Republic 267, February 11, afternoon.

Near the entrance to the Gulf of Aden, about 600 miles from Dragonstone Island, two fleets flying the red dragon flag and the blue Wanfu flag are lining up to approach each other at their fastest speeds.

Although the belligerent artillery had not yet sounded, most of the naval soldiers on both sides were so nervous that many of them forgot the lyrics when the national anthem was sung before the fire!

This statement is not an exaggeration, but comes from the memories of many officers and men of the navy on both sides who witnessed the battle.

The reason for this is actually quite understandable. This time and space has always maintained a friendly alliance relationship between the two maritime powers, the Great Zhou and the Eastern Song Dynasty. The Western Song Dynasty had no access to the sea and could not join the era of great navigation.

At the same time, the Western powers, including Egypt, Mongolia, and the Golden Horde, were far from the Great Zhou Dynasty and the Eastern Song Dynasty in terms of comprehensive national strength and science and technology, and they could not and did not dare to join the maritime struggle for hegemony.

Even if it is as strong as Egypt, it can only pick up the leftovers of the Great Zhou Dynasty and the Eastern Song Dynasty.

Therefore, although the two maritime powers of the Great Zhou Dynasty and the Eastern Song Dynasty had powerful navies, their navies had not fought any vigorous naval battles in the past 200 years. The actual combat experienced is nothing more than catching a pirate and bullying a weak country.

In other words, the officers and men of the fleets of the two countries encountered at sea on the afternoon of February 11, 267 were all battlefield recruits.

From the admiral to the ordinary sailors, they are all peace soldiers who have never seen blood or the smoke of war.

Even in the textbooks they used in the naval academy, there were no examples of actual combat for reference.

Generations of Navy servicemen can only imagine real naval battles through exercises.

But the drill is fake after all!

Therefore, the military knowledge they have mastered and the equipment they use have not been tested in actual combat, and no one knows whether it is good or not.

If you let the British and French naval officers in the 18th and 19th centuries sail battleship era in another time and space, see the equipment and tactics adopted by the navies of the Great Zhou Dynasty and the Eastern Song Dynasty, most of them will be shocked.

The first thing that stunned people was the tactics of the navies of the two countries. There is no T-shaped tactic, no two-ship tactic - these two tactics seem too simple. For more than 200 years, there has been no decent actual combat, and the navy of the Great Zhou and Eastern Song Dynasty has relied on various exercises to express itself, so of course it has to engage in some complicated formations.

Simple and practical or something...... How can it show the navigation technology and tactical organization ability of the high navy?

Therefore, the more popular formations of the navies of the two countries are the "Goose Flying Formation", "Crane Wing Formation", "Sharp Arrow Formation", "Long Snake Formation" and so on.

It's all good during the drill on the map, but mistakes are often made during the actual combat exercise, and only God knows what kind of smart formation it will be when it comes to actual combat.

The second thing that will frighten people is the equipment of the two navies. Their battleships are, of course, very good, and they are all quite sturdy and reliable...... Both countries have money, and both have good wood, shipbuilding is well developed, and there is also a need for great voyages. After more than 200 years of development, the ship is certainly good.

As for the cannons, of course, there are nothing, they are all cast iron cannons of white iron and gray iron, the quality is quite good, and it is impossible to blow up the chamber.

What is really scary is the shells used by both sides!

Now the artillery shells used by the Great Zhou and Eastern Song Dynasty navies are very simple, there are only two kinds, one is called a solid bullet, which is a big iron ball, there is nothing unusual. And it was not heated as an arson bomb, it was just filled into the chamber of the cannon and blasted out.

The other is called a flowering bomb! It is a spherical explosive bomb filled with black powder. The explosive bomb is attached to a wooden butt with a thin iron hoop, and there is also a wooden hollow fuse. When used, the fuse is ignited and inserted into the shell, then loaded into the barrel and fired with gunpowder.

It doesn't seem to be anything, isn't there a flowering bomb in another time and space?

That's true, but people are careful to use flowering shells. There were only a small number of flowering shells on the battleship, which were carefully stored. And now at least half of the ammunition on the battleships of the Great Zhou and Eastern Song Dynasty is flowering shells that can explode!

The large-caliber guns on the warships of the two countries, including 4-inch, 6-inch, and 8-inch heavy guns, used all powerful flowering shells.

That is, the battleships of both countries were bomb ships filled with large-caliber bombs!

The sail battleships of both countries used all-access gun decks...... Once the flowering shells stored in the artillery deck are hit by enemy shells or ignited by fire, the consequences are unimaginable!

And the sail battleships, which look like city walls on the outside, are actually very vulnerable in front of the huge power of the flowering bomb. The wooden planks could not withstand the power of large-caliber flowering shells at all...... To put it mildly, at this time, the capital ships of the Great Zhou and Eastern Song Dynasty were all suicide bombing ships!

On February 11, 267 of the Republic of China, just after the time of Shin, two fleets with suicide bombing ships as the main force were rapidly approaching.

The large number of Great Zhou Navy's westward fleet put on a "special for breakthrough" array. It is composed of three Shenzhou-class first-class battleships to form the head of the sharp arrow, followed by two second-class battleships, five third-class battleships and a dozen other fourth-, fifth- and sixth-level ships.

The subtlety of this formation is to use three powerful Shenzhou-class battleships to break through the enemy's formation and bring the entire fleet out of danger. In general, the side that has the upper hand is more suitable to use the Sharp Arrow Formation.

In addition, it needs to be mentioned that the Great Zhou Navy is very fond of using the Sharp Arrow Array. Because the craftsmen of the Yanshan Iron Works invented the hollow casting method 10 years ago, Da Zhou could cast a giant cannon of more than 8 inches.

This kind of cannon is too large to be installed on the deck of a thru-gun gun. Therefore, the ship designers of Da Zhou built a gun bay in the bow of the "Shenzhou" class and placed two 9-inch giant guns.

The Eastern Song Dynasty fleet put on a crane wing array. The so-called crane wing array is to divide the fleet into three, which are divided into three parts: the crane body, the left wing, and the right wing. Among them, the crane body rushed towards the enemy in a horizontal formation, and the left and right flanks formed a column and outflanked them from both flanks.

After the crane body horizontal line approached the enemy, it changed into a column and fired with the side guns.

The wings will outflank the enemy's back, forming a flanking attack with the crane's body.

"Get closer, get closer, the target is their 'New Song' level, and the 6 9-inch guns are all aimed at the 'New Song' level, you must kill it!"

On the flagship Shenzhou, Hua Wuxian shouted and gave the order.

Now the northwest wind happened to be blowing on the sea, and the unharmed fleet was charging at full speed with full sails on the wind, looking anxious to stand out.

Pan Wuyang, who was on the left flank of the Crane Wing Formation of the Eastern Song Fleet, was also shouting: "Turn left, turn left, turn left now, rush over, and break the formation of the Zhou people!" ”

It turned out that Pan Wuyang had already found that the Zhou fleet was in a hurry to run away, so he changed his strategy and prepared to break it. Then divide the encirclement.

"Boom, boom, boom......"

At this moment, the bow 9-inch guns of the three Shenzhou-class ships arranged in a zigzag shape opened fire.

Six 9-inch flowering shells were pushed out of the barrels by the high-pressure gas generated by the gunpowder deflagration, and flew whistling towards the "Siam", a New Song-class battleship 2,000 paces away.

The shells missed, 2 of them exploded in the middle of the flight, and 4 fell into the sea a hundred paces away from the Siam, stirring up a column of water several feet high.

"Bow guns?"

Pan Wuyang was taken aback, and hurriedly ordered: "Hurry, hurry...... Quickly pass the order and let the crane body team collectively turn left! ”

The first-class battleships of the Eastern Song Dynasty did not have bow guns, that is, they had no firepower when the bow was facing the enemy. It's not okay to just get beaten and not fight back!

Moreover, Da Zhou should have used 8-inch or even larger caliber guns, and if one shot hit, the "Siam" might have been severely damaged.

Pan Wuyan's orders were transmitted simultaneously through signal flags and signal rockets, and this was no problem during the exercise. The lookout always sees the flagship's model flag and signal rocket in time.

But now it's wartime, and Da Zhou's fleet is still firing. Everyone was nervous to death, and some of the lookouts forgot to stare at the flagship, but were looking at the three Shenzhou-class ships of the Zhou Kingdom. Still, some of the lookouts saw it.

Therefore, the crane body team of the Eastern Song Dynasty suddenly became chaotic, some of the battleships turned to the left, and some continued to rush forward. And the battleship turning left is not in a straight line, and if you look at it from the air, you will feel scattered and chaotic - this is the problem of the horizontal formation. It is difficult to maintain a formation in wartime, unlike columns, which only need one ship after another.

The lookout on the Siam noticed the signal of the flagship Eastern Song Dynasty, so he slowed down, drew an arc on the sea, and was about to turn to the left.

But how could the three Shenzhou-class ships let go of this big fish? They also changed course slightly in order to continue shelling the Siam with bow guns.

Boom......

Another round of bombardment, 6 shells whizzed towards the Siam, and still did not hit. But the shells are already very close to the Siam!

This is a powerful 9-inch flowering bullet!

One of the shells exploded in the air less than 20 paces away from the Siam, sending out a huge fireball, and the officers and men of the Eastern Song Dynasty Navy standing on the top deck could even feel the heat wave and shock wave coming. There were also fragments from shells that hit the hull directly, creating a white spot on the black hull.

I don't know if it was because the cannonball exploded in the air not far from the helmsman of the Siam, which scared the helmsman of Siam and forgot to control the steering wheel that was spinning rapidly. The warship turned its head suddenly, and gradually turned its butt against the three Shenzhou-class, posing as if it was about to escape.

The captain of the Siam hurriedly rushed up to grab the steering wheel and control it himself, and just as he was about to turn the hull back, the hull of the Siam shook and shook violently.

And then there was the deafening roar!

The Siam has been shot!

It was hit in the stern by a 9-inch flowering bullet. The shell went straight through the parapet of the gun deck on the third aft level, rushed into the chaotic gun deck, and then there was a big explosion!

It's not an explosion, it's a series of explosions!

The seemingly very strong hull looked vulnerable to the explosion of large-caliber flowering shells. As for the gunners in the three-tier gun deck, they were killed and injured by the flying shells. The entire gun deck has become a hellish place.

The fire then burst into flames, spreading across the gun deck and soon reaching the storeroom where gunpowder and flowering shells were stored.

After that, there was another series of big bangs!

Huge battleships with a displacement of more than 50,000 stone burst from the inside, and the seemingly heavy planks were as fragile as eggshells, shattered in the big explosion, or ignited by raging fires.

In the midst of the stunned gaze of the sailors and officers of both warring sides, the Siam had turned into a flaming fireball.

A first-class battleship is actually vulnerable to such an extent!

"How can this !!?"

It was not only the naval officers and men of the Eastern Song Dynasty who made this exclamation, but their enemies were also taken by surprise.

After the accident, the sailors of both sides soon entered the battle again.

Anyway, today they are all dead or dead!

The second battleship that was beaten into a fireball was the battleship of the Eastern Song Dynasty, this time it was the second-class battleship Shanghai, which was also hit by three Shenzhou-class 9-inch giant guns at close range, and the flowering shell exploded on the internal through-gun deck, and it immediately turned out to be a giant ship with a displacement of more than 40,000 stones.

Compared to the enormous power of the flowering bomb, the defense of the sail battleship is simply non-existent!

Pan Wuyang, who saw his own loss of two giant ships, was about to go crazy, and he didn't care about the formation, so he directly played the regardless flag and the entire charge flag - now no matter what formation, rush at the damn!

And the response given to him by the Zhou fleet was to sink a third-class battleship again!

Zero to three.

In the first stage of the naval battle of Dragonstone Island, the navy of the Republic of Great Zhou won a great victory!

But that big win didn't last long. Because the ships of the Great Zhou Republic also lacked the necessary protection. Losses were not long in coming, and the battleship "Jofa" was the first to be hit by a second-class battleship that had passed it at close range......

Of course, the starboard cannon of the "Jofa" also hit the opponent!

The two battleships came to the same end - neither of them could withstand the simultaneous hit of several 8-inch flowering shells!

Both battleships were turned into fireships!

Less than a quarter of an hour later, the battle reappeared, a third-class battleship of the Great Zhou and a second-class battleship of the Eastern Song Dynasty passed by, and both sides penetrated each other's gun decks with 8-inch guns!

This is really going to be a personal life...... It turns out that the battleships on both sides are tofu racks, and they don't carry them at all!

The naval soldiers on both sides were frightened by such casualties and losses, but now they met on a narrow road, so they could only fight hard.

Although the battleships on both sides are fragile tofu racks, the Battle of Dragonstone Island is still a big battle that determines the fortunes of the three heroes of China!

Because the main force of the Nanyang Fleet of the Eastern Song Dynasty suffered a devastating blow in this great battle that lasted for two days and one night, and thus lost the capital to compete with the Great Zhou Navy for maritime supremacy.

The beginning of the defeat of the Eastern Song Dynasty Navy was the defeat of the Great Zhou Western Fleet commanded by them to encircle and annihilate Hua without injury. The Arrow Formation used by the Great Zhou Western Fleet to break through showed considerable flexibility - the Arrow Formation was actually a vertical formation, and it could maintain its formation by sailing one after another. Moreover, the column can also concentrate the sideboard fire of the fleet, which is indeed very advantageous.

After using the Sharp Arrow Array to break through the interception of the Eastern Song Fleet, Hua led the fleet to reach Dragonstone Island as agreed upon by him and the Great Eastern Ocean Western Fleet. Pan Wuyang, who was unwilling to let go of the enemy fleet, packed up the fleet and chased after him.

As a result, in the waters near Longshi Island, they encountered the Great Zhou Dongyang Westward Fleet heading north! This is a huge fleet whose strength far exceeds that of the main force of the Eastern Song Dynasty Nanyang Fleet to the west!

Moreover, after completing the rendezvous with the Western Fleet, the Great Zhou Fleet has 6 first-class battleships, although these 6 first-class battleships are a bit unbeatable, but their 12 9-inch bow guns are very powerful.

Because the 9-inch gun has a long range and great power, and the ships of the Eastern Song Dynasty do not have bow guns, and there are no giant cannons in the stern that can fire large-caliber flowering shells. Therefore, the decisive battle between the two sides again became a tragic battle of the Eastern Song Dynasty's loss of sea power. Pan Wuyan's Grand Fleet suffered heavy losses, losing all the first, second, and third class battleships, as well as a third of the light warships, and he himself was killed in the engagement. The Zhou State lost only one first-class battleship and sixteen-bow second- and third-class battleships, and the loss of light ships was less than half of that of the opponent.

It can be said that it is a big win!

.。 m.