It was as if someone had forcefully moved the time hand to the Jiawu year more than 40 years ago. The time was 7:49 in the morning on September 17th, 1894.
It was still the sea. It looked no different from before. The only difference was that their position had changed. They had moved from the East China Sea to the Yellow Sea.
According to the information, the location of the battle should be the sea off the Yalu River, Dadonggou in the sea off Dalu Island. From the location where the system had placed the Pride, it should have been considered. It would take at most two hours to reach.
In history, the battle between the two sides lasted for five hours. At 5:30 in the afternoon, the Japanese coalition fleet took the initiative to retreat. When the two sides fought, the number of warships that came to watch from other countries was even more than the warships of China and Japan.
At around 10 am, the Beiyang Navy, which was using inferior coal, was discovered by the Japanese Navy's first guerrilla team from afar. Wei Chenghong looked at the time. It was 7:50 am. If he had two hours, it would only be 10 am by the time he reached the battlefield. There was still time.
"Ignite, advance at full speed, hang the Northern Navy's dragon flag.”Wei Chenghong ordered. The Proud Sky had previously flown the sun flag of the Japanese Navy. This was to prevent the Northern Navy from treating them as enemies, so as to avoid being in a disadvantageous position.
The Prideful Sky, which had been refilled with fuel, soon honked. All the power began to operate and it headed for the estimated location of the naval battle.
The Proud Heaven was invincible in this era. Before the Dreadnaught-class battleships were born, no ship in the world could pose a threat to the Proud Heaven.
"My God, what is that? Since when did the Beiyang Navy have such a big guy? I think I should pray to those Japanese monkeys.”The captain of a British cruiser cruising in the Yellow Sea could not believe his eyes. The Japanese were now their allies. Most of the Japanese warships were built by them. At the same time, they also gave the Japanese a large amount of loans.
How could such a big thing have such a fast speed? Even a cruiser couldn't compare to it. This made the Englishmen on this ship dumbfounded. Was this ship burning coal? Impossible!
The radio technology of this era had not been applied yet, so their amazement could only remain here. These witnesses were really speechless as they watched the Prideful Ship sail into the distance.
A ship of that size would have a displacement of tens of thousands of tons. How was such a big thing built? If the Royal Navy encountered this ship, could they win?
As the needle moved, the time reached 10:10, and the Prideful Heaven finally arrived at a distance of 30 nautical miles from Deer Island.
Although the Proud Heaven had been seen by many warships and merchant ships, in this era, information was slow. The Japanese Navy did not know about the Proud Heaven's appearance at all. They still kept an eye on the Beiyang Navy as usual.
The Proud Sky was hiding next to a nameless island. The Northern Navy used low-quality coal to anchor, so they could be seen from afar. The sky was filled with black smoke. Everyone knew that it was the main force of the Northern Navy. In comparison, the Japanese Squadron used high-quality coal, which was really infuriating.
At eleven o'clock, the main force of the Japanese Squadron had already begun to approach Dong Gou. The new warships had been lined up.
Japanese cruiser
Yoshino (4150 tons displacement, 109.73 meters long, longer than the Dingyuan battleship.)
Wave Speed (3709 tons displacement, 91.4 meters long.）
Takachiho (sister ship of the Nimisu)
Akijin Island (3100 tons displacement, 91.7 meters long)
Songdao (4278 tons displacement, 89 meters long, flagship of the Japanese Fleet, one of the three scenic ships, a typical small boat carrying cannons)
Yan Dao (One of the Three Scenic Ships)
Hashimoto (One of the Three Scenic Ships)
Chiyoda (2439 tons displacement, 92 meters long)
Japanese ironclads
Bi Rui (2250 tons displacement, 67.1 meters long, old ironclad)
Fusang (3717 tons displacement, 67 meters long, old ironclad)
There were also a few broken ships that were basically just there to make up the numbers. They would sink if they were hit by the main cannon of the Pride.
Beiyang Navy
ironclad battleship
Dingyuan (7400 tons displacement, 94.5 meters long)
Zhenyuan (Dingyuan's ship of the same level)
cruiser
Distance (2900 tons displacement, 82.4 meters long)
Jingyuan (sister ship of Laiyuan)
Zhiyuan (2300 tons displacement, 76.2 meters long, belt is Deng Shichang, national hero)
Jingyuan (Zhiyuan's sister ship)
Jiyuan (The prototype of Zhiyuan, later captured by the Japanese Navy and incorporated into the Japanese Navy)
Guangjia (1300 tons displacement, 67.66 meters long, wooden hull ship, Nanyang Navy ship) domestic ship
Super Courage (1350 tons displacement, 64 meters long)
Yang Wei (1350 tons displacement, 63 meters long)
Pingyuan (2150 tons displacement, 59.99 meters long, wooden hull ship, formerly Nanyang Navy) domestic ship
Guang C (1400 tons displacement, 71.63 meters long, wooden hull ship, Nanyang Navy ship) domestic ship
Comparing the ships of both sides, the Northern Navy was all old ships, lacking funds, ammunition, and using inferior coal.
The total weight of the Beiyang Navy was only about the same as the Proud Sky.
Then, he looked at the commanders of both sides.
Japanese Commander: Ito Sukehiro
[Military rank: Lieutenant General]
Age: 51
He had studied the navy since he was a child and was a veteran naval commander.
Chinese Commander: Ding Ruchang
[Official position: Northern Navy Admiral]
[Age: 58]
Ding Ruchang had joined the Taiping Army when he was young. After his superior surrendered to the Qing army, Ding Ruchang joined the Xiang army and then became the Huai army.
Compared to Ito Uehito, Ding Ruchang's talent was much worse. He was a navy general from the army and was a typical layman commanding an expert. Ding Ruchang had to bear some responsibility for the Northern Navy's defeat.
When Wei Chenghong stopped the ship, he told everyone to rest and eat, preparing to get ready for the battle in the afternoon.
At 12:40, following Wei Chenghong's order, the Prideful Sky ignited the anchor and sailed towards the Great East Valley.
From a bird's eye view, one could see the difference in formation between the two sides. The Japanese fleet, led by the Yoshino, formed a single vertical formation and lined up in a row. It was a classic line shooting tactic.
As the commander of Beiyang, Ding Ruchang had given the wrong order from the beginning. His intentions were good, but because there were too many old ships, the speed of each ship was uneven.
The original wedge-shaped echelon formation had become a loose horizontal formation due to the problem of speed. It was a little like a herringbone formation. Compared to the orderly formation of the Japanese Navy, it was too inferior. In this way, because they could not shoot across, the firepower of the Beiyang Navy would definitely not be comparable to the Japanese Navy.
At this moment, other than the warships of the two countries, the other powers had also sent out observation ships. The number and quality of warships were much more than those of China and Japan combined.
The cannons of modern warships were far less powerful than the ones in the past. Generally speaking, it was impossible to directly sink an ironclad ship. The best way was to burn it. The shells of the Japanese Navy were added with a kind of gunpowder called Shimose, which was said to be able to burn even steel.
The Proud Sky whistled and set off from the right side of the front of the Japanese Navy, only 19 kilometers away from the Yoshino.
"The carrier aircraft will take off and provide shooting parameters for the mothership's crossfire.”Sun Wanghua commanded without hesitation. He was a professional navy officer and knew better than anyone else that in this era, the Prideful Battleship had an overwhelming advantage. The only difficulty was to prevent the enemy from escaping. Therefore, the fastest Yoshino had to be the first to be sunk.
The helmsman turned the steering wheel to the right, and the Prideful slowly turned to the right. At the same time, the main cannon began to turn and aim. The carrier aircraft also successfully took off with the help of the catapult.
The appearance of the Proud Heaven attracted the attention of the spectators. The other main character was the Japanese Navy. The Yoshino was the flagship of the First Parrilla Fleet, and the commander was Tsuboi Kozo. Through the binoculars, the only thing he could know was the identity of the other party. However, since when did the Beiyang Navy have such a huge ship? Compared to it, Dingyuan and Zhenyuan were a joke. It was obvious that their tonnages were over 10,000.
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