"To this day, in almost all accounts of the Battle of Point Beach, there is a hypothesis that if the Earl of Torrington had been more proactive, rather than cowardly avoiding it, perhaps the naval battle would have been a different outcome...... But in fact, all the information shows that even if the Earl Torrington took the initiative, it would not help the overall situation, and the outcome of the naval battle was already doomed from the beginning......"

Battle of Beach Point - Attack of the Celestial Empire

Where are the damned British?

In fact, when Iverson made this inquiry, the British fleet was also engaged in naval warfare. In fact, as early as about 9:30 a.m., that is, half an hour after the Dutch began to bombard, the British fleet began to exchange fire with the Ming army at a medium distance, while the main fleet of the British army still maintained a considerable distance, the British rearguard ship remained level with the Ming army, and the two armies bombarded each other with extremely standard battle line tactics. And the main central guard fleet of the British warships in front was still at the limit range of the Ming army. The British Central Guard Front Squadron was led by Vice Admiral John ?? Commander Ashby, after witnessing the Dutch battle, ordered the fleet to approach and open fire, and fought in conjunction with the Dutch battle line.

However, the commander-in-chief of the coalition forces, Earl Torrington, who was located in the central guard squadron, had no intention of supporting the friendly forces at this time.

In fact, Herbert's "cowardice" was not because of cowardice, but because the naval battle completely subverted his imagination from the beginning, and in the first 20 minutes of the war, the Dutch lost five or six warships, and each warship was either sunk in the sea or turned into a burning torch. The flames reflected the sea red, and at this time, after a stray bullet hit his mid-top mast, the volley exploded cannonball, which instantly turned the deck into a slaughterhouse, killing dozens of people, and also stunned Herbert's whole person, after the mid-mast was blown off, his flagship lost almost half of its power, at this time, he was left with only one choice, either let three or four rowboats tow out of the battle line, or follow the wind and continue to sail the Ming army.

"Get out of the battle line!"

Looking at the miserable situation on the deck, Herbert made a choice without hesitation.

While Herbert's ship was slowly leaving the battleship under the tow of the rowboat, the remaining battleships always maintained a considerable distance of shelling—shelling at a distance of more than 500 yards or even a thousand yards, not only was there no accuracy in the shelling at such a long distance, but the power of the shells was so small that even if they hit the hull of the Ming warship, they would be ejected.

In this era when the distance of naval warfare is no more than 300 yards, even if rifled guns are used to shell warships of more than 1,000 yards, there is no preparation at all, and because of this, the gunners of the Western Fleet are just staring at the nearest Dutch warship, trying to send the Dutch warship to the bottom of the sea through a burst of fierce artillery fire.

The muzzle of the gun is pointed to the side front. At this time, the warships of the Western Fleet were swaying across the English Channel, bearing the wind and waves.

The gunners, whose faces had been blackened by gunpowder, shouted loudly, showing their white teeth, and at this time, like black men, many of them had no combat experience, and had never even experienced naval battles, even against pirates, unless they were trained, this was the first time they fired at the enemy, and there was no such thing as now, in addition to shelling, enemy shells flew over the sea, crashing into the bulkhead and making a tom-tom sound, Sometimes a shell will fly into the cabin through the gun window like shit, almost clinging to the gun's body, penetrating the gunner's body, and jumping in the cabin, even if it loses its elasticity, and when it rolls on the deck, it will also smash some sailors......

Screams echoed in the cabin, and the men who had lost their arms and thighs struggled in pools of blood, and the nerves of the sailors were tense to the extreme as they were carried to the bottom compartment for surgery.

"Putting ......"

Only a few dozen seconds after the order was given to prepare for the launch. At the moment, they are only concerned with operating desperately, and they have no time to think about anything else. It's just that with an incredible fear of death, desperately operating the artillery there, occasionally flashing through their minds there is a desire for honor, but more of a desire for life.

With a bang, at a very close distance, the cabin of the Dutch warship exploded, and the flames that erupted from the gun windows and bullet holes were even so fast that they rushed to the cruiser Xiping, startling the gunners.

"Isn't it gunpowder?"

It was said.

"In that case, it will definitely blow up......"

"Hurry up, hurry up ......"

Others shouted anxiously.

"Focus your energy on the operation!" The gunnery snapped.

Another salvo of artillery fired, and the Dutch warship in front of them, as it was engulfed in smoke, began to burn from the inside like a burning lantern. This was followed by a series of repeated manipulations: carrying heavy shells, loading new shells and pushing them in with a pusher, then inserting a pull rope into the tail of the cannon, and then roaring again.

"Ready for the 13th!"

"Gun 9 ready!"

……

While the gunners were reporting, another heavy salvo was fired. This is the difference between the Ming Navy and the navies of other countries, they will carry out salvo fire, constantly using intensive firepower to blast what is in front of them to pieces.

After a salvo, the gunners operated feverishly. Suddenly, the Dutch warship on the opposite side was filled with gunsmoke, spewing out a ball of cannon flames, and then it was like rain, hundreds of grape shells flew like raindrops, although a large number of grapes were ejected, but there were still many leaks from the gun window into the cabin, the gunners immediately let out a burst of screams, many gunners lost their lives, and more people were injured.

",, my hand ......"

A gunner cried out, trying to find his hand, but only a piece of his arm remained, blood gushing out, and as he cried, a paramedic ran to his side, grabbed his severed arm, and bandaged his wounds.

"Don't care,"

The medic said.

"I'll bandage you first, wait ......"

The next moment the medic was silent, his head was smashed by grapegregs, and as he fell, some more grapegres pierced into the cabin and hit the sailors in the cabin, and the screams of the wounded sailors filled the cabin.

No one passively mixed in, even if it was the technological gap, which turned the Dutch warships into torches at sea and turned this little into a bonfire party, but the Dutch sailors, as an old maritime power, still proved themselves with their will.

Faced with the reality that solid bullets could not penetrate the bulkhead of the Ming warship, they immediately switched to grape shells or even shotguns, bombarding at close range, and trying to redeem the defeat by killing and injuring the Ming gunners. And the artillery on the upper deck constantly used chain bombs to bombard the masts and sails of the Ming army.

The ocean is boiling!

The cannon rumbled on the sea, the bullets rained down, the battleship was shrouded in a dense rain of bullets, and the once neat sails and rigging had become dilapidated under the bombardment of chain bullets, and the sails were riddled with holes so that the battleship was losing power.

"They want to escape!"

As an old navy, Zheng Ming naturally knows what it means to bombard the opponent's rigging, which means that the enemy wants to escape, and by bombarding the ship's mast and rigging to make the opponent lose power, it is not only conducive to the evacuation of the other side, but also can send an arson boat to set fire to attack.

"Boiler Pressurized ......"

With Zheng Ming's order, thick smoke began to erupt from the chimneys of the eight steam-powered warships, mixed with gunpowder fired from artillery, swirling and floating above the rough gray sea.

"Look, the Celestial Empire warship is on fire......"

Suddenly, the sharp-eyed people screamed loudly, and Herbert also looked excitedly towards the warships of the Ming army, from the beginning of the naval battle, until now, he was careful to avoid engaging with our generals' ships or large warships, in contrast, his subordinates repeatedly attacked the warships of the Ming army, but Herbert always maintained a certain distance.

When he saw the billowing smoke rising from the Ming battleship filled with gunpowder through the telescope, his whole person became extremely excited.

"God forbid!"

Prior to this, Herbert not only did not advance to support the Dutch army, but led the Allied Central Guard Squadron to gradually retreat, leaving Ashby and the Dutch fleet behind. It was this move that caused the Dutch soldiers to suffer heavy losses in the following battles.

Now, when he saw that the capital ships of the Ming army were already "burning" and were emitting billowing smoke, once upon a time, Herbert, who was frightened by the one-sided situation of the naval battle, immediately made his decision.

"Maintain the battle line and sail to the ...... of the Ming army"

At the time of Herbert's order, he looked at the Dutch fleet, which had lost most of its warships, and to him it seemed as if it were attending a bonfire feast, and the piles of bonfires seemed to celebrate his success.

Belch......

From the binoculars, after watching the British, who had been keeping their distance, go and turn around, Zheng Ming's eyes couldn't help but widen.

Are they back?

"Military, Herbert must have thought ...... Thought we were on fire! ”

Yes!

And so it goes......

Looking at the British fleet rushing towards him, Zheng Ming's eyes turned to the chimney again, looking at the billowing smoke coming out of the chimney, he had only one thought in his heart - this damn asphalt coal, the smoke is really big!

In fact, not only Zheng Ming, there is no one in the entire fleet who does not complain about asphalt coal, but they can't help it, after all, the coal mine in the Cape of Good Hope is their only source of coal, and there is only asphalt coal there, and its biggest feature is that it is smoky.

Now this black smoke does look a bit like the warship is on fire.

"Don't these guys know that we have steamships?"

Not to mention, Herbert really didn't know that the Ming army had steam-powered warships, let alone him, in fact, most Europeans didn't know, maybe they knew about steam engines, they knew about ships, but all the pictures show that the steamship was a "steamer", and it had a "paddle wheel" on its side.

As for the propeller, it is a "black technology" that they have never heard of.

And now, Herbert has obviously misunderstood, misunderstood that the Ming army has reached a desperate situation.

"God is on our side!"

Herbert prayed silently in his heart. He seemed calm, but he looked a little excited, and it seemed to him that victory was already beckoning to him.

"Herbert is finally here...... God forbid! ”

Iverson was relieved to learn that Herbert had gone and returned, and only God knew that when he saw Herbert gone, there was only one thought left in his mind - damn the British.

Now, the allies are back on the battlefield, and Iverson is relieved to breathe a sigh of relief, and God can testify to how many warships he has lost, even his own.

Just as Iverson was about to retreat, a violent explosion suddenly sounded on the deck, and in the violent explosion the mainmast broke, and when the mast fell, the entire deck was filled with smoke and fire, debris flying sideways, and corpses were piled up. As soon as the stunned officer got up, he slipped again, and blood was everywhere on the deck.

"What happened?"

The officer reached for the artillery.

"Oh my God!"

He saw dozens of dead people lying in pools of blood around him, and the shells that exploded on the deck killed half of the people on the deck.

Even the bell on the stern was shattered by shrapnel.

As for Iverson himself, he was also knocked down in the shock wave of the explosion, and he finally stood up holding on to the railing, and he saw a blackened figure with his military uniform torn to shreds crawling towards the rudder, shouting with difficulty.

"Turning the rudder, turning the rudder......"

The helmsman at the helm was no longer breathing, and even the rudder had been blown off. Looking to the other side, the warship was turning towards the Ming army, and seeing this scene, Ai Zhisen hurriedly rushed over and pulled away the corpse that fell to the helm, and shouted with all his strength:

"Fight back, brethren, and show them what we have done ......"

There is no doubt that from the beginning of the naval battle, compared with Herbert, Iverson's performance is undoubtedly more in the spirit of an admiral, he always commands the fleet to fight back, even in the case of heavy losses, he still tries his best to counterattack, and constantly tries to use all means to inflict heavy damage on the Ming army, and indeed brings some damage to the Ming army.

Even when the warship suffered heavy damage, Iverson still showed a strong will to fight, perhaps this is the reason why the Dutch fleet has been persevering, when his warship suffered heavy damage again, and the out-of-control warship headed towards the warship of the Ming army, at least for a moment, in the hearts of the officers and soldiers of the Ming army, some admiration for this opponent rose, after all, the emotions of the soldiers are simple, they will always admire the brave enemy, of course, the best admiration is to let the enemy die in a dignified way!

Putting down the look, Zheng Ming said with some regret.

"Concentrate your firepower and send him to his death......"