Empire Conquest
Chapter 367 - 363 All About Luck

Chapter 367: Chapter 363 All About Luck

In fact, the first ever duel between the two most powerful navies in the world had not ended yet.

Although the battle between the 42nd Special Mixed Fleet and the Newland 12th Special Mixed Fleet had been declared over before 11 a.m., with the four mighty Longxing-class triumphing without any suspense, or more accurately, driving back the Newland 12th Special Mixed Fleet, the fight between the 43rd Special Mixed Fleet and the Newland 11th Special Mixed Fleet to the southeast had continued into the afternoon before it was declared finished, and a victor had clearly emerged.

Around 4 p.m., Bai Zhizhan finally received the battle report sent by Li Jie.

However, it did not come from the "Xu Sea", nor from her sister ship "Flame Sea", but from a Light Cruiser in the 43.2 Subsquad.

Before reading the telegram, Bai Zhizhan’s heart had already sunk halfway.

Under normal circumstances, this meant that both the "Xu Sea" and the "Flame Sea" had been sunk, and one might even say the entire 43.1 Subsquad had been wiped out.

Otherwise, Li Jie would have sent the telegram from a battleship.

However, the actual situation was completely different from what Bai Zhizhan had anticipated.

In this battle that lasted nearly 10 hours, the 43rd Special Mixed Fleet had been firmly in control the entire time, only they were a bit unlucky.

It was somewhat similar to the initial encounter with the Saiyi Navy’s Main Battle Corps.

Shortly after the battle started, the "Xu Sea"’s main mast was struck by a shell. Although the shell did not explode on the "Xu Sea", it broke the mast and cleanly severed the long-wave radio antenna on top of the mast, causing the "Xu Sea" to temporarily lose the ability to use its long-wave radio.

Thankfully, the short-wave radios were working fine.

In fact, radios had already replaced signal flags and signal lamps as the main means of communication during fleet operations.

On carriers and battleships, the radios were also a backup internal communication tool particularly useful for damage control and emergency repairs.

Before dawn, the 43rd Special Mixed Fleet had secured a decisive victory.

The "Flame Sea" had shown extraordinary bravery.

In rounds five through eleven of salvo fire, the "Flame Sea" landed a total of eight hits on the number one enemy ship, all of which struck the enemy’s superstructure.

By the fourteenth round of salvo fire, the "Flame Sea" had achieved a remarkable feat.

Although a post-battle assessment revealed that the primary cause of the sinking of the enemy ship "Kola" was poor damage control, which allowed the fire inside the ship to rage out of control, ultimately detonating the secondary gun ammunition magazine on the ship’s left side, fundamentally speaking, it was still the "Flame Sea"’s doing.

Had it not been repeatedly hit by the "Flame Sea", the "Kola" would not have caught such a massive fire.

In the massive explosion of the ammunition magazine, the "Kola", the flagship of the Newland 11th Special Mixed Fleet and also the flagship of the Newland First Fleet, sank.

A few minutes later, the number two enemy ship "Mali" also withdrew from the battle.

During the earlier part of the fight, this sister ship of the "Kola" had been extremely unlucky; not only did Turret B malfunction, leaving two main guns unable to fire, but it also became the target of two opponents in succession, being struck by both the "North River" and the "Nanjiang" more than a dozen times. After its last main gun turret was put out of action, essentially losing its combat capability, the ship’s captain issued a retreat order, leaving the battle to the other four battleships.

At that time, the ship’s captain, Colonel Raul, was already the highest commander of the Newland 11th Special Mixed Fleet.

By daybreak, the strength of the forces had changed to four versus four.

Only then, Li Jie adjusted tactics, engaging the Newland Fleet in the regular manner of battle.

Before that, the 43rd Special Mixed Fleet had been persistently under fire; in fact, it was the "North River" and the "Nanjiang" that were sustaining the brunt of the fire in combat.

The Newland Fleet’s latter four battleships aimed at the "North River" and the "Nanjiang".

One must admit, experience does count for something.

These two fast battleships, upgraded from battlecruisers, constantly used their speed to evade while also achieving consecutive victories.

If these two battleships hadn’t been able to withstand the fierce firepower of the enemy ships, there wouldn’t have been the subsequent major victory.

The captains, along with the principal officers, could be said to have contributed significantly to the success.

Of course, the two battleships were not without damage.

The "North River" lost its forward turret, and an explosion in the chamber of the left main gun of the stern turret left only one main gun operational.

The "Nanjiang" fared slightly better, losing only two 130mm high-altitude guns, with all eight main guns intact.

Interestingly, the "Xu Sea" was almost unscathed.

This was because the "Flame Sea" had been firing at the "Kola" with precision and ferocity. After more than ten minutes of battle, the "Kola" redirected its guns towards the "Flame Sea," no longer firing at the "Xu Sea."

In other words, both the "Kola" and the "Mali" were firing at the "Flame Sea."

Fortunately, the "Flame Sea" was indeed very lucky.

Before dawn, it took four 16-inch armor-piercing bullets, two of which failed to explode, one ricocheted off the open deck and exploded outside the hull, and the last also exploded outside the main protection zone of the bow. Apart from blowing up the sailors’ quarters at the bow into pieces, it didn’t cause further damage.

During combat, sailors definitely wouldn’t be in their quarters.

The shell that hit the bow, aside from making the "Flame Sea" appear even more fierce and having to start diesel generators to pump out seawater flooding into the hull during high-speed travel, had no impact on the battle. It only meant more time needed for repairs back at the shipyard.

Furthermore, a post-battle inspection revealed that the "Flame Sea" had been hit by two other 16-inch armor-piercing bullets, both of which because they hit outside the main protection zone and weren’t stopped by the armor, exploded in the sea after penetrating the hull, were mistaken by the lookout for near misses.

In Jin Hong’s words: The bullets that should have hit Li Jie had all landed on his battleship.

For this reason, Li Jie later specifically toasted Jin Hong three times.

In Bai Zhizhan’s words, there’s no need for brothers to quibble over such matters.

Had the roles been reversed, if someone needed to step out and attract firepower, Li Jie wouldn’t have hesitated. During the battle, Jin Hong hadn’t thought that much.

In fact, the battle experienced by the "Flame Sea" was enough to prove the correctness of the "concentrated protection" philosophy.

If it had been an old-style battleship adopting a full protection concept, even the armor laid on secondary parts, if not thick enough, could detonate an armor-piercing bullet.

Even hits on non-vital parts, if the armor-piercing bullet exploded, could cause severe damage.

On the other hand, this was precisely why the Newland Navy’s old-style battleships couldn’t withstand the test.

Of the ten or so armor-piercing bullets that hit the "Kola," at least half hit outside the Treaty Type battleship’s "Main Protection Zone."

If it had been a Treaty Type battleship, these armor-piercing bullets might not have exploded inside the hull.

Having taken half as many hits, the "Kola" might not have met the end of having its ammunition stores detonate.

The "Mali" withstood the test of its core armor but lost its combat effectiveness due to multiple direct hits on secondary parts.

If those bullets that hit secondary parts hadn’t exploded but passed through the hull, it’s possible that the "Mali" wouldn’t have retreated before dawn.

Compared to the new-style Treaty Type battleships, the pre-Treaty battleships lacked more than just speed.

However, in this battle fought with naval guns, what really decided the victory or, rather, swayed the battlefield, was indeed speed!

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