Chapter 35

The "Fusō" was one of the three ironclad warships initially ordered by Japan from Britain, starting construction in 1875 and completing in 1878. It was the most powerful warship in the Asian region at the time; its construction directly spurred the Qing government's ironclad warship procurement plan. The ship was 67 meters long, 14.6 meters wide, with a draft of 5.5 meters, and a standard displacement of 3,717 tons. When newly built, it could reach a speed of 13 knots. The ship was equipped with four 240mm Krupp main guns, two 170mm Krupp guns, four 150mm Krupp guns, six 75mm Krupp guns, and nine small-caliber machine guns. The waterline was protected by 100 to 230mm thick wrought iron armor.

Times have changed, and the once most powerful ironclad in the Asian region has gradually aged over time. Although the Japanese modernized the warship in 1891, removing the sail equipment originally installed, the aging of the power boilers remained unresolved. At this moment, no matter how the Japanese sailors urged the warship, its speed would not exceed 9 knots, making it impossible to escape the pursuit of the Qing fleet.

A thunderous boom, and a red flame enveloped the "Fusō." A hurricane howled, and a wave of air rushed out, with splintered wood and metal flying into the sky, and flames burning in the air. As the North Sea Fleet's officers and men cheered, a bright red fireball suddenly burst from the "Fusō," shooting toward the "Kaiyuan" battleship with the force of a thunderbolt!

Although the "Kaiyuan" battleship had 300 to 400mm thick armor on its waterline, command tower, and ammunition hoists, the sides of the ship and the upper deck were not protected by armor. These areas were almost impossible to defend on any warship. Now, to fully utilize its main guns, the "Kaiyuan" had to expose its side to the "Fusō." The "Fusō" was the main warship in Itō Sukeyuki's plan, manned by experienced sailors. At such a close range and with such a large target area, it would be a miracle if they missed.

The captain roared, and the main guns bellowed. A 240mm shell, with a thunderous roar, tore through the negligible steel armor of the "Kaiyuan" and exploded inside the ship. The flames from the picric acid explosion raged, and yellow-green smoke billowed from the breach. Feeling the earthquake-like tremor under his feet, Claude's face was grim. Although he had anticipated that this desperate tactic would also damage his own ship, he did not expect the Japanese attack to come so quickly!

"Pass the order down, tell the small-caliber guns to stop targeting that doomed little ship and concentrate their fire on suppressing the guns of this ironclad!" Claude shouted in the command tower.

The "Kaiyuan" battleship, in addition to its six 283mm (11.1-inch) heavy guns that inspired fear, was also equipped with eight 105mm secondary guns, eight 88mm rapid-fire guns, and twelve 37mm machine guns. Due to the late start of the rapid-fire gun industry in Germany and the technical inferiority to British Armstrong, the "Kaiyuan" was equipped with 105mm rapid-fire guns. Although the single-shot power was slightly inferior to the 120mm Armstrong rapid-fire guns widely used on Japanese warships, the rate of fire was not much different, making it suitable for suppressing the open guns on the enemy warship.

At the captain's command, the left-side secondary guns, which had been firing joyfully, turned their barrels to bombard the "Fusō" ironclad, about three miles away. The explosions were deafening, and the shells flew in all directions, creating waves of fire and light on the "Fusō" deck. Unlike the fast cruisers of the Combined Fleet, the "Fusō" did not have 120mm Armstrong rapid-fire guns. The weapons on board were old-style recoil guns with slow rates of fire, requiring several minutes to fire a single shot. Moreover, except for the four 240mm main guns, the other guns had no protection. Once subjected to concentrated fire, these guns would find it difficult to continue firing.

Due to the high daily wages, the German sailors on the "Kaiyuan" were highly motivated. The four 105mm secondary guns, four 88mm rapid-fire guns, and six 37mm machine guns on the left side of the "Kaiyuan" launched a storm of fire at the "Fusō." The guns roared and the flames soared, and from a distance, the "Kaiyuan" looked like a giant beast spewing flames, moving through the sea, a spectacular sight.

A 105mm shell struck the bulwark with a thunderous boom, and several Japanese sailors operating a 170mm gun were instantly killed by the high-speed shell fragments. Just a few seconds later, an 88mm shell hit the same area, detonating the ammunition stacked around the gun, creating a massive blood-red cloud. The 8-ton gun was thrown into the sky like a toy, landing heavily and splashing water into the air.

In just two minutes, the "Fusō" suffered unprecedented concentrated fire. The secondary guns of the "Kaiyuan" battleship fired like a rainstorm, almost matching the firepower of the Japanese cruisers. Occasionally, shells hit the waterline armor, bouncing off the 9-inch thick steel armor with a sound that made one's teeth ache. Feeling the gradually weakening fire from his own ship, the captain of the "Fusō," Rear Admiral Shinji Ariyoshi, was both anxious and angry. Due to its age, the "Fusō" had four 240mm main guns arranged in four turrets in the middle of the ship, with very limited firing arcs. At the current angle, only one main gun could fire. If the 170mm and 150mm guns were also silenced, how could he counter the six 283mm modern guns of the enemy with just one old 240mm gun?

Shinji Ariyoshi gritted his teeth, about to order the gunners to operate the guns despite the heavy fire, hoping for a slim chance of survival, when he suddenly heard a terrified scream. He turned his head and saw an officer trembling, pointing at the command tower window, shouting, "The Qing warship! The main guns of that Qing warship are turning back!"

At this time, turret structures had not yet been developed, and the main guns on the warships of the major powers were arranged in a "pseudo-turret" configuration. The main gun turrets could rotate to change the firing angle, allowing the guns to aim at the target. However, due to the limitations of the era, large-caliber guns could not be loaded at any angle; they had to be rotated to a specific angle. The designers chose this angle to be 0 degrees, when the gun barrels were parallel to the ship's centerline. Therefore, unless the target was directly ahead, the main guns had to rotate back to the 0-degree position after each shot, wait for the loading to be completed, and then rotate back to the target. Although this process was time-consuming, the smoke from the black powder took a long time to dissipate, during which the gunners could not observe the target and thus could not fire. Therefore, before the widespread use of smokeless powder, this turret-like structure was not the only factor limiting the rate of fire of large-caliber guns.

Two minutes later, the six main guns of the "Kaiyuan" battleship fired again, with a 283mm shell piercing the 230mm thick waterline armor and entering the boiler room, where it exploded with a deafening boom. Shrapnel flew, screams echoed, and cold seawater rushed in, meeting the hot boilers and causing a massive steam explosion. The "Fusō" seemed to be pushed by a giant force, rising nearly one meter, and then began to tilt sharply to the right. At the same time, two more 283mm shells hit the bridge and the rear turret, destroying everything within a 20-foot radius, and the flames, aided by the explosion of Japanese ammunition, quickly spread to more than half of the ship's deck!

This was the difference between a first-class battleship and a third-class ironclad!

At that moment, the guns roared, and the smoke obscured the sky. American James Maguire stood on the open bridge of the "Zhenyuan," looking forward. He saw that the "Hiryū" was already mostly sunk, with only half of the bridge and a tall mast still visible above the water. In the distance, the "Seikyō Maru" was struggling to escape, with flames raging and consuming the structure and cabins. Nearby, the "Fusō" was still barely surviving under the combined attack of two large warships, with only one 150mm gun and two small-caliber machine guns still in action. Not far away, the small "Akaagi" had been hit by a black torpedo from the "Zhiyuan," and its bow was completely submerged.

A satisfied smile appeared on Maguire's face. He took out his beloved camera and snapped a photo, forever capturing this scene in the annals of history.

In the vast ocean, battle flags fluttered, and warships loomed. Black smoke enveloped the sky, and towering water columns rose from the surging waves. The roar of the big guns and the mechanical screams composed a grand and majestic symphony, a magnificent epic that could swallow mountains and rivers.

Many years later, countless young Chinese could still, through this old photograph, dream back to that autumn noon of 1894, hearing the sea breeze and the roars; those adorable figures and those mighty warships were always there, using their bodies and will to protect the land and the people!

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After an unknown amount of time, in the command tower that had been reduced to rubble, Shinji Ariyoshi, covered in blood, struggled out of the pile of dead bodies. Blood flowed from his ears, indicating that he had been completely deafened. Watching the Japanese sailors jumping into the water like dumplings, Shinji Ariyoshi gave a bitter laugh, drew the family heirloom sword from his waist, caressed it for a moment, and then plunged it deeply into his abdomen.

"Your Majesty, I am sorry... I... I have reached my limit..."

PS: The author is working hard to write at night... Please give some recommendations and favorites!