In the sea off Qingdao, the Sino-Japanese naval battle was still in full swing, and in just half a day, the balance of forces between the two sides changed dramatically. Nearly half of the large Chinese Navy's large fleet of armed merchant ships has sunk. In addition to the battleships Fuso and Yamashiro, which still retained their combat effectiveness, the other Japanese battleships, including two heavy cruisers, were damaged and had to withdraw from the battle early. Among them, several unlucky Japanese cruisers sank directly on the exercise of the hull.

Even the remaining two super battleships are not comfortable now, especially the bombardment of the Yamashiro by nearly a hundred armed merchant ships, most of the superstructure of the entire Yamashiro has been destroyed, and four of the 12 mm main guns have been destroyed. Half of the sixteen 152-mm secondary guns failed. The deck of the Yamashiro was full of potholes, and there were several large holes that had been pierced in the central part of the city. It's just that luckily, these penetrated places did not affect the internal structure of the Yamashiro.

As the flagship of the Japanese fleet, although he did not undertake the main attack like the Yamashiro, he was also bombarded by a large formation of Chinese armed merchant ships, and suffered a lot of bullets. It's just that compared with the miserable Yamashiro, the Fusang looks much better, and taking advantage of this opportunity, the Fusang keeps shooting, chasing and killing the Beijing, causing a lot of damage to the Beijing. Although the three super battleships on the battlefield are still powerful, they look extremely awkward on the outside.

On the Chinese side, nearly half of the armed merchant ships were lost, and there were floating debris everywhere on the sea, and some Chinese sailors who had just sunk and had no time to rescue could only struggle in the sea, but fortunately there was no shortage of floating debris on the sea. The biggest difference between merchant ships and warships is that merchant ships are mainly built to be strong, not mainly defensive. As a result, with the exception of the hull, which is cast in steel, most of the other surface buildings are made of relatively light wooden structures. Even purpose-built armed merchant ships are unlikely to be able to match the defensive power of warships. China's modification of armed merchant ships is nothing more than reinforcing a layer of steel on the surface of a wooden structure. It's just that in terms of thickness, it is far from being comparable to the armor of a battleship. This is also the reason why the Chinese naval formations deliberately widened the combat distance, giving full play to the firepower superiority of the Chinese naval formations, and the Chinese armed merchant ships were still hit and sunk one after another. You must know that although the cost of each armed merchant ship cannot be compared with that of a warship, it is definitely not a one-time consumable. In order to concentrate these armed merchant ships, China's overseas trade was severely affected, and a large number of foreign merchant ships had to be chartered to participate in the trade.

In contrast to the large losses of armed merchant ships, the navy of the First Fleet of China, under the cover of armed merchant ships, did not suffer losses.

For a huge battleship, the threat of the main guns of the Chinese cruisers of about 3,000 tons is really limited, and the armor will definitely not withstand the bombardment of the battleship's main guns. Therefore, from the moment they came to this area, those cruisers and destroyers were reduced to a supporting role, firing torpedoes at the Japanese battleships under the cover of armed merchant ships. Although no results have been achieved so far, it has also made Fuso and Yamashiro tired to cope, thus ensuring the distance between the two sides.

Hum...

The roar of aircraft sounded in the direction of the mainland, and the Japanese Navy did not pay attention to it • It is no secret that China has aircraft • The Japanese Navy certainly knew about it • The Japanese Fuso-class battleships were loaded with four 76-mm rapid-fire guns, which were enough to repel the prying eyes of Chinese planes from the air.

The matter with the Chinese bombers is not very clear to the Japanese Navy. At this stage, only the Japanese Army, which has suffered a heavy loss, attaches importance to the combat effectiveness of advanced aircraft, and the navy's knowledge of aircraft is more used for reconnaissance. The Japanese super-battleships also had several seaplanes as reconnaissance. It's just that by the end of the battle, several planes have already been lost. Moreover, whether it is the Yamashiro or the Fuso, the deck has been blown up to the ground, and it is even more difficult to release aircraft to reconnoiter the situation. …,

Twenty-six relatively bloated Chinese bombers appeared over the battlefield. And pounced directly into the sky above the Yamashiro, which looked like Japan was riddled with holes, but still spewed tongues of fire and was approaching step by step.

Squeak——!

Sharp air grinding sounds. Dark shadows descended from the bomber, aiming directly at the Yamashiro.

Da-da-da-da

The rapid-fire guns on the Yamashiro opened fire, trying to drive out the Chinese bombers. But only four rapid-fire guns were simply not enough for a huge battleship. Moreover, the Chinese planes are flying very fast, and the rapid-fire guns are even more helpless.

Boom ——!

The Yamashiro was in flames.

"Yaga, what's going on?" Lieutenant General of the Mountain House, who was sitting on the Fuso, said loudly.

"Your Excellency Commander, news has come from the Yamashiro that the bombs dropped by the enemy's aircraft contain a large amount of oil, and the entire surface of the Yamashiro has been covered with oil, becoming a sea of fire."

"What does Oishi Masayoshi say, can the Yamashiro hold up?" Lieutenant General Yamaya said with an ugly face, and his heart had already sprouted a retreat. The endless tactics of the Chinese Navy made him feel the crisis.

"The mountain town has been affected, the soldiers are trapped in the cabin, and even the fire on the deck is not extinguished."

"Damn it, order the Yamashiro to retreat immediately." Lieutenant General Yamaya said in a deep voice. With the presence of large formations of Chinese bombers and armed merchant ships, the Japanese Navy, with only two battleships left, could no longer take advantage. Moreover, the Chinese planes let the Fuso go and frantically besieged the Yamashiro, fearing that they were intent on sinking the Yamashiro here, and if that were the case, the loss of one battleship would be enough to shake the foundations of the Great Japanese Navy, which would be greater than the losses of defeat.

Yamaya's reaction was not slow, but it was a little late to run at this time. The Chinese bombers carried not only incendiary bombs, but also armor-piercing bombs, high-explosive bombs, ······.

Boom Boom!

There was a violent roar from the Yamashiro, and many of the buildings on the Yamashiro were blown over. The armor-piercing projectiles thrown from high altitude have a very strong armor-piercing ability with the help of gravity at high altitudes, and the deck of the Yamashiro has been almost plowed by heavy guns, and many places are damaged. Aircraft armor-piercing and high-explosive shells did exactly what penetrated into the ship's hold from these holes, causing even more damage to the mountain.

"Report Dazuo, our No. 1 sealed cabin was pierced by shells from Chinese aircraft, and now the draft of the giant ship has deepened, and the forward speed has been affected." The Japanese sailor said with a shocked face.

"Order the Yamashiro to turn around immediately, and we will withdraw from the battlefield!" The captain of the Yamashiro, Masayoshi Ishi, had a distorted look on his swarthy face.

"Yes!"

The turn of the Yamashiro was naturally watched by the large formation of the Chinese Navy, and they saw that the Japanese big guy, who had sunk nearly half of their armed merchant ships, was about to escape. The Chinese armed merchant ship formation immediately stopped retreating. The heavy artillery, which had been somewhat weakened, roared again.

The Fuso looked at the Yamashiro that had slowed down and was shocked. Amid the roar of Vice Admiral Yamaya, the commander of the fleet, the relatively intact Fuso rushed to the south of the Yamashiro and launched a fire attack on the Chinese armed merchant ship formation.

Rumble!

There was a loud explosion from the Yamashiro that attracted the attention of everyone on the battlefield.

"Not good!" At the moment when the explosion sounded, the faces of the other lieutenant generals in the mountain house changed drastically. And from the location of the explosion, it can be seen that it is the ammunition depot of the Yamashiro.

"Your Excellency Commander, the Yamashiro has called, their ammunition depot has been blown up, and all the remaining ammunition is gone. The Yamashiro asked to evacuate at full speed. ”

"There's nothing wrong with the power of the Yamashiro, right?" This is what Yamaya is most worried about when the other lieutenant general of the mountain title loses power, after all, this is Chinese waters, if the power of the Yamashiro is really affected, the Japanese naval formation with only their two battleships left may be difficult to escape. …,

"Fortunately, after such a long war, the Yamashiro has been seriously depleted of weapons and ammunition, and the power of the ammunition depot explosion is also within the range of bearing."

"That's good, order the Yamashiro to evacuate, and we'll cover up."

At this point in the war, the Japanese Navy had already lost, not in terms of naval strength, but in the endless means of China. Large-scale armed merchant ship formations, bomber coastal operations, etc., all made the Japanese navy unable to resist the labor expedition.

"By the way, when will reinforcements from the Combined Fleet arrive?" Lieutenant General Yamaya was not convinced of the defeat in this naval battle. The Chinese Navy is vulnerable except for the Beijing. And after such a long war, the Beijing has been seriously damaged, the power has been affected, its injuries do not have to be weak Shancheng at all, but this is China's home field, Beijing has the support of a country's strength behind it, and it is impossible for Japan to sink the Beijing under the cover of armed merchant ships. For this reason, the others of Yamaya had to call for help from the headquarters of the Combined Fleet. He could still imagine how surprised the commander-in-chief of the fleet, Admiral Shigetaro Yoshimatsu, had received the news.

Even if Admiral Shigetaro Yoshimatsu immediately mobilized the Fourth Detachment of the Japanese Combined Fleet stationed in Korea to support Vice Admiral Yamaya, they would not have been able to rush to this sea area for three hours. And three hours is enough for the Chinese and Japanese navies to have a result.

"In an hour at most, the Fourth Fleet will be able to reach this area. Your Excellency Commander, although the strength of the Fourth Fleet is not weak, it does not have such a strategic existence as battleships, and even if they join, it will be difficult for us to achieve numerical superiority, not to mention that China still has aircraft involved in the operation. We need to be more cautious. ”

The lieutenant general of the mountain house nodded with a gloomy face, looking at the mountain city that was slowly turning towards, and there was a trace of worry between his eyebrows.

The Yamashiro may really have a bad year today, and when it was just turning around and preparing to slip, a continuous huge earthquake suddenly occurred in the hull. The huge hull of the ship actually began to tilt. This phenomenon not only dumbfounded the Japanese army, but also the Wehrmacht soldiers were a little incredulous. You know, this is a strategic-class battleship, and it is really possible to be sunk if it is tilted. (To be continued.) [