"Commander, an enemy fleet was spotted in the southeast. They surrounded us from the front." As soon as Nie Dahua returned to the command cabin, the staff officer on duty came over to report to him.
"Hmph, the visitor is not a good person. Is it the fleet of the Busi Empire?" Nie Dahua snorted coldly. He originally thought he had missed the other party.
Nie Dahua was not grateful that he had escaped. Instead, he was grateful for Busi's navy. They did not find Donghua's navy, which was because they had escaped partially.
But now that they have arrived, we can't blame the Donghua Army for not being benevolent and righteous.
"one two three four five six seven……"
"Good boy! Are the Busi people crazy? I remember the intelligence said that they only have twelve main battleships in total, and now there are ten of them." Nie Dahua smacked his lips and said.
"Commander, there are two sixth-level battleships inside. They should be the two battleships of Busey's fleet. They were ordered from the Rotterdam Naval Shipyard in the Netherlands in 1852. They are considered new ships." Liu Zhongyun looked at them and said.
Among his courses at the British Naval School were intelligence courses on the navies of various countries.
He can name the main battleships of Busi Navy one by one.
From a distance, the warships of Busi Navy were arranged in a "V" shape and were approaching.
At this time, two warships of the Donghua Navy were moving forward in a single column, one behind the other.
"Send a signal to the Zhenyuan and order the fleet to turn left and move forward at full speed. We will attack their right column first." Nie Dahua ordered.
There is nothing wrong with the formation of Busey's fleet.
If facing an ordinary warship, approaching from the front like this, the opponent's forces will definitely have to turn around if their strength is weak.
At this time, they can also turn and take advantage of their own tailwind to always cover the opponent between their left and right wings.
Then let the warships on the left and right shoot at each other at the same time, forming a flanking fire advantage.
But what they encountered this time was a fully steam-powered ironclad, an enemy they had never encountered before.
The two ironclad ships are not using ordinary steam engines, but high-power steam engines that have been modified by the Renaissance Army.
Only Prussia and the Renaissance Army have mastered the technology of this kind of steam engine.
It is precisely because of this that this battleship can completely abandon the sail.
"Work harder, add coal, add coal quickly, turn the blower horsepower to the maximum." In the boiler room, the chief engineer shouted loudly amidst the roaring mechanical noise.
The already noisy mechanical sound has now become even more deafening.
The two battleships were like two angry bulls. Thick columns of air spurted out from their nostrils. Then the energy hidden deep in their bodies burst out.
On the Busi fleet's flagship "São Paulo", Navy Commander Carlos Baptista was also looking at these two strange warships in the distance with a telescope.
"Is this an ironclad? It looks very strange. It has no sails, no broadsides, just a few cannons on the deck? It doesn't seem to have as many cannons as on a frigate!" General Baptista thought to himself.
He also learned some news about the Battle of Putan from newspapers in Europa, where the reports about the ironclads were amazing.
It seems that the opponent has the indestructible body of the King Kong in Greek mythology, and the opponent's artillery combines the power of the gods of fire and thunder.
What General Baptista saw just now was the cruising speed of the Donghua Fleet, which was probably only a little over ten knots, not much faster than a sailing battleship.
This is because he does not know enough about steam ironclads. Normally, their cruising speed is indeed not very fast. This is to save coal and protect the performance of the steam engine.
Baptista could feel their speed immediately.
"Commander, the fleet speed has reached fifteen knots!" Liu Zhongyun reported five minutes later.
"It's almost done, stable at this speed." Nie Dahua said.
"We are about to enter the shooting range. Do we want to fire?" Liu Zhongyun asked.
Nie Dahua regarded his battleship as a flagship, while Liu Zhongyun mostly did staff work.
This is good and bad for him. The good thing is that he can learn more practical experience from Nie Dahua.
The bad side is that he loses the opportunity to make his own decisions.
"Wait a minute, wait until we get closer before firing. Our cannonballs need to be used sparingly. Go tell the gunners to economize on cannonballs and shoot when you are confident. It will be regarded as target practice. We don't need to annihilate Busi's navy.
, that’s not good for us.”
"After we encounter them later, we will continue southward without entangled with them. Our artillery shells will be reserved for Buenos Aires and the Chili navy."
Nie Dahua also had strategic considerations in doing this.
Busi has a hostile relationship with the Tingen Federation in the south, including the Republic of Buenos that just split from the Tingen Federation.
After all, one of them is a descendant of the Portuguese and the other is a descendant of the Spanish.
There is a feud between Spain and Portugal.
If Busi's navy is left behind, it will be impossible for Buenos's navy to fully support the Chili navy on the west coast.
Because they had to allocate their forces to defend against Busi's navy.
Therefore, this time Nie Dahua only planned to use Busi's navy to train his troops. He did not intend to severely damage them. That would not be good for Donghua.
Nie Dahua was deeply influenced by Dong Shuheng in his strategic thinking, that is, he did not fight unprofitable wars.
Dong Shuheng has always warned them that fighting a losing battle, even if they win in the end, has no practical significance.
After the fleet speed increased, Busey's plan to outflank the Donghua Fleet naturally went bankrupt.
Two warships of the Donghua Navy drew an arc in front of the right column of the Busi Navy and successfully grabbed the "t" prefix.
At this time, the main and secondary guns of the two warships had turned their muzzles to the right.
All the artillery was aimed at the cruiser "Maceio" at the forefront of Busi's right wing.
"Okay, now, fight."
Following the order, all the artillery fired one after another.
At this time, the Donghua Fleet was only 700 meters away from the "Maceio".
For the new artillery on the Donghua Fleet, such a distance is as simple as target training for new recruits.
"Boom boom boom..."
High-explosive shells exploded around the Maceio, and at least one-third of the shells accurately hit the unfortunate leader.
"ah……"
The screams of the sailors sounded on the deck of the "Maceio", and were immediately covered up by the explosion that followed.
The two artillery pieces on the bow of the "Maceio" also fired. One of the two solid bullets hit the "Zhenyuan" and was easily bounced off the deck of the "Zhenyuan".
"Damn it, how come they are so fast!" Baptista's eyes were round as he looked at the Donghua Navy advancing very fast ahead.
They easily escaped from their double team and even ran to the front of their right wing.
So much so that there were ten battleships on his side, and only the two bow guns of the "Maceio" could fire.
This situation was difficult to happen in previous naval battles because the speed difference between the sail warships on both sides was not large.
The most important thing is that the wind is clearly blowing from the southeast, and they are the one in the upwind direction.
"Turn left, quick."
Without orders from Baptista, the column on the right wing began to turn to the left.
They must expose their starboard side.
Otherwise, you can only be beaten passively.
It's just that at this time, the cruiser "Maceio" could no longer turn normally.
After being hit by high-explosive bombs.
The superstructure of the cruiser "Maceio" has been blown to pieces.
The broken mast was half hanging on the boat and half protruding into the sea, like a large fishing rod.
The command module located at the stern of the ship was hit inside by a high-explosive bomb.
A group of officers in neat navy uniforms fell to the ground.
Some at the explosion point have even been shattered.
The surviving sailors in the bottom warehouse climbed to the hell-like deck to search for tools.
They wanted to cut off the cables connecting the masts and throw the broken masts into the sea.
Otherwise, the warship is in danger of capsizing at any time.
The battleships splitting the rear abandoned the damaged cruiser.
Avoiding it by turning, they moved northwest. Their loaded broadsides were exposed from the muzzles.
"Boom, boom, boom..." Continuous gunshots rang out, much faster than the Donghua Navy's firing just now.
Taking advantage of the shelter of the tall body of the "Maceio", the Donghua Fleet slightly distanced itself from the right wing of the Busi Navy.
But at this time both sides are still within their respective shooting ranges.
"Bang bang bang..."
Nie Dahua, who was in the command tower, felt the loud noise caused by the opponent's artillery shells hitting the armor.
Although there was some physical pain, he was not worried.
He had already felt the power of the Busi artillery just now.
And with the speed of Donghua Navy, the opponent has no chance to shoot again.
After severely damaging the "Maceio", the "Fuyuan" and the "Zhenyuan" began to search for their own targets.
According to Nie Dahua's request, we do not seek to sink the opponent, but it is best to inflict some damage on each warship on the opponent's right wing. This can be regarded as teaching the opponent a lesson.
After the right wing turned northwest, the five warships on the left wing also had to turn at the same time to avoid it.
At this time, the Donghua Navy was moving rapidly toward the southeast against the wind.
The two sides can only attack each other when they are staggered.
But the Donghua Army had no intention of fighting.
As the tail gun of the "Fuyuan" in the rear fired the final blow, the Donghua Navy broke away from the battle gracefully and re-corrected its course and headed south.
"Check the battle damage." Nie Dahua ordered.
The battle just lasted for less than half an hour. Many officers and soldiers felt that they still had unfinished business.
On the front deck of the "Fuyuan", Ye Zhiruchang and his men were inspecting the turret. When the two sides crossed paths just now, he clearly felt that the turret was shot three times by the opponent's shells.
There was also a tree holding explosive bombs next to the turret, scorching the deck and the shell of the turret black.
The main gun he was on fired five rounds just now, which was not very fast. He strictly followed Nie Dahua's orders, saving shells and shooting accurately.
After a while, Liu Zhongyun summarized the battle damage to Nie Dahua.
"Commander, the battle damage has been calculated. There are no casualties in our army. Several parts of the warship's armor are loose, and damage control is being reinforced."
"Yeah, I understand." This result was within Nie Dahua's expectation.
Don't say that there is a big gap between Busi's navy and today's first-class navy.
Its naval equipment and tactical thinking are already outdated and second-rate.
Let's just say that this naval battle can only be regarded as a pass between the two sides.
Now it is basically impossible for Busi Navy to turn around and continue fighting with Donghua Navy.
"General, they seem to have escaped. Do you want to turn around and chase them?" On the flagship "Saint Paul", a staff officer asked in a low voice, not sure if he was feeling lucky, but also as if he wanted a negative answer.
"What are you chasing? Can you catch up?" Baptista said angrily.
He was a little angry. The cabinet sent himself to lead the main fleet to intercept the opponent without understanding the situation.
Didn't the news from the Salvadoran newspaper say that the fort had severely damaged them?
He is obviously full of life, but he doesn't look a little bit hurt.
He was already extremely shocked in his heart. The other party was like a heavily armored knight, while these people were like farmers with homemade bows and arrows.
The bow and arrow were shot out and hit the opponent's armor, as if they were tickling the opponent.
And the heavily armored knight seemed not to bother fighting them at all.
After symbolically picking a farmer to death, he turned around and left.
Should these farmers be allowed to chase people at this time?
"Seize the time to count the losses, and rush to rescue the Maceio. Tell the soldiers that the ship was wounded by us and escaped. This is what we wrote back to the cabinet."
…
ps: The second update is coming today, please give me monthly votes and recommendation votes!