The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 892: Decisive Battle - Hawaii's Song of Iron and Cannon
08:55, thunder exploded in the waters south of Oahu!
Luo Xinhua's knuckles were clenched until they turned white. The six 200mm main guns of the Dinghai were already aimed at a Constitution-class battleship less than 7500 yards away.

"Distance 7500 yards - fire!"

The hull trembled in the roar, and six capped armor-piercing shells cut through the water mist on the sea surface.

In less than 20 seconds, the first round of rapid fire from the Dingyuan landed around the Constitution. It was another round of straddle fire! Maybe there were one or two near misses, but they didn't hit. But Luo Xinhua was not in a hurry. He knew that since the straddle fire had been fired, the next hit was a matter of probability - if he fired a hundred rounds, he would always get one, two, or three hits!

As for how many times exactly? And when this "probability" can be achieved, it all depends on the blessing of God the Father. After all, this time we are fighting for God the Father's grandson, so he should try his best to bless him, right? What grandfather doesn't love his grandson?
While Luo Xinhua was thinking about religion, his Dinghai fired three more salvos. Then, God's blessing came, and it came two at a time!
"Boom! Boom!" Two muffled noises came from the bow of the "Constitution" 7500 yards away - the first shell hit the slope of the base of turret A and bounced off, breaking the gun mounts of two 37mm machine guns; the second shell penetrated into the forecastle anchor engine room, and winch fragments wrapped in human tissue sprayed out of the porthole, and sea water rushed in from the breach.

"Two hits on the enemy ship!" The cheerful voice of the lookout came, followed by a nervous shout, "The enemy ship fires back!"

Almost at the same moment, Luo Xinhua saw the eight 152mm secondary guns of the "Constitution" ship burst into flames one after another!

Shells poured down like a hail, two of which landed within 30 yards of the Dinghai, forming a cross-fire.

This was a cross-fire from the secondary guns of the USS Constitution. However, the secondary guns of the USS Constitution did not have unified fire control, so they did not fire in salvos, but just more orderly free fire. Perhaps only two guns fired more accurately.

Thinking of this, Luo Xinhua calmly gave the order: "Keep the same course! Artillery team speed up the firing rate!"

Liu Wenhua, the son of a farmer from Washington State, used an iron hook to pry open the hot breech block. The clang of the shell falling to the ground was drowned out by the metal friction of the new shell being pushed into the barrel. The deck under his feet had been softened by the heat of the barrel, and a layer of melted and solidified asphalt stuck to the soles of his shoes.

"Correct the azimuth by 0.5 degrees to the left!" In the observation mirror, the Constitution's A turret had just been hit by a 200mm shell, which seemed to have twisted the "gun neck" and the rotation track was stuck at 15 degrees to the right, like a steel behemoth with a broken neck.

Two more 200mm armor-piercing shells whizzed out! One of the shells penetrated the front chimney base of the Constitution. The armor here was very thin, and it broke like an eggshell, and the hot fragments flowed into the boiler room through the ventilation ducts - with screams, the pressure of the two boilers dropped sharply!

"The enemy's speed has dropped to 14 knots!" Shen Moqing's voice was heavy.

Almost at the same time, the observation post reported through the megaphone: "The Zhenhai has also hit the enemy ship! The rear main turret of target 'B' is on fire!"

Just a few seconds later, the observation post screamed again: "Cannon light, the enemy's secondary guns."

Another row of 152mm shells hit the Dinghai, and Luo Xinhua suddenly felt the steel plate under his feet tremble twice.

"Report! Our ship was hit by a bullet on the port side!"

It doesn't matter, it's just 152
Just as this thought flashed through Luo Xinhua's mind, another 152mm shell washed the front deck. This time it was the 152mm cannon of the "New York" following the "United States" from a distance. He was lucky enough to hit it. An open-air 127mm secondary gun position disappeared instantly, and the gun barrel twisted and inserted into the sea. However, the gun crew suffered heavy casualties, and half of the bloody torso was hanging on the railing.

"The core area is intact!" Shen Moqing said in a hoarse voice, "The carburized steel holds up! They can't penetrate it!"

09: 15.

"The ninth shot hits!" The observer suddenly broke into a voice, "The Y turret of the Constitution was hit, and it seems to have been deflected!"

"Well fought"

"Boom boom."

The cheers in the bridge were immediately drowned out by an even more terrifying explosion—two 152mm high-explosive bombs exploded under the bridge of the Dinghai! The shock wave knocked Luo Xinhua into the brass megaphone, breaking his teeth and lips, causing blood to flow.

"Medic! We need a tourniquet in the port corridor!"

"We need a medic here." A howl that was not human was heard amid the gunfire. The unprotected area on the left side of the ship had become a hell on earth: the ventilation duct was blown into a twist and spewed steam, the broken fire hose flushed blood into the drain hole, and the walls of the entire corridor were nailed with jagged fragments, and fragments of canvas work clothes were hung on them.

But the Dinghai's counterattack was even more deadly! So far, its three main turrets were safe and sound, and the 3mm shells were still firing at the Constitution at a rapid speed.

During the 31st salvo, another armor-piercing shell with the mark of the Taiping Jiangnan Arsenal accurately wedged into the armored joint between the command tower and the bridge of the "Constitution"!
The 280mm carburized steel plate arched and cracked with a sharp tearing sound, and the crisscrossing circuit pipelines burst into blue-purple arcs, and the power supply of the entire starboard secondary gun was instantly paralyzed! Once the power supply stopped, the electric shell hoist imported from England naturally stopped. Without the supply of shells, the cannons were of course silent.

Dahlgren's roar was distorted in the microphone: "Why did the damn secondary gun stop?!"

Now the front and rear 305 turrets of the "Constitution" have been malfunctioning due to the enemy's 200mm shells. The ship is relying entirely on the eight 8mm secondary guns on the starboard side. Now these eight secondary guns are also silent. How can it fight?
Just when Dahlgren felt helpless, a joyful voice suddenly came from the megaphone: "The Y turret's steering system has been partially repaired!"

"Turn left, release smoke, load armor-piercing shells on Y turret, aim at enemy ship No. 1 but don't fire! Wait until it catches up before shooting."

Following Vice Admiral Dahlgren's order, the remaining Y turret of the Constitution turned with difficulty driven by the backup hydraulic system. The giant ship, which was hit by ten consecutive 200mm armor-piercing shells, was like a wild beast covered with wounds, but it did not die. It used up its last strength to show its fangs!
"Target A is about to run away. Old Shen, plan a route. Let's go around it and sink it!" Luo Xinhua's voice was filled with excitement - using an armored ship to sink a battleship would allow him to skip the rank of "Colonel" and be promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral!

Just as Luo Xinhua was about to harvest his first battleship in his life, an accident happened! When the Dinghai was chasing at full speed and the distance between itself and the Constitution was less than 3000 yards, the 305mm cannon in the rear turret of the Constitution, which had been silent for a while, suddenly roared!

Two half-ton armor-piercing shells whizzed over. One of them created a hundred-foot wall of water on the port side, while the other one accidentally penetrated the power compartment of the Dinghai, which was already at the limit!

boom----! ! !
A muffled sound a hundred times heavier than thunder spread throughout the ship! Luo Xinhua hit the bulletproof glass like a broken sack, and the entire observation window cracked like a spider web. The deck bulged and collapsed strangely under his feet, and boiling high-pressure steam gushed out along the cracks, instantly scalding the three damage control team members.

"Boiler B has exploded!" The chief engineer screamed intermittently in a pool of blood, "The water inlet valve is stuck! It can't be blocked!"

Amid the piercing alarm, the Dinghai suddenly tilted 10 degrees to the left! The speedometer needle fell like crazy towards zero - 7 knots! This armored cruiser, born for naval battles, was now like a soldier with his hamstrings cut off, gasping violently in a sea of ​​blood.

"Add water to keep balance!" Luo Xinhua spat out blood and grabbed the twisted handrail, "As long as the gun can still rotate, aim at the chimney of the Constitution!"

09: 45.

When the Dinghai, trailing thick smoke and flames, used its six intact 6mm main guns to rain revenge bullets on the Constitution, the southwest sea and sky were suddenly torn apart by two giant battleships like "steel mountains"! The bows of the California and Huazhou, with a standard displacement of more than 200 tons, split the wave crests as high as five meters. The eight twin 15000mm turrets on the two battleships were all aimed at the Constitution, which was escaping with smoke!
Luo Zhongtian's bone-chilling voice rang out from the megaphone of the USS California: "Target the USS Constitution, start calibrating fire."

Eight thick rifled gun barrels were slowly pitched up and down by hydraulic pressure, and the black muzzles were pointed at the heavy steel coffin twisting its body seven thousand yards away! The command tower of the Constitution was already shaky, and the huge crack made it look like a scar chopped by an invisible giant axe. Fires were everywhere on the deck, and thick smoke was billowing.

"Fire!"

Eight thick fire dragons spewed out at the same time! The air in the entire sea area was instantly sucked out! The heavy artillery with an astonishing firing rate of 1.5 rounds per minute completed its first roar in less than ten seconds! The scream of the 240mm capped armor-piercing shells tearing through the sky scared all the surviving American sailors to death! The heavy armor-piercing shells with an initial velocity of up to 820 meters per second smashed down with kinetic energy far exceeding that of 200mm shells!
Just the fourth round of salvos created eight giant water columns around the "Constitution", instantly covering it in a white curtain of water!
Straddling!

Then, the eight 8mm main guns of the California began to release their maximum power at an even more crazy rate of fire. When the water curtain from the tenth salvo fell, two hits were clearly visible! One hit the base of the rear chimney, and the entire chimney collapsed like a metal barrel crushed by a giant's foot! The other hit the junction of the front main turret and the command tower, which had become extremely fragile after being bombarded many times by the Dinghai!
"Boom" the teeth-grinding sound of metal tearing resounded across the sea, and a whole piece of composite armor plate was directly peeled off the hull and smashed into the sea while spinning!

In less than fifty seconds, another round of deadly hammer strikes had arrived!

This time, two more 240mm shells pierced the hull fiercely - one drilled into the bow and created a huge breach, and seawater rushed in! The most fatal one just penetrated the weak upper power compartment of the deck, and the nitroglycerin-charged shell exploded in the steam engine room! It blew a barely functioning triple-expansion steam engine into pieces, and tore the engine room into pieces like a steel storm! The speed of the "Constitution" dropped sharply to less than 3 knots, and it turned desperately in place!

The concentrated fire from the "California" and "Washington" continued. Three minutes later, an even greater disaster struck!
An indescribably bright light burst out from the middle of the ship! The shock wave generated by the simultaneous detonation of two thousand tons of picric acid explosives lifted 15000 tons of steel upward like a paper boat! Then came a huge fireball that swept across the entire sea, expanding and rising, as if a burning volcano had appeared out of nowhere in the Pacific Ocean!

When the fireball disappeared, the "Constitution" had broken into two parts. The bow and stern sections of the wreckage sank rapidly at a strange angle, and a huge whirlpool frantically swallowed the oil, debris and human bodies floating on the sea!

(End of this chapter)