"Your Majesty, the situation is critical. I'm sorry to wake you up. Our fleet stationed in the harbor has been attacked by the enemy." Count Moltke said anxiously.
"What, who attacked our fleet?" Frederick VII just came back to his senses.
All the resentment that was about to explode was suppressed.
"People coming to the port reported that the other side was flying the flag of the German Navy," the Prime Minister said.
The so-called German Navy is the Prussian Navy. They only have seven or eight steam-assisted frigates.
Who gave them the courage to attack the Danish navy with battleships?
Frederick VII couldn't understand why it was necessary to come to him for such a matter?
"The other side came with four warships, but they were all steam-powered ironclads." Count Moltke continued.
The term "ironclad ship?" is no longer an unfamiliar term in Europe.
Some time ago, news that Britain and France were competing to build ironclads caused a stir in Europe.
The two European powers started building ironclads one after another like a competition, and increased their numbers one after another.
Many countries are ready to follow suit. The Danish Admiralty also proposed to build ironclads.
However, at this time, the ironclad ship of the British Royal Navy, which is the leader of the navy, is still on the slipway!
Ironclad ships from other countries are just an idea being discussed.
Now, there are ironclads attacking the Danish navy. This sounds like a joke.
"How many ironclads does the other side have?" Frederick VII finally calmed down and asked the key question.
"Four ships, the other side only has four ironclad ships." Moltke replied.
"Four?" Frederick VII breathed a sigh of relief. The opponent only had four ironclads and dared to come to the Copenhagen military port.
Do they think they are really Teutonic Knights?
It was still dark outside at this time.
According to the initial deployment, the ironclads Holstein and Schleswig will form a team, and Fuyuan and Zhenyuan will form a team.
They will attack from the left and right sides of the port.
Their preliminary preparations for this sneak attack were very thorough.
Other than encountering a fishing boat fishing at night, there were no other accidents.
Prussian espionage work was also very sophisticated.
The fleet obtained a detailed map of the Copenhagen naval port before setting off.
The detailed divisions of each warship in the port are marked.
The waterway in Copenhagen Military Port is very wide, and it is not very realistic to block the waterway by sinking the opponent's warships.
So the combined fleet was divided into two teams and used their steel bodies to block the waterway.
After the fleet approached the military port, Nie Dahua no longer needed to command the entire fleet.
In order to disperse the firepower of the enemy's coastal batteries, the entire combined fleet was divided into two parts.
They don't need to adjust their tactics now. They just hit the Danish navy in the port fiercely and prevent the Danish navy from rushing out of the port.
The four ironclad ships of the Danish Navy responded as soon as they appeared.
The sailors left behind on the fleet immediately sounded the alarm.
The small frigate reacted faster and quickly rushed towards the four ironclad ships.
However, their charge was undoubtedly a moth flying into the flame.
The targets of the combined fleet are not only the ships in the port, but also the coastal defense batteries on the shore of Copenhagen Military Port.
But now Nie Dahua can only let the fleet choose one target as the main attack.
Obviously the warships in the port are the priority targets.
"Concentrate your firepower to kill the overcoming frigate first." After the Fuyuan entered the naval port, it fired fiercely at the warships in the port.
At the beginning, the fleet used explosive bombs to destroy the deck buildings, masts and sails of the Danish Navy.
This can effectively prevent these warships from setting sail.
The effect of this plan is very good.
It can be seen that there are already five or six warships burning with fire in the port, and some even have their sails set alight.
Obviously, these Danish ships cannot set sail again before they are replaced with suitable sailing gear.
At this time, a Danish Navy frigate rushed towards them. The frigate was obviously desperate for its life.
Perhaps, it wanted to buy some time for the battleships in the port.
But how could he get in front of the Fuyuan with such a small body?
Nie Dahua decisively ordered the Fuyuan to concentrate its firepower, replace the solid ammunition, and send the desperate frigate to the bottom of the sea.
Because the distance between the two sides is less than 500 meters.
The artillery on the armored ship can now shoot directly.
If it weren't for the fact that the waves would cause the warship to sway from side to side, causing a certain deviation in the bombardment.
Otherwise, the gunners on the Fuyuan would be able to hit almost every target.
"Boom, boom, boom..." More than a dozen main and secondary battery shells flew towards the frigate.
"Bang bang bang..." A huge main gun shell hit the bow of the frigate.
In an instant, a big hole was punched in the bow of the frigate.
The cone-shaped shells rotated and directly penetrated the bottom of the Danish frigate.
Sea water poured into the frigate instantly from this big hole.
At least a third of the shells hit the frigate.
The hit rate in naval battles is very low, but now this frigate has just set sail and its speed has not yet increased.
And it is too close to the Fuyuan.
The Fuyuan is equipped with rifled guns produced by Krupp. It is not comparable to the old-fashioned smoothbore guns.
A one-third hit rate is enough to send the frigate to the bottom of the sea.
I saw this Danish frigate making a horizontal movement on the sea, as if it was drifting.
This is the result of the seawater pouring into the bow of the ship and instantly blocking the warship's progress.
After the frigate came sideways, it began to tilt from the bow, as if it was working hard to drill down to the seabed.
The contents of the deck and the sailors were thrown from the warship into the sea.
On the Fuyuan, Nie Dahua could even see many Danish sailors struggling in the water.
They tried to grab anything that could float and swam as far away as possible.
Only Nie Dahua has participated in a real naval battle here.
The officers and soldiers on the warships are basically naval students sent to Europe by the Renaissance Army, and few of them have participated in actual combat.
But the battle at this time made them extremely excited. When the enemy's shells hit the warship with a loud bang.
These young officers and soldiers didn't even have the slightest worry.
Because all these cannonballs were easily deflected by the armored ship.
Even Nie Dahua had to admit that the protective performance of the Fuyuan and Zhenyuan was much higher than that of the Jianghe class.
Of course, the two are not the same class of warships themselves. The Jianghe class is not good at protection either.
Lin Dingbo is the gunner of the Fuyuan. He previously studied artillery at the Prussian naval school.
Because he had been exposed to Krupp artillery when he was studying, and because he had the best test scores, he became the gunner.
"Brothers, work harder, we can't lose to those Prussians, we must give the best results." Lin Dingbo shouted, Zhou Wei's gunners might not be able to hear him under such circumstances.
So I don't know whether his words were to encourage his subordinates or to encourage himself.
Seeing that the Danish Navy frigate had sunk, Nie Dahua ordered the gun port to be moved to the outermost Danish Navy battleship Rasmussen.
"Turn the muzzle 35 degrees to the right, increase the elevation angle by 10 degrees, and prepare the solid armor-piercing projectiles..." Lin Dingbo gave orders to each gun position through the microphone.
Each gun position has a dedicated gun sighter.
They are responsible for listening to orders and directing aiming and shooting.
The ironclads are not having a good time at this time. Some ships of the Danish Navy are also fighting back here.
The coastal defense guns on the shore also reacted at this time.
Although their rate of fire is not very fast.
But with every salvo fired, the shells hit the ironclad ship like raindrops.
However, apart from leaving some dents on the ironclad ship, these shells would not cause fatal damage to the ironclad ship at all.
The command tower and turret are specially thickened with armor, so there is no need to worry too much.
But Nie Dahua still invited Prince Adalbert down below.
The prince had never seen such a formation. The armored ships faced the Danes' rain of cannonballs and fired at each other.
This scene was too violent. Prince Adalbert was not willing to take such a risk.
After all, he was a prince. He could ask the Prussian soldiers to be brave, but he had no need to take risks himself.
Although the number of artillery was far inferior to that of the Danes, the combined fleet's results were outstanding.
"boom……"
The enemy battleship Rasmussen finally tilted to one side due to water intake.
At this time, it has completely lost its combat effectiveness.
Although it has three decks and hundreds of artillery pieces.
But at this time, the captain of the Rasmussen could only order the ship to be abandoned.
The guns on the upper deck of the battleship Rasmussen fell into the sea like dumplings.
Admiral Wedel lives in the port, otherwise the Danish navy would not be able to respond so quickly.
However, Wedel failed to make it to the warship.
At this time, he was at a fortress on the shore.
It has been daybreak since the battle.
Wedel had his flag bearer set up at a commanding height to ensure that his orders could be transmitted to the fleet.
But he found that there were fewer and fewer cards in his hand.
"Damn it, where did these Prussians get the ironclads?" Before this, even if someone told Wedel that Prussia was building ironclads, Wedel would not believe it.
Because before this, Prussia had to import even its frigates from the British.
How could they possibly build something like an ironclad?
It is impossible for the British to give their own technology that they have not yet mastered to the Prussians.
No matter how good their relationship is, the British will not do this.
But it's too late to say anything now.
For some unknown reason, Prussia actually had ironclads before all other European countries.
This is the reality he faces now.
"Send the order to the battleship Absalom to penetrate the left side of the two ironclads on the enemy's right wing and launch an attack." At this time, Wedell finally saw one of his fleet's battleships, the Absalon, coming from the port under the cover of two frigates.
popped out.
The direction it was heading was exactly the two Prussian ironclads led by Tirpitz.
After half a day of fighting, Wedel had roughly discovered the performance of the opposing ironclad.
They have fast speed, flexible steering, high rate of fire, and more powerful shells.
But their number of artillery is limited. Each ironclad ship has only four main guns. Plus the secondary guns, there are only a dozen.
Only when the battleships on our side get close to the other side can they possibly blast open the turtle shells of those armored ships.
ps: Sorry, the second update the day before yesterday was a bit late. But I still shamelessly ask for a monthly pass!