Chapter 670 The Curtain of the Sailboat in the Great Sea Battle
The Imperial Navy Fleet Admiral Li Pinglang led his troops to surround the combined fleet from the side of the sea of fire.
The combined fleet had been attacked by fire before, and the flagship was the key target.
The combined fleet lost its unified command, and each warship could only fight independently.
Some warships that sensed danger and were on the edge of the fleet immediately fled toward the depths of the Atlantic Ocean.
Most of the warships obeyed the order and chose to attack the Imperial Navy Fleet.
After they lost their unified command, they immediately ran around like headless flies.
Some warships chose to escape out of fear, while others wanted to enter the burning sea area to rescue warships that were already on fire.
Some warships want to retreat, some warships want to move forward, and some warships are at a loss.
The Combined Fleet warships lost command, and there might even be a collision between an English warship and a Dutch warship.
When the fire attack occurred in the combined fleet, someone took charge of the overall situation and made a decisive decision to evacuate. Some warships might survive.
Now their retreat has been blocked by the Great China Empire's naval fleet, and there is a sea of burning fire in front of them, making it impossible for the combined fleet to escape.
Chief of Staff Gu Zhonghuang reminded: "Admiral Li, we use this method to block the combined fleet, we must be careful next."
Admiral Li Pinglang said confidently: "The trapped beast will still fight, but it will not cause too many casualties to our army.
Stray bullets caused some casualties, and this is the price we must bear.
The soldiers of the empire would not wear this uniform if they were afraid of death.
In the past, it was mainly relying on napalm bombs to achieve such significant results.
Now it is time to inspect the ironclads and sailing ships.
Two warships compete head-on on the battlefield to see which side will win."
Admiral Li Pinglang is full of confidence. Now the Imperial Navy fleet has gained a huge advantage.
After continuous defeats and a collapse in morale, the probability that the combined fleet can turn defeat into victory is extremely low.
Admiral Li Pinglang issued a flag, and the Great China Imperial Navy fleet immediately began to launch a final general attack on the combined fleet.
Captain Zheng Sen of the ironclad cruiser Changbaishan was extremely excited.
He commanded the Changbaishan to maintain a sufficient distance and, beyond the artillery range of the European double-deck battleships, constantly relied on the power of the artillery range to eliminate the remnants of the combined fleet that had fallen into chaos.
Zheng Sen couldn't help laughing and said: "When fighting at sea, every inch grows stronger.
Even if the range of a naval gun is only a hundred meters further than the local area, that is the distance between life and death."
He looked at the bewildered enemy ships on the opposite side, which were being continuously crippled by the Changbaishan.
Zheng Sen had a happy look on his face, seeing that the enemy ship had no power to fight back and could only be beaten passively.
A sense of pride emerged in his heart. It was this kind of crushing that could show the power of the Great China Empire.
The Imperial Navy Fleet of Great China continues to approach the Combined Fleet.
The combined fleet warships can only break out in the direction blocked by the Dahua Navy fleet.
In the other direction, the fire burning on the sea has not been extinguished. To cross the sea of fire is to seek death.
Some warships of the United Fleet tried to do this. Soon after they broke into the sea of fire, the warship caught fire.
This resulted in the distance between the Great China Imperial Navy Fleet and the Combined Fleet being continuously shortened, and soon it was within the optimal range of the Combined Fleet's warship artillery.
Zheng Sen shouted loudly: "Everyone, be careful to avoid the enemy ship's shells. Don't get hurt by stray bullets.
The Combined Fleet is already a grasshopper in the autumn, as long as we destroy these warships in front of us, the Combined Fleet will be destroyed."
Zheng Sen warned the naval officers on board the Changbaishan to pay attention to safety.
He knew that the war had entered a fever pitch and that the Imperial Navy fleet had entered the artillery range of the combined fleet, which would inevitably cause casualties.
But this is the only choice for the Great China Imperial Navy Fleet.
Continue flying the kite in the distance as before.
After the remaining members of the combined fleet calm down, they will look for opportunities to break out.
After all, the number of warships in the Imperial Navy fleet is very small, and the remnants of the combined fleet have great hope of escaping the encirclement.
What the Great China Imperial Navy Fleet is doing now is to continuously compress the encirclement, trapping most of the combined fleet warships in the encirclement.
The only way for the combined fleet to survive is to break out of the encirclement.
They discovered that the Imperial Navy fleet was preparing to block their escape route.
The remaining soldiers in a state of chaos reached cooperation and prepared to break out of the encirclement together under tremendous pressure to survive.
Zheng Sen hid on the ship island and watched the Changbaishan's performance in the war.
On the chaotic battlefield, Zheng Sen must prioritize his own safety.
If his captain dies in battle, the Changbaishan will be in chaos for a period of time until a new captain takes office.
When chaos occurs during wartime, the impact will be huge.
Zheng Sen did not want the Changbai Mountain to perform poorly in this war because of his carelessness.
He saw the dense shells and continuously attacked the Changbaishan.
It's just that the Changbaishan is an all-steel warship, even though it has the most powerful battleship main gun in the Combined Fleet.
Its shells hit the Changbaishan, leaving only a slight crater.
The steel armor blocked most attacks from enemy ships.
However, a massive artillery attack will still have an impact on the Changbaishan.
A main gun turret was hit by multiple artillery shells, causing an accident in the main gun turret and the steam engine next to the turret was destroyed.
This resulted in the artillery, which weighed several tons, completely losing its ability to adjust its direction.
The Changbaishan's officers and men suffered few casualties, except for the artillery staff who occasionally showed up to observe the position of the enemy ship.
Most soldiers will hide behind bunkers.
The artillery of the Combined Fleet warships could not cover the bunkers made of steel armor in a short period of time.
Admiral Li Pinglang looked at Zheng Sen, who was the most impulsive. He commanded the Changbai Mountain to move forward, directly towards the main force of the remaining troops of the combined fleet.
When it was far away from the remnants of the combined fleet, Changbaishan took advantage of its artillery to continuously eliminate the most threatening battleships in the fleet.
When the Changbaishan was very close to the remnants of the combined fleet, it received a salvo of thousands of enemy artillery pieces and continued to move through the gunfire.
The Changbai Mountain is like a general wearing armor, directly killing the unarmed rabble.
The enemy ship's artillery is not very dangerous to the Changbaishan at all.
Changbaishan can withstand enemy artillery fire and launch counterattacks against them.
As long as an enemy ship is hit by a cannonball, it will basically lose its combat effectiveness.
Chief of Staff Gu Zhonghuang lamented: "The ironclad ships are too powerful, and no sailing ship can resist them.
The all-steel ship is deep and has no fear of enemy artillery attacks at close range.
The enemy is unable to break through the armor of the ironclad, and victory is only a matter of time.
Ironclad ships have better maneuverability and are very fast.
Even if the enemy ships want to escape, they can't outrun the ironclad.
The design of the propeller is really amazing. The propeller is hidden in the water.
This is the weakest point of the entire warship, but the enemy cannot see this."
Admiral Li Pinglang heard the compliment from Chief of Staff Gu Zhonghuang.
He proudly said: "Our army has locked the situation in this naval battle.
This was the first time that an ironclad ship appeared on the stage of history.
This was also the moment when the sailing warships, which had been passed down for thousands of years, were completely surpassed.
This war sounded the death knell for sailing ships.
In this war, the Imperial Navy's fleet defeated a combined fleet composed of elite navies from various European countries at a cost of zero casualties.
When any admiral heard about this achievement, they knew that the sailing ship had come to an end.
From now on, the standard for measuring the naval strength of various countries will definitely be the number of ironclad ships."
While they were talking, the two armored cruisers Qilianshan and Wuyishan, together with their respective formations, surrounded the remaining members of the combined fleet from two directions.
The morale of the remnants of the combined fleet, which had been struggling to support itself, completely collapsed under the pressure of these two warships.
Many warships hung white flags on the fence poles and surrendered to the Imperial Navy fleet.
Seeing this situation, Chief of Staff Gu Zhonghuang asked: "Do we accept the surrender of the combined fleet?"
Admiral Li Pinglang thought for a moment and replied: "Inform the fleet to accept the surrender of the combined fleet.
How can we achieve the goal of deterring European countries if we really wipe out every single one of the combined fleets?
Only these defeated men became prisoners and returned to their own country.
Only then will the nobles of European countries understand that our Great China Empire is not something to be trifled with.
Besides, these prisoners and warships can be exchanged for a considerable ransom."
Admiral Li Pinglang sent a destroyer to take over the surrendered warship.
The main guns of the ironclad cruiser were aimed at the remaining warships of the combined fleet.
Once they find any abnormal movement on these warships, they will open fire without hesitation.
When the Great China Imperial Navy Fleet was encircling and suppressing the remnants of the Combined Fleet, the area where the napalm bombs fell was burning with raging fire, and the thick smoke produced affected the vision.
They didn't realize that the white phosphorus fire had already burned out in the first place they chose to attack with fire.
In addition to causing extremely painful damage to sailors, white phosphorus fire has much less impact on warships.
After the white phosphorus bomb attack, the British fleet only had more than 30 slow-responsive warships, which were burned to death.
The warship reacted quickly, and only weak areas such as the sails were ignited. Most areas only had charred traces after being burned by the fire.
George Monk, commander of the English fleet, was rescued from the sea by his henchmen.
He was leaning on the deck with his left hand, and his empty right arm was still feeling pain.
He saw that the main force was attacked by the Dahua Empire Navy with the help of another special ammunition.
The England, the flagship of the United Fleet, was burned to the ground in a short period of time.
George Monk saw most of the combined fleet, all shrouded in huge flames.
He used to feel that he was very unlucky, but now that he can survive, he thinks that he is still very lucky.
George Monk took advantage of the Imperial Navy's opportunity to temporarily give up searching the fire attack area, and decided to immediately withdraw from the battlefield with his mobile warships.
The flagship he had previously been on had been damaged, but most of the hull structure of the new warship was not damaged except for the sails.
George Monk immediately asked the sailors to re-hang the sails of the warship.
He also sent people to collect the remaining warships.
Warships that were too damaged to move quickly across the Atlantic were all abandoned.
On these warships, all the surviving people were transferred to the less injured warships.
George Munch always worried about the end of the war in the distance.
At that time, they were not ready yet and had no choice but to surrender.
George Munch had been worried about this situation and kept urging the sailors to work faster.
The sailors wanted to return home and receive the rewards promised by George Munch.
They have rearranged the sails at an extremely fast speed.
George Munch saw sailors preparing to adjust the sails of the ship.
He immediately stopped and said: "Our time is urgent, there is no need to adjust the sail now.
Solve problems when they arise after you are far away from the battlefield."
George Munch judged that the current war could not last long.
He must bring these sailors from the English fleet home.
These people are the indispensable seeds for England to rebuild its navy.
George Munch waved his hand and immediately ordered the warships to begin evacuating the battlefield.
The remaining warships in the British fleet were still active. They followed George Monk and evacuated the battlefield together.
…………………………
This naval battle that took place in the Atlantic Ocean spread across Europe at an extremely fast speed.
A person who fled the battlefield privately before the decisive battle began.
There was also the English fleet that was trapped in the blue sea of fire and miraculously escaped.
They spoke openly about what they had experienced.
English Prime Minister Oliver Cromwell couldn't believe George Monk's words.
If George Monk, as a royalist, had not quickly handed over his position as Governor of Scotland.
Oliver Cromwell thought the man was joking.
His face turned pale, and his fists clenched tightly, making a clicking sound.
"George Munch, I can't believe what you're saying.
The Imperial Navy of the Great China Navy only has a few ships. In a decisive battle with the Imperial Navy of the Great China, the combined fleet was defeated miserably.
Admiral Robert Blake and his warship were engulfed in flames.
Most of the combined fleet suffered casualties, and the navies of various European countries suffered heavy losses."
When George Monk heard Prime Minister Oliver Cromwell's question, he reluctantly told what happened again.
Oliver Cromwell asked many times, and the details told by George Munch were correct.
He slumped on the chair and kept saying: "The British Navy is finished, the British Navy is completely finished.
Without the protection of the navy, those overseas colonies will also be taken away by other countries."
George Munch sees a somewhat lost Oliver Cromwell.
He quickly promised: "I will keep the seeds of the navy.
I would rather give up some warships and bring back more sailors who have experienced this naval battle.
As long as they exist, the legacy of the British Navy will not be cut off.
But if we want to rebuild the British Navy, we must also have our own ironclads."
After hearing George Munch's explanation, Oliver Cromwell became more relaxed.
He gritted his teeth and said: "Even if we tighten our belts and save money, we will still build our own ironclad."
Prime Minister Oliver Cromwell saw the pained look on George Monk's face and knew that his body was completely broken because of this war.
Oliver Cromwell immediately sent George Munch back to rest.
He took out his pen and wrote to King Louis X of France, Prime Minister Mazarin of France, King Felipe IV of the Spanish Habsburg Kingdom and others.
They want to discuss how to deal with this crisis in the letter.
After their military defeat, they actually had only one option left, which was to seek peace with the Great China Empire. (End of Chapter)