From Severa's eyes, the First Fleet at this time has been circling in the open area outside the port.
Just like the mounted shooting of ancient nomadic cavalry.
They constantly took turns using the cannon on the left and right sides of the ship to shoot at the Spanish fleet on the dock.
The torpedo firing also came one after another.
The Spanish fleet has no immunity at all against such weapons that move at high speed underwater.
Just like the plague that the Spanish brought to the Americans when they invaded the Americas.
No matter how strong a battleship is, the bottom of the ship is their weak link.
With the power of the torpedoes used by the First Fleet, even future steel battleships can be sunk.
Dealing with this wooden sailing battleship weighing several thousand tons is simply like using a cannon to swat mosquitoes.
Basically, if you touch it, you will die...
"Oh, my God, they can actually make mines move quickly underwater. Who gave these Chinese such weapons?" Seravi could no longer remain calm. Ten battleships were silent now, and most of them were silent.
It is the largest second-tier battleship in terms of tonnage.
The port was full of sunken ships and sailors who had not had time to evacuate.
Rampant warships often knocked over sailors who were trying to escape back to shore in lifeboats.
Seravi could clearly see the Spanish sailors struggling in the water being sucked away by the whirlpool of the sunken ship.
"We can't get out." The fleet on the dock is still executing the original order. But Seravi has already seen that the fleet can't get out.
A ring of shipwrecks has formed on the periphery of the port area, blocking the main waterway.
"Order the fleet to stabilize, defend on the spot, adjust the shooting angle, and attack the enemy ships outside the port with all your strength." Selavi said to the messenger next to him.
Then the Spanish fleet in the port saw the fleet's commander's flag raised on a building.
Next, the two messengers issued a set of semaphore commands using a large flag that could only be lifted with two hands.
The fleet in the port, which was still trying its best to break out of the encirclement, finally calmed down.
They anchored on the spot, adjusted the direction of the ship, and used theirs as a fixed fort.
Outside the port, the warships of the First Fleet were fighting extremely vigorously. The torpedo crew used the time when the warships turned around to adjust their direction to reload the previously empty torpedo cabins.
The gunner's door constantly rotates the turret and adjusts the direction of the muzzle. During this process, the loader will load nearly two hundred kilograms of shells.
Then the gun sighter completes the final aiming and shooting work.
The Jianghe class was originally designed to install a 120mm naval gun. At that time, the Renaissance Army could only produce such a large-caliber naval gun.
However, some technical problems with the naval gun were later overcome, so it was replaced with a 150 mm 35-caliber naval gun. The total gun weighed 11.5 tons, the shells contained 95kg, and the maximum range was 6.5 kilometers.
In the pre-dreadnought era decades later, such artillery could only be used as secondary guns on armored cruisers.
But now, they can threaten the top sailing battleships.
Although today's battleships are equipped with a lot of 60-pound heavy guns, due to their shooting methods and combat habits, they are generally short-barreled heavy guns, and their range is not as good as the 150mm naval guns of the First Fleet.
In this actual battle, Du Hang found that it was still difficult for the main guns of the First Fleet to sink these rough-skinned battleships.
But it can make these battleships lose their combat capabilities.
Because the 150mm shell exploded on the deck of the enemy ship and could almost sweep across the entire deck.
It is easy to destroy the enemy's sail system.
Without the sails, these battleships were equivalent to having no legs. They became the targets of the First Fleet.
At this time, the enemy's small battleships that broke out had been basically eliminated by the First Fleet.
Du Hang once again ordered the bombardment of enemy battleships in the port.
Seeing that armor-piercing bombs had little effect on battleships with multiple decks, the ships of the First Fleet also replaced them with explosive bombs.
At this time, the upper deck of the battleship became the most dangerous place.
The commanders of the Spanish ships even moved their command rooms to the lower floors.
Because several battleships have lost their command because their command rooms were hit by the First Fleet.
"Commander, the enemy warships are lowering their sails. Are they unable to prepare?" a staff officer reported in the command room of the flagship of the First Fleet.
Du Hang took the telescope and observed it for a while, then said: "Hmph... the enemy wants to use the battleship as a fixed fort, but the range of their artillery seems to be a bit short!"
Du Hang could see clearly in the telescope that the enemy had the battleship's side facing outside the port.
Then the sails were lowered and the anchor was apparently given up protruding from the harbor.
Du Hang is familiar with the situation in Manila Port. Several battleships sank just now, which clearly blocked the main outbound channel.
"Order the fleet to launch the last wave of torpedoes and retreat five thousand meters away from the coast." Du Hang ordered.
The first fleet is a light cavalry on the sea, and Du Hang will not go head-to-head with the enemy's battleships to fight with bayonets.
Since the enemy wants to fight for attrition, the first fleet should retreat far away. The enemy is there anyway, and they have no reinforcements.
As the number of shipwrecks in the harbor increases, the effectiveness of torpedoes also diminishes.
Because many torpedoes will hit the sunken ship and explode.
Du Hang was not prepared to waste any more precious torpedoes.
"Your Excellency, Commander, the enemy ships on the sea have retreated far away, and our battleships cannot attack them." The adjutant next to him reported to Spanish Navy Commander Seravi.
Seravi looked carefully and saw that the enemy fleet was indeed retreating into the distance.
Their speed is still very fast. I didn't expect that they could keep running for such a long time.
In fact, the First Fleet maintained high-speed operation for nearly an hour, and the burden on the boilers was already heavy.
Therefore, after staying away from the enemy's coastal defense artillery shooting distance, Du Hang also ordered to slow down the speed of the fleet.
Now they used the only functioning main guns to shoot at the Spanish fleet in the port.
The shooting speed is obviously much slower. Now that the enemy can't get out, there is no need for Du Hang to waste too many shells on the enemy. Now all the enemy warships in the port will be the prey of the Renaissance Army.
What he is mainly doing now is to weaken the combat effectiveness of these battleships.
"Instruct the gunners to attack the enemy's decks as much as possible to make the enemy's battleships lose power." Du Hang ordered. Maybe it would be good to capture these enemy battleships and send them to the Nanyang Navy.
He owed senior Liu Dahai a big favor this time, and Du Hang didn't want to be beaten by the navy commander in the future.
Although these battleships are destined to be outdated after this battle, they can still play at least a little role in the next few years.
At present, the steam warships of the Renaissance Army Navy cannot travel far.
If you want to sail across the oceans, you still need to use these huge battleships.
In a few years, when the Renaissance Army's larger-tonnage steam ironclads are born, then these battleships can be gradually retired.
As a major participant in this battle, Du Hang was one of the few who knew the overall plan.
If this war with Spain is victorious, the Renaissance Army will take over many Spanish islands in the Pacific.
If you want to connect these islands, it will definitely be more economical to use sail warships.
"These despicable yellow people, cowards!" Seeing the first fleet retreating far away, Seravi couldn't help but cursed.
This was also his first time fighting against the Fuxing Army. If he had known the past war history of the Fuxing District, he would have become accustomed to such a situation.
The war was not just between the Baathas and the Spaniards.
This war also alarmed envoys from other countries in Manila.
As an important Western-style city in Nanyang region.
Not only are there a large number of Spaniards living in Manila, but there are also many Westerners from other countries living here.
The naval battle that took place in the port can be seen with the help of telescopes from many places in the city.
"Oh, my God, I saw a miracle in the history of naval warfare today. Eight steam frigates surrounded dozens of battleships in the port." A British envoy from Manila said to the French envoy next to him.
.
"Yes, Mr. Owen, this is really a miracle, but I think we must first find out how the Renaissance Army suddenly appeared with such a fleet, and what exactly are the weapons they used in the water?"
"I think if we don't understand these things clearly, the naval generals in the country will not be able to sleep," the French envoy said.
"Yes, Mr. Allison, but these Renaissance troops will not tell us this secret. Just like we will not teach them how to build a battleship." Owen said.
"By the way, Mr. Owen, I remember that you have always had a small fleet off the coast of the Philippines. They may already know what is going on here. Professional matters such as weapons should be left to those professional people."
"Do you think the Renaissance Army will only attack the fleet in the port? The most powerful thing about the Renaissance Army is their army. It will be unsafe here soon. I think we have to go back and prepare the underground shelter of the embassy. Then
When the Renaissance Army comes, the artillery shells won’t have eyes.”
"Yes, Mr. Allison, but I still have to watch this wonderful naval battle. I have to say that all of us have been blinded. We don't know what kind of cards this Renaissance Army has not yet revealed. I feel this
The ancient Eastern countries are completely different from before."
"They used to be stagnant, without any change for hundreds of years. But now they seem to be different every day, and I don't even recognize them at all. The many years we have spent in the East seem to have been wasted.
Already."
"I agree with your point of view, but this is a matter for the minister to China, and domestic policies are formulated based on their reports. I think Bao Ling and Bulbulon will be very busy knowing that China and Spain are going to war.
"
"Okay, let's think about Manila. The war is not over yet, Manila is still in the hands of the Spanish, and there are still many warships in the port. Next, let's see what the Renaissance Army does." Owen said.
"The defensive fortresses around Manila are very strong. I hope these Renaissance troops will be beaten to death under the city of Manila," Allison said.
Naturally, they did not want the Fuxing Zone to easily defeat the Spanish. In that case, Britain and France would have another dangerous enemy in Southeast Asia.
Now the expansion of the Renaissance Army in Indochina has endangered the interests of Britain and France.
Things in Indochina have just ended for you, and they want to move Luzon again.
As diplomatic envoys, Irving and Allison knew very well that after doing this, the Renaissance Army would completely take the initiative in the Nanyang region and even threaten the Malacca area controlled by the British.
The French were relatively weak in the Southeast Asia region. Their colonization in Indochina had been strangled in the cradle by the Renaissance Army before it even started.
Now the only remaining Nguyen Dynasty in Indochina is still a vassal state of the Fuxing Army.
After the Beiqi area was demolished by the Renaissance Army, part of the control of Chenla was taken back by the Renaissance Army. Now that the Nguyen Dynasty has completely softened, they are worried that the Renaissance Army will take back the most elite Nanqi area.
Recently, the Nguyen Dynasty has frequently sent envoys to express its goodwill, seemingly to resolve the previous unhappiness.
As for the most sensitive issue of Beiqi, the Nguyen Dynasty no longer mentions it. Anyway, Beiqi has always been a place of turmoil, but it has not brought any benefits to the Nguyen Dynasty.
On the contrary, the Nanqi area is the estuary delta area of the Lancang River, which is the most fertile area of the Nguyen Dynasty. It is the granary and money bag of the Nguyen Dynasty.
What Owen was thinking about was if the Renaissance Army defeated the Spanish, whether it would threaten the Dutch colonial rule in the Spice Islands next.
You must know that the Netherlands is now the younger brother of the British. The British also have a lot of interests in Borneo and the Spice Islands.
In Sarawak, the British Brooke established the Brooke Kingdom, which was a vassal state of the British, and it was equivalent to the interests of the British.
If Luzon falls into the hands of the Renaissance Army, it will definitely affect the British interests in Sarawak.
Even if the Renaissance Army only supports the local Chinese, it will be enough for the British.
Borneo to the southwest and the Spice Islands to the south both have strong Chinese influence.
The reason why the Renaissance Army attacked Luzon this time was that the Spanish attacked the local Chinese.
When the time comes, if the Chinese in other parts of Southeast Asia are ready to take action, will they be suppressed or not?
If it is suppressed, will the Renaissance Army use this as an excuse to start a war again?
Thinking of this, Owen felt a little confused. Why are there so many Chinese? Why are there Chinese everywhere in Nanyang?
As an envoy stationed in Manila, Owen naturally knew that the Spaniards had indeed massacred the Chinese.
However, in history, such things happened one after another in the Southeast Asia region. The Dutch also did similar things.
Even the British have done similar things in the Malay Peninsula.
But the Qing Dynasty in the past would not care about these things. Didn’t they claim that these overseas Chinese were abandoned citizens? How come they have become citizens again now?
While people in the city were paying attention to the naval battle, two fleets off the coast of Manila were also attracted.
One is the British fleet consisting of two steam-assisted battleships and four cruisers. The other is the American Perry fleet that was severely damaged in Edo Bay, Japan.
They failed to catch up with the most exciting part of the naval battle just now.
The First Fleet is currently being monitored from a distance at sea.
ps: I have updated 8,000 or 9,000 words a day for two consecutive months. From the time I registered as a writer’s assistant at Qidian to now, I have written more than 1.6 million words in just over 200 days. As a newbie, Dugu should be considered relatively productive. By the end of the year
I was sure that I could pass 2 million words before. Readers also voted for me to encourage me. I have been thinking about a new book recently and have come up with many plans. Do you have any good suggestions?