Since the Battle of Lissa in 1866, the Austro-Hungarian Navy has never experienced naval wars again. The French are not much better than the Austrians. In addition to bullying the weak Qing navy in the Far East in 1884, they also paid for their commander-in-chief of the Far East Fleet. Lieutenant General La Perel's current flagship is named after the unlucky commander-in-chief.

So this time the French are destined to be lucky today.

After the initial panic, the French immediately began to fight back.

The sound of cannons suddenly roared on the sea, and half a ton of cannon shells crossed the sea and the air with a scream, stirring up huge water columns that soared into the sky. At such a close combat distance, the two rookie fleets failed to hit their opponents in the first three rounds of volleys. The smoke from the sea was filled with gunpowders, and the thick smoke generated from the muzzles almost obscured the warship.

The gunners mechanically repeated the nervous operation: they opened the latch of the gun tail, pushed the shells sent by the hoist into the barrel with a push rod, then loaded the launching medicine bag wrapped in silk, then closed the latch, adjusted the launching angle according to the command of the shooting commander, and pulled the launching hammer after receiving the launching command. The sailors in the bottom cabin were busy moving hundreds of kilograms of shells and launching bags from the ammunition depot to the hoist. Theoretically, a cannon can fire 1.5 rounds of shells per minute, but in actual operation, it is already very good that the warship can fire a round of salvo every two minutes.

At a distance of 9,000 meters, the secondary guns on both sides of the warships also joined the ranks of shooting, and the entire sea surface seemed even more messy.

The Austro-Hungarian warship that fired the first shot was a shell. A 203mm high-explosive bomb fired from the second-class main gun in front of the French "Motherland" hit the position of the chimney of the "Prince Eugen". A fire suddenly ignited on its rear deck. The flames and thick smoke were particularly conspicuous on the gloomy sea surface. The poor "Prince Eugen" became the target of the other party's focus on taking care of.

After that, the sailors on Austro-Hungarian Navy warships seemed to have a sense of hostility because their brothers were attacked. The artillery was immediately accurate and hit the French warships Jean Bar, Truth and Justice, especially the Justice, and were fired in two consecutive volleys.

The French were very strange. The three dreadnoughts, the Jean Barr and the Dido formed a formation with the three former dreadnoughts, the Motherland, the Truth and the Justice, which was very inconsistent. The side firepower of the four Austro-Hungarian warships was not much worse than that of the French.

After the firefight lasted for more than ten minutes, both sides seemed to have entered the state. The two fleets were almost parallel toward the east, bombarding each other at a distance of about 9,000 to 10,000 meters, and hitting each other, and their hit rate began to increase.

In a thunderous loud bang, the fire from the muzzle instantly illuminated a large area of ​​the sea, and then returned to silence. The loud noises on the sea surface rang out rhythmically, and the main guns on the warships were about the same intervals. The two "Radetsky" class main guns were faster, but the "Prince Eugen" was almost severely damaged, and the superstructure became in a mess, leaving only three main turrets still fighting back.

Vachner glanced at Lee Hayden, who kept staring at the sea with a telescope, expressionless face.

"General, are we far away from each other?" As the chief of staff, he has the responsibility to remind the chief officer. The navy is not the army. The chief of staff in the army is the makers and implementers of the battle, and the commander is the issuer and coordinator of the order. But the commander in the naval fleet has the right to decide everything, and the chief of staff has only the power to suggest.

"Just like this, keep holding on!" Lee Hayden said with a firm expression. He put down his telescope and came to the chart table. Negovan's fleet was about half an hour away from the battlefield. As long as they could survive this half hour, the French would be trapped in the attack.

As soon as he finished speaking, there was a loud bang, and the entire bridge shook violently. The people in the commander tower were shaken and the ground was covered with debris.

"We're shot!" Hurt shouted.

"Report the injury!" Captain Wukovic got up from the ground, and the burly naval colonel shouted at a lieutenant, "Damn it, keep shooting!"

Li Haidun sat down with a chair. His right leg hit a corner of the chart table just now, and now he felt heartbroken.

The casualties were reported soon, and a large-caliber armor-piercing projectile hit the second floor of the bridge. The three officers including the control officer in charge of the logistics of the ship were killed, and five others were injured. However, the combat effectiveness of the "United Strength" did not weaken, and all the artillery on it could still open fire.

At this distance, the 150mm secondary guns on both sides also participated in the battle. Although they could not threaten the opponent's main armor, they did not cause much damage to the superstructure.

"Oh my God, 'Prince Eugen' is wrapped in thick smoke and sea of ​​fire. Now it only has one main gun left to fire!" The shouts of looking at his hands came from the speaker.

Brigadier General Vachna ran to the observation port behind the bridge and took a telescope to carefully observe the situation of the "Prince Eugen" behind him. The battleship has been under the focus of the French since the war started. So far, at least a dozen shells have been hit by the shell. One of its bridges has collapsed and a piece of the foremast has been missing. Only the second main turret and three secondary cannons are still stubbornly continuing to shoot at the enemy ship.

Its fire was under control, but the "Prince Eugen" was filled with black smoke, and the hull was tilted to the right.

"Order it to withdraw from the battle!" Lee Haydn said after hearing the report.

But the radio on the "Prince Eugen" seemed to be broken and could not be contacted at all, and the light signal was not visible. It continued to follow the fleet, endured the enemy's artillery. After a while, its main turret No. 4 resumed its shooting again.

Lee Haydn ordered the fleet to increase its speed to 18 knots. Although this would affect the shooting accuracy of the warships, it would be possible to get rid of the three French front dreadnoughts. Old warships using reciprocating steam engines would be difficult to maintain a higher speed.

The fleet slightly distanced from the French warships.

Lee Haydn led the entire fleet down and turned right, concentrating firepower to attack the enemy's flagship.

At 3:53, after nearly 10 minutes of full-strength shelling, a ball of fire rose on the sea in the distance. The Guba was hit continuously and a black smoke column emerged.

"Okay, hit it, continue to attack!" Woodwich waved his right hand excitedly and shouted at the microphone.

The formation of the French fleet was slightly panicked, as if it was rising the command flag of the Jean Bar, and the Guba began to turn outward and slightly left the battlefield.

Just as they were a little scared, adjusted their formation and prepared to continue to calmly respond to the battle, the shouting of their eyes almost made them lose their souls: "Front left, find the enemy at 19 o'clock! Oh my God, they have four battleships!"
Chapter completed!