Chapter 32: Is This Really the World's Third-Ranked Navy?

  Just before the "Mikasa" exploded and sank, the Russian fleet was caught in a T-crossing by Japan's battleship formation and was attacked on its two flagships, being in a state of confusion and without command. Who knew that the Japanese battleship "Mikasa" suddenly exploded and sank, and the Japanese battleship formation also stopped firing due to this sudden event. This is like giving charcoal in the snow to the Russians, after all, they are the world's third naval power, under the command of Admiral Rojdestvensky who was injured and unconscious, the second-in-command, General Nobogatov, immediately raised the command flag on his own flagship, taking over the command from Rojdestvensky.

  The Russian battleship and cruiser squadrons, releasing smoke while adjusting their disordered formations, took advantage of the brief Japanese ceasefire to open up some distance with the Japanese fleet and gradually reformed into a cohesive line ahead formation, beginning deliberate counter-battery fire against the Japanese.

  It is said that good fortune never comes in pairs, and bad luck never walks alone. The Japanese had just lost their flagship Mikasa, and the Russians took advantage of the opportunity to regroup and reorganize their formation, starting a new round of fighting. The Japanese were no longer lucky, missing several rounds of shooting at Russian warships, while the Russians' luck began to change for the better. In the second round of shooting, two 12-inch shells hit the forward gun turret and command tower of the Japanese battleship Shikishima.

  The Ashima is an improved version of the British Majestic-class battleship, built by Thames Iron Works in Britain. There are four ships of this class, namely Ashima, Mikasa, Asahi and Shikishima. Among them, Shikishima sank in the Bohai Sea after hitting a mine twice during the surprise attack on Port Arthur. Just now, Mikasa exploded and sank, leaving only Ashima and Asahi following closely behind.

  This battleship adopted the British design, with 275mm armor on the turrets and command tower, 225mm on the sides, and 110mm on the deck. The Russian 12-inch caliber 40-caliber main gun fired shells that could penetrate over 300mm of armor, so the forward turret and command tower of Shikishima were directly penetrated by Russian warship shells and exploded internally.

  The Japanese Navy has always been known for its rigorous training, strict discipline and bravery in battle. However, there is a problem that during intense battles, Japanese gunners like to pile up propellant charges inside the turret to speed up loading. This desperate spirit can be praised, but the consequences of this behavior are disastrous.

  The forward gun turret of the Shōhō was penetrated, and a violent explosion occurred inside the turret as the shell ignited the propellant charges, which then traveled down the ammunition hoist and set off the powder magazines below.

  Just over 10 seconds after the hit, the forward part of the ship's hull suddenly began to expand at a rate visible to the naked eye, followed by a burst of flame shooting out from inside the forward gun turret. The entire turret was blown off into the air, and the bow of the ship was blown open like an ice cream cone that had been bitten into, with the biter having not-so-good teeth, leaving ragged edges.

  No matter how advanced the warship is, it's impossible for it not to sink after being blown open from the inside like this. As more and more seawater flooded into the hull, Shōhō began to list, and the sailors on board started lowering lifeboats onto the surface of the water; apparently, Captain Izawa also realized that his warship was doomed.

  The sinking of the Japanese naval vessel Shikishima greatly boosted the morale of Russian naval officers and men, while also severely damaging the already high morale of the Japanese Navy. Originally, the Russian fleet had three more battleships than the Japanese fleet, but earlier they were confused by the tactics of the Japanese fleet and lost two flagships. Now that the Japanese have also lost two battleships, both sides are back on an equal footing. The Russians have more ships and guns, while the Japanese have fewer ships but higher training levels and a much higher shooting accuracy rate than their Russian counterparts.

  The Japanese and Russian fleets were now in parallel, with the leading battleship squadrons beginning to exchange fire, while the cruiser squadrons behind them also started to engage each other. With the addition of various destroyers and gunboats, the entire sea surface was turned into a chaotic mess, with smoke and flames billowing everywhere.

  Rear Admiral Saneyuki Akiyama, deputy commander of the Japanese Combined Fleet, stood on his flagship, the cruiser "Matsushima", with both hands holding a telescope in front of his chest, gazing at the dozens of ships from both sides that were entangled in battle on the sea surface, his face unusually heavy.

  Three days later, it will be clear that the current situation is that the Japanese fleet's warships are inferior to those of the Russian fleet in both quantity and quality. Taking advantage of the fact that the Russian fleet has traveled a long distance and its performance and combat effectiveness have decreased, coupled with the suddenness of the Japanese fleet's attack, the original formation of the Russian fleet was already in great disorder, and victory was in sight. Who would have thought that Admiral Yamamoto's flagship Mikasa suddenly exploded after being hit by a shell, causing the Japanese fleet to become chaotic in an instant? The Russian fleet took advantage of this brief period of confusion to launch an effective counterattack, sinking the ill-fated Shikishima. Now the Japanese are left with only 3 battleships. Although the cruiser squadron has suppressed the Russian cruisers, it is still necessary to rely on battleships to deal with the enemy's battleships, as the firepower of the cruisers is far inferior.

  "Order the destroyer squadron to launch a torpedo attack on the enemy." Commander Sanada thought for a moment, then issued his second command.

  "Your Excellency, in this situation, it's difficult for the destroyer squadron to get close to the enemy's battleship formation, isn't it...?" The chief of staff next to him had some reservations about Sanzu's order. When the enemy's battleship formation was in a neat formation, sending destroyers to launch torpedo attacks would be hard to achieve effective kills, and due to the concentrated firepower of the enemy, the attacking destroyers would suffer heavy losses.

  "Carry out the attack, it's a necessary sacrifice for the victory of our empire." Commander Sanetomo did not hesitate and insisted on his own order. In fact, he also knew that launching a torpedo attack at this time was basically sending the destroyer to its death. However, when the Russian fleet concentrated on attacking the destroyers, Japan's battleship formation could gain precious breathing space and adjust from being passively beaten to taking the initiative.

  Having received the order from the flagship of the squadron, Rear Admiral Kakuji Kakuta raised the Z flag on his own flagship, the protected cruiser Ota, and accelerated first, leading 8 destroyers in a charge against the Russian battleship formation.

  The Tsushima was the first cruiser built by the Japanese themselves and had only been in service for a year. As an armored cruiser, its speed was not its strong point, with a top speed of only 20 knots. Soon, destroyers on both sides outran it, gradually overtaking the Tsushima as they sped towards the Russian battle line.

  The Russians were still excited about their narrow escape and the sinking of one of the Japanese battleships, and the six surviving battleships had basically restored their combat formation, pouring shells at the three Japanese battleships more than 6,000 meters away. At this time, several Japanese destroyers were suddenly discovered speeding from the left front, intending to launch a torpedo attack. The Russian destroyers did not show weakness, and immediately five destroyers also crossed the line of battle, advancing towards the Japanese destroyers, and the six Russian battleships also turned more than half of their secondary guns to intercept the incoming Japanese destroyers.

  Although the Japanese destroyers were very brave, withstanding various large-caliber shells and accelerating desperately, due to the long distance between the two sides and the concentrated firepower of the enemy, three Japanese destroyers were hit and caught fire on the way, withdrawing from the battle. The remaining five destroyers continued to twist their bodies like crazy, releasing smoke while rushing towards the torpedo launch range.

  Although the Russian Navy ranked third in the world, its training and quality were far from reaching this level. Moreover, many commanders and sailors' mental qualities had also declined significantly after being passively beaten at the start of the war. Seeing Japanese destroyers recklessly charging towards them like madmen, the captain of the Nicholas I, which was in the middle of the Russian battleship formation, became somewhat timid and decided to avoid the torpedo attack ahead of schedule without waiting for the fleet's order, starting to turn right. As a result, the Orei also followed suit in confusion.

  Originally, if the Russian battleship fleet concentrated their firepower to attack the Japanese destroyer, and added their own destroyers to rush up and entangle them, the Japanese destroyer would have had little chance of approaching the torpedo launch distance. Who knew that the Russians themselves were in disarray first, with the three rear battleships turning prematurely to avoid, causing the density of artillery fire to drop sharply, while the front three battleships saw their brothers behind them starting to escape, and morale also began to waver, making the already low hit rate even more pitiful.

  Taking advantage of the opportunity, the remaining 5 Japanese destroyers, dragging their wounded bodies, made a final dash and turned to launch more than 30 torpedoes at a distance of 500 meters from the Russian battleship formation.

  Seeing the Japanese destroyer dropping torpedoes, the remaining three Russian battleships that were still holding on to the battle line could no longer hold out and immediately began to accelerate and turn to avoid them. The Russian destroyers that had rushed up to help block the Japanese destroyers for their own battleships fell into a predicament. Without the firepower of their own battleships, the Japanese battleships uniformly turned their guns and directly blasted these several Russian destroyers into fireballs.