On the bridge of Mercury Memorial, Eberhardt used a telescope to observe the situation on the sea. Compared with the confident Galanin, he expressed cautious optimism about the current situation, or he was very satisfied with the previous performance of the Relentless and Angry.

Although Wuxu and Angry have great technical advantages over their opponents, war has never been a technical theory. It does not mean that your weapons can firmly grasp victory with advanced standards. Like football, unpopularity and surprises are everywhere, similar to Guan Gong's mistaken defeat in Jingzhou and defeat in Maicheng.

And you should know that after the year of 1917, the combat readiness and military training of the Black Sea Fleet fell to a trough. In this case, the bold attacks of the Relentless and Angry actually had great risks, and the result would be completely different if there were any mistakes.

Now, the Relentless and Angry completed the mission granted to them almost perfectly by Eberhardt, defeated the opponent's vanguard, disrupted the opponent's formation, and stirred the opponent's formation into a pot, which greatly reduced the subsequent combat pressure.

"Send a signal to Wuqing and let them withdraw from the battlefield!"

It is completely different from Galanin's imagination. The Wuruth and Angry did not intend to retreat on their own initiative. For them who were so excited that they were killed, Galanin's fleet was simply a group of native chickens and tiles. At this time, it was the time to make achievements by scoring iron and making achievements. How could they retreat?

The captains of the Relentless and Angry were quite objectionable to the order to withdraw from the battlefield. If Eberhardt had not repeatedly emphasized that they had to execute the order, they really didn't want to leave.

Of course, it was not only the captains of the Relentless and Angry who had objections to Eberhart's order, but the political commissar of the Mercury Memorial also complained about it, but his starting point was not to show off his courage, but to be a concern:

"Comrade Director, is it too dangerous to let the Relentless and Angry withdraw from the battlefield? After they leave, we can only fight alone. The enemy destroyers may at any time surround us to launch a lightning strike from the side! This is quite dangerous!"

Does Eberhard understand this? He must understand that he is the old navy. Although the remaining two Schestakov Navy Lieutenant and the Saken Navy Lieutenant Colonel are a bit old, their speed is faster than the Mercury Memorial. When the Mercury Memorial was stuck on the front of the Askerd, these two destroyers could attack from the side to launch lightning strikes.

Everyone knows the power of torpedoes. When the World War I broke out, the German submarine taught a lesson to the British armored cruiser. Within 75 minutes, the U9 sank three ten-ton armored cruisers, Cresey, Abukier and Hogg. For old cruisers, one torpedo can paralyze it, and two can completely destroy it.

For Mercury, which is temporarily fighting alone, whether it is paralyzed or finished after being hit by thunder, the meaning is similar. If you don’t want to die, it is best to drive the enemy’s ships with lightning strike capabilities, such as faster destroyers, the farther away.

But Eberhardt actually ordered the destroyer to flash people first, which was equivalent to abolishing his martial arts and opening a door, so the political commissar opposed it. However, Eberhardt insisted on his opinion, as if he had some special purpose. As the commander of the formation, he had the right to do so.

As Relentless and Angry temporarily withdraw from the battlefield, there was no more obstacle between Mercury Memorial and Asqued, two protective cruisers with almost exactly consistent technical performance hit head-on.

At a distance of eight thousand meters, the impatient Kalanin ordered the fire first, "For Russia, kill all the Bolshevik rebels, I order to open fire!"

However, the Asked's shelling was not as passionate as Galanin said, because it was busy accelerating before. Asked almost rushed towards the Mercury Memorial at the bow because the firing angle was very limited. After Galanin ordered the fire, except for the main gun on the bow and a 152mm cannon under the starboard deck, it was not spectacular.

Not only did they have no momentum, but the results were not ideal. Because of the hasty fire, the shells were outrageous. They all entered the sea in front of the Mercury Memorial, and even the edges of the Mercury Memorial Memorial were not next to each other.

Looking at the rising water column, Eberhardt asked calmly: "Gunner, distance?"

"40 chains (about 7400 meters). Do you need to fight back? Sir?"

Eberhardt smiled relaxedly and said, "No need!"

Galanin was also quite dissatisfied with the first round of artillery attacks. While urging the gun officer to re-test the distance, he ordered the turn, preparing to expose the entire starboard side to exert all the firepower.

"The enemy is turning!" the political commissar reminded in a low voice.

"See!" Eberhardt put down his telescope and laughed relaxedly.

The political commissar reminded again: "Do we turn too?"

The political commissar's meaning is very clear. The other party obviously wants to use firepower to sweep them. If he continues to move forward straightly and is very passive, it is better to just turn around and everyone is doing the art of artillery upright.

But Eberhart didn't mean that. He shook his head gently, "Keep the course and speed up to 18 knots!"

At this time, the acceleration is obviously to shorten the distance. In the opinion of the political commissar, the current distance is just right. At the distance of about seven kilometers, the power of the 6-inch cannon can be exerted just enough, and it can advance or retreat. It is easy to retreat when it is found that there is danger. If you continue to move forward, as the combat distance is shortened, the hit rate of the cannon will be greatly improved. If you have an accident at that time, it will be difficult to escape. Moreover, the other party has a large number of people and the risk of being entangled is too great!

Eberhardt once again rejected the political commissar's kind reminder, and Mercury continued to accelerate. Undoubtedly, this was very much for Galaning's appetite. He had always been worried that Eberhardt would escape, and now the other party told him with practical actions that he had no intention of escaping, which made him breathe a sigh of relief.

Moreover, as the Asqued completed the rudder turning, the entire starboard was aimed at the bow of the Mercury Memorial, which could perfectly exert the firepower on the sidewalk, which took a lot of advantage.

Faced with this situation, Galanin once again strengthened his confidence. He said proudly: "Only outsiders! Our enemies are true laymen!" As he said that, he shook his head contemptuously: "Only those laymen who do not understand naval battles will foolishly advance in the face of artillery fire, gun officers, fire, and attack hard. Let me see your performance!"

A thick smoke came out of Asked's starboard side, and eight 152mm cannons finally completed a perfect volley. The shells roared over a distance of 7 kilometers and plunged into the sea around the Mercury Memorial.

The water column soaring into the sky rose at least thirty meters high, and the splashing waves and shrapnel made the hull of the Mercury Memorial. This was a beautiful cross-shoot. Although it did not hit the Mercury Memorial directly, it was undoubtedly not far away.

"Very good. Keep it up!"

Galanin was also satisfied for the first time, and the first volley formed a cross shot, which was a very good sign for him. If he continued to continue, hitting the Mercury Memorial would only be a matter of time.

On the other hand, on the Mercury Memorial, the political commissar's face looked a little ugly. The opponent's artillery skills were really good. The first volley could form a cross-shoot. Although there was a certain component of luck, there was nothing in the naval battle, but it was just that it was impossible to be without luck. Character determines everything.

"Do we turn?" the political commissar asked again.

In fact, this is also the standard practice for cross-fire in naval battles. The so-called cross-fire refers to the fact that although the bullet rain does not hit directly, it covers the surroundings of the ship. For the attacking party, this means that there are not many problems in range measurement and aiming, and there is no need to make too many adjustments and can directly enter the effective shooting.

For the attacked party, the situation is not optimistic. Being struck shows that you have a good character and escaped. However, you need to start maneuvering immediately, preferably accelerate or change your course. Otherwise, the next time someone shoots a volley, it will not be just a struck.

Eberhard thought for a moment. Although he hoped to continue to quickly forward and shorten the distance, it did not mean that he wanted to get shots. "Right rudder 5. Go forward at full speed!"

To be honest, the political commissar thinks it is better to turn the rudder to the left at this time. Turning the rudder to the left can offset the advantage of some enemies occupying the T-head, which will help the ship to gain a shooting advantage. The rudder to the right leads to the same driving as the enemy. To put it bluntly, this posture is still a beating. It can clearly transform the disadvantage, so why not do it?

However, before the political commissar asked this time, Eberhardt asked first: "How long will it take for the Relentless and Angry to reload the torpedoes?"

This question is not easy to answer. Most of the time, destroyers complete lightning strikes, it is a one-time deal. It is good to have a chance to fire a volley. Moreover, considering the high winds and high waves at sea, it is not particularly convenient to reload the torpedo. It usually takes a long time, and it is not uncommon to have half an hour to an hour.

Anyway, the political commissar did not expect the Angry and Wurui to launch a second lightning strike immediately. This thing is a bit unrealistic, but since Eberhardt asked, he must also answer: "It is estimated that it will take about half an hour..."

Eberhard looked at his watch, then nodded, as if he was talking to himself: "Then we have to play with Galanin for half an hour..."

The political commissar opened his eyes wide. His understanding of this was that Eberhardt seemed to have planned to let the Relentless and Angry solve the problem with torpedoes. To be honest, this kind of approach was quite advanced and weird in this era.

In 1918, although the destroyer was no longer like when she was born, it only existed as a large torpedo boat in the navy. However, no orthodox naval commander felt that the destroyer would be the protagonist in naval battles, and no one would regard him as the core force that determines the outcome. Now, Eberhart is betting on the destroyer, and he is preparing to deal with his opponents with the Mercury Memorial to buy time for the destroyer to reload the torpedoes.

This tactic made the political commissar feel that he was putting the cart before the horse. As the old navy, he had always received education to use cannons to solve problems. The ones that can determine the outcome of the sea are who has more cannons and whose caliber is larger. As for destroyers and torpedoes, this is the auxiliary force used to disrupt the enemy formation and cannot play a decisive role. Now, Eberhart is completely trying to subvert all this, which is really...

Anyway, the political commissar was shocked and didn't know what to say. His expression was really seen by Eberhardt. For the traditional old navy, his approach was indeed a bit offensive. But Eberhardt felt that he had done nothing wrong. As an expert in fish and mines, he had only two magic weapons that he had won in the Black Sea Fleet in recent years: one was to attack and mines, and the other was to make good use of the new fast destroyers.

In Eberhardt's view, the reason why the Black Sea Fleet was able to control the Black Sea was not entirely dependent on the dreadnought. To be honest, the three Queen Maria-class dreadnoughts of the Black Sea Fleet played a very limited role. Almost nothing had changed. Without these three dreadnoughts, he had also dealt with the Turkish Navy with a bunch of old fearlessnesses for more than a year. Over that year, the Black Sea Fleet had firmly controlled the sea control of the Black Sea as much as possible.

At that time, the most powerful weapon in Eberhardt's hands was not a battleship or a cruiser, but an inconspicuous ruthless class destroyer. This new "large tonnage" fast destroyer was the best weapon to control the Black Sea's sea control power. It was they who were elusive and attacked the Turkish fleet everywhere. Cut off the coal supply of the Goben, and then firmly controlled the initiative.

Now, in Eberhard's view, Asked is much easier to deal with than Goben. With a high speed of more than a dozen knots, Relentless and Angry will be able to easily occupy the torpedo launch position. What he and Mercury need to do is to attract and suppress Asked's firepower as much as possible and reduce the pressure for the two destroyers to sprint.

On the contrary, if Mercury Memorial and Askerd were allowed to confront artillery dignifiedly, the result was hard to say. No one could overwhelm anyone, and even if they could win in the end, they would probably have a tragic victory. And what Eberhart wanted was not a tragic victory, what he wanted was a complete victory!

Galanin didn't know Eberhart's plan. So after seeing the poor response of Mercury Memorial, he laughed. He felt that God would deliver him food again. If he missed such a good opportunity, he would be struck by lightning!

"Speed ​​shot, fast!"

With Galanin's order, the gunners of the Asked were loading and firing wildly like they were stimulants. The rumbling sound of cannons came one after another. For a moment, water columns continued to rise around the Mercury Memorial, and the scene was very spectacular!

Soon, Mercury's good luck was exhausted. Shortly after turning the rudder, a bomb was hit near its bow anchor cabin. The 152mm armor-piercing bomb broke open the hull without any effort. After breaking through several layers of the cabin, it exploded on the other side of the bow. The black smoke was swept up by the sea breeze and suddenly poured into the bridge.

"It's so damn!"

The political commissar cursed, it wasn't because he was injured by the shooting. This little injury is nothing in the naval battle. The anchor warehouse is not an important facility anyway, so it doesn't matter even if it is completely destroyed.

What really upset him was that this thick smoke affected the view of the bridge and interfered with the work of the rangefinder, and the accuracy of the rangefinder would directly affect the effectiveness of the shelling.

"Tell the loss management team and put out the fire immediately and let the smoke disappear!"

In fact, there is no need to be dispatched by the damage management team. The waves caused by high-speed navigation are directly poured into the anchor cabin along the damaged hull. Moreover, the amount of armor-piercing bombs is relatively small, and the damage caused and the fires are limited. As the sea water pours in, the flames and thick smoke quickly disappear.

Without the hidden dangers of fire and the interference of smoke, the political commissar should be happy, but soon he couldn't be happy again. It was also a matter of pouring sea water in. As the water in the anchor cabin increased, the Mercury Memorial inevitably had a head burying.

To put it bluntly, it is that it is head-heavy and the bow of the ship is staggering into the sea. This state has a great impact on high-speed navigation. Even if the maximum speed of the Mercury Memorial is only 23 knots, the speed immediately dropped as the head burial phenomenon occurred.

"It's really damn!" The political commissared again.

In artillery battles, high speed does not have a particularly significant significance, and even high speed navigation has an adverse impact on the artillery battle. The speed is too fast and affects the work of fire control equipment. Generally speaking, no one will fire the gun while moving forward at full speed, which is meaningless.

In the early 20th century, both sides of artillery warfare would maintain their speed at about a dozen knots to engage in artillery warfare. Only when they grab positions before artillery warfare or when they are not good or are ready to run away, high speed is required.

Now, Mercury Memorial, which is in an unfavorable shooting position, needs a higher speed. Not only does it need to use high speed to get rid of the opponent's accurate shooting, but it also needs to seize a favorable shooting position. If the speed drops, it will be very unfavorable to his next battle.

However, it is useless for the political commissar to curse this matter. Unless he quickly blocks the hole in the anchor cabin and clears the accumulated water in the cabin, the speed will not be returned. However, it will take time to achieve these two points.

Eberhard shook his head. Although the current distance is not particularly satisfied with him, he hopes to compress the distance to 25 to 30 chains, so as to save the destroyer's sprint distance as much as possible and shorten the time for Askerd to counterattack and dodge. However, as the speed decreases, if he does not fight back quickly and destroys the opponent's effective shooting, then the Mercury Memorial will be stopped before the destroyer returns to the battlefield.

"Right-right rudder, adjust the course to 170 degrees, two-thirds of the speed!"

The political commissar was immediately excited. He knew that Eberhardt was preparing to start fighting back, and the 170-degree course was able to exert all the firepower on the side. To be honest, he had been waiting for this moment for a long time. He had just been beaten and refused to fight back, which was suffocating him to death. He even felt that the old man should have done this long ago. Everyone had a serious battle against eight or two, and he did not frustrate anyone in terms of artillery skills!

PS: Bow and thank DougLos for killing Comrade Potato in seconds!
Chapter completed!