Chapter 451: First a shot in the head, then a blow in the head! (Please subscribe, please vote monthly)

"17,000 meters!"

At 5:38, when Hong Renkun, the observer on the Kongming, shouted out the number that Guo Xiaobao had been waiting for, on the sea a few hundred meters away, the double-mounted 320 on the bow of the "Beggar's Battleship" "Chongming Island"

The 45mm cannon opened fire first. The violent vibrations made the 8,000-ton standard platoon and 10,500-ton full-platform battleship tremble violently. Dark red flames were sprayed out from the muzzle, making every Ming sailor hold his hand in excitement.

They tightened their fists, but the British sailors on the Dignity opposite had their hearts in their throats.

Many of them had participated in the Battle of Malacca and the Battle of Great Strait, and knew how powerful the Ming Dynasty's navy was! Moreover, the "Chongming Island" was only the first to fire, not the only "beggar's battleship" to fire.

The Ming Navy has long mastered the method of concentrated fire, so the muzzles of the 24 320mm cannons equipped by the 12 "beggar's battleships" on the sea are all aimed at the leading battleship "Dignity".

Only 2 minutes later, a dense rain of bullets enveloped the huge body of the Dignity - this was a straddle shot! At the same time, the Junquan class that had completed the turn and those that had not yet completed the turn began to use their 10

The 1-inch cannon counterattacked, and the sea was suddenly filled with smoke and the sound of cannons roared!

Just when the leading forces of both sides began to exchange fire, something suddenly happened in the sky. A fleet of more than 90 fighter planes passed through the clouds in a dark mass and rushed toward the British battleship formation that was turning in formation on the sea.

"Damn plane!"

William Baga, who was excitedly waiting to see his Sovereign class, Indian Emperor class, and William IV class beat up the Ming Dynasty battleship, was filled with hatred! He wished he could put on his own wings and fly up and put those small planes inside

All the Ming Dynasty pilots who were sitting were pulled out and bitten to death.

"Air defense! Pay attention to air defense!"

William Bagga dare not ignore the small wooden planes in the sky. The British Empire has suffered enough from these small planes!

Following his order, the originally neat formation of British battleships began to twist on the sea. As soon as the ship twisted, the accuracy of shooting immediately dropped. But there was nothing that could be done. Who could do it now?

Dare to be bombed honestly?

However, the targets of the more than 90 incoming aircraft were not the Sovereign-class ships that were engaged in artillery battles with the Ming Dynasty's beggar-class battleships, but the 6 Indian Emperor-class ships and 2 King William IV-class ships that followed the 11 Sovereign-class ships.

After all, they are the real big fish!

At the same time, the three aircraft-carrying armored cruisers that had returned to William Baga's large formation also began to "fly pigeons" - although these "pigeon aircraft" cannot defeat the Sea Dragon 2, they are not the opponent of the Ssangyong 2.

But it is not completely useless. At least it can force Ssangyong 2 to abandon its bombs, and it can also pose a certain threat to the less agile Thunder Dragon torpedo bombers.

Fighters from both sides soon started fighting in the sky above 6 Indian Emperor-class ships and 2 King William IV-class ships!

The Ssangyong 2 and Thunder Dragon aircraft of the Ming Army had suffered a little loss at the hands of the "Pigeon Aircraft" before. This time they did not dare to approach them, so they had to wander far away. However, the Sea Flying Dragon 2 is not afraid of them. This is a professional

A fighter jet with fierce firepower, strong maneuverability, and fast speed! Even if it is equipped with a 100 kilogram bomb, it can turn the "pigeon plane" into a "sieve machine"!

But Feilong 2 is a biplane after all, and it still takes some time to deal with the "pigeon plane" in the sky.

And just as the fighting and strangulation began in the air, the shelling on the sea became more and more intense!

At 5:48, 10 minutes after the confrontation between 12 "Beggars' Battleships" and 11 "Sovereign"-class battleships, with a loud "boom", a ball of fire rose up amidships of the Sovereign-class battleship Dignity.

A 320 mm caliber armor-piercing projectile hit the superstructure amidships. Although it did not hit any vital points, the huge 10,000-ton ship trembled a few times, and then six 10-inch 45-caliber cannons also fired.

Neighing and roaring, like an enraged beast.

However, the anger of the Dignity cannot buy it higher artillery accuracy. In order to avoid the cruisers following the Ming army's "beggar's version of the battleship", the destroyer launched a torpedo attack. The British army's first battleship formation and the "beggar's version of the battleship"

After all, the distance between them is far. For the six 10-inch cannons of the Sovereign class, it is indeed a bit far. But for the 320mm cannon of the "Island" class, this distance is just right.

The reason for this is that in addition to the fact that the 320mm cannon can shoot farther than the 10-inch cannon, the optical rangefinder used by the Ming Navy is better than that used by the British army, and the artillery staff and calculation soldiers of the Ming Navy

They are better at mathematics. Not only do they have stronger mental arithmetic abilities, but they also have a "manual intelligence" calculation tool - the abacus! No matter how difficult the calculation is, there is no need to use your fingers.

The Ming fleet also used radio stations for unified command earlier and had a stronger ability to focus fire. Although it only had 24 320mm guns, it was able to overwhelm the British First Battleship Formation with 66 9.2-inch guns.

No disadvantage at all.

In addition, although the 11 Sovereign ships of the British Royal Navy have 66 cannons, they cannot achieve the required rate of fire because they adopt an immature triple turret design. This Sovereign class is unlucky because of its main gun.

The gun is on!

First, the 13.5-inch retractable cannon was almost useless because the rate of fire was too slow. Now after replacing it with the triple 9.2-inch cannon, the situation is better, but the six cannons can only fire at the rate of four cannons at most, which is not very high.

allow……

At 5:50, the Dignity, which was targeted by 24 320mm cannons, finally received its second shot among its "shipmates"!

This time it was the waterline armor belt on the bow of the ship that took a heavy hit!

The 320 mm armor-piercing projectile is no joke! Let alone a classic ship like Sovereign, even a single attack from the King Wilhelm IV would be enough.

With a loud noise, a huge hole was blown out of the bow of the Dignity, and the sea water poured in as if it was free (it was not free in the first place). After a while, the bow of the ship appeared obvious.

of sinking.

Although after sealing several compartments, the bow of the Dignity did not continue to sink, the balance of the ship's body was no longer there, and the three 9.2-inch cannons on the bow also lost their accuracy due to the tilt of the hull.

In addition, due to a large amount of water entering the bow, the speed of this battleship also dropped from 20 knots to 17 knots... and gradually became a backward entity!

Just another minute later, the salvo of 12 "island" ships hit the Dignity again. This time, a 320mm shell directly hit the bow turret of the Dignity-class ship, directly penetrating and hitting it.

burst!

In just ten minutes, the battleship HMS Dignity, which was at the forefront of the British battle formation, had already received a "big shot" and lost most of its combat effectiveness.

However, the British army's unfavorable start was just the beginning! The next unlucky one was the "Emperor of India", the first ship of the Emperor's battleship.

As more and more pigeon planes are shot down, the shielding provided by the pigeon planes has lost its effectiveness.

At this moment, a group of Double Dragon reconnaissance bombers finally broke through the air defense network of the "Indian Emperor" and sent a heavy armor-piercing bomb into the middle of the "Indian Emperor".

After a violent explosion, a very large and fatal hole was blown out behind the central chimney of the "Emperor of India" and on the rear deck...
Chapter completed!