The British Royal Navy fleet, before even the artillery range could enter, was subjected to two salvos from the Nanyang Naval Division, two battleships were sunk on the spot, and two were seriously injured and lost their combat effectiveness. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

Faced with such a situation, the British Navy did not panic, but methodically directed the battleships to adjust their formation.

In fact, the British Navy was not calm, but the commander was shocked and did not give the order to respond.

It wasn't until the third volley of the Nanyang Naval Division came out that John Powell, who came to his senses, gave the order to open fire and return fire.

At this time, the warships of the two sides were about 1,800 meters apart, and the British Navy could only be regarded as passive fire at this distance, and whether it could hit or not basically depended on luck.

After three rounds of salvo fire, the ships began to fire freely, after all, there were too many opposing warships, and the effect of the salvo was not very obvious, and the rest mainly depended on the rate of fire and the feeling of the gunners when they operated the artillery.

At this time, the gunners that Zheng Zhilong supported at the beginning finally showed their advantages.

The gunners, who had been in the South Seas for a year or two, fought not only against the Dutch, but also with the British, and even exchanged fire with the surrounding pirates every once in a while, and their actual combat ability, especially against moving targets at sea, was far better than those who graduated from military schools.

After the order to open fire was issued, the hit rate of the Nanyang Naval Division increased again, and although not many enemy ships were sunk, more than 20 were damaged.

Not only that, after this, the Nanyang Naval Division began to change course and retreated in a "Z" shape, always maintaining a distance of 1500~2000 meters from the British Navy.

Zheng Zhilong once gave Zheng Chenggong a detailed introduction to the speed and artillery range of the warships of the European navies, including the memorandum of engagement between Zheng Zhilong's fleet and the British fleet in the Bay of Bengal.

Therefore, Zheng Chenggong understood that in the artillery battle at a distance of 1500~2000 meters, the Nanyang Naval Division would have an absolute advantage.

If this can still be hit by the opponent's artillery, it can only show that the sailors on the ship are unlucky enough...........

The kite flying tactic is a common tactic used by the Ming army's sailors to use steam warships to win more with less.

Sure enough, at a distance of 1,800 meters, the first salvo of naval guns of the British did not even touch the hair of the Ming army's naval division, and the nearest shell landing point was a hundred meters away from the battleship, which was equivalent to the position of two large warships.

Just when the British were about to quickly reload and carry out a second round of strikes, the ironclad ship General Xuanwei, which had been entangled by 20 "Predator" warships, suddenly turned on full power, and after knocking over a "Predator", quickly rushed towards John Powell's flagship.

John Powell's flagship is one of the few most advanced "first-class sail battleships" in the British Empire, with a length of about 70 meters, a total of 80 guns of various types (three decks), and a displacement of 1,350 tons.

The term battleship has only just emerged in Europe, derived from the sail battleship (line-of-battle ship), from the middle of the 17th century to the middle of the 19th century, large warships that mainly lined up in battle lines for battle, were called battleships.

Today's battleships are roughly divided into three classes, mainly based on the number of battleship guns.

A 1st class sail battleship, consisting of three decks, the number of guns could not be less than sixty.

The second class of sail battleships consisted of two decks, with 30 to 50 guns (more than 50 guns, generally a three-deck layout was used).

The third-class sail battleship is a single-deck, and the guns on the general battleship are about 24~28 guns.

As for the rest, those medium-sized battleships equipped with only a few guns belonged to auxiliary warships, such as the "Predator" in the British fleet, which was only equipped with two Furlong rapid-fire guns in the bow position, and was mainly responsible for transporting soldiers, carrying out string battles, or for battlefield assistance and rescuing soldiers who had fallen overboard.

The thirty-one battleships in Zheng Chenggong's hands can all be called battleships, but including the ironclad ship of General Xuanwei, they can only be called "second-class sail battleships".

Thirty new steam warships, due to the sacrifice of armor ability and the speed of construction, are not as good as the previous ordinary sail warships, so it is natural to need a sufficient artillery base to fill these two shortcomings.

Therefore, these new steam warships are also divided into two layers, each of which is equipped with 42 4.5-inch (150 mm) secondary guns and six 6-inch (200 mm) main guns.

With such a firepower intensity, even in the face of the Europeans' first-class sail battleships, they definitely have the power to fight.

And the General Xuanwei ironclad ship is only equipped with a total of 30 guns, which can barely squeeze into the threshold of the "second-class sail battleship".

In fact, Li Hongfei's original definition of this battleship was a medium-sized cruiser, which also conformed to the standard model of later steam warships.

It's a pity that this ironclad ship blends Eastern and Western elements and becomes a bit different.

The number of guns is really insufficient, but the caliber of its guns even exceeds the caliber of the main guns of the British "1st class sail battleships".

Because the larger the caliber of the gun, the stronger the recoil when firing the gun, the average wooden battleship is really difficult to withstand too large caliber artillery, so John Powell's flagship is only on the top deck, only installed two 6-inch (200 mm) front-loading smoothbore guns, and the rest of the guns are basically 4.5-inch (150 mm) Furlong heavy guns, in terms of naval gun caliber, only comparable to the wooden steam warships of the Nanyang Naval Division.

The 150 mm heavy gun can basically produce a devastating blow in the face of today's wooden battleships, and the 200 mm main gun is to bombard the opponent's "first-class sail battleship" in order to quickly make the opponent's first-class battleship ineffective.

But the General Xuanwei ironclad ship, even the secondary guns are 6-inch rear-loading Furlong heavy guns, and as for the four main guns, they are 8-inch (260 mm) front-loading smoothbore guns.

The main gun of the General Xuanwei was originally specially designed to deal with the existence of the same ironclad ship, and it was easy not to fire, and there were 26 secondary guns, which can basically be said to be invincible.

The 200-mm secondary gun, against those second- and third-class sail battleships, as long as it can be hit, it is one cannon and one gun, and as for the 260-mm main gun, it is estimated that even the "first-class sail battleship" cannot withstand its ravage.

Fortunately, Zheng Chenggong only wanted to "deter" the British, and he didn't want to directly destroy the other party, so General Xuanwei, including the secondary artillery, has not fired so far, otherwise the British warships are estimated to be left with a few ships.

Today's General Xuanwei is upwind, and when it is full sail, it begins to soar at a maximum speed of 17 knots, and along the way, another "three-stage sail battleship" that wants to come forward to intercept is directly smashed in two.

Now the British are completely confused, what the hell is this Big Mac?

Even if the battleship is equipped with a special ramming angle, it can collide with two battleships in a row, including a third-class battleship, but the bow of the opponent should not be without the slightest damage!

Could it be made of iron?

"All the warships in the rear, give me concentrated firepower and sink the enemy's flagship!" John Powell ordered again.

He can see it now, the speed of the opponent's battleship is simply against the sky, and it is impossible to capture this battleship through the connecting battle, and the best way is to take the lead in sinking this battleship.

In just over 10 minutes since the start of the war, John Powell's fleet has sunk seven warships, four of which have been wounded and incapacitated, and countless have suffered minor injuries.

However, such losses did not even touch the other party's hair, and if it continued, his fleet could be completely wiped out.

At present, the only way is to sink the opponent's flagship and force the opponent to surrender.

Originally, he was still suffering from no chance, but now the other party took the initiative to "send" it to the door, and he naturally didn't want to spend it anymore.

At this time, John Powell still had nearly 100 warships in his hands, although most of them were auxiliary warships that could not participate in the battleline bombardment, there were only 18 third-class sail battleships, and even fewer second-class sail battleships, only 6.

However, with the addition of auxiliary warships and their own flagships, first-class sail battleships, the number of guns can reach nearly 1,000, and even if the side can only exert half of the firepower, it is still more than 500 guns.

Take 500 guns against a battleship, this is the rhythm of killing General Xuanwei with cannonballs!

It's a pity that General Xuanwei is not a wooden battleship, but a genuine ironclad ship, and the speed of this ironclad ship is also very fast, even if more than 500 artillery pieces chase and fight, it would be good to have a one-tenth hit rate.

At the speed of the ironclad ship, the British Navy only had one chance to fire a salvo, and even if more than 50 shells really hit the General Xuanwei, the artillery below 200 mm could not break through the defense at all, and no matter how much it came, it would be an itch.

"Oh God! Why wasn't it hurt, could it be a devil from hell? John Powell screamed.

John Powell swore to the heavens that he had witnessed at least twenty shells hit the giant ship in front of him.

As a result, the battleship didn't have any............

"Phew! Damn, there are so many artillery pieces of the ghosts, and I was almost blown up! On the General Xuanwei, a commander spat at blood foam, and then cursed.

There were only two shells that went directly into the command room, but fortunately, the protective armor in the command room was thick enough, otherwise the commanders on the battleship would have to be reimbursed for most of them.

"Report the damage to the battleship!"

Zheng Chenggong was also injured, but he didn't have time to care about his injuries, but directly inquired about the damage to the battleship.

"Report to the captain that the main mast and aft mast were blown off, the power was damaged, and the current speed can only be maintained at about 13 knots. The casualties were not significant, only four sailors were killed, five were seriously wounded, and one of the main guns on the front bridge was destroyed. "The damage manager quickly reported the battle damage.

"Full speed ahead, ready for the battle!" Zheng Chenggong ordered.

Finding that the damage to the battleship was not too serious, Zheng Chenggong ordered to continue the charge.

In fact, it has reached this point, it is too late to retreat, John Powell wants to capture Zheng Chenggong's flagship, Zheng Chenggong is not this kind of calculation.

After blowing up the two masts of the ironclad ship, killing and wounding more than a dozen sailors, the General Xuanwei continued to speed up and rushed straight at John Powell's flagship, at which time the distance between the two flagships was less than 200 meters, and even if John Powell ordered the six-inch main gun on the flagship to open fire, it was already too late...........

The ironclad ship was not without damage, and the dense craters on the hull showed the danger of the first battle, but compared to the damage of the wooden battleship, the damage of the ironclad ship could only be regarded as minimal.

"Quick, quick evasion!" Looking at the rushing battleship, John Powell panicked and ordered evasion.

John Powell had already learned the power of the General Xuanwei, and the guy who could directly smash the "third-class sail battleship" in two, his flagship might not be able to withstand it.

Unfortunately, the distance between the two sides was too close, and with the speed of the sail battleship, there was no time to complete the evasion, and finally John Powell's flagship, the tail was hit by the General Xuanwei.

"Boom!"

The tremendous force of the impact caused John Powell's flagship to drift sideways from a straight line.

Some of the unprepared sailors were directly thrown out by this force of inertia and fell into the sea like dumplings.

"Bang dang!"

The battleship that moved sideways maintained a battle line formation with the General Xuanwei and caused a second collision.

After the second impact, the guns of this "first-class sail battleship" close to the side of General Xuanwei were almost all shaken out of their gun positions.

At this time, the guns on the side of the General Xuanwei were directly aimed at John Powell's flagship, and as long as Zheng Chenggong gave an order, a dozen six-inch (200 mm) heavy guns fired a salvo could definitely send the other side to the western sky.

"Put the hook and lock the opposing ship. Set up a ladder and rush with me! ”

Zheng Chenggong did not come down to destroy the battleship, but decided to carry out a string battle.

Because the steam battleship formation in the distance, although the battle was quite fruitful, it could not withstand the number of opponent's artillery, and at this time there were already three steam battleships, injured and withdrawn from the battle sequence, so this battle must be quickly resolved.

Although the British were stunned by the two collisions, after finding that their battleship was locked by the other party, they quickly reacted that it was time for a string battle.

So they picked up their flintlock pistols, drew their swords at their waists, and poured out of the cabins on all floors, and came to the top deck, where they blocked the attack with the help of various bunkers on the deck.

Both sides are the main battleships, and there are not many sailors that can accommodate them, and they are basically made temporary cameos by artillerymen and sailors who operate the battleship.

As a result, General Xuanwei was at a disadvantage in numbers.

After all, the number of artillery is more than twice that of the opponent, and the gunners are naturally less than half of the opponent's, and the ironclad ship uses steam power, so the number of sailors on the ship is naturally less.

It can be said that in this engagement battle, the ratio of forces between the two sides was three to one, and the Ming army was at a disadvantage in numbers, and it was still difficult for Zheng Chenggong to successfully take John Powell's flagship.

Fortunately, the individual combat equipment of the Ming Army's naval division is more than one grade better than that of the British.

"Grenades!"

At present, the most effective means of attack against bunkers is grenades.

A salvo of hundreds of grenades was no less than an artillery bombardment for a wooden battleship.

And the killing area of a grenade is much larger than that of a shell.

Taking advantage of the black smoke emitted by the grenades to obscure the enemy's vision, the Ming soldiers quickly climbed to John Powell's flagship through ropes or ladders, and then began a white-knuckle battle..........

"It's over! Raise the white flag and surrender, we lost. Looking at the enemy troops rushing onto deck, John Powell knew that the battle had been lost.

"General, the other party is smaller in number than us, and we still have the strength to fight!" The adjutant on the side persuaded.

"What can you do even if you repel the other party? Do you want the whole young man on the battleship to die for this? John Powell asked rhetorically.

He knew very well in his heart that the other party was fully capable of directly firing the cannon to sink his flagship, and there was no need to carry out a chord battle at all.

The reason why the most casualty style of play was chosen was because the opponent did not want to completely tear the skin.

John Powell understood that if he did not make a choice at this time, the consequences would be even more serious than now, and once the opposing boarders were repulsed, the annoyed and angry Ming army sailors might not directly smash their own flagship.

If it was John Powell before, he was not afraid of completely tearing his face with the Ming Navy, after all, no matter how powerful the Ming Navy was, it was also in the Far East, even if the British Empire lost today's war, the Ming Dynasty Navy would not be able to please him.

After all, this is too far away from the Far East, and it is difficult for the opponent's fleet to gain a foothold in the Atlantic Ocean when it has nowhere to supply weapons and ammunition.

But after seeing the power of ironclads, John Powell completely confessed.

No matter how powerful the steam battleship is, it is just fast enough, and once it is hit, it will still be injured.

But the ironclad ships were different, a single nearly 100 wooden battleships, after withstanding a saturation attack of nearly 30 shells, not only "intact", but also firmly gained the upper hand.

If you really want to completely annoy these guys, you will transfer ten ironclad ships from the Far East to blockade the waters of the British Empire.

The navy of the British Empire, at least until they have figured out how to deal with ironclads, will not think of going to sea.

Obviously, John Powell thought too much, thinking that the ironclad ship was the kind of road cargo that would be launched once in a month or two...........

When John Powell's flagship raised the white flag, the "Mingying Naval Battle," which lasted less than an hour, finally ended with a complete victory for the Ming army.

The British admiral, who was fighting in front, did not expect the battle to end so quickly, and at the same time there was a hint of joy in his heart.

The steam warships of the Ming army were too terrifying, and so far in the battle, more than 20 battleships have been injured or sunk to the bottom of the sea, while only two battleships of the other side have been slightly injured.

These British admirals did not dare to continue fighting.

This naval battle, although in terms of the scale of the war, the duration of the battle, and even the casualty rate, can only be regarded as a very small naval battle.

But it is of great historical significance.

Later history evaluated the "Ming and Ying Naval Battle" as the battle of the rise of ironclad ships.

It was also after this war that the era of steam warships officially emerged in European countries.........

Without further ado, in short, this naval battle was fought inexplicably, and the end was full of drama.

Even the Dutch, who were watching the bustle, and Rear Admiral Joseph Holaff, deputy commander of the British Far East Fleet, who was struggling to deal with the aftermath, were dumbfounded.

Recently, he has followed the Dutch, discussed the big guy in the middle of the fleet, and even made tactical deductions, and the final result was that this big guy, due to the limited number of guns, could deal with up to ten second-class sail battleships, or five first-class sail battleships.

As a result, the naval battle directly made several people's faces red, and this kind of battleship that cannonballs can't penetrate is simply invincible, and it didn't even need to open fire, under the siege of a hundred warships, captured the flagship of the British Royal Navy.

In other words, even if this battleship has no ammunition on it, it will be able to sweep away all the current wooden sail warships in Europe by ramming.