Chapter 352: Battle of Isabella (3)

[Today's second update]

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With a cannon bang, the battleship Beiyun was the first to open fire, and a shell weighing six kilograms whistled into the sky.

The cannonballs whistled and passed over a Spanish frigate, falling into the sea several hundred meters on the other side, stirring up a column of water several meters high.

The Spaniards were immediately shocked by this cannonball, and although the opponent's shells did not hit the battleship, it was clear that, judging from the water column stirred up by the impact point of the opponent's shells, the effective range of the opponent's shells had reached more than a thousand meters, which was enough to tear apart the fragile hull of the frigate.

"Stop Approaching"

The shrewd Spanish commander suddenly realized that something was wrong and ordered his ships to stop approaching the enemy fleet, but it was too late.

As the Beiyun took the lead in firing guns, the rest of the Fifth Sentai opened fire on the enemy ships outside the port side, and then the Sixth Sentai was not to be outdone and fired artillery against the Spanish warships.

Knock knock

The cannon roared like thunder.

Twenty fourth-class battleships, lined up in a long array, and more than 560 guns fired a salvo of fire, and the momentum was overwhelming. Columns of smoke erupted from the muzzle of the cannon several meters away, creating a cloud of smoke in an instant, which immediately joined together and became an endless sea of clouds, mountains and fog, in which the fleet was wrapped like a giant dragon flying in the air.

Tongues of fire shone brightly, and countless shells burst out from the muzzles of the guns, sweeping the sea and firing at the enemy ships.

In an instant, the bullets rained down, the waves rolled, and the sea water boiled in an instant, and the sea and the sky were close at hand.

Whoosh

Shells whizzed and slammed into the Peruvian Navy's frigate, smashing holes into the fragile hull, pouring water and tilting the hull. Some smashed on the edge of the ship, shattering the women's wall, and the Spanish sailors behind were instantly knocked away by the powerful impact. Some of the shells had curved ballistics and failed to penetrate the deck vertically, but they plowed the deck into long ravines, and the smoke rose everywhere, choking people's lungs. The hot shells and the iron on the deck sparked a spark, and flames burst into flames in many places.

The first fire salvo from the 5th and 6th Fleets of the Pacific Fleet inflicted huge losses and casualties on the Spanish convoy. Among the seventeen frigates, one in the middle was fatally attacked, the waterline belt was smashed into the opening by several shells, the Spanish sailors could not stop the influx of seawater, the hull was clear, and the sinking was imminent.

Three more frigates were destroyed on their starboard hulls, and with a wave of *giants* hitting, the hulls were flooded in large quantities and had to withdraw from the battle.

The remaining 14 search frigates were also damaged by different ranges, the hull was damaged in a large area, many starboard gun emplacements were damaged, and the casualties were heavy.

The commander of the Peruvian Navy convoy, Saxis, was pulled out of the rubble, and although he was unkempt and unkempt, he was not seriously injured, but was only stunned by the air and debris of the shells.

"Prepare to fight back"

Sixis sobered up for a moment and immediately gave the order.

Although the Spaniards were a little dazed by a shell from the Pacific Fleet, they did not forget their duty and hurriedly prepared for a cannon counterattack.

Despite the heavy casualties of the ships, more than half of the guns were still able to fire.

"There are still more than 600 meters away, and it is difficult for us to play a role at this distance"

"I can't care so much about it"

Sixis looked at the Pacific Fleet on the opposite side, and the Peruvian main fleet on the other side, which was quickly coming to encircle, at this time Sixis could only hope that the loss of the escort fleet could be exchanged for the opportunity for the main fleet to encircle and annihilate the Pacific Fleet.

"They have to be held back"

Sixis muttered to himself, unaware that the other party's real purpose was also to delay, but there was just a series of schemes in the plan.

With a loud bang, the Celemer, the flagship of Saxis, fired the first shot of the counterattack, and the cannonballs whistled towards the North Cloud on the opposite side.

A column of water rose into the sky and did not hit the other party.

Knock knock

The remaining dozen or so Peruvian Navy frigates fired back one after another, and the sound of their guns was deafening, but the number was full of power but the number was limited, and the dozen frigates only sounded forty or fifty sounds, which was more than eleven times worse than the 560 guns salvo of the Pacific Fleet.

It's a real egg against a stone

Sixis couldn't help but smile bitterly in his heart.

Here, on the battleship Beiyun, Liu Jian, the commander of the detachment, had already seen the situation of the other party clearly from the telescope.

"They're trying to hold us back"

Chen Jiru, the chief of staff on the side, put down the binoculars and said with a smile: "They have helped us a lot, it seems that we don't have to passively go to them."

"That's right" Liu Jian smiled faintly and said: "They will bite us to the death, I think our task has been completed, the other party obviously wants to eat us, without us yin* them, they will follow to the death"

"How much longer?"

Chen Jiru looked at his watch and replied, "Less than twenty minutes."

Liu Jian nodded and said, "Twenty minutes, after cleaning up this garbage, we still have time to participate in the main battle."

Chen Jiru smiled bitterly and shook his head, he knew Liu Jian's hobbies, fanatical naval combatants, and he was uncomfortable without fighting big battles and evil battles.

With a bang, a cannonball roared and slammed into the freeboard, smashing the freeboard into a crescent-shaped gap more than half a meter wide.

The air waves were wrapped in broken wood and splashed around, Liu Jian hurriedly turned his back, and some of the broken wood hit his back, and it hurt a little.

"Are you alright?"

Chen Jiru patted the sawdust on his body, but saw that Liu Jian had already run to the gap in the freeboard that had just been smashed, and stroked the damaged ship's side with distress.

"Damn, I actually broke my boat."

“……”

Liu Jian was very annoyed, for the navy, their warship is their woman, so in naval literature all over the world, the warship is referred to as "she", not "he" or "it", which is largely based on the thoughts of the naval officers and sailors.

"Wang Haijun"

"To"

The second deputy of the artillery commander, Wang Haijun, hurriedly trotted over and stood up and saluted.

"Sir"

Liu Jian shouted loudly: "Which Wang Balamb hit Lao Tzu's boat"

"Report to the chief, it's the flagship of the enemy fleet"

Wang Haijun pointed to a Spanish frigate on the port side, which was none other than the Celemer, the flagship of Saxis.

"Dog's day" Wang Haijun picked up the binoculars and glanced at the other party's flagship, then looked at Wang Haijun and shouted: "Kill that dog's day immediately"

"Yes"

"Repeat it loudly to Lao Tzu"

"It's to kill that shit right away," Wang Haijun lifted his breath and repeated loudly.

Liu Jian waved his hand, and Wang Haijun hurriedly went down to prepare.

Chen Jiru next to him just smiled bitterly and didn't make a sound, and when he looked at the damaged ship's side, he also felt that anger in his heart.

That's also Lao Tzu's boat

Chen Jiru repeated in his heart, as the chief of staff, equivalent to the instructor of the People's Liberation Army in later generations, he can't lose his temper anytime and anywhere like the captain and commander, his position and mission require that he must always be gentle and elegant, and not have a black face.

"Left Rudder Thirty Full Speed Forward"

As the North Cloud made a sharp turn to the left, it was closer to the Kremer, and the two sides were less than 500 meters apart, and the impact point could already be clearly seen.

At this time, the Beiyun was already ready for the second round of shelling, and under the order of Wang Haijun, the Beiyun once again let out a retaliatory roar.

Knock knock

Twenty-six Jimmu cannons opened fire one after another, aiming directly at the Klermer, the flagship of the enemy fleet.

Suddenly, shells weighing six kilograms whizzed and fired at the enemy ship. Seconds later, twenty-six hot shells set off columns of water, thirteen of which hit the Kremer directly. The Kremer was already scarred, and two shells were hit in the bow, one hit the bow hull, smashing a hole in the hole, and the other broke the mast, causing the Kremer to turn out of order.

Seven shots hit apostorships, all on the starboard side of the Kremer. Shells pierced the Klemer's gun deck wall one after another, causing a large number of Spanish gunners to be killed and wounded, as well as a large number of gunpowder packets being cut.

A Spanish sailor was reloading gunpowder when a sudden shelling caused the gunpowder in his hand to spill onto the deck. At this moment, a hot shell grazed the gun deck, and immediately ignited some of the scattered gunpowder on the deck, and then caused a large fire, flames rose everywhere, thick smoke billowed, and came out of the gap.

The fire was getting bigger and bigger, and the Spanish gunners were no longer able to control it. Soon a series of gunpowder boxes exploded, and the entire gun deck was destroyed in an instant, and the ability to return fire was lost. A powerful shock wave swept the ship's planks above, and the fire burst into flames, wrapped in smoke and rushed to the outer deck.

The remaining four shells hit the stern waterline, piercing the stern of the Kremer through a hole more than a meter wide, and a large amount of seawater poured into it, and the stern of the ship began to sink immediately.

The heavy damage to the Kremer was expected, but Saxis never imagined that the naval guns of the Imperial Chinese Navy were powerful, and the kinetic energy of the shells was still undiminished at a distance of six or seven hundred meters. Not to mention that his frigate can't be stopped, even a cruiser or an ordinary battleship hull can't withstand it.

The Kremer's speed slowed sharply, and the stern sped to sink, and soon it was no longer able to run, waiting for her fate to be sealed.

The same is true of the Kremer, and the other dozen or so frigates also have no good fruit to eat. As the second round of strikes from the battleship Beiyun began, the other nineteen battleships opened fire.

The cannonballs were raining down from the sky, and they were as fierce as a sea of mountains.

As the distance between the two sides narrowed, the Pacific Fleet's side-firing fire dealt a fatal blow to the Peruvian convoy, and the result of the difference of two levels was that the Peruvian convoy was almost defenseless.

With the end of the second round of shelling by the Pacific Fleet, five more of the Peruvian convoy were sunk, and the remaining eight frigates were already scarred and barely able to sail, but they were almost incapacitated.

The Spaniards knew that their convoy would not be able to compete with the battleship formations of the Pacific Fleet, but they did not expect to be crippled so quickly.

… At 55 minutes, the three battleships "Beiyun", "Luoyun", and "Xuanyun" surrounded the frigate Klermer and fired closely.

Dozens of Shenwu cannons destroyed the Kremer with direct fire, and immediately turned it into a hornet's nest.

On the Klermer, Saxis and other commanders had all been killed, and the raging flames had swallowed up the entire battleship, and the flames rose forty or fifty meters high along the mast, scorching the sky, and the smoke rose straight into the sky, covering the sky and the sea.

With the last salvo of fire from the Northern Cloud, the ammunition depot of the Kremer was detonated, and in an instant the Kremer was reduced to ashes, and finally sank into the sea with an unwilling heart.

At 4:05, the sea of Isabella was covered with the wreckage of the Peruvian convoy, and more than a dozen huge black plumes of smoke tens of meters wide rolled into the sky, making the already gloomy sky even darker, and it seemed that there was another storm.

Although the convoy of Sixis was completely wiped out, the main Peruvian fleet finally caught up and completed the mission.

Of course, the Fifth and Sixth Fleets of the Pacific Fleet were just deliberately waiting for each other a little longer.

However, as the time froze at four o'clock, Liu Jian and Wen Sanjiu's mission had been completed, and at this time, the Pacific Fleet had already laid a net of heaven and earth in the surrounding waters, and the Peruvian fleet could not fly with wings.

"No more passive bait-in"

Liu Jian looked at his watch and said, "From now on, we will take the initiative to attack."

Chen Jiru nodded, noncommittal, and immediately sent a flag message to Wen Sanjiu of the sixth team, who naturally agreed with both hands.

At 4:15 a.m., the Fifth and Sixth Fleets of the Pacific Fleet separated and turned around in a figure-eight formation and rushed towards the Peruvian main fleet.

At this time, the main Peruvian fleet had four third-class battleships and thirty-one cruisers, and the other cruiser had been sunk by the sixth squadron the day before yesterday.

Kstrass divided the Peruvian fleet into two groups, the first with two third-class battleships and fifteen cruisers, and the second with two third-class battleships and the remaining sixteen cruisers.

Such a decision was made because Kstras was ready to use the first third-class battleships against the fourth-class battleships of the Pacific Fleet, and the third-class battleships of the Spaniards, armed with seventy guns, were clearly fourteen more guns than the battleships of the Hokumo-class of the Pacific Fleet, which had an advantage.

With such an advantage, Kstras believed that he could take out the opponent's head ship first in battle, and then achieve the advantage of side-firing firepower to encircle the opponent. This is the Pacific Fleet's tactic of preempting the "T" prefix horizontally, but Westerners do not have this concept and do not have a system theory.

"General, judging from the annihilation of the escort fleet of Saxis's convoy just now, the other party's combat effectiveness is not in vain."

Adjutant Odyssey raised his concerns.

Kstrass nodded, he did not deny the strength of the other party, but at this time, he had to make a decision, if he escaped, not to mention that the Spaniards would lose face, and if the other party took the opportunity to follow and cover up, the gains would outweigh the losses.

"They are a pack of wolves and they are fierce," Kestras said, giving his judgment, and continued: "But we are four tigers leading a pack of jackals, we are not weak, and if our tigers defeat their lead wolves, we will be able to eat them as well."

"General, the other side is divided into two teams, and they turn around"

Kstras looked around and spotted the movements of the Pacific Fleet.

"What do they want to do?"

Kstras couldn't see the other party's intentions for a while, maybe the other party was coming against his two teams, Originally, Kstras was going to use the two teams to attack the Pacific Fleet in a straight line, but now the other party is also divided into two teams, so it can only be one-on-one.

"I want one-on-one, that's better"

Kestras then ordered the formation to remain unchanged and continued to sail north. The Fifth and Sixth Fleets of the Pacific Fleet have already turned around and sailed southward, and the two sides have a tendency to directly collide and fight.

However, will the Pacific Fleet scuffle with the Peruvian fleet?

The answer is clearly no.

The Pacific Fleet's specialty tactic is guerrilla tactics, constantly harassing the opponent and playing tactics with the opponent, until the opponent shows a flaw, it will seize the fighter plane and bite him fiercely.

At 4:30 a.m., the two sides were about 600 meters apart, and the 5th Pacific Fleet turned to the right and the 6th to the left, preparing to seize the "T" position of the two Peruvian detachments.

Kstras apparently penetrated the other side's intentions at once, and immediately ordered both fleets to turn left and right.

Both sides took advantage of the lateral wind, but the Peruvian fleet, occupying the upwind direction and making easy turning, was trying to get closer to the Pacific Fleet.

The Spaniards' head ships were two third-class battleships, fourteen more guns than the fourth-class battleships of the Pacific Fleet, and seven more guns on the side of the Pacific Fleet greatly increased their combat effectiveness.

Liu Jian didn't dare to get too close to the enemy ship, so he had to continue to turn right and make a "U" shaped turn. However, at the same time as the turn, the Beiyun took the lead in launching the first round of artillery bombardment, intending to use the long range of the Shenwu cannon to carry out a tentative attack on the enemy ship and probe the enemy's firepower and range.

Knock knock

Twenty-eight guns on the port side of the North Cloud opened fire one after another, and the shells whistled towards the Kentafel, the flagship of the Peruvian fleet.

The cannonballs whizzed, causing huge columns of water to the left of the Kentafel, and even a few shells almost hit the Kentafy.

The hot shells made a splash and fell on the deck, and the sea breeze whipped up the mist and drenched Kerstras.

"The opponent's artillery is strong"

Straston frowned, and immediately judged the strength of the opponent's firepower.

"General, the other party continues to turn right, it seems that he is afraid of us"

"Bastard"

Straston glared at the adjutant and said, "We haven't fired yet, what are they afraid of?" ”

"So what are they doing here? What is not an escape? ”

Kestrass narrowed his eyes and sneered, "Cunning guys, they are trying to test our firepower"

"No firing on the right full rudder, pursue at full speed"

The order was given, and the 1st Squadron of the Peruvian Fleet stopped turning to the left, quickly turned right and returned to its original course, and continued to sail north, pursuing the 5th Squadron of the Pacific Fleet. E