"We sailed eastward in the South China Sea. The Feiyun sailed in front as the pilot, then the flagship made the tide, in the middle was the coal ship Haifeng, and finally the Taishuang under my command. The ships formed a column. I commanded
The gunboat was the tail ship of the fleet. Shortly after leaving the port and turning eastward, the flagship ordered to sail only by zigzag crosswinds to save fuel. In this way, the speed was greatly reduced, but in order to reserve fuel for the search and combat stages, this was planned
We had made a reservation early, and the time was sufficient. Along the way, the four ships communicated with each other via radio at 8:00 every morning, and also reported to the Lingao main station. We carried out coal refueling at sea several times along the way - dangers were everywhere. When we arrived,
Before the Balintang Strait, we had made sudden changes in direction several times. It should be that the radar of the Feiyun detected passing ships. But we did not see any ships directly. We only saw Babuyan in the Balintang Strait.
There are several small islands in the archipelago. We passed the Balintang Strait and bypassed Luzon Island from the north, and the dark blue Philippine Sea spread out in front of us." "Memoirs of Lu Yang (internally published)? Volume 1"
Under the guidance of Feiyun's radar, the formation maintained a distance of about 20 nautical miles from Luzon Island and began to turn south. Along the way, the southeasterly winds below Category 4 were always dominant, making sailing quite difficult. Fortunately, the time was in advance.
With enough time left, on July 3, the formation bypassed Catanduanes Island from the east. On the far horizon, the "most perfect cone-shaped mountain in the world" of Mayon Volcano on Luzon Island stood.
In the west, there seemed to be some traces of volcanic ash in some cirrus clouds in the blue sky. They continued southward, and the next day they arrived at the scheduled interception point.
"We've arrived at the San Bernardino Strait. But there are coral reefs everywhere along the coast. It's safer for us to stay farther away from the shore."
"Let's start the search formation early tomorrow morning. Let's go ashore to explore Samar Island today."
The formation anchored not far from Samar Island. Out of caution, Lin Chuanqing ordered the formation to sail into the bay of the small island on the other side and wait. Although the weather radar of the Feiyun showed that there was no incident, the typhoon generated and
The development speed is very fast, and it is difficult for a steam ship to escape once encountered.
The small rowing boat was lowered from the big ship, and the special forces went ashore for a day of investigation. They found no Spanish strongholds, but only saw some local fishing villages from a distance. But there were many mosquitoes, which was frightening. Before sunset, the special forces
He withdrew the ship. However, the city of Legazpi under the Mayon Volcano is still a few years away from being built. The travelers are too lazy to investigate for the time being.
The sailors caught some fresh seafood on the shore, so the elders held a simple barbecue party on the Feiyun.
"This is the place where the repair gun Ou Nowaki was beaten into parts. It would be great for the timid Kurita and the stupid Halsey to have a BB gun battle here."
"How about we support several countries here in the future. They specialize in building armored ships for arms competition. Steam, armor and heavy artillery will be filmed here to form a line and shoot at each other. It's heroic!"
"Are we just going to watch it from an airship in the sky? It's a bit like the Celestial Dragons. I'm afraid I won't be able to do this until the day I die."
The elders were chatting and laughing on the deck of the Feiyun while drinking some of Qian Shuiting's private collection of California wine.
"The technical level of battleships is very high. I don't know if they can reach that level..."
"I personally like the bunch of weird ironclads in the second half of the 19th century - fat hulls, stubby cannons, weird masts... they are so industrially beautiful. In contrast, the dreadnoughts are all carved out of the same mold.
It would be boring."
On the morning of July 15, the formation launched a search formation and sailed eastward. The 854 was located at the northernmost point where Luzon Island could barely be seen, while the Feiyun was at the southernmost point. The ships were separated by 5 nautical miles and spread out into a 15 nautical mile line.
The long search line of northwest and southeast. The radio station sent a simple message to Lingao: "The formation has launched a search at the scheduled interception point."
After receiving the report, Chen Haiyang said to Sansi: "The voyage went so smoothly, better than expected. It's not bad that the first long-sea voyage went so smoothly."
"It's not easy not to meet other people along the way. It would be great if we could complete the mission so smoothly."
The interception point is indeed not a busy waterway, and no merchant ships have passed by for several days. Even if there are some signals on the radar, they are just small fishing boats of local people. Although some people suggest "kill one person in five steps, and leave no trace in a thousand miles", but
Several leaders thought it was too troublesome and of little significance.
"What can these poor Malays have? It's not even worth the coal and bullets we consume." Lin Chuanqing said, stroking his beard.
In the early morning of July 18, the radar on the Feiyun detected a signal 25 nautical miles away to the east, and it was still moving slowly westward. The Feiyun immediately sent a telegram and summoned the entire formation. The distance was still far away, and when the battle came,
Or walkie-talkies are more real-time.
Each ship began to increase the boiler power to the maximum and rendezvous first. Half an hour later, each ship came within the range of the walkie-talkie. Zhou Weisen impatiently grabbed the walkie-talkie and asked the Tide Wave to put down the boat and pick him up. Feiyun
The ship is too unique in this time and space, with low freeboard, and is not suitable for combat. It can only be used for surveillance work from a distance.
After all the ships rendezvoused, they took the lead with the tide. After Shuangju, they headed towards the direction of the silver ship in a single column. Only Zhou Weisen and the Feiyun and Haifeng who stayed behind with a few people stayed in place and continued to use radar monitoring.
The positions of each ship. At the same time, Feiyun sent a telegram to Lingao: "A suspicious target has been found, and the fleet is moving to engage the enemy. The wind is southeast, light wind, and the wave is one meter high."
More than an hour later, the target finally appeared in the telescopes of the eager commanders on the tidal bridge. Like rising from the water, the three masts gradually became higher from the sea level, then the tail mast, and the forward sloping mast.
The masts and the tall forecastle and stern of the Spanish galleon. Everyone couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. After running such a long way, we finally caught you!
This guy is really big. Lin Chuanqing estimates that the displacement is over 1,000 tons. Only such a large ship can take on the important task of transporting royal funds from New Spain to Manila across the Pacific. Judging from its draft, it is fully loaded.
He noticed that the royal flag of Castile was flying on the mast. Yes, this was a large sailing ship belonging to the royal family. It was the Manila Galen they were looking for.
"Raise the flag! Prepare to fight!" Lin Chuanqing gave the order excitedly, and his order was immediately conveyed to the waiting ship through the walkie-talkie. The two ships raised the "Ready to Fight" signal flag at the same time.
"Attention fleet, take the flagship as the benchmark and change direction to the right!"
"Attention, all fleets, turn left at the same time!"
After completing the order, the two ships formed a horizontal formation and continued to approach the Spanish galleon head-on.
"Even if this ship originally had a durability of 80, it only has 60 at most now, which saved us a round of grenades." Lu Yang said to himself. In his telescope, the ship was in a bit miserable condition, and the sails and gear were
There was damage in many places - it seemed that it had encountered a storm. This also explained why it was sailing alone instead of forming a formation with another Galen. It was obvious that it had also discovered the oncoming fleet and felt the danger.
When trying to turn left into the wind, it obviously knew that it could not escape even with the wind, but the turning speed was very slow and laborious.
"It seems that its rudder is broken and you can't run away. You're waiting to be cut off."
Then the fleet turned right again and moved eastward in column, continuing to cut towards the bow of the large sailing ship. When the distance approached an estimated 2,000 meters, Lin Chuanqing ordered: "At a distance of 2,000 meters, load grenades and fire one salvo from each gun."
The 130mm cannon mounted on the balcony on the deck opened fire almost at the same time, but the shells all hit close to each other and scattered so thinly that everyone on the bridge couldn't help but shake their heads.
"This fire control equipment is absolutely rubbish. It will make Father Fei angry to death." Zhou Weisen cursed.
"It doesn't matter if we missed it," Lin Chuanqing shook his head, "If a huge explosion of character directly hits the ammunition depot, our efforts will be in vain."
Zhou Weisen broke into a cold sweat just thinking about it. It felt like hunting a mouse in a china shop.
"Get closer to the enemy!" Lin Chuanqing issued the next order. At this time, he could only learn from Nelson first. Fortunately, the Spaniard's shooting range would only be shorter and less accurate.
"1000 meters away, load grenades! The whole fleet fires in salvo!" This time the accuracy was much better, and the large sailboat was suddenly enveloped in a group of water columns. And due to the slow steering and long distance, the Spaniards' broadside guns were completely unable to fire.
It has become a situation where you can only be beaten without being able to fight back.
"Every ship fires at its best! Load grenades and be careful not to shoot at the waterline!" Lin Chuanqing noticed that the trajectory of some shells was very low and hurriedly added. The formation continued to move eastward, crossing the bow of the large sailing ship. The water column was from time to time in the big sailing ship.
It rose near the sailboat, but it was hard to see the hit bomb clearly. Even through the telescope, the commanders just muttered, "There's a little smoke, a hit?" However, the lucky bomb made everyone see it.
When the effect was obvious, the topmast suddenly trembled, then fell backwards with the sail gear, smashed on the deck, and then drooped to the starboard side.
"Damn, this is terrible. The ship is paralyzed, but I'm afraid it will be destroyed." Zhou Weisen couldn't help but curse in a low voice, "Which gunner can aim so accurately, the mast will be knocked down in seconds."
After cutting through the bow of the ship, the formation turned left, sailed in the wrong direction with the large sailing ship, and continued shelling. The sides of the two sides faced each other, and the opponent's gun deck also began to receive shells, but the gunfire it fired was not a threat at all. After one shot,
Suddenly I saw a ball of fire coming from a gun emplacement, and then turned into thick smoke.
"Oops, it seems the Spanish gunpowder has caught fire."