Chapter 1107 The Great Battle in the South Pacific
Chapter 1107 The Great Battle of the South Pacific (First update, please subscribe)
September 12, the 13th year of Shengde's founding, this day is destined to go down in history!
The huge cannon roared on the sea,
Following an unexpected bombardment, the Peruvian-Bolivia fleet fired first from the 12-inch main guns of the "Peru", then from the "Bolivia" and the main and secondary guns of the armored ship.
The great battle of the South Pacific begins!
The fleets of both sides were shelling back and forth on the sea.
At a distance of six kilometers, neither side's bombardment could be said to be accurate, and the Peruvian-Botanic fleet's low hit rate and the low destructive power of the artillery shells put the Peruvian-Botanic coalition fleet at a certain disadvantage from the beginning.
However, as the commander of the fleet, Cheng Bichen did not order the main guns to fight back. As for the first few minutes, both the Shanxi and the Linhai only used their secondary guns to fight back. Therefore, in the first few minutes, the Empire
The navy's firepower is obviously weaker than that of the Secret and Bolivian Coalition, but thanks to the Imperial Navy's rapid-fire cannons, its strength is not inferior to that of the Secret and Bolivian Coalition.
In the first few minutes, cannonballs continued to rain down on the warships of the Federal Fleet. The cannonballs continued to explode into clouds of flames on the deck, and flying shrapnel took away the lives of gunners and sailors from time to time.
This is a naval battle!
It is bloody in itself.
That’s how it is!
At nine fifty-three, on the bridge of the "Shanxi", the gunnery commander An Weimin, who had been waiting, shouted.
"Fire!"
When the order to fire was given, the distance between the two sides was only 4,000 meters. Suddenly, all four 305mm main guns of the "Taiyuan" poured fire towards the "Peru". Then the "Linhai" also began to fire, with four 254mm main guns.
The cannon roared.
Compared with the secondary battery, the bombardment of the main battery is earth-shattering.
The target of the bombardment was the federal flagship "Peru". In an instant, the 8,300-ton warship was completely shrouded in artillery fire. In just the first salvo, a 305mm shell accurately hit the "Peru"
, the high-explosive bomb weighing nearly 400 kilograms exploded into a huge ball of flames directly amidships. Howling fragments covered the deck like raindrops. The shock wave of the explosion directly hit Commander Grau and others on the bridge.
People fell to the deck.
Limited by the technical level, the armor-piercing effect of this era's armor-piercing bombs was poor, and it was almost impossible to hit ten-inch armor. Therefore, at the beginning of the war, Cheng Bichen, a fleet commander who was the deputy chief of staff of the Navy, directly ordered the use of high-explosive bombs.
.
Although high-explosive bombs could not sink the warship, the shells that continued to fall on the warship still caused extremely heavy casualties to the Peruvian warship, and the flames from the shell explosion even ignited the deck.
Three minutes later, the distance between the two sides was close to 3,000 meters. For the battleships, it was already a hand-to-hand battle. The power of high-explosive bombs with sensitive fuses used by the Imperial Navy was fully demonstrated on the battleships Peru and Bolivia. The battle only started for three minutes.
In minutes, their deck superstructures were almost flattened by the Imperial Navy, and all the smokestacks of the "Vargas" were blown away.
Only fifteen minutes after the fleet opened fire, the armored cruiser "Vargas" caught fire, followed by the "Peru" and the "Independence". The power of the picric acid shells was fully exerted in the naval battle.
But what's even more deadly is the rate of fire!
When the distance was reduced to less than three kilometers, the secret and Bolivian coalition forces discovered a fact that made them desperate. Although they had more warships and more artillery, their firepower was far inferior to that of the Imperial Navy.
When the main gun of the "Shanxi" roared again, the staff officer beside Grau yelled.
"The enemy ship's main gun fired again, about one minute and twenty seconds!"
Grau screamed in surprise.
"how so!"
What was the rate of fire of the Peru's twelve-inch guns?
Two minutes and thirty seconds!
And what does this mean?
The firepower of a "Taiyuan" is almost equal to that of the Peru and Bolivia combined.
"How come their cannons fire so fast!"
"Their secondary guns are faster..."
Yes, the secondary guns are faster. When the "Taiyuan" sailed into the battle zone, its six 120mm rapid-fire guns on the starboard side immediately poured shells on the Peruvian at a rate of ten rounds per minute.
A twenty-three kilogram shell cannot penetrate the armor of a battleship, but it can blow up buildings on the surface, kill unprotected sailors and gunners, and ignite everything on the deck. Even if the highly sensitive fuse hits the cable
The equipment will also explode in the air, taking more lives.
Victory in naval battles is often a technical victory. Although the sailors on the Peruvian allied fleet fought tenaciously amidst the fierce artillery fire, shouting to their comrades in the fire and operating cannons to bombard the Imperial Navy,
The outcome was doomed from the beginning.
"put!"
When Allende pulled the match rope hard, the shells roared out. At the same time, the heavy gun barrel slid to the rear along the pulley, and then slowly slid down the slope. There was blood everywhere around him. Many gunners were injured.
That's already dead.
"Load, load..."
No one responded to Allende's shouts anymore, and the gunners all fell down. At this moment, the Marines who rushed out pushing the shells came to the gun position and began to assist him in loading the shells.
"hurry up……"
The heavy cannon needs to be reset again, aimed again, again...
Three kilometers away, in the armored gun cabin of the "Jincheng" protected cruiser, even though the shock waves of explosions above his head were constantly shaking the armored gun cabin, they were still safe under the protection of the armor.
to fire the gun. Gunner Lin Jie was shaking the wheel, with his eyes on the optical sight, shaking the gun body to point at the "Independence". The moment he aimed at it, he pulled the firing lever.
"Boom!"
The moment the flames erupted from the muzzle blocked his sight, the loader behind him shouted again while withdrawing his shell.
"Load!"
A 120mm complete artillery shell was loaded into the barrel. When the gun bolt was locked, the loader tapped him hard on the shoulder.
"Loading!" Before he could even finish shouting "complete", Lin Jie pulled the firing lever again. The shell flew out again, and a few seconds later a ball of fiery red fireworks exploded on the hull of the "Independence"
!
The loader reloaded and fired again. Allende had fallen into a pool of blood on the gun emplacement amidships of the "Independence". A piece of flying shrapnel had broken off his legs. He was desperate.
Looking at the gunpowder bag on the ground, he struggled, trying to stuff the gunpowder bag into the barrel of the cannon. At this moment, with the whistling of the cannonball, he only felt a huge flame rising in front of his eyes, and he was swallowed up by the fire.
, when Allende and his comrades were blown away, the propellant pack weighing more than ten kilograms was also ignited...