Chapter 181 The Conspiracy of the Boston Empire III
Unlike the old warships of Japan, the St. Martin Empire has been at a disadvantage at sea for a long time, so they tried their best to tap the potential of the old warships and replaced all wooden warships with new breech-mounted artillery.
Although the caliber of the artillery is generally small due to the limited ability of the wooden deck to withstand recoil, it is still enough to penetrate the rather weak armor of the cruiser.
The sailing warship carried far more artillery than the ironclad ship. Facing the barrage raining down, Dewey was so angry that he cursed. However, it took time for the warship to turn, so he could only order the turn while fighting back.
Seeing that his side's tactical intention had been realized and Dewey's fleet was intercepted, Dinant immediately ordered the main fleet to turn around and rushed up from the side of Dewey's fleet.
The Saint Martin Empire warship, designed with the bow against the enemy, launched a frontal charge, aimed its bow at the Boston warship, and covered it with fierce artillery fire.
Although the ironclad ships of the Saint Martin Empire are old, the caliber of their artillery is not small. There are as many as thirteen 305 mm caliber main guns focused on attacking several large ironclad ships of the Boston Empire.
Soon, a Boston Empire ironclad was penetrated through a weak link in the armor, and the shells that entered the hull penetrated the boiler room, completely destroying the warship's power system.
The speed of the hit ironclad ship dropped sharply. Seeing that there was an advantage to be taken, other ironclad ships of the St. Martin Empire aimed their guns at it. The immobile warship was undoubtedly a living target.
Under the joint attack of multiple warships, several artillery shells fell on the ironclad ship one after another. One of the artillery shells hit the joint between the front main gun and the deck by accident.
The shell penetrated the hull and then followed the ammunition transport pipe into the front main gun ammunition depot of the ironclad ship, directly detonating its ammunition. The bow of this large 12,000-ton ironclad ship was blown to pieces and surged.
The sea water poured in along the breach.
The heavy sea water pressed the bow of the ship into the sea, and the stern of the ship was raised high out of the water. The two propellers turned slowly in vain but could not change its fate. After struggling for nearly an hour, the giant ship finally slowed down.
Slowly sank to the bottom of the sea.
The sinking of an ironclad ship greatly boosted the morale of the Saint Martin Empire Navy. The firepower of each warship seemed to be more fierce. Soon the group of sailing warships that attacked bravely also achieved results. Although these sailing warships had relatively fragile hulls,
, each warship has hundreds of guns.
Thousands of artillery pieces from dozens of warships provided intensive fire coverage. The weakly armored Boston cruiser fleet soon suffered a disaster. The three cruisers were beaten to pieces by the intensive artillery fire and soon began to sink.
Enraged, Dewey immediately ordered the cruiser not to follow the ironclad, but to turn on its own and start moving toward the bow of the sail battleship group, seizing the T-head position.
Seeing this situation, Marshal Dinant immediately ordered his own cruiser fleet to rush forward, entangle the opponent's cruisers, prevent them from taking advantage of their speed to turn, and create opportunities for his sail warships.
Marshal Dinant led the armored fleet to meet the opponent's armored ships, attracting their firepower and creating favorable opportunities for the sail battleship group.
The ironclads led by Dewey were all designed and manufactured by the Boston Empire. Although there is still a certain gap in technology between them and the traditional powers of the Western Continent, after all, they are newly launched warships this year and are still very advanced in terms of tactical concepts.
Although the Boston Empire's steel plate riveting process is not up to standard, it is impossible to directly manufacture battleships with steel plates, and can only continue to manufacture ironclads with wooden hulls with riveted iron armor on the outside. However, with their tonnage of 12,000 tons, they still cannot compete with the old ironclads of the St. Martin Empire.
The advantages are obvious.
The Boston Empire's Galino-class ironclads have four 305mm main guns and a large number of secondary main guns. Relying on these guns, eight ironclads poured intense firepower at the St. Martin Empire's ironclads. Two
The old ironclad ship was immediately hit and damaged, and its speed suddenly slowed down.
These two old warships with weak armor quickly attracted another round of artillery fire and were sunk without any suspense. However, their sacrifice was worth it. Three more Boston cruisers were sunk, and the remaining three were sunk.
It is also already in danger.
Seeing that the cruiser fleet was in danger, Dewey had a layer of sweat on his forehead. He immediately ordered the ironclad fleet to break away from the enemy and move closer to the cruiser fleet. However, Dinant and the armored fleet stuck close to him, letting him
Dewey was at his wits end.
Soon, four cruisers of the St. Martin's Navy were sunk, and the eight new cruisers of the Bostonians were wiped out at the cost of twenty-seven sailing battleships. It was a remarkable victory, but their remaining battleships also suffered heavy losses, and not many of them were able to survive.
The strength to fight.
At this time, Dinant's goal had been achieved. Since he had wiped out the opponent's cruise fleet, it would be difficult for the remaining slow-moving ironclads to pursue him.
Looking at his own warships that were still fighting bravely, Dinant said sadly: "It's a pity that we don't have the ability to wipe out all these ironclads. If we don't retreat sooner or later, they will all be sunk."
The adjutant said with some reluctance: "Marshal, we are in the spotlight now and have a numerical advantage. We may not be able to sink them all."
Dinant shook his head: "I'm confused. Although we have many warships, only the main guns of a few ironclads can penetrate the opponent's armor. Other warships can't cause harm to them at all. If we continue to fight, we will only be massacred. We just hit
The sinking of the armored ship can only be regarded as our luck. Do you think we can be so lucky every time?"
Dinant sat down slowly and said with a painful look on his face: "Our warships have reached their limit. The officers and soldiers have done everything they can. We can't ask for anything more. Sometimes we have to make a decision.
Reluctantly choose to issue an order to disperse and retreat."
Just when the Saint Martin Empire fleet was sailing smoothly, the flagship suddenly issued an order to disperse and evacuate. Although these Saint Martin Empire navy did not understand the commander's order, the well-trained Saint Martin Empire navy immediately executed Dinant's order.
On the order of Marshal Special, all the warships of the Saint Martin Empire began to retreat in all directions.
Dewey was also aware of his own advantages. Just when he was about to form a formation and start the massacre, he suddenly found that the opponent began to scatter and retreat. This made him feel extremely angry, as if he had hit cotton with all his strength.
Dewey is a recent young major general and does not have as rich combat experience as Marshal Dinant. This time, in order to confuse the intelligence network of the St. Martin Empire, he kept several well-known naval generals in the country and chose the unknown one.
Rear Admiral Dewey commanded the fleet, but his lack of experience caused Rear Admiral Dewey to suffer a disadvantage despite his superior strength.
Although his armored fleet has powerful firepower, its speed is not satisfactory. Even the oldest ironclads of the St. Martin Empire are not much slower than the new ironclads of the Boston Empire.
Now that he doesn't have the speed advantage of the cruiser, it will be difficult for him to pursue him. But if he can't catch up, he still has to catch up. At least the opponent's sail warship is definitely slower than his own ironclad ship, and the opponent's ironclad ship is not much faster either. Now he is holding back his stomach.
The fiery Dewey will not let his opponent go.
"I order the retreat to stop, the helmsman to the right of the rudder, and the gunner to prepare for battle." The captain of the sailing battleship 'Obus' ordered loudly.
"What?" the first mate on the side exclaimed: "Captain, the order we received is to retreat quickly, and we should implement this order."
The captain shook his head and said: "We can't run away. The sail battleship is too slow and we have no chance at all. Rather than being caught up and sunk in humiliation, I would rather choose a heroic battle and sink it."
The captain's words infected all the sailors. None of them could refute, and everyone began to prepare for the final battle.
The ironclad ship "Oland" following closely behind suddenly found that the fleeing enemy fleet was suddenly attacked. The unprepared ironclad ship rushed over and put itself under the opponent's gun.
"All fire." The captain gritted his teeth and issued the order. All the artillerymen quickly pulled the traction rope. With a burst of loud noise, dozens of cannonballs flew towards the armored ship not far away.
Although the caliber of the sailing battleship's gunfire was too small to cause fatal damage to the enemy, it did not mean that the ironclad ship would not be harmed. Although most of the cannonballs fell into the water or bounced off the opponent's armor, there were still ten
Cannonballs from left and right hit the opponent's deck.
The intensive artillery shells blew the front deck of the 'Olander' into a mess. Dozens of sailors were caught off guard and killed, and the two secondary guns also suffered considerable damage.
After receiving a sudden attack, the 'Olander' tried to retreat and then fight back. Because they were too close to the opponent, the large-caliber main guns could no longer attack the opponent. However, their idea was good, and the 'Obus' stayed close to them.
Go up and don't give the opponent a chance to retreat.
Seeing the loss of the 'Olander', several other Boston ironclads also stopped attacking and came over to help. Under the salvos of many ironclads, the 'Obus' was blown to pieces.
The heroic captain and more than 300 sailors under his command all died heroically.
After sinking the 'Obus', those armored ships caught up again. The sacrifice of the 'Obus' just now was all seen in the eyes of the officers and soldiers of the Saint Martin Navy. Seeing that the opponent was approaching again, the one who fell at the back was
The captain of the sailing battleship Kilinko glanced at the surrounding sailors with firm eyes and said: "Brothers, the 'Obus' has set an example for us, and now it's our turn."
Hearing the captain's words, the angry sailors all called for a fight. "Full right rudder, let's give the Bostonians a taste." The 'Kilenko' also chose to intercept the opponent.