Volume 4: Hot! The whole world is a warring state Chapter 695: The Attack of Shangqiu
"Captain, we are now only 8,900 meters away from the main battlefield."
"Hahaha, what good luck! I didn't expect you to look down on me so much. Humph, I'll let you know later that ignoring my existence is the biggest mistake of your life."
At 8:50 a.m. on the 7th, the Shangqiu, whose stern rudder had regained some steering ability, quietly returned to the battlefield.
The Spanish fleet had actually discovered the Shangqiu early in the morning, and had determined that the other party was the destroyer that had withdrawn from the battle line as soon as the battle started in the first half of the night. For this small ship with a displacement of only 3,000 tons, the Spanish Alfonso fleet, from top to bottom, did not care much: such a small ship, with a main gun of at most 105mm, what can such a ship do? Now the ammunition reserve of the entire fleet is a bit problematic, and there is no need to waste main gun shells on such a small ship.
In short, if he dares to get close, we can kill him with a few shots while ensuring the hit rate. If he keeps floating outside the main battlefield, we won't bother with him.
On the Ming side, Inukai's fleet also saw the Shangqiu. But Inukai Tōji was already in a state of panic: at 8:40, the Shaanxi in his battleship was hit by the enemy's 305mm cannon again. Although he was still fighting with the battleship, his deck was almost flush with the water surface, and it was only a matter of time before he sank.
Therefore, in response to the approach of the Shangqiu, Inukai Tsuji ordered his personnel to send out flag signals: I have ordered the small ships and battleships to retreat, and your ships may also retreat.
In response to this order, Inukai sent out two flag signals, but seeing that the Shangqiu did not respond, he was too lazy to care about it anymore - at this moment, the entire fleet would be wiped out if things went wrong, and he really couldn't spare the energy to take care of the Shangqiu.
In this way, with the intentional or unintentional neglect of both sides, Shangqiu slowly approached a distance of eight or nine kilometers away from the main battlefield at a speed of 8 knots.
"Captain." The navigator looked up from the pile of papers filled with trigonometric functions on the command desk. "I have calculated it twice and I think I have found a very small chance."
"you say."
"According to the current fighting style of the two rows of warships circling each other and changing positions alternately, in 15 minutes, the main fleet of our Ming Dynasty will turn from the south to the north, and the fleet of the Western bandits will once again turn from the north to the south, that is, to the side we are on now.
Our ship's maximum speed is 18 knots, which is basically 32.4 kilometers per hour near the equator. If we drive at maximum speed now and turn left at an angle of 6, then at 16 minutes and 30 seconds, the enemy's giant ship at the head of the fleet will just appear in front of us. Hmm..." The navigator with thick glasses picked up a pen and calculated twice: "That's right, if we are not sunk by then, our bow can just hit the position between the bow and the midship of the enemy ship."
"Okay! Let's do it!"
Clapping his hands vigorously, Zhu Congquan walked to the communication copper tube again: "Attention, all units, our ship will collide with the enemy ship in 16 minutes. During this process, we will either be sunk by the enemy or the ship will be destroyed and everyone will die. Our school will not go too far. Let me ask you one last time, is there anyone who wants to quit? There is still a ."
"Hahaha, Captain, you look down on us by saying that, don't you?"
"That's right, Ming Dynasty belongs to your Zhu family, but we are also the navy of Ming Dynasty!"
"... Dear brothers, Zhu Congquan... I appreciate your kindness. In this case, I order all ships to speed up to the highest speed, left rudder six, forward!"
Under Zhu Congquan's order, the Shangqiu's boiler was quickly pressurized, and soon the ship reached its maximum speed of 18 knots. The sharp bow split the slender waves, and the Shangqiu rushed towards the place where the enemy was about to appear without hesitation.
On the Spanish side, after another round of circling bombardment, the Spanish fleet successfully sank the Ming Dynasty's Shaanxi. Now, the Ming Dynasty only had five 5,000-ton ironclad ships left, while Spain still had two battleships and four heavy cruisers - now, not only in quality, but also in quantity, Spain had the upper hand.
Victory was already in hand, and although the opponent's performance was brave enough and admirable, the outcome was really decided - this was the unanimous opinion of the Spanish fleet.
With such a mood, Alfonso, with a cheerful face, turned the Duke again, sailed from northwest to southeast, and returned to the south side of the battlefield: This round of parallel bombardment must destroy at least one of the enemy's heavy cruisers. In this way, the enemy should be forced to retreat, right?
"Your Mightiness!"
Just as he was daydreaming easily, a staff officer in front of him screamed in panic.
"What's wrong? Lopez, you are also a lieutenant colonel, you should be careful..."
"Sir, to our southeast, less than three thousand meters away, the bow of the enemy ship is charging towards us!"
"Qué?" Hearing this, he quickly raised the telescope, but quickly put it down: the enemy ship was so close that there was no need for a telescope at all.
"This, this is a really brave opponent." After praising him softly, he quickly grabbed the phone connected to the turret and said, "Do you see that enemy ship rushing towards us?"
"Your Excellency, I saw it."
"Very good, we cannot turn , because turning at this moment will most likely cause us to be caught in the T-head by the enemy in the north in the next round of artillery battle. Now I order you to sink that enemy ship immediately, right now!"
"As you wish, sir."
Less than two seconds after he put down the phone, Alfonso felt the ship's hull tremble slightly. The ship's main gun had already opened fire. He quickly raised his telescope and began to observe.
The first one, straddle shot, um, good.
The second one, a near miss, was also okay.
The third one is extremely off.
The fourth one...
Seeing the enemy ship in the telescope getting bigger and bigger, Alfonso completely ignored his elegant demeanor and grabbed the microphone in frustration: "Where are the secondary guns! Secondary guns, fire in unison, sink it quickly!"
Amid the roar, the six secondary guns in front of the Duke also joined the bombardment. At 9:03, a shell fired by a 155mm secondary gun finally hit the target. The shell cut in from mid-air at a 15° angle and directly hit the midship of the Shangqiu, opening a large hole on its waterline.
However, the Shangqiu did not even do any damage control and continued to charge forward regardless!
At 9:04, another secondary gun hit the ship. This time, it hit the bow directly, knocking off the main gun at the bow of Shangqiu. At the same time, the billowing smoke from the explosion point completely blocked the sight of Shangqiu.
"Captain, we are almost there. There are less than 200 meters left. Is it okay to swim over there?"
"Hey, we are the navy, we can only dive for such a short distance." Zhu Congquan stretched out his little finger to gesture, then walked down the command cabin very decisively. Gunnery elder Zhang had been waiting for him at the side of the ship.
The crowd silently stuffed two large pieces of polished iron into their clothes, tied them up tightly with ropes, and then saluted the two men.
"Brothers, Lao Zhang and I will go first. We will meet at the Martyrs' Shrine."
"Hahaha, Captain, maybe we have to go to the Martyrs' Shrine first!"
Amid the roar, the Shangqiu was hit by another shot: while a few people were talking, the Shangqiu was less than a hundred meters away from the Duke.
After clasping their fists again, Zhu Congquan and Lao Zhang simply jumped into the water, while the crew on the ship pushed the four mines into the sea with all their might.
"Hu." After exhaling lightly, Zhu Congquan reacted from the rapid sinking with the heavy objects on his body: the navigator of this ship is said to be the president of the Royal Bank and a direct disciple of Li Guojun, a great mathematician of this dynasty. His mathematical skills are incredible: not only can he calculate the angle of the route with almost exact accuracy, but he can also calculate to what extent the weight on his body will cause him to sink, which is also almost accurate: now, four mines with a set depth of 3.9 meters are hanging less than five centimeters above his head, and he can grab them with just a stretch of his hand.
Looking through the waterproof goggles, Lao Zhang, who grew up on the coast of Fujian, had already caught a mine before him. Looking up again, the bottom of the Shangqiu ship, which had a draft of only 3.5 meters, had already run ahead of them.
Four meters deep underwater, the pressure was not small, but for the two veteran sailors, this pressure was nothing. After he and Lao Zhang made hand gestures, they each pushed a mine and began to swim in the direction of the Shangqiu's bottom.
Although there was four meters of sea water between them, Zhu Congquan seemed to hear a faint singing in his ears.
"The wind is strong and the tide is overwhelming. The flood totem is the dragon, the fire is the phoenix. The sacred fire of civilization has never been extinguished, and I am the only one who has no equal; I coexist with the heaven and earth, and shine with the sun and the moon."
Yes, after watching Zhu Congquan and the other man go into the water, the Shangqiu ship continued to charge forward. As the target ship became larger and larger, the more than 100 people on the ship, in addition to picking up their pistols to prepare for close combat, also sang the Ming national anthem in unison.
"Fire! Fire with all your might! At a distance of dozens of meters, there's no way we can miss!"
At the last moment, the Duke's main gun, whose accuracy had obviously decreased due to overheating of the gun barrel after a night of fierce fighting, finally hit the Shangqiu when it was only 60 meters away. And it hit two shells at once!
Two shells fired from the 305mm main guns landed on the small body of the Shangqiu at close range. In an instant, amid a violent explosion, the entire ship of the Shangqiu exploded violently and completely disintegrated.
"Phew~ these crazy Chinese." Taking out a handkerchief and wiping the sweat off his forehead, Alfonso let out a long breath, "In future battles, we must have light cruisers and destroyers to escort us. The main guns of our battleships are too slow to fire. It's really dangerous to deal with these fast little guys."
"You are quite right, Sir..."
Boom! Boom! The huge explosion of the mine shattered Zhu Congquan and his companions, and also caused two large holes in the Duke's heavy armor below the waterline!
