At 8:30 a.m. on September 20, 1899, the First Fleet, the Second Fleet, and the Third Fleet of the Northeast Navy were close to 8,000 meters away from the combined fleet of the Japanese Navy. ⊥ top novel,

After some continuous adjustment of direction, the battle line formations of the two sides competed to occupy the T-shaped prefix to make a win, and when they were 8,000 meters apart, the positions of the battle line formations of the two sides were almost parallel.

This is also because the battle lines of the two sides are too long, they are several kilometers long, and it is not easy to form a T-shape, and there is also a position to occupy a T-shape.

The Japanese Navy is much busier than the Northeast Navy, and several protective cruiser fleets of the Japanese Navy have begun to drop some depth charges from time to time in the waters near their battle lines to guard against sneak attacks by submarines of the Northeast Navy.

In the bridge of the all-steel battleship Yade, the flagship of the Third Fleet of the Northeast Navy, Sun Cai, the captain of the Yade, said to Jiang Hui: "Commander, the distance between the ship and the Japanese ship has been shortened to 8,000 meters. ”

Jiang Hui put down the binoculars in his hand and sighed: "Heihachiro Togo has trained this new Japanese Navy Combined Fleet well, and it seems that it is not easy to let the entire battle line seize the T-shape." Send a telegram to the 1st to 6th Sentai and aim at the battleships on the Japanese Navy's battle line! ”

Meanwhile. Inside the bridge of the all-steel battleship Fuji, the flagship of the Combined Fleet, Jiro Takahashi, the captain of the Fuji, said to Heihachiro Togo, "Commander. We are 8,000 meters away from the Northeast Navy, and we are already within the effective range of the main guns of our all-steel battleships. ”

Jiro Takahashi did not say anything about the battle line because of the battle line of the Japanese Navy. There are also 4 ironclad battleships of the 6th Battlefleet of the Combined Fleet, and their effective range is at a distance of 6000 meters.

Heihachiro Togo stood in front of the observation window in the bridge, held the telescope in his hand and sighed and said: "It is worthy of the famous Northeast Navy, it seems that it is impossible to seize the T-shaped head in this situation, and ordered 18 all-steel battleships to open fire, hoping that Amaterasu will bless our combined fleet." ”

Almost simultaneously, both sides fired the first salvo of all-steel battleship guns at each other, but both warships were sailing at high speed, so that both sides did not achieve any results, and the shells fired fell a hundred meters away from the opposing warship. Even on the surface of the sea a few hundred meters away, water columns more than ten meters high were stirred up.

Soon after, the second salvo of the main guns of the all-steel battleships of both sides was fired at each other, and the Tohoku Navy was a little faster, but luck was on the side of the Japanese Combined Fleet.

The all-steel battleship Kumano of the Sixth Battlefleet of the Combined Fleet fired a 305-mm main gun shell and hit the all-steel battleship Taihu of the Third Combat Fleet of the Northeast Navy, destroying the turret of one of the Taihu with twin 40-caliber 152-mm secondary guns and two nearby third-class naval guns of 75 mm, causing more than 20 casualties and causing a fire. However, thanks to the efforts of the Taihu damage management personnel, the fire was quickly extinguished, and the Taihu suffered only minor injuries.

When the officers and men of the Japanese Navy saw that they were the first to achieve the victory, their morale was greatly boosted. The cheers resounded through the Japanese ships, and Heihachiro Togo saw the Taihu Lake being hit through the binoculars, and waved his fist excitedly. Shouted: "Good fight! Hit the Taihu Lake! ”

The Combined Fleet of the Japanese Navy is almost familiar with the warships of the Tohoku Navy, the names and performance of each warship. All of them were bound by the Japanese and distributed to the officers of the Combined Fleet. The Northeast Navy also has a similar grasp of the warships of the Japanese Navy's Combined Fleet, but the second-hand warships of the British that the Japanese have just recently purchased, and the Northeast Navy does not know about them.

This excitement of the Japanese did not last long, after the third round of main gun salvos, the ironclad battleship Ghost Nur of the Sixth Battlefleet of the Combined Fleet was hit by a 305 mm shell from the all-steel battleship Changchun of the First Squadron of the Northeast Navy, the shell penetrated the deck armor of the Ghost Fury and exploded inside the hull, not only blowing up a 35 times caliber 343 mm main gun on the deck, but also causing a fire inside the hull, and after a while, the Ghost Nur rose smoke dozens of meters high.

This second-hand goods that the Japanese just bought from the British, the Devil's Fury ironclad battleship with a displacement of 9750 tons, was seriously injured before a shot was fired, Togo Heihachiro couldn't help frowning when he saw this situation, 4 purchased ironclad battleships, because of the range of the main guns, can only be passively beaten at present, only by entering a distance of 6000 meters, 4 ironclad battleships have the power to resist, but Togo Heihachiro did not let the 4 ironclad battleships withdraw from the battle line, after all, as the two sides approached at high speed, Soon it will be 6000 meters away.

Jiang Hui looked at the Devil's Fury ironclad battleship that was hit from the telescope, and the other 3 ironclad battleships next to him frowned, I don't know where the Japanese came out of these 4 ironclad battleships, but Jiang Hui also frowned, he didn't care that the Japanese had a few more ironclad battleships, that is, these ironclad battleships were all all-steel battleships, and the Northeast Navy still had an advantage.

And Jiang Hui found that these 4 ironclad battleships have not fired their guns so far, indicating that their main guns are still old-fashioned naval guns, since there are these 4 weaker ironclad battleships on the battle line of the Japanese Navy's combined fleet, then Jiang Hui can't let go of this opportunity, so Jiang Hui immediately said: "Order the fifth team to concentrate the firepower on the 4 ironclad battleships that suddenly appeared by the Japanese, and strive to sink them!" ”

Both fleets were sailing at high speed, very fast, and after the fifth salvo of main guns, the battle lines of both sides were 6,000 meters apart, but neither side did much damage to the other.

At this time, the commanders of the two sides invariably changed their formations, and the several kilometers long snake formation made both sides unable to seize the T-head, so Jiang Hui ordered each team to seize the T-head separately, and Togo Heihachiro also issued the same order, so that the formations of the combined fleet separately seized the T-head, so the fleets of the two sides entered the rhythm of catching and fighting, turning this sea battle into a small battlefield of duels.

For example, the all-steel battleships Shenyang, Changchun, Harbin and Pyongyang of the First Battleship of the Northeast Navy directly aimed at the all-steel battleships Kongo, Haruna, Kirishima, and Hiei of the First Battleship of the Combined Fleet.

The other battleships of the Northeast Navy also found their respective opponents, the second squadron all-steel battleships Diao, Zhaojun, Feiyan and Zhen Mi, and the second battleship of the Combined Fleet all-steel battleships Ise, Hyuga, Fuso, and Yamashiro.

The all-steel battleships Qinghaihu, Poyanghu, Dongtinghu, and Taihu of the Third Fleet found the all-steel battleships Kumano, Mogami, Suzuya, and Mikuma of the Third Battlefleet of the Combined Fleet.

The strength of the two sides in the above three small battlefields is almost the same, but the remaining small battlefields are a little lost by the Japanese.

The all-steel battleships Hulunhu, Hongzehu, Chaohu, Jingpohu and Xihu of the Fourth Battlefleet of the Fourth Battlefleet found the all-steel battleships Aoba, Kinugasa, Furutaka and Kagu of the Fourth Battlefleet of the Combined Fleet, which made the Combined Fleet suffer a little, after all, the number was 5 to 4.

The all-steel battleships Weishanhu, Dongqianhu and Kunminghu of the Sixth Fleet found the all-steel battleships Fuji and Yashima of the Fifth Battlefleet of the Combined Fleet, and the 3-on-2 also made the Combined Fleet suffer a little.

However, what made the Japanese suffer even more was the fifth squadron's all-steel battleships Yade, Yude, Yide, Xuande and Zaitoku, and found the ironclad battleships Akashi, Ichito, Yura and Ghost Nu of the Sixth Battlefleet of the Combined Fleet, which was not only 5 against 4, but also 5 all-steel battleships against 4 ironclad ships, obviously the 4 ironclad ships of the Japanese could not resist the 5th Squadron of the Northeast Navy, which was superior in quantity and quality, and the Japanese ship Onifu had been seriously injured, and it was also the only warship seriously injured on both sides, this duel against the Japanese is obviously weak.

So Togo Heihachiro ordered the large fast armored cruisers Nachi, Haguro, Myoko, and Chikuma of the First Armored Cruiser Fleet of the Combined Fleet to support the Sixth Battlefleet of the Combined Fleet, but Jiang Hui immediately ordered the large fast armored cruisers of the Seventh Fleet, the Lichun, the Rain, the Shock, and the Spring Equinox, to entangle the First Armored Cruiser of the Combined Fleet.

Heihachiro Togo then ordered the 2nd Armored Cruiser Fleet of the Combined Fleet to support the 6th Battlefleet, which was stopped by the 8th and 9th Fleets of the Tohoku Navy.

Heihachiro Togo had no choice but to order the 7th Battlefleet of the Combined Fleet to support the 6th Battlefleet with 4 old ironclad ships, the Zhanmori, Katori, Tokiwa and Tsugaru, but this time there was no interception by the Northeast Navy's warfleet, so that the 6th and 7th 2nd Battleships of the Combined Fleet fought against the 5th Battlefleet of the Tohoku Navy.

The other fast-defending cruisers, destroyers, and torpedo boats of the two fleets were also scattered to various small battlefields to protect their respective capital warships and look for opportunities to attack the enemy's main warships.

In particular, Japan's fast-defending cruisers also had to guard against a sneak attack on their main warships by submarines from the Northeast Navy. (To be continued......)