The naval battle continued. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

The situation turned out to be quite unfavorable for Montojo. From the outbreak of the battle to the present, only thirty minutes have passed, and his fleet has suffered a series of blows: "Don. Antonia. "Deuloja" and "Reina. "Christina", "Castile" and "General Leso" were also hit. A five-inch shell and several three- and six-pounder small-caliber shells completely incapacitated the torpedo ship, with a displacement of only five hundred tons, and she began to catch fire.

It won't be long before the torpedo ship will be removed from the Spanish Navy.

Nevertheless, the rear admiral still hoped for success with a battleship in his fleet, and he even demanded that the flagship, which had lost its bow, move on. Fortunately, in addition to the forever lost front main gun and close to fifty sailors, "Rena. Christina's "suffered not very badly, the speed was still at ten knots, and the fire was extinguished.

She was able to continue the fight, and she was able to deliver a fatal blow to Dewey with the ship's three torpedo tubes, if possible.

Montoho stared at the "Olympia" in the distance. Two thousand five hundred yards remaining.

Two columns of water rose again on either side of the cruiser, and a few hundred yards away, another fireball erupted from the foredeck of the "Castile". But the battleships were still advancing.

"What do you think the Spaniards want to do?" Gridley became confused. The Spanish fleet behaved strangely, and it seemed that they did not want an artillery duel with the American Navy, otherwise the ships would have turned and turned one side of their ships at their ships in order to maximize their firepower; But they don't seem to be breaking through either. None of the ships that tried to break through would rush directly to the enemy's lines. If there is one word to describe such an action, it is "suicide".

But the admiral did not think that his Spanish counterpart would choose to commit suicide. If they believe that victory in the naval battle cannot be won, the white flag should be hoisted.

"What do you think, General?" He asked.

"Torpedo." Dewey accurately guessed Montojo's purpose, "Obviously, General Montoho intended to defeat us with a torpedo." ”

"Then he's going to take a very big risk." Gridley returned his gaze to the approaching Spanish warship. "Two thousand two hundred yards remaining. A bit far. ”

"He's going to fail." Dewey was not as conservative as his captain. He had a way to deal with the situation. "Let the Petrel and the Concord break away from formation, and the cruiser accelerates, pulling away from the Spaniards. Restrain Montojo's fleet within two thousand to three thousand yards and solve it with artillery. ”

"Yes, sir."

Soon, the U.S. fleet began to pick up, while the slow-moving gunboats "Petrel" and "Concord" broke away from formation and slowly advanced toward the batteries in Cavite—apparently Captain Walker and Captain Wood had found a new opponent for his battleship.

Their actions are equally dangerous. In the confrontation of battleships with batteries, the battleships were generally at a disadvantage, and the Spanish fleet was on the sidelines. But the poor firing skills of the Spanish artillery convinced Captain Walker that they would not pose a threat to him, and Montojo's fleet did not care about the Petrel and Concord.

It had only one goal, the "Olympia". Each of the ships was rushing at full speed towards the enemy's most powerful ships, but unfortunately, even in the brief moments closest to her, they were still a thousand eighteen hundred yards away from this ship, and then the gap widened again.

In Montojo's fleet, even the fastest "Cuba" and "Luzon" were only sixteen knots, but Dewey's cruisers were above nineteen. The Spaniards would never be able to catch up with any of them.

But they still didn't give up. The battleship moved on, continuing to struggle with the rain of bullets from the Americans, still facing the dilemma of death and defeat.

"Don. Antonia. The "Deuloya" soon came to her end. As another shell exploded on her deck, an irrepressible fire broke out in the middle of the cruiser. And it quickly spread in all directions. In less than ten minutes, she had turned into a giant torch and would burn her own mutilation for the rest of the time.

Like the "General Leso".

But this was not all the catastrophe that would befall the Spanish fleet - almost in the "Don. Antonia. At the same time that the "Deuloja" caught fire, the "Velasco", which did not have a torpedo but still participated in the charge, was also hit by shells, and the American battleship hit her bridge. Although it could not be confirmed, almost everyone could see that the shell killed everyone on the bridge - because the "Velasco" had deviated from its original course and was heading towards the coast.

However, the cruiser could never run aground on the beach: the two American gunboats, which were exchanging artillery fire with the coastal batteries, abandoned their previous objectives and launched an even more fierce attack on her.

The silence of the "Velasco" is also only a matter of time.

"Ah, we're one step closer to victory." Dewey had a smile on his face. He had foreseen victory and it would not be long, an hour at most......

Or even faster: just ten minutes later, his gunners again inflicted a precise destruction.

"Look!" The officers and sailors on the deck shouted.

"Castile" was hit again. But this time, she was not as lucky as she had just been: an eight-inch shell pierced her deck, burrowed into the ammunition depot, and then exploded violently and completely destroyed the old wooden cruiser. When it was all over, she had little left but debris floating on the surface of the sea and struggling sailors.

Rear Admiral Montojo stood on the bridge, staring incredulously at where his main cruiser had been. Lost "General Leso", lost "Don. Antonia. Deuloja", lost "Velasco"...... Now that even the "Castile" was lost, and the American fleet was still two thousand yards away, he saw no hope of victory for his fleet.

The same goes for his staff officers and sailors.

There was already chaos around the rear admiral. The panicked officers remained at their posts, demanding that sailors who tried to get out of their positions or simply stay in a daze continue the fight, but few were able to obey their orders. The fleet's operational staff gathered around Montojo, crying out for a clear directive.

But he didn't know what to say. No matter what he does, whether he goes on the offensive or retreats, the final result will make no difference. He has failed.

Rear Admiral Montoho stood silent, saying nothing, giving no orders, while his staff and Captain Cadaso kept waiting—but their options were running out.

Once again, Dewey's fleet made a turn and occupied what seemed to be a more desirable position. Now, after the loss of four battleships in the Spanish fleet, the gunners focused their attention on the "Reina. Christina". All the artillery fire began to pour down on the battleship, and the rain of bullets fell like a deadly hailstone.

The cruiser's helmsman did almost everything he could to avoid the gunfire, and was lucky enough to avoid the first few shots, but his luck did not last long under the flanking of the four cruisers. The ammunition for the three- and six-pounder guns first came into close contact with the Rear Admiral's flagship, and then a five-inch shell exploded on the deck. And then another five-inch shell.

The bow of the cruiser began to sink - slowly, it was difficult to detect, but it was really sinking.

Captain Cadaso understood that his battleship was finished. Despite the fact that "Rena. The "Christina" is still floating on the surface of the sea and can even maintain power, but she's done. As soon as one more large-caliber shell hits, the cruiser will immediately sink into the sea. He had to order the entire crew to abandon the ship, but first, he needed to approve it.

The captain shouted to his commander, "Sir, your orders? ”

Major General Montojo remained unresponsive. He knew that the situation was dangerous, that his flagship was sinking and that it was still under the concentrated fire of the Americans, and that he knew that all officers and sailors should be ordered to abandon the ship. But the rear admiral was only unclear whether he should sink with the battleship, or switch to another ship and command the remaining battleships to continue the battle - or fly the white flag and surrender to the American fleet.

He didn't know what he should do, and before life and honor, Montojo suddenly didn't know what to choose.

Although he always knew what to choose.

"Sir, your orders!" Cardasso is going crazy. But in order to avoid the trial of a military court, he could only continue to stay in this dangerous place, waiting for the order of the rear admiral, or for the Americans to sink his battleship.

This kind of thing is crazy.

"General, your orders—"

A new explosion interrupted Cardaso's inquiry. The commander of the former main gun of the "Olympia" repeated his success, allowing another eight-inch shell to hit the "Reina. Christina".

The cruiser began to tilt sharply to the left, and then, she capsized.

A loud cheer erupted from the cruiser "Olympia". In the midst of all these shouts, only Gridley heard Dewey talking to himself...... It seems to be talking to itself.

"Montojo's flag is on the mast of a warship...... Perhaps, he is still on that ship. He looked up at the sea, but there was no one in the water. He was on board. He finally said.

As if to prove his judgment, on the three surviving Spanish battleships, the white flag was raised.

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Note: The captain of the "Petrel" is E.P. Wood, and the captain of the gunboat "Concord" is Asa.walker (to be continued, if you want to know what will happen next, please log in to the www.qidian.com, more chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!) (To be continued.) )