Twenty-four white-headed torpedoes propelled by high-pressure air slowly cruised toward the sixteen-ship heavy cruiser of the Theo Allied Forces, which was gradually forming a unified formation, at a speed of eight knots (14.4 km/h).

The rate of fire of the main guns of the sixteen heavy cruisers slowed down. Some soldiers in the turrets, urged by their respective gun commanders, quickly ran to the machine gun positions on the side of the ship, and together with the secondary guns and machine guns that were already roaring crazily,

He began to panic and fire randomly at the sea surface. Suddenly, the entire sea surface was covered with white flowers, and there were traces of bullets or small cannonballs that violently collided with the sea surface.

White-headed torpedoes are too slow, and because they release a large amount of air as they advance, their tracks are very obvious. Once illuminated by the searchlight, there is no way to hide them. Therefore, in the short distance of 800 meters, although these white-headed torpedoes

Theoretically, a torpedo only needs to sail for more than three minutes to reach its target. But within these three minutes, ten torpedoes were exploded.

As for the remaining fourteen torpedoes, eight failed to hit the target due to the angle of the course itself or the enemy ship's dodge. They passed straight through the gaps between the sixteen heavy cruisers and were either hit by these heavy cruisers.

The machine gun on the other side of the patrol exploded in conjunction with the searchlight from the rear battleship. Either the high-pressure air in the power chamber was released, and the entire torpedo turned into a dead fish and stopped.

However, it benefited from launching torpedoes at an ultra-close range of 800 meters. It benefited from the fact that it was night and the visibility was not good after all. It benefited from the fact that the sixteen heavy cruisers of the coalition were crowded together at too high a density.

Some were seriously injured and turned slowly... In the end, of the twenty-four torpedoes fired in the first round, six hit the target, with an overall hit rate of 25%.

"Boom~!"

Huge explosions sounded under the waterline of the three heavy cruisers one after another. Then the coalition soldiers were horrified to see a large amount of seawater surging into the cabins of the three heavy cruisers, the Rachman, the Murcia and the Ankara.

Within the body. After that, the three heavy cruisers began to roll at a speed visible to the naked eye.

When the time came at 0:52 on the 17th, two Spanish heavy cruisers and an Ottoman heavy cruiser were hit by two torpedoes each, and it seemed that they were hopeless. At this time, the six ships completed the first round.

Almost all of the destroyers of the Ming Navy have completed their turn and are preparing to continue firing torpedoes from the torpedo tubes on the other side of the hull.

It is said that it is almost but not all because, on the easternmost side of these six destroyers, the destroyer Shunqing is currently firing torpedoes from the same side of the torpedo tube for the second time.

"The fixed depth is five meters, right?"

"That's right, it's five meters. I've asked you this three times. Captain, you are too verbose! If you don't hit it out, the angle will be lost."

"Hey~" 23-year-old Major Zheng Chenggong touched his head in embarrassment: "Such a precious thing, you have to be careful. Okay, listen to my command, fire all four of them!"

Because it was at the very edge of the formation, Zheng Chenggong's Shunqing, like the Foshan at the very edge on the other side, received the least attention from the enemy's artillery during the charge that lasted more than ten minutes.

When it came down, the biggest threat was the soaring water column stirred up by a battleship's heavy artillery, which hit the Shunqing all over the face - this was not a big deal for naval soldiers who had been training at sea for many years and withstood many storms.

What's up.

But now, with only seven battleships left in our detachment, and having already hit three enemy heavy cruisers, Shunqing's life has begun to be difficult. Zheng Chenggong clearly felt that his Shunqing was now

The frequency of being illuminated by enemy searchlights is getting higher and higher. As for the Spanish and Ottoman soldiers, who were furious because their friendly ships were sunk, their morale automatically rose to full, and the frequency of shooting was also obviously higher.

Specifically on the Shunqing, although the 150-gun and 75-gun guns did not hit directly, their landing points were getting closer and closer to the Shunqing. Moreover, at this time, the Shunqing was only 700 to 800 meters away from the nearest enemy heavy patrol.

, so the hull of the Shunqing is now full of small craters shot by enemy machine guns.

"Hey, I can't say that I'm going to die here in this battle. But please God, have mercy on me and at least let me live until five minutes later. If I can see the enemy's battleship being hit by the torpedo I fired, I will die without regrets!

"

But just when the intensity of firepower increased further due to the enemy's raging anger, and the Shunqing turned the slowest and became the enemy ship's target of fire because it fired a second round of torpedoes. Suddenly, Zheng Chenggong and his crew felt

All the stress is relieved!

During the initial charge, the Qiongzhou, whose speed had been greatly reduced due to being hit by three shells, caught up and was pulling the ship horizontally in preparation for launching torpedoes.

It has the largest hull and is ready to launch torpedoes. If not, who are you going to hit? Suddenly, almost all the heavy patrols of the coalition forces poured their firepower on the Qiongzhou.

A distance of eight hundred meters, for a heavy cruiser, is the distance for hand-to-hand combat. Let alone the concentrated fire attack of thirteen heavy cruisers at this time? In just a few short breaths, the Qiongzhou was hit by more than ten artillery shells and

Thousands of machine gun bullets hit the ship. Then the 3,000-ton Qiongzhou disintegrated in an instant.

At 0:53 on the 17th, smoke billowed from the entire ship and the bridge almost disappeared. A big explosion occurred inside the Qiongzhou. The entire ship broke into two pieces and sank quickly.

"You'an!"

"Detachment leader!"

Amidst the mournful cries of the crew members of the remaining six ships of the third detachment, the more than 150 people on board the Qiongzhou all performed heroically!

…

"Your Excellency, the enemy's first round of lightning strikes has been completed. We have sunk one of the opponent's light cruisers and six destroyers. But our Rachman, Murcia and Ankara are probably not saved."

"Hey, I remember that these three heavy cruisers were all seriously injured in the daytime naval battle, right?"

"Yes."

"Forget it, we will not be able to fight for at least a few months after we sail back. This will have little impact on our current combat power. Order the heavy patrol ahead to sink all the enemy's six remaining destroyers. Send another one

Lifeboat, pick up the men from the three heavy cruisers and disembark."

"yes!"

Just when the communications staff member was about to turn around and leave, he suddenly heard two dull explosions not far away.

"What's going on? It's so close, is that heavy cruiser hit by a mine again?"

Before Garcia could walk out of the control tower, another staff officer banged open the hatch: "Sir, the Queen Isabella, the Queen, has been shot!"

"What? How is this possible?"

While all the Spanish officers and soldiers on the Fernando V were in shock, on the other side, on the scarred Shunqing, there was a scene of joy.

Wiping away the tears shed due to Dong Zhining's heroism, Zheng Chenggong said: "Electrify the remaining five ships, immediately fire the second round of torpedoes, and retreat without observing the results!"

"yes!"

Soon, the remaining six warships of the Ming army fired twenty-four white-headed torpedoes, and then the five ships, Shunqing, Zhaoqing, Kuizhou, Baoning, and Luzhou, began to increase their speed to the maximum and prepare to leave the battlefield.

The only exception is the Foshan number.

In the first round of charge, the destroyers used the torpedo tubes on the left side of the hull to launch torpedoes. Foshan's four torpedoes were all installed on the right side, so they could not be launched. After turning around again, when the other five ships had already

When the mission was completed and the retreat began, the Foshan still had things to do.

"Set the depth to five meters and launch!"

Amidst the chissing, Feng Jingdi clearly felt that his Foshan was much more relaxed. Then he glanced at the huge enemy battleship in the distance with regret: "It's a pity that we can't see the enemy ships being destroyed like Zheng Chenggong did.

It's a spectacular sight. That's all, retreat..."

Before the sentence was finished, a huge shell hit the Foshan's thin body directly: This was a shell. After the Queen Isabella hit the torpedo, Lieutenant General Garcia went into a rage and put all the battleships at risk.

There is a certain risk of accidental damage to friendly ships. The 305 main gun is fired at close range from 1,300 meters away.

At 54 minutes, the Foshan sank.

The five Ming Dynasty destroyers that were galloping at full speed could not all escape. After the distance between the two sides was reopened, the Spanish battleships could fire with all their strength without any scruples. In the end, the Zhaoqing and Kuizhou were also hit one after another.

sunk.

However, although the Ming army suffered heavy losses, the losses on the Spanish side continued to expand. The twenty-four white-headed torpedoes fired by the Ming army hit two heavy cruisers again, and four of them hit the same heavy cruiser.

On the body. Then this Ottoman heavy cruiser, named after Istanbul and with a standard displacement of 5,000 tons, sank without any temper.

As for the four stingrays fired by Feng Jingdi's Foshan, since Spain was already prepared, his luck was not as good as Zheng Chenggong's. In the end, only one of the four stingrays hit the old battleship Duke.

.

"Your Excellency, the enemy has retreated. We have sunk one light cruiser and nine destroyers in total." The young staff officer said with a sad face: "In tonight's battle, we have a total of five heavy cruisers and two battleships were hit by torpedoes. Five of them were hit by torpedoes."

One of the heavy cruisers sank directly, and three were too seriously damaged to be saved. Among the two battleships, the Duke was hit by a bomb and took in about 1,300 tons of water. Although the speed was further reduced, there was no big problem in returning to Colombo. It was just

The Queen, the Queen..."

"What happened to the Queen? Tell me, Martinez, it doesn't matter."

"The Chinese are very insidious and despicable. Their torpedoes are set at a depth of five meters underwater, which is exactly the draft of our battleships in this area. The Duke only received one hit, and the heavy armor under the waterline offset most of it.

There was a lot of damage, so although there was a lot of water, it was not a big problem. However, the Queen was hit twice in succession in the immediate area. In addition to a large amount of water, the keel and the keel in the middle and rear of the hull were damaged."

"God..." After hearing such bad news, Garcia could only put his hand on his forehead.

"Where is our destroyer detachment?"

"On the way here. The nearest one is more than 20 kilometers away."

"Inform them of our situation here and ask them to try their best to find the remaining three destroyers tonight. I will annihilate this small fleet!"

"Yes." After a while, Martinez turned back and asked: "Sir, we found a small number of Chinese sailors on the sea. Excuse me?"

"..." After being silent for a long time, Garcia still did not break through the bottom line: "As a navy, anyone may fall into the sea and wait for others to fish him out one day. Rescue him and bring him back to Colombo. I have many questions to ask.

them."

"I know. What about the Queen?"

"In addition to Fernando V, the founding king of Spain also has Queen Isabella. So, find a way to drag it back. Even if the keel is damaged, it would be good to build a fixed fort in Colombo."

"I understand, I will carry out your order, Your Excellency."

…

At six o'clock in the morning on the 17th, Zhu Youdong, who had returned to Yangon Port early after the main fleet naval battle on the afternoon of the 16th, was woken up by Fang Zhenghua. Then he saw Zhu Youdong, who was only in his fifties and had black hair occasionally mixed with white hair yesterday.

Inukai Touji's head was now almost completely gray, and his eyes were blood red.
Chapter completed!