1890 King of Southeast Asia

Two days later, at 10:00 noon on the 26th, 20 nautical miles west of Okinotorishima.

The 10 warships of the Japanese special attack fleet were arranged in two rows of battle formations, and two light cruisers were conducting reconnaissance on the periphery.

"Is it confirmed?" Ijuin Goro's face was extremely complicated.

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"It is confirmed that it is the Tsarist Russian fleet, which is staying outside Okinotorishima. It is suspected that the Russian ship is stranded. This can also explain why the Russian fleet is unwilling to leave." The fleet staff said.

"Please give the order!" Upon hearing this, the captain of the 8th Cloud bowed and urged.

Ijuin Goro remained silent and looked in the direction of the Russian fleet.

"Even if it is the Russian ship, the entire fleet should not be put on the gambling table." Ijuin Goro was a little scared.

This matter revealed weirdness from beginning to end. The Russian fleet should have run away long ago. Even if it was stranded, it could not be rescued in two days, and it would be the same if it was given two months. It is better to leave it there.

After all, this is not on the route, and the possibility of a single warship being discovered is very small. Even if it is discovered, only one warship will be lost.

"Sir?" The fleet staff asked softly.

Ijuin Goro came back to his senses and looked at his subordinates in the headquarters.

There is no doubt that most officers in the world are hawks, which is determined by nature.

Japan is the same, but different - Japan's culture is clear about the superiors and subordinates, which has spawned a culture of subordinates overthrowing the superiors...

Ijuin Goro doesn't want to feel dominated by this kind of "glory", otherwise even if he wins, he will be ignored and may be retired.

The credit for victory belongs to the lower level, but if you fail, you have to take the blame!

Ijuin Goro fell into a self-pushing back and forth again.

"Sir, the fleet's fuel is only 45% left. Please take an attitude on how to act." The captain also keenly discovered the problem. The eyes of the lower-level staff and gunners have changed.

"The armored fleet is in front, the protection fleet is assisting from the side, the fleet speed has increased to 16 knots, and all ships are ready for battle!" Ijuin Goro sat back in the captain's chair. The current situation was not enough for him to think too much.

No matter what, Japan will move forward. He gave orders and could control the direction.

…………

At Okinotorishima, the Russian fleet also discovered the arrival of the Japanese fleet, but in order to achieve the strategic goal, the fleet remained in place and pretended not to notice.

On the flagship Goddess of Wisdom, Grom was sending a telegram to the main fleet 50 nautical miles away.

"Call General Makarov, the fish has been hooked, the main fleet should immediately sail due west, and the cruiser fleet will sail east. It is expected to meet in two hours. Long live victory, long live the Tsar, Ura!"

"Prepare boiler pressurization, the entire fleet is ready for battle, check weapons and equipment, and discard all debris. Victory belongs to the Russian Empire! Ura!" Grom gave a battle order.

The Russian fleet began to gather, with the bows of all ships facing east, two armored cruisers on the north side, and seven protected cruisers on the south side.

At 10:40, the Russian fleet discovered the black cloud above the Japanese fleet.

"Pressure the boilers, increase the speed to 12 knots!" Grom ordered.

Thick smoke came out of the chimneys of the Russian fleet, and the warships slowly moved under the propeller.

Even with the boiler pressure maintained, it took the Russian fleet more than ten minutes to reach a speed of 12 knots.

…

"Enemy fleet found, 1, 2, 3...9! The enemies are all here!" The 8th Cloud lookout issued a hysterical and excited voice unique to Japan.

"Yoshi! Deploy according to the established battle formation, the armored fleet in the middle, and the protected cruiser fleet from the south, surround them!" Ijuin Goro looked at the slowly rising smoke and the slowly moving Russian fleet, and his heart was relieved a little.

"The enemy's speed is 12 knots, the distance is 7500, should we attack?" asked the captain.

"No!" Ijuin Goro denied this idea.

At this time, the Japanese fleet was sailing at a speed of bow facing the enemy. At this distance, only the front main gun could play a role.

Moreover, it was too fast and bumpy, so it was not easy to hit the target. The speed had to be reduced.

"Increase the speed to 18 knots and approach to 5,000 meters." Ijuin Goro made a decision.

Logically, when the Russian fleet found that it could not escape, it should stop and fight with Japan, but Russia did not, but quietly increased the speed.

"Distance, 5,000 meters!" The captain looked at Ijuin Goro.

"Start fighting!" Ijuin Goro nodded.

"Start fighting! Repeat once, start fighting!" The captain excitedly hugged the voice transmission copper tube.

Ijuin Goro estimated that the enemy was two 10,000-ton armored cruisers against six, and the protected cruisers were six against seven, and the advantage was all on the Japanese side.

"Raise the Z flag." Ijuin Goro ordered.

The Z-shaped flag was used in the Battle of Trafalgar. Nelson once hoisted the Z-shaped flag before the war. The meaning at that time was that England needed everyone to fulfill their duties.

That battle was called the greatest victory of the Royal Navy. It broke Napoleon's idea of ​​conquering Britain and consolidated Britain's position as the hegemon of the sea.

"The rise and fall of the empire depends on this one move!" Ijuin Goro held the railing with one hand and looked at the Russian fleet that was fleeing in embarrassment.

Boom!

The first shell was fired from the 254mm single-mounted front main gun of the Kasuga armored cruiser.

A water column rose on the left side of the Russian fleet, and this gun missed by more than 100 meters.

Boom boom boom...

The 203mm and 152mm front main guns and guns that can fire forward on other ships also began to fire.

…………

"The fleet speed increased to 18 knots, and strong pressure ventilation began in half an hour." Grom looked at the rapidly approaching Japanese fleet and gave an order.

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"Can we fight back?" asked the captain.

"Start firing with guns that can reach, don't waste time." Grom nodded.

Boom!

The Russian fleet started to fire back with 152mm and a small number of 203mm guns. Both sides fought while running, and the distance was always controlled at more than 5,000 meters. Both sides suffered losses, but overall they were not big.

At 12:14, a 203mm gun from the Nissin hit the rear main gun mount of the Varyag. The high temperature of 3,000 degrees Celsius ignited the propellant in the turret, and the rear main gun of the Varyag was completely destroyed.

Fortunately, the American turret design had an automatic fire door closure, and no greater damage was caused.

At 12:23, Kasuga's 254mm main gun hit the No. 1 main turret at the rear of Warrior. The idea of ​​thickening the armor of German warships saved him. The armor was not torn apart, only the turret was blown up.

At 12:31, a 203mm shell from the rear main gun of Russia accurately hit the front main gun of Kasuga. Although the shells had been replaced, they still failed to penetrate the front armor of the 254mm main gun.

However, the violent TNT explosion caused the mechanical failure of Kasuga's 254mm main gun, which was completely useless in the battle.

Overall, the Japanese ships had more guns and larger calibers in the one-hour battle, which took advantage.

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In one hour, 12 Japanese warships hit 9 Russian warships with 131 shells, but except for the above two results, the rest were nothing more than killing a few sailors and opening a few holes in the upper layer of the hull.

Describe it in four words - harmless.

"Strong pressure ventilation! The fleet turns right 5 degrees." Grom looked at the time and gave the order.

A large amount of air entered the combustion chamber, the coal began to burn violently, the boiler was burned red, and the air pressure reached the threshold.

Driven by the strong air pressure, the steam engine made a rumbling sound, releasing huge energy, and the speed of the ship gradually reached and exceeded 20 knots.

"The enemy is accelerating again!" The Japanese lookout shouted with a hoarse throat.

At this time, the Russian fleet had increased its speed to 20 knots, and the distance between the two sides was slowly widening.

"Strange, the speed of the Russian ship should not be so fast." Ijuin Goro frowned and wondered.

"Could it be that the enemy is running the main engine at full power? It is normal for a cruiser to have a speed of about 20 knots." The fleet staff hypothesized.

"If it is for escape, this is not justified." Ijuin Goro shook his head.

Full-power operation has high requirements for the machine, and the enemy's speed even reaches more than 2+1 knots, which is impossible to sustain.

If it is an escape, the mechanical reliability of the main engine must be considered.

"What should we do?" The fleet staff also suspected that there was a problem, but the current situation was very embarrassing.

"What else can we do? Order a retreat now? When there is no enemy in sight? I don't want to humiliate myself." Ijuin 5th shook his head bitterly.

No matter how you look at it, the Japanese army is now the advantaged party that is advancing triumphantly. If they order to stop the pursuit and return at this time, not to mention the problem of morale plummeting, Ijuin 5th is not sure how many ships will listen.

Including the 8th Cloud under his feet!

"Run at full power and try to close the distance." Ijuin 5th could only give the order, because some Japanese ships had already emitted huge smoke and had obviously begun to increase power.

In the next half hour, the two sides basically chased each other. Because the Japanese army was one step behind in time, the distance between the two sides gradually widened to the closest 6,000 meters.

At 13:07, Grom made a more cruel order.

"Reduce speed, the fleet turns right, and prepare to fire on the broadside."

The Russian fleet made its first turn, turning south 20 degrees, and the Japanese army barely kept up.

"Report, the Azuma sent a signal, a malfunction occurred, and it withdrew from the array." The messenger reported.

"What? What happened? Was the Azuma hit?" Ijuin Goro quickly picked up the telescope and looked to the left front.

Just saw the Azuma slow down and slowly withdraw from the array.

"Not sure!" The messenger answered honestly.

"Send a flag signal and ask for details." Ijuin Goro said angrily.

"Hai!"

After a while, the news came that the Azuma was not hit in the core cabin, but the power system was overheated and needed to be cooled down, so it temporarily withdrew from the array.

"The French technology is unreliable!" Ijuin Goro muttered a sentence, and then stopped talking.

After all, it is impossible for this kind of ship to fight against the Shanghai battle by hand.

The chase battle continued like this. After a few minutes, the Russians stopped the strong pressure ventilation, but the Japanese did not stop.

Instead, they went straight to the middle of the Russian armored cruisers and cruisers, hoping to encircle the Russian army.

At 10:40, Grom finally received news from the battle fleet.

"The fleet is ready to turn right!" The battle fleet was less than ten kilometers away, and Grom was ready to stick to the Japanese warships to achieve greater results.