The Tsugaru Strait was a waterway between Honshu and Hokkaido, connecting the Sea of Japan and the Pacific Ocean. From east to west, it was more than 100 kilometers long and 250 kilometers wide. Generally, the water depth was 200 meters, and the deepest was 449 meters. The terrain at the bottom of the strait was complex, with many basins and valleys. The complex terrain caused turbulent waves, which seriously affected the transportation between the two largest islands of Japan.
On the morning of May 9, 1869, an ironclad ship flying the flag of the Meiji government led a group of steam warships and even sail warships to appear in the Tsugaru Strait. From the dense cobweb-like rigging, the sails that were almost completely inflated after eating the wind, and the smoky chimney, it could be determined that the ship was powered by a combination of steam and sail. What was more eye-catching was the 3.5-meter-long angle of attack on the bow, as well as the huge cannon installed on the bow.
Except for the bow, there was nothing eye-catching about the ship. The 1,358-ton displacement made the warship look quite thin, undulating in the turbulent waves. When the Liberation Army's reconnaissance network on the sea saw this warship, it was actually a little disappointed, because this warship was the trump card of the Meiji government navy at this time, the ironclad ship "Kago".
The Japanese fleet was patrolling the Tsugaru Strait in the distance, and the steam ships were flying the Japanese flag, which was also known as the Hinomaru flag. After the explosion of women's products in China, China was also known as the menstrual period. In the 8th century, the Emperor of Japan began to use this flag. In July 1854, the Edo shogunate issued a notice to use the Hinomaru flag on civilian ships and merchant ships. From the middle of the 19th century, all Japanese ships flew the Hinomaru flag, and the Hinomaru flag gradually became the flag of Japan.
It was a tradition of the navy to fly all kinds of flags to confuse the enemy, just like China did not believe that the fleet flying the Spanish flag to attack the Chinese warships was the Spanish fleet. Flying this flag at this time only showed that the ships of the "Republic of Prawn" were still in control of the sea.
The Japanese fleet did not immediately retreat, nor did they pursue. Instead, several Chinese warships quickly retreated in the predetermined direction. Seeing the movement of the "Japanese ships," on the flagship Kago Kago, the fleet commander Masuda Torinosuke frowned. After the opposite Republic of Prawn ships retreated, there was probably a good chance. First, they ran back to inform the other ships that they knew the government forces were coming, and then they hid to avoid the limelight. Second, they ran back to inform the other ships that they knew the government forces were coming, and then they went out to fight the Japanese fleet desperately.
The order Masuda Toranosuke received was to patrol the Tsugaru Strait and scout out the actual situation for the upcoming battle. With such an order, Masuda Torunosuke decided to look at the opposite side first. If the enemy has a large number of Navy warships, then he will temporarily avoid them. If the enemy's strength is very weak, then he might as well fight with the enemy. Not only did the Meiji government fleet not retreat, but they also Kago Kago Kago, the Kago Kago, but also Kago Strait. Sea.
Three Japanese Meiji government Kago Fleet of San Strait Than Island, Strait. Kah Suddenly, the Signal, the Fleet, and, and the Ocean Kago Suddenly Signal,, and a, in. Kago Kago.... Kago Kago Ocean, and Sea, and sea. a, Kago. Dynasty Kago Kingdom.
The wooden hull of Kago Kago was covered with 4.5 inches of iron armor, and its maximum height was 6 to 8 knots. On the bow, there was an Armstrong 300 pounder cannon, two Armstrong 70 pounder cannons, two 6-pounder cannons, and two 4-pounder mountain cannons. This warship was the second of the two ironclad warships that the Southern Government of the United States ordered from France. The first one was delivered to the South through Sweden, and the second one was produced later. Just as it arrived in Havana, the Civil War ended. As a result, it was detained by the new US government. After a lot of twists and turns, it finally fell into the hands of the Meiji government. The Meiji government named this warship Kago Kago.
Of course, the principle of the great powers being united was reflected here. The Americans sold the ship to the Meiji government, but they gave the parameters and photos of the ship to the government of China.
The cruising speed of Tsingtao was 10 knots. After confirming that their biggest target was in front of them, the captain gave the order, and the eight boilers began to operate. The output of the two triple-expansion steam engines increased, and it didn't take long for the ship to reach 16 knots. In a sense, the Tsingtao was also an experimental ship. In fact, except for the Liberty Ship of the United States during World War II, the warships built by different countries in the world were different. Every warship, or rather, every large ship, had its own flaws. Therefore, after the construction of a warship, the next large ship would adopt a revised plan.
During the design of the Tsingtao, there was a discussion between six boilers and eight boilers. The future 650,000 ton battleship would only have eight boilers. The power system of the Tsingtao was exactly the same as the 650,000 ton battleship, which made people feel a little strange.
The final design was still based on eight boilers, which was also an experimental measure. The faster the warship, the better. What level could the powerful power system of eight boilers make the Tsingtao reach? Could the power system operate well for a long time? These were the contents of the experiment.
The powerful power system was really useful. 16 knots was not the upper limit of the Tsingtao, but it was enough. The distance between the two sides was 12 nautical miles, which was about 30 kilometers. What made the Japanese Meiji government's fleet shocked was that when they finally saw the gray painted, slender warship, the warship swooped at a high speed that the Japanese Navy couldn't understand.
The level of the steam-powered ships in this era was limited, and it would take a few minutes to turn around. For the Tsingtao, it only took 40 minutes to travel 12 nautical miles. The captain was driving it slowly. When it was moving forward at full power, the Tsingtao could reach a speed of 18.5 knots under stable sea conditions and favorable winds.
Masuda Torunosuke was stunned. As the commander of the fleet, he had to have some "style". After receiving the notice to observe the sailors, he calmly climbed to the top of the bridge with his subordinates and used the binoculars to search for the enemy, which took him seven or eight minutes. After seeing the enemy, he asked the staff officer next to him if they had seen this warship before, what was its name, and what was its configuration. Because the enemy's warship was completely unfamiliar, the normal process was longer. Another ten minutes passed.
Masuda Torunosuke discovered something he never thought of. The enemy's warship didn't look huge from afar, but the closer it was, the bigger it looked. This kind of visual feeling made Masuda Torunosuke a little confused. This wasted another five minutes.
When he decided to start retreating, he used flag signal to inform the other ships of the fleet, which took less than ten minutes. Then Masuda Torunosuke saw the strange layout of the enemy's turrets began to change direction, not one by one, but all at once. The cannons, which were originally moving straight forward, instantly turned in the direction of the Meiji government's fleet. After all, he was a Navy officer, so Masuda Torunosuke immediately saw the advantages of this design. Originally, the two sides of a ship were densely covered with cannons, and the utilization rate was only half. Now, according to the shooting of the opposite warship, any cannon could start shooting at any angle, and the utilization rate of the cannons was greatly increased. The utilization rate of the hull space was also greatly increased.
The opposite warship had already lowered its speed and began to fire at a distance of two kilometers from the Japanese fleet. The first to be attacked was the British-made Kasugi. This 115-ton warship had six main cannons, which were lined up on both sides. The first round of shooting caused the surface of the sea within 200 meters of the Sun of Spring to splash. Masuda Torunosuke was dumbfounded looking at the enemy's terrible bombardment. With a dumbfounded expression, Masuda Torunosuke saw the enemy's light gray warship fired another round of cannons at the Kasugi. This time, the distance was reduced from 200 meters to about 100 meters. For a 150-ton warship, it was really close at hand.
After the second round of bombardment ended, Masuda Torunosuke thought that the enemy would take a while to reload the gunpowder. Kasugi was a wooden-hulled steam ship, launched in England in 1863. Its speed was easily 13 knots. As long as he ordered the Kasugi to increase its speed and get out of the enemy's bombardment range, it should be able to avoid danger.
Just as this thought was confirmed by Masuda Torunosuke, the opposite warship's third round of bombardment began. Masuda Torunosuke saw with his own eyes that the Kasugi violently shook once, twice. Not only did it shake, but on the other side of the sea far away from the warship, a big splash suddenly appeared. Obviously, the enemy used armor-piercing bullets. The armor-piercing bullets not only hit the Kasugi, but also pierced through it.
There was no time to come up with any countermeasures. All his thoughts were just thoughts. The fourth round of bombardment against the Kasugi began. In the last round of bombardment, Masuda Torunosuke could still count that the Kasugi was hit twice. This time, he couldn't count clearly. He saw sawdust flying on the Kasugi, and a mast with rigging and sails slowly fell into the sea.
The accuracy of this round of firing was extremely high, so there was no need to adjust the parameters for the next round of firing. The shells whistled. The Kasugi could no longer withstand the huge damage caused by the armor-piercing bullets on the hull. Because the time interval was too short, it was unknown whether the boiler exploded first or the ammunition depot exploded first. Black smoke, white smoke, and flames gushed out from the broken hull of the Kasugi. After a while, except for a pile of broken planks and cloth on the sea, there was no longer any trace of the original British warship.
The opposite warship didn't give Masuda Torunosuke time to be surprised, angry, and sad. After dealing with the Kasugi, which was the fastest in the Japanese fleet, the gray-painted warship moved the muzzles. Because he was too surprised, Masuda Torunosuke didn't have time to observe carefully. When the opposite warship began to fire at the Iron Clad, he noticed a detail. Of the two cannons lined up on the opposite side, only one of them sprayed white smoke and flames at a time. Each cannon fired in sequence. After firing, the cannons quickly began to adjust their various angles slightly. After a while, the second round of bombardment began in sequence.
"Fire! Fire! "Masuda Torunosuke shouted hysterically. As if waiting for his order, the cannons on the Iron Clad finally sprayed smoke mixed with a strong smell of sulfur. The Japanese gunners had actually begun to prepare for the bombardment, but from the calculation of the shooting data to the various adjustments, their bombardment speed was too slow.
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