Australian Storm 1876

   Chapter 848

  At 02:45 on May 27, 1905, the Fuso armed merchant ship "Shinano Maru" discovered a medical ship in the Russian fleet. Although the 2nd Squadron of Tsarist Russia ordered the implementation of light control, this medical ship ignored the order and was spotted by the Japanese ship because of the brilliant lights and an all-night carnival.

   news comes

The   Fuso united fleet instantly boiled, and under the command of the commander of the fleet, Heihachiro Togo, adjusted its course and quietly followed.

The 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th battalions of the    Combined Fleet, under the leadership of Lieutenant General Idewa Shigeto, Kayu Waiyoshi, Lieutenant General Shichiro Kataoka, and Major General Togo Masaji, focused on the direction of discovering the Russian fleet.

  Parked on the Japanese battleship Mikasa in the town bay, Togo Heihachiro ordered the entire army to dispatch, and a huge net overwhelmingly surrounded the target direction.

   Around 5:00 in the morning

After careful study and judgment in the faint morning light, the "Shinano" armed merchant ship sent a second telegram; only eight large cruiser-class ships (6 military auxiliary ships plus two hospital ships) and three suspected ships were found. Target of a small destroyer, no traces of other large Russian fleets were found in the nearby sea.

  Due to the dim light, it can only be judged roughly based on the shadow of the ship on the sea surface, so it is impossible to distinguish whether it is a combat ship or an auxiliary ship.

But this kind of news is like a pot of cold water, which makes Admiral Togo Heihachiro feel very cool. This fleet of 11 ships is definitely not the second and third Pacific Fleet of Tsarist Russia with a total of more than 60 ships. The main force is nothing more than a squadron.

  So, where is the main force of the Russian fleet?

  Admiral Togo Heihachiro, the old devil, was gloomy with dripping water on his face, and wrinkled dry and wrinkled as he gave orders;

   "Eight grids, the fifth team immediately sent fast ships to expand the range of search and patrol, and must find the traces of the Tsarist Russian fleet, please work together. The other teams are on standby."

   "Hey."

   give an order

  The cruiser belonging to the Fifth Squadron in the Japanese combined fleet, the destroyers dispersed immediately, thick smoke billowing from the chimneys of the battleship, and the steam engine urged the steel hull to travel at high speed in the wind and waves, chasing it in the direction of the Russian fleet.

The waiting time is suffering every minute and every second, and the news from the front is even more frustrating. After dawn, the Japanese search fleet found that it was a team of three destroyers and some military assistants who had touched the Tsushima Strait by night. Tsarist Russian fleet consisting of ships.

  This discovery almost caused Admiral Togo Heihachiro to flash his waist. The old face changed color because of extreme resentment, so he ordered; "All of them should be sunk."

At this time on the rough sea, the destroyers Czarist Diamond, Pearl, and Svetlana had already discovered something wrong. The overwhelming black and heavy Japanese battleship Taishan swooped on top, frightening their souls and fleeing immediately. .

  As for the hospital ships and military auxiliary ships that were slow, they all raised white flags and surrendered.

I felt that the Japanese battleship was jealous. Ignoring the fact that the Russian military auxiliary ships had surrendered, they opened fire and violently bombed, and soon sunk one after another, including the Russian hospital ship that was on the go. Torn to pieces by the fierce Japanese artillery fire, it sank into the cold ocean amidst howls of pain.

  In the northern waters of Tsushima Strait

  The three Russian destroyers Diamond, Pearl and Svetlana ran desperately. Behind them were a large number of high-speed chasing Japanese destroyers, chasing like wolves chasing rabbits. It was a moment of comfort and spectacular.

  It's about 11:00 in the morning

  After more than two hours of chasing on the sea, the destroyer Pearl and the destroyer Svetlana were torn apart by the guns of the Japanese ships that were being pursued. Only the Diamond escaped at high speed through the fog on the sea and finally recovered a life.

  At this time, the dilemma faced by Admiral Togo Heihachiro; whether to continue to defend the Tsushima Strait or to lead the main force of the fleet northward?

  This small fleet may be the bait released by the main force of the Russian fleet. In his judgment, the main force of the Russian fleet has only two possibilities;

  One is that it is still wandering somewhere in the waters south of the Tsushima Strait. The Japanese side has sent a large number of ships to search, which is unlikely.

  The area of ​​the Yellow Sea south of the Tsushima Strait is large and large, not too large. It is easy to reveal traces under the full search of Japanese warships. Then, by then, the Russian fleet will face an extremely dangerous situation.

  As long as the Fuso Joint Fleet firmly controls the bottleneck of the Tsushima Strait, the main Russian fleet is like a turtle in the urn. From a common sense, no admiral dares to take such a risk.

   But having said that, this possibility still exists.

   Another situation is that the main force of the Tsarist Russian fleet flicked a shot and abandoned the small fleet by docking its tail to survive. The main force went northward at full speed through the Pacific Ocean east of the Fusang Islands, and is expected to break through the Sogo Strait tonight.

At this time, the main force of the Japanese combined fleet is still hovering near the Tsushima Strait. If the destroyer fleet heads northward at high speed, there is a certain possibility to intercept the main force of the Russian fleet, but the main battleships form the slower First and No. The Second World War team, definitely can't keep up.

  Even if Admiral Togo Heihachiro was arrogant no matter how arrogant he was, he did not dare to send the destroyers under the joint fleet to the main Russian fleet. The two sides were not warships of the same level at all. Sending them up would be like meat buns and dogs.

  The time has come, so we can only take the last alternative;

  That is, the entire fleet will go northward and set a blockade in the waters off Vladivostok, which is closer to the Tsushima Strait, to prevent the main forces of the Russian fleet from escaping into the port fortress.

  May 27, 1905 at 11:47 AM

Admiral Togo Heihachiro, who has been thinking about it over and over again, was itchy with hatred. He could only slap his feet, and led the joint fleet quickly northward, setting up a blockade in the waters off the port of Vladivostok, and waiting for the main Russian fleet to come.

  Night of May 28

Lieutenant General Roger Stevinsky led the main Russian fleet to break through the Sogo Strait. Although the Japanese cruisers found their trails, in the face of this huge Russian fleet, the single Japanese cruisers could only follow far away, not daring to approach, and watched. Seeing the other party swaggering across the Zonggu Strait, his eyes were cracked with anger.

  Breaked through the blockade of the Sogo Strait. After the Russian fleet entered the Tatar Sea, it was like birds returning to the forest and fish entering the sea. It was not easy to find the traces of the fleet.

  At this time, the situation became extremely unfavorable for the Japanese combined fleet.

  Of course, some people are happy and some are worried about this situation, and people with a discerning eye can see it;

In the vast Tatar Sea surrounded by the Far East Continent and the Fusang Islands (Japanese-Main Sea shielded, temporarily use this instead), the Russian fleet has many options. The mainland coast of more than 2,000 kilometers from Sakhalin to Vladivostok belongs to the territory of Tsarist Russia. It has more than 10 small and medium ports.

   Disadvantages are also obvious; these ports are mainly civilian ports and fishing ports, standing in remote and cold areas, sparsely populated, extremely lacking in materials, and do not have the supply capacity of a large fleet, let alone provide a safe haven for the Russian fleet.

  But now the situation has reversed, and the initiative is on the side of the Russian fleet. There is no doubt about this.

  If it breaks through the Fuso Combined Fleet Blockade in the dark, the Russian fleet has a high chance of being able to escape into Vladivostok Port, protected by the shore artillery fortress group, and successfully escape the danger.

  The butterfly in the Amazon rainforest fluttered its wings, and a hurricane formed in the central Pacific a month later...

  In the original history

The Fuso United Fleet discovered and successfully intercepted the Russian expeditionary fleet in the Tsushima Strait on May 27, and launched a one-sided battle that could be described as devastating. The 38 Russian warships were sunk 21 and 7 were captured. The neutral country detained 6 ships and returned to Hong Kong with 3 ships. The loss of ships totaled 270,000 tons, 4,830 people were killed and 6,106 were captured.

  The Japanese army lost only 3 torpedo boats with a displacement of less than 300 tons, 117 people were killed and 583 people were injured, and the Fusang country achieved an unprecedented victory.

It is worth mentioning that the Fusang people consumed more than half of the ammunition in the pre-war training, and their precise artillery bombarded the Russian fleet. Although they did not achieve the effect of “every shot must hit”, they did use precise Artillery is among the advanced ranks of the world's navies, amazed the British.

  No one knows that because of the three orange pennants hoisted by the "Hua Yue", the original history has taken a small turn, but now everything is different.

  At around 1:00 AM on June 1st

Four days after the Russian fleet broke through the Sogo Strait, 27 nautical miles away from Vladivostok Port, the Fuso "Nishin Maru" armed merchant ship in charge of the search collided head-on with the Czarist Russian fleet that came up underneath. 4 chains, almost collided head-on.

The Fuso "Nishinmaru" armed merchant ship immediately fired more than 10 signal flares. The flares that rose up to the sky exposed a large black ship formation, and the "Nishinmaru" sent out a key wireless telegraph in the first place. After only 4 minutes, he was also torn into pieces in the gunfire of the Russian ship.

  An unexpected night battle broke out suddenly

Facing the violently pounced Fuso United Fleet, the Russian fleet commander Roger Stevinsky became confused at a critical time, staring blood-red eyes, and ordered the fleet to prepare for the battle. He ordered a change of formation to facilitate the battle, and ordered the main battleship to take the lead. 1. The second squadron accelerated to 11 knots and drove in front of the other column to cover the other warships entering Vladivostok Harbor in the dark.

  Because the other ship column was not ordered to decelerate at the same time, and the soldiers' ship handling level was not high, the formation of the entire Russian fleet fell into chaos.

  40 minutes later

  Japan and Russia are close to 10 nautical miles, but the Russian fleet has not yet restored the chaotic formation and is still adjusting its formation amidst the chaos.

  At 1:55 in the morning, Togo Heihachiro imitated Nelson during the Trafalgar naval battle, sending out the signal of "the emperor is in this battle, and all members work hard" to encourage all members to fight blood and strive to win the final victory.

  At this moment, no one can back down, a step back is the abyss, only the blood-red eyes are fighting together, and the navy’s fineness is verified with artillery fire and blood.

  (End of this chapter)