The weather outside Jiaozhou Bay in January is changeable. It is still foggy after 6 o'clock in the morning, and it does not dissipate until 9 o'clock.
Today's Jiaozhou Bay is particularly unique. Several warships flying the rising sun flag are lined up at a distance of twenty nautical miles, trying to find something.
Behind these warships lurked the combined fleet led by Vice Admiral Ito Yuhiro, waiting to deliver a fatal blow to the enemy.
As one of several search battleships, the Yaeyama is a reconnaissance cruiser built by the Yokosuka Shipyard in Japan. The ship was designed by the French designer Bai Laoyi. Construction started in June 1887 and was launched in March 1889. March 15, 1890
Serving on a daily basis.
Since the ship is used for reconnaissance, speed is its most important point. With 6 high-pressure coal-fired boilers, the Yaeyama can push the reciprocating steam engine to an output of 5,600 horsepower. Although this horsepower is not high, the Yaeyama has only
The displacement of 1,600 tons is enough to allow it to run at a high speed of 21 knots. This also makes the Yaeyama the core of the search formation. After all, for reconnaissance, running fast has an advantage.
Nakano Ikki also knew this truth, so he asked the officers and soldiers in the power room to be ready to flee once they encountered an enemy situation.
"The command lookout posts must be taken seriously. The safety of our entire ship depends on them."
"Hey!"
Nakano Ikki once again emphasized the importance of the lookout post. The captain's majesty could not be refuted, so he naturally obeyed the order again.
You can't blame Captain Nakano for being so nervous, because before setting off, he had just received news that the Italian fleet has the fastest reconnaissance cruiser in the world. This reconnaissance cruiser named Eagle can run at a super high speed of 24 knots. In addition, the Eagle
No matter how good the weapons and equipment are, it won't be a problem to defeat at least three of the Yaeyama at his feet.
God Rizhao, who can run so fast and still fight, who would want to meet this evil star, who can't run and can't win, what can he do?
Just as I was thinking about this problem, suddenly a shout came from the lookout post. "There is a smoke column on the right front!"
Nakano Ikki was shocked when he heard this and quickly ordered loudly. "Observe carefully to see what kind of ship it is."
Although Captain Nakano asked him to take a closer look, anyone who has been to the sea knows that it takes a while before the ship can be seen after seeing the smoke column, so the officers and soldiers on the Yaeyama could only wait uneasily.
This is the mentality of hoping to discover the enemy, but not wanting to be discovered by the enemy. Of course, things are not as good as imagined. It is all relative. You can see the other party's smoke column, and the other party can also discover your own. How can you expect the other party to do so?
Are the lookout men blind?
"It's a civilian ship!"
While all the officers and soldiers on the ship were anxiously waiting, the results came from the lookout post, which also made everyone breathe a sigh of relief.
But at this moment, another shout came from the lookout post. "Red fireworks were spotted on the left, they should be from the Tsukuba!"
The lookout post's shouting immediately attracted the attention of the officers and soldiers on the Yaeyama, and the officers and soldiers who had something to do were even talking about it.
"It's actually red fireworks. The Tsukuba must have encountered a desperate situation."
"It should be the eagle."
It needs to be explained here that the several reconnaissance ships of the joint fleet that went out to search, including the Yaeyama, are equipped with special flares. This kind of flare is specially added. It hits higher than ordinary flares, and the signal it emits is
More eye-catching (to put it bluntly, it is an extra-large diamond monkey).
It has only one function, which is to send signals to let friendly forces in the distance know the situation they are facing. Green means safety, yellow means early warning, and red means danger, so friendly forces should not come over.
"Look, it's hit again. It's really a red signal."
This time, even the officers and soldiers on the deck saw the red signal in the distance, which further showed how dangerous the Tsukuba was.
"Evacuate at full speed, quickly!"
In the distance where the officers and soldiers of Yaeyama saw, Tsukuba Captain Ichiro Matsumoto roared angrily.
Although the unintentional warship in the telescope is flying the Qing Dragon Flag, everyone knows that this is not a Qing warship. If nothing else, the tonnage alone is larger than the Tsukuba under his feet, and it is also
Who else could run at a high speed of 24 knots? Who else could it be but that damn Eagle?
The Tsukuba under his feet only had a maximum speed of 17.6 knots. This gap was too big. He had to retreat quickly, otherwise he would not be able to leave if it was too late. As for the reconnaissance mission, he could only rely on friendly forces. I wish them good luck.
Following Captain Matsumoto's order, the officers and soldiers in the power room of the Tsukuba were sweating profusely. They kept waving their shovels with their bare arms and put the white coal into the boiler as if for free, completely ignoring that the barometer was pointing to red.
Warning area.
At this time, we are still concerned about the fact that the boiler pressure is too high. If the enemy ship catches up, everyone will be dead.
Compared with the busy Tsukuba, the Eagle, as an uninvited guest, was much more calm.
Major Paez looked at the Tsukuba fleeing in the distance in the command tower, and asked his first officer calmly, "Have you sent out the news that we encountered the Japanese ship?"
"It has been sent out."
"Hasn't the Lieutenant General called back yet?"
"The call back has arrived." Before the chief mate could answer, the staff officer in the telegraph room rushed over with a telegram. "The lieutenant general ordered us to find out the location of the enemy fleet and report it to it."
Captain Pez smiled after hearing the content of the telegram. He was very satisfied with the Vice Admiral's order, so he continued. "Order all personnel to prepare for battle and increase the speed. We must scare the prey into panic and let it lead
We found the real nest location."
Following Captain Pez's order, the Eagle flew toward the enemy at high speed like a real eagle.
When Captain Matsumoto on the Tsukuba saw the Eagle rushing toward him, he could only order the power cabin to maintain speed while ordering the entire ship to prepare for battle. He hoped to support him in rushing back to the fleet.
About 30 nautical miles behind the Eagle, the huge Italian fleet is sailing forward. Although the telegram from the Eagle has been received, protecting the transport fleet is still the most important task before the location of the combined fleet is determined. After all,
If you don't even know where your opponent is, how can you let the transport fleet leave? Of course, it's not like you do nothing.
On the flagship Turin, Lieutenant General Alvaro issued orders one after another shortly after receiving the telegram from the Eagle. "Order the Aosta and the Savoa to move 15 nautical miles forward to form a formation to prepare for the Eagle."
preparation."
The Eagle is the treasure of the Italian Navy. Its high cost means that it is impossible to build a few ships of this thing. It is almost 80% of the cost of the Venetian.
In addition, radio is really a good thing. This kind of communication equipment that does not require telegraph lines will greatly improve the navy. He has a premonition that this thing will be popular in the world in the future. If nothing else, at least sailing ships will be equipped with this thing.
Of course, this is all a matter for the future, and the most important thing now is to take care of this sea battle.
Following Lieutenant General Alvaro's order, the Aosta and Savoa immediately increased their speed and broke away from the formation, while the fleet continued to sail forward.
