readx; At 11:15 a.m., the two sides were already close to fifteen nautical miles after high-speed maneuvering, and at this distance, if the sea conditions were good during the day, both sides would have opened fire on each other and entered a state of engagement. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 infoBut since it is nighttime, and more importantly, the sea conditions are very complicated at this time, the wind and waves are getting stronger, and the heavy rain is already pouring, and these external weather factors seriously affect the accuracy of long-range shooting on both sides.

In such complex sea conditions, while the fire control radar was affected, the large swing of the hull also made it more difficult to shoot at long distances, and this led to both Lu Jian and Yoshimura Ohno coincidentally choosing to continue to get closer, and had no intention of firing.

Although the capital ships did not enter a state of fire, the light ships of both sides had already entered the most intense state of engagement with each other.

Both Yoshimura Ohno and Vice Admiral Lu Jian ordered their own fast ship units to carry out lightning strikes against the enemy, and the two heavy cruisers of Ben led a number of destroyers forward with their super high speeds, while the Chinese destroyers were led by several light cruisers to carry out lightning strikes.

In this case, the Chinese Navy is in a weak position among the lightning strike forces of both sides, mainly because of the lack of heavy cruisers, it can only rely on light cruisers to lead destroyers to launch lightning strike operations, as for the two large cruisers due to their low speed, they are not suitable for lightning strike operations, and they are used as air defense ships in aircraft carrier formations in normal times, and when necessary, such as today, they are used as a supplement to battleships to participate in artillery battles between capital ships.

In all fairness, the large cruisers in the Chinese Navy are a product of a relatively embarrassing position, the speed is not high, the firepower is stronger than the heavy cruiser but it cannot be compared with the battleship, but the Chinese Navy still builds it in large numbers for many reasons, the first point is to use it to replace the planned heavy cruiser, in order to counter the large number of heavy cruisers in the British and American Navy, and the secondary reason is that the cost of the Fuxi-class and Yangtze River class large cruisers is actually not high, that is, it is more expensive than those with balanced surnames. But it is nowhere near as expensive as the American Alaska-class large cruisers.

This is an imperfect type of ship that is still highly valued by the Chinese Navy!

In fact, no warship can be called perfect, no matter what kind of ship has certain defects, and the Chinese Navy is not unable to build a perfect type of battleship, design and build a battleship that is stronger than Iowa, and can be perfect in all aspects, there is no problem at all, but the most critical problem here is not a technical problem, but a cost problem.

You get what you pay for, and how much military spending can be used to build a good warship.

At present, although there is a lot of military spending in the Chinese Navy, most of it is spent on other aspects, the purchase of aircraft, hundreds of submarines and destroyers, and then hundreds of auxiliary ships, don't look at the main force of combat in the navy, the smallest are destroyers, but in fact there are many auxiliary ships, not as fast minelayers, fast transport ships, and so on, these ships are hundreds. At the same time, there are also large aircraft carriers, and since World War II, China has placed orders for dozens of aircraft carriers.

In addition, the salary of personnel is also a big head, so the military expenditure added up to the annual expenditure is too much, so even tens of millions of dollars have to be saved, and if the number of construction is too large, what is needed to add a surname is hundreds of millions of military investment, such a huge military expenditure is difficult to bear even if the Chinese Navy has a lot of military support.

So much so that during World War II, the Chinese Navy completely stopped the design and construction of heavy cruisers, and the construction of large cruisers also stopped after six ships, and after 1943, there was a polarization on the slipways of China's major shipyards, on one side of the super-large aircraft carriers on the large slipway, and on the other side of the light cruisers of less than 10,000 tons and destroyers of only two or three thousand tons. The construction of more than 15,000 tons of surface artillery vessels has been completely stopped, and the largest surface artillery ship currently under construction in the Chinese Navy is the Xing'an-class cruiser, which is an anti-aircraft cruiser with a standard displacement of 11,000 tons and a full load displacement of more than 15,000 tons, equipped with a large number of anti-aircraft guns.

Without the leadership of heavy cruisers, China's lightning strike fleet could only rely on the leadership of several light cruisers to launch lightning strike operations.

At this time, the light ships of both sides want to carry out lightning strike operations against the enemy fleet, and at the same time, they also have a very important task, which is to intercept the enemy's lightning strike force close to their own main fleet.

They must do it both offensively and defensively, so when the capital ships of the two sides have not yet engaged each other, the lightning strike units of the two sides are already engaged in a fierce battle, and if they want to launch a lightning strike operation against the enemy's capital ships, they must break through the interception of the enemy's fleet, which is the same for both sides.

At the same time, although the capital ships of the two sides were relatively far away, the light ships of the two sides were already engaged in the middle sea at this time, and at this time, the capital ships of both sides also began to fire their guns one after another, aiming at not the enemy's capital ships, but the enemy's light ships.

For a time, the sixteen-inch, fourteen-inch, and twelve-inch shells fired by both sides all fell one after another in the middle of the sea, setting off huge water droplets, and these huge shells were unbearable for the light ships of both sides in the battle.

Shells flew indiscriminately, and the flares above the sea were continuous, whether they were fired by the Chinese Navy or by our own navy, and the flares fired by the Chinese Navy turned the warring sea area into a scene like daylight.

The sea area between the main fleets of the two sides has become the most dense sea area for artillery shells in naval battles, not only with a large number of shells fired by the light ships of both sides, but also by the capital ships of both sides.

On the Zizhan, a young man with the rank of major on his shoulder grabbed the railing, and the Zizhan was passing through the waves several meters high in the dark night, and the sky was more than pouring down, washing the blood on the Zizhan with the sea water surging onto the deck.

Such bad sea conditions made the combat effectiveness of the Zizhan drop sharply, and the violent swing made it difficult for the crew members on the five-inch main gun on the deck gun mount to stand firm, let alone reload and aim for it.

The Zizhan belongs to the Zigui-class destroyer, and the Zigui-class and the Zimei-class are equipped with a four-inch fully automatic high-level dual-purpose gun, and the Zigui-class is back to a state of being equipped with a five-inch and forty-fold naval gun, equipped with three twin five-inch and 40-fold high-level dual-purpose guns, using a semi-automatic loader and equipped with a radar fire control system. As a destroyer that has strengthened its firepower and lightning strike capabilities and greatly increased its speed, the Zigui-class destroyer is used as a lightning strike ship, with up to four quadruple 600 mm torpedo launchers, and the power crew can burst out with more than 60,000 horsepower, plus the ultra-thin aspect ratio makes it have a speed of more than 37 knots.

Among the several types of destroyers currently in service in the Chinese Navy, they can be roughly divided into the Zi'an-class, Zimei-class, Zigui-class, and Youshao-class. The purpose of construction and the division of labor of these types are also slightly different, the Zi'an class is five single-mounted five-inch guns, with a speed of 37 knots, and is used as a lightning strike ship. The Zimei-class is a four-inch four-inch automatic loader with eight twin loaders, with a slightly lower speed of only 34 knots, and is used as an air defense destroyer. The Zigui class is a replacement ship for the Zi'an class, with enhanced firepower of three twin guns with a total of six five-inch guns, and a speed of 37 knots, which is also used as a lightning strike ship.

As for the Youshao class, it is a planned general-purpose destroyer, which is also equipped with three twin five-inch guns, but their guns are a new generation of five-inch and fifty-fold naval guns using fully automatic loaders, and the rate of fire and power are far more than the previous five-inch and forty-fold naval guns of the Chinese Navy. Equipped with four quadruple 600-millimeter torpedo launchers and a large number of anti-submarine weapons, and equipped with the most advanced electronic equipment system, the weight of the weapon system increased dramatically, causing the tonnage to rise to more than 3,000 tons, and the speed was reduced to only 32 knots.

However, as far as the technologically advanced surname is concerned, the Shao-class destroyers are almost a whole generation more advanced than the previous three-class 'self' class destroyers, and their air defense, anti-submarine, or artillery combat capabilities are far superior to those of the previous ones, but the number currently in service is not much, only about 20 destroyers, and they are not the main destroyers in the Chinese Navy.

As a member of the Zigui class, the Zizhan is a serious lightning strike ship, and its ultra-high speed has put into use their super penetration ability to successfully launch lightning strike operations.

At this time, the Zizhan was sailing rapidly in the wind and waves, and although it was intercepted by fierce artillery fire, the Zizhan still penetrated the fire interception net with high speed.

"Turn left forty degrees, ready to launch a torpedo!" The major captain of the Zizhan looked at the huge black shadows in the distance, and gave an order according to the excitement in his heart: "The torpedo officer can decide the timing of the launch at his own discretion, and there is no need to ask for instructions!" ”

In the sea, after the Zhan made a beautiful left turn, it aimed the direction of the torpedo tubes in the direction of the main fleet in front of it.

It didn't take long for a number of torpedoes to be projected one after another, and after the torpedo was launched, it first sank under the surface of the sea, and then the engine ignition torpedo was galloping away at a super high speed according to the set course, and after the six huge Type 37 torpedoes rushed out at a speed of up to 40 knots, it meant that the Zizhan was playing the equivalent price of six T17 heavy tanks this time. Torpedoes are very expensive these days, and the price of a 600-millimeter heavy torpedo is equivalent to a T17 heavy tank, so if you see multiple destroyers firing more than a dozen or twenty torpedoes in one fell swoop, it can almost be said that you have knocked out a company of heavy tanks.

The Type 37 oxygen torpedo galloped forward in the waves, and on the high mast of the Shinano in front of him, the lookout on the high mast opened his eyes wide and scanned the sea in the distance through the binoculars, and suddenly saw him stunned for a moment, and then quickly adjusted the magnification of the telescope, and strafed the situation on the sea surface back and forth.

At this time, the sea was almost daylight under the illumination of the flares from both sides, and despite the extreme wind and waves at this time, the lookout on the Shinano still had a sharp eye to spot several torpedo tracks that were almost straight in the distant sea.

He was horrified in his heart and muttered in his mouth: "Torpedo! ”