The frigate squadron turned left and broke away from the fleet, and order required the escort fleet to operate independently and maintain maneuver.

Sailors weave from deck to deck, adding extra protection to the sides with compacted canvas iron frames. The curtain of the ammunition depot was completely wet to avoid accidents caused by the splashing sparks.

When the enemy ship approached to 1 nautical mile, Conservative ordered to open the battle sails and turn right to reduce the windward angle. The combat sail is not full sail, but there are more sails than are hung now, which increases the speed. Turning right to reduce the windward angle will slow down the ship. This is done because the speed is too fast to be conducive to the formation engagement, and the battle sail is raised so that when needed, the wind angle can be adjusted to quickly increase the speed.

The South Sea and Lima, which had turned around, pointed their starboard guns at the enemy's lead ships, and at the current speed, if the Spanish fleet did not maneuver, they would be fired at by the broadside guns.

This is obviously not going to happen.

The Spanish fleet came from above, and they had the priority of choice.

The enemy's standard tactics should be to slow down, turn left and head the wind to form a battle line, but this will lead the two sides into a reverse artillery battle, countless examples of battles have shown that when the two fleets are fighting in opposite directions, it is difficult to achieve meaningful results in a long time, and the real artillery time window is too short.

The Spaniards could also follow the order and turn right into the same course artillery battle, using the lead ship to engage the orderly rear ship. The fleet sequence is then reversed, and the second ship overtakes the lead ship in the non-engagement area, and engages the penultimate battleship in the order under the cover of the lead ship. One by one, attack the enemy ships in front of them under the cover of friendly ships. Of course, the Order now has only 2 warships, and the Spanish fleet does not need too complicated maneuvers to engage in turn.

Admiral Lopez could, of course, have the option of passing through the stern of the Lima, but that would be to give the starboard upwind position to Order. The Spanish fleet was slower than Order, and Order, believing that Lopez, a victorious general who still holds the record of complete victories over the Dutch fleet, would certainly not do so.

The officers on the aft deck watched Lopez's choice closely.

Harris: "The Spaniards have a 4-2 advantage on the Galen, and if I had Lopez I would have chosen the fastest route into the engagement. ”

Gardner: "Your Excellency, do you think Lopez will split the fleet and attack us from both sides at the same time?" ”

Gardner had been an excellent gunnery officer, and this was the first time he had participated in fleet warfare as a captain. It could be seen that he was a little nervous in the face of the superior Spanish fleet.

Shou Xuan now had a relatively large telescope in his hand, and Lin Zhuyong stood in front of him, using his shoulder to serve as a frame for the telescope. Seeing the captain ask himself, Orderly looked away from the eyepiece, "Not now." Our ships are faster than his, which means that he will not be able to flank even if he splits his fleet in two. ”

Harris looked up at the sailline, "The encirclement won't succeed until Lopez breaks our sailsuits." If he does that, it will be good for us. ”

A smile appeared on the corner of Shou Order's mouth, "Elliot, we only need a few maneuvers, not only will the Spaniards not be able to form a flanking attack, if they make a mistake, we will even close the gap in the number of warships and get a chance to face a certain detachment alone." ”

Gardner listened and fell into thought, apparently deducing what would happen if the current wind was down, if the Spanish fleet was divided. It's one thing to learn sailing at an academy, it's another thing to quickly grasp a fighter on the battlefield. Commanding a fleet requires experience, and a simple turn of the enemy's sails can quickly clear the enemy's possible direction of maneuver in his mind, and then respond. Drills can help, but the best schools are definitely battlegrounds.

Harris: "Your Excellency, the enemy's lead ship has made a sharp right turn. ”

Shou Xuan nodded, "Lopez chose to enter the same direction artillery battle, that's right. ”

Gardner came to his senses, "Your Excellency, perhaps I should go down and command the artillery battle. ”

Shou Zhi made his objection clear, "Eliot, you're the captain. The captain's command position is here. The gun deck has its own commander, and now there is no need to disrupt the command order. ”

"I'm afraid those lads messed things up."

Order: "You can't command them forever, they can learn from it if they perform well or badly." ”

The Federal Navy has been dormant in the Gulf of Siam for three years, and learning and training are the main themes of the Native Navy. To be a strong army, this is not enough. The rise of a great power must be tempered by blood and fire, and only a battle with a powerful enemy such as the Spanish fleet can test the current quality of the Federation's navy.

Harris also advised, "Elliot, the boys on the gun deck were trained by you, and you should know them better than we do. ”

Gardner: "Yes, Your Excellency......"

Shou looked back at the binoculars, "And, Elliot, take it easy. As a captain, your face is contagious to others. ”

……

After the Spanish fleet turned to the right, the two opposing fleets took an acute angle and approached each other.

Sebastian. Lopez made slight modifications to the standard engagement procedures, and his flagship took third place in the fleet column. Therefore, he had the lead ship attack the Lima behind the Order Hall together with the second ship. His flagship overtook the starboard side and entered a parallel course with the Nanhai.

The three speedboats of the Spanish fleet overtook the stern of the Lima, and Thomas Melo's frigate immediately met it. The Federation frigate is a large brig with a keel length of 20 meters, and there is a significant difference in the size of the light ships on both sides. Lopez sent one of the fastest and smallest Galen to join the battle between the frigates. In this way, on the main battlefield, the gap between the two sides is not so big.

All 5 ships were large galen of close tonnage, with slightly different armament arrangements. In order to gain an advantage in speed, the number of light guns on the open deck was reduced to reduce the center of gravity of the whole ship. The Spaniards, for their part, piled up as many weapons as they could on the deck.

The battle officially began an hour later.

Orderly looked over to the deck. Gunsmoke filled the gun positions, and the war stimulated the secretion of adrenaline hormones. The sailors, whose faces were flushed, operated the guns to shoot mechanically, recoil, and reload.

It is doubtful how much the open-deck light artillery will gain in the current engagement. The engagements between Galen were always decided by the heavy guns on the gun deck.

The Spanish fleet wanted to get close to the melee combat, carefully adjusted the course of the battleships in an orderly manner, and always maintained a medium and long distance with the enemy ships, and the hit rate of both sides was very low, and the Nanhai suffered 12 casualties. The wounded soldiers were quickly carried to the infirmary on the lower deck, where they were given the verdict of fate.

The ships of both sides have been yawing to the left, and if they do not engage in close combat, they may not achieve decisive results in such a day.

The purpose of the order was clear, to cover the convoy, not to fight the Spaniards. If he could, he would have kept fighting like this.

The other battlefield, the battlefield of the frigates, looks even bloodier. Thomas Melo's flagship entangled the Galen, leaving 2 frigates with 2 to 3.

In the afternoon, the wind direction changed from south-southwest to west-southwest.

This is a neutral change for the battleship, and it is not in anyone's favor. But the two warring fleets were pushed open by the wind, and the distance from the transport ships was even greater. On the stern of the Nanhai, there was no Junk fleet in the orderly field of vision, and they could only be seen by climbing up to the lookout.

The stern of the Spanish flagship São Lyon, Sebastian. Admiral Lopez felt the need for a change.

The federal navy is an unfamiliar enemy to Manila, a pirate-founded nation that has become the third largest maritime power in the South China Sea, behind Batavia and Manila.

In Lopez's heart, he didn't want to carry out this sortie. The pressure inflicted by the Dutch was too great, although on 29 July he led his fleet to a decisive defeat of the Dutch fleet blockading Manila at Marinduk, and two days later caught up with the retreating Dutch at the Sea of Mindoro, and almost fought a battle of annihilation. The Dutch fought desperately to avoid total annihilation.

A large part of Lopez's victory was due to the fact that he was engaged on home soil, and the ships were in better condition than the Dutch. The Dutch battleships blockaded Manila for a long time, and the bottom of the ship was crawling with parasites, which seriously slowed down the speed.

But Manila also paid a heavy price, half of the battleships were seriously damaged and towed back to Cavite. In three months, none of these ships can be expected to be of any use. The Dutch had four times as many warships in Asia as Manila, a staggering comparison when one takes into account the number of armed merchant ships that could be converted. The Dutch could quickly replenish their losses and assemble a more powerful fleet, which Lopez could not receive.

In Lopez's view, what Manila should do is to make every effort to repair its ships for the next Dutch invasion. But with the breakdown of Manila. Philippine Governor Fajardo immediately sent him to attack the mouth of the Pearl River to intercept the Federation's fleet. The Governor reasoned that the Manila fleet was incapable of attacking the Gulf of Siam or the Taiwan Strait, and that this was a rare opportunity to strike at the Federation.

Lopez reluctantly agreed to attack, the Pearl River Estuary has Macao as a backing, the north wind period is coming, and there will not be too much delay in going north in August. Combining the intelligence received from all sides, Lopez keenly grasped the federal fleet. But he also did not want to lose any more ships, so since the engagement, the Spanish fleet has tended to maneuver cautiously.

Seeing that there was little point in medium- and long-range artillery battles, Lopez ordered the flagship San Liandroid to make a sharp left turn and rush towards the Nanhai.

South Sea Stern.

Spanish warships were to fight in close combat. Shou Xun immediately ordered, "Turn around, quickly." ”

Gardner immediately gave the order to the wheelhouse.

"Now a shipwrow?" Harris was a little surprised, "That would expose us to Spanish fire." ”

Putting down the binoculars, Shou Xiang's tone was calm, "As long as you move quickly, the Spaniards don't have a long shooting window." ”

The shipside change operation is one of the most important maneuvers of a battleship, and after years of training, sailors have developed muscle memory. The rumbling and roaring of artillery did not have much effect.

The sailors carried the swivel rope and quickly passed the deck, driving the transverse truss to turn. Release the backmast and change the side tie. In the wheelhouse, the helmsman moves the iron steering lever and leverages the real tiller through pulleys and ropes.

After firing a volley, the gunner reset the gun, closed the gun door and rolled out the port side gun.

The Nanhai turned right and was once within arquebus range of the Spanish flagship, the San Lyonia. Less than half of the guns had a firing range, and a salvo of fire broke several sail lines on the South Sea.

The Lima and the South Sea turned at the same time, and the Order and the Spanish fleet staggered past each other, quickly pulling away from each other. The fighting between the main forces ceased for a moment, and Gardner immediately urged the sailors to devote themselves to damage management. Repair the bulwark, and wrap the unbroken but broken support cable around it with a special thin wire, which can play a role in reinforcing it.

Now the Spaniards were roughly north-northwest, and south-southwest. If there is no escort mission, and the order feels that it is not necessary to fight this naval battle, then it can be retreated now. But the transport ship has not gone far, and obviously cannot go. The Nanhai turned against the wind and returned to its northward course again.

The situation at this time was the opposite of that at the beginning of the war, and the Spanish fleet was located north of the port side of the guard. Sebastian doesn't want to let order take over, and he wants to get back into the fight as soon as possible. The bow of the Spanish battleship pointed north-east, and the battle line was reorganized at 6 compass points.

The two armies again entered into an artillery battle in the same direction. The order is still in the downwind position, which is more advantageous for firing at the sail and mast system of enemy ships at medium distances.

This time, the two sides had a preliminary understanding of each other's strength, and the tension of the sailors was relieved, and the hit rate was higher than before.

The muzzle flame flashed, and a chain projectile flew out of the muzzle, spun in the air, and let out a piercing screech, until it was stopped by the crossbar of the enemy ship, wrapped in a ball, and tore the wood and canvas to pieces.

When Order turns to the right again and hoists up its sails to evacuate the battlefield, Lopez is certain that Order doesn't want to engage him, just to stall for time for the transports to escape.

The Spanish fleet no longer had the orderly warships as their first target, and they sailed north, chasing the transports.

Harris smiled wryly, "Not enough to slow down the enemy ship. ”

Orderly glanced at the hourglass beside him, there were still three hours before dark, and the transports could not get out of sight of the enemy ships until then.

"Ask the lookout, how was the battle with the frigate?"

The frigates were faster, and their battlefield was now 4 nautical miles to the south, with no longer a clear view from the stern.

Gardner himself ran under the mainmast.

The correspondence on deck was all roaring, and the lookout, hearing what the captain was asking, reported in a loud voice: "Captain Merlot has done a great job, one of the salted speedboats has caught fire." ”

Shou Xuan let out a long breath, "Gentlemen, the game is over, now we have to play with the Spaniards for real." ”