A huge explosion sounded from the cruiser Primogai. The gun at the stern of the ship exploded. A 140mm naval gun was blown into the sky, revealing a hole nearly eight meters wide. The seawater
The water surged in, and its boilers and steam engines had stopped, leaving the Primoge motionless on the dangerous battlefield.
Rear Admiral Lisby's eyes turned red when he saw this scene on his command ship, the cruiser La Pérouse.
I relied on many years of experience to surround the two battleships, but the strength in my hands was weaker. Although I surrounded the opponent, the strength in my hands could not cause enough damage to them. The 160mm and 140mm
The naval guns cannot pose a sufficient threat to them at all. Only the 193 mm and above naval guns can threaten these two warships. However, there are very few warships in our fleet equipped with 193 mm and above naval guns. The total number is less than ten.
There is no way to get close to the door.
The Primoge tried to get closer just now, but was met with concentrated fire from two Venetian-class cruisers. Its armor was like paper in front of the enemy's large-caliber long-barreled naval gun. Two rounds of firing turned into
So.
Looking at the two Venice-class patrol ships that were still punishing the enemy, Rear Admiral Lisby could only order. "Send a semaphore and ask the ships to pay attention to their distance. Don't let these two Italian-made warships increase their speed."
After giving the order, he took a look at the large cruiser formation about 8 nautical miles away and the armored ship formation about 10 nautical miles away. As long as they enter the scene, these two Qing Dynasty's last maritime forces in the South China Sea will be completely destroyed.
Give it an end.
If Major General Lisby could discover something, how could the three Qing commanders who were among them not know about it? It was very clear what they were about to face.
"In which direction should we break through now?"
Liu Buchan looked at the French warships in all directions, and his expression became a little nervous. It's not his fault, anyone would be nervous when encountering such a situation.
As the actual commander, Leifer pointed in one direction. "We break out from here."
"What?"
Liu Buchan was shocked when he saw Leifer pointing in the direction, because he was pointing to the southeast, which would shorten the distance between his enemy's armored ships.
"Don't you reconsider?"
"No, let's do it this way."
After answering Liu Buchan, Leifer loudly issued the order. "Target the southeast direction and prepare to break through."
The reason why Leifer chose the southeast to break out of the encirclement is very simple. Because the enemy warships are basically focused on the east, so there are the most enemy ships to the east, and it is very difficult to force a charge. Not to mention that these two ships have not yet charged.
Angle. Of course there is an angle of attack, but he will not attack the opponent. His own battleship is so expensive, and these second-rate goods in front of him are not worth it.
Following Leifer's order, the two ships Zhiyuan and Jingyuan immediately moved left and right in the encirclement, waiting for an opportunity.
When the two cruisers Champlain and Sonny in the southeast did not cooperate well and exposed a gap of nearly 500 meters, Leifer felt that an opportunity had come.
"Now, full speed southeast, between two enemy ships."
Leifer's order caused the second ship Zhijing to immediately accelerate towards it.
Rear Admiral Lisby, who was directing the battle, was shocked when he saw the actions of the second ship Zhijing. "Immediately send a semaphore and ask the Champlain and Sonny to turn around immediately. We cannot let them escape."
Although Major General Lisby did not say who they were, it was all obvious.
But is it too late to think about closing the gap at this time?
Seeing the enemy ships in the encirclement, rushing towards the gap regardless of their own safety, other warships responsible for the siege immediately rushed forward. At this time, they completely ignored the powerful firepower of the two patrol ships. They only knew that if they let these two ships
If they run away, it will be difficult to catch them.
Therefore, they fired the most violent artillery fire at the Zhijing 2nd Ship that was speeding past. Of course, the Zhijing 2nd Ship was not a vegetarian either. Its powerful firepower also made these warships who tried to stop it suffer a lot. The worst among them was Rigod.
The Genui's power compartment was hit by a 254mm artillery shell, causing it to lose power and stop motionless on the sea.
In a normal naval battle, it would become a target ship for enemy ships. But fortunately, the enemy is on the run and can't care about it.
After seeing that none of the ships could stop the two patrol ships, the cruiser Suoni suddenly made a bold move. It turned its bow and rushed directly towards the second ship Zhijing.
His intention was very obvious. He had to stop the Zhijing 2nd Ship even if he lost his own warship. If a warship of less than 2,000 tons collided with a warship of 7,000 tons, the result is self-evident.
Affected by the crazy move of the Sonny, another cruiser, the Champlain, also made the same move. Now, in front of the second ship Zhijing, two enemy ships were charging toward them menacingly, one on the left and the other on the right.
Faced with such a critical moment, Leifer was unusually calm, because every decision he made was related to the life and death of nearly a thousand officers and soldiers on the two ships.
"Keep full speed, don't slow down."
"The artillery targets the battleship on the right side first, and stops it first."
"Damage management team, immediately put aside other matters and prepare for possible collision situations."
As Leifer issued orders one after another, everyone on the ship quickly received orders, and the tension that had not yet arose was diluted.
Of course, this is just diluting it. If the enemy ships still rush over like this, it will be difficult to ensure that the tense atmosphere does not spread.
“5500 meters”
"5000 meters"
“4500 meters”
Especially when the observer hand constantly reports the distance between the two parties.
Fortunately, they were lucky. In the next shooting, a 254mm shell hit the bow of the USS Sonny near the waterline.
So after a bang, a large hole was blown out of the bow of the cruiser Suoni, and sea water poured directly in along this place. Although such a large hole in the bow of the ship was not a fatal injury, it affected the speed of the cruiser abnormally.
.I saw that the speed of the Sony dropped directly from the full speed of 15.1 knots to 10.2 knots.
As a result, the speed between it and the cruiser Champlain was immediately separated.
This is a good opportunity.
After seeing that the Sonny was slowed down, Leifer continued to issue the order, "Go southeast, 15 degrees to the left, then aim at the Champlain and keep firing."
Following Leifer's order, the second ship Zhijing veered a little to the left. Although it was not too far, it allowed the main gun at the stern to attack the cruiser Champlain, which was rushing straight towards it.
"Boom, boom, boom."
After a round of tail gun fire, the Champlain, which had been hit by several rounds, still maintained its momentum.
"Three thousand meters."
When the observer reported two distances, two artillery shells fell on the Zhiyuan. One of them hit a distance of more than ten meters from Leifer. Fortunately, the current shells still use black powder. If it were replaced by smokeless
Medicine, then Leifer is destined to lose his fortune, and maybe a memorial service will be held.
After getting up from the deck in embarrassment, Leifer gritted his teeth. "Expose full firepower to the Champlain."
Therefore, as long as all the artillery of the second ship Zhijing can be reached, they will output firepower at the Champlain. Especially the several 254 mm naval guns, which have a barrel with a caliber of up to 30 times, giving sufficient accuracy.
Therefore, with the kind care of the two Venetian-class ships, the last three thousand meters of the Champlain was extremely difficult. When it reached one thousand meters, the bow of the Champlain was blown off.
Without the bow, the Champlain's speed was even worse than that of the Saune, and she could only watch the two Venetian-class ships drift past in front of her eyes.
After getting rid of the two enemy ships, the people on the two ships cheered because they knew that they had broken through the siege and no one could stop them now.
As for Lieutenant General Gubo, who planned the ambush, he was also so angry that he vomited blood at the news of the two ships' breakout.
This was how this somewhat anticlimactic naval battle ended.
