Chapter 668 The Powerful Ironclad Ship of the Great Sea Battle
Admiral Li Pinglang was on the deck of the Wuyishan, watching the performance of the Changbaishan.
He laughed and scolded: "Zheng Sen, this kid, can obviously use naval guns to deal with enemy ships, but he insists on ramming into them.
This is to bully destroyers with smaller guns and smaller guns.
When encountering a large ship in a certain place, it is easy to fall into siege.
The armor of the ironclad cruiser can block the opponent's artillery fire.
The soldiers on the ship were made of flesh and blood. Even if they were hit by an old-fashioned muzzleloader cannon, they would suffer heavy casualties.
All the soldiers on the same boat accompanied him to take unnecessary risks.
Send a signal to warn Zheng Sen. If he dares to do this again, the Changbai Mountain will stay behind me."
Zheng Sen soon saw the semaphore sent by the flagship, and his face immediately fell. He could only ask the semaphore soldier to reply.
The Imperial Navy fleet emerges from the Strait of Gibraltar.
Opposite is the Spanish fleet in the combined fleet, which is attacking the coastal defense batteries.
The Spanish fleet saw the Imperial Chinese Navy fleet rushing out of the strait, and they were about to be surrounded on two sides.
Admiral Oquendo, commander of the Spanish fleet, immediately ordered the fleet to retreat.
We must not allow the Imperial Chinese Navy fleet to block the Spanish fleet on the shore.
Admiral Li Pinglang used semaphore to command the Imperial Navy fleet to change its formation.
The flagship Wuyishan is in the middle, with Changbaishan in the front and Qilianshan in the rear.
They formed a straight line, and the armored cruiser was surrounded by four destroyers.
The large chimney of the warship emits black smoke, and the steam engine drives the propeller, allowing the warship to make more complex movements on the sea.
The flagship Wuyishan took the lead, and all the warships quickly pursued the Spanish fleet and its combined fleet at an inclined angle.
Admiral Li Pinglang ordered: "Each ship will launch a fleet salvo in accordance with the instructions, and first sink the enemy's flagship and its main battleship."
The Imperial Navy fleet of the Great China adopts battle line tactics.
The battle line tactics of the Great China Empire were summarized through many naval wars and combined with the iteration of naval ships.
Now this battle line tactic can better utilize the speed and firepower advantages of ironclad ships.
The warship moves toward the target fleet at a tilted angle.
The main guns located on both sides of the warship can use their firepower advantage to attack the target.
If a warship aims its bow at an enemy ship, it will be difficult for the main guns on both sides of the warship to hit the enemy ship.
With this kind of mobile warfare, the army can easily change its direction once it discovers that the enemy fleet wants to evacuate.
On the deck of the ironclad cruiser Changbaishan, Captain Zheng Sen looked at the orders from the flagship's semaphore.
He shouted loudly: "Target the fleeing Spanish fleet, prepare to fire the main artillery salvo.
Everyone paid attention to me. This was not a drill, but actual combat.
You must bring out the level you should have in your usual training.”
The iron-clad cruiser Changbaishan seems to be a precise instrument.
The helmsman holds the rudder tightly to allow the warship to sail quickly while maintaining stability in the sea.
The gunners operate the artillery that has been loaded with ammunition. When the warship is moving at high speed, they calculate the speed in advance to ensure that the cannonball can hit the high-speed moving enemy ship.
While the artillery staff taught the artillerymen to adjust the firing parameters, they also assigned different targets to each gun.
When Zheng Sen saw the flag signal of the flagship, he immediately issued an order: "First salvo, prepare."
This order was issued, and the artillerymen were making final preparations before firing.
The helmsman also notified the boiler room to adjust the speed of steam delivery by the boiler to slow down the steam engine and slow down the warship.
The warship is traveling at the highest speed, and the main gun is firing while traveling, which can easily cause the warship to yaw. If a more dangerous rollover occurs, it will cause heavy losses.
Changbaishan's three 305mm-caliber main guns on the port side opened fire at the same time.
At the same time, eight 150 mm caliber secondary guns opened fire immediately after the main gun fired.
Zheng Sen heard the roar of cannons one after another.
Even if there is a barreled retractor, it can absorb the recoil after the cannon is fired.
Multiple artillery pieces fired together, and the huge recoil caused the Changbaishan armored cruiser to shake violently on the sea.
While the ironclad cruiser Changbaishan attacked, the artillery guns of the other two cruisers also opened fire.
The cannonballs whizzed past in the sky, which was very spectacular, and hit the area where the Spanish fleet was located.
Zheng Sen supported the ship island and used a telescope to observe the results of the bombardment.
The main targets of the main gun are the flagship of the Spanish fleet and the main battleships of the double-layer plywood.
Two of the shells directly hit the Spanish fleet's flagship.
The powerful shells blasted two huge holes in the hull of Europe's most advanced battleship, and the fire broke out in an instant.
The warship was covered with gunpowder, and the fire directly ignited the gunpowder on the warship, and the entire warship quickly burned.
The flagship of the Spanish fleet was the key target, and Zheng Sen pre-Wuyishan aimed all three main guns at the archer warship.
The combat target of Changbaishan is not the flagship, but the warship on the right side of the flagship.
Changbaishan only hit one of its three main guns, and the shell hit the middle of the double-deck battleship.
The buildings above the deck of the warship were directly blown to pieces, and the shells also ignited the gunpowder on the enemy warship.
The hit warship immediately burst into flames and completely lost its combat effectiveness.
Of the two shells that failed to hit, one fell directly into the sea, erupting into a column of water three to four meters high. Other than that, it had no effect.
A shell passed over the enemy ship, landed in the sea behind it, and exploded.
The shrapnel ejected after the shell exploded directly opened a large hole below the waterline of the surrounding warships.
The damaged warship was only slightly flooded, and its speed slowed down.
The main target of the secondary battery is the warships falling behind.
The power of the shells is smaller, but the dense rain of bullets falls directly on the deck of the enemy ship, blowing up the mast of the enemy ship, or igniting the gunpowder.
The flagship of the Spanish fleet was destroyed, and the entire fleet immediately lost command.
The Spanish fleet was originally used to intercept the warships in the rear and hinder the movements of the Imperial Navy fleet.
After losing command, no one took the initiative to take on the task of cutting off the aftermath. All the warships swarmed and fled to where the combined fleet was.
Zheng Sen looked at the artillerymen, who were loading shells and aiming again at the fleeing enemy ships.
The Changbaishan fired a salvo at the same time.
They were also about to encounter the warships behind the Spanish fleet.
Destroyers escorting the armored cruiser Changbaishan.
They swarmed up and used naval guns to continuously bombard the nearby Spanish warships.
The destroyer's firepower was not strong, and the Spanish warship was hit with sawdust flying everywhere. The hull of the warship was soon broken, and seawater poured into the warship.
The Spanish warships were already very close to the Chinese Imperial Navy fleet, and they also used artillery to fight back.
In particular, the double-decker sailing ship is very tall, and its artillery attacks the armored destroyer from a high position.
The Dahua Empire Navy destroyer is made of special steel and has very strong armor.
The artillery of the Spanish army, even at a relatively short distance, could not break the armor of the ironclad destroyer.
But the naval soldiers on the ship have no protection. If they are hit by a cannonball, they will either die or be maimed.
Li Pinglang, Admiral of the Imperial Navy Fleet, observed the situation on the battlefield with a telescope.
The battle of the ironclad cruiser Wuyishan is commanded by Captain Lu Yuanwang, and Li Pinglang will not overstep his authority.
When he saw the destroyer being attacked by enemy ships, the soldiers on the deck acted in some confusion due to casualties.
Li Pinglang immediately took out his notebook and wrote down the problems encountered by the armored ship in actual combat.
Artillery is the most dangerous and vulnerable to enemy attacks.
The artillery on warships must also draw on the advantages of coastal defense artillery and equip it with armor to prevent the enemy from causing casualties to the gunners.
In this way, stray bullets on the battlefield will not pose a threat to the gunners, and they can focus more on attacking the enemy.
Admiral Li Pinglang looked at the situation on the battlefield. After several rounds of volleys from the Great China Imperial Navy fleet, only half of the Spanish Navy fleet's warships remained, and they fled back to the United Fleet.
The distance between the Great China Imperial Navy Fleet and the European Combined Fleet is getting closer and closer, and the two fleets will soon compete.
Robert Blake, the commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet, looked at the miserable state of the Spanish fleet.
When the Imperial Chinese Navy fleet rushed out of the strait, he was worried that the Spanish fleet would be attacked from two sides.
Admiral Oquendo reacted quickly and immediately withdrew the fleet from the battlefield.
Admiral Robert Blake recognized Admiral Oquendo's approach as the best choice for a naval commander in this situation.
While the Spanish fleet was escaping back to the United Fleet, Admiral Robert Blake, together with the Dutch fleet and the English fleet, were laying a trap against the Imperial Navy.
He didn't expect that the situation would change so quickly.
The Imperial Navy's fleet lived up to its reputation. With its powerful strength, it directly destroyed nearly half of the Spanish Navy's warships during its rapid escape.
The strength displayed by the Dahua Empire's naval fleet directly shocked Robert Blake and others.
Robert Blake had previously made an estimate of the Great China Empire's naval fleet in his mind.
No squadron can compete with the Great China Imperial Navy Fleet.
They can only unite and form a combined fleet, and there is still hope of victory.
Robert Blake's estimate completely underestimated the strength of the Imperial Navy's fleet.
Not to mention any squadron, even the prosperous combined fleet, may not be able to win when they encounter the Great China Imperial Navy fleet.
What's more, after these seven days of offensive, the combined fleet had many warships destroyed by coastal defense artillery, and its strength was obviously severely damaged.
Vice Admiral Marton Tropp of the Dutch Navy boarded the England in a small boat from the Freeland.
When he arrived, he saw George Munch also arriving.
Both of them had serious expressions on their faces. The performance of the Great China Empire's naval fleet frightened them both.
Vice Admiral Marton Tropp looked at the commander of the Combined Fleet, Robert Black. He spread his hands and said helplessly: "Mr. Black, you have also seen the power of the Great China Empire's naval fleet.
As soon as warships like ironclads appeared, they left a deep impression on us.
To put it bluntly, when the combined fleet first arrived here, it might not even be able to defeat the Great China Empire Navy Fleet.
Now that the combined fleet has suffered heavy casualties, how can it be the opponent of the Great China Imperial Navy Fleet?
If the combined fleet is severely damaged, neither you, England, nor we, the Netherlands, can guarantee the safety of the coastline.
Overseas colonies will also escape our control, and the price paid will be too high.
I think we should evacuate the battlefield as soon as possible. As for the development of the war situation in the future, it depends on what the Great China Empire wants? Let the nobles handle it."
Robert Blake, commander-in-chief of the United Fleet, heard Marton Tropp's words of surrender.
He did not yell loudly, but also spread his hands and said helplessly: "If we could evacuate, I would have ordered the evacuation long ago.
Why should we fight for a war where the odds of winning are too low?
I don't know if you have noticed the speed of the Dahua Empire warships.
This kind of warship driven by steam engines and propellers is really scary at speed.
Even if we escape with the wind and current, our speed is not as fast as the warships of the Dahua Empire.
That is for the purpose of escaping, and the formation will inevitably be very scattered, which only gives the Imperial Navy the conditions to defeat them one by one."
Robert Blake also thought about the Union Fleet's escape.
But when he saw the speed of the Dahua Empire's warships and the range of its artillery.
After a simple calculation, Robert Blake knew that the United Fleet had no hope of escaping successfully.
George Munch frowned and asked worriedly: "Mr. Black, what should we do?
You can’t surrender to the Great China Navy!”
Robert Blake, commander of the Combined Fleet, said firmly: "We have only one chance now, which is to dispatch all the warships of the Combined Fleet to attack the Great China Navy Fleet with all our strength.
I just found a glimmer of hope for the combined fleet from the performance of the warships behind the Spanish fleet.
As long as we are close enough to the Imperial Navy fleet, our artillery can kill the Imperial Navy sailors on the warship.
We cannot destroy the warship, but it is much easier to kill the people on the warship.
Through this method, only the casualties will be relatively large. If the war is won, the armored ship will most likely be captured.
I found that after the Dahua Empire warship's artillery fires, it takes several minutes of operation before it can fire again.
We have every chance."
Vice Admiral Marton Tropp and George Monk fully agreed with this plan.
They have reached a desperate situation and must seize this glimmer of hope.
After the combined fleet met the Spanish fleet, it moved forward with full sail and took the initiative to attack the Great China Imperial Navy Fleet.
Gu Zhonghuang, Chief of Staff of the Imperial Navy Fleet, saw the combined fleet charging towards them collectively.
The warships of the Combined Fleet are still in a very compact formation.
He chuckled and said: "It is too naive to try to deal with our fleet by killing an elephant with too many ants.
Notify the destroyer to take out the rockets from the bottom of the tank.
Notify the arsenal and move the napalm and white phosphorus bombs that the Ordnance Research Institute asked us to test on the deck.
The biggest weakness of sailing ships is fire. In this day and age, who would use fire ships to attack with fire?
I will also come to a fire company this time to let these Europeans see what it means to have a strong ship and a powerful gun."
Admiral Li Pinglang understood the power of special bombs. He looked at Gu Zhonghuang and asked, "Chief of Staff Gu, do you really want to use special bombs?"
Chief of Staff Gu Zhonghuang said firmly: "Special bombs must be used. We promised the Weapons Research Institute to test the power of special bombs.
Now is the best opportunity to use this skill to deter Europeans and collect data on weapons.
Besides, when the combined fleet launches an all-out charge, our fleet only has three capital ships after all, but there are hundreds of warships on the opposite side.
The strength of both sides cannot be determined clearly.
This is the first actual battle of an ironclad ship, and we must win completely."
Admiral Li Pinglang was persuaded by Chief of Staff Gu Zhonghuang, and he agreed to use special bombs to attack the combined fleet. (End of Chapter)