The sky is full of stars, the lights in the strait are shining, and the endless fleet of ships forms a stream of lights to move along the narrow strait. "Words * love * first * hair

Occupying the most central and deepest channel of the strait was the Russian expeditionary fleet that could not be seen at a glance, and the Tsar had given up for the Far East, and the main fleet in the Baltic Sea was almost empty, and the newly renovated ironclad warships had been pulled into the battlefield before they had been tested.

East Asia is their actual combat training ground, Xiao Letian is their whetstone, and the Far East is an important outlet for Russia to win Pacific interests, and it must not be lost.

Flagship St. Peter, captain Vice Admiral Stefansky, commander-in-chief of the expeditionary forces. With a displacement of 3,800 tons and a thickness of 180 millimeters, this wooden hull covered with ironclad is an iron turtle that no one can bite into in the minds of the Russians.

In order to save on boilers and coal, the St. Peter kept the front and rear masts, and the white sails were painted with the double-headed eagle, the national emblem of Russia.

I have to say that the Russian engineers also know how to keep pace with the times, and the gun setting of the St. Peter has been greatly improved compared with before.

Abandoning the old routine of smoothbore guns that rely on numbers to win, St. Peter had four rifled breech-loading guns on the left and right sides of the ship, with a caliber of 180 mm, and all of them used fixed ammunition, which was simply incomparable in power compared with previous guns.

Eight guns are mounted on sliding turrets, which can be easily adjusted in a range of 180 degrees. You can imagine the thrill of such a mighty steel turtle rushing into the enemy's formation, and then blossoming left and right, punching through the enemy's soft belly and then piercing the intestines and abdomen.

This shooting idea of the Russians was actually the mainstream thinking of European warship designers at that time, which was a small upgrade extending from the shooting thinking of the era of sail battleships.

It's a delicate balance between new technology and old traditions, and while not as subversive as the Zhiyuan, it's not easy to do for a vast empire as old as Russia.

Behind the St. Peter, there is the second flagship Diamond, the captain of the ship, Rear Admiral Vinya, with a hull displacement of 2,100 tons, a wooden hull covered with ironclad technology, and the gun arrangement is the same as that of the St. Peter, which is also 180 calibers, but the number is reduced, three on the left and right.

But the Diamond abandoned the sails in favor of pure steam power, so the battleship was a little more modern.

It was followed by the Svetlana, captain Hermansky, with a displacement of 3,400 tons, still covered with a wooden hull and ironclad technology, with sails retained, four main guns on the left and right, and a caliber of 160.

The average tonnage of the remaining nine capital battleships is between 3000-3300 tons, and the caliber of artillery is between 120-160.

A full twelve capital battleships stretched out a long line in the strait, and the sailors in the bow could not see the tail of the fleet, and the sheer size stunned all the merchant ships along the way.

Not only the twelve main warships, but also fifteen frigates to the left and right of the one-line army column.

Volga, captain Dmitry. With a displacement of 1800 tons, the speed can reach up to 15 knots. The artillery caliber is 85, and eight are distributed on the left and right.

USS Polar, Captain West. The displacement is 1600 tons, the maximum speed is 16 knots, the caliber of the gun is 85, and there are eight on the left and right.

The tonnage of the rest of the warships is mostly about 1500 tons, and the caliber is basically below 100 mm.

Between these capital warships and frigates, there were 18 light gunboats and torpedo boats, which were only small compared to the main warships, and their respective displacement exceeded 500 tons.

At first, Molière was very surprised, he didn't know why the Russians brought these small warships to fight across the whole earth, aren't these small ships cannon fodder on the battlefield?

However, after chatting with General Stefansky, he realized how big the Russians' ambitions for the Far East were.

The purpose of the main warships is to carry out strategic deterrence, and the appearance of the twelve latest capital warships in the Pacific Ocean can break the pattern of the British monopoly, and the Russians are not really stupid enough to engage in a naval war in the Pacific with the British, but the deterrent effect of so many warships on the British must be very huge.

As long as this deterrent is maintained, Russia will be able to get an extra slice of the cake in East Asia, and many businesses will have to be mixed by the Russians even if they don't want to, and the broth will always have to be drunk in a few more bowls.

And fifteen frigate warships are actually the protagonists of the battle, these ironclad warships of about 1,500 tons are definitely not enough to deal with Britain and France, but they are enough to deal with Xiao Letian and Japan, North Korea, including the Qing Dynasty.

These warships could teach the disobedient barbarian peoples at any time, thus demonstrating the power of the Tsar of Great Russia.

As for the eighteen small warships, they are for coastal defense, and Vladivostok can't let the main warships defend it, and in the end the heavy responsibility of defense still has to be done by these small warships.

Patrolling along the coastal waters, driving to the Yangtze River basin, the Haihe River basin, the Heilongjiang River basin, and the Ussuri River basin in the Qing Dynasty to travel and scare the magistrates, these small gunboats are really very useful.

The formation of a task force by three echelons is indeed chaotic enough from a military point of view, but from the political aspect and from the perspective of East Asian grand strategy, the formation of these three echelons has already reflected the very clever strategic thinking of the tsar.

Alexander II deserves to be one of the great lords of Russian history!

Such a large task force fleet sailed in three columns in the middle of the Strait of Malacca, the clouds covered by white sails and the black smoke sprayed obscured the sky.

All the merchant ships and fishing boats along the way had to give way to them, and even the two British ** ships stationed in the Lion City had to give way at this moment, and even sent a friendly greeting flag in advance.

The Russians are crazy, the Russians are making Xiao Lotian crazy, the Baltic Fleet is almost empty, such a terrifying combat power is put into East Asia, and the frightened British keep mobilizing warships from the Indian subcontinent to reinforce Hong Kong and Shanghai.

Of course, this reinforcement is not for combat, but only to increase deterrence for oneself. To put it bluntly, this is the same as secondary school students learning the underworld to grab turf.

"You wait, I'll call someone to ......"

"Don't go, don't leave if you have the ability......"

In the end, the two sides pulled a group of people who stood on their feet to cheer, but most of the time they didn't fight, at most they scolded each other twice, "What are you worried about...... What are you doing...... Try another one...... Try it......"

In order to avoid a conflict or accidental collision between the Russian ** ship and the local ship, two British sail battleships helped the Russian flagship to separate the course at the front of the line, one on the left and one on the right, and all the merchant ships had to go around from both sides.

Because of the proximity, the British soldiers were able to see all the flags and light signals of the St. Peter.

"Look! St. Peter has hoisted the lights, and the flagship has summoned all the captains to a meeting!"

"Something important must have happened, how could the Russian fleet hold an emergency meeting in the middle of the night......? Inform the Governor and inform the Governor of the Lion City ......"