I'm not good at writing either! Pick a paragraph! !
1September 894 17, the third day after the fall of Pyongyang, the Japanese joint fleet finally provoked a fierce naval battle in the Yellow Sea near Dadonggou at the mouth of the Yalu River.
The Japanese navy has concentrated 12 warships outside the Datong River, including all its essences, namely, eight main ships and cruisers with a horsepower of more than 5,000, including Yoshino, Takahashi, Akishima, Nobukuro, Matsushima, Chiyoda, Iwashima and Li Qiao.
On the morning of September 15, beiyang fleet's main 10 warship and eight auxiliary ships arrived in Dalian Bay under the leadership of Ding.
16 in the morning 10, 4,000 people from ten battalions of the Ming army took five troop carriers and headed for Dadonggou at the mouth of the Yalu River.
/kloc-at noon on 0/6, the fleet arrived at Dadonggou, and all the troops landed the next morning.
17 at 8 o'clock in the morning, the flagship Dingyuan Hanglongqi began to return.
1 1 about, beiyang fleet suddenly found several clusters of black smoke on the southwest sea. Ding boarded the deck and looked out, judging that it was a Japanese fleet. So he immediately ordered the ships to raise artillery and live ammunition and prepare for battle.
1 1: 30, Yoshino first discovered beiyang fleet, and sent out the signal that "more than three enemy ships were found in the northeast".
12: 20, Japanese ships gradually approached beiyang fleet.
12: 50, beiyang fleet's flagship Dingyuan fired first.
Ten seconds later, Zhenyuan Ship also fired shells, and then, beiyang fleet's ships also fired shells and bombarded them together. Three minutes later, Japan's flagship Matsushima also began to fight back. At the brake time, the guns of the two ships were in full bloom, the smoke was filled, and the sea was boiling.
At the beginning of the war, the strength of the two sides was compared as follows:
Average velocity segment of total displacement and total force of gun torpedo tube
Beiyang Navy19527 212614.5
Japanese fleet 268 36 39 16 10.2
Among them, the average speed of the first Japanese guerrilla reached 19.4 knots. According to the statistics of the British Naval Yearbook, the firing rate of rapid-fire guns at that time was six times that of the original rear-mounted guns, so it was calculated that the firepower of the Japanese fleet was actually three times that of beiyang fleet. According to the navigation order, Japanese ships are equipped as follows:
The first guerrilla group
Name of Captain Displacement (ton) Speed (knot) Main Gun (door)
The source of Yoshinoya River needs 42 16 22.5 150 mm rapid-fire guns.
"Gao Chihiro" Nomura Zhen 3709 18 260mm2
"Autumn jinzhou area" Uemura Yanzhicheng 3 150 26 150mm rapid-fire machine gun 4 doors.
"Wave speed" Tougou Heihachirou 3709 24
The first group of our team:
Name of Captain Displacement (ton) Speed (knot) Main Gun (door)
Matsushima's flagship suffix knows 4278 16 320mm 1.
"Chiyoda" Yamami Uchida 2439 19 120mm rapid-fire gun 1.
[Yandao] Hengwei Road Yu 4278 16 320mm 1
The second formation of our team:
Name of Captain Displacement (ton) Speed (knot) Main Gun (door)
Abutment was a great success +06 320mm 1.
Birui Sakurai Chrysanthemum Brain 2284 13.2 170mm2
The new well of "Fusang" is 3777 13 280mm2.
Left side of the team:
Name of Captain Displacement (ton) Speed (knot) Main Gun (door)
"Xijing Pill" Green Leaf Jinyong 410015120mm
[Chi Cheng] Sakamoto Bataro 622 10.25 120mm
Beiyang fleet 12 warships are equipped as follows:
Name of Captain Displacement (ton) Speed (knot) Main Gun (door)
[Dingyuan] Flagship Liu 7335 14.5 305mm4
"Zhenyuan" Lin Taizeng 7335 14.5 305mm4
Jingyuan Lin Yongsheng 2900 15.5 2 10mm2
"Source" Qiu Baoren 2900 15.5 2 10mm2
Zhiyuan Deng Shichang 2300 18 2 10mm2
Jingyuan Ye Zugui 2300 18 2 10mm2
Jiyuan Fang Boqian 2300 15 2 10mm2
"Plain" Li He 210014.5 260 mm1
"Chao Yong" Huang Jianxun 1350 15 250mm2
135015 250mm "Yangwei" forest shoes.
[Guang Jia] Kingyung Woo129615150m2
"Light Soldier" Cheng Biguang100017120m3
The other six are gunboat Zhennan, Zhong Zhen and torpedo boat Long Fu, with one left, two right and three right.
Shortly after the battle began, beiyang fleet's flagship "Dingyuan" ship was launched because of 12, which was in disrepair for a long time. The bridge was destroyed by a sudden cannon, Ding was injured and the flag was destroyed. Ding refused to go to the inner cabin and insisted on sitting on the deck to bid. But he can only boost the morale of a boatload of people. At the beginning of the battle, beiyang fleet lost command. The 4th Ship of the First Guerrilla took advantage of its speed to attack the right-wing "Chaoyong" and "Yangwei" of beiyang fleet, and the 2nd Ship was hit and caught fire one after another, thus quitting the battle. The Japanese ship Yoshino was also hit by beiyang fleet and caught fire, but it was quickly put out. /kloc-around 0/3: 30, the "Chaoyong" sank.
When the Japanese First Guerrilla attacked the right wing of beiyang fleet, our team also attacked the main force of beiyang fleet. Beiyang fleet intercepted Japanese ships Birui, Chicheng, Fusang and Xijing Maru.
"Dingyuan", "Laiyuan" and "Jingyuan" hit Bi Rui and Chicheng hard. Shiro Sakamoto, the captain of Chicheng, was killed on the spot. "Xijing Maru" was also seriously injured.
At around 14: 00 and 15: 00, the Japanese fleet went around the rear of beiyang fleet and formed a double attack with the first guerrilla. Beiyang fleet between Scylla and Charybdis, the formation is more chaotic. During the scuffle, the former Zhiyuan ship that beiyang fleet had been robbing and killing was bombarded by the Japanese ships Yoshino and Takahashi, with many injuries and the hull tilted.
Tomohiro Ito ordered the First Guerrilla to rescue Chicheng and Bi Rui. "Yoshino" rushed to the front and was encountering the "Zhiyuan" ship on fire. Deng Shichang, duct tape, ordered the sinking of Yoshino. Zhiyuan collided with Yoshino at high speed on the starboard side. The officers and men of the Japanese ship were frightened, fled desperately and fired torpedoes at the Zhiyuan ship many times. After dodging a torpedo, Zhiyuan was unfortunately taken down by another ship, and 252 officers and men of the whole ship died heroically.
"Jingyuan" continued to fight against "Yoshino", but was also shot and caught fire. Captain Lin Yongsheng and first mate Chen Ce were killed, and then the ship was sunk by enemy torpedoes. All 270 people on board were killed except 16 who were rescued. After Zhiyuan sank, "Zhiyuan" managed Fang Boqian and "Guang Jia" managed Kingyung Woo, and they left the game (there are different opinions about whether Fang Boqian left the game in recent years). "Jingyuan" and "Laiyuan" quit the battle because of too many bullets, and took refuge near Dalu Island to repair the damaged machine urgently.
The two ships "Dingyuan" and "Zhenyuan" stubbornly resisted the siege of Japanese ships. Although they were shot a lot and caught fire several times, all the officers and men still insisted on fighting.
At 3: 30 pm, the 30.5 cm cannon of Zhenyuan hit the Japanese flagship Matsushima twice in a row. After the fourth turret on the back deck of the Song Dao was hit, the flame caused an explosion. The ship "Song Dao" tilted its axis by 5 degrees and emitted white smoke, which caused a fire. /kloc-more than 0/00 people died under the Japanese turret commander and navy captain Shima Kiyoshi. Dead bodies piled up and blood flowed all over the ship, and the Song Dao got lost.
Soon, the "Jingyuan" and "Laiyuan" were repaired and put into battle again. Japanese ships Chicheng, Bi Rui and Xijing Maru were bombed by Dingyuan and Zhenyuan, and the flagship Matsushima was paralyzed. Yoshino and Fusang were also seriously injured and could not fight any more. See beiyang fleet regrouping, Ito Youheng convenient 17: 40 or so.
Beiyang fleet short pursuit, also closed back to Lushun. The naval battle in the Yellow Sea, which lasted more than five hours, ended here.
The Yellow Sea naval battle lasted more than five hours, and its scale and time are rare in the history of modern world naval battles.
As a result of the naval battle, beiyang fleet lost five warships, namely Zhiyuan, Jingyuan, Chaoyong, Yangwei and Guang Jia (Guang Jia ran aground after fleeing the battlefield and self-destructed a few days later), killing and injuring more than a thousand officers and men; Japanese fleets Matsushima, Yoshino, Bi Rui, Chicheng and Xijing Maru were seriously injured (the two ships Xijing Maru and Chicheng sank shortly after being towed away), with more than 600 casualties.
After the naval battle in the Yellow Sea, because beiyang fleet didn't dare to fight again, the Japanese basically mastered the sea power in the Yellow Sea. (Beiyang Navy website)
Ships Gathering in the Yellow Sea —— Discussion on the True Meaning of Beiyang Navy Formation (Figure)
Figure 1. The situation when beiyang fleet plans to change the horn stall array into the horn flying goose array.
Figure 2. The Chinese and Japanese fleets entered the formation during the artillery war.
Situation map after the start of the battle
The situation map around 2:40 pm
The situation map around 4:40 pm
Looking at the Dadonggou naval battle from the naval point of view, the double-angle flying formation designed by the Qing army was not hasty (later formed a semi-arc horizontal line in actual combat) and was not ignorant of the art of war. Instead, it studied the characteristics of China and Japan. After careful consideration, it was quite targeted, and behind it was a set of aggressive and fierce battle plans.
Beiyang fleet's commanders have been unable to defend themselves, but this view is not groundless. If they were soldiers, they might appreciate its imagination.
Ding, a former general of the Huai army, is famous for his bravery and his rigorous use of troops. Li Hongzhang is famous for knowing people, and he will not choose a loser to lead his painstaking Beiyang Navy. The time from the war to the Dadonggou naval battle was enough for Ding to consider a careful battle plan. In fact, he can't have no such plan. Therefore, in the face of the long-term imaginary enemy Japanese fleet, he is by no means eager to fight.
Let's take a look at the yan zhen built by Ding for Beiyang Navy. I wonder if you have noticed how similar this formation is to the Sinop naval battle in Nasimov. The tactical value of this formation is to quickly divide each other, and then concentrate the superior forces to divide them one by one! Judging from the Sinop naval battle, it can even be said that this is the nemesis to break the T-gun team.
Ding's tactical thinking is not a simple epiphany. Just like playing chess, he considered several successful moves. After careful analysis, the formation arrangement of Beiyang Navy, including who comes first and who comes later, and the speed distribution, are carefully planned.
To put it simply, the idea of Beiyang Navy is to divide troops and flank.
Take "Zhenyuan" and "Dingyuan" as the leading words, form a figure-eight formation, make a dash for the Japanese "I" line, cut off the Japanese warship formation in the shortest time, and then turn around and flank.
Why do "Zhenyuan" and "Dingyuan" suddenly move forward? To complete this plan, the task of the pilot ship is the heaviest. It is the blade. It will be attacked by two enemy forces, and its course intention is extremely obvious. At the same time, its tactical actions are more complicated than other ships, so Beiyang Navy uses two giant ships, Dingyuan and Zhenyuan, to undertake this most arduous task. The reasons are as follows: first, they are the strongest and the most capable. Second, Ding and Liu are on these two ships. In the case that the communication between warships may be destroyed, they are the most likely ships to complete the command will. The rear wings, such as "Chao Yong" and "Yang Wei", are far away from enemy ships, and only one enemy ship is encountered, so the probability of being hit is low, and the task can be completed with a weak ship. In this way, the threat to ships is balanced, which not only protects weak ships, but also gives play to the advantages of armored ships.
Beiyang navy is slow, but the Japanese ship is a long snake array. The advantage of this formation of the Qing army is that the Japanese fleet can hardly change its formation in the face of the Beiyang navy, unless it also turns right, forming a situation in which only the bow is against the enemy (the bow is a key point in the criticism of the formation of the Qing army). The Japanese ship is a single column and lacks depth. The cutting of Beiyang navy will be completed in an instant, which is precisely the weak link of the Japanese army! Using this method, Japanese ships and Beiyang navy can effectively fight for rescue and cannot give full play to their mobile advantages. According to the actual situation of naval battle, the Beiyang navy commanded quite well in wartime, and the point of contact was chosen between the Japanese team and the first guerrilla!
It is expected that the operational guiding ideology of Beiyang Navy should be: after cutting the Japanese ship formation, Dingyuan and Zhenyuan will turn left and right respectively, and turn to the port side of the Japanese ship, so that the Japanese ship's own pilot ship will be attacked from the front, left and right at the same time, and the first guerrilla must turn around to rescue our team. At this time, its pilot ship will also be attacked on three sides. What will be the consequences of such a play on the pilot ship of the Japanese fleet? Nelson's devastating example of destroying Napoleon's Eastern Fleet in Alexandria is proof of this.
On the whole, Beiyang Navy used "Dingyuan" and "Zhenyuan" as bait, in exchange for the formation advantage of cutting and encircling Japanese ships, and then used the slow Japanese team as collateral, forcing the Japanese high-speed first guerrilla group to trap itself (even if it didn't vote, the subsequent ships would be better off being caught on three sides). Then take "Chao Yong" and "Yang Wei" as the anvil and "Dingyuan" and "Zhenyuan" as the hammer to smash the Japanese army.
According to this battle plan, the fleet of Beiyang Navy will eventually form a prostrate H-shape, which will clamp the two Japanese ships and make them unable to maneuver. If Japanese ships break through, we can concentrate our superior forces to annihilate at least one ship first. If the Japanese warships are desperate to get close to the dragon and concentrate on their combat power, the China warships in the middle (only flexible "Zhiyuan" and "Jingyuan" in the order of warships) can make way for the Japanese warships to be completely located in the interior, thus forming a long sea fire lane, which is obviously an ambitious battle plan for adowa Japanese warships!
From a military point of view, this plan has a complete realization foundation.
First of all, Japanese ships did not destroy Dingyuan and Zhenyuan weapons. It was China's army that wanted to bombard them. They exchanged their armor for the losses of other ships, but they couldn't stop their breakthrough at all (Ding dared to put his own boat in front, which was really courageous, much like his fighting style of luring the enemy in depth when he was at war with Nie Jun, but he was suspected of underestimating his enemy, which laid the groundwork for defeat. In actual combat, no Japanese artillery can penetrate the thick armor of Ding and Zhen.
Secondly, in order to avoid being surrounded, Ito Sukehiro's only reaction was to turn right, and their play was nothing more than spreading along the two sides of the Chinese fleet, forming two fronts in the shape of a figure of eight (much like actual combat later), but this brought two benefits to Beiyang Navy: First, Japanese ships had a fixed turning position at the top of the figure of eight, which was equivalent to providing Beiyang Navy with a fixed shooting opportunity. Beiyang navy is at the top of the eight characters. In this way, Japanese ships that can form a front confrontation with China warships are bound to be scarred, and the closer they get to the bottom of the figure of eight, the more serious the damage is; Second, the Japanese ship is divided into two teams, and the strength is thin, while the Chinese fleet has both sides-note that the middle of the two columns of the Chinese fleet is empty and will not be attacked from both sides, showing a figure of eight. The two Japanese ships are bound to fight further and further. Once the "Dingyuan" and "Zhenyuan" at the top of the eight characters form a situation of eight-character artillery battle, they can become mobile teams. As you can imagine, beiyang fleet will stall the Japanese fleet with weak ships on both sides (at this time, there is no plan to let the rear team catch up with the front team. Dingyuan and Zhenyuan jumped up from behind like two hungry tigers and killed the enemy ships at the end of the team in turn. (Will Dingyuan and Zhenyuan separate their left and right wings? I don't think so. The essence of the formation of Ding is to concentrate superior forces. For the team where the flagship of the Japanese ship is located, he will inevitably use "Zhenyuan" and "Dingyuan". No Japanese ship can resist the face-to-face joint attack of Dingyuan and Zhenyuan with other ships for a long time, but Japanese ships can't punch the Chinese ship because the Chinese ship formation is two long walls. If you go around the bottom of the figure 8,
What a thoughtful, cunning and old-fashioned way to play! Non-battlefield veterans can't do it! No wonder there is no doubt that I have read the classic generals of the navy at the combat meeting.
Why did Ding adopt this formation? I also have a guess, that is, Ding's idea is that Japanese ships can't escape!
Therefore, he will cling to each other from the beginning of the war, not fighting long-range artillery battles with each other or fighting less, and dragging the Japanese ship to the edge of the cliff for a duel, so that the other party can't pull it open, otherwise the Japanese ship will play its speed advantage and it will be difficult to fight if it can't be opened. Maybe Ding wants to turn Japanese warships into torches, so that the town name and the torpedo boats in the port can end the final battle? Of course, they can't play mobile warfare. Killing the target just played its powerful characteristics, and it also conforms to the habit that everyone in the Qing army has a share.
Zhenyuan Ship Anchor Collected by Junbo
Later generations have all kinds of criticisms on the formation of the Qing army, mainly focusing on two issues.
First, the Japanese army seized the battle position of the T-gun. In fact, the Beiyang Navy had been prepared for this, but the battle position played by the two sides later looked more like a "six". As we all know, the T-shaped array is the other party's pilot ship, and there are two small formation pilot ships, which can greatly disperse the other party's attacks. At the same time, the two wings are separated from each other, which can exert the firepower of the rear ships more or less than the simple T-gun battle. In fact, Dingyuan and Zhenyuan, as pilot ships, did not suffer a devastating blow, but played a role in attracting enemy fire, only to let the Japanese army destroy the headquarters at once, which is the most important thing for Beiyang Navy.
Second, at the beginning of the war, the ship's bow was against the enemy, and each ship could only open the main gun, but the rear gun could not give play to its advantages. This criticism is correct, but it is an inevitable sacrifice to gain formation advantage. Just like the battle between Ma Hai and Ma Hai, they got a favorable position with a lot of shells in the T-gun battle, but Ding failed and Dongxiang succeeded, so the evaluation was so different. Compared with the later battles, these two problems are not big problems. Seeing my friend's comments, I had an epiphany, that is, the main guns of Beiyang Navy were unbalanced before and after, and the front guns were much better than the tail guns, so the firepower sacrificed to the enemy was not too great.
So in fact, beiyang fleet really succeeded in dividing the Japanese fleet. Such a good formation, careful planning and high morale, why didn't it work? I think there are six main reasons for this:
First, the plan is too complicated.
This "well-thought-out" complex battle plan is often difficult to achieve in actual combat, and a simple plan is better, because in actual combat, it is impossible for each ship to execute the plan without interference as usual, just like a football player shooting, and complex and fancy actions are often difficult to succeed under the pressure of catering. The last battle of the Japanese navy, the Battle of Leyte Bay, was defeated by a "careful" and complicated battle plan spanning thousands of kilometers.
Second, the Japanese firepower is underestimated.
The fighting capacity of the Japanese army and the tragic degree of the war were underestimated. It can be said that only after the war did the officers and men of Beiyang Navy fully realize the combat effectiveness of the Japanese army. The intensive and accurate artillery fire and precise command of the Japanese army surprised the Beiyang Navy and seriously affected its morale. If we had known in advance that the Japanese ship's hit rate was so high, Zhiyuan would never have rushed out to block the shells of the Japanese fleet alone, which was something that only Dingyuan and Zhenyuan could have done. Ding was injured. Judging from the situation of "burning the head", it is impossible to break the flying bridge. It was clearly hit by Japanese artillery shells, but the Qing army could not believe that Japanese artillery shells would be so accurate! The influence of this will be described later, but it can be seen that the Qing army was not prepared for such a fierce blow, which affected the determination of Beiyang Navy to implement the later plan. Like Kingyung Woo, it was definitely not prepared for this, so it collapsed. Beiyang navy probably came with the attitude of hunting, but it was a bloody battle! At this moment, the idea of Beiyang Navy must quickly change from completely annihilating the enemy to protecting itself from being annihilated, but this was not considered too much in the initial operational plan. If we hastily change our operational guidelines, beiyang fleet's combat effectiveness and planned advantages will of course be greatly reduced. In this hand-to-hand combat, the advantages of Japanese fast guns have been fully exerted, while the Qing army has not considered its own weapons backwardness and the lack of soldiers' quality.
Third, the strength is not enough.
According to the original battle plan, regardless of the fact that the Japanese army could give beiyang fleet a major blow in the first battle, no ship could be completed without the reserve team. Although the enemy formation was successfully cut, with the escape of Jiyuan and Guang Jia, even if the command is proper, this plan has been difficult to implement.
Fourth, lose command.
The most important point is that this plan can only be realized if the ships are coordinated as a whole and the command is smooth. When to outflank and how to deal with the counterattack of enemy ships should be considered from the point of view of the fleet, not from the point of view of a warship. Moreover, the Qing army lost its command right just after the war and did not specify a backup commander ("Zhenyuan" is not a good backup flagship? Why is there no regulation? Probably underestimating the enemy), causing great confusion behind. Seeing a discussion about raising Zhiyuan Banner, I remembered that Gao Tengsheng, a participant in Mawei naval battle, once raised the Dragon Banner in Feiyun. According to the explanation of General Zhong Hanbo of Taiwan Province Province, it only means that there are senior generals on board, which is equivalent to the flag displayed in the naval battle later, indicating the meaning of death, rather than taking over the command. The evaluation of the Japanese army is that "the brave are too brave, and the fearful are too afraid." Zhiyuan's departure and Jiyuan's escape tore open the fleet's eight-character array. With Ding's injury, the Qing army simply lost its unified command, and this plan could not be carried out without command! The ships of the Qing army did not have their own thinking, and their thinking was taken over by the out-of-control flagship. How can I not take it indiscriminately? Think about it. At the Battle of Hushan, Lin Biao ordered the attack and let the column go its own way. That's the most advanced battle plan!
Fifth, there is something wrong with the commander structure.
Within the Beiyang Navy, only Ding (who obviously has no commander-in-chief temperament) has really fought, and he also has the ability to command the whole army. The second-level commanders, even those who are excellent, such as Liu, obviously lack the overall consideration of strategy. Liu Can commanded a warship well, but he didn't have the ability and experience to command the whole team. The so-called general has no command, and it is his first time to take part in a real battle, so we should not expect too much from him. Therefore, after Ding's injury, no one can have such talent and courage to be the commander in charge of implementing this plan.
Sixth, bad luck.
This plan is a typical "strike after the enemy" advocated by China people, so in the first half, it is doomed to suffer. When the enemy is really divided and can make money by itself, it can't make money for various reasons. Therefore, the Qing army seems to have suffered completely in the whole campaign and can't see a bright spot. Therefore, later generations only criticized Ding's Flying in the Wild.
Personally, I think the relationship between Beiyang Navy's defeat and formation should be much simpler and deeper than that between single longitudinal array and yan zhen. Later generations tend to regard our ancestors as old-fashioned or cowardly people (they are indeed older than us), but in fact, the characters at that time were heroic and had their own blood and wisdom. Ding may have worked harder than anyone for the victory of Beiyang Navy, and his talents may be much higher than those who evaluated him ... Do you think my analysis is reasonable?
Besides the inevitable factors, the failure of Beiyang Navy has many accidental factors. To give a simple example, after the Yellow Sea naval battle, Japanese ships were supposed to retreat first, but the stranded ships in China were destroyed by the Japanese, otherwise "Guang Jia" and "Chaoyong" could be saved (what did Ye Zugui do at this time? Can't you catch up with the Japanese and take care of your wrecked ship? ), coupled with the collision of Jiyuan with Yangwei (doubtful), in fact, Beiyang Navy may easily reduce the loss to two ships, not five at all, and Zhenyuan hit the rocks and even destroyed the Great Wall.
The above humble opinion is only for the village, but imagine which Japanese ship will be unlucky if Ding's plan is realized. Alas, there is nothing but a sigh.