"Oh my God! That...... That's an ironclad! ”

It was none other than the American Navy Commodore Matthew, who knocked on the door of Japan with a "black ship" in history. Perry. Originally, after he found out that the Chinese fleet was coming to fight with the Russians, he was ready to hide and fight soy sauce. But...... Well, he's still playing soy sauce, but he's not hiding away, because he's attracted by the six "coffin boats".

It is said that Commodore Perry had a great interest in all kinds of strange ships, because he was a shipbuilding expert himself, and from 1833 he was the director of shipbuilding at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, in 1837 he presided over the construction of the first steamship of the United States Navy, the USS Fulton, and in 1841 he was promoted to commander of the United States Naval Yard until he was appointed commander of the East India Fleet. It can be said that the most golden era of his naval career was shipbuilding, and mainly built steamships, and he has the title of "the father of naval steamships".

So his interest in the six Chinese coffin ships was very high, and he wanted to know what type of ship they were, what they made so ugly, and how they drove so slowly. So he let his flagship "Mississippi" get closer to observe, and then he saw through the telescope the large rivets on the hull of the coffin ship.

Obviously, wooden-hulled ships don't need rivets to fix the planks, only iron-hulled boats need rivets! That is, these six coffin ships are not troop carriers at all, but ironclads!

"The Chinese actually built ironclad ships! My God...... The United States is already lagging behind in this regard! "Matthew. Commodore Perry gasped and immediately thought of his "old friend" Baron Wrangel, whose fleet was to crash head-on with six ironclads. The consequences are unimaginable! Although the U.S. Navy has not built ironclad ships. But that doesn't mean that no research has been done. Matthew. Perry knew that it would be difficult for existing naval guns to destroy the armor of an ironclad ship if it was thick enough.

Six unsinkable ironclad ships, and the Chinese emperor was a chemist who invented explosives......

Of course, he also knew about this, and Jason-Churchill cooperated with DuPont in the United States to open two factories in Dover, Delaware, and Birmingham, Alabama, which produced explosives, the former was to produce A-oil explosives and black powder, and the latter was to produce starch explosives, sulfuric acid, and nitric acid. Both factories are suppliers to the U.S. Navy.

"Where is the Russian fleet?" Matthew. Perry asked the Mississippi first mate beside him loudly.

"It seems that they are preparing to go around the northeastern part of Ryukyu Oshima, and it seems that they have not thrown off their pursuers and are ready to return to Naha."

"Can't let them go back. Hurry up and raise the flag and tell them to disband the fleet and retreat! "Matthew. Perry said loudly.

The first mate was stunned: "Brigadier General, the United States is a neutral country......"

Matthew. Perry glared at the first mate: "But we are inclined to Russia!" ”

If the black president of later generations heard this, he would definitely jump with anger, but the current United States is indeed inclined to Russia. The reason is very simple: At present, the United States has great contradictions with Britain and France, especially with Britain. Since the founding of the United States, this country has considered itself to be the first brother on the continent of North and South America, and after its national strength grew, it regarded Latin America as its backyard and put forward the so-called "Monroe Declaration." Oppose the expansion of European countries on the American continent.

Although the United States opposed not only the Western European powers, but also opposed Russian expansion on the west coast of North America. But. Now that the war between Russia and Britain and France and China is likely to have begun, it means that the four great powers of the old world will have to fight each other for a few years, and they will not have time to deal with the affairs of the Americas. And the United States, which is staying out of the way, certainly hopes that these old powers will fight as fiercely as possible. It is better to die together, and then the whole of America will be under the leadership of the United States!

Now that it is clear that Russia is at a disadvantage, the United States will of course lean toward Russia -- this is the same reason that the Celestial Empire leaned toward Russia in the struggle between the United States and Russia in later generations.

"Is that an American ship? Why don't you leave? ”

Tong Haifeng also noticed the USS Mississippi at this time, this ship was very large, and it was also a steam sailing ship, and it was flying the American flag, but there was no possibility of being misidentified.

"Send flags to the Americans, tell them that this is the battlefield, and tell them to leave quickly!"

"Captain, the Americans seem to be issuing flags as well." The first mate of the Dinghai on the side was holding a telescope and observing the US ship. "They...... They said that there was danger ahead, and they wanted us to disband the formation and evacuate quickly......"

"What?" Tong Haifeng was stunned for a moment, but then he understood what was going on, and scolded loudly, "Damn Yankees, they are giving flags to the Russian fleet, and they are asking the Russian fleet to run away quickly!" ”

The first mate of the Dinghai was happy: "So the Russian fleet is coming at us?" ”

"I guess so! I hope you don't let the Americans' flag scare away......" Tong Haifeng gritted his teeth, "Give the Americans the flag and tell them to get out!" ”

"Brigadier General, Chinese let's get out of ......"

Matthew. Perry crooked his mouth: "Ignore them, they are more than a nautical mile away from us, the shells can't hit us, and we are faster than them...... It's a big deal, let's stay away. He sneered, "Keep signaling to the Russians that six Chinese battleships have been found!" ”

The common flags of this era also included the word "ironclad", so they had to be replaced by battleships. But the problem is that the Russians were not very afraid of the Chinese battleships, whether six or twelve.

Standing on the helm of the flagship battleship "Queen Anna", Baron Flagle imitated Nelson in the Battle of Trafalgar and ordered "Russia demands that everyone do their duty!" ". This also means that the exchange of fire between the two sides is about to begin.

"Six Chinese battleships, good, we can destroy them!" Nevelskoy also said confidently. He had already mentally calculated the comparison of the number of cannons on both sides, around 480: 704. The advantage is on the side of Russia!

"Your Excellency, I propose that in the first wave of shelling, all naval guns use flowering shells!" This proposal of Nevelskoy was immediately approved by Baron Flaghel. The baron nodded: "That's it, also, raise the pan-Slavic flag and let the military band play "God Bless the Tsar". ”

5:30 p.m. The Russian fleet did not listen to Matthew. Perry's warning, bypassing the northeast corner of the Ryukyu Island, six Chinese ironclad ships lined up appeared in front of them. At this time, the distance between the two sides was less than 2 nautical miles.

"This is ......," Vragel observed with his telescope for a while, and decisively ordered, "sail to the northwest, continue to maintain the formation, no matter what kind of ship they are, we can sink them!" ”

At this time, the wind on the sea changed slightly, from northwest to northeast, which was slightly beneficial to the Russian fleet sailing northwest. The Russian fleet took advantage of the favorable wind direction and rushed in a column to the left flank edge of the Ming army's ironclad column.

"The Chongming on the left flank of the enemy's target, now Feng Ziye is going to make a great contribution!" Tong Haifeng held the binoculars and muttered to himself.

"Captain, do you want to order a change of formation?" The first mate reminded, "According to the current formation, the Chongming will exchange fire with every Russian warship. ”

"It also has the firepower to sink every Russian battleship!" Tong Haifeng said, "Order, disband the formation and fight in chaos after the first shot of the Chongming is fired!" ”

"Send an order to Chongming: The big husband is fighting this battle!"

Feng Ziye also began to operate the ship himself, and he was so excited that he seemed to see the throne of the Admiralty Shangshu and the Chief of Staff of the Navy beckoning to him.

"Closer, closer." He muttered softly in his mouth, the protection of the ironclad ship is strong enough, the problem is that the speed is too slow, once the opponent finds out that he has strong armor, the opponent is likely to choose to retreat, so the first wave of battles is the key to this battle.

"It would be nice if I could bump into it!" Feng Ziye held the steering wheel in his hand and leaned towards the Russian ship formation as much as possible, he hoped to open fire at a distance of 200 yards or even 100 yards, and he didn't even mind ramming the enemy ship! Because the bow of the ironclad is very strong! (To be continued......)