Hit

"Mr. Chen, I've noticed a detail." Tirpitz suddenly stopped. "On your deck, there aren't those messy davits, small boats, or storage areas. All the auxiliary equipment is stored in dedicated cabins?"

"Yes, General." Chen Feng nodded. "We call it a 'simplified deck design.' In wartime, it reduces shrapnel damage, and in peacetime, it facilitates maintenance and operations. All lifeboats are housed in a dedicated compartment amidships and can be quickly deployed via a rail system."

"Brilliant," Tirpitz whispered to the German shipbuilding expert beside him. "Make a note of it. This is far more advanced than the Nassau-class we are currently designing."

Admiral House, however, was more concerned with personnel. He noticed that even when preparing to set sail, there were fewer than thirty sailors on deck, and each of them moved with remarkable discipline, without the chaotic frantic activity common in the navy. This was, of course, thanks to the sailor training manual on Chen Feng's computer.

"Mr. Chen, your crew... how long have they been trained?"

"The first batch of core crew members underwent 18 months of training," Chen Feng said frankly. "With the existing complete system in place, the training period for subsequent personnel can be shortened to nine months."

"Eighteen months..." House smiled wryly. "It takes us two years to train a qualified main gunner."

"It's an efficiency issue, Your Excellency," Chen Feng smiled. "Our training system is standardized, with detailed operation manuals and assessment standards for each step. You will see our training documents later."

Argentina's General Luhan was the most direct. He walked straight to the front main turret and looked up at the two dark 305mm gun barrels.

"Can I see the shells?"

"certainly."

Chen Feng gestured to Captain Li Te. This 40-year-old former captain of a Southeast Asian Chinese merchant ship, now dressed in a dark blue uniform, already possessed the demeanor of a professional soldier.

"Open the elevator for ammunition depot number one," Li Te ordered in Chinese.

A heavy armored cover slowly slid open on the deck, revealing a bottomless well. A few seconds later, a platform rose up, securing two 305mm shells. The shells were streamlined, their brass casings gleaming a dark gold in the sunlight.

"High-explosive shell, containing 86 kg of TNT," Li Te explained in fluent English. "Armor-piercing shell, with a hardened warhead, capable of penetrating 280 mm of vertical armor."

"TNT?" Tirpitz keenly caught the word. "You're using trinitrotoluene? Not picric acid?"

"Yes, General. TNT is more stable, safer, and more powerful," Chen Feng explained. "We have a small chemical plant in the northern mountains that specializes in producing it."

This was another cutting-edge technology. In 1905, navies around the world were still mainly using picric acid explosives, which were unstable, prone to spontaneous combustion, and often caused catastrophic fires when ships were hit. TNT would not be widely adopted until several years later.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please take your seats on the bridge." Chen Feng glanced at his pocket watch. "The shooting demonstration will begin in thirty minutes."

Inside the bridge, representatives from the three countries were seated in observation decks. The view was excellent, with 270-degree panoramic windows offering a clear view of the sea to the fore, aft, left, and right. What shocked Tirpitz even more was the entire row of instruments and communication equipment inside the bridge—mechanical computers, telephone exchanges, electric megaphones, and even a primitive set of radio equipment.

"Do you have wireless telegraph?" Tirpitz couldn't help but ask.

"It's experimental, with a communication range of about fifty nautical miles." Chen Feng didn't hide anything. "We made some improvements to Mr. Marconi's patent."

"My God..." murmured an engineer from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, "The new technology on this ship is enough to write twenty papers."

Captain Li Te stood at the command platform and issued a series of orders in Chinese. Although they couldn't understand the language, the representatives from the three countries could sense the ship's command efficiency from his concise and decisive tone.

"The boiler is pressurized, and the steam turbine is preheated."

"Main turret rotation test begins."

"Rangemeter ready."

"Target ship's bearing confirmed - southeast by south, 15,000 yards away."

Chen Feng walked to the observation deck and picked up a microphone—the ship's internal broadcasting system, another piece of equipment that was not available on warships of this era.

"Gentlemen, today's target is a decommissioned cargo ship that we have modified. It has been towed to the designated location, and the surrounding waters have been cleared. We will conduct a three-round salvo using high-explosive shells. The firing range will begin at 15,000 yards and gradually increase."

"Fifteen thousand yards?" General Luhan exclaimed. "My Moreno-class missiles only have a maximum range of twelve thousand yards, and at that distance, the accuracy is practically zero!"

"This is the advantage of unified fire control for all heavy artillery," Chen Feng said calmly. "Please put on your earplugs, the sound of the artillery fire will be very loud."

Everyone accepted the cork plugs offered by the sailors. The atmosphere on the bridge suddenly became tense.

"Target locked." The fire control officer's voice came through the intercom.

"Main gun fully loaded," the turret reports.

"Wind force level 3, wind direction southeast, correction value 0.7," the meteorological observer reported.

Captain Li Te took a deep breath and raised his right hand: "All ships, enter combat readiness."

An alarm sounded—not a traditional hand-cranked bell, but a piercing blare from an electric horn. The entire ship seemed to come alive, yet it was eerily quiet, save for the low hum of the steam turbines and the hissing of the ventilation system.

"First salvo," Li Te's voice was as calm as if he were asking what to have for dinner, "five turrets, fire simultaneously."

He swung his raised hand down suddenly.

"Fire!"

The world froze at that moment, and then it was torn apart.

Ten 305mm main guns roared almost simultaneously, spewing flames twenty meters long, and thick smoke instantly enveloped half of the ship. The massive shockwave caused the ship to shift three meters to starboard, pushing the seawater aside and creating a white ripple. Even with earplugs, the sound was like someone smashing a hammer into everyone's skull.

The observation windows on the bridge creaked and groaned, but remained motionless.

The muzzle storm stirred up dust on the deck, but it was quickly dispersed by the sea breeze. Ten shells traced ten faint trajectories in the air as they flew toward the distant horizon.

"Distance measurement!" Li Te's voice remained completely calm.

"The shell is in flight... 38 seconds... 39 seconds..."

Everyone raised their binoculars and looked towards the sea in the southeast direction.

"...Hit!"

Fifteen thousand yards away, ten enormous white water columns suddenly erupted on the sea. Each column was over thirty meters high, resembling a suddenly sprouting white forest. The cargo ship, which was being used as a target vessel, was hit directly by at least three shots in the center of this "forest."

The first volley had a 30% hit rate.

"My God..." Tirpitz's hands trembled, the telescope barrel bumping against his eye socket, but he didn't even notice. "Fifteen thousand yards... thirty percent accuracy... this is impossible..."