Chapter 195: New World Confrontation (7)

The two fleets staggered, and the Boston fleet already had two ironclads that began to sink slowly, and the other warships were also wounded, and even Admiral Godal's flagship 'Missouri' was knocked out of the rear main gun by a 330-millimeter shell, losing more than 20 sailors.

On the side of the St. Martin's fleet, although the side of two 'Lanting'-class battleships was opened, and the deck of one of them was also opened, the reasonable watertight compartment system of the Chinese leading ships prevented the infusion of seawater, so that their speed was not greatly affected, and after the balanced water injection, the warships could even continue to fight.

If you can't break through the opponent's armor, it's because you're not close enough. Admiral Godard had always believed in this statement, and the outcome of the naval battle was indeed the case, and the two 'Lanting' class battleships were finally damaged.

Although he finally broke through the opponent's armor, his own losses were greater, and Admiral Gothal had to admire the warships built by the Chinese Collar as good, seeing that he could not take advantage of it, and his own cruiser fleet was frequently in a hurry under the siege of the opponent's three fleets, Admiral Gothal had to order to withdraw from the battle.

Admiral Godard ordered the fleet to retreat, but did not notice that several 'Tongjiang' class cruisers, which had not been besieging the Boston Cruiser, had quietly made a big circle and circled the Boston Fleet's flank.

"Full speed ahead, we lean over, torpedo ready." Rear Admiral Romus, who led the 1st Cruiser's fleet, ordered loudly, and his flagship began to accelerate first. Seeing that the flagship began to accelerate, all the cruisers increased their speed to the maximum, and several cruisers rushed towards the ironclad fleet led by Admiral Godard like wild horses that had escaped from the leash.

Due to the constant shelling, Admiral Godard's fleet was surrounded by gunsmoke, and there was no wind on the sea at this time, and the smoke of gunpowder had been gathering for a long time, so that their vision was seriously obstructed, and they did not see the first cruiser fleet of the Empire of St. Martin galloping at all.

By the time Admiral Gothal found out that the enemy cruiser on the opposite side was approaching, it was already too late. "The left rudder is full, and the torpedo is ready to be fired." Rear Admiral Romus ordered loudly, several 'Tongjiang' class cruisers did not slow down at all, and several cruisers turned to the right at the same time, and the strong inertia caused the cruiser's hull to tilt, and the starboard side almost touched the water.

"General, we can't launch torpedoes right now." The first mate gripped the sailing table tightly, trying not to fall. Rear Admiral Romans said: "I know the way, order the warship to slow down, and the helmsman will immediately return to the helm." ”

In a short time, the cruiser almost completed the turn in a drifting way, the cruiser had just returned to a level state, a dozen torpedoes came out of their reembowels, and the straight waterline rushed towards the Boston fleet.

"What's that, dodge." Admiral Godal, who had never seen a torpedo before, exclaimed, although he had not seen it, but he knew very well that the San Martins were firing at his side was definitely not a good thing, so he immediately ordered evasion.

The bulky hull of a 'Galino'-class ironclad ship was inflexible and was directly hit by two torpedoes, and two large holes were immediately opened at its waterline, and the raging sea water rushed in. The unreasonably constructed ironclad could not withstand such a heavy blow, and it quickly capsized to the left, snapping upside down on the surface, exposing the slick underneath of the ship, and then under the pressure of the water, the air inside the ship exploded, and after a loud rumbling sound, the hull slowly sank into the sea.

Almost at the same time that the ironclad ship was hit, the battleship 'Missouri' was also hit by a torpedo, and the force of the explosion slammed Admiral Godard, who was standing in the command room, to the ground, and his forehead was also hit with a bloody hole in the iron horn of the drawing table.

Admiral Godard struggled to get up, he wiped a handful of blood from his eyes, and asked loudly, "Report the loss of the battleship." ”

A staff officer said: "General, we were shot in the waterline, four compartments were destroyed, there is not much water ingress, everyone is rushing to repair, it is estimated that there is no big problem." ”

Soon a medic ran into the command room, took out gauze and bandaged Admiral Godar's wounds, and Admiral Godar sat down in his chair and did what he wanted, while ordering: "Withdraw from the battle at once, leave those battleships alone, and concentrate fire on the opposing cruisers." "After seeing the great power of the opponent's weapons, he was already full of fear for the cruisers of the St. Martin Empire.

The battered Boston fleet quickly retreated, and the already scarred Imperial Navy of St. Martin had no strength to pursue, and Marshal Dinant also issued an order to retreat slowly, and the two sides gradually disengaged.

After two hours of maneuvering, the fleets of both sides left the war zone and headed for their home port. In this battle, the St. Martin Empire sank five Boston Empire ironclads and three cruisers at the cost of two old ironclads and six old cruisers, and also severely damaged the opposing flagship.

Although it seems that the Boston Empire has the upper hand, they have lost relatively new ships, while the San Martin Empire has sunk old ships.

After this battle, the Empire of St. Martin finally regained some of the control of the sea, and the Imperial Navy of Boston no longer dared to cruise on the sea unscrupulously, attacking the ports of the Imperial St. Martin or landing everywhere, and even due to excessive losses, the Storm Ocean Fleet of the Boston Empire did not dare to wander to the south again, while the Eastern Ocean Fleet of the Boston Empire did not dare to act recklessly because of the existence of the Chinese Fleet that was close at hand of the Wahu Kingdom, and the battle between the two sides at sea tended to calm down.

Half an hour after the two armies disengaged, Marshal Dinant had an unexpected gain, a part of the Boston Imperial transport ships that had been lost due to the fog at sea hit the muzzle of the Imperial Navy of St. Martin, seeing so many fast naval warships, these temporarily conscripted transport ships obediently surrendered, and Marshal Dinant unexpectedly captured more than 20 transport ships with a total displacement of 80,000 tons.

The two sides of a naval war are evenly divided, but the war on land is very complicated. The meager strength of the Central and Southern Alliance could not stop the attack of the 100,000 St. Martin Emperor's ** team, and the army of General Kaolan, who had no worries, was like a bamboo all the way, until the troops attacked the border line of Chiapas, the northernmost part of the Central and Southern Federation, and were blocked by the combined forces of the Boston Empire and the Moss Kingdom.

After seeing the Boston army rush to the front, he immediately turned to the defense, and the 100,000 St. Martin army began to build fortifications, intending to hold on for a long time, and the northern front gradually stabilized, but most of the territory of the Central South Africa Alliance was occupied by the San Martin Empire, and the Central South Africa Alliance had already existed in name only.

But on the southern road, Admiral Pershing's landing force of only 50,000 men entered the territory of the St. Martin Empire. "Run, run, if you still want to survive, hurry." One of the commanders of the Boston Landing Force shouted loudly in front of the marching procession, which by this time had penetrated thirty kilometers of the Imperial border of St. Martin, and their food had just run out.

Admiral Pershing sat on a small mound, a military map lay flat on his lap, and a kind of high-ranking officer staff and guards surrounded him. "You see, we are not far from the city of Bandaya now, as long as we occupy it, food and ammunition are not a problem."

The chief of staff, Lieutenant General Kerry, frowned and said, "But according to the reconnaissance of the rearguard troops, the elite troops of the St. Martin Empire are only more than thirty kilometers away from us, are we not deploying a blocking attack to delay their movements?" ”

As he said this, Lieutenant General Kerry bit his lower lip, and had done this many times in the past week, otherwise they would not have been able to hold out this point, but under such piecemeal, the Boston Landing Force had also lost a lot of men.

Pershing touched his chin and thought for a while, "No, we can't stop the attack anymore, this is not far from the city of Bandaya, if there is a large-scale firefight, it will make them alert." Order the whole army to speed up the march, we must take the city of Bandaya in one go, and rely on the fortified city to block the elite behind it. ”

The Boston army desperately accelerated its march towards the city of Bandaya, which at this time was unaware. There had been no major war on home soil for hundreds of years, which made the San Martín Army quite lax, especially since the expeditionary force had frequent successes and the battle line was still hundreds of kilometers away.

The soldiers of the St. Martin's Army guarding the gates yawned and looked blankly at the hurried passers-by, not noticing the growing smoke and dust in the distance.

A soldier went to the corner of the wall to urinate and came back, and walked casually through the city gate, and one of his companions quipped: "Bock, why do you always go to the toilet today, is it a little bad to toss in the brothel for too long yesterday." ”

Bock scolded back: "You can't do it, I don't believe it, let's find a place to try when we are laid off." ”

The companion smiled: "Try it, try it, whoever loses will pay for it, you kid is not allowed to run." ”

Bokharha smiled and inadvertently looked up, found the smoke and dust getting closer and closer in the distance, and said strangely, "What is that?" ”

His companion laughed and turned his head, but his expression instantly froze on his face: "Enemy attack, enemy attack, close the city gate quickly." The terrible shout resounded through the sky, and the staggering St. Martin soldiers jumped up at once, and ran to the heavy city gate in a panic, but it was too late.

The Boston soldiers, who were running at a rapid pace, picked up their rifles and began to shoot, although the shooting on the run was inaccurate, but it played a good deterrent effect.

When the bullets whizzed past them, shattering the masonry and dusting the walls, the soldiers of St. Martin, who had never seen blood, were immediately frightened, and they no longer had the intention of closing the gates, but threw away their rifles and scattered.