Chapter 889: The First World War That Decided the Belonging of the World (2)

The Europeans put up a pocket formation, judging by the fact that the Ming fleet was bound to come to Gibraltar to retaliate. With an absolutely superior fleet, waiting for the opponent at ease, the odds of victory are not small. In particular, the fleet of the Ming Dynasty has obvious characteristics, and the black smoke emitted from the steam engine can be seen from a distance. As long as you set up a watchtower high on the shore, it will not be difficult to spot your opponent in time.

The problem is that Ye Hai didn't think about concealing his whereabouts, and both sides came to the battlefield with the mentality of a decisive battle. The Combined European Fleet looks very powerful, but in fact there is no unified command, and it is in a state of separate battles, not to mention that in terms of the level of warships, it is not at the level of one level. The situation on the battlefield looks very dangerous, the front is the Dutch fleet at full speed, and the two wings and the fleet that can't see the flag clearly, forming a V-shape, at first glance, it is a posture that wants to encircle.

Ye Hai's tactics were simple, the main fleet of six ironclad ships rushed forward, and the fast fleet of 12 cruisers flanked in a roundabout way. After the order was issued, Ye Hai made a gesture, and the staff officers around him immediately rushed to the flagpole and raised a red flag that had been prepared long ago, embroidered with a golden Z on it. "Occupy the T-prefix! Please, all of you, fight to the death! ”

As soon as the flag was raised, the fleet burst into cheers! Decisive battle! Long live the Ming Empire! Decisive battle! Avenge the death of your compatriots! Decisive battle! Long live the Chinese nation! The speed of the steam fleet easily crushed the opponent, and successfully completed the action of forcibly occupying the T-shape. "1500 meters!" "Fire!" The body of the flagship Suez shook violently, and thunder instantly sounded on the sea.

The Suez opened fire, followed by the Huating, Lushun, Tianjin, and Mumbai. The Xinghai Castle opened fire. The main warship of the Ming Dynasty in active service is named after an important port. The main guns in front of each ship opened fire one after another, and a continuous thunder resounded on the sea. Although the new 150 cannon can only do one shot a minute, it is so powerful that it is not at all something that Europeans who are still playing with projectiles can figure out. In fact, 75 guns were enough for their sail battleships to drink a pot.

Compared to the relatively slow rate of fire of the 150 guns, the rate of fire of the 105 secondary guns of the main battleship is much faster. It can reach two shots a minute. 12 guns of 105 guns opened fire, the battleship turned into a moving fortress, a dense rain of bullets fell on the enemy ships, and a salty rain instantly drifted on the sea. Accompanied by flying raindrops, sparks bloom on the surface of the sea. The first fleet salvo was fired, the results were remarkable, three enemy ships were hit, the battle was lost in an instant, and two battleships were hit by 105 guns in the vital parts. The keel broke, and the other ship was gone, and a huge hole appeared in the hull, and tons of seawater poured in, and the speed slowed down and sank. This is only the first salvo, and the effect achieved is in Ye Hai's opinion. It can only be considered average.

And the European fleets at this time, their cannons were certainly within the effective range. But the current formation is not in their favor, and they can only turn around desperately and meet them with a side attack. In the process of their turn, more shells were ushered in, and by the time the Dutch fleet in front of them fired the first cannon, the main guns of the main fleet of the Ming Dynasty had already completed three rounds of salvos. The secondary cannon fired six rounds. The original formation of the huge Dutch fleet was torn apart in just a few minutes. A total of sixteen warships were concentrated, and thirteen of them were no longer able to fight. This astonishing result directly scared William, the commander of the Dutch fleet, stupid. What the hell is going on. In the previous battle in the Strait of Gibraltar, I felt that it was already the limit of the power of the Ming ship's guns, but I never thought that the gun power of these steam warships would be even more against the sky. Not to mention a direct hit, even if it is a close miss, it is enough to cause a gap in the ship's board to leak, and there are more similar ships than the ones that have been hit. According to this calculation, in just a few minutes, more than half of the Dutch warships were either incapacitated or damaged.

Li Qinghua put down the binoculars in his hand and said to the chief of staff beside him: "It's Mizi Banner, and the English are also here." "As the commander of the fast fleet, Li Qinghua must ensure the flank of the main fleet and try to avoid being besieged by more warships.

"Yingli hasn't done a good job in his own affairs, so he dares to take care of Daming's affairs, and he has to teach them how to behave." The chief of staff's words caused a burst of laughter in the command cabin, and Li Qinghua waved his hand and said: "The main fleet has been done, tell everyone, Chen Xiang is watching us, don't forget the Z-shaped flag on the flagship." ”

The new ship of the fast fleet is a water, when the 12 warships sail on the sea, the distance is maintained very well, and the flagship responsible for the command is the Suzhou, according to the standards on the code, the flagship is at the front, the first to complete the rudder, lined up in a long snake formation, this is the slow speed of the ship that bullies the opponent. After swerving to the outside, the T-head was snatched in his hand.

At this time, the British fleet, the distance was about a thousand meters, and the fleet, which had not completed the turn, was aimed at the dense cannons. The main guns of this batch of cruisers were all 4 105 cannons, and the hit rate of shooting at this distance can be imagined. It's almost the rhythm of the bayonets on the cannons. This result is undoubtedly the result of the performance of the battleship, the advantage of 10 knots of cruising is too obvious, even if the British fleet uses all the strength to eat milk, it will not change anything. Their fate was doomed from the moment they saw the Daming Rapid Detachment.

"Fire!" Four main guns aimed at the same target, and eight secondary guns aimed at the other two targets, one time is equivalent to attacking three battleships, and all of them are effective attacks, and once hit, they will cause accidents. And the British fleet at this time, one of the battleships at the front, also opened fire with its front main guns. Large-caliber smoothbore guns, it is too difficult to hit the opponent at this distance, it is like buying a lottery ticket. However, the luck of the British in this era is really not said, and it is the same as Kaihang.

Boom, boom, almost at the same time, the British battleship took off a fierce spark first, and a 105 shell fell directly on the deck, blowing out a large hole at the same time, overturning seven or eight sailors, and the railing on one side of the battleship was torn off by the explosion. A few seconds behind, the Suzhou was also shot, which directly scared Li Qinghua, but fortunately, it hit the armor of the hull on the flank, and there was a ding. The shell was ejected. After learning about the structure, Li Qinghua was furious, wiped his cold sweat and said, "Kill it!" Gather fire for me to sink this battleship! ”

The main guns and secondary guns of the Suzhou were aimed at the British battleship in front of the sudden attack, and this battleship was called "Victory", and it seems that there are five battleships in British history that have been named "Victory". It is said to be a legendary battleship. But this time luck came to an end, and the concentrated fire of a dozen guns at this distance instantly turned the battleship into a huge fireball. The distance is too close, even if you can't hit all of them, and the result of hitting six shots at a time is also disastrous.

After the continuous explosions, the "Victory" directly took off into the air, turning into countless fragments in the air. The fate of this battleship can only be considered a microcosm of the British fleet. After the opponent easily took possession of the T-prefix. The British fleet found itself a target, and at a distance of a thousand meters, the tactics of a battleship aimed at a target and sinking a battleship with a single salvo were quickly learned by the battleships behind. In just five minutes, the British fleet finally completed its turn, but at a huge cost, more than half of the battleships were hit. As many as eighteen battleships directly lost their combat effectiveness. The sail battleship is facing the ironclad battleship, when facing the new naval guns. In fact, it is a live target.

What's even worse is that within five minutes, the fast fleet of the Ming Empire made a beautiful arc movement and directly captured the T-shape, and the British fleet couldn't win after chasing after it. Again a salvo of ships began. The blue sea used to be the sky where battleships soared, but at this time, the British found that the sea had turned into hell.

Despite their fierce counterattack, their shells hit the enemy ships. It's like tickling. If you're lucky, you can still hurt a few people, and if you're unlucky, you can only leave a white spot when you hit the armor. On the other hand, the opponent, even if it is a 75 caliber secondary gun, a concentrated battleship can tear off a large piece of meat, and a concentrated key point can cause the battleship to suffer heavy damage. The powerful main cannon is even more incredible, once it hits the vital point, it can be knocked out directly. Hit the superstructure, and a whirlwind blows, leaving a mess behind.

At this time, the main fleet was already deeply "encircled", and a group of sheep surrounded a group of "lions" probably felt like this. The murderous Suez did not slow down at all, and rushed directly into the ground formation. The raindrops of shotguns rattled on the armor, but they could not hurt the soldiers hiding behind the gun emplacements, and even the soldiers in the machine gun positions could calmly sit on the deck and violently strafe the superstructure of the enemy ship with improved heavy machine guns from the shooting holes.

At a distance of only more than 200 meters, the main gun has not had much chance to play, but the secondary gun is playing well, almost one cannon at a time, boom, boom, each battleship is a harvester. At a staggered moment, a sail battleship lost its combat effectiveness, either crumbling to the ground, or bulldozing the superstructure by artillery fire and machine guns.

The Dutch fought stubbornly, they attacked relentlessly with solid shells, they attacked relentlessly with shotguns, and the Spaniards arrived and also went into battle. But these six battleships, like tigers entering a flock of sheep, kept rushing forward, pouring fire frantically, and did not care what the opponent was doing. Even if there are some casualties, they are some minor problems for the battleship.

After an hour of fierce fighting, the main fleet of the Ming Dynasty broke through the opponent's formation, not to mention, smoothly turned the bow, and then looked at the opponent, the flanking Portuguese fleet had just arrived at the battlefield, and they were already sailing at full strength, but when the main battleships of the average eight-knot cruise accelerated, they could only see the black smoke behind, and they could only chase farther and farther.

I thought I had found a cheap British fleet, but this time the result was even worse, 12 cruisers circled around the British fleet, relying on superior speed, keeping a distance, and maintaining efficient firepower output. One after another battleships turned into fireballs after a salvo, and there were fewer and fewer British battleships still fighting on the sea, and at this time, the Swedish fleet, which was responsible for playing soy sauce, had already turned around and ran away, where is this fighting, this is simply a massacre.

But their plan to run was quickly shattered, and the Chongqing left the formation of the fleet and chased after it. A battleship single-handedly picks up six others, and the courage is not to be described, even so, in the end, these six battleships can only play tricks and run away separately. In three directions, each escaping. This time, Li Qinghua gave up, and sent two more warships to chase after him, and they had to be sunk all of them.

An ambush battle, fought into a rout, and then into a pursuit war, this is this naval battle that determines the fate of the world, one of the largest naval battles of this era, because of the extremely asymmetrical difference in strength, such a result was not expected by the Europeans in advance. By the time they reacted, it was too late. The Portuguese were the first to flee the battlefield, and the last fleet to arrive at the battlefield had this opportunity. It's not that Ye Hai doesn't want to leave them all, but he has so many warships in his hands, so he can only order to fight separately, sink one and count one, and issue a flag, "Those who surrender will not be killed".

The tenacious British are still fighting, and although their efforts have not yielded much fruit, they are still fighting stubbornly and fulfilling their duty. The Dutch were also fighting stubbornly, because there was no way out, and the Spanish fleet was fighting again, with the Strait of Gibraltar behind them, and they had no reason to flee.

Because of the stubborn battle between the two countries, the main fleet had no chance to attack the Portuguese fleet, but after an hour and a half of fighting, the fast cruiser sank the last British battleship, and Li Qinghua ordered to pursue the fleeing Portuguese fleet, catching up with one and sinking one.

The white sails that were once dense on the vast sea were gone, the sea was full of shards of wood, there were sailors floating with logs everywhere, and there were several small boats, even the sides of which were crawling with people, and these European officers and soldiers, with frightened eyes, looked at those huge warships, spewing black smoke and flames, sinking one European battleship after another that fought tenaciously.

"Population is a good thing, if you can save one, it counts as one. It is believed that after these people have experienced this battle, they will become very honest when they go to the construction site of the Suez Canal. Ye Hai dropped a sentence lightly, and the chief of staff hurriedly sent someone to release the boat, and let those Europeans on the sea board the boat by themselves.

About twenty immobile Dutch and Spanish warships flew the white flag, not because they were not heroic enough, but because the battle was too helpless. They had hit the enemy's hull with heavy artillery fire, but the shells that landed on it were either bounced off or rolled over the deck, leaving nothing more than scratches. Of course, the Ming fleet was not without casualties, so far, the officers and men on the Suez, 36 people have been wounded, and 15 people have been killed in battle. The results were all shotguns. (To be continued......)