At this time, the Rakshasa Kingdom's Pacific Fleet was in the morning light, each lazily having breakfast. This was also the time when the Rakshasa Kingdom's Pacific Fleet was at its most lax and weak.
However, Starck did not think that he was in danger, because he knew very well the dangers of sailing in the dark, and he did not think that the other party's warships would dare to sail hundreds of miles continuously at night to approach his fleet.
Because of this, the warships of the Rakshasa Kingdom's Pacific Fleet are now almost all gathered together, without any formation at all.
At this time, a sailor on the watch tower of the battleship Poltava, which was serving as the outermost escort of the fleet, was lazily looking into the distance with a telescope.
The sailor had been in the watchtower for several hours, and his hands and feet were cold from the cold, and his face was ashen.
He was thinking that someone would take over in a few dozen minutes, so he could go down and drink a glass of vodka, and then have a good meal of grilled fish.
At this moment, more than a dozen plumes of smoke suddenly appeared in his telescope.
At first, the sailor didn't take it to heart, but when he took a closer look, his heart immediately trembled.
These smoke plumes are completely different from those of ordinary merchant ships. Not only do they spray very high, they also spread over a wide range.
For experienced lookouts, one can tell whether the other party is a warship or a merchant ship just by looking at the smoke column.
It is obvious that the dozen or so smoke pillars rising from the other side should be more than a dozen warships approaching here quickly.
Shui Bing hurriedly picked up the hammer and struck it like an alarm bell beside him.
As the alarm bell sounded "dang, clang, clang", the entire Rakshasa Kingdom's Pacific Fleet immediately went into chaos.
These people did not expect to encounter the enemy now, so almost all the sailors were enjoying their rare leisurely breakfast on the deck.
Now that the alarm was sounded, these people immediately dropped the food in their hands and began to rush to their respective posts.
At this time, Song Hu's combined fleet is already within range of the Hua-class battleship.
At this time, the battleship Qin Shihuang moved forward quickly to lead the fleet and seize the T.
On the other side, the six 406 mm caliber cannons at the bow of the ship have also been activated and started bombarding the Pacific Fleet of the Rakshasa Kingdom.
However, because the battleship Qin Shihuang was running so fast, the accuracy was somewhat off. Therefore, these six shells only exploded 200 meters away from the Rakshasa Kingdom's Pacific Fleet and did not pose a threat to the Rakshasa Kingdom warships.
But just like this, it also startled Stark, the commander of the Rakshasa Kingdom's fleet. You must know that the opponent was running at a speed of nearly 20 knots. If the bombardment was carried out at such a speed, it would be the Rakshasa Kingdom's Pacific Fleet.
These warships have no accuracy at all.
Only now did Stark realize that he was in a very dangerous situation, and this was when his combat skills came into play.
"Immediately order the fleet to start turning with the cruisers in front and the battleships in the rear."
Starck knew very well that in the next naval battle, his battleships would be the main force, and the cruisers would only be the starting point. Therefore, at this dangerous time, the cruisers could only be used in front to delay the opponent's attack and reconciliation.
Save the battleship from threats.
Although Starck issued the order, his warships were now clustered together, and the sailors had not yet arrived at their respective posts, so the warships could not move for a while.
This period of time gave Song Hu's combined fleet an opportunity.
In the combined fleet led by Song Hu, except for the two Sovereign-class battleships, the other cruisers have been modified. Their speed can reach 28 knots, so when it surges, it is like flying on the sea.
Although the two slower Sovereign-class battleships Fuji and Yashima could not keep up with the rushing cruiser fleet in front, they have now increased their speed to 18 knots.
This speed is also very fast compared to the Russian Pacific Fleet.
In this way, the battleship Qin Shihuang led a group of cruisers, and soon approached the opponent's distance of 5 kilometers, and seized the T prefix.
Now let me tell you what it is like to seize the position starting with T?
In the artillery era before World War II, naval guns were often densely located on the sides of the ship. The side sides were the best choice for a warship to exert the strongest firepower. The fleets at that time used to use single columns, which meant that the fleets lined up in a straight line longitudinally.
Therefore, in a naval battle, seizing the "T" horizontal position will allow our fleet to present a line of broadside firepower to fight against the first warship in the opponent's column that enters the range first, forming a situation of more fighting against fewer, while the other side will
A vertical and straight battle can only bring out the firepower of the front guns, which greatly affects the field of view and shooting angle of the ships behind. At the same time, it can block the enemy's marching route in terms of strategic situation.
Another point is that this position can effectively attack the front armor of enemy warships, making it easier for enemy ships to take in water and sink.
However, it is difficult to form such an advantageous formation in a naval battle, because the opponent is not a fool. When he sees the enemy fleet starting to seize the T, he will definitely make a corresponding turn to avoid being at a disadvantage.
This is why in naval battles, the fleets of both sides will find powerful positions to attack during continuous rapid movement.
From this aspect, we can see that in naval battles before World War II, the speed of the fleet would also be an important combat indicator.
Because only if the overall speed of the fleet is fast, can it be in a favorable position before the enemy, forming a situation where the enemy can be attacked as much as possible, and the opponent's formation and attack can be broken up more quickly.
And the situation where the two sides form a battle line and attack each other will only be carried out as a last resort when they are evenly matched and unable to obtain a favorable formation.
But now Song Hu's combined fleet took advantage of the chaos of the Rakshasa Kingdom's Far East Fleet and its own ship speed advantage to quickly seize the front of the Rakshasa Kingdom's fleet and form a battle line.
After forming a battle line against the Far East Fleet of the Rakshasa Kingdom, the nine 406 mm caliber cannons of the flagship battleship Qin Shihuang were all concentrated on one side and aimed at the Russian fleet, Sevastopol at the front.
Battleship Boer.
This battleship is one of only four pre-dreadnought-class battleships in the Far East Fleet of the Rakshasa Kingdom, and it is also the most powerful deterrent to the Far East Fleet of the Rakshasa Kingdom.
The Sevastopol is of the same class as the Poltava battleship. It was built by the shipyard in St. Petersburg, Russia, and was officially launched on January 1, 1895. It is a former Dreadnought-class battleship with a displacement of 11,500 tons, a length of 115 meters and a width of 21
meters, with a horsepower of 10,600 hp, a speed of 16 knots and a range of 3,750 nautical miles.
The ship's armament includes 2 twin 305mm main guns, 12 single 152mm guns, 10 single 47mm guns, 28 single 37mm guns, and 6 381mm torpedo tubes. The armor thickness of the main turret and deck are respectively
are 254mm and 76mm, and the waterline belt is 203-305mm.
To be honest, compared to the Fuji and Yashima of the Japanese Combined Fleet, battleships of this class have advantages in other aspects except for some differences in speed.
But such a cutting-edge warship was hit by two 406 mm caliber giant bombs in the first round of firing.
You must know that the 406 mm caliber cannon owned by the battleship Qin Shihuang is not only large in caliber, but the shells it uses are filled with the latest TNT explosive.
Compared with the black powder or brown explosives used on warships of various countries today, its explosive power is much greater.
Therefore, it is said that the hits of these two shells caused irreparable losses to the battleship.
The Sevastopol was completely blown off the front deck, and two large holes several meters wide were formed in the front of the warship. Countless seawater was entering the warship through these two holes.
Just after the battleship was hit by two giant guns, the armored cruisers and light cruisers following the battleship Qin Shihuang also opened fire, forming a siege on the battleship.
Although this battleship was thick-skinned and the cannonballs of those cruisers and armored cruisers were not enough to penetrate its armor, several fires were still formed on the battleship pool.
In the next 20 seconds, the battleship Qin Shihuang fired its second salvo.
In this salvo, another shell hit the unfortunate battleship. By this time, the Sevastopol could no longer hold on, and its keel had been broken.
With the sound of the keel breaking, the 12,000-ton giant ship split into two halves and slowly sank to the sea.
At this time, the two Japanese monarch-class battleships Fuji and Yashima that were behind also caught up with the main fleet. These two warships moved behind the battleship Qin Shihuang, formed a battle line with him, and began to attack the remaining warships.
Carry out shelling.
At this time, several cruisers of the Rakshasa Kingdom's Far East Fleet finally reacted. In order to protect the main fleet, they did not care about anything else and rushed over at full speed like a combined fleet.
Faced with this situation, the combined fleet did not panic at all, but took advantage of its advantageous position at the beginning of the T to name these cruisers one by one.
The speeding cruisers on the other side also know very well that their small cannons cannot pose a threat to those rough-skinned battleships at all. Only by quickly approaching the opponent and releasing torpedoes can they disrupt the opponent's formation and give their own
Time for the fleet to regroup.
Therefore, these three cruisers now do not carry out bombardment at all, but quickly approach the combined fleet as if they are aware of their concerns.
The people of Rakshasa country thought well, but reality gave them a cruel blow.
Facing the overwhelming artillery fire from more than a dozen warships that had formed a powerful position, these three cruisers were all sunk within 2000 meters before they even got close to the combined fleet.
However, the sinking of these three warships also bought some time for the Rakshasa Kingdom's fleet. While the combined fleet was busy dealing with these three warships, the Rakshasa Kingdom's combined fleet finally started to move.
Although the speed was slower, they still reluctantly turned the ship around and wanted to engage in a battle line bombardment with the combined fleet.