"Fire!"
"Change formation!"
A sea battle that had captured the world's attention unfolded in the Philippine Sea. Billowing smoke rose high into the air, clearly visible even dozens of miles away.
With a thunderous boom, the Naniwa, charging at the forefront, unfortunately became the first casualty. The sound of rushing water began at her stern, drawing back the curtain on her sinking.
An officer cried, "Captain, the warship is too badly damaged—we can't save her! She's going down!"
Having just entered the battlefield only to be struck by an enemy battleship's main guns, the ill-fated Naniwa was naturally finished. As a thin-skinned cruiser, she had clearly taken on a burden she was never meant to bear.
As captain, Togo Heihachiro felt like weeping without tears. Who could have known that the Spaniards would ignore the battleships and come bully little runts like them instead?
"Shut up! Order the men to keep firing! So long as the ship hasn't sunk, the bombardment must not stop!"
A severely damaged warship could not withstand further strain. The more stubbornly it kept firing, the faster it would sink.
Togo Heihachiro naturally understood such a simple truth. But there was no choice. This was a battlefield, and given the Naniwa's position, it was already too late even if they wanted to withdraw.
Since the Naniwa could not be saved anyway, they might as well fire a few more shots. Perhaps they could even drag an enemy warship down with them.
As for cutting their losses in time, abandoning the ship and jumping into the sea to escape—such things were common in European nations, but they would not work in Japan.
A soldier's honor dictated that they could not do such a thing. If they abandoned ship to save themselves now, they would never be