting for supplies near Okinawa. In addition, the French supply ship has not yet arrived, which directly caused the maneuver of the Russian fleet.

xing has been greatly restricted.

In this way, when the clock of history reached 7 o'clock in the morning on April 28, 1899, the first collision between the Beiyang and the Russian Far East Fleet finally began. When the ship flying the Andre flag in the distance was seen from the morning glow,

After the battleship, the Nanyang Fleet cheered. In their eyes, this battleship was like a lamb waiting to be slaughtered.

"We are old friends. We fought against him as early as 4 years ago, but we didn't destroy it at that time. But today, we will make up for the regrets of that year! Raise the flag and prepare to fight!" Lin Tai once said excitedly.

"Captain, we can't escape." The first mate of the Turquoise said in fear.

"Immediately evacuate to the southeast and send a telegram to General Essen, saying that the overseas fleet has arrived near Okinawa and the original supply plan cannot be carried out. Our fleet has guided the opponent to the southeast. I wish General Essen good luck." Turquoise

The captain was very calm. He looked at a King-class armored cruiser and a protected cruiser that had been separated in the distance and said.

"Let the Taipei and the Cathay Pacific clean up the trash fish. We need to see if there are any other prey nearby." Lin Tai once said, looking at the Russian warship escaping at a speed of 14 knots in the distance. In 2 days

He had received news a while ago that the Turquoise was heading near Okinawa, but now, the ship is still here!

There are only two possibilities. The first possibility is that the opponent is out of fuel and is waiting for supplies. The other possibility is to wait for other Russian warships, or the Turquoise. There are two reasons here! It would be unavoidable to use the entire fleet to besiege the opponent.

It's a bit of a fuss. He needs to leave a certain amount of troops to deal with other Russian warships.

Four battleships boarding together are actually the same as two battleships. The Taipei and Cathay Pacific commanded by Cheng Biguang launched a pursuit at a speed of 19 knots. The distance between the two sides slowly narrowed as time went by. The distance between the two sides every hour

The distance will be shortened by about 7km, which means that in up to an hour and a half, the two sides will be able to communicate directly with naval guns!

Knowing that it could no longer hide, the Turquoise stepped forward in resignation, and then began to turn, revealing the side string equipped with a powerful rapid-fire cannon. The dark muzzle shone with a cold light in the sunlight, but facing

Against the King-type armored cruiser Taipei, the 8-inch guns and 6-inch guns on the Turquoise are just scratching the itch.

Facing the challenge from the Russians, Cheng Biguang ordered the fleet to turn around and form two battle lines in the same direction as the Russian warships. Four powerful 11-inch 40l Krupp cannons slowly rotated and aimed at the lone ship in the distance.

Russian cruisers, both sides

The distance keeps getting closer, 8000 meters, 6000 meters, 5500 meters! When the data calculated by the rangefinder is transmitted to the gun position, the gunner then uses the telescopic sight to refer to the gun table to aim at the Turquoise in the distance, and then fires the gun.

!

"Boom" was accompanied by a thunderclap-like noise. The Taipei was instantly enveloped by the rising fireball. Four 11-inch shells flew towards the Russian warship 5,500 meters away at a speed of more than 700 meters per second. The friction between the high-speed shells and the air produced

The ear-piercing sound instantly resounded throughout the battlefield. It was like a warning sound accompanied by the shells flying towards the Russians. A few seconds later, the Turquoise was surrounded by water columns.

The rangefinder then re-measures the distance by calculating the distance between the water column and the enemy ship. Then the modified distance and heading data are re-transmitted to the gun position, and then the gunner calculates the shooting elements for the next round of comparison. This set

The artillery principle proposed by Xu Jie is already very close to the fire control principle of the Dreadnought period, but the current ranging and direction finding are still relatively primitive, and the calculation task is left to the turret.

The gunner has to solve it instead of using a special console to solve it. Generally speaking, the principle of gunnery in the Dauntless era is to measure the distance, calculate the transmission data and then make corrections later. But the gunnery adopted by Beiyang now does not have a special solution.

Department, after all, the current project is not very far away, and systems similar to Drake and Lumbo have not been developed yet. It is sufficient and there is no need to build those flashy things!

And this control system, proposed by Xu Jie and studied together by Beiyang, has finally been tested for the first time in actual combat. Although this system is not as obvious as a battleship, the revolutionary changes in naval warfare it will bring will be no less dramatic.

It was the birth of the Garibaldi series of armored patrols that year. Today, the overseas fleet will use new gunnery concepts and fire control systems to declare the power of the Chinese Navy. And the Turquoise will become the test subject of this historic moment!

The operation of this system was relatively smooth after many exercises. After just three rounds of firing, an 11-inch shell accurately hit the fleeing Turquoise at a distance of 4,500 meters. The 11-inch shell fell

In the middle of the hull of the Turquoise, after a violent explosion, two six-gun cannons were blown away, and a bright yellow flame began to spread on the hull!

Thanks to Shuyoushan for the light reward, as well as book friends dramakyo and olio for their monthly support and book friend wbp for their evaluation votes. In other words, the subscriptions in the past few days are very sad, only 400+. This makes the author feel so embarrassed -
Chapter completed!