My Italian

Chapter 81: The Battle of the South China Sea (middle)

Facing the enemy surrounded by three sides, as the commander of the second ship Zhijing, Liu Buchan faced the French warships surrounded by three sides, his expression changed greatly, "Now, where should we break out?"

It is obvious that they have been tricked and have been surrounded by each other.

Breakthrough is certain, but which side to break through depends on their success or failure.

At this time, Lefer was very calm, because he knew that every decision now was related to the safety of their small fleet, so every decision needed to be cautious.

For this reason, Lefer and Liu Buchan personally climbed up the observation deck and were responsible for observing the French warships in three directions.

First of all, there are the least number of warships coming from the south, it looks like there are only six or seven ships.

Next is the warship to the north, which looks like there are nearly ten ships.

In the end, there are the most warships in the east, and there are actually fifteen or sixteen under the count.

The difference in the number of enemy warships does not mean that there is a huge gap in their strength.

Since it is a breakout, you need to choose the weakest party. Generally speaking, it is a good choice to choose the party with the fewest enemy ships.

However, in Lefer's view, this should not be possible. The enemy has deliberately set a trap, and it is definitely impossible to leave such an obvious flaw. Maybe this is the strongest part of the enemy.

And if the breakthrough to the south is successful, although it will directly threaten the French route, it will also increase the difficulty of returning home, which is not suitable at all.

In fact, Leifer didn't know, he made the most wise decision, because it was Gudia who led the interception formation consisting of five armored ships and two other gunboats in the south.

Speaking of which, it was helpless. According to Gu Dia's original intention, he originally planned to place his formation in the north, because in his opinion, after the prey fell into the trap, the first reaction must be to escape towards home. That's why he wanted to place his strongest ironclad ship in the north, but sometimes the plan could not be reflected in his will, especially when he thought of the importance that Governor Deviller attached to the trade route, and the care of dignitaries and nobles for their interests , so in the end, for the sake of safety, he chose to hold the south and not give it a chance to threaten the trade route.

Since he stayed in the south, he naturally had proper arrangements for the north, which was most likely to be broken through.

He arranged for the warship formation to the north, and he only had three first-class cruisers in his hands; the Dilshey (), the Dujusluin (3189 tons), and the Duwell (5698 tons, which were calculated as Dujusluin). Enlarged version of the USS), all in this formation, and then there are the second-class cruisers; the Fellers (2382 tons), the Macon (2382 tons), the third-class cruisers; the Volda (1323 tons), Amirin (1323 tons), Leo (1191 tons), and some other warships.

Although there are no ironclad ships in the formation, they are the essence of cruisers. These battleships selected by Guba are basically considered to be in service for not too long. For example, the Ferrers only served in 1881, and the other ships were only served in the past five years. , or is vigorous. Anyway, the formation in the north is not easy to mess with. Although it was not capable of sinking the two Venetian-class ships on the spot, it was more than a mistake to entangle them.

As for the east side, it was made up of other remaining battleships. Although the indicators were slightly worse, the siege strategy of killing elephants with more ants was still effective due to the advantage of numbers.

What about the west side? I'm sorry, the west is near the sea. In the case of not knowing the local sea conditions, unless the commander is crazy, he will enter the sea. If he encounters a reef, he can't cry.

Facing the malicious French warships from three sides, Captain Lefer, who was the actual commander, gave an order that he was grateful for after thinking about it. "Target east, full speed ahead."

"what?"

Leifel's words startled Liu Buchan, "Captain Leifel, you don't need to think about it again?"

"Don't think about it, just do as I say."

From here, you can see the gap between the two. Leifer has enough decisiveness, no wonder there will be such great achievements later. Liu Buchan could only end up with a tragic ending. Although he earned the title of a national hero, he did not perform well in future naval battles. (Mantou is not looking down on this national hero, but in terms of ability, Liu Buchan did not have many outstanding performances in the naval battle of Jiawu, and his introduction is also full of heroic fighting, which is not qualified as a commander.)

Following Leifer's order, the two Venetian-class cruisers immediately took a turn and rushed towards the east.

And the move of the second ship Zhijing to break out of the siege to the east made Guba startled. Unexpectedly, his own falsehood was actually seen through. However, he had no choice but to order the armored formation to rush east.

And the cruiser formation to the north, after seeing two Qing warships breaking through to the east, also rushed over at full speed. Compared with the 11-12 knots of the armored ship formation (the formation speed is based on the slowest battleship), the cruiser fleet in the north can maintain a high speed of 14-15 knots.

But no matter how hard they chased, the two brand-new Venetians were able to run a top speed of 18.6 knots, so they could only see the distance between the three gradually widening.

As the commander of the eastern formation, after Rear Admiral Lisby saw two Venice-class battleships rushing towards him, UUkanshu www.uukanshu.com immediately issued an order. "Immediately order that the ships disperse according to the plan and meet them."

Following Major General Lisby's order, more than a dozen warships of various types spread out like a large net, and approached the two ships with shrouds.

The second ship Zhijing was not afraid, and rushed towards the big net. The distance between the two sides was getting closer and closer, and when the observing sailors reported loudly, at five kilometers, the artillery of both sides sounded at the same time.

"Boom, boom, boom."

A large number of water jets appeared near the two Venice-class patrol boats. The first round of shots from the two sides approached at high speed, but no one was hit.

But it doesn't matter, there is another time.

It's just that Leifer gave a new order at this time, "Turn right 30 degrees."

Following Lefer's order, the Zhiyuan and Jingyuan were no longer facing the French formation, but exposed their broadsides.

As the commander of the eastern formation of the French fleet, Major General Lisby certainly knew what his opponent wanted to do. He wanted to grab the T position for a short period of time and use his side firepower.

"Immediately order the formation to turn thirty degrees to the left, and we will also turn."

Following Major General Lisby's orders, the French formations to the east also turned, allowing both sides to use flank fire. In addition, if the two sides do not change their routes, they will collide with each other in a few minutes, and the task of Rear Admiral Lisbee to entangle the second ship Zhijing will be overfulfilled.

Although the loss will not be small at that time, it is still acceptable compared to winning two 7,000-ton Venice-class ships.

In the face of Major General Lisby's wishful thinking, Lefer was of course unwilling to see it. Then he gave the order again, "Turn another fifteen degrees to the right."

He intends to use speed to widen the distance between the two.

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