The American cruisers were not aiming at the Spanish warships, they knew very well that in this case, the probability of their hit was no higher than hitting a bird 1KM away with a rifle, so the torpedoes of the American cruisers were fired in the direction of the Spanish fleet! This directly led to the course of the Spanish fleet being cut off, the whole fleet was cut in two, the front 4 battleships were a group, and the rear battleships had to turn within a few minutes because of the avoidance of torpedoes, and in this way, at a speed of 16 knots, the distance between the two sides was quickly widened, and the American cruisers took advantage of this opportunity to cut in very smoothly, and the whole fleet was split into two battlefields.

At this time, the main fleet in front could not reduce its speed to wait for the return of Jericho's detachment, because during this time, the three shore defense ships of the US Navy had already sailed from the opposite side, and if Sevila waited for Jericho, it would not only be impossible to use the local firepower advantage to destroy the artillery of the American battleships, but also put the entire fleet in an absolute disadvantage...... And from an objective point of view, the New York and other ships have become entangled with the Jericho detachment! It's not easy for Jericho to go!

"May God bless you, Jericho." Looking at the already entangled Jericho fleet in the distance, Severa prayed silently. At this time, Jericho has also been completely aware of his situation, if he can't hit the opponent hard before the US shore defense warship is in place, then when those shallow water iron turtles equipped with 4 10-inch guns arrive, the offensive and defensive momentum will be completely reversed, the hand of the Americans just now is really powerful, but soon, Jericho let Shelly know what is called the British Royal Navy's principle of attack first!. …。

Under Jericho's command, the Princess Maria, the Okando, and the Manila quickly turned 150 degrees above the surface of the sea, almost rushing towards the catching American fleet. The relative speed of both sides is as high as almost 40 knots! The distance is approaching quickly. The straight-line distance between the two sides was soon reduced to less than 3,000 meters. At this distance, the Spanish fleet was in full swing, and the gunners erupted with unimaginable force at the command of the gun commander and stimulated by their own adrenaline. Almost all artillery hits a theoretical rate of fire! The dense cannonballs rushed towards the American fleet in the distance like a wave of fire, and in less than 2 minutes, the Spanish fleet completely suppressed the opponent's attack!

The three American cruisers were like sampans struggling in a storm of flames, and they were all wounded by a rain of bullets, and the weak ships in the American fleet, which had been under high-intensity blows since the start of the war, finally could not hold on! The second part of the Columbia-class dome cruiser saw that the boiler compartment in the middle of the Minnesota hull was hit by a 10-inch armor-piercing shell fired from the Okundo! A mere 4-inch of sloping armor could not stop the attack of 227KG armor-piercing shells, which smashed the armor plates in front of it like slicing cream and flew directly into the boiler. This was accompanied by the sound of shells crashing into boilers. A loud bang resounded throughout the battlefield! …。

After the boiler exploded, the high-temperature and high-pressure steam lost its restraint and instantly erupted from the breach, tearing apart the hull that had already appeared fragile in the long-term battle! The white steam and yellow-green delay symbolized destruction, and the entire battleship quickly slowed down. The propeller spun unwillingly. However, losing power, it was forced to slowly stop turning, drifting in the current like a dead fish, and the hull was badly damaged in the explosion. Numerous breaches caused the ship to tilt quickly, and the Minnesota, which had lost power, could not send out the stagnant water, and it was only a matter of time before it sank.

And Jericho's good fortune has come to an end! Not long after the USS Okando and the USS Manila teamed up to sink the USS Minnesota, 3 shallow water heavy gunboats of the U.S. Navy finally joined the fray! The first to be baptized by these battleships was the Princess Maria, who was at the head of the team, and the roar of the whole 12 10-inch guns made the PISA-class armored cruisers fearful! …。

Faced with shallow heavy gunboats intercepting from the north, Princess Maria was forced to turn to the left. Try to avoid the opponent's fire, but even so. Princess Maria was hit by 2 shots, one exploded on the bridge, lit a fire behind the chimney, and the other hit the stern waterline, piercing the 4-inch tail armor and opening a hole of about 1 meter, and the turbulent sea water poured in, causing the speed of the battleship to be reduced by about 1 knot. Although traumatized. But Princess Maria and the Okendo managed to turn with their thick enough armor, while the Manila, which was at its end, was caught between American cruisers and shallow-water heavy gunboats. Shelly was not worried about the two Spanish armored ships returning to the combat sequence, because he knew very well that the front team had already left here at this time, and the Princess Maria was injured, and it was impossible for the Okando to abandon the battleship, so Shelly chose to destroy the Manila first, and then solve the ......... the two armored cruisers.

Originally, the Manila could have relied on its high speed to get rid of it...... However, because of the position problem, the low speed of the two pilot armored cruisers limited the speed of the Manila, and the speed of the New York at this time could still soar to about 20 knots, under its blocking, the Manila could not give full play to the speed advantage and was completely caught by 2 fleets and 5 American warships! In the face of the American fleet, which occupies an absolute superiority in firepower, the fate of this battleship is certain!

At this time, Jericho also discovered the seriousness of the problem. So after turning left to avoid the attack of the American shallow water heavy gunboats, a quick right turn, and the two battleships rushed towards the New York! Attacking the USS Columbia alone could no longer attract the attention of the U.S. fleet, so in an attempt to save the besieged Manila, Jericho directly chose to attack the last pride of the U.S. Navy cruisers - the armored cruiser USS New York!

This situation is quite similar to the situation when Yang Yonglin and Ma Jifen were fighting. When the U.S. fleet completed the encirclement of the Spanish fleet. Another Spanish fleet was simultaneously trying to open a gap on the periphery. If Manila and Santiago joined forces at that time to rush out of it. Now, the lonely Manila has no chance at all.........

Hit is the hit rate multiplied by the amount of projection! At close range, the Manila, which was fired upon by nearly 20 large-caliber guns, did not wait for Jericho to open the gap. Under the fire of artillery of various calibers, the Manila, which was only 5,000 tons, was reached into a burning torch within dozens of minutes, and the waterline on both sides of the ship was hit by various shrapnel and shells, and there were all kinds of irregular wounds, large and small.

No matter how good the armor is, it is impossible to withstand a 10-inch gun with a thickness of just over 4 inches. Add to this the fact that the shallow water heavy gunboat itself has a low freeboard. The artillery position is low. A considerable part of the ammunition was dumped on the waterline section. A few minutes later, several large holes were opened in the starboard side of the Manila, and a large amount of seawater poured in, making it inevitable that the battleship would roll to the right! A large amount of seawater and shrapnel passed through the broadside armor belt, and the seawater flowed down the cracked dome armor due to the impact into the power room, and some of the boilers went out, and the flying shrapnel turned the inside of the hull into a hell full of flames and high-temperature and high-pressure steam! Hordes of sailors did not even have a chance to run out of the cabin and were sieveed by shrapnel or lost their lives to suffocation and burns!

As for the Manila's gun emplacements, they were scattered in a short period of time, and the secondary guns on the ear platform were quickly swept away by the rain of bullets, although the ear station provided the best possible firing range, but the protection was equally fragile. Under the bombardment of medium-caliber rapid-fire guns and large-caliber artillery. The Manila's sidestring fire was quickly extinguished, and one of the turrets at the bow and tail was pierced from behind, and the other was still fighting back. But it has not hurt the overall situation, although it relies on a reasonable division of positions. The battleship is still floating on the sea. But the sinking of the war is already something that cannot be changed. …………。

But at the same time, the guns of the Okundo and Queen Maria were all aimed at Shelly's flagship, the New York! And ignore the Columbia next to it. As for the three shallow-water heavy gunboats, because the New York and Manila blocked the firing range, they could not cause substantial damage to the two 10,000-ton armored cruisers.

In a short period of time. The New York suffered no less than the Manila, with a salvo of 12 10-inch 40L guns and eight 6-inch guns sweeping the deck. The New York's already damaged hull was blasted and metal cracking from the Spanish battleship's surging shelling, smoke and flames filled the bridge, and the hot flames from the picric acid charge not only burned almost everything that could be burned, but even the metal supports twisted and collapsed in the flames. The whole battleship was in shambles, in ten minutes. The damaged USS New York has lost almost all of its combat effectiveness. The almost completely destroyed flue and a few new breaches at the waterline caused the ship's speed to gradually drop to about 15 knots, and the New York at this time had no chance of high speed!

That's it. When the Manila finally slowly sank to the bottom of the sea, the New York almost lost its combat effectiveness and was forced to withdraw from the battlefield, and at this time, the only thing that could prevent Jericho from joining the main force was only 4 American warships! And at this time, in order to meet as soon as possible, Jericho must meet each other! At this time, the Princess Maria was only about 17 knots and wanted to pass through the opponent's interception from the front...... It still has to go through a lot of hard work ..........

In terms of tonnage, the Spanish fleet even had some advantages, but the long battles and the massive consumption of ammunition had already reduced the state of the two steel behemoths quite a lot. And three shallow-water heavy gunboats were in good condition. It's going to be a close fight. Jericho's fleet rushed towards the other side quickly, and the last cruiser of the U.S. Navy tried to repeat Shelley's cut-in tactics, not afraid of two 6-inch gun arrays equipped with patrol side chords to cut to the course of the two battleships in front of them, forcing Jericho to turn, while the three shallow water heavy gunboat battleships BM2, BM3, and BM5 were trying to entangle the opponent as much as possible, and the naval guns of both sides roared, firing as many shells as possible in the shortest possible time.

Both sides achieved results almost simultaneously. At the same time that BM3 blew up half of the chimney of Princess Maria, Okundo smashed a 10-inch armor-piercing bullet on the thick main gun of BM5, and the 7.5-inch steel-faced iron armor could not block the attack of the 227KG high-speed armor-piercing projectile at all, like cutting cream, opening a hole in the armor on the front of the turret, and then a dull loud noise came from it, and the top cover was directly lifted! Countless fragments and flames erupted from it, and it didn't take to know that this moment ignited the ammunition inside the turret.

Subsequently, the two sides were as close to the opponent as possible, and the hits of various artillery pieces rose in a straight line. The Americans abandoned the attack on the Okando. They focused all their firepower on the Princess Maria, which had been slowed down, and the Americans knew very well that as long as they could hold off one of them, it would be impossible for either of these two ships to turn against the main fleet, because if the other battleship chose to break away, then the remaining battleships would surely die!. …。

The four battleships concentrated all their firepower to attack, and such a fierce firepower was that the damaged Princess Maria could not bear it, and under the heavy blows again and again, the whole battleship continued to tremble like chaff. The side-chord 12-pounder rapid-fire gun was lost within 20 minutes of the start of the battle, and the 6-inch Shuanglianzhuang turret with armor protection did not have a high survival rate in the face of the 10-inch gun, and was basically destroyed or stuck after being hit. The only thing that can be relied on is 6 10-inch 40L main guns, although half of the hull has been smashed into a sea of fire, and the side-chord non-key protection area has also made a few holes, but this armored cruiser from Italy is still holding on!

The Okundo did its best to share the pressure with the friendly forces, and its precise artillery bombardment put the BM5 in danger, and it split two 10-inch guns and two 6-inch guns to attack the BM3. It turned out that the well-crafted armored cruisers were indeed much stronger than the battleships used for shore defense, and the low freeboard and only 7 to 9 inches of steel-faced ironclad were too strong against the attack of 10-inch main guns, although the low freeboard reduced the probability of hitting. But once hit, a large amount of seawater poured into the hull along the torn opening. The BM5, which had sacrificed stability to mount as many as four 10-inch guns and heavy armor, quickly tilted, and the guns almost reached their maximum elevation angle before they could fire at the opposing side. And the fire on the bridge spread wantonly on this already small ship. A few hits can put this seemingly well-numbered battleship in jeopardy! …。

But overall, while Jericho struggled to gain a slight advantage, things were getting worse and worse for the Princess Maria. The entire battleship has tilted to the right by 7 degrees! The speed was reduced to around 12 knots due to water ingress and damage. Just then, the Columbia suddenly rushed over and launched a lightning strike!

The Princess Maria struggled to turn in the rain of bullets, and was able to dodge the three torpedoes that were speeding away. However, one shot exploded less than 15 meters away from Princess Maria due to the fuse. The huge shock wave and high-pressure water bubbles hit the already fragile hull, instantly tearing open a hole 3 meters long and 1 meter wide, and a large amount of seawater poured in to put the battleship on the verge of death! In the back, the Okundo did its best to block the attack of the U.S. Navy, so that the battleship, which was already in crisis, could use the last bit of power to successfully run aground.

Book friends, yesterday's new chapter subscription was only 220~~. Do you think the author still has the confidence to write it? Can you give some encouragement and support? (Your support is my biggest motivation.) )。