Volume 1 Tigers in Southeast Asia Chapter 3: The Horned Blade
During the Sino-Japanese War of 1894, the Zhiyuan was severely damaged, and the hydraulic oil tank, transmission cylinder and other mechanisms of the hydraulic steering system were all blown up, so if you want to turn the rudder, you have to use the manual steering device at the stern. As the captain, Deng Shichang should not have to move the steering wheel himself, but when Deng Shichang saw the torpedo attack, he was really anxious and took his men to move the steering wheel himself.
Liu Daming glared at Lin Fei fiercely, pushed Lin Fei, left Lin Fei behind and ran to the stern of the ship with Deng Shichang. Lin Fei shouted loudly: "Master Deng, it is useless to move the steering wheel. If you want to avoid the torpedo, you have to listen to me..." But Deng Shichang didn't hear Lin Fei's words at all, and ran straight to the stern of the ship with his men.
Lin Fei looked back at the sea and saw that the torpedo was only fifty meters away from the Zhiyuan. Lin Fei looked at the sailors who were still putting out the fire, rushed forward, snatched the water gun, and shocked the sailor holding the water gun. He said in surprise: "Captain Gunner, why are you grabbing the water gun?"
Lin Fei ignored the surprised look of the sailors, rushed to the side, and aimed the water gun at the torpedo in the water. A bright column of water rushed over, splashing a group of waves on the water surface, but the underwater torpedo was not affected at all and continued to rush towards the Zhiyuan. Lin Fei broke out in a cold sweat and thought to himself: "I was wondering why the people on the Zhiyuan didn't know how to use water guns to shoot torpedoes. It turns out that the water pressure of the water gun is not enough. The water column shot out can't reach the depth of the torpedo and cannot interfere with the torpedo! What if the water gun can't hit the torpedo?"
"Should I help move the steering wheel? No! The torpedo hit the Zhiyuan before it could turn! Go to the engine room to find a way to speed up the Zhiyuan? This is even more unreliable!" At the critical moment, Lin Fei accidentally glanced at the water gun and saw a rotating wheel with scales on the side. "Level 1", "Level 2" and "Level 3" were written in English on the side of the scale. At this time, the rotating wheel was exactly on the "Level 1" scale.
Lin Fei immediately understood that "level" represents the size of the water pressure. The fire here is small, so "level one" is enough, so the sailors use "level one". If it is turned to "level three", the water pressure should be greater. Lin Fei reached out and moved the wheel to "level three". The moment he moved it, Lin Fei felt a strange force suddenly coming from the water gun.
Lin Fei stepped back with his right leg, into a lunge, and grabbed the water gun with both hands so that the water gun did not fly out. Lin Fei held the water gun and aimed it at the underwater torpedo. A column of water shot straight towards it. This time the impact of the water column was so great that it stirred up bright white waves in a large area of sea water, and the torpedo's track was immediately submerged in the waves.
As the torpedo's track disappeared, Lin Fei instantly lost his target. Lin Fei could only rely on his memory to shoot the water column towards the torpedo's route. This made him feel unsure. He didn't know whether the torpedo was disturbed by the water column. At this moment, Lin Fei only heard the gunner at the gun position behind him cheering: "The torpedo has passed!"
Lin Fei threw down his water gun, ran to the starboard side, grabbed the side railing and looked down, only to see a long white strip passing through the Zhiyuan ship and heading towards the distant sea. It turned out that the water column shot by Lin Fei did interfere with the torpedo, which was pushed down hard by the water column and sank suddenly. The torpedo depth setting device of this era had an extremely slow response speed. By the time it sensed the increase in the depth of the torpedo and readjusted the depth, the torpedo had already passed under the Zhiyuan ship.
Lin Fei just breathed a sigh of relief when he suddenly saw the sailor in front of him go limp. The battle-hardened Lin Fei quickly realized that the sailor had been shot, and the bullet had directly broken his spine. His body was no longer under the control of his nerves, so he went limp like a puddle of mud! At this moment, a "whoosh" sounded in Lin Fei's ears. Lin Fei looked up and saw that the machine guns on the Yoshino were spitting out flames and firing shells at the Zhiyuan.
After the previous voyage, the Zhiyuan and the Yoshino were already very close. At this time, the Yoshino could use its machine guns. The Yoshino was equipped 20 Hotchkiss 47mm machine guns. This type of machine gun was produced in France and used the rotary barrel automatic principle, which was similar to the automatic principle of the American "Vulcan" machine gun in Lin Fei's era.
The range of this machine gun is up to four kilometers. The Yoshino could have opened fire early, but the lethality of this machine gun shell is limited, and the killing effect is not good at long distances. In addition, the Yoshino was equipped with eight 120mm Armstrong rapid-fire guns with sufficient firepower. Therefore, the captain of the Yoshino, Japanese Navy Colonel Kawahara Yoichi, did not order his subordinates to fire at the beginning until the Zhiyuan rushed to the front.
Lin Fei reached out and grabbed the body of the fallen sailor, holding it in front of him. At the same time, he lowered his body and walked towards the No. 4 gun position closest to him. The No. 4 gun position was equipped with a 152mm Armstrong rapid-fire gun with 50mm thick steel guard plates on both sides of the gun, which was enough to block the shells of the Japanese Hotchkiss machine gun.
Lin Fei also knew that although the propellant technology of this era was low, the rate of fire of the shells was not high and the penetration was limited, a corpse could hardly block a 47mm caliber shell, so Lin Fei was very fast, but just after Lin Fei took a few steps, the shells hit in front of him, as if the Japanese gunners were chasing him and shooting at him!
Lin Fei's heart trembled, and he quickly lay down on the spot. He looked around and saw a Gatling gun position about ten meters behind him. There was also a protective plate on the gun position. Lin Fei quickly turned around, used his body as a shield, and rushed towards the Gatling gun position.
At this time, shells kept falling on the deck. Lin Fei approached the gun position of the Green Rapid Gun in the rain of bullets. He threw away the corpse and hid behind the guard plate. There was no one at this gun position. Maybe the gunner had died in the previous battle. Lin Fei glanced at the ammunition slot on the side of the machine gun, which was full of shells!
The Gatling gun is a Gatling machine gun. It is called "Gatling" because the translation of the ancients is different from that of modern people. The Gatling gun equipped on the Zhiyuan ship is a ten-barrel 11mm machine gun. Its automatic mode is the same as the Hotchkiss, both of which are rotary barrel type. However, Lin Fei did not want to fire the gun because Lin Fei knew that the Zhiyuan ship was about to collide with the Yoshino ship. In this case, there was no point in using the Gatling gun to kill a few Japanese devils.
The Zhiyuan didn't want to destroy the Yoshino when it rammed the Yoshino! Because the Zhiyuan's bow was equipped with an extremely powerful weapon - the ram! The history of this weapon can be traced back to the naval battle between Rome and Carthage more than 600 years BC. Its structure is very simple, it is a steel cone-shaped hard angle. When it is used, the warship rams into the enemy ship with its weight of several thousand tons and a speed of more than ten knots. The ram pierces the enemy ship like a knife!
In the face of huge kinetic energy, the armor of the enemy warship is just a blank sheet of paper. Moreover, after the collision, the two ships are still moving relative to each other. The ram will cut a huge hole in the enemy ship like a sharp knife cutting cheese. Countless seawater will instantly rush into the enemy ship, and the enemy ship will soon sink in despair and pain! In the Battle of Lissa in 1866, the Austrian flagship "Archduke Ferdinand Max" rammed the Italian flagship "Italian", thus allowing Austria to win the naval battle and the war!
The Battle of Lissa had a profound impact on the course of world naval history. Therefore, during the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, there were still warships equipped with rams. The Zhiyuan was one of them. As long as the Zhiyuan collided with the Yoshino, the Yoshino would be in great danger!
Lin Fei tightly gripped the hand guard on the machine gun, waiting for the moment of impact, but at this moment, he saw Deng Shichang running from the stern to the bow. Lin Fei's heart skipped a beat, thinking to himself that the Japanese bullets were raining down on him, wasn't he courting death?
Behind Deng Shichang, Liu Daming chased him and shouted, "Sir Deng, we can't go back to the command tower. The Japanese artillery shells are too powerful!" Liu Daming shouted twice and then dived into the command tower.
Deng Shichang said nothing, but rushed to the command tower through the rain of bullets, over the dead bodies, and Lin Fei's heart was warmed, thinking that Deng Shichang was going to the command tower to issue the order of "collision preparation"! At the moment of the collision, both sides will experience a great impact. If the crew on the ship is not prepared, the sudden impact may throw people out, and they will break bones and tendons if they hit the cabin. This is why I held the hand guard on the machine gun tightly to fix myself.
In fact, Deng Shichang could have just hid in the wheelhouse and waited for the collision. There was no need to risk his life to cross the deck, but he did this entirely to protect the sailors who didn't know the collision was about to happen! Lin Fei was suddenly moved when he thought of this. He looked at the Green Rapid Cannon next to him and thought, "Let's fight the Japs!" He stood up and reached out to hold the Green Rapid Cannon's firing handwheel.
The firing handwheel of the Green Cannon is used to rotate the barrel, and the firing device is also on the handwheel, so when the handwheel is turned, the Green Cannon will be fired. Lin Fei pulled the steering gear and aimed the Green Cannon at the Hotchkiss machine gun turret on the Yoshino ship. Then he turned the handwheel, and the barrel suddenly made a "bang bang bang" sound. Bright spots of light flew out from the muzzle and landed on the Yoshino ship. The shells hit the turret, splashing sparks.
The Japanese found that the Zhiyuan was firing back, and immediately turned the muzzle and began to fire at Lin Fei's position. As the Japanese machine guns turned, the shells falling on the deck suddenly decreased. Deng Shichang ran back to the command tower, and then the whole ship rang with Deng Shichang's high-pitched voice: "Prepare for impact!"
