At the same time, Napoleon III, who was far away in Chalon, had already received a telegram from the Admiralty:

"Colonel Lone's rapid detachment has reached the designated position and has now begun to attack. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info"

After reading the telegram, Napoleon III nodded with satisfaction and said to the secretary: "Let the Admiralty call back Colonel Loneba: let it go!" France is watching you! ”

After learning about the situation in the entire port, Guba immediately began to deploy his warship. The Prussian defenders of the port of Kiel did not expect the French navy to appear here, and they knew that these French warships were not coming well, and now they could only watch the French line up at the mouth of the harbor.

The ironclad ship "Ocean", which has the largest tonnage, has a deep draft, and it is difficult to approach the coast of Kiel, so Guba made a bold move to place the "Ocean" ironclad at the intersection of the fire of the four batteries in the port of Kiel, or in a position where it can shell four batteries in the port of Kiel at the same time. With a displacement of 7,580 tons and was completed in Brest in 1870, the "Ocean" ironclad ship was 87.73 meters long, 17.52 meters wide, 8.99 meters draft, and 14 knots. At the same time, the "Ocean" artillery fire was fierce, armed with 4 270-mm guns, 4 240-mm guns and 8 140-mm secondary guns, 270-mm guns against the batteries in the port of Kiel, almost invincible. According to the information obtained, Guba believed that the caliber of the largest gun of the main battery in the port of Kiel would not exceed 170 mm, so according to the previous tests of the French Navy, it was decided that the warship would be anchored in a place where the 200 mm armor could withstand 170 mm shells, that is, about 1,000 meters away from the battery. The cruisers with a shallower draft were ordered to shoot directly at close range.

After the order was given, the flagship "Ocean" was the first to start, anchoring at a position 900 meters outside the main battery of Kiel. The starboard side was directed towards the main battery of Kiel and the temporary expansion of the Prussian battery next to it, and the port side and stern fire controlled the two batteries built by the Prussians on the right bank of the port. The cruiser "Oponiat", with a shallow draft, went all the way to the shore of Kiel, anchored 120 meters in front of the secondary battery on the flank of the main battery of Kiel, in order to avoid the fire of the main battery, and aimed the secondary battery with the starboard side. Another cruiser, the Ambuscade, was docked even deeper, and this cruiser was responsible for shelling the batteries on both sides of the harbor and acting as a countermeasure.

After all the arrangements were made, in accordance with the French tradition of warfare, Guba sent an officer ashore on a sampan and delivered an ultimatum to the Prussian defenders, demanding that they surrender the fortress. The defenders ignored the letter and raised their alert, while urgently reporting the naval ships in the port of Kiel.

Seeing that there was no response from the Prussian side, Lone ordered a signal to be hung out at the crossbow end of the "Ocean" and ordered all ships to be ready for battle. At 8 o'clock, the "Ocean" hoisted a huge battle flag -- this was a signal for battle, and as the guns of the "Ocean" group sounded, the other French ships were not to be left behind and opened fire one after another. After receiving the ultimatum of the French army, the defenders had already strengthened their defenses, and the Kiel battery, which was on standby, immediately returned fire when they heard the sound.

The fierce artillery battle lasted only 5 minutes, and the three batteries in the port of Kiel were quickly destroyed, and the battle turned into a decisive battle against the main battery, and at 8:45 the north side of the main gun in Kiel was hit and caught fire, and the Prussian army failed to control the fire, and at 9 o'clock the powder magazine of the battery exploded violently. Under the heavy bombardment of the 270-mm and 240-mm guns of the French ironclads, the batteries of the Prussian army were surrounded by fire and smoke, and in the earth-shattering explosion, the stumps of the burning human body flew into the air, like dolls torn to pieces, and fell along with the shattered and twisted barrels. The defense of the Keel Harbour battery group failed, and it took less than half an hour for the lone warship to clear the outer defenses of Kiel.

At 9:32 a.m., a huge tricolor flag was raised over the main battery in Port Kiel.

※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※

"Lin Yizhe's Diary": "At eight o'clock that day, the Fa Shui Division attacked the Kiel Fort of the Prussian Kingdom with four ironclad ships and two patrol clippers...... Two o'clock later, the French army went ashore, erected a flag with the main battery, took advantage of the situation to break through its hilltop battery, destroyed more than a dozen guns and their camps, and plundered a lot of guns......"

※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※

After destroying the shore defense batteries in the port of Kiel, the French warships, led by Gu Ba, drove in and attacked the Prussian naval ships anchored in the harbor.

The Prussian naval ships in the harbor, in the face of the sudden attack of the French ships, hurriedly launched their own fighting back, fighting on such a narrow water, it was like a white-knuckle fight, the French warships had already seized the lead, although they received a timely notice from the defenders of the battery, the Prussian warships have anchored, ready to give go with the French ships, but everything seems too late.

With a displacement of 10,933 tons, the Prussian Navy's flagship "Konish Wilhelm" is the soul pillar of all Prussian warships in the harbor at this moment, and the captain of the ship, Lieutenant Commander Zweig, desperately shouted orders and dispatched various posts on the ship to enter a combat state, intending to change the unfavorable position of the "Konish Wilhelm" and attack the French flagship "Ocean" with broadside firepower, so as to play a benchmark role for the warships under the Black Hawk banner. The Cornish Wilhelm was now in a bustling mess, and in the engine room, sailors were struggling to loosen the steam valves and drive the steam engine. On the bow anchor deck, several large hammers slammed into the heavy anchor chains, and the steel anchor chains seemed to be unmoved in the sparks that splashed everywhere. On the already small open-air artillery deck, there are busy crowds everywhere at the moment, and the huge 210-mm main guns are pushed by sailors and dragged by tackles along the tracks laid on the deck, slowly entering the broadside gun emplacements. In the holes in the side of the ship, the gunners of the 240-mm guns struggled to load their shells. Under the orders of Captain Zweig, a huge battle flag was also hoisted on the mast of the "Königs-Wilhelm", and the huge ironclad ship moved slowly like a giant beast that was breaking free.

The "Cornish William", which was caught in the concentrated fire of the French ships, made efforts to adjust to the position of the enemy on the side of the gun. Not willing to be passively beaten, one of the 210 mm cannons equipped in the stern of the "Cornish Wilhelm" began to return fire first.

The French flagship, the Ocean, which rushed to the front, was first hit on the side by two shells, which penetrated the ironclad and was blocked by the oak lining inside the ironclad. Lone Baba expected such a fierce firepower from the Prussian army, but he did not expect that the 210-mm guns owned by the Prussian army would be able to hit the first shot. Soon after, another shell fired from the main battery of the "Knievs-Wilhelm" hit the broadside gun position of the "Ocean", and one of the 240-mm guns was seriously damaged, but the surrounding personnel were not damaged, because the Prussian shell was a solid shell that could not explode.

Almost at the same time as the above-mentioned scene, Captain Zweig, who was standing on the flybridge of the "Cornish Wilhelm", suddenly felt a violent tremor under his feet, accompanied by an explosion, and a flame rose from the middle of the port side of the ship. The 270-mm guns of the "Ocean" and "Marengo" hit the "Cornish William" one after another.

Because the ship "Cornish William" had many cannons, it was the key target of the French navy, and after the lone leader rushed into the harbor, he commanded four ironclad ships to concentrate their firepower on it in order to take the lead in the first place.

Under the heavy bombardment of the four French ironclads, the huge hull of the "Cornish William" soon became a honeycomb, "it was constantly hit by shells, and the iron hull could not withstand such heavy damage, and the sea water continued to pour into the ship along the breach, and its port side burst open at once...... The huge ship was bombarded with a succession of deadly shelling, constantly making panting sounds, and the machine was dying, as if the lungs were breathing for the last breath......"

The Kornish Wilhelm, which had suffered a sudden and heavy blow, began to tilt and sink continuously, but the Prussian sailors still tried to maneuver it towards the shallow shore with the intention of running aground to save themselves, and finally could not support it, and sank helplessly near the shore. Because the water is not deep, a large number of superstructures of the "Cornish Wilhelm" are still exposed after the sinking. Less than 10 minutes into the battle, the flagship of the Prussian Navy sank in agony, which seemed to foreshadow the end of the battle. In the final moments of the sinking of the ironclad "Königs-Wilhelm", an unknown Prussian sailor climbed the mast and hoisted a Black Eagle flag, calling on the other warships in the harbor to continue fighting.

At the same time as the "Königs-Wilhelm" was heavily damaged, a Prussian warship rushed out of the array. This is the Prussian cruiser "Herta".

"Herta" was a Prussian-built cruiser with a displacement of only 2580 tons, which made it more maneuverable than large warships. When he heard the sound of artillery outside the harbor, the captain of the ship, Major Keller, sensed that the situation was wrong and ordered the anchor to be lifted in advance, a very vigilant move that made the "Herta" one of the first Prussian warships to enter the state of active attack in the battle of Kiel Harbor. The reason why the cruiser "Herta" suddenly started at this time has a lot to do with the sinking of the ironclad ship "König Wilhelm". When the "Cornish William" was attacked by the French ships, the "Herta", which had a small hull and a nimble turn, was ready to approach the "Cornish William" to help the flagship resist the artillery fire, but before they could come to the rescue, the "Cornish William" had already sunk, and the officers and men of the "Herta" were grief-stricken and determined to desperately reverse the unfavorable situation in front of them.

――――Dividing Line――――

Collect! Ask for recommendations!