World War: Battleship Arms Dealers

At 6:21 a.m., there were 19 minutes remaining until the Bismarck formation was scheduled to arrive.

The battlecruiser Fuxing carved a sharp white contrail across the sea, its stern trailing a long plume of black smoke. To port, the Hiei and Haruna were readjusting their formation; to starboard, the Kongo and Kirishima were close behind. The four warships formed an irregular diamond-shaped encirclement, with Fuxing at its center.

"Captain, the Hiei is 14,000 kilometers away, heading 025, speed 26 knots!" Radar officer Zhang Hao's voice came through the loudspeaker, tinged with obvious tension.

Lin Hai stood in front of the chart table, his pencil rapidly marking the chart. Sweat dripped from his forehead, leaving a small damp patch on the paper.

"They're adjusting their angle, trying to fire a broadside barrage," he said without looking up. "Deputy Chief Chen, order the engine room to hard port, turn the heading to 110, and maintain a speed of 31 knots. We need to pass between Hiei and Haruna."

"Go through the middle?" Chen Qiming's eyes widened. "Then we'll be exposed to fire from both sides!"

"That's right." Lin Haisheng finally raised his head, a cold glint in his eyes. "But they'll also be exposed to our guns. And they won't dare get too close—for fear of accidentally hitting friendly ships."

He walked to the center of the bridge and spoke into the megaphone: "Gunner, next salvo target—Haruna. Load high-explosive shells; targets are the superstructure and observation equipment."

"Understood! Load high-explosive shells into turrets one and two!" Wang Zhenguo's voice responded immediately.

"Captain, report immediately after the turn is complete."

"yes!"

The massive Fuxing-class destroyer began to list again. Deep within the ship, the temperature in the engine room had soared to over fifty degrees Celsius. All twelve oil-fired boilers were operating at full power, with steam pressure nearing the red line.

Chief Engineer Liu Mingde, shirtless, his bronze skin covered in sweat and grease, stared at the pressure gauge and shouted to the young stoker beside him, "Xiao Chen, open the inlet valve of boiler number three a little wider! She's almost out of breath!"

"But Chief Engineer, the pressure is already..."

"To hell with the pressure! The captain wants speed, so we'll give him speed!" Liu Mingde roared. "If we're slow today, we'll all be feeding the fish!"

Xiao Chen gritted his teeth and turned on the valve. The pointer on the steam pressure gauge jumped up a notch, nearing the danger zone. The boiler groaned under the strain, but the Fuxing bullet train did indeed gain half a knot more speed.

Meanwhile, on the bridge of the Kongo-class frigate.

Kato Tomosaburo held up his binoculars, staring intently at the Fuxing bullet train as it skillfully maneuvered across the sea. His brow furrowed deeper and deeper.

"They want to go through the middle," he muttered to himself. "How dare they..."

"Sir, should we order a concentration of firepower?" Chief of Staff Kuroshima asked.

Kato paused for a few seconds, then shook his head: "No. If all four ships fire at the same time, their trajectories will interfere with each other. Moreover, with the Fuxing in the middle and the Hiei and Haruna on either side, it's easy for them to be friendly fire."

He put down his binoculars and walked to the nautical chart: "Order Hiei and Haruna to maintain their distance and fire their main guns in a crisscross pattern. Kongo and Kirishima to pursue from behind and harass them with their secondary guns. We must whittle them down little by little, like a pack of wolves."

"But sir, this will drag on the battle..."

"Prolonging the battle is to our advantage," Kato interrupted him. "The Fuxing only has one ship, and its ammunition and fuel are limited. With our four ships, we can take turns firing until they run out of ammunition."

Kuroshima understood. This was the safest, and also the most brutal, tactic—to use numerical superiority and a protracted war to wear down the opponent.

The order was relayed. The Hiei and Haruna began adjusting their course, widening the distance between the two ships to create a passage approximately two kilometers wide. The Fuxing was approaching this passage.

"Main guns ready!" Captain Tomosuke Yamamoto of the Hiei ordered. "Target: enemy ship's bridge, 13,500 meters away, fire!"

All six 356mm main guns fired simultaneously. Almost at the same time, the six main guns of the Haruna also spewed flames.

Twelve shells formed a deadly net in the air, enveloping the Fuxing bullet train.

The bridge of the Fuxing high-speed train.

"Enemy ship on port, fire!" the observer shouted.

Lin Hai didn't even look up. His eyes were fixed on the nautical chart, and the slide rule in his hand slid rapidly.

"Five degrees to right, slight correction." His voice was eerily calm. "Maintain course. Gunner, Haruna, you may fire."

"But Captain, we haven't completely turned around yet..."

"I said, fire."

Wang Zhenguo gritted his teeth: "Fire all ships at once!"

The eight main guns of the Fuxing roared again. But this time, because the ship was turning, the firing accuracy was affected. The eight shells were widely dispersed, with only two landing near the Haruna, and the rest going astray at a distance.

Almost at the same time that the Fuxing opened fire, shells from the Hiei and Haruna arrived.

The first near miss landed thirty meters to port, sending a spray of water higher than the bridge. The second was even closer, twenty meters. The third…

"boom!!!"

A 356mm armor-piercing shell struck the forward deck of the Fuxing. The explosion illuminated the entire bow, and shrapnel and steel fragments flew everywhere.

The bridge shook violently, and dust fell from the ceiling. A young helmsman was knocked to the ground, and Chen Qiming quickly helped him up.

"Report damage!" Lin Hai's voice remained calm.

Damage control center quickly reported: "Sector B forward hit! Secondary turret number one destroyed, foredeck on fire! Firefighters are en route!"

"Casualties?"

"...The count is still being done; at least ten people have been killed and twenty wounded."

Lin Hai closed his eyes, but only for a second. When he opened them again, his gaze was even sharper than before.

"Keep fighting." He only said four words.

He walked to the starboard observation window and looked at the Haruna through binoculars. Although the salvo from the Fuxing hadn't hit directly, a near-miss shrapnel shell had clearly struck the Haruna's bridge—the ship's course had become noticeably erratic.

"Very good." Lin Hai put down his binoculars. "At least their observation capabilities have been crippled. Now..."

Before he could finish speaking, a series of violent explosions suddenly came from the right side of the ship.

"Starboard! Kirishima, fire all secondary guns at once!" the observer screamed.

Lin Haisheng rushed to the starboard porthole. He saw that the Kirishima had closed the distance to about eight kilometers, and its 140mm secondary guns were spitting fire. Dozens of shells rained down on the Fuxing around the ship and on its hull.

Although the shells from the secondary guns could not penetrate the main armor belt, they were deadly to the superstructure, anti-aircraft gun positions, and observation equipment.