Volume 4: Hot! The whole world is a warring state Chapter 693: Twenty-six Hours Left
“Boom~”
"Admiral, the Hubei has been hit!"
"TMD, have the lookout observe carefully and report the damage!"
By four o'clock in the morning of November 7, the Ming Navy had been fighting with the Spanish Navy that had broken out of the minefield for more than three hours.
After the Spanish navy broke out of the minefield, the starting combat strength of both sides was: Ming side, 10 5,000-ton ironclad ships (including the three ships of Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan were slightly damaged), 19 3,000-ton battleships (Shangqiu's tail rudder was damaged, the steering was stuck, and it withdrew from the battle). On the Spanish side, there were two battleships (the superstructure of the Marquis was completely burned, and it withdrew from the battle), five heavy cruisers (Madrid sank), and 20 light cruisers and destroyers of 2,000 to 3,000 tons.
On the surface, it looked like a 29-27 situation, with the Ming army initially occupying the T. But the other side's two battleships were a huge threat: not only were they tough and difficult to sink, but if their 305mm main guns hit them, any battleship on the Ming side would be in danger.
Starting from one o'clock in the morning, with the power of the two battleships of the Spanish Navy, the Duke and the Barcelo, the Ming army's warships were hit one after another.
By four o'clock in the morning, the entire battlefield had been divided into two parts: Li Guozhu led ten large ships against Spain's two battleships and five heavy cruisers, and Yan Siqi led 19 small ships against the enemy's 20 light cruisers and destroyer detachments.
For the Ming Navy, the achievement of burning the Marquis gave them hope of defeating the Spanish Navy: first knock out the heavy cruisers, light cruisers, and destroyers protecting it, and then surround it together with incendiary bombs - an elephant can be killed by many ants.
Therefore, Yan Siqi took the initiative to lead the enemy's light cruiser and destroyer detachment away, hoping to try his best to kill the enemy detachment first and then return to support. As for Li Guozhu, no matter how great the threat of the two battleships was, the firepower of their ten ships was all directed at the five Spanish heavy cruisers.
The Spanish commander, Count Alfonso, who was also a veteran of the navy, came to his senses after a brief thought. He was not afraid of this: with the support of two battleships, the enemy's ten heavy cruisers wanted to kill five of his heavy cruisers without any damage?
In short, after three hours of naval battle, Li Guozhu didn't know how Yan Siqi's team, which had already moved to the other side, was doing. Anyway, on his side, with the Hubei being hit, there were only seven large ships left that had not been hit by the two enemy battleships.
"Admiral, the damage report from the Hubei has arrived. The stern of the ship was hit, and the rear turret was completely destroyed. However, the explosion did not penetrate deep into the hull, so the power can still be maintained."
"Okay, let him continue to fight with the battle line."
Then he turned around and asked: "How are the five enemy ships now? How long will it take to sink one?"
"Admiral, of the enemy's five 5,000-ton ships, at least three have been severely damaged, and their speed has dropped significantly. Based on my observations over the past half hour , their speed has fallen below 10 knots."
"Okay, send a signal to all the ships in this battleship, and focus your fire on those three first!"
"Yes, sir!"
Following Li Guozhu's order, the Ming army's artillery fire was more concentrated, which put the already wounded Madrid, Sevilla and Utrecht into greater danger.
At 4:23 a.m. on the 7th, a shell fired from the Jilin directly hit the Utrecht below the waterline in the middle of the ship, creating a large hole there. As the seawater rushed in, what was worse was that the Utrecht had already had a hole below the waterline on the opposite side of the hull in the previous battle, which the damage control team had just plugged. As a result, once the new hole was opened, the midship cabin, which already had a large amount of seawater, was instantly filled with seawater, and a large number of damage control team members had no time to retreat and were directly submerged in the seawater.
With the ship in serious condition and having lost a large number of damage control personnel, the battleship named after a province in the Netherlands could no longer hold on. At 4:30, the bow was raised high and it quickly sank into the sea.
"Alright! There are only four ships left. Brothers, continue..."
“Boom~”
"Admiral, the Hubei was hit again! It's a 305mm cannon!"
After a while, the lookout began to scream downwards: "The stern of the Hubei was hit again. The stern, the stern is no longer visible. A large number of sailors on the ship jumped into the sea. I think the order to abandon ship has been issued."
"Damn it! Guizhou sank, Yunnan sank, Hubei became a target ship..." After muttering to himself for a while, Li Guozhu raised his head and said with a firm look: "Continue to fight the enemy at the maximum speed, and fight to the death!"
"Yes! Fight till death!"
On the other side, Count Alfonso on the Duke also frowned.
There was no other way. The maximum speed of the two battleships on the side was only 12.5 knots, which was much slower than the 5,000-ton battleships on the other side that could easily run 15 or 16 knots. Not only was the heavy cruiser on the side at a disadvantage in terms of numbers, but it was also attacked by the enemy's concentrated fire. Therefore, he had to let the heavy cruiser on the side slow down and form a battle line with the battleships to fight together. But now after fighting for several hours, it was obvious that the heavy cruiser on the side that had slowed down was as clumsy as the battleship, but not as tough as the battleship, so the losses were huge.
However, after thinking carefully for a while, he still did not have the idea of disbanding the existing formation and letting the remaining four heavy cruisers fight independently: Up to now, the number of warships on both sides has changed from 8:10 at the beginning to 6:8 now. Although the proportion on our side is decreasing, in fact, the balance of victory has begun to tilt towards our side.
"Order all ships in this battleship to change the previous plan of focusing fire on the enemy's rear battleship to focusing fire on the enemy's front battleship instead."
"As you command, sir!"
"Another order, all fleets turn off lights! I finally understand. With the searchlights out, it is easier for us to attack, but the light from the searchlights makes it easier for the enemy to attack us."
"Sir, after the lights are turned off, what is our sight?"
"It doesn't matter. It's already past four in the morning. In another hour or so, the sun will rise. By then, we will have the absolute advantage."
"As you command, sir."
"Gentlemen, we have lost too many friends and brothers in this hard battle. But that is why we must fight to the end. At this critical moment, Spain needs everyone to do their duty!"
"Yes, sir!"
The commanders of both sides mobilized their forces once again, and the battle between the two fleets became even more brutal.
Amid the loud rumbling sounds, the crew on the Jilin clearly felt that the water column around the ship was countless times more than in the previous few hours.
"It seems that the thief has changed his fighting style. Humph, before he was not as fast as me, so he wanted to catch my tail, but now he is going straight to catch my head. Isn't the hit rate even lower?"
Yes, it was precisely because of the huge speed difference between the two fleets that when the two fleets fired at each other, if the Spanish side aimed at the Ming fleet's lead ship, the hit rate would be extremely low. Because of this, Alfonso's initial plan was to focus fire on the opponent's rear ship. And now, Alfonso has seen clearly: if they continue to fight like they did just now, they may only have two battleships left in the end: pure battleships without the cover of cruisers and destroyers, what will happen to them? The Marquis, which was completely burned, is a precedent.
Therefore, even if the hit rate is lower, we still have to change our tactics and focus our fire on the opponent's capital ship.
However, since the Spanish turned off the lights of the entire fleet at around 4 a.m., the darkest time before dawn, both sides could only rely on the faint starlight and the red flames emitted by the other side's guns when firing to determine the position of the other side. So in the next hour or so, although the two sides fought fiercely, the hit rate dropped directly to less than 1%. For example, the hit rate of the Duke and the Barcelo was zero.
However, when the time came to 5:45 in the morning and the sky near the equator was turning pale, the hit rates of both sides began to increase again.
At 6:00 a.m., a shell from the Jilin hit the battered La Coruña again. The armor-piercing shell encountered almost no resistance on the already damaged No. 2 turret of the other side, and smoothly entered the deck of the ship, and then detonated the five shells on the ammunition feeder. La Coruña erupted in a violent explosion, and the bow of the ship was almost completely separated from the hull!
But before the people on the Jilin could cheer, a violent shaking of the ship made them realize that the ship had also been hit.
"Admiral, our ship was hit below the waterline amidships. The length and width of the breach are about 20 centimeters! The damage control team is working hard to repair the leak."
"knew."
Li Guozhu had just finished saying three words when he and the other staff members in the command tower began to tilt involuntarily. He quickly grabbed a copper tube and asked, "Where did the bullet hit this time?"
After a while, an anxious voice came from another copper tube: "Admiral, the No. 2 turret at the bow was hit by a 305mm gun. The entire turret has been destroyed."
"Got it. Keep firing the remaining two turrets!"
"yes!"
At 6:30 on the morning of the 7th, the sun had completely jumped out of the sea, and the morning light was bright. With a good view, both sides began to score hits one after another .
At 6:38, the Jilin, which was under concentrated fire from the enemy fleet, was hit again by the main gun of the Barcelo. This time, the shell directly hit the bottom of the command tower. The thickest armor on the ship near the command tower could not completely withstand the damage of the 350-kilogram shell. The entire command tower collapsed completely after making a series of creaking sounds.
"Woo~ Cough cough~" More than ten minutes later, the damage control team members pulled Li Guozhu out of the rubble. However, at this time, Li Guozhu's legs had been torn into pieces by the debris, and his two ruptured femoral arteries were gushing out a lot of blood.
"Medic! Medic! The general is injured! Hurry!"
"Ahem~" Li Guozhu breathed out with great effort, and used up the little strength he had to grab a damage control team member next to him and asked, "What time is it now?"
"General, it is now 6:55 in the morning of the 7th."
"...There are still more than 26 hours left. It's really hard to hold on. Ahem... have someone pass a message to Vice Admiral Inukai Touji on the Mongolia in the back. Transfer the command of the fleet... transfer it to him. Let him lead the team. No matter what, we have to hold on until tomorrow morning."
After saying this, Li Guozhu, who had lost a large amount of blood, died instantly!
