Yuhiro Ito led the combined fleet northward on the second day. This time the combined fleet went northward, it was not as relaxed as the last time it came to Okinawa, so he sent out almost all the reconnaissance ships.
Although Ito Yuhiro is a bit arrogant, he does have a good command of operations. He knows that this will be the last naval battle between Qing and Japan, which is related to the future status of China and Japan in East Asia. Therefore, he
The formation was very cautious. Almost all the Japanese navy warships gathered together, lined up in a tight formation, and slowly moved northward.
Besides, at this time, Liu Hai led the Nanyang Navy southward, using the radars of four battleships to conduct a large-scale search on the sea.
After all, technology is also a part of combat effectiveness. On this day, the radar on the battleship Qin Shihuang suddenly discovered several fast-moving bright spots.
These bright spots are in the shape of a fan, moving rapidly northwest of the Nanyang Navy.
After waiting for a while, dozens of slowly moving highlighted targets appeared behind these bright spots.
The battleship Qin Shihuang immediately informed Liu Hai of the situation.
Liu Hai and Liu Wei discussed it and agreed that this was the main force of the Japanese Combined Fleet.
So Liu Hai ordered the two battleships of the Nanyang Fleet searching outside to immediately rendezvous with the fleet.
The main force of the Nanyang Fleet turned around and headed southwest.
In this way, without the Japanese fleet knowing anything, the Nanyang Fleet was already ready for battle.
The two sides moved towards each other. After about an hour, the Japanese combined fleet's reconnaissance ship finally discovered the Nanyang Navy.
When this reconnaissance ship discovered the huge fleet of the Nanyang Navy, especially the four battleships that were as huge as mountains, it was already filled with heartache.
In this case, the captain of the reconnaissance ship hurriedly turned the bow and sailed quickly towards the combined fleet, hoping to report the specific situation of the Nanyang Navy to the Japanese combined fleet before the two sides entered the range.
Liu Hai and the others also saw the reconnaissance ship, but did not take it seriously. This time the Japanese Combined Fleet could not avoid encountering the Nanyang Navy no matter what.
Besides, this reconnaissance ship sailed quickly towards its own fleet. When it arrived near the flagship of the Japanese combined fleet, it immediately sent a signal to the flagship and reported the situation it detected to the commander.
After receiving the news brought back by the reconnaissance ship, Ito Yuhiro couldn't believe it. He didn't expect that the Nanyang Navy really had four giant ships, and their tonnage was far larger than his own.
conjecture.
Ito Yuhiro's mind is now running rapidly, judging the strength of both sides' navies, the positions they will take during the battle, and finally the probability of victory or defeat in this war.
After careful thinking, Ito Yuhiro believed that if four giant battleships were added, the combined fleet would have almost no hope of winning.
Under normal circumstances, Ito Yuhiro's only way now is to immediately avoid a decisive battle with the Nanyang Navy. That is to say, immediately change the waterway to avoid encountering the Nanyang Navy.
But the measures he took were already too late. By this time, the soldiers on the watchtower of the original Zhenyuan ship had already discovered several smoke pillars rising in the distance.
After receiving the news from the observation tower, Ito Yuhiro knew that the war was inevitable. If he retreated at this time, it would give the other party an opportunity to take advantage of it.
So the commander of the combined fleet immediately ordered his fleet to follow the planned combat strategy and ordered the first guerrilla fleet to immediately go forward to harass the Nanyang Navy.
The main fleet of the Combined Fleet, including four ironclads and armored cruisers, formed a battle line and prepared their artillery.
At this time, the Beiyang Navy was also ready for combat early. Their combat strategy was completely different from before. Since the maximum speed of the four battleships could reach 33 knots, the four Iowa-class battleships were divided into
We formed a team to seize the prefix T.
Other Nanyang Navy cruisers? and the ironclad Jiangxi, because their speed can reach 20 knots, can already keep up with the speed of the Japanese Combined Fleet, so they also formed a battle line, preparing to bombard the Japanese Combined Fleet.
At the same time, their purpose is to contain the combined fleet so that the four Iowa-class battleships can better attack each other.
Ito Yuhiro used a telescope on the Zhenyuan battleship and finally saw the four giant ships that had been rumored for a long time.
Although the distance is still quite far, it is impossible to clearly see the number and caliber of the artillery on these four giant ships. But just by looking at the huge bodies of the four giant ships, you can imagine how thick their armor is.
After a visual inspection, Ito Yuhiro realized that the shells of all the battleships in his team might not be able to penetrate the opponent's armor.
Yuhiro Ito now regrets extremely much. If he had known earlier, he should have obeyed the orders of the Japanese Navy and avoided a decisive battle with the Nanyang Navy. But now it is too late to regret, so he can only bite the bullet and go ahead.
The Japanese Navy currently has 4 ironclads, 8 cruisers, three coastal defense ships, and one gunboat, with a total tonnage of 76,000 tons.
Liu Hai's Nanyang Navy has four battleships, one ironclad, one armored cruiser, two heavy cruisers, seven light cruisers, and five old-fashioned cruisers, with a total tonnage of 250,000 tons.
As for the Japanese Combined Fleet, all warships generally do not exceed 20 knots in speed, and only the cruiser Yoshino can reach a speed of 23 knots.
On the Nanyang Navy side, even the ironclad Jiangxi in the main fleet has a speed of 20 knots, and other cruisers generally have a speed of more than 20 knots. Only five old cruisers have a slower speed, only about 16 knots.
Therefore, based on this data comparison, the Nanyang Navy has far exceeded the Japanese Combined Fleet in terms of tonnage and speed.
Therefore, Liu Hai believes that in this battle, the Nanyang Navy must completely annihilate the Japanese combined fleet.
Because it was a class battleship, it was very fast. It quickly drew a beautiful arc in front of the combined fleet, appeared directly in front of the combined fleet, and formed a battle line.
At this time, although the combined fleet changed its formation several times and wanted to aim its flanks at these four giant ships, it was not successful the last few times because it was much slower than the opponent's speed.
At this time, the Yoshino, the flagship of the First Guerrilla Fleet, was rushing at the forefront of the combined fleet, and the Japanese First Guerrilla Fleet led by him was now the target of the Iowa-class battleships.
When the two sides entered 10 kilometers, the fire control system on the Iowa-class battleship had locked onto the Yoshino at the front.
Then under Liu Wei's order, the 36 main guns on the four battleships opened fire at the same time. With the fierce firing of the battleships' guns, the four battleships involuntarily moved back a few meters. This shows the recoil of the nine guns on each battleship.
How big is it?
Their target, the Yoshino ship, was in bad luck this time. According to common sense, the accuracy of the warship's first round of artillery firing was the lowest, and it could almost only be regarded as a test firing.
However, since the four battleships have very advanced fire control systems, the accuracy of this first round of artillery has almost reached its peak compared to now.
Therefore, in the first round of attack, two 406mm artillery pieces hit the Yoshino ship.
Although the Yoshino ship is considered a very advanced warship in the Japanese navy, it is still vulnerable to giant artillery from 60 years later.
The first shell hit the Yoshino ship's bow, and with just one hit, half of the Yoshino ship's bow was cut off.
Before the Jiye ship could send out crews for emergency repairs, the second shell hit the middle of the Yoshino ship. This shell immediately broke the Yoshino ship's keel.
The 4,000-ton warship was immediately broken into two sections, and all the officers and soldiers were buried in the whirlpool in the water without any escape.
As for the cruiser Takachie after the Yoshino ship, once she saw that the flagship had been sunk, she had no intention of fighting. The four giant ships opposite were too powerful.
So the cruiser Takachie immediately turned in a large circle, trying to get out of the attack range of the four giant ships.
Unexpectedly, his speed was still much lower than that of the four battleships. Then the four Ahua-class battleships started firing salvos again. This time, the accuracy of the bombardment was even more precise. Four shells immediately hit Gao Qianhui.
cruiser.
The Takachie had a displacement of 3,600 tons. It was one of the battleships of the Japanese Combined Fleet and was sunk just after the Yoshino.
After Ito Yuhiro saw his two cutting-edge cruisers behind the formation, they had been sunk before they even got close to each other, and a shadow that had never appeared before was cast in his heart.
He knew that if he sent cruisers to compete with the opponent's four giant ships, he would probably be sunk by the opponent one by one, so he immediately issued a semaphore and asked the first guerrilla fleet to retreat and come to the left wing of the main fleet to protect the Nanyang Navy.
, the attack of other warships.
And Yuhiro Ito led four ironclads and three coastal defense ships (armored cruisers) and began to move closer to Liu Hai's four Iowa-class battleships.
On the battleship Huangdi, Liu Hai used his telescope to see the rearrangement of the Japanese combined fleet, and the smile on his face became even brighter. Since the other side has turned its main force to the side of the four Ahua-class battleships, the old fleet of the Nanyang Navy will lose
Slightly more so.
As the commander of the four Iowa-class battleships, Liu Wei saw the main force of the combined fleet moving closer to his side, and immediately ordered the four Iowa-class battleships to increase their speed and maintain 10% speed with the opponent's main fleet.
distance in kilometers.
Because from the perspective of the Iowa battleship, shooting accuracy at this distance can be guaranteed, and at the same time, it can avoid being hit by the opponent.
Ito Yuhiro originally thought that although the four giant ships were huge in size, their speed must not be high, but he knew that the opponent's speed was much faster than the fastest cruiser in his own fleet. His combined fleet's main force
, can't even get close to each other.
When Ito Yuhiro saw this situation, any trace of luck in his heart immediately disappeared. It seemed that the purpose of using speed to defeat the opponent's battleship could not be achieved.