So Lu Kai ordered the Red Rabbit and Jueying to fight against the three remaining armored cruisers in the British fleet, Cresey, Baccarat Priest and Hogg.

These three armored cruisers are of course the most powerful warships in the British fleet today, and the Chitu and Jueying are also the two strongest warships in the People's Army Fleet. Moreover, these five warships are all ten thousand tons armored cruisers, with roughly the same tonnage. Although the number of warships of the People's Army Fleet is at a disadvantage of 2-3, they have an absolute advantage in the number of main guns, and although they are slightly inferior in caliber, the People's Army Fleet still has a very obvious advantage in this group of duels.

The Jinan and Tianjin are dealing with the three protective cruisers, Blake, Blenheim and Royal Arthur.

In this duel, the People's Army fleet also had 2-to-3, and the number of main guns was not obvious. It was only a slight lead on 8-to-6, and it was slightly inferior in caliber, so the power of the main guns of both sides was actually half a pound; and the Jinan and Tianjin were both medium-sized armored cruisers of 7,000-ton, while the Blake and Blenheim were 9,000-ton protective cruisers, and the Royal Arthur was also 7,000-ton, and the gap in tonnage was very obvious. However, the advantage of the People's Army fleet lies in its defense. After all, the defense of armored cruisers and protective cruisers is incomparable. Therefore, both sides have their own strengths and are basically evenly matched.

The last group is also the weakest group in the fleets of both sides. It consists of the Qingzhou and Yizhou of the People's Army Fleet against the Grafton and Cresent of the British Fleet.

Grafton and Cresent are the same as Royal Arthur. They are both Edgar-class protective cruisers, both of which are 7,000-ton large protective cruisers, while Qingzhou and Yizhou are 6,000-ton protective cruisers. British warships are slightly more powerful in tonnage, but they are not very advantageous. In terms of firepower, Grafton and Cresent have a total of 4 233mm caliber main guns, and 10 152mm secondary guns and 12 57mm cannons can be used on the side.

Rapid-fire guns; the main guns that the Qingzhou and Yizhou can use are 16 155mm guns, the secondary guns are 8 105mm guns, and 24 50mm rapid-fire guns. Overall, the British warships have a very obvious advantage in large-mouth naval guns, while in small and medium-caliber artillery, the People's Army Navy warships have an absolute advantage. In addition, although the Qingzhou and Yizhou are protective cruisers, they are equipped with vertical armor on the side, so they must be better in defense, and the strength of both sides is roughly the same.

Such three sets of counterparts are basically clear in strength and weakness. The strong are strong and the weak are weak. There is no way Tian Ji is a clever horse racing style, and the outcome of the battle depends on their respective performance on the spot.

So, the sea was filled with smoke, the cannons were roaring, the collision of steel torrents, the collision of blood and fire, the water column penetrated the sky, and the waves were swept up. The two fleets were like two giant dragons from the prehistoric era, running side by side on the sea, and fighting each other, constantly spitting lightning, fire, lightning and lightning at the other side, and at the same time they were also under the blows of each other and showing weakness.

However, after about 30 minutes of fierce fighting, the British fleet finally gradually couldn't support it. First, in the first group of the strongest warships between the two sides, the Red Tu was hit by the opponent's main gun, and the 18 guns were hit by the opponent's main gun, while the Jueying was hit by the opponent's main gun, and the 16 guns were hit by the opponent's main gun. Although they also suffered considerable losses and casualties, the good defense of these two warships made the hull damage basically within a range that could be withstandable.

The three warships of the British fleet were much more serious. Cresey had 10 main guns, 14 sub-cannons and other artillery; Dionysus Priest had 13 main guns, 12 sub-cannons and other artillery; Hogg had 11 main guns, 15 sub-cannons and other artillery, all of which were seriously injured. Because of the Dionysus Priest, the main guns in front and rear were destroyed, and two large gaps were blasted on the waterline position on the side of the ship, and more than 200 tons of sea water had been poured into it. At this time, the battle had been withdrawn; Hogg's command was hit by the main gun 4 times. Although it was not penetrated, it also caused a large number of casualties in the command room. Captain McClary was killed, and the deputy captain Wilkins replaced the command warship. One warship was missing, and both sides were 2-to-2, and the two British warships were not even rivals.

The second was in the second group of battles. The two sides hit each other almost the same number. The Jinan and Tianjin were both hit by the opponent's main guns, and the secondary guns and other artillery were 15 and 18 respectively. Although the damage was larger than the Chitu and Jueying, it was the foundation of an armored cruiser after all, so it could still withstand it. The British fleet's three warships, Blake, 5 main guns and 9 other artillery rounds; Blenheim was hit by 5 main guns, 8 auxiliary guns and other artillery rounds, and Royal Arthur was hit by 6 main guns and 9 auxiliary guns and 9 other artillery rounds.

Blake and Blenheim are at least 9,000-ton protective cruisers. The maximum thickness of the dome-armored slope is 152 mm. Therefore, although it was severely damaged, it can be free of strong support. However, the Royal Arthur is not good, because its body is small and its armor is thin. The maximum thickness of the dome-armored slope is only 127 mm, and the horizontal part is only 76 mm. 6 large-caliber shells of 200 mm are indeed not something that the Royal Arthur's thin body can withstand. Therefore, the deck is broken and the hull is cracked and water is infiltrated. Not only does it completely lose its combat effectiveness, but the draft has also sank nearly 2 meters from the waterline. Although the officers and soldiers on the ship are still trying hard to rescue, anyone can see that the success rate is not high.

The last group of weak confrontations is the closest. Grafton and Cresent tried their best to take advantage of the large caliber of the main gun, but the two warships had only 4 main guns in total. In addition, Qingzhou and Yizhou used their speed and maneuver advantages to continuously change their routes. Therefore, Qingzhou was hit by 3 233mm shells and 2 shots on the side. Although 100mm vertical armor was installed on the side, it could not prevent the explosion power of the large-caliber shells and was blown up to two gaps.

However, the vertical armor also played a certain protective role after all. Both cracks were not big, less than 1 meter, and the dome armor was not damaged. As a result, the gap was quickly blocked by the Qingzhou personnel, while another shell hit the deck, destroying two sub-turrets. In addition, the Qingzhou also hit nearly 20 other shells, some hit the side side and was carried by the side side armor, but most of them hit the deck or the unarmored area. Although it caused considerable damage to the Qingzhou, it was not fatal.

The Yizhou was hit by two 233mm shells, one of which hit the command room, but the protective armor of the command room was the thickest, reaching 250mm, so it took this step. Although many people in the command room were injured and four people were killed, the overall loss was not large; the other shot hit the side water line, which was an armorless area, and exploded a large hole with a diameter of more than 3 meters wide, causing more than 30 crew members to be killed on the spot, but no water was infiltrated. Other shells also caused a large number of casualties to the Yizhou, but overall it was not damaged.

Although the Qingzhou and Yizhou do not have large caliber main guns, they are better than the large number of medium caliber and small caliber rapid-fire guns, so the shells fired were very dense. The Grafton and Cresent were both shot more than 50 rounds. Almost all the decks of the two warships were washed by shells. Not only did the personnel and equipment losses and casualties be huge, but most of the artillery were also destroyed; there were also many shots on the side, because the two warships did not have any damage to the surface.

There were side armor, but it was beaten to the same as a sieve, covering more than 10 large and small holes. Fortunately, the parts that were shot were basically above the waterline, and the small and medium-caliber shells did not cause much damage to the dome armor of the two warships. Therefore, although the damage to the two warships was severe, it was not fatal. However, the left propeller of the Cresent was hit by a 155 shell and destroyed, causing a huge speed reduction, leaving a huge hidden danger.

At this time of the battle, although the British fleet paid the price of a warship first, which made the Civil War fleet unable to play its advantage in range, but still one warship was sunk, one warship basically lost its combat effectiveness, and other warships also suffered major damage. Although each warship of the People's War fleet also had certain injuries, it still retained at least 50% of its combat effectiveness, because it was four armored cruisers, and now it still had at least 70% of its combat effectiveness.

The main reason for the different results of the two sides is that the defenses of the warships of the People's Army fleet are relatively stronger than those of the British warships, so they gradually gained the upper hand in the fierce battle.

Of course, the warships of the People's War Fleet are not only stronger than British warships in defense, but also not weaker than British warships in terms of firepower and speed. In terms of firepower, the warships of the People's War Fleet do not pursue the power of a single main gun, but focus on the number of main guns and the amount of firepower delivered per unit time. This advantage is simply a huge disaster for British warships with poor defense.

In terms of speed and mobility, the warships of the People's Army Fleet are also better than the British warships. This is because all the warships that were independently designed by the East China government. The hull design is more reasonable, and the fluid dynamics are also better. In addition, the bow of the ship, the shaking fins, and the power devices such as propellers and connecting rods have been optimized. Therefore, under the same conditions, the warships independently designed by the East China government are at least 2 knots faster than the warships of this era. Of course, this is based on the technical level of the East China government's more than 100 years ahead of the era, and are a unique advantage of the East China government.
Chapter completed!