The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 938 I'll bet you won't let me go!

On the sea west of the Riau Islands, two steel fleets, like two unsheathed swords, drew snow-white tracks on the azure sea, rapidly closing the distance between them!
Inside the command tower of the Taiping Navy flagship, the Fujian, Rear Admiral Liu Buchan's forehead was beaded with sweat. He lowered his binoculars and exhaled a breath of hot air—the British battle line was now clearly visible, with 14 capital ships arranged in a single column. The six "Kingdom-class" and "Majestic-class" ships at the forefront stood majestically like mountains, while the eight "Centurion-class" ships following closely behind, though slightly smaller, still possessed lethal 254mm main guns.

"Do we have a plan for shelling?" Ji Qingyuan's voice suddenly rang out, so calm and composed that it didn't sound like he was facing a battle he was destined to lose.

The artillery staff officer—a middle-aged colonel with gold-rimmed glasses and a scholarly air—quickly handed over a plan: "The plan is to conduct shelling at a distance of 10000 meters, to take advantage of the superior skill level of our artillery platoon. The firing order is: 'Fujian' on enemy 'A1', 'Sichuan' on enemy 'A2', and 'Hubei' on enemy 'A3'."

他口中的“甲1、甲2、甲3”是那6艘“君权级”和“威严级”的代号。而那8条“百夫长级”的代号则是“乙”字开头的。

Ji Qingyuan suddenly raised his hand to interrupt: "Wait! This plan won't work, redo it!"

Liu Buchan was taken aback, then turned to look at Ji Qingyuan: "Admiral, are you planning to focus fire on one of the enemy's large battleships?"

Ji Qingyuan shook his head: "No, don't fight the big ones, fight the small ones!"

"Targeting the weaker ones?" Liu Buchan didn't react for a moment. "What about those six 'monarchical' level and..."

“Our 240mm guns might not be able to penetrate the main armor of those six large ships at a range of 10000 meters,” Ji Qingyuan said calmly and confidently. “But if their 254mm guns fire a shot at us, we’ll be in serious trouble! Although our guns are accurate, they have 32 more guns than us! If we really engage in a gunfight at 10000 meters and fire dozens of rounds, we will most likely lose!”

Liu Buchan nodded repeatedly. Ji Qingyuan was indeed a senior figure in the Taiping Navy; his analysis was absolutely correct!
"So we won't attack the big ones, we'll attack the eight smaller ones." Ji Qingyuan tapped his finger heavily on the nautical chart. "Small boats aren't very durable. One hit from one of our 240mm armor-piercing shells will be enough to make them cough up blood, and several hits will severely damage or even sink them! We'll concentrate our fire on three of the eight small boats first, knocking them off the battle line. Then we'll find three more to attack, knocking them off the battle line as well! With our gunnery skills, two against one, we can definitely knock three boats off the battle line in 10 rounds. After 20 rounds, there will be six fewer ships in the enemy's battle line. If we're lucky, the British should only be able to fire 12 rounds, with 8-10 rounds of strafing. By the 12th round, three of our ships will have taken one or two hits at most. At that point, we'll create distance and maneuver around the British—"

Liu Buchan's mind finally clicked, and his eyes lit up: "Admiral, do you want the British to be reluctant to part with those crippled centurions?"

Ji Qingyuan's lips curled up slightly: "That's right! There will be at least four or five wrecked centurions on the sea by then, right? We don't even need Hood anymore, right? We'll have to take them all back to India to repair them, right? His six big ships must cover the retreat of those centurions!"

The atmosphere inside the "Fujian" immediately relaxed.

Ji Qingyuan truly lives up to his reputation as a veteran of the Taiping Navy; this method will most likely lead to victory!

“制定炮击计划吧”吉庆元一挥手，“不打那6条甲字头，先打乙1、乙2、乙3，10轮后再打乙4、乙5、乙6然后就拉开距离！我就赌胡德舍不得！”

Inside the conning tower of HMS Sovereign, flagship of the British Far East Fleet, the outlines of six Sea Dragon II battleships gradually became clear through Admiral Hood's binoculars. The experienced veteran's lips curled into an uncontrollable smile, his fingers trembling slightly with excitement: "My God! Six! All Sea Dragons! Only six!" He whirled around, his voice echoing in the conning tower: "Order the entire fleet to accelerate to 20 knots and seize advantageous positions!"

Hood's elation was not without reason. British naval intelligence had assessed that the "Sea Dragon II" was the only warship in the Pacific Navy capable of rivaling the "Sovereign" and "Majestic" classes, but its numbers were few. Now, they had encountered six at once, 14 against 6! Not only was the advantage in their favor, but it was significant! If they could annihilate all six "Sea Dragons," the Pacific Navy would suffer a severe blow.

"General, the enemy ships are heading due east, intending to intercept our northward formation." The chief of staff quickly unfolded the nautical chart, drawing an arc on the map with his finger. "I suggest that the 'Majesty-class' be the vanguard, followed by the 'Monarch-class', and the 'Centurion-class' bring up the rear, concentrating firepower to destroy its flagship."

Meanwhile, on the bridge of the Taiping Navy flagship "Fujian," Admiral Ji Qingyuan stared at the British fleet billowing black smoke in the distance. The sea breeze, carrying the smell of gunpowder, blew in. He narrowed his eyes and said coldly, "Order the entire fleet to turn 15 degrees to starboard, maintain a distance of 10000 meters, and have the gunnery teams prioritize locking onto the 'Centurion-class' ships!"

An emergency tactical meeting of the British Far East Fleet was convened aboard HMS Sovereign. The captains received instructions via flag signals, and Admiral Hood ordered the fleet's gunnery staff: "Execute the standard firing procedure according to the Royal Navy Gunnery Regulations!"

"After ten salvos, the entire fleet will turn 30 degrees to left." Hood tapped his finger heavily on the nautical chart. "From the intercepting formation to the pursuing formation, we will take advantage of our broadside firepower."

On board the Fujian, Colonel Chen Jinglan, a gunnery staff officer who had studied in France, circled three targets on the nautical chart with a red pen: B1 – “Victor”, B2 – “Avenger”, and B3 – “Conqueror”. This expert, who had studied ballistics in France, spoke calmly: “We’ll have two Hailong II-class ships focus fire on one Centurion-class ship. Let’s aim for results within ten rounds!”

Ji Qingyuan nodded and added, "Assess the damage effect after ten rounds. If no serious damage is caused, fire five more rounds. If the target is rendered incapacitated, immediately switch to B4, B5, and B6!"

At 2:30 PM, the first half-salvo shattered the calm of the sea. The 240mm main guns of the "Fujian" roared first, followed by the other five "Hailong II" class destroyers, which opened fire on their designated targets. Twenty-four armor-piercing shells traced deadly arcs as they hurtled towards the three selected "Centurion" class destroyers. The shells drew graceful parabolas in the air, their friction against the air producing a sharp whistling sound.

The screams of the lookouts on the British ship HMS Victory echoed through the megaphone: "Impact point 300 meters to the left!"

Captain Charles FitzRoy, captain of the HMS Victory, was initially relatively calm, merely urging the gun crew to begin a half-salvo as soon as possible. But before his two 10-inch guns could fire, eight 240mm shells whistled towards the Victory.

This time, two shells landed on either side of the "Victor" about 200-300 meters away. (A sudden, sharp, and dangerous situation!)

"Captain, strafe!" the lookout's cry came through the loudspeaker again. Colonel FitzRoy immediately ordered, "Port 5 degrees! Dodge fire!"

However, this 11500-ton warship was slow to turn, and before its rudder could fully take effect, a third half-salvo of shells roared in. This time, six water columns, tens of meters high, rose around the "Victor"!
"Shoot!" came a terrified cry from the megaphone.

"Quick, turn the rudder!" Colonel FitzRoy was already sweating profusely.

His "Victor" was called a battleship, but in reality it only had a standard displacement of 11500 tons. This small body could not withstand the enemy's 240mm armor-piercing shells!
"Boom boom."

Just then, the HMS Victor, which was turning, finally fired its first half-salvo. Because the warship was turning, both shells went completely astray.

At the same time, the other dozen or so warships on the sea also launched their first half-salvos one after another, but because of the long distance, the accuracy was not very good.

boom! boom! boom.
While the gunnery crews on the British warships were busy recalculating the trajectories, the two "Sea Dragon" class ships of the Pacific Navy, which had already achieved strafing, began firing 240mm armor-piercing shells at HMS Victor.

Seeing the massive columns of water rising around his battleship, Colonel FitzRoy shouted in alarm, "Hard to port! Hard to port!"

Before his shout had even faded, a 240mm armor-piercing shell struck the HMS Victor's bow waterline armor with deadly force, producing a deafening metallic clang. The armor plate caved inward under the immense impact, rivets flew off, and seawater immediately rushed in through the breach.

Alarms blared in the steam engine room, and damage control leader Lieutenant Wilson shouted hoarsely, "Quick! The plugging team, get in position! Full blast pumps!" But the floodwaters had already reached above their knees, and the engine room crew struggled to move through waist-deep water. A loose rivet was blown away by the water pressure and pierced directly through the chest of one of the engine room crew members.

Witnessing this scene aboard the HMS Sovereign, Hu De's expression changed drastically: "How could the Taiping Army's artillery be so bad?" He turned sharply: "The entire fleet, turn 30 degrees to left immediately! We can't let them continue targeting the 'Centurion-class' ships! Change the bombardment plan; stop concentrating fire on the enemy flagship. The new bombardment order is as follows."

At 14:45 PM, the British fleet turned to port like a giant steel whale. At the same time, the broadside guns of the 14 warships turned their muzzles toward the nearest "Sea Dragon" class ships, and 254mm shells sent up columns of water hundreds of meters high in the Taiping army's ranks.

However, the situation of the three Centurion-class ships that were already under attack did not improve. Just as the British ships were turning around, their speed had already begun to slow down, and the HMS Victory, which was gradually moving away from the battle line, was hit again. Two 240mm armor-piercing shells penetrated its funnel and the waterline section at the stern, creating a large hole seven or eight meters wide. A large amount of seawater rushed in, causing the ship to list several degrees and its speed to drop to less than 10 knots.

At 14:55 PM, the British fleet finally achieved some success. The bridge of the "Hubei" was shattered by the shockwave from the near miss, and sharp shards of glass rained down. Navigation officer Lieutenant Wang Deming was struck in the left eye by a shard, blood streaming down his face, but he still insisted on using his remaining right eye to calculate the course: "Heading unchanged! Distance 9800 meters!"

"Boom! Boom! Boom"

The Hubei and Hunan ships fired their seventh salvo, and one of the 240mm armor-piercing rounds hit the Victor's ammunition magazine perfectly!

The 240mm armor-piercing shell penetrated the armor of the "Victorious's" ammunition magazine, detonating the stored propellant. In a deafening explosion, the warship, nicknamed "Victorious," was blown in half, its hull rapidly twisting and deforming under immense water pressure. The three hundred officers and men didn't even have time to utter their final cries before sinking into the sea along with the 11500-ton battleship.

Upon seeing this, the captain of the USS Avenger, which was following behind the USS Victory, immediately ordered a hard port turn, hoping to quickly retreat from this deadly battlefield. But at that moment, armor-piercing shells fired by the USS Fujian and USS Sichuan landed on its 11500-ton hull.
At 15:20 PM, the British fleet had lost three Centurion-class ships—HMS Victory was sunk, and HMS Avenger and HMS Conqueror were heavily damaged and pulled from the battle line.

However, the Taiping army also paid a heavy price: a 254mm shell from the "Junquan" hit a boiler room on the "Sichuan," killing all the officers and soldiers inside. Even Major Zhang Dahai, the chief engineer who happened to be outside the steam engine room, was knocked to the ground, his right leg cut by flying metal fragments. He endured the excruciating pain, used his belt to stop the bleeding, and continued to direct the repairs: "Quick! Shut down boilers 3 and 4! Start the water pumps!"

The situation on the "Guangdong" was also extremely dire. A 254mm armor-piercing shell penetrated the forward main gun turret and exploded inside. Gunner Li Weiguo and twenty crew members were instantly blown to pieces. The burning propellant ignited the lubricating oil inside the turret, and the fire spread rapidly. Damage control team members braved the thick smoke and high temperatures to rush into the turret in an attempt to control the fire, but a broken steam pipe suddenly burst, and the scalding steam burned five crew members to death.

However, the fire on the Guangdong did not affect the effectiveness of its remaining three turrets. At 3:25 p.m., the lead ship of the Centurion class, the Centurion, was hit by two 240 mm armor-piercing shells fired from the Guangdong, which simultaneously struck the bow waterline turret and the stern turret. The 11500-ton battleship was immediately severely damaged!
Five minutes later, two more Centurion-class ships were hit by 240mm armor-piercing shells! The British fleet's counterattack also resulted in the Fujian and Hunan ships being damaged.

At 3:35 p.m., having achieved the objective of damaging and sinking six Centurion ships, Ji Qingyuan decisively ordered the fleet to turn and increase the distance between itself and the British ships.

Meanwhile, Hood stood on the bridge of the HMS Sovereign, the sea breeze ruffling his graying temples. Through his binoculars, he clearly saw the wounded Centurion-class destroyers floating on the sea and the sailors who had fallen into the water. His face was extremely grim—he clearly had an overwhelming advantage, how could he have ended up like this? One ship sunk, five wounded. But that wasn't the worst of it; the worst of it was that the Taiping Army's eight armored patrol ships had long since broken away from the formation, most likely heading towards the Kota Bharu coast!
If Hood continues to engage the six "Sea Dragon II" battleships, his patrols will have no chance of severely damaging the Taiping landing force. What if he immediately leads his main force to Kota Bharu and the five "Centurion" battleships? Although they are only second-class battleships, they are still valuable assets of the Royal Navy! And sinking six battleships at once would be another "Saipan defeat"!
"'Majesty,' cover the retreat of the damaged ship! The rest of the warships continue firing!" Hood finally gritted his teeth and issued this order, which in hindsight seemed like a huge mistake.

At 18:05, the setting sun dyed the sea a blood red. The four-hour naval battle finally came to an end. The Taiping Army, at the cost of three "Hailong II" class ships being moderately or severely damaged, sank one "Centurion" class ship, severely damaged five "Kingdom" class ships, and also inflicted moderate damage on one "Royal Power" class ship and one "Majesty" class ship.

Inside the medical bay of the "Fujian," medics were urgently treating the wounded. On deck, sailors silently cleaned up the bodies of their fallen comrades. Standing on the bridge, Ji Qingyuan watched the British fleet gradually disappear into the distance and softly said to Liu Buchan beside him, "Alright. Our navy has done its utmost. Now it's up to the army to see how they fare."

(End of this chapter)