When Ito Hirobumi received the news that the Nanyang Navy had four large warships that he had never seen before, he simply did not believe the news.
The Japanese did a very good job in intelligence work. Not only did they send a large number of spies to the Qing Dynasty, but there were also many intelligence collectors among the Western powers. They had never heard that the Western countries built 4 ships for the Qing Dynasty.
Large battleship.
Therefore, he did not believe that Liu Hai's warships contained four large warships. He thought they might be four large transport ships. The fishermen did not recognize the warships, but thought they were huge, so they panicked.
Ito Hirobumi's judgment has also been recognized by everyone in the base camp, but now there is one most important issue, that is, the Nanyang Navy has arrived in the offshore waters of Japan and will soon arrive in Tokyo Bay, and their combined fleet is escorting it.
The army is still floating on the sea.
So now the situation is more embarrassing. In this era without wireless telegraphy, warships can only communicate with land on the sea by first docking and then looking for a nearby telegraph office.
As for the current specific location of the combined fleet, to be honest, even the Japanese base camp is not very clear. They can only roughly estimate the combined fleet based on the original plan, and it will soon arrive in the offshore waters of Baodao.
Ito Hirobumi now feels that since Liu Hai's Nanyang Navy has appeared near Tokyo Bay, there is no need for the combined fleet to escort the army, and it should return to Tokyo Bay immediately to prevent Tokyo Bay from being attacked and the emperor from being harassed.
Ito Hirobumi's suggestion was fully supported by Navy Minister Saigo Yumichi. He was not a fool. Liu Hai's purpose was very clear. It seemed that he wanted to change homes with him.
Although the Keelung base in Liu Hai has begun to take shape, it pales in comparison to the Japanese military base in Tokyo Bay.
Under such circumstances, nothing could happen in Tokyo Bay, so he suggested that a communication ship be dispatched from Okinawa immediately to convey the order to the combined fleet and let the combined fleet return immediately.
This time, even the Army Minister did not refute, so they quickly reached an agreement on this order.
Therefore, when Liu Hai's fleet was still 200 nautical miles away from Tokyo Bay, the base camp in Tokyo had already sent a telegram to Okinawa, asking them to immediately send a communication ship to contact the combined fleet.
However, this ship arrived near Keelung from Okinawa and was looking for traces of the Combined Fleet. I am afraid that even if the Combined Fleet returns to Japan, it will take more than ten days? This period of time is enough for Liu Hai to turn the Japanese coast upside down.
Therefore, the Japanese base camp in Tokyo did not fully concentrate their hopes on the combined fleet. They ordered the forts at Ito Yuhiro in Tokyo to enter a state of war. As long as the Nanyang Navy came into range, they would immediately attack and strive to defeat the Nanyang Fleet.
Barred from Tokyo Bay.
As the order from the Japanese base camp spread to various places? The fort in Tokyo Bay immediately turned into a mess. To be honest, Japan has really not experienced any foreign invasion in so many years. Although there are many forts on the shore of Tokyo, Japan, in actual combat
This is their first chance.
But at least the Japanese naval training was pretty good. It only took twenty or thirty minutes. The forts in Tokyo were already ready for war. The 220mm and 280mm cannons were all pointed at the sea.
In the past few years, in order to defend against the invasion of Tokyo Bay by the Beiyang Navy and the Russian Pacific Fleet, the Japanese government prepared to use artificial reclamation to build three sea forts (sea forts) at the entrance of Tokyo Bay.
Fortress), used as a sea fortress battery.
The three sea forts in the plan are part of the Tokyo Bay protection system. The remaining forts include Natsushima Fort, Sasayama Fort, Hakozaki Fort, Hashishima Fort, Yonehama Fort and the Gensu Fort on the Boso Peninsula in Chiba Prefecture around Yokosuka Naval Port.
, Kanaya Fort, Obosaki Fort, Suzaki First Fort, Suzaki Second Fort, and Jogajima Fort in Miura Peninsula in Kanagawa Prefecture, Chiyozaki Fort, Chiyozaki Fort, Kannonzaki Fort, Misaki Fort, Kenzaki Fort
, Kinugasa ammunition depot and Oyabe ammunition depot are managed by Tokyo Bay Fortress Headquarters.
However, due to Japan's funding problems, only the first fort has been built so far.
The easternmost one is the First Sea Fort. Construction started in August 1881 and was completed in December 1890. It used a total of 70,000 cubic meters of stone, 130,000 cubic meters of sand, and 320,000 workers. The sea area was 23,000 square meters, and the construction cost
380,000 yen (3.5 billion yen today). The weapons of the First Sea Fort are 14 280mm howitzers, 1 190mm cannon, 4 120mm rapid-fire cannons, 4 75mm rapid-fire cannons, and 4 machine guns
Yes, there is one searchlight and the cost of military equipment is 1.16 million yen.
The construction of the 2nd Fort began in 1890. Due to tight funds and huge construction period, it is only half-constructed now.
As for the No. 3 Fort, there is no shadow at all, and it only exists on the map of the Japanese base camp.
Therefore, what Liu Hai faced this time was only the No. 1 fort built by Japan and some small fortresses near it.
If it were the Nanyang Navy that did not have the four Iowa battleships to join, it would still be a bit troublesome to encounter these obstacles. After all, when warships and coastal artillery exchange fire, it is the warships that will suffer in the end.
But now that there are 4 Iowa-class battleships, they can confidently and boldly target the opponent's fortresses and cannons one by one outside the opponent's range.
Therefore, when Liu Wei led the Nanyang Navy fleet to Tokyo Bay, there was already tension there, and thick smoke had already risen in many places.
This was not a fire that occurred in the Japanese Navy, but that the Japanese Navy deliberately lit smoke to reduce the accuracy of the Nanyang Navy's bombardment.
If there is no artillery sighting radar, this trick is really effective, and it can at least reduce the Nanyang Navy's artillery accuracy by two levels.
But this time, because there are four Iowa-class battleships, they can be equipped with gun sighting radars produced by another dimension in the 1980s and 1990s, and the Iowa battleships also have relatively advanced fire control systems.
Therefore, these arrangements made by the Japanese are completely useless.
As the Nanyang Navy got closer and closer to Tokyo Bay, the entire face of the Nanyang Navy also appeared in front of the Japanese.
The first thing they saw were four huge warships that they couldn't believe.
As the Navy Minister, Xixiang Congdao arrived at the 1st Fort early. Now he is standing on the commanding heights, observing the Nanyang Navy in the distance with a telescope.
When he saw clearly that at the front of the Nanyang Navy were four huge ships that he had never seen before, he felt his whole body trembling.
As the Navy Minister, he has a very clear understanding of the tonnage of the navy. Just looking at these four warships, the tonnage of any one warship is enough to rival the entire combined fleet.
By this time, the naval elephant had lost the ability to think and could only mutter: "The Imperial Japanese Navy is finished, the achievements of decades of reform are finished, and the Empire of Japan is finished."
And the staff officers next to him were all stunned and at a loss. They didn't know how to deal with these four battleships.
In the end, Saigo reluctantly came to his senses and said to a staff officer beside him: "Immediately report to the base camp and ask them to contact the British immediately and ask them to stop the war between the Japanese Empire and the Nanyang Navy. At the same time, report to the headquarters
The Combined Fleet issued an order not to approach Tokyo Bay."
After hearing this, the staff officer was a little stunned and contacted the British for mediation. He understood that Japan had no way to fight against such a powerful navy, but if the Eastern United Fleet was not allowed to approach Tokyo Bay, then the people of Tokyo Bay and
What should the emperor do?
Xixiang Congdao looked at the staff officer blankly, and angrily raised his hand and slapped him, "Baga, what are you doing standing around here? Why don't you hurry up and send the message?"
The staff officer immediately put his legs together and shouted "Hi.", and then hurriedly left the commanding heights of the First Sea Fort.
At this time, Liu Hai's Nanyang Navy had already arrived five nautical miles away from Japan's No. 1 Sea Fort.
At this time, Liu Wei, as the commander of the fleet, came to the cabin where Liu Hai was resting and reported to him that he had arrived at the predetermined position and could clean the forts outside Tokyo Bay, Japan.
After listening to Liu Wei's report, Liu Hai came out of the cabin and went to the command podium with him, using a telescope to look at Japan's No. 1 sea fort from a distance.
"There is no danger to our warship at this distance, right?"
"Master, with the performance of the current cannon, at this distance, the opponent's cannon poses no threat to our fleet."
"In this case, the bombardment must begin immediately."
"yes."
After Liu Wei saluted Liu Hai, he came to the communicator next to him, picked up the wireless phone and said to the phone: "I am Fleet Commander Liu Wei, and I am now ordering four Hua-class battleships to target the enemy's No. 1
Battery, free fire."
Following this order, the four Iowa battleships immediately turned to align the side of the ship with the 1st battery, and then the three triple 406mm cannons slowly adjusted their angles and began to aim at the 1st battery.
Saigo, who was at the commanding heights of the 1st fort, saw from Tao that the opponent's four battleships had begun to take aim, and was immediately pulled into the bunker by the staff nearby.
As soon as Xixiang Congdao entered the bunker, the opponent's artillery began to make loud noises. Only one shell in the first round of shelling hit a fort equipped with a 280mm coastal gun.
Although this fort was built of concrete and rock, it could not withstand the bombardment of the 406mm cannon, and it was instantly destroyed in just one blow.
Xixiang, who was in the bunker, immediately felt a chill coming from his head after receiving the news from Tao.
Because in naval battles, the accuracy of shelling can only reach 3% at most. If the equipment and training are very good, it may be able to reach 5%. However, in the first round of shelling by the opponent, we lost a turret. It can be seen that the opponent's shelling