.

In the southwest and northeast direction of the fleet, Major General Kefire of France advanced rapidly, including four cruisers (Frankfurt, Wiesbaden, Elping and Pilao). Soon they discovered the Chinese fleet in the northeast and rushed towards it, but the powerful firepower of the Chinese fleet taught them a lesson. In a short time, Frankfurt hit 18 shells and died and injured. The other three ships were also shot one after another, and a large number of gunners were eliminated on the ship platform.

It is worth mentioning that Sergeant Breden, who was in the front turret, was ordered to stand beside the gun position and observe the bullet point. Soon, other gunners were knocked down by shrapnel, and Breden was seriously injured in the chest, but because no one ordered the young man to retreat. "He felt that he might be called," the major general wrote in his letter to his mother after the war, "

So he stood like this, braved the enemy's overwhelming fire, and supported him with a loyal heart and faith in God. "France never lacked this kind of courage. He was chased by the French Knights. Fortunately, only one shell hit the engine room and flew out from the port side to the starboard side.

Afterwards, the sailors discovered that the mascot on the ship, a black cat, was dozing off the top of the cabinet in the engine room. It seemed that it had made its greatest contribution. This was a later story. Kefire is now fleeing south, and Tan Fenglin's fleet is chasing behind him. Three huge ship shadows gradually appeared in the gray fog in the distance, and Lieutenant General Carnere's battleship formation arrived.

When Lieutenant General Carnell came to the battlefield, he found himself on the other side of the battlefield, about 10 nautical miles from the starboard side of the Chinese fleet. The Chinese cruiser behind discovered the American battleship. Wen Dingyu ordered a rapid turn to retreat. At 11:35, the Americans opened fire. The distance was 3,000 meters, and the water column of the high ground was dozens of meters.

Then, the Chinese fleet began to fire volleys. In the third round of volleys, six 280mm planes hit the Iowa, but the 14-inch (350mm) armor of Iowa protected him well, and several shells returned without success. They did not cause much damage.

As the distance was further shortened, the three US battleships seemed to be shrouded by artillery fire from the Chinese fleet. If they were just cruisers, they would undoubtedly sink to the bottom of the sea at this time, but these three battleships seemed like immortal monsters, passing through the water column caused by large-caliber artillery shells.

At 1140 minutes, a 203mm shell hit the Urumqi, the first-class cruiser of the Chinese fleet.

Boiler Zheng Da recalled: "When the explosion hit, all the lights went out. Soon we regained the lighting with the battery and found that the No. 6 cabin was shot and there was boiling steam everywhere. The speed of the turbine was getting lower and lower, and finally it stopped.

The order was sent down through the microphone: the two engines started at full speed. We could only answer in despair that the engine was completely finished." So the Urumqi crossed the sea like a dead fish, and the boilers climbed onto the deck to help load the shells, and they were determined to resist to the end.

Soon, the cruiser Tieling also ate a 203-meter shell from Iowa and the four boilers were scrapped. However, they barely saved enough steam and fled in the smoke screen cast by friendly ships. Seeing that the battle situation was unfavorable, the Chinese light patrol formation assaulted the American battleship to cover the cruiser's retreat.

The first wave was launched by Fearless 2, Fearless 4 and Fearless 7, and shot 6 torpedoes at the US battleship at a distance of 1,500 meters, and was counterattacked by the US fleet, and the results could not be confirmed; the second wave was Fearless 8, Fearless 9 and Fearless 10, and the results could not be determined within one thousand taels. The last wave of Fearless 12, Fearless 14, Fearless 15 and Fearless 1, fired eight torpedoes. The results could not be determined.

In order to avoid twenty torpedoes, three huge battleships began to sway dance clumsyly, and their attacks on the Chinese fleet became disordered. In contrast, the Chinese fleet could not provide a greater blow to the US battleship. The two American battleships that had been sunk before were sunk only after a long period of saturation attack.

However, this does not mean that the American battleship is unscathed. The unprotected secondary gun became the target of the Chinese fleet. The shrapnel deck became the battlefield for American sailors to die. Sailor Chief Garnett recalled: "The rear guns cannot be used either. There are corpses everywhere on the deck. We gathered next to the last 6-inch gun in the middle. At that time, Danby and I were responsible for loading. The gunner, Major Malone, aimed, and Lieutenant Stockton adjusted the direction, and we injured a Chinese cruiser.

At this time, he ordered all the flagships to be raised before abandoning the ship." Dead in battle, Danby was rescued, Major Stockton's body was found on the coast a few weeks later, and he was posthumously awarded the Order of the American Republic.

Due to the opponent's strong performance, Tan

He was determined to escape from the battle. He accelerated his speed, and the fleet went east at 12:22 East. The French cruiser that was originally expelled was compiled. Some people expected, including the French.

"We suddenly found ourselves facing all the muzzles of the US Chinese fleet, and the sea level was filled with orange flames." Major General Phil recalled that if he was not familiar with the sea area, if he was not because he was beaten in a particularly embarrassing manner, if they knew that the French-American fleet was the first five miles behind, the result of the war might be another.

War is certainly a comparison of strength, but sometimes luck is important. Kefire is still worried about it before his death: "God will, which makes the Chinese people pass by luck, and makes me unable to go to another world with peace of mind."

What was the Chinese fleet doing? At this moment, they had already reached the edge of the battlefield. When the sound of guns from the battleships in the distance came faintly, Lieutenant General Tan Fenglin was impatiently waiting for the report on the bridge of Zhili. He saw a little ignition from the muzzle from the gun from the far side of the starboard side. He neither knew where the French fleet was nor the direction of the American fleet.

Five nautical miles behind the Chinese fleet are French and American fleets. Eight battleships are preparing to give the Chinese fleet a fatal blow. This is an unimaginable bet, but there are very few clues to rely on. They are arranged in three rows in parallel, [il, each row is 600 meters apart.

Time passed by minute by minute, and the Chinese fleet fled half a mile every hour. Sampson was a gunsmith officer and believed that concentrated artillery fire was the decisive factor of all naval battles; on the one hand, if only three of the latest battleships were used, then he would risk losing one or several battleships;

On the other hand, "the fleet is the only pillar of the empire", so the security of its own fleet occupies the first priority in Sampson's mind. Even if he gives up the opportunity to fight, he must ensure the safety of the fleet. Therefore, dispersing the main force into several clusters for quick interweaving is absolutely intolerable in his opinion, which is equivalent to providing the other party with the opportunity to defeat each other.

He believed that all battleships must be arranged in a single row and occupy a favorable position, so that the US and French fleets can exert their maximum power and the only way to fight. Now at a critical moment, "Silent Jack" was nervous about winning the prize: Once the enemy suddenly turned the bow, the forward will be injured; but if you wait until you see the Chinese fleet set up again, it is obviously too late. Some warships' firing angles are blocked, and some warships turn in front of the enemy. At this time, the Chinese will have catastrophic consequences as long as they shoot quickly.

Kanere's armored cruiser fleet was in the process of fighting. Urumqi lost its motivation and floated alone on the sea, covered in scars in the fight with four elite cruisers. Soon a millimeter cannon was hit and the fire began to spread. Urumqi tried to put out the fire and fired back at the same time.

However, under the attack of the superior US military, several other artillery were soon named and lost their say. Only one 280mm triple artillery was still unyieldingly venting its anger. It was almost miraculous, with three 280-meter shells crossing a distance of three thousand meters.

It directly hit St. Louis's ship's part, effortlessly tore open the 3-inch armor, drilled into the ammunition depot, and then made a violent explosion. The St. Louis was broken into two sections like a toy, and the front half jumped out of the water surface, then rushed forward dozens of meters with inertia, and the latter section was directly repulsed to the bottom of the sea.

In less than a minute, the nearly 10,000 tons of ship disappeared on the sea. According to the surviving officer Duncan, "We easily attacked the Chinese ship. We were in his six o'clock direction. I used an 8-inch cannon to attack him. It can be seen that it was just a matter of time before and after. But I saw a few black dots flying over quickly, with a sharp roar, and suddenly entered the St. Louis. Then I felt that the ship was shocked. When I regained consciousness, I could no longer see the St. Louis. The sea was clean, and it seemed that St. Louis had never appeared."

At 12:30, St. Louis sank, and there were only 1,245 points on the ship. The Urumqi was destroyed by the main and secondary artillery.:>|Happily towed the ship back to the port. The Americans had never achieved such a victory in the previous battle.
Chapter completed!