Chapter 243 Victory Escape and Victory Sinking (Part 1) (Please subscribe, please collect)

"Colonel, the bow of the USS Waterloo was shot!"

Colonel Jervis on the Blake heard the news he least wanted to hear in his life!

He led three Blake-class ships to pass in front of the Ming Navy's line, just to fight for several rounds to gather fire to get a favorable position. Because his Blake-class ships are fast, as long as he grabs a good position, he can always

Occupied, and then concentrated 9 9.2-inch cannons and 15 6-inch secondary guns to attack the Ming Army's Guogong class one by one.

The Guogong class is called an armored cruiser, but it is actually an old-fashioned break-up cruiser with strong firepower and weak armor. The reason why it is an "old-fashioned break-up cruiser" is because its speed of 16 knots is higher than the speed of large armored cruisers and some battleships.

Today, it can go over 20 knots, but it is too slow. If you are not careful, you will be caught by a large armored cruiser like the Blake class.

If you catch it, you should be able to sink it!

But I didn’t expect that catching too many at once would be a bad thing!

Although the armor protection of the Duke-level is not good, the three 210mm cannons are worthy!

In addition, because when the Guogong class was designed, it was popular internationally to use the front face of a battleship to criticize others, so the Guogong class also followed suit. Not only the twin main guns at the rear positions on both sides

Two turrets were repaired and two 155mm cannons were installed.

Moreover, when their bow main guns fire forward, the hull can remain relatively stable, so these two cannons are particularly accurate when firing forward.

As a result, the Blake-class, which was supposed to be a hunter, is now the prey.

But Colonel Jervis didn't withdraw either. It was impossible for him to turn around with the Blake and Blenheim and go back to block the shells for the Waterloo. Wouldn't that involve himself?

"boom!"

At this time, with a loud noise, another fireball suddenly rose amidships of the Waterloo.

"Sir, the amidships deck of the USS Waterloo was hit by a bullet and caught fire."

Jervis quickly turned his head to look and found that one of the Waterloo's four large chimneys seemed to have been blown off - this meant that the Waterloo's power system had now been damaged!

Seeing this scene, Colonel Jervis had no choice but to grit his teeth and order: "Sign a signal to the Blenheim and order it to follow the flagship closely and maintain speed."

The actual meaning of his order was to temporarily abandon the Waterloo, whose power system was damaged, and let the ship attract enemy firepower to cover the Blake, while the Blenheim moved back into position.

"Yes, sir!"

"Sir, the enemy's No. 3 ship seems to have been abandoned!"

At this time, Chen Jian on board the armored cruiser Wei Guogong also noticed that the two Blake-class ships had abandoned the third Blake-class ship, which had slowed down after being shot in the chimney, and was still detouring towards its right wing at an extremely fast speed.

"Damn" Chen Jian cursed in a low voice.

He knew that his right wing was about to be in trouble!

However, he could do nothing but continue to concentrate his firepower to bombard the single injured Blake-class ship. If he could sink it, even if he damaged two or even three Guogong-class ships, it would be enough.

"Boom boom boom"

At this moment, a string of artillery shells landed one or two hundred meters in front of the Wei Guogong. Chen Jian looked up and saw that it was the lone Blake-class that was firing. Previously, it had its head covered in order to maintain high speed and stability.

moved forward without firing at Ming's ships.

Now this 9,000-ton ship was hit by a bullet and caught fire, which also damaged the power system. The speed has dropped to 15 or 16 knots. With its displacement of more than 9,000 tons, it can already maintain this speed while concentrating the three doors on one side.

The 9.2-inch gun number and five 6-inch guns opened fire at the same time.

Seeing the 8 rounds of artillery shells fired by this "big armor patrol" in one salvo, Chen Jian really hated and was greedy! What he hated was that his formation would soon be damaged. Of course, the one he was greedy for was

The "body" of "Dajia Xun" is gone.

The Ming Dynasty also had such ships, including the "Prefecture King" class and the "Hero" class. I would definitely ask Zhuge Weidao to "request" one for fun.

But the enemy's "big armor patrol" in front of us must be killed!

"Send the order," Chen Jian said loudly, "the target remains unchanged, continue to focus fire, hit me hard! Even if you rush up to release torpedoes, you must sink it!"

"yes!"

Another wave of shells flew towards the Waterloo armored cruiser, and soon many water columns were shot around the "big armored cruiser". Suddenly, another huge one appeared on the stern deck of the more than 9,000-ton ship.

The fire ball! It seems that the 210mm shell penetrated the thin deck armor and set the sailor's cabin or the officer's room on the stern of the ship on fire - now the Ming Navy's armor-piercing bombs and high-explosive bombs all have the same explosive charge

Picric acid has a certain arson effect. Once it enters any flammable cabin, it can easily cause a fire.

Although burning down the wardroom and sailor cabin will not cause the battleship to sink, and it may not even cause serious damage. But if the fire keeps burning, something will happen. So it must be extinguished as soon as possible. But the problem is that it should be done quickly.

The Indian damage control team of HMS Waterloo was functioning but had no idea what it was doing?

The fires burning amidships and stern were getting stronger and stronger, with no intention of extinguishing them.

Just as the fire on the Waterloo was getting hotter and brighter, its two sister ships finally completed their roundabout and ran to the right side of the eight-piece Guogong-class formation, which was also the right side of the Cao Guogong.

Lu Benwei, who was staying inside the mast of Cao Guogong, also discovered that two beast-like Blake-class armored cruisers had arrived on his right side and it was about to end!

He quickly picked up the phone and reported to the bridge: "Two Blake-class ships have circled back to the right wing of our ship, a distance of 5,000 meters."

"Boom boom boom"

As soon as he finished speaking, the six 9.2-inch cannons and ten 6-inch cannons of the two Blake-class armored cruisers roared together and sent a wave of shells directly over.

The shells landed on the front, rear, left and right sides of Cao Guogong - this was also a straddle shot!

There is no way, the distance is too close! Moreover, the observers, gunners, and calculators of the Royal Indian Navy are all experienced English veterans, and their cannons are equally accurate.

In addition, once the 9,000-ton hull slows down, it is stable enough and serves as a pretty good firepower platform. The 9.2-inch and 6-inch guns mounted on this platform will hit the Cao Guogong in just a few rounds.

"Send a signal to the flagship. Our ship is under attack. Please leave the team to avoid bombs." In the bridge of Cao Guogong, Captain Lei Teng was already steering the ship himself while giving orders to the communications officer beside him.

After giving the order, Lei Teng did not wait for Chen Jian's reply and ordered: "Force ventilation, full speed. Let's lead the enemy away!"

Divert away or escape!

In this situation, for Cao Guogong, being able to escape is victory!

The steam engine of this 3,000-ton armored cruiser suddenly roared, and then began to output power crazily, and the speed quickly soared to 18 knots!

But it was too late to escape now, because no matter how fast the cruiser was, it could not outrun the cannonballs. Just when the boiler room of the Cao Guogong was trying to speed up the coal furnace, a 9.2-inch cannonball slammed into it!

This is a solid armor-piercing projectile, just an iron lump. But it is enough to deal with the 3,000-ton "small armor patrol" of the Cao Guogong. The shell directly tore the thin armor protection belt of the Cao Guogong and crashed directly into the boiler.

room, and finally plunged head first into a burning coal stove. The burning coal stove suddenly shattered, and the fragments of the stove and the burning coal fire were scattered in the narrow boiler room. The boiler soldiers inside

Not only dead but wounded, just one shell destroyed the boiler room of the Cao Guogong. The firepower of this Blake class is indeed fierce.

The Cao Guogong, which had just increased its speed, lost most of its power in the blink of an eye, and could no longer escape from the two Blake-class guns.

Now, it is impossible to escape victoriously, but you can still fight for victory and sink - just struggle a little longer before sinking!
Chapter completed!