He watched as the five dual 150-pounder guns on the Chinese warship turned their muzzles and spat fire at the British warship. On the flagship Agincourt, Vice Admiral Pope narrowed his eyes. The Vice Admiral, who had drifted at sea for most of his life, instantly understood the purpose of this design.
Although he didn't know much about the Chinese Navy's new warships, the British Navy knew that the Chinese warship had adopted pure steam power. China's South China Sea Fleet had a cannon that could rotate 360 degrees on the front deck. This design was nothing special. It was just a flexible application of the ship's cannon.
The British Navy was very conservative in this regard. They insisted on using sail power. As for the design of the centerline layout, the British had long had a corresponding idea, but this involved a problem. The source of power to move the muzzle. Moving a cannon that weighed more than ten or twenty tons by manpower? This was obviously a joke. Mechanical transmission? The complex transmission system was more likely to cause problems with the cannon due to a malfunction. The European Navy, who had no clear idea about the future of the navy, was also trying to think of a breakthrough. At this stage, conservative and radical existed at the same time.
Seeing the design of the Chinese warship, Vice Admiral Pope had determined that the centerline layout was feasible. The British Royal Navy didn't need to argue about this anymore. What they needed to see now was the combat effectiveness of China's layout. At this time, all the technical accumulation and naval warfare concepts of both sides had solidified into actual warships. The two sides could only use all their strength under the conditions that had been decided.
The first to be hit was the Chinese fleet. A 12-pound cannon shell hit the side of the Chinese warship. The shell hit the armor of the Chinese warship and bounced off, causing no damage at all. After a while, a spherical shell from a 7-inch gun hit the Chinese warship. This time, through the telescope, it could be seen that the shell of the Chinese warship had a more obvious mark. However, the shell failed to penetrate the armor of the Chinese warship, nor did it stop the Chinese warship from approaching the British warship. The Chinese warship fired while continuing to approach the British Fleet without hesitation.
"They're quite qualified soldiers!" Vice Admiral Pope calmly gave an evaluation. He thought that the Chinese Navy would take some evasive action under such a shock, but that kind of evasive action was actually the stupidest choice. When the enemy could hit you, it meant that you could also hit the enemy. The best way to ensure your own safety was to sink the enemy first.
The dull sound of the shells hitting the armor caused the officers in the command room to change their expressions. Ding Ruchang sat steadily next to the podium without saying a word. Before the fleet battle, Ding Ruchang waited for the political commissar to finish the mobilization work of 'protecting the country' and said again, 'When enemies meet on a narrow path, only the brave will win!' Then, he sat firmly next to the podium, calmly looking at the sea map and listening to the battle report.
Looking at the commander's calmness, the officers who had changed their expressions felt a little calmer. From the moment they saw the British Grand Fleet, the young soldiers felt their hearts beating violently. The number of cannons that the Chinese Navy could deploy was 30 twin turrets and 60 cannons. The British Grand Fleet had at least 300 cannons facing the Chinese Navy. The thick muzzles of those cannons ranged from 6 inches to 9 inches. If hit, humans would not be able to escape.
"Maintain a distance of 150 meters and engage the British." Ding Ruchang continued to order. The order was immediately conveyed and carried out. At this time, the British Navy was constantly approaching, hoping to make full use of the advantage of their total number of cannons. The Chinese Navy didn't even need to deliberately get close to the enemy. They just needed to slow down a little.
Deng Shichang, the artillery commander on the Wuzhou, was next to the binoculars in the artillery command room. A shell hit the armor next to the observation room. Deng Shichang wanted to turn his head to look, but he didn't really turn his head. At this time, Deng Shichang's attention was on how to hit the enemy's warship. Of course, he knew that he could die in the artillery battle. No matter what, flesh and blood couldn't stop the shells. The artillery battle attracted Deng Shichang's attention more than death. After a moment, Deng Shichang completely forgot about the warship being hit.
Lieutenant General Bo Pei put down the binoculars. The combat experience displayed by the Chinese Navy was beyond his imagination. When the British Grand Fleet was pressuring the Chinese fleet, the Chinese fleet moved slowly and calmly. Lieutenant General Bo Pei had already seen at least five shells hit the British warship. The shells weren't large, and without exception, they were all bounced off the armor of the British warship. The British warship's artillery fire didn't become more intense because of this. The warship still maintained its initial firing rate, firing one shell after another unhurriedly. Were the Chinese Navy extremely calm veterans, or were they a group of rookies who had already been frightened to the point that their limbs were weak and couldn't even bring themselves to shoot?
"Our ship hit the British warship!" The artillery commander's excited voice came through the microphone. When the officers in the command room heard the news, they cheered together. When the cheers ended, Ding Ruchang's calm voice sounded. "Focus on the battle, continue to fire!" The officers' faces were slightly red. How many times in training had they said that even if they hit the enemy's warship, they had to treat it calmly. But everyone still couldn't hold back.
The British warship Yallans was equipped with a 300-pound Armstrong gun. This warship diagonally behind the Chinese fleet was the first to be unable to hold back. Seeing that the angle was not bad, the Yallans rushed out of the battle line, adjusted the bow, and tried to use the ship's giant gun to bombard the British warship.
Deng Shichang's Wuzhou was shooting in the direction of the Yallans. Seeing the Yallans rushing up, all the ship's cannons locked onto the target at the same time. Not only the Wuzhou, but the Chenzhou behind the Wuzhou also chose to target the Yallans that stood out of the battle line.
The high-explosive shell of the 150-gun hit the deck of the British warship Yallans. After more than four years and thousands of experiments, the impact electric detonation fuse was stable. The impact after the impact cut the fuse, and the electric wire inside the 1oI tube instantly reached red heat. After the 1oI tube exploded, it detonated five kilograms of T.N.T. The fireball of the explosion swept across the deck in an instant, blowing up the deck of the warship into a mess.
In the stunned eyes of Vice Admiral Popei, five of the more than a dozen shells that flew toward the Yallans hit their target. A sharp cone shell whistled through the chimney of the Yallans and then exploded inside. The deck of the Yallans had been hit by the battle, and now that the chimney was destroyed, the British warship that was rushing toward the Chinese fleet immediately lowered its speed.
"The Yallans has withdrawn from the battle line!" The communications staff reported to Vice Admiral Popei. Even though there was a loss of warships, the mood of the British Navy was far less excited than that of the Chinese Navy. Having seen too many storms and waves, this army did not panic because of the loss.
"Those cannons are too flexible!" Vice Admiral Popei couldn't help but say. The British gun positions were set up on the gunnery deck, and the angle that could be adjusted was very limited. The Chinese gun turrets were set up on the centerline of the deck. The elevation angle could not be too high, but the horizontal range of movement was not comparable to that of the British naval guns. The warships could completely take the course according to the command of the fleet, which had a limited impact on the range of the cannons.
As soon as he finished speaking, the second unlucky British warship appeared. Behind the Yallans was the Charlotte, a 420,000 ton armored ship that was modified from a traditional battleship. Like the Yallans, it also had a huge gun on the ship, and there were also two cannons on the front deck. After the Yallans rushed out, the Charlotte also rushed out.
In just a minute and a half, the warship was hit by two rounds of cannons from the Wuzhou and Yongan. The 40 shells flew toward the Charlotte in two waves one after another. The Charlotte's luck was too bad, and it happened to walk in the parameters of the Chinese warship's attack on the Yallans. The five shells hit the deck one after another, and the deck was opened up by the first round of explosion. One of the two shells in the second round flew into the opening, and the explosion swept the gunnery deck below the deck. Thick smoke billowed and flames rose. Even without waiting for the Charlotte to raise its flag, Vice Admiral Popei knew that the Charlotte was also going to withdraw from the battle line.
In the era when explosive shells were completely unreliable, the proportion of explosive shells that could explode after being fired by the British Fleet was about 30%, which was already an extremely high explosion rate. But naval battles could not be counted like this, because the hit rate of shells at a distance of 150 meters was about 35%. In other words, if the British fired a hundred explosive shells, one or two could explode after hitting the target. This kind of lethality was not as effective as using solid armor-piercing shells.
The opposite Chinese Navy's 6-inch cannons did not use armor-piercing shells at all, and they all used explosive shells in battle. There were indeed shells that did not explode, but the number of shells that exploded was much higher than those that did not explode. As long as one was hit, the deck would be a mess. The mast was damaged, and the rigging was destroyed by the flames and air waves of the explosion. The personnel on the watchtower basically had no chance of survival.
Looking at this jaw-dropping hit rate and explosion rate, Vice Admiral Popei was speechless. But in the depths of his heart, there was a trace of excitement that only a naval soldier had. Many technologies that had been questioned by a large number of people were completely feasible, and the Chinese Navy had proved this. As for the temporary advantage of the Chinese Navy, Vice Admiral Popei did not lose confidence in the Royal Navy. In the hundreds of years of history of the British Empire's Royal Navy, there were some that were stronger than the British Empire's Royal Navy as a whole, some that were stronger than the British Empire's Royal Navy, and there were also some that were very fierce and capable in fighting that caused a lot of trouble for the British Empire. Hundreds of years later, the British Empire could laugh at the end. For a navy to mature, it needed to stand up unswervingly from failures and setbacks, and turn failures and setbacks into nutrients for their continued growth.
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