George Monk's fleet was unprepared for the arrival of the Imperial fleet.
As the top maritime power of this era, the Netherlands has invested all their energy.
When he discovered that the imperial fleet was approaching with great force, it was too late for George Monk to give orders.
Without giving the British fleet a chance to adjust, the Imperial fleet began to bombard them indiscriminately with ferocious artillery fire.
The first wave of salvos passed by, causing many battleships to be reduced to nothing on the spot.
The lethality of the conical projectile is undoubtedly evident. As long as it hits, it will basically cause structural damage.
Even if it is penetrated, it can still cause damage to other battleships.
The British warships on the periphery showed extremely high quality. They spontaneously assumed a defensive role and launched a counterattack without waiting for George Monk's order.
However, what the Imperial Fleet did made them vomit blood.
The position where the imperial fleet fired its guns was five hundred meters away, and was not within their range at all.
The British had no choice but to open fire.
As you can imagine, most of the shells flew to nowhere.
Even if the limited shells hit the Imperial warship, because the distance was too far, the potential energy was almost consumed, which was just scratching an itch.
In such a confrontation, Kong Zhiguang discovered something keenly.
"Lower the muzzle and aim at the enemy below the waterline to shoot."
After all, the bronze cannons of the Imperial Navy were still solid shells, and their destructive power was very limited. They often made big holes in British warships, but this did not affect their actions and counterattacks.
Kong Zhiguang also discovered that the attack distance of 500 meters resulted in a huge waste of kinetic energy of the artillery shells.
Many times the shells penetrated the British battleship from one end and then flew out from the other side.
Although there is still a chance of damaging other warships in this situation, the destructive power will be even more unbearable.
Rather than doing this, it would be better to deal a fatal blow to the current battleship.
If you want to use solid shells to cause fatal damage to a battleship, you must undoubtedly attack the area below the waterline.
It is impossible for spherical cannonballs to do this.
Once the spherical shape touches the water, the huge resistance will cause the cannonball to completely lose its kinetic energy, making it almost impossible to penetrate the thick and strong hull.
But the empire uses conical cannonballs, which are very consistent with fluid mechanics. They can effectively reduce air resistance, and naturally can also reduce water resistance.
Coupled with the excessive kinetic energy of the cannonball within a distance of 500 meters, it was enough to break through the water flow and penetrate the bottom tank of the British battleship.
On the sea, as long as the cabin is flooded, it will be difficult for the gods to save it.
Each artillery position received the order and followed it one after another.
After the second round of shelling, although the hit rate was lower, the killing effect increased sharply.
Whenever it is hit by a cannonball, a large hole of more than one meter will be opened below the waterline.
With the technology and conditions of this era, it is completely impossible to block such a big hole.
Not long after, several British warships began to list due to water ingress. The people on board became desperate and began to flee.
George Munch was so anxious that he tried to rush to the front and set an example.
This is the best thing a commander can do in times of chaos.
Only by letting more people see where the flagship is and follow the commander's footsteps can the situation of the war be turned around.
"Commander, the enemy's flagship has been discovered."
George Munch was certainly brave, but if he stood out on the battlefield, he would inevitably be targeted by his opponents.
As soon as his flagship rushed out, it was spotted by lookouts.
Kong Zhiguang quickly looked through the telescope.
Six hundred meters away, an obviously huge warship was seen rushing towards them, intending to provide cover for an injured warship that was on fire.
To shoot a man, shoot a horse first; to capture a thief, capture the king first.
Kong Zhiguang immediately shouted the order without thinking.
"Order all gun positions to aim at the enemy's flagship and not stop until it is sunk."
Even if other British warships posed a threat, they could not achieve as great a result as killing the commander-in-chief.
The seven imperial warships immediately took action, and hundreds of artillery pieces adjusted their parameters, all aimed at George Monk's flagship.
George Munch didn't know he was in danger yet, but he was still conducting his duties conscientiously.
"Hurry up and seize the position, enter the shooting range, and order other ships to follow our footsteps."
Before he finished speaking, he suddenly felt that the world in front of him went dark, and then an earth-shaking loud noise reached his ears.
George Munch looked up in shock and saw hundreds of cannonballs already in front of him. He couldn't help but be stunned.
No matter how low the hit rate was, his flagship still suffered a disaster in the face of such covering fire.
No one knows exactly how many shells hit the battleship.
In short, from top to bottom, almost every corner of the battleship was swept away.
The tall mast was broken on the spot and hit the sea heavily.
The huge sail was out of control and was blown away by the sea wind like white clouds.
The sturdy bow made of bronze was smashed into scrap metal, and the collision angle that used to be enough to smash the enemy into pieces no longer existed.
There was no intact part of the side of the entire ship, and almost all the cannons were overturned. The fragile human bodies swept around by the cannonballs were no more than a paper wall.
The command podium was even missing, and all the graceful, smart and capable generals on it were lost in the artillery fire.
Several large holes were opened below the waterline of the battleship, and seawater surged in, causing the entire battleship to begin to tilt on the spot.
What happened to the flagship frightened all the British.
They couldn't believe what they saw.
George Monk's flagship is Britain's top battleship. It has played a role in anchoring the sea in many naval battles and is even known as the unsinkable castle.
As a result, today, we just met the Imperial fleet, and it was completely destroyed after a round of bombardment.
Compared with the sinking of the battleship, the death of George Monk was the biggest blow to the British.
The British fleet along this route quickly lost command and became even more chaotic. Some people even developed fear and did not dare to face the imperial fleet, and just wanted to escape quickly.
On the Imperial Fleet side, killing the enemy commander did not cause much of a stir.
After so many years of fighting, have you still killed few enemy generals?
Kong Zhiguang remained calm, commanding the fleet to slowly leave the combat position while continuing to project firepower.
The plight of the British fleet was not diminished by the separation of the Imperial fleet.
Behind them, the Dutch, covered in blood, fought back.
Previously besieged by the British fleet, the Dutch suffered heavy losses and relied on the imperial fleet to rescue them.
But Marton Tropp, as a famous general, quickly seized the opportunity of the British fleet being hit hard. After quickly reorganizing the formation on the periphery, he decided to give the British fleet the final blow.
Behind the Imperial fleet, Robert Blake has just rounded the fire scene and will be able to see the shadow of the Imperial fleet.