Chapter 353: Battle of Isabella (4)

【Happy April Fool's Day】

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The sky over Isabela was cloudy, with the roar of artillery, lightning and thunder.

The sea breeze was blowing, and the air was filled with a strong smell of gunsmoke.

The 5th and 6th teams of the Pacific Fleet originally wanted to seize the "T" position of the Peruvian Navy fleet, but the Peruvian Navy had already seen through the other side's intentions and firmly held its "T" position, not giving the other side a chance.

Since they couldn't grab the other party's "T" prefix horizontal position, the two sides had to calmly fight a regular battle.

The fleets of the two sides chased after each other, competed in formation and tactics, and held each other for more than half an hour, but neither took any advantage of the other side.

Perhaps this is what the regular Western navy has to do

Previously, the Pacific Fleet of the Royal Navy of the Chinese Empire had come into contact with the Dutch East India Fleet, which was nothing more than a mercenary army composed of civilian companies. Although the Philippine fleet of the Spaniards was part of the regular navy, it had no combat experience and was completely annihilated by the Dutch East India Fleet, and did not fight the Pacific Fleet.

Today, the Pacific Fleet has encountered the Peruvian Navy of the Spaniards, and although it has an absolute advantage, it has to be admitted that the Peruvian Navy far surpasses the Dutch East India Fleet in terms of tactical command and combat capability.

And that's just the beginning

On the battleship Beiyun, Liu Jian no longer underestimated the other party at this time. Judging by the reaction and adaptability of the other side, this Spanish colonial navy was not an easy one.

This is just the beginning, in the future the Pacific Fleet will face a real navy in Europe, a real strong enemy, and there is still a long way to go

At 5:20 a.m., the 5th Squadron of the Pacific Fleet and the 1st Detachment of the Peruvian Navy were about 800 meters apart and headed north side by side.

Neither side could seize the other side's "T" position, so they had to fight a regular naval battle.

"Open the gun"

At the sound of an order, the Beiyun took the lead in firing its guns, and it was more than 800 meters away, within the effective strike radius of the Beiyun-class battleships. Since the opponent's head ship was a third-class battleship, Liu Jian did not dare to be careless, hoping to engage the opponent at a long distance to avoid the opponent approaching his own side and giving full play to the advantage of more artillery.

Knock knock

The ships of the Pacific Fleet opened fire one after another, and countless shells flew towards the enemy fleet a mile away.

The cannonballs roared, and columns of water were suddenly lifted on the sea, and the sea boiled in an instant.

Not to be outdone, the Peruvian Navy immediately fired back with artillery, and for a while, the two fleets shelled each other, and the shells came and went on the sea, through layers of smoke, and fired at the opposing fleet, and the battlefield suddenly became white-hot.

The thunder of artillery resounded through the sky, and the smoke of gunpowder covered the sky and the sea.

The fleets of the two sides are like two long dragons, shuttling between the smoke and mist. It is like the sea and the sky fighting each other, and it is impossible to distinguish where is the sea and where is the sky.

Similarly, the Peruvian Navy's Second Squadron was also entangled with the Pacific Fleet's Sixth Squadron at this time.

Although the firepower of the Beigumo-class battleships was not comparable to the third-class battleships of the Spaniards, compared to other cruisers, the Beigumo-class still had the upper hand.

The sidefire of the Beigumo-class reached 28 guns, while the sidefire of the Spaniards' cruisers was generally between 18 and 20 guns, a difference of nearly 10 guns.

However, the Peruvian Navy has a large number of cruisers, with five or six more cruisers per detachment, and can make a detour to attack the Pacific Fleet on the other side.

However, just as Kstras was preparing to carry out this plan, very bad news came.

"What?"

On the Mortis, the flagship of the Peruvian Navy, when Adjutant Odyssey hurriedly reported to Cstras, Cstras went crazy.

Picking up the binoculars, Kstras looked into the distance to the right, and in the smoke and mist, a large number of warships could be faintly seen. To the north, west, and south, in addition to Isabela Island to the east, a large number of enemy ships appeared on the sea in all three directions.

"There are seventy or eighty of them, which is impossible"

Kestras didn't believe his eyes, Odyssey sighed, and said, "General, I think we've been ignoring a piece of news"

Keeping an eye on the surrounding enemy, Kstras asked, "What news have we ignored?" ”

Odyssey replied: "Some time ago our fleet came back from Europe, and I heard that Britain and France had helped the Chinese Empire to build two of the most advanced warships in Europe, the kind of warships equipped with a hundred guns. ”

"It's Dingyuan and Zhenyuan"

"Yes" Odyssey nodded: "Obviously, these two almost invincible warships should be incorporated into the main force of the Pacific Fleet, but we did not find their shadows in the main force of the Pacific Fleet that was fighting with us over there"

Kstrath smiled wryly, as if he understood what the odyssey meant.

"Are you saying that the fleet next to it is not the main force of the Pacific Fleet?"

Odyssey nodded, noncommittal.

Whoosh

Several more shells struck the Mortis, sending splinters of wood and green smoke in the air.

Kstras silently watched the enemy ships coming up around him, forgetting to dodge, letting the debris crash into his body, unconscious.

Odyssey tried his best to help Kstras block the shockwave, saying, "General, you don't think that the ships around you are friendly forces, do you?"

In the telescope, the dragon flag is fluttering, clearly not an ally of the Spanish Empire.

"How can this be"

Kestras was so depressed that he was nearly knocked to the ground by the wave of cannonballs.

Odyssey hurriedly supported him and said, "General, let's withdraw quickly, and if we don't leave, it's too late."

Can you go?

Kstras shook his head, if the twenty enemy ships in front of him were only a small part of the Pacific Fleet, then the real main force of the Pacific Fleet would be stronger.

Now, both in terms of quantity and quality, the Peruvian Navy is no longer able to occupy any advantage.

The other party has spent so much effort to use a small number of warships to use the main force of the Peruvian Navy, and it must have come prepared, and it will be difficult to escape today.

It's just that Kstras is not a person who accepts defeat lightly, even if he knows that he can't escape, he has to try.

Looking at the sky, the sky was dark, the time had reached half past five in the afternoon, and it would be dark in more than an hour, obviously it was cloudy today, and the dark sky must have come earlier.

"Order, the whole fleet turns west, we want to break through"

Odyssey asked, confused, "But our base is in the south."

"Do you think the enemy will let us retreat to the base lightly?"

Odyssey shook his head, he knew it couldn't be.

The order was given, and the 1st Squadron of the Peruvian Navy quickly turned around and made a rapid move westward. However, the second detachment of the Peruvian Navy was unable to obtain news of the fleet's flagship because of the smoke of gunpowder.

In fact, naval experts in Western countries promote regular warfare based on messaging. In naval warfare in this era, after a round of shelling, the entire fleet would be filled with thick gunsmoke. The advantage of being in a line is that the commander of the flagship can make the right judgment and direct the course of the fleet, while the captains of the ships behind them do not care about the others, as long as they follow one after the other, and open fire when they see the enemy ships.

In turn, melee tactics have been sidelined, one of which is that in the event of a dogfight, the commanders of both sides will not be able to contact ships other than the flagship. Then the result can be imagined, unless one side of the fleet is defeated or annihilated, this naval battle will not end, and both sides will fight until exhausted to determine the winner.

At this time, the Peruvian Navy's Second Squadron was in this situation, and they were located on the inner side of Isabela Bay, which was so thick with gunsmoke that it was impossible to see the situation on the outside of the bay. The Second Squadron has been firmly carrying out Kstras's orders and making every effort to destroy the Sixth Pacific Fleet.

Here, on the battleship Beiyun, Liu Jian commanded the fifth team to avoid getting too close to the enemy fleet as much as possible. The Beiyun and the Luoyun directly faced the enemy's two third-class battleships, and the opponent's firepower and number were very powerful, which had already caused a lot of damage to the hulls of the Beiyun and Luoyun.

However, only two of the head ships of the 1st Detachment of Peru belonged to the third-class battleships, and the firepower was very strong, and the other ships were cruisers, and the firepower was much weaker than the battleships of the North Cloud class. In this way, although the Beiyun and the Rowan were greatly damaged, in exchange for the other eight battleships, they gave full play to their powerful firepower superiority and beat the patrol detachment of the First Detachment of the Peruvian Navy all over the body with bruises and scars.

"Enemy ships are going to run"

In the telescope, Chen Jiru was the first to discover the U-turn of the Peruvian First Squadron.

Liu Jian followed the prestige, and sure enough, he found that the Mortis had turned around and turned left.

Glancing at the direction of the open sea, seeing that the main force of the imperial fleet had been deployed, Liu Jian sneered and said, "They must have seen our main fleet, otherwise they would not have escaped."

By this time, the Pacific Fleet had already begun to shrink the encirclement. The first and second warplanes headed south from the north, and the first of the two giant ships of the first warplane, the Dingyuan and Zhenyuan, brought infinite momentum to the whole fleet and made the officers and men have high morale.

The 3rd and 4th teams came from the west, and the 7th and 8th teams came from the south.

The first squadron of the Peruvian Navy fled westward, and Liu Jian, the commander of the fifth squadron, chose to let go of the opponent's head ship, and after taking the opponent's two lead ships to turn around, the fifth squadron turned left and rushed straight towards the patrol ship detachment of the opponent's middle and rear team.

Concentrating on advantages to attack local weaknesses, there is no doubt that Liu Jian's choice is correct.

The last three cruisers of the Peruvian Navy's First Squadron failed to escape and were stopped by the Fifth Squadron.

Knock knock

The Beiyun opened heavy fire, shell after shell at one of the enemy cruisers in the lead. The hot shells stirred up columns of water, the waves rolled, and the sea splashed.

Then, the port side guns of the Rowan opened fire in turn, continuing to block the path of the opposing cruiser.

At this time, according to the firing points of the Beiyun and Luoyun, the Xuanyun used them as a reference, adjusted the direction of the gun, and bombarded the bow of the enemy ship.

Suddenly, seven or eight shells hit the bow of the enemy ship. The hot shells instantly hit the enemy ship's stilt mast, which was immediately discounted, making the enemy ship lose the ability to steer.

The enemy ships lost their ability to steer, so that the Fifth Sentai quickly seized the "T" position, and the four ships "Pengyun", "Tiyun", "Jiaoyun" and "Xiangyun" seized the opportunity and opened fire fiercely.

In an instant, nearly 100 shells from the port side of the four battleships roared, and the enemy cruisers, which had lost their ability to evade, were beaten hard, and the starboard hull was shattered, thick smoke rolled, and flames flowed wildly.

Then the "Songyun", "Caiyun", and "Fuyun" entered the firing position, and after a round of shelling, the enemy ship was immediately broken up, and the sea water quickly submerged the bow and amidships, and the entire battleship was about to sink.

The two cruisers in the back saw that the brother battleships in front of them had been destroyed, and after firing a few shots indiscriminately, they quickly turned around and fled.

Helplessly, the Fifth Sentai had already firmly controlled them, and had been occupying their "T" position, using port side fire to suppress them, making it impossible for the two cruisers to escape.

The cannon roared, and the flames of war fought.

In the thick smoke of gunpowder near the entire Isabella Sea, under the gloomy sky, it is impossible to distinguish between the sea and the sky.

The battleships in front of the First Squadron of the Peruvian Navy could not see the battleships behind them clearly, let alone that three battleships had fallen behind and were taken away by the Fifth Squadron of the Pacific Fleet.

Kstras commanded the First Fleet to flee westward with all its might, however, he was concerned that the two Pacific Fleet ships in the western front were larger than the Hokumo he had seen earlier.

"This is the enemy's main fleet"

As a veteran admiral, Kstras immediately saw the strength of the two fleets facing him.

"General," Odyssey said worriedly, "We can't crash into it like this."

At first, Kstras planned to use two battleships to take the lead and rush directly through the middle of the oncoming enemy fleet, but now it seems that this idea is undoubtedly naïve and impossible.

Looking at the size of the two warbands coming from the front, each with ten large ships, Kstras knew that the opponent's side-firing guns would not be less than his own flagship.

Passing through them is undoubtedly tantamount to death.

The two fleets that came from the west were the Royal Navy's Pacific Fleet 3rd and 4th Squadrons, both armed with Sealion-class third-class sail battleships, with 72 guns and an astonishing 36 side-firing firepower.

Passing through the middle of twenty such battleships, unless it is a formation of battleships of the second rank or above, it will be beaten into a sieve.

However, when Kstras looked to the right, he was dumbfounded.

It turned out that Shi Jianfei had already seen through his thoughts, knowing that Kstrath was going to forcibly break into the South Pacific from the west, and then take advantage of the night to escape.

Therefore, Shi Jianfei led the first and second teams to change course to the southwest, directly attacking the first detachment of the Peruvian Navy, preparing to divide and encircle it.

Since the Pacific Fleet had an absolute numerical superiority, it was absolutely advantageous to take a separate battle with the Peruvian fleet. Because of the numerical superiority, even if one sub-team of the Pacific Fleet cannot seize the "T" position of the Peruvian fleet, the other sub-team will seize the strategic commanding heights of the other side, so in a melee, the Pacific Fleet will take advantage of it.

When the huge hull of the Dingzhen II appeared on the right side of the Peruvian Navy, the Spaniards were shocked. Once upon a time, the Spanish Empire's Armada also had such a large warship.

"Damn"

Kstras was already aware of the danger when he saw the other two enemy fleets approaching on the right. When looking to the left, two other enemy fleets were also approaching.

Finished

Kstrass seemed to be desperate, and no matter which way he chose to flee, he would face more than twenty battleships flanking him from left to right.

"General," Odyssey asked tremblingly, "Shall we surrender or—"

Odyssey didn't want to talk about the death battle that followed, and Kstrass didn't blame him, not everyone faced death with courage.

"Let's talk about it after the fight" Kstras cut off the last hope of the Odyssey, but still smiled and comforted him.

"Open the gun"

By this time, the Spaniards could only hide the fear in their hearts with the sound of cannonballs, nothing more.

Knock knock

The starboard side of the Peruvian fleet opened heavy fire, and shells flew towards the approaching Pacific Fleet 1st and 2nd Squadrons, trying to force them to stop.

When the hot cannonball touched the sea, it exploded into a huge wave, raising a column of water several meters high.

On the Dingyuan, the flagship of the Pacific Fleet, Shi Jianfei could see the other party's fear without a telescope. At this time, the Pacific Fleet came from all directions, blocking all the escape routes of the Peruvian fleet, and it was normal for the other side to mess up.

Since the other party chose to fire the cannon to the north first, then Shi Jianfei had to return the color.

"Full rudder on the right, port on the port side"

The order was given, and the Dingyuan took the lead in making a right turn.

The huge hull of the ship, the waves that break through the bow of the ship during a sharp turn are several meters high.

As the Dingyuan hull turned to the right, the port side gun doors opened one after another, and the Shenwu cannons on the three-tier gun deck were pushed out one after another, and the muzzles were aimed at the first detachment of the Peruvian Navy.

Knock knock

A series of cannon sounds made the Spaniards suddenly feel the power of a first-class battleship. Fifty guns on the port side of the Dingyuan roared, and the firepower of any battleship was childlike in front of her.

The cannonballs whistled in, stirring up columns of water, and the momentum was amazing.

It was more than 1,100 meters away, but two or three of the shells fired from the Dingyuan still pierced the hull of a cruiser.

"This is the power of a battleship of the 1st rank"

On the bridge, Shi Jianfei was very satisfied with this effect. The effective firing range of Shenwu's artillery has reached 1,58 meters, but the hit rate of a single gun at this distance is almost zero. On ordinary cruisers and low-level battleships, the firepower of a one-time salvo from the side is too small, so that at a distance of more than a thousand meters, the hit rate is very low. If you want to increase the hit rate, then you can only increase the number of guns that can be fired in a one-time salvo from the side of a single ship.

Obviously, only a powerful battleship of the first rank, or even a super battleship, could do it. As a result, the Dingyuan battleship had a one-time side-firing firepower of fifty guns, and after a salvo, it was still able to hit two or three shells at a distance of more than a thousand meters.

"It's amazing" E