Chapter 25 The Destruction of the Combined Fleet (3)
At this time, the steam engine of the three ships was fully operational and was quickly leaving the dock.
Unexpectedly, the Tianlong was slow, with Izumi and Gao Qianhui's shipwrecks on both sides. The hull exposed on the sea surface was thick black smoke, making the Tianlong unable to see the channel clearly and the speed was slower.
As a result, the Songdo suddenly rushed out of the thick smoke and happened to hit the starboard ship of the Tianlong. Since most of the warships during this period had collision angles, the Songdo hit the Tianlong, causing the Tianlong to sink quickly and blocked the waterway where the Songdo was leaving. Therefore, the Songdo was trapped next to the dock and could not leave.
Akizumatsu luckily drove out of the dock, but his luck was only temporary.
At 11:35, the torpedo fleet retreated to the southern waters of Incheon Port and hid in the dark to deploy from the new formation. There were also eight torpedo boats and 12 torpedo boats. Wang Chenhao assigned the torpedo boats to twelve torpedo boats, and organized them into four teams, focusing on attacking the two ships of Matsushima and Akitsuju. The Tianlong was placed in the last because it was an old-fashioned warship, which was not very threatening.
At the same time, other torpedo boats form harassment teams to attract Japanese ship firepower and create opportunities for torpedo boats with torpedoes.
At 11:55, the torpedo fleet sailed out of the darkness again and rushed straight to the three ships of Matsushima, Akizushi and Tenro.
The sight was not good at night. When the lightning fleet approached, it was discovered that Tianlong had sunk. Matsushima was trapped inside and could not get out, and only Akizushi was wandering around the outside.
But Akizusu did not leave because he wanted to protect the Matsushima, after all, it was their flagship.
The Akitsushi ship blocked the Beiyang Navy's lightning strike fleet and was immediately besieged from all directions. Twenty torpedo boats rushed towards the Akitsushi from all angles, causing the fear of more than 300 Japanese naval officers and soldiers on Akitsushi to become crazy, because they were only concerned about firing and firing again at this moment, and they no longer knew where the shells were fired.
Just after the early morning, "Lei Zhen" and "Lei Xun" two torpedo boats fired one torpedo, but one torpedo missed and exploded on the distant shore. Another torpedo broke down again and was silenced halfway.
At 18 a.m., the 26-ton "Lei Zhen" torpedo boat, which was only 26 tons, broke through the firepower net of Akitsushi and shot a 14-inch black-headed torpedo to the port side of Akitsushi.
With a loud "boom", the Akitsushi ship stirred a huge wave dozens of meters high outside the port side of the port, and the hull tilted severely to the starboard side by dozens of degrees. Then it swung left and right, causing the Japanese artillery on the ship to be unable to stabilize and open fire. The three torpedo boats located in the starboard direction of the Akitsushi ship were "third right", "Zhen II" and "Lei Tiger" took the opportunity to approach quickly and fired three torpedoes at the same time.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!" The Akitsushi was hit by three 14-inch torpedoes on the starboard side of the ship. The violent explosion instantly exploded the Akitsushishi into two pieces. A bunch of mushroom clouds rose into the air, and then turned into a larger mushroom cloud that rushed straight into the sky, with smoke flames reaching hundreds of meters.
In an instant, fire flew and dust covered the sea. The Akitsushi sank rapidly at a speed visible.
A Akitsushi wasted six torpedoes, so the lightning fleet only had six torpedo boats that could launch torpedoes.
At this time, a large number of Japanese troops had already gathered on the shore of the port terminal. After the commander of the Second Army, General Oyama Iwa, learned that Incheon Port was attacked, immediately mobilized all 108 artillery pieces of the Second Army to rush to the dock to assist in the war.
When he arrived, he happened to see the Akitsushima sinking by a group explosion. The combined fleet was left with only the flagship Matsushima trapped near the dock. All other ships were sunk, revealing only some of the ship islands and masts. A fleet built with belts was exhausted and saved for frugality was over. Even the Japanese Army, which was incompatible with the Japanese Navy, couldn't help but sigh and cry.
Dashanyan looked at the thick smoke and fire near the pier, and the stench made him sick, who was used to death. Thousands of casualties, and the howling of the soldiers who were still breathing made all the Japanese army soldiers who arrived on the shore frightened.
"Bastard!" Dashanyan's forehead bulged with blue veins, and he immediately ordered all artillery to aim at the sea surface of the port and carry out violent artillery bombardment.
The overwhelming shells forced Wang Chenhao to choose to avoid the limelight. After all, their torpedo boat rapid-fire cannons and torpedoes could not hit the shore, so they quickly retreated into the shadowy sea area.
The lightning strike fleet had just retreated, and Ding Ruchang commanded the main warships of the Beiyang Fleet to enter the interior of Incheon Port through the main channel.
The arrival of the main fleet immediately made Wang Chenhao and others very excited, and they shouted loudly.
The Beiyang Navy officers and soldiers on the main battleship also responded with shouts, which was nothing more than saying "You can rest! Let's clean up the rest!"
At 35 a.m., Ding Ruchang was on the Dingyuan ship and ordered the Beiyang Navy to form a "Sichuan" formation. The two ships of Dingzhen were placed at the front line as meat shields to block the Japanese army's artillery attack. Other ships quickly launched guns to bombard the artillery troops of Dashanyan.
Because the fleet artillery is generally stronger than the army artillery, and the Dingzhen two ships act as flesh shields, the enemy shells hitting the armored iron battleships as it was tickling, and they could not break through the heavy armor at all.
On the other hand, Ding Ruchang almost completely lost all the only imported and self-made flowering bullets stocks that the Beiyang Navy had, with the purpose of fighting to the death. Therefore, the combined firepower of the two ships of Dingzhen was enough to suppress the Japanese land artillery (eight 305 main guns, 4 150 secondary guns, and 8 75 sampan guns on the side). In addition, the main guns and secondary guns of more than a dozen other warships were supported, and the combined firepower of more than 200 various artillery pieces, Dashanyan's land artillery position was razed to the ground in less than half an hour.
At the same time, the 16 37 five-barrel guns of the Dingzhen Second Ship targeted the Japanese army troops at the shore docks, and a large number of shells poured out. Suddenly, a sea of fire was covered with gunpowders, and smoke covered the sea. The Japanese army suffered heavy casualties.
Seeing that his subordinates were seriously injured, Oyama Iwaki knew that he had lost power and could not protect the Songdo, he immediately ordered the army to retreat and retreat beyond the range of the Beiyang Navy's naval gun.
In this way, the Beiyang Navy completely controlled Incheon Port.
Subsequently, the Beiyang Navy ships maneuvered into fan shapes and carried out fierce artillery fire on the Songdo.
Originally, some Beiyang generals wanted to seize the Songdao, but Ding Ruchang believed that the Japanese Navy would choose to sink itself, so he ordered it to sink completely.
More than a dozen warships opened fire violently around a Songdo, which could not move. In less than 3 minutes, the Songdo started a fire. Ten minutes later, there were heavy casualties. The main gun could not be rotated, and all the secondary guns were destroyed, and their combat effectiveness had been lost.
The commander of the Japanese Joint Fleet Yuki Ito was completely desperate and ordered the Matsushima to sank himself and everyone retreated, while he committed suicide by cutting his caesarean section inside the captain's room.
At around 1:30 a.m., the Matsushima was beaten up and sank, and the main force of the Japanese joint fleet was declared destroyed.
Subsequently, the Beiyang Navy ships were scattered and shelled the Japanese troops transport ships on the right side of the military port. Ding Ruchang originally wanted to capture some troops transport ships, but the Japanese were ruthless enough to see that the joint fleet was destroyed, but they all sank themselves. However, they saved the Beiyang Navy's shell money.
Then, the Beiyang Navy ships began to shell out civil ports in the east of the port, with hundreds of ships of various types inside.
Now that North Korea has been occupied by the Japanese army, these ships may be used by the Japanese army in war of aggression against China, they are all destroyed.
At the same time, the Japanese army stockpiled a large number of arsenals, granaries, coal warehouses, etc. on the shore, and were all destroyed by artillery bombardment.
After more than three hours of artillery bombardment, fire was everywhere around Incheon Port, and smoke and dust spread for dozens of miles. The Japanese Navy and Army personnel were killed and injured, and blood stained the entire harbor red. Under the reflection of the raging fire on the shore, it was like the Avici Hell on earth.
After the violent explosion of the last warehouse where ammunition was stored, the attack was pushed to a climax and the raid animation came to a successful conclusion.
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Chapter completed!