Chapter 81 The Battle of the South China Sea (Part 2)
Facing the enemies surrounded from three sides, Liu Buchan, as the nominal commander of the second ship Zhijing, faced the French warships surrounded from three sides, his expression changed drastically, "Now, where should we break out?"
It was obvious that they had fallen into a trap and were surrounded by each other.
Breaking through is certain, but which way they break out is related to their success or failure.
At this time, Leifer was extremely calm, because he knew that every decision now was related to the safety of their small fleet, so every decision needed to be made carefully.
For this reason, Leifer and Liu Buchan personally climbed up to the observation deck and were responsible for observing French warships in three directions.
First of all, there are the least number of warships coming from the south, only about six or seven.
Next are the warships to the north, which look like there are nearly ten.
Finally, the east side has the most warships. There are actually fifteen or six warships in total.
Just because the number of enemy warships is different does not mean that there is also a huge gap in their strength.
Since it is a breakout, you need to choose the weakest side. Generally speaking, choosing the side with the fewest enemy ships is a good choice.
However, in Leifer's opinion, this should not be possible. The enemy has deliberately set a trap, and it is certainly impossible to leave such an obvious flaw. Maybe this is the enemy's strongest part.
Moreover, if the breakthrough to the south is successful, although it will directly threaten France's route, it will also increase the difficulty of returning, which is not appropriate at all.
In fact, Leifer did not know that he had made the wisest decision, because it was Guba who led the interception formation composed of five armored ships and two other gunboats in the south.
It was helpless to say that according to Gupo's original intention, he originally planned to place his formation in the north, because in his opinion, after the prey fell into the trap, the first reaction must be to escape towards home. That's why he wanted to place his formation in the north.
His strongest armored ship was placed in the north, but sometimes the plan could not be reflected according to his will, especially when he thought of Commander de Villiers' emphasis on trade routes and the interests of the dignitaries, so in the end he wanted to
To be on the safe side, we should choose to defend the south and not give it a chance to threaten the trade routes.
Since he stayed in the south, he naturally had proper arrangements for the north, which was very likely to be broken through.
He arranged the warship formation in the north. He had only three first-class cruisers on hand; the Dilce (), the Dujeux Rouin (3189 tons), and the Dowell (5698 tons, including Ducuis Rouin).
(an enlarged version of the USS), are all in this formation, and then there are second-class cruisers; Ferrers (2382 tons), Magon (2382 tons), third-class cruisers; Walda (1323 tons),
Amirin (1323 tons), Li'e (1191 tons), and some other warships.
Although there are no ironclads in the formation, they are the essence of cruisers. These warships selected by Guba basically have not been in service for too long. For example, the Ferrers only entered service in 1881, and the other ships either entered service in the past five years.
, or they are energetic. Anyway, the formation to the north is not easy to mess with at all. Although it cannot sink the two Venice-class ships on the spot, it is still a mistake to entangle them.
As for the east side, it is composed of other remaining warships. Although the various indicators are worse, the siege strategy of relying on the numerical advantage and using many ants to kill the elephant is still effective.
What about the west? Sorry, the west is offshore. If you don’t know the local sea conditions, you will only go offshore unless the commander is crazy. If you encounter a reef, you won’t be able to cry.
Facing the ill-intentioned French warships coming from three sides, Captain Leifer, as the actual commander, after some consideration, issued an order that he was later thankful for. "Aim to the east, advance at full speed."
"What?"
Leifer's words startled Liu Buchan, "Captain Leifer, you don't need to think about it again?"
"Don't think about it, just do as I say."
From here we can see the gap between the two. Leifer was decisive enough, no wonder he would have such great achievements later. Liu Buchan could only end in tragedy. Although he won the title of national hero, he will not be able to win the title of national hero in future naval battles.
, and did not have an outstanding performance. (Steamed buns are not looking down on this national hero, but in terms of ability, Liu Buchan did not have many outstanding performances in the Sino-Japanese War of 1891. His introduction is also full of heroic battles, as a commander
This is not a qualified official.)
Following Leifer's order, the two Venice-class cruisers immediately made a turn and rushed directly to the east.
The move of the second ship Zhijing to break out of the encirclement to the east shocked Guba. He did not expect that his true and false intentions were actually seen through. However, he had no other solution to this problem and could only order the armored formation to rush eastward immediately.
The cruiser formation to the north, after seeing the two Qing warships breaking out to the east, also rushed over at full speed. Compared with the armored ship formation, which was only 11-12 knots (the formation speed is based on the lowest speed warship)
, the cruise fleet in the north can maintain a high speed of 14-15 knots.
However, no matter how they chased them, the two brand-new Venice-class boats could reach a top speed of 18.6 knots, so they could only see the distance between the three gradually widening.
As the commander of the eastern formation, Rear Admiral Lisby immediately issued an order after seeing the two Venice-class battleships approaching him. "Immediately ordered that the ships disperse according to the plan and meet them."
Following Rear Admiral Lisby's order, more than a dozen warships of various types spread out like a large net and moved towards the two patrol ships.
The second ship Zhijing was not afraid and rushed towards the big net. The distance between the two sides was getting closer and closer. When the observing sailors loudly reported, at five thousand meters, the artillery fire from both sides sounded at the same time.
"Boom, boom, boom."
A large amount of water jets appeared near the two Venice-class cruise ships. The first round of shots from both sides, which approached at high speed, did not hit the other.
But it doesn't matter, there will be next time.
But at this time, Leifer issued a new order, "Turn right thirty degrees."
Following Leifer's order, the Zhiyuan and Jingyuan no longer faced the French formation head-on, but exposed their sides.
As the commander of the eastern formation of the French fleet, Rear Admiral Lisby certainly knew what his opponent wanted to do, which was to temporarily seize the T position and exert firepower from the side.
"Immediately order the formation to turn thirty degrees to the left, and we will also turn."
Following Major General Lisby's order, France's eastern formation also turned, which allowed both sides to use side firepower. In addition, if the routes of both sides did not change, they would collide in a few minutes, and Lisby would
Rear Admiral Bi's mission of entangling the second ship Zhijing will be overfulfilled.
Although the loss will not be small by then, compared with taking down two 7,000-ton Venice-class ships, this loss is still acceptable.
Faced with Major General Lisby's wishful thinking, Leifer certainly didn't want to see it. Then he issued the order again, "Turn another fifteen degrees to the right."
