Chapter 192: Battle Begins

"What a colossal warship..." Kato murmured involuntarily. Despite having seen intelligence photos countless times, witnessing this forty-five-thousand-ton steel monster in person still struck awe into one's heart.

"Sir! The enemy ship is turning! They're accelerating!"

Through the binoculars, the bow of the Revival began pivoting to the right, and the black smoke pouring from its funnels suddenly thickened. Its wake traced a clear white arc across the sea.

"Trying to run?" Kato sneered. "Not that easy. All ships, right rudder fifteen degrees, seize the T-crossing! Speed increased to twenty-eight knots!"

The orders were relayed by flag signal and radio. The four Kongo-class battleships turned simultaneously, like four sharks that had spotted their prey, and began to spread into an encircling formation across the sea.

What Kato did not know was that at the same moment he sighted the Revival, on the Revival's radar screen, his four warships had long been marked with crystal clarity.

Revival bridge.

"Enemy fleet turning, attempting to envelop our starboard side!" Radar Officer Zhang Hao's voice came through the voice tube. "Distance seventeen thousand five hundred meters, speed... twenty-eight knots, still accelerating!"

Lin Haisheng stood before the chart table, his eyes terrifyingly calm. His fingers moved swiftly across the chart, calculating the differences in speed, angle, and distance between the two sides.

"Captain, they're trying to seize the T-crossing." Deputy Captain Chen Qiming's voice was tense. "Once they get it, the broadside firepower of all four ships can be concentrated onto us..."

"I know." Lin Haisheng cut him off and looked up at Gunnery Officer Wang Zhen guo. "Gunnery Officer Wang, status of main gun loading?"

"All loading complete! Turrets one and two, armor-piercing shells; turret three, high-explosive shells!"

"Very good." Lin Haisheng straightened up. "All hands attention: hard right rudder, speed increased to thirty knots. Maintain current heading for three minutes, then turn left fifteen degrees. We need to make them think we're fleeing, but in reality..."

His finger tapped heavily on the chart. "We're going to swing around to their flank and rear."

"Swing around to their flank and rear?" Chen Qiming was taken aback. "Won't that put us even farther from the Bismarck formation?"

"Distance is not the issue," Lin Haisheng said. "The issue is, if the four Kongo-class ships form a single column to pursue us, they can only use their forward main guns. If we fight them head-on, we'd have to face the broadsides of thirty-two 356-millimeter guns. But if we swing around to their flank and force them to disperse their firepower..."

He paused, his gaze sharp as a blade. "Then the most we'd face at any one time is sixteen guns. And from a greater distance."

The bridge fell silent for a few seconds. Everyone understood the captain's intent—this was not a retreat, but a feigned withdrawal to gain advantage, seeking the sole possible sliver of survival under absolute inferiority.

"Engine room! Maximum combat speed!" Lin Haisheng shouted into the voice tube.

"Understood! All boilers pressurizing, target—thirty-two knots!" Chief Engineer Liu Ming de's voice carried a desperate ferocity.

The Revival's four steam turbines let out a low roar, and the hull began to vibrate violently. The black smoke from the funnels turned into billowing thick smoke, dragging a long trail across the sea. The needle on the speedometer climbed rapidly: twenty-five knots, twenty-eight knots, thirty knots...

And deep within the hull, in a narrow compartment near the waterline, Mess Sergeant Old Zhou was clutching a burlap sack full of potatoes for dear life.

"Son of a... going this fast, we're gonna fly..." The veteran in his fifties cursed under his breath, but his hands were steady as bedrock, shielding the potatoes he'd been planning to use for tonight's stew.

He was the oldest soldier aboard. He had seen the Qing Dynasty's ironclads, seen the Japanese Naniwa, later fled as a refugee to the South Ocean, and then followed Chen Feng to Dubai. When the Revival was launched, he was among the first batch of veterans to board her.

"Squad Leader Zhou, are you all right?" a young mess boy crawled over, his face pale.

"I'm fine." Old Zhou spat. "Kid, let me tell you, I've seen plenty of action like this. Back when I was running ships in the South Sea, I've been through storms and waves bigger than this..."

Before he could finish, the hull suddenly tilted violently. Everyone was flung to one side, pots and pans clanging and crashing.

"Hard right rudder! Full speed!" The captain's terrifyingly calm voice came over the broadcast.

Old Zhou hugged the sack tight, a glint of light flashing through his clouded eyes. He knew the battle had begun.

Six-fourteen. Vajra bridge.

"Enemy ship speed exceeds thirty knots! They're fleeing at full power!" The spotter's voice carried disbelief.

Kato's brow furrowed tight. Intelligence indicated the Revival's maximum speed was thirty-two knots, but that was a theoretical value. In actual combat, sustaining thirty knots was already the limit. Yet right now, that colossal warship was plainly tearing across the sea at over thirty-one knots.

"Trying to shake us off with speed?" Kato sneered. "Not that easy. Order Wise Comparison, Hazelnut Name, and Mist Island to envelop from the left flank. Vajra and I will pursue from the right flank. We'll close around them like a net!"

"Sir," Hei dao hesitated, "dispersing our forces, wouldn't that..."

"It won't." Kato said confidently. "No matter how powerful the Revival is, it only has eight main guns. They can only aim at one target at a time. Whereas we, from any direction, can maintain the firepower of at least two ships. Pass the order: once within range, open fire at will!"

"Yes, sir!"

The orders were issued. The Combined Fleet's formation began to shift. Wise Comparison and Hazelnut Name turned left, attempting to flank from the Revival's port side; Mist Island followed Vajra, pursuing relentlessly from the right.

The four warships spread into an enormous fan shape across the sea, and the Revival was at the apex of that fan, sprinting toward the fan's open mouth.

Kato raised his binoculars, staring fixedly at the target growing ever clearer. Distance: sixteen thousand meters. Already within the theoretical range of the Kongo-class 356-millimeter main guns.

"Main guns, prepare!" he ordered in a low voice.

Vajra's two twin-mounted turrets began to slowly rotate, their thick barrels elevating to the predetermined angle. The loaders inside the turrets rammed the 635-kilogram armor-piercing shells into the breeches, followed by the propellant charges. The breech blocks closed, the circuits connected.

"Target, enemy ship superstructure! Turret one, ranging shot, fire!"

"Boom—!!!"

Vajra's forward main guns spewed fierce flames and thick smoke. Two armor-piercing shells screamed out at 780 meters per second, tracing two visible arcs through the air.

Thirteen seconds later, the shells landed roughly two hundred meters off the Revival's port side, sending up two water columns over thirty meters high.

"Near miss! Correct parameters, all main guns—broadside!"

This time, four main guns roared simultaneously. The four shells dispersed in the air, forming a lethal curtain of fire that bore down to envelop the Revival.

Revival bridge.

"Enemy ship opening fire!" The spotter's shout nearly cracked his voice.

Lin Haisheng did not even glance at the water columns. His eyes were fixed on the radar screen, watching the two blips closing in to envelop from the left.

"Port side, fifteen degrees, distance fifteen thousand five hundred! It's Wise Comparison and Hazelnut Name!" the radar officer reported.

"Right on time." A cold smile rose to the corners of Lin Haisheng's mouth. "Hard right rudder! Heading change to one-two-zero! Main guns target the port-side enemy—Wise Comparison, all guns, broadside!"