Fleet Commander Adalbert was giving orders, but the sailors of the Swordfish were in shock, and no one responded to him. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

Li Zhi's rifled cannon cone-shaped flowering shell is too shocking. If you hadn't seen it with your own eyes, who would have believed that three months ago, the ironclad ships that could only be passively beaten and had nothing to do with the Combined Fleet would suddenly turn into a man-eating devil and easily destroy three expensive battleships with a single round of shelling.

Three months ago, Li Zhi's round shell bounced into the water as soon as it touched the battleship's hull. And now, armor-piercing shells break through armor like tofu.

This contrast is too great, as if a village overlord who has been rampant for a long time is suddenly knocked down by a punch from a previously thin villager, which is shocking.

In Europe, naval battles were a common occurrence. But in any naval battle, no artillery could destroy the hull of a battleship so easily. In order to produce the shells of hard battleships, Europeans would even spend more than a decade cultivating the hardest oak wood, bending the trunk into a hull-like arc as the oak grew.

The Europeans, who owned battleships, always considered themselves the most powerful maritime armament in the world, however, today their illusions were easily torn apart by rifled guns on ironclad ships.

The sailors aboard the Swordfish were immersed in fear and horror, and they were dumbfounded.

If it is a miracle that Li Zhi conjured forty ironclad ships in three months, then this sudden appearance of armor-piercing flowering shells far exceeding this era is a miracle more terrible than a miracle.

The miracle was so shocking that no one reacted to Adalbert's order.

Why do the yellow people have such powerful artillery? This is already beyond the comprehension of European sailors. If shells can tear through the armor of a battleship so easily, then what is the difference between an expensive battleship and an ordinary merchant ship?

Some of the older sailors had even lost their fighting spirit, and the Protestants clenched their hands and closed their eyes and chanted: "God bless the United Provinces..."

"God bless the United Provinces Republic..."

The first mate on the ship was obviously frightened, his right hand was on his waist, and his left hand was tightly clutched to the position of his heart, and he couldn't react when he stood there.

Adelbert angrily rushed to the first mate, grabbed his cuffs and shouted, "I said the flag!" ”

The first mate was grabbed by the cuff of the fleet commander, and only then did he recover a little from shock and fear. He shuddered and exclaimed, "Yes! Commander! Hang the flag! ”

However, the first mate didn't know what flag to hang. He thought for a long time, plucked up the courage to ask, "Commander, run away or attack?" ”

Adalbert roared angrily: "The whole fleet abandons the battle line, closes in at full speed, and shoots at the enemy ships!" ”

Only then did the first mate understand, and ran to the mainmast in a panic.

The flag was hung up.

Except for the three battleships destroyed by the ironclads, the remaining thirty-six battleships moved closer to the center at full speed. The Dutch had already understood at this time that their mobility was far inferior to that of the steam ironclads, and pulling out a long line of battle would only be broken by the ironclads individually. Only by gathering together to defend the central part can there be a chance to shoot at the ironclad ship.

However, how could the ironclad ship that had already grabbed the T-shaped prefix let go of the fat in hand so easily?

Forty ironclads did not hesitate to chase after them, bypassing two crippled and one sinking battleships, and pursued the four southernmost battleships of the Anglo-Dutch fleet.

Forty ironclad ships are like forty sharks chasing sardines, and they are extremely agile and ferocious.

Finally, the four battleships targeted by the ironclad ship panicked. In the process of escaping, they fired at the ironclad ships that surrounded them from all sides.

More than a hundred smoothbore guns fired shells and flew towards the ironclad.

At a distance of seven or eight hundred meters, it was already the limit of the effective range of the cannon, and less than a dozen shells hit the armor of the ironclad ship. Even if the shells were less than this percent, only half of them, that is, eight or nine heavy artillery shells really hurt the iron armor.

Four shells pierced the armor of the ironclad. But the damage done by the solid bullets was extremely limited: one did not hit anything, rolled to the other end of the hull and stopped. The other smashed a rifled gun, and the rifled gun wounded an artilleryman, but only slightly. One hit in the crew compartment where no one was around. The last shell actually went into the coal tank where the ironclad ship was loaded, hitting the pile of coal and sending out a cloud of black ash.

For a fleet of forty ships, the damage received was negligible.

Then the ironclad returned fire.

Another six hundred armor-piercing shells were shot out, and the shells, like bloodthirsty beasts, plunged headlong into the hull of the battleship, exploding one spark after another.

This time, the rifled gunners were more experienced, mostly aiming at the battleship's waterline fire. The explosion of the flowering shell directly broke the bottom hull of a battleship, and the sea water poured into it like a fountain through the mouth of the artillery hole. The ship's crew began to jump into the sea, and the battleship gradually sank below the surface.

The other three battleships were also badly damaged, and their interiors were blown to pieces. But their sails were not damaged, and they were fleeing north.

So after a minute, the rifled guns of the ironclad opened fire again.

This time, heavy artillery fire directly sank two scarred battleships. The last battleship, which was lucky not to be sunk, was also blown up and blossomed inside, completely losing its combat effectiveness.

In just a few moments, the combined fleet of thirty-nine ships had already lost seven of them, almost a fifth. The morale of the Europeans was dealt a fatal blow.

After sacrificing so many ships, the front and rear warships of the Dutch finally came together. Thirty-two battleships formed a circle in desperation, gathering around the vicinity of the flagship Swordfish to meet the chasing ironclad ships.

Lu Hu looked at the battleship that was trying to survive and smiled.

"The Europeans broke the jar!"

Shi Dingping also smiled: "It's really our ironclad ships that are driving too fast, otherwise the battleships of the Europeans would have fled a long time ago, and where would they crowd here and fight us to the death?" ”

Lu Hu waved his hand and said, "Surround them!" ”

The flag was hoisted, and the ironclad's steam turbine let out a long, dull whistle, which quickly interspersed east and west, and began to outflank. In the end, it took more than ten minutes, and the ironclad ships lay across the sea, surrounding the battleships huddled together in a semicircle.

The most brutal bombardment began.

If arquebusiers are the most brutal form of warfare of this era, then the battleship is the second most brutal form of warfare. At this time, the Europeans faced Li Zhi's armor-piercing flowering projectile, and one shot was blown up, and the cruelty of being shot increased exponentially.

The battleships also tried to shell the ironclad ships at a distance of seven or eight hundred meters. But on average, only one shell of more than twenty shells can break through the armor of an ironclad ship. Even if the armor is broken, it will not cause decisive damage.

And the cannons of the ironclad ship, every shot blew up the flesh and blood of the Europeans.

Six hundred rifled guns spewed out tongues of fire and bombarded the battleships huddled together. On the undulating sea, cone-shaped flowering shells screamed through the air and crashed into battleship after battleship.

Looking at it from Lu Hu's point of view, he saw that huge red sparks were constantly exploding from the hulls of the battleships huddled together, one after another, like a large-scale fireworks display.