The Naniwa and Takachiho rushed straight towards the Rurik at the end of the team greatly surprised Essen's expectations, at this time the lead ships of the two sides had already staggered, and with the course adjustment, the distance between the two sides gradually widened, and the Japanese fleet wanted to complete a 180-degree turn and then chase after themselves, and they had already been out of the sight of the Japanese under the cover of dense fog.

But now the Japanese two cruisers rushed over and wanted to do what ?! "Concentrate your fire on the two enemy ships that rushed over! We can't let those yellow-skinned monkeys entangle us! "Essen is so anxious, how can these yellow-skinned monkeys succeed?!

Are these yellow-skinned monkeys crazy? Is it looking for death when 2 battleships rush over like this?

At this time, the Naniwa and Takachiho changed from a longitudinal column to a horizontal column because of the simultaneous change of rudders, and the bow of the ship was facing the Russian fleet, in fact, the Russians occupied the T-shaped horizontal head at this time, except for the front main guns of the Izmail and the Kimborn, which did not have enough firing range, the rest of the guns were able to concentrate fire on the Japanese ships.

For a while, the bombs around Naniwa and Takachiho rained down, and the exploding water column surrounded the two ships, and the current condition of the two ships looked as if they could be shot into the soul at any time.

A 203-mm shell severed the Naniwa's mainmast, and the fallen mast smashed into the deck, injuring several people, and a 254-mm shell hit the bow of the ship and exploded inside, as a result of which the other side was blown through, creating a large hole in the bow of the Naniwa.

The condition of the Takachiho was also even worse, with 1 203-mm shell and 4 152-mm shells hitting the front and middle of the hull respectively, making the appearance of the Takachiho a mess, and the officers and men on board suffered heavy casualties.

The two ships rushed to a distance of 800 meters from the Russian ship under artillery fire and fired four torpedoes at the Rurik, when the snow-white track appeared on the surface of the sea. The Rurik was forced to perform an evasive maneuver, which caused the Rurik to change course and cause it to become disconnected from the ship in front of it.

Essen, who wanted to go back with all the ships, naturally did not leave the Rurik alone. With Rurik's firepower, it was too much to quickly deal with the Naniwa and Takachiho, and Essen had to deal with the two annoying old ships before they could continue to evacuate.

At this time, the Izmail, which had already brought the fire on board under control, took four ships, the Kimborn, the Grombowie, and the Bayan, to attack the Naniwa and Takachiho. The two ships were hit several times in succession, but in the face of the stormy attack of the Russian ships, the Naniwa and Takachiho only stared at the Rurik attack.

The Rurik, which had not been attacked in the previous battle because it had stayed at the end of the line, suffered at this time, and the disadvantages of the Rurik's main armor belt being unprotected and the main gun being open at the rear began to appear. A fire broke out in the place where the 150-mm shells were hit, and yellow toxic smoke filled the ship.

Many of those who did not die in the explosion were also swept down by toxic smoke and then engulfed in flames. Some sailors howling in pain in the flames. They struggled to jump into the sea, and then never floated again, and many more slowly lost their breath in the howl, turning into clumps of char.

However, the results of the Naniwa and Takachiho ended here, under the siege of 4 Russian ships, the Naniwa was hit by 3 254-mm shells and 17 152-mm shells, and the side waterline was beaten into a sieve, such an attack was not at all something that an old ship like Naniwa could withstand, and the hull quickly rolled to 17 degrees, and the captain was forced to give the order to abandon the ship.

The situation of the Takachiho was even more tragic. 11 were hit by 203-mm shells, 152-mm shells hit 15, and the bridge was hit by direct hits from 203-mm shells. All officers below the captain were killed. The ship's projectiles caused several large explosions, and the entire ship of Takachiho was turned into purgatory in flames.

Soon, the most gorgeous and tragic scene of this naval battle appeared, after seeing that the crew of the Naniwa had begun to abandon the ship, the Russian ship aimed its guns at the burning Takachiho, and after several rounds of shelling made the Takachiho even more miserable, the rear main gun of the Kimborn hit the stern of the Takachiho.

A 254-mm shell smashed into the ammunition depot of the main gun in the tail, detonating a large number of 150-mm shells stacked here, and the explosion of these shells affected the propellant depot stacked with propellants, and the chain of explosions caused the rear of the Takachiho to suddenly swell and rise. The huge explosion threw fragments of steel and human stumps into the air tens of meters into the air, and the plumes of smoke that erupted rose hundreds of meters into the air.

The Takachiho, whose entire stern was broken, disappeared from the sea in just a few minutes. Due to the absence of the captain's order to abandon the ship, less than 30 officers and men on the Takachiho survived this tragedy.

Not far away, the sailors of the Naniwa, who had abandoned the ship, floated and fell on the sea. Dumbfounded at the birth of this oversized firework.

Also stunned was Izuwa Shigeyuan, who had turned around and chased after him, although he had already been mentally prepared for the ending of the Naniwa and Takachiho when he gave the order, but such a "gorgeous" visual effect was beyond his expectations.

The psychological impact of such a "gorgeous" curtain call on Takachiho was huge, but at this time it could not be shaken, and Izuwa Shigeto shouted loudly: "Avenge Naniwa and Takachiho!" Let those ghost animals pay the price! ”

At this time, the Chitose, which had been injured before, had already repaired the big hole in the chimney and followed up again, but the situation of the Kasaki was really powerless, so it could only break away from the battle and prepare to return to the mainland for repairs.

The 6 Japanese ships that had completed the turn to the left rear caught up again, because Naniwa and Takachiho dragged the Russian fleet and forced Essen to lead the ship back to rescue the Rurik, so Dewa Shigeyuan did not need to complete a 180 bet U-turn, turned to the left rear about 120 degrees and copied the tail of the Russian fleet. In this way, he will be able to occupy the T-shaped head of the Russian fleet, which is turning around.

The Rurik, which had to reduce its speed to extinguish the fire, and the Russian, who was guarding the fire, were the first targets of the Japanese ships.

Only 10 minutes after the Japanese fleet began the artillery battle, the Rurik, which was already in a bad situation, suffered new casualties, and the efforts of the officers and men on board to control the fire were all in vain.

Fortunately, the Rurik was an armored cruiser after all, and the 254 mm thick armor belt at the waterline still played its role, and two 203 mm shells fired from the front main gun of the Takasago smashed into the Rurik's main armor belt on the waterline, leaving no more damage except for huge scorched black marks, slight armor plate deformation, and multiple riveting breaks.

The lack of water ingress was a blessing in disguise for the Rurik. As long as they can maintain their ability to sail, at least they will not become lambs lying on the surface of the water waiting to be slaughtered. In the historical Battle of Ulsan, the Rurik was fought only 30 minutes after the armored cruisers of the Second Fleet of the Japanese Combined Fleet. It was hit by the servo, causing damage to the servo. The ship was difficult to maneuver, and the water caught fire, and finally lost the ability to sail, so that Uemura Hikonojo was able to leave the dead fish-like Rurik to Naniwa and Takachiho to deal with, and he led the Second Fleet to continue the pursuit of the two remaining armored cruisers of the Essen fleet.

Now, the Naniwa and Takachiho have sunk, and although the Rurik is in a miserable condition, the sailors on the ship do not have to protect the honor of the navy. Open the sea valve and bury your own battleship with your own hands.

The design of the Russian and Rurik naturally inherited all the shortcomings of the Rurik, and the weak lateral fire also seemed to be clumsy in the face of the siege of the Japanese ships, and the unfortunate situation of the Chitose was repeated on the Russian, and it was even more unlucky, the No. 1 and No. 3 chimneys were opened by 203 mm and 150 mm shells respectively, but fortunately, the parts of the hit were in the middle and upper part of the chimney, so that the smoke did not billowing to cover the entire deck.

However, the broken chimney had a detrimental effect on the burning conditions of the Russian's boilers, causing the Russian's speed to decrease.

At this time, the 4 armored cruisers led by Essen re-arrived, and Essen also understood. If you don't send these yellow-skinned monkeys to the bottom of the sea, you won't want to get out easily.

Of course, in the face of Fang's idea of grabbing his T-shaped crosshead, Esen naturally saw it, and ordered the fleet to speed up and adjust its course to the left. Trying to get the turn done before the Japanese fleet reaches the T-junction.

Although the shells of those yellow-skinned monkeys were strange, but so far in the battle, the four main armored cruisers have not suffered any fatal injuries, although such a result is not what Essen wants, but if the fight continues, the winning side will still be himself.

This is also very clear about Deyu Shigeyuan, but in order to make the Puyan fleet no longer make waves on the shipping line, he must inflict enough trauma on the other side, so he still gritted his teeth and decided to continue fighting.

In the end, he couldn't get to the T-intersection before the Russians could complete their turn. The two sides had to enter a fierce battle of capture and killing.

However, the reality is cruel, and the performance gap between the two ships has become an insurmountable chasm. Soon after, the Japanese fleet suffered another heavy loss, and a 203-mm shell from the Bayan exploded near the stern of the Yoshino. The blast wave from the explosion shook off one of the Yoshino's propellers and caused the main shaft connection to rupture, sending seawater rushing in from that spot.

The speed of the Yoshino plummeted, and the explosion also led to the failure of the steering gear, so the Yoshino could only maintain its course at this time and could not get out of the queue, and the Suma that followed behind had to urgently avoid, and the formation of the Japanese fleet was disconnected, and the original 6-on-4 Russians had obvious advantages in single-ship performance, but the situation that it was difficult to cope with multiple targets was changed.

The Bayan, which had previously aimed the Yoshino, turned its guns and attacked the Takasago with the Grom Bowie, but the Takasago was soon unable to support the attack of the two ships, and the hull was flooded in many places, a fire broke out on the deck, and a shell pierced the boiler compartment of the dome armor and entered the water, and the boiler temperature dropped.

At this time, knowing that if he continued to fight like this, not only would he not be able to cause any damage to the Russians, but he was afraid that he would be wiped out by the whole army, so he had to give the order to retreat.

Seeing the evacuation of the Japanese ships, Essen did not chase them, and it was his first priority to bring them back to the base with the Rurik and the Russians in bad condition.

Therefore, after encircling and sinking the Takasago and Yoshino, which had lost their speed, the Russian ships followed the route they had come from and returned north to Vladivostok.

At this point, the first confrontation between the Japanese Navy and the Russian Navy ended in a battle between 9 protective cruisers against 6 armored cruisers, in which 4 Japanese protective cruisers were sunk, 1 armored cruiser was damaged, and the rest of the ships were wounded but not a single armored cruiser was left Russian. (To be continued) R655