Chapter 1322 Confrontation at Sea

If Pinto and Luis had previously hoped that the encounter with the Haihan fleet here was just a coincidence, then the other party's quick reaction after the encounter had already indicated to the Spanish commander that this possibility was shattered. The Haihan fleet was obviously well prepared.

They came and took a fighting stance against the enemy from the moment they appeared, which made the two commanders completely put away their chances. Previously, the Haihan people sent so many fast sailing ships to control and search the sea, and they were probably waiting for their own fleet to appear.

Got pregnant.

Before the two sides engaged in battle, the Haihan Fleet had inadvertently revealed its advantage in ship maneuverability. It was obvious that the two sides turned around only a moment apart, but the Haihan Fleet had already seized the positional advantage. Louis' Manila

Although the fleet responded quickly, it was only halfway through the turn that it realized that the Haihan people had consciously controlled their own course, and still maintained a large angle to cut into the front of the Manila fleet. As a result, the sides of the Haihan battleship were still

The direction of the Spanish battleship's bow would not appear as Louis expected.

Although Spanish warships are also equipped with artillery at the bow, due to limited space, the number is definitely not comparable to that on the sides. In such a large-scale naval battle, the firepower output intensity of the bow cannon can only be better than nothing.

.And the most terrible thing is that our fleet is in a single-column formation. In this rapid turning situation, the distance is widened, and it is impossible to form a fire network of the battle line. The shooting angles of the ships traveling at the front of the fleet are at obvious angles.

Disadvantage: It is very likely to withstand a round of intensive artillery fire from the Haihan fleet.

It was just that he wanted to adjust the overall direction of the fleet again, but he was already a little overwhelmed. Moreover, the Haihan fleet was in the upper wind at this time, making it easier to adjust the direction than the Spanish fleet. Louis gritted his teeth and decided to charge into this wave. He

You have to bet on whether there will be loopholes in the opponent's fleet formation during the battle. If the distance between the ships is too large, the Manila fleet can also forcefully cut in from the middle and separate them.

With fewer attacks, the Spanish fleet's advantage of having more ships can be brought into play.

Of course, in this way, the ships at the front of the fleet may inevitably become victims of enemy firepower. However, Louis is also a decisive person and knows that the outcome of this battle may affect the overall war situation between the two countries.

Without too much hesitation, a new combat order was issued immediately.

Tao Donglai doesn't have as many problems as the Spanish commander. He has full confidence in the performance of his own warships. If he still can't withstand the first wave of firefights after seizing the limelight, then everyone should stop going to sea to fight and stay tight.

Just go back to Sanya Port and become a port guard.

The Haihan fleet took the lead and fired the first shot at the Spanish warship on the opposite side from a distance of about 300 meters. Although this exploratory shell fell into the water about 30 meters away from the target, even a series of

The sound of cannons sounded, and several shells were fired from the side of the battleship Haihan, flying towards the Spanish fleet's pioneer "Juan" at the forefront.

The "Juan" belonging to the Manila Fleet is a three-masted Galen ship with a displacement of about 300 tons. The ship is equipped with more than 20 artillery pieces of various calibers. In fact, this ship belongs to the fleet commander Hu

The private property under the name of Ann Louis is usually engaged in maritime trade in various parts of Southeast Asia, but during wartime, he will also be temporarily recruited to join the armed fleet to perform military missions. This kind of thing is very common in the Far Eastern colonies of Western countries, such as Portugal and the Netherlands.

The maritime armed forces in the South China Sea basically belong to different businessmen and nobles, and they are only brought together during war. Such a fleet is more than enough to deal with the indigenous armed forces in the South China Sea, but it has to face the Haihan Navy.

As a professional army, it is inevitable that it will be a little inadequate.

The "Juan" can be considered a relatively large ship in the South China Sea. In addition, the firepower of the ship's equipment is not weak, and it has always been used to bully others. Commander Louis has great trust in the abilities of his ship and crew.

That's why it was appointed as the pilot ship of the fleet. When encountering ordinary opponents, the firepower of the "Juan" is enough to tear a gap in the enemy's line. If it is one-on-one at sea, the Haihan Navy

The smaller "Exploration-class" warships may not necessarily have a clear advantage.

But it is a pity that the current situation of the "Juan" is not ideal. When the opponent's broadside guns are pouring shells, the angle between the "Juan" and the "Juan" is too large, and the ship's broadside guns are still unable to enter the battle.

, only the bow gun responded symbolically. Of course, the bow gun, with an effective range of only more than a hundred meters, did not take any advantage in this round, and the fired shells fell into the sea without any suspense.

The cannonballs flying over from the enemy ship were not so polite. One of the cannonballs penetrated the side of the deck and tore the three sailors into a pile of pieces without any bias. The blood and flesh were scattered all over the deck. Although the ship's

Sailors all have rich combat experience, but such scenes will inevitably affect their will to fight.

And this is just the beginning. The pause in the middle may not even last half a minute. The second Haihan battleship that entered the shooting position also began to fire shells at the "Juan". Although the sailors on the ship had heard about it before setting off.

The Haihan Navy is powerful, but most people still think that its level should be on the same level as the Ming Dynasty Navy. This battle was bombarded by violent storms, and the crew members realized the rumored news.

But it is not made up. The combat effectiveness of Haihan Navy is not weaker than that of its own fleet.

After trying their best to adjust the course to be parallel to the opponent's fleet, the "Juan" was finally able to launch a counterattack, but the crew members were disappointed to find that Haihan's side controlled the engagement distance extremely accurately, and the opponent's route happened to be in their own home.

At the edge of the range of the naval gun, the shells that were fired almost all fell into the sea. However, our own side was within the range of the opponent's naval gun, and from time to time, a few shells would cross over the sailboat and fall into the sea behind.

With the tonnage of the "Juan", as long as it is not directly hit by the ammunition stored on the ship, it is unlikely to be sunk by a solid shell for at least a while. At best, it will just be some transparent holes in the hull. Therefore, although it is temporarily

Although they were at a disadvantage, the sailors on the ship were not completely in disarray. They still followed the instructions and resisted step by step.

However, when Haihan's flagship "VIA" entered the shooting position, this delicate balance was finally broken. The shells fired from the "VIA" not only included traditional solid bullets, but also shocked the Spanish sailors.

Shocking incendiary bombs. This kind of shell will explode after hitting the "Juan", and at the same time produce a large flame. This is just adding insult to injury for the "Juan", which is already passive.

And Louis, who was supervising the battle on the "San Diego", also noticed something was wrong. The Haihan battleship was traveling much faster than expected. Or to be precise, when the two sides engaged in battle, the overall speed of the Haihan battleship suddenly changed faster than the naked eye.

The visible range has increased a lot, concentrating firepower and using broadside guns to attack the "Juan", the first ship of the own fleet, in turns.

Although it is currently at a disadvantage, Louis can be sure that the sailing speed of his fleet is not slow at all. The current speed is at least about eight knots, but the Haihan fleet turned around and left his own fleet behind. Louis visually inspected its fleet.

The speed is at least 11 or 12 knots. How on earth is this achieved?

Louis couldn't help but think of another rumor about the Haihan Navy that he had heard before. It was said that some Haihan warships were equipped with extremely mysterious propulsion devices, which could provide a third force besides human power and wind power to drive the ships to sail quickly.

However, the manufacturing technology of this device is a high-level secret that has been artificially blocked in Haihan, so there is no further detailed information. Louis was skeptical when hearing this lack of empirical information, and did not include it when formulating the battle plan.

He took it into consideration, but judging from the current situation, this rumor is probably true. The chimney-like things on those Haihan battleships are constantly emitting black smoke. This feature is consistent with the mysterious propulsion equipment in the rumor.

The installation of the sailboat is consistent.

"How come Haihan people are so versatile!" Louis could only feel deeply helpless about such a performance gap. This is probably not a gap in shipbuilding technology, but an obvious technological generation gap with Haihan on a larger scale.

.Reflected in naval battles, one is completely controlled by the enemy, and it is difficult to even create a chance to counterattack.

After the "Juan" suffered a round of shelling from the "Visa", there were already many fires on the ship. The captain had to order the crew to temporarily give up the counterattack and seize the time to deal with the fire on the ship. Otherwise, they may not be able to wait for the other party.

If you fire a cannon and sink the "Juan", the ship will burn to pieces on its own.

As soon as the "Juan" slowed down, the Haihan fleet saw its flaw. The next two ships got closer to the "Juan" and fired multiple chain bombs towards its deck. The impact of this kind of shells

Although the principle is simple, the power of close combat is really not small. The shells fired are genuine deck harvesters. All objects on its path, including the mast, will be cut in two. The effect of intensive firing is even more terrifying.

Unfortunately, one of the masts of the "Juan" was hit by a chain bullet, and the two unlucky sailors were cut into two pieces. The broken mast soon overturned to one side of the ship, and a sailor was evacuated.

A large pile of sail ropes fell into the sea. The crew of the "Juan" had to quickly cut the ropes between this mast and other masts to avoid being involved. At this time, the hull of the "Juan" was already slightly damaged.

It rolled over, many fires broke out on the ship, and one-third of the sails were lost. It can be said that it basically no longer has the ability to continue fighting.

The "Juan" still caused zero damage to the opponent during the battle, and not a single shell hit any ship of the Haihan fleet. Seeing the "Juan" retreating from the line of fire, Louis

His face was very gloomy. Not only did he feel sorry for his ship, but more importantly, he suddenly discovered that the naval battle tactics he had mastered seemed to be impossible to use in front of the Haihan people.

In terms of maneuverability and flexibility, the Haihan battleship has the advantage; in terms of speed and the ability to increase the speed of the ship, the Haihan battleship still has the advantage; in terms of artillery range and firepower output, Louis still cannot see any advantage on his own side. The Spanish fleet before the war

The biggest and most obvious advantage is that there are more ships, but after the fight, it was discovered that this advantage could not be used at all. As soon as the two sides engaged in the battle, the American fleet was left behind. Then the Haihan fleet accelerated and concentrated its firepower to attack the lead ship of the Manila fleet. This

The tactics that the two Spanish commanders used to discuss before the war to use their advantage to attack more and less have all come to nothing, and there is currently no way to reverse the situation.

"What a tough opponent!" Although Louis was slightly disappointed with the performance of his own fleet, the setback of just one "Juan" was not enough to kill his will to fight. The Haihan fleet does have a suitable

Their unique tactics, but Louis believes that this does not mean that there will be no chance for the Spanish fleet to perform in this battle.

Seeing that the long battle line drawn by the Haihan fleet on the sea was almost completely sailing in front of the Manila fleet, if it continued to advance at this time, it would only be hanging behind the opponent's buttocks. Louis simply ordered to stop the pursuit and gather up first.

Formation, protecting the "Juan" to complete the ship's damage control rescue.

Although the "Juan" was heavily scarred, perhaps due to luck, it did not suffer a fatal blow. After dealing with the broken mast and the fire on the ship, the dilapidated sailboat could still barely continue sailing.

.However, I am afraid that the casualties on the ship will not be counted for a while. We need to check the remaining personnel one by one to know how many people were lost in the artillery battle just now. But no matter what, "

"Juan" was no longer suitable for carrying out combat missions in the following voyage. It also used a bloody lesson to remind other captains of the fleet that the risk of rushing to the front when confronting the Haihan fleet was considerable.

The two Spanish fleets slowly approached each other at sea and stood ready, but the Haihan fleet, which had taken advantage in the first round of confrontation, was not in a hurry to kill a counterattack. After severely damaging the "Juan", Tao Donglai ordered the fleet to first

Wait and see the opponent's reaction from a distance, and don't rush back to the battlefield to engage the opponent again.

For the Haihan Navy, this battle has full home field advantage, and now that the opponent's whereabouts have been completely exposed, there is no need to rush to attack it. Tao Donglai is very clear about the purpose of his opponent's trip, so he

He doesn't worry about his opponent retreating immediately after suffering a loss. As long as he remains patient, he is sure that his opponent will continue to reveal flaws.
Chapter completed!