 Noticing the Chinese maneuver, the Japanese cruisers in turn increased their speed to , in line ahead formation with "Yoshino" leading "Naniwa" and "Akitsushima".Tsuboi clearly desired to outmaneuver the Chinese and prevent their escape to open water; however, realizing that this would not be possible, he executed a turn to port bearing west, in order to converge with the Chinese.At around 7.45 am the distance between the flagship "Yoshino" and "Jiyuan" was roughly ; for a short while the Japanese and Chinese warships were steaming on a convergent heading, observing each other, but at 7.52 am the cruiser "Naniwa" unexpectedly opened fire on "Jiyuan".