While the Chinese and Japanese battleships began to line up and engage in fierce bombardment with artillery, the battle of the Imperial Navy with four 'Zodiac-class' heavy cruisers against the Japanese Navy's heavy cruisers had already begun.

Four battle cruisers in front and four heavy cruisers in the rear, against the eight heavy cruisers of the Japanese Navy. This battlefield, though not the main one. However, the battle became more intense. The warships of China and Japan fought even more fiercely.

The Japanese Navy's heavy cruiser formation was ordered to hold back the Chinese Navy's battle patrol formation, making it impossible for the Chinese Navy's battle patrol formation to participate in the battleship battle for a short time. After all, the main guns of the four battle cruisers of the Chinese Navy were also a mortal threat to the battleships of the Japanese Navy. Only by dragging these four battle cruisers did the Japanese Navy have a chance to win.

Of course, this is almost a death for the heavy patrol formation of the Japanese Navy. The 203-mm guns, which were commonly used on the heavy cruisers of the Japanese Navy, were simply unable to break through the armor of the Chinese Navy's battle cruisers, let alone sink them. The Chinese Navy's battle cruisers are equipped with 343 mm guns or 305 mm guns, which can easily send the Japanese Navy's heavy cruisers to the bottom of the sea.

Japanese Rear Admiral Tatsuo Matsumura was appointed commander of the heavy cruiser formation of the Japanese Navy's Combined Fleet. Senior Admiral Gentaro Yamashita explained that his task was to try his best to hold back the battle patrol formation of the Chinese Navy.

"Damn, if our battle patrol formation hadn't missed, it would have been the heavy patrol of the Zhi people who would do everything possible to drag down our battle patrol." Major General Matsumura Tatsuo said secretly. He has always been very dissatisfied with the failure of the battle patrol formation commanded by Major General Naoe Nakano. If it weren't for the fact that Major General Naoe Nakano had already died in battle, he might have started to publicly accuse him a long time ago.

"The battle patrol firepower of the people of China is strong, and the defense is even more amazing. If you want to sink their warcruisers, it's almost impossible. But. The superstructure of the war patrol of the Chinese people, however, could not withstand the 203-mm guns. We can quite as well take the superstructure of the battle patrol of the China Navy as the main target of the attack. If you don't want to sink the battle patrol of the Chinese people, as long as you can be injured, it will be a great achievement. Major General Tatsuo Matsumura secretly set a strategy.

Faced with the mixed formation of the Chinese Navy's battle cruisers and heavy cruisers, the Japanese Navy's heavy cruisers deployed four of the latest 'Myo-Advanced' heavy cruisers at the front of the queue, and two 'Aoba-class' heavy cruisers and two 'Furutaka-class' heavy cruisers lined up at the back of the queue.

The heavy cruiser 'Myo-Advanced' had a displacement of 11 thousand tons. Armed with five twin 203-mm guns. The 'Aoba-class' heavy cruisers had a displacement of 9,000 tons and were armed with three twin 203-mm guns. The Furutaka-class heavy cruisers had a displacement of 8,700 tons and were armed with three twin 203-mm guns. The speed of these heavy cruisers was generally above thirty knots. However, the armor is weaker. Compared with the Chinese Navy's 'Zodiac class' heavy cruisers, they are much weaker. Not to mention the comparison with the combat patrols of the Chinese Navy.

Before the battle lines of the two sides began to bombard, the battle between the battle patrols and the heavy patrols of the two sides had already begun. The four battle cruisers led by Vice Admiral Liu Guanxiong of the Imperial Navy plus four heavy cruisers took the lead and slaughtered the eight heavy cruisers of the Japanese Navy.

"Boom! Rumble! Rumble! "Four twin 50x caliber 343 mm guns on the battlecruiser 'Longfei' of the Imperial Navy. Test firing is underway. The target was none other than the heavy cruiser Myoko, the flagship of the Japanese Navy's heavy cruiser formation. And the heavy cruiser Myoko also launched a counterattack. Five twin 50x caliber 203 mm guns fired fiercely.

Other battle patrols and heavy patrols are also catching and fighting. The battle between the battle patrol and the heavy patrol is not like the battle line battle between battleships. It's a chaotic war. Both sides opened heavy fire on the nearby sea.

"We must sink the warships of the Shina people, the Great Japanese Empire will have a long military fortune!" The captain of the Japanese Navy's heavy cruiser "Kinugasa" Tamura Shigehiko Osaku secretly swore in his heart. As a senior officer in the Japanese Navy, he was well aware of the importance of the battle. Though. He was only the captain of a heavy cruiser, but he also hoped to sink more Chinese naval ships in battle. Victory for the Japanese Navy.

The heavy cruiser Kinugasa is the second ship of the Aoba class heavy cruisers, with a displacement of 9,000 tons and three twin 50 times caliber 203 mm guns. However, it was the Imperial Navy's heavy cruiser Tsunashi that was fighting against the heavy cruiser Kinugasa.

The heavy cruiser 'Snake' was the second ship of the Imperial Navy's 'Zodiac-class Improved' heavy cruiser. Compared with the 'Zodiac-class' heavy cruisers, the 'Zodiac-class improved' heavy cruisers have a slightly higher displacement and a speed of more than 30 knots. The armament is still three triple 50x caliber 210 mm guns.

"Boom! Rumble! ”

Shells fell around the heavy cruiser 'Snake'. Splashes of water. But the officers and men of the Imperial Navy on the battleship were not frightened at all, and were still firing calmly. Three triple 203 mm guns poured shells on the Japanese Navy's heavy cruiser Kinugasa.

"Boom! Rumble! Rumble! ”

Orange-red flames shone in the muzzle of the cannon, and one after another the cannonballs roared out under the action of huge kinetic energy. With a sharp whistle, it flew towards the heavy cruiser 'Kinugasa'.

A shell lived up to expectations and hit the rear main turret of the aft deck of the heavy cruiser 'Kinugasa'. The main turret armor, which is only 25 mm, is no different from the papier-mâché one, and is easily torn apart by armor-piercing shells. The shell exploded inside the turret, destroying the entire turret. And that's not all, there are quite a few projectile packs stacked in the turret at the moment. These propellant packets caused a martyrdom in the explosion. The flames spread along the passage to the ammunition depot, but in a panic, the Japanese naval officers and sailors were unable to close the iron gate in time, causing the fire to spread all the way to the ammunition depot.

Hundreds of 203-mm shells stored in the ammunition depot exploded in an instant. The heavy cruiser Kinugasa was torn to pieces in a violent explosion, and in less than two minutes, the wrecked battleship sank to the bottom of the sea. Of the more than 650 sailors on the battleship, almost none survived. Even the ambitious Tamura Shigehiko Osa was buried at the bottom of the sea.

The heavy cruiser Kinugasa also became the first Japanese naval ship to be sunk in this battle. Of course, this is definitely not the last. The battlecruisers of the Imperial Navy had already begun to torture the heavy cruisers of the Japanese Navy.

Relying on their rough skin and thick flesh, the battle patrols of the Imperial Navy often took the initiative to close the distance between them and the heavy patrols of the Japanese Navy. The armor of a battlecruiser, although inferior to that of a battleship, was definitely not something that the main guns of a heavy cruiser could tear apart. And the main guns of the battle cruisers, the heavy cruisers of the Japanese Navy simply could not withstand it.

"Boom! Rumble! "The Japanese Navy's heavy cruiser Ashigara is engaged with the Imperial Navy's battlecruiser Ryuyo. The distance between the two sides has been reduced to less than 8,000 meters.

The heavy cruiser 'Ashigara' had already hit the battlecruiser 'Ryuyao' twice. Unfortunately, it did not inflict any heavy damage on the battlecruiser 'Longyao'.

"Boom! Rumble! Rumble! ”

The four twin 50-caliber 305-mm guns of the battlecruiser 'Longyao' returned fire, and in this round of salvo fire, the results were astonishing. Of the eight 305-mm shells, two hit the heavy cruiser Ashigara. The first shell hit the conning tower of the heavy cruiser 'Ashigara', and with only a little more than a hundred millimeters of conning tower armor, how could it withstand 305-millimeter armor-piercing shells? The armor was easily torn apart, and the shells exploded inside the command tower, killing more than a dozen officers, including the captain of the ship, Inoue Shishi.

A subsequent shell hit the side armor of the heavy cruiser 'Ashigara'. With only 102 mm of waterline armor, it is clear that it cannot withstand 305 mm shells. After the shell exploded, a large hole with a diameter of more than two meters was blown out near the waterline of the battleship. The sea rushed into the battleship, causing it to tilt rapidly.

In addition, the captain and other senior officers were killed, and the battleship was leaderless and chaotic, resulting in untimely plugging of the leak. After a short period of treatment, the damage management personnel immediately declared the failure of the damage management.

As a result, the Japanese naval officers and sailors on the battleship hurriedly snatched the lifeboat and fled for their lives, and no one made any more efforts at all.

Ten minutes later, the heavy cruiser 'Ashigara' sank into the sea. Most of the more than 700 crew members on the battleship sank to the bottom of the sea.

Not only was the heavy cruiser 'Ashigara' easily tortured by the Imperial Navy's battle cruisers, but the other heavy cruisers of the Japanese Navy were only able to deliver food in front of the Imperial Navy's battle cruisers.

At 3:29 p.m., the Japanese Navy's heavy cruiser Nachi was sunk by the Imperial Navy's battlecruiser Tatsuun, with more than 700 crew members on board, none of whom survived.

Half an hour later, the heavy cruiser Myoko, the flagship of the Japanese Navy's heavy cruiser formation, was also sunk by the Imperial Navy's battle cruiser Ryufei, and senior officers, including Rear Admiral Matsumura Tatsuo, commander of the Japanese Navy's heavy cruiser formation, were killed.

The heavy cruiser Haguro, which fought against the Imperial Navy's battlecruiser Ryuhui, was finally sunk after a hard battle, and there was no possibility of a turnaround.

The remaining four heavy cruisers of the Japanese Navy, which had fought against the heavy cruisers of the Imperial Navy, were also all dealt with under the joint strangulation of the battlecruisers and heavy cruisers of the Imperial Navy. (To be continued.) )

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