"The Chinese fleet is coming!" Essen threw a telegram in front of Makanov with a livid face. "They are coming to siege Batavia Port. They are expected to arrive tomorrow. Yang Yonglin has a really good appetite.

They want to eat us in one go."

"Really? It seems like this is an opportunity. Maybe we can rely on the help of land-based forts and observation posts to fight against the Chinese fleet, and tell the mine-laying squadron to add a few more minefields on the periphery. We must force them

』Retreat to the effectiveness of the 12-inch naval gun

"Outside the range." Makanov said with an expression on his face, as if he was telling something related to him. In his opinion, the Chinese Navy has planned to copy the experience of Pekalongan to Badawi

Asia Harbor, using a brain-covering style of play to attack Batavia Harbor.

But I'm afraid the Chinese Navy will be disappointed this time. The Batavia fort is relatively far forward and is quite far away from the port area. In addition, there is a certain space on the periphery to deploy part of the fleet, and cooperate with the mine formation, the Russian fleet

It is indeed guaranteed that Batavia Port will not be occupied, but the extent of the damage depends on the level of both parties. Makanov is still relatively confident now.

The Russians set up many artillery observation posts on the periphery, and deployed more than 20 12-inch artillery pieces on the port fort. In addition, several Peter the Great-class fast battleships have been repaired. The number of large-caliber artillery pieces of the Russian-Dutch fleet

Already surpassing the opponent. He has observation and fort advantages, which is enough to overwhelm the Chinese fleet in terms of hardware. Therefore, Makanov expects to gain some advantages in this fleet battle.

On May 1, 1905, the main force of the Chinese fleet finally appeared outside the Port of Batavia. The strongest fleet in Asia stretched its body like a giant dragon outside the Port of Batavia. The 12 main ships were organized into

Formed into 3 columns. The Longxing and Longteng class battleships were the first column. The Longtai class battleships

The battleship and Longxu-class battlecruiser formed the second column, and another Longxu-class battlecruiser formed the third column with three Ninghai-class quasi-dreadnought ships. The remaining five old-style cruisers and returning

The far-class armored cruisers stayed behind as a reserve fleet. This kind of battle between giants was not suitable for them!

The light cruiser detachment originally serving as the vanguard quickly dispersed to both sides before approaching the position. Then the phalanx of 12 battleships began to change formation. With the signal flag raised on the Longxing, the four battleships directly under Yang Yonglin began to accelerate.

Turn to the right and pull out a straight line, followed by Ye Zusi's fast battleship phalanx. They completed the battleship formation.

After turning, they quickly followed it to form a complete battle line, followed by three Ninghai-class forward-dreaders and another Longxu-class battlecruiser. Five minutes later, the essence of the Chinese Navy, 12 battleships, fully deployed

, and opposite them are the same number of 12 battleships and fast battleships of the Russian Navy, as well as the forts behind them! [

"The hit rate at this distance is worrying!" Looking at the distance of up to 13,000 meters between the two sides, Liu Buchan shook his head and said. Fortunately, after the Russian fleet was lined up, due to the limitations of sea space and mine formations, the Russian fleet was almost

It is stationary, and the Chinese fleet is also sailing at a low speed.

The low speed provides convenience for ranging, and the segmented firing method minimizes the interference between the artillery. More importantly, the Chinese Navy has a sufficient number of artillery. With such a large base, even if it hits

If the rate is only 2%, one round of artillery fire can hit nearly 2 artillery pieces!

"Get ready to fire. Just attack the Russian fleet and ignore the forts." Yang Yonglin ordered. Immediately, dozens of turrets of the 12 battleships of the Chinese Navy slowly turned to the fighting side. After the firing order was issued, the Chinese Navy simply

According to the targets assigned before the war, each battleship aimed at an enemy battleship and fired. As the Longxing's cannon barrels once again spit out deadly flames, Batavia's first battleship

The offensive and defensive battle has officially begun!

"It finally started. Although I guessed the scene of the battle with the Chinese Navy several times in my mind, the scene when as many as 12 battleships roared at the same time still gave me a chill in my heart. These battleships are from their generation.

The best of them all. Whether it was the Ninghai-class back then, the Longxing-class with the strongest firepower in the world, the Longtai-class, the king of fast battleships, or the Longxu-class battlecruiser, the fastest battleship. The muzzle burst out.

a series of

The fireball covered the entire fleet. For a few seconds, we could only see dark red fireballs flying from the sky. The opponent fired hundreds of heavy cannons in a one-minute salvo, weighing up to

More than 30 tons!" Eisen wrote this in the battle report afterwards. This was one of the reasons why Eisen and others strongly suggested chasing the Chinese fleet at that time! The opponent was so powerful that even if they obtained two dreadnoughts, Eisen

The others are still not optimistic about the situation in the duel.

All Chinese navy uses half salvo or three-stage firing in the first round of shooting. So this is far from the highest combat firing rate of the Chinese navy, but even so, for the Russian navy,

It was already quite shocking. From the moment I saw the artillery

More than 20 seconds after the shooting, the cannons began to fall on the formation of the Russian fleet one after another. Pillars of water rose around the Russian warships. Under such intensive bombardment, there was actually one shot in the first minute of the war.

The gun caused a near miss! I don’t know which battleship it was from.

The gun fired from the ship landed near the side of the No. 2 Borodino-class ship Prince Suvonov. It was a high-explosive shot! More than 40 kilograms of picric acid explosives were on the seal.

After being detonated under the action of , the shock wave generated envelops the film and squeezes the seawater to spread around.

The underwater structure of the Prince Suvonov, which was less than 5 meters away, met this wave of impact miserably. The ship's side was damaged, and even several holes were punched in the partition between the coal bunker and the empty bunker.

Although the core compartment inside the hull was fine, one coal bunker was flooded.

Because it is a super long-range shooting, even a 12-inch heavy artillery shot at this distance cannot penetrate even 6-inch hardened armor, so it is better to use high-explosive shots to achieve obvious results. And the Chinese Navy's high-explosive shots are also made through

Improved, first of all, the picric acid was blunted

The chemical treatment makes it less likely to explode, and secondly, it uses a bottom fuze instead of an impact fuze, so that the gun can explode after penetrating some non-key protection areas. In addition, another reason is that armor penetration is also planned to be reserved for future maritime operations.

How can it be wasted here when it is used in the decisive battle?

"Fire!" Even if the target cannot be hit, the Russian Navy cannot just take a beating without fighting back. Not to mention the blow to morale, Makanov must fight back even if it wastes cannons. Although the Russian Navy also has 12 main ships

ship, but there are only 60 12-inch guns and 274mm guns

There are only 16 guns in total, plus 8 10-inch guns to make up the number. The firepower of such a battleship is obviously not enough to face the main force of the Chinese Navy. If there is not an elite patrol formation, the Russian Navy would not have to fight.

, but fortunately, the Russians still have more than 20 coastal defense guns in the port!

At such a long distance, the artillery of the Russian Navy has almost reached the maximum elevation angle. At this time, there is no need to consider the issue of fire control. After all, for the Russian Navy, which has always used a combat distance of 7 to 8 kilometers, such a long distance

Distance to hit enemy ship

Maybe the "performance" is too low! At any rate, the Chinese Navy has also practiced artillery attacks over 11km. The Russians have never done it. Although the hit rate can definitely reach a tragic level, the salvo fire of hundreds of various artillery pieces is still

Very shocking!

The first collision between the main fleets of both sides was not as cruel as people imagined. After a few rounds of shooting, both sides slowed down their firing rate. The reason is very simple. The distance between the battleships is too short, and their own

The smoke from the artillery and the water column coming from the opponent directly affected the sighting. The position of the rangefinder was still low, so there was a screen of water and smoke in the eyepiece and it was impossible to continue the attack.

And the actual hit rate can be described as tragic. According to Russian statistics, the Chinese Navy only had 2 direct hits, one of which hit Essen's flagship Peter the Great. A piece of the rear part of the hull was cut off, while the other

The first shot hit the Eagle, and the gun hit the side, but it was obviously unable to deal a fatal blow to its 11-inch-thick main armor, and it was finally driven into the sea.

According to the records of the Chinese Navy, the Russian fleet did not even have a near miss, let alone a hit! The most recent cannon shot was about 500 meters away! The exchange of fire between the fleets of both sides was more like using artillery to express their will to fight.

The actual losses to both fleets are almost negligible!

"Let's move back a little. There's no point in continuing the fight like this." Makarnov said after looking at the Chinese fleet, which was also gradually slowing down its bombardment speed. Cannons are too precious, and Makarnov doesn't want to pay the price for a fight.

The expensive fireworks wasted all the cannons bought with real money. At the same time, the Chinese Navy also started its own plan. The previous bombardment was just a preview before the big show. After the Russian fleet began to retreat, the

It is time for the Chinese Navy to implement its own plan.

Makanov's fleet retreated a bit and completely left the strike range of the Chinese Navy. Soon the Russians also gave up fighting back. Both the battleships and the artillery on the forts fell silent, and the Chinese Navy seemed to have given up on this.

In an inefficient battle, the artillery of the main fleet stopped roaring, and on both wings of the fleet, some small warships rushed out. These warships began to sail towards the Batavia Port for a short period, and then began to wander repeatedly on the sea.

.

At the beginning, the Russians did not know what the Chinese navy was doing when they arrived. But when they saw huge water columns rising into the sky and bursts of roaring sounds from the sea, the Russians finally understood the purpose of the Chinese navy.

That is to use minesweepers to gradually clear the surrounding minefields, and then the fleet advances step by step until the opponent's fleet is brought into the effective range of its own naval guns!

Thank you to my book friend Garfield for your monthly ticket support~~~.(To be continued...)
Chapter completed!