When the Italian and Japanese cruisers were engaged in a desperate battle, the situation on the frontal battlefield with the three Turin-class battleships as the core was reversed.
Led by three Turin-class ships, Japan's diversionary formation was beaten to pieces, and every ship was miserable.
Take the Sankei ship as an example. Its main gun was stuck in the fort due to previous shelling. Its main gun firing required the movement of the warship to adjust the angle, and the rate of fire dropped to an unbearable half an hour.
It fired, and it is not known where it was fired. This problem is not only due to too many malfunctions of its 305mm main gun, but also due to the fact that its warship's main gun has too few firing trainings.
In order to deal with the second ship of Tranquility, Japan put forward strict requirements for the muzzle velocity of the shells when purchasing the main gun from the Garnet gun factory in France. Although the Garnet gun factory finally fulfilled the Japanese requirements, the main gun had to wait for 120-140 rounds after firing 120-140 shells.
The muzzle speed will decrease. Among the other three ships, only the Matsushima has a spare gun barrel. Therefore, in order to ensure that it can deal with the second ship of Tingjing, the Japanese Navy has to strictly limit the number of shooting trainings of the three ships.
Except for the Matsushima, which had slightly more shooting training because it had a spare gun barrel, the Itsukushima only conducted one shooting training. As for the "Hashidate", it did not even conduct a single shooting training until the outbreak of the war. This situation
Naturally, we cannot expect Japanese sailors to be able to skillfully use this main gun in battle?
So being able to fire one shot in half an hour is pretty good.
And in a naval battle, it takes half an hour to fire one gun, so what's the point of firing. Therefore, the 320mm main gun on the Sanjing ship really only poses a theoretical threat to the Turin class.
In addition to the Sanjing ship, what is the situation of the other ships? The most resistant Yamashiro was beaten half to death. The other warships are all cruisers with a tonnage of two to three thousand tons, and even a thousand-ton class. With these few
A battleship whose cannon was sunk is even less reliable. In fact, the diversionary effect of the Japanese navy's diversionary formation was not high, and it was more caused by the efforts of its torpedo boat formation that risked life and death.
Compared with the useless naval guns in the diversionary formation, these high-speed torpedo boats carrying deadly weapons are more dangerous.
After all, in this era, battleships have very weak defenses against the waterline, and it is very likely that one of them will enter the soul.
If it weren't for guarding against these little devils, how could Lieutenant General Alvaro's formation have been entangled for so long. But now that these torpedo boats have been eliminated, the next step is to get rid of the enemy ships. Of course, there is a more critical reason
, Lieutenant General Alvaro held a request for help telegram from Major General Levi.
In the telegram, Major General Levi reported the current status of the rescue formation to Lieutenant General Alvaro in detail, including that the Venezia had been severely damaged.
The power of radio was most vividly displayed in this naval battle. Although the Italian and Japanese fleets were obviously divided into two divisions fighting, the Italian fleet relied on the advantage of radio to connect the two disconnected formations together.
So after receiving the telegram from Major General Levi, Lieutenant General Alvaro knew that he could not wait any longer.
"Order the Barry and Palermo to target the enemy ship Yamashiro together with the Turin. We will sink the ship first."
Lieutenant General Alvaro set the goal of breakthrough on the Yamashiro, the only ironclad ship in the diversionary formation.
Lieutenant General Alvaro's order might be a bit confusing if it were changed in another time and place. Because in terms of difficulty, the ironclad ship should be the most resistant warship. How could the target be placed on this ship, the three-view ship and other ships?
Shouldn't crispy battleships be more of a target?
Generally speaking, this should be the case, but the situation is different now, because what Lieutenant General Alvaro values most now is speed. Due to the efforts of the officers and men of the Yamashiro, the speed of the Yamashiro has gradually recovered, although it has not yet reached 18 knots.
speed, but it has already increased to almost seventeen knots.
Now that the Yamashiro's speed has increased to seventeen knots, it should be dealt with first. Alvaro does not want to see this hardest ship in the combined fleet slip away.
"Boom, boom, boom!"
Although the salvos of twelve 356mm main guns from the three battleships were fired from both front and rear, they failed to hit them, but the officers and soldiers of the Yamashiro knew that they were in purgatory again.
"Boom, boom, boom!"
Before the officers and soldiers of the Yamashiro could think about it, another salvo of artillery fire sounded, and four 356mm shells came with a death whistle.
"Boom, boom!"
In this shelling, the Yamashiro was quite unlucky. A 356mm shell tore a large hole of nearly two meters in the side of the ship, and turbulent water flowed into the cabin along this hole.
"Quick, damage control team!"
The damage control personnel of the Yamashiro, who were exhausted and had no rest at all, could only bite the bullet and get on the boat while looking at the fiercely surging water.
As the captain of the Yamashiro, Colonel Hisao Kitago only felt a numbness in his skin at this time. The officers and soldiers on the Yamashiro knew the power of the 356 mm cannon best. Facing the enemy's stormy bombardment, it was best to
The solution was to let the severely damaged Yamashiro break away from the formation and return home.
"Major General Tsuboi, the Yamashiro is about to be unable to carry it."
Seeing that his beloved ship suffered a huge blow, Colonel Hisao Kitago couldn't help but speak.
"I know what you are thinking, but for the victory of the United Fleet, we must persist, even if it means sacrifice."
Rear Admiral Tsuboi Kozo, who knew Captain Kitago's thoughts, quickly stopped his intention to retreat. As the commander of the containment formation, Tsuboi Kozo must consider the overall situation. It is the responsibility of the containment formation to hold back the enemy's most powerful warship.
, so even if they sacrifice all of them, it must be completed.
Captain Kitago Hisanao, whose idea was stopped by Major General Tsuboi Kozo, could only watch the battleship fall into misery with tears in his eyes. As the saying goes, when the house leaks, it rains all night, and the Yamashiro suffered another heavy blow.
A 356mm artillery shell fired from the Barry penetrated the armor of the ship's side and exploded in the power room.
The explosion of the shell destroyed the high-pressure boiler in the power cabin, and the Yamashiro immediately lost power and collapsed at sea.
Now even the officers and soldiers of the Yamashiro know that they have fallen into a desperate situation, and the warship that has lost power will only become a living target.
When the Italian formation saw that the Yamashiro was stopped, its morale increased, and more shells flew towards the Yamashiro.
Everyone on the Yamashiro can only pray to the God of Rizhao for his protection.
Although Lieutenant General Ito didn't know that the diversionary formation led by Kozo Tsuboi was already using his life to delay the enemy, he also knew that he didn't have enough time. Although the target Venetian ship was scarred, the enemy ship still had not lost its combat effectiveness.
"Fire!"
As the gunnery officer roared, shells from the Yoshino's four 254mm main guns flew towards the enemy ship.
Yuhiro Ito looked at the enemy ship with his binoculars, but the enemy ship did not explode with fireworks. Instead, it used its rear main gun to fire at the neighboring ship Akitsusu. He put down the binoculars in disappointment and endured
Keep complaining.
"Damn it, why are the enemy ships so powerful? Are our shells useless?"
In fact, it was not just Ito Yuhiro who had such complaints. Yoshino and the officers and soldiers on the Akitsusu had this idea. The enemy ship Venice had been hit many times, so why did it not sink?
The secret of the Venetian's unsinkability lies in its design. The Venetian-class armored patrol adopts focused defense, and its world-leading armored box design makes it more difficult for the core position to be hit hard.
In addition, its watertight cabin is second only to the Turin class.
Although the 189 watertight compartments of the Venice class are fewer than the 213 of the Turin class, it is already an unprecedented pioneering work in this era when no one pays attention to watertight compartments.
Therefore, this also resulted in the fact that the Venice was constantly hit hard but never sank.
In fact, at this time, Ito Yuhiro already had regrets. The attack formation had not made significant progress for so long, which made him anxious.
But even if he wanted to go back on his words, it was too late, and he was already on the verge of getting back. If there was no victory, the combined fleet would lose the containment formation in vain, so he was more eager than ever to achieve victory.
"Order the formation to fire at a rapid rate and be sure to capture the enemy ship."
Ito Yuhiro's anxious roar could not solve the problem. Although he wanted to output more firepower by increasing the rate of fire, this resulted in a decrease in accuracy.
On the Venice, which was bearing the main firepower of the enemy fleet, the communications officer excitedly came to the control tower with a message.
"The Turin and Palermo have already rushed towards us. Lieutenant General Alvaro asked us to delay the enemy to expand our results."
These words immediately triggered a burst of cheers, and Major General Levi and Captain Gomes, who had gauze wrapped around their heads, put aside their worries and breathed a long sigh of relief. The Venice finally saw the dawn of hope, and the next battle
It's much easier to fight.
"Send a telegram and ask the ships to get close to the enemy, and be sure to entangle them."
When it comes to winning the battle, Rear Admiral Levi certainly doesn't want the enemy ship to break away, so he can naturally get the maximum result by entangling his opponent's battleship.
So under such a coincidence, the distance between the two formations became even closer. From a distance of four thousand meters, the exchange of fire gradually increased to three thousand meters, or even more than two thousand meters. This kind of hand-to-hand combat at sea was extremely bloody, and basically every time
Someone was injured every moment. At this time, damage control and rescue personnel, who were busier than the gunners, were also in short supply.
Now it has become a competition of willpower among the officers and soldiers of the two navies, because basically both sides are hitting each other, and they are still able to continue fighting amidst the bloody screams and explosions of their teammates. They are both absolutely elite navies from both sides.
officers and soldiers.
This situation lasted for nearly an hour, causing huge casualties to both sides. According to subsequent statistics, this one-hour close-quarters firefight accounted for 35% of the casualties of both sides in the entire naval battle.
But now this situation no longer needs to continue, because two tall battleships have appeared in front of them.
"It's the Turin and the Bari, we win!"
The cheers from the Italian side made their morale rise again.
And the cheers of the Italians were hell for the Combined Fleet.
At this time, he panicked and quickly issued the order he regretted most in the naval battle.
"Order all ships to break out of the encirclement and leave immediately!"
At this time, the two warships are entangled together. Is it possible to leave safely?
