The Spanish fleet, under the orders of Severa, repeated the tactical process of the previous half hour, and the two sides staggered, after which the Spanish fleet shifted from the rear of the American fleet to the same direction as the American fleet. Pull out the sidestring battle column and engage in battle. There is no fancy collision to speak of. In this case, the competition between the two sides is the performance of the battleship and the quality of the soldiers.

To be honest, the quality of the Spanish soldiers was not at all high compared to that of the American Navy, and even before that, the actual performance of the Spanish Navy officers and men was inferior to that of the American Navy because of the lack of hope of victory and the fatigue of long sea voyages. But the situation is constantly changing, for example, the Spanish Navy is now much better than the enemy on the other side.

THE SPANISH FLEET WAS ABLE TO KEEP THE DISTANCE BETWEEN THE TWO SIDES AT ABOUT 3 KM, AT WHICH THE HIT RATE OF 10-INCH AND 6-INCH GUNS WAS DECENT, AND AT THE SAME TIME, IT WAS A BIT LONGER FOR THE US NAVY, WHICH USED OLD 12-INCH GUNS. In the order of engagement, the Spanish attacked the Saints with all its might, the Madrid assisted the Spanish with 2 main turrets, and the tail turret with the Princess Maria to attack the Fear, which was less than 4,000 tons, and the Okundo against the Texas, which was already half-crippled. Relatively speaking, the Fear in the middle of the queue was the most stressed, and the shallow water heavy gunboat of less than 4,000 tons was actually attacked by 9 10-inch turret guns! And the first to collapse on the front is this link!

The warships on both sides spewed out the fire of destruction, and the cannonballs, smoke, and flames dominated the sea. The rumbling of artillery can be heard even from kilometers away. Ignoring the authorities' dissuasion, many Americans climbed high and looked out over the warring seas. Three of them American warships passed through a hail of bullets. The four Spanish Navy warships were like lions teasing their prey. Attacking the American fleet, which was powerless to resist, was in order.

"Oh my God, the Dreads were hit!" An American shipwright exclaimed. I saw a huge fireball smash into the bridge of the Air Force. The flames of the shell exploded rapidly, almost completely obscuring the already small bridge of the Dread. With a crackling pop and a constant hit of 12-pound high-explosive shells, the wooden parts of the Dread's bridge quickly turned to ashes, and the steel supports softened and bent in the flames! A tooth-aching creak under heavy pressure. But even in this case, the Dreador still accurately hit a 10-inch cannonball on the side chord of the Princess Maria!

"We've been shot!" The shaking of the hull caused panic among the crew of the Princess Maria. But after a modest tremor, the whole ship was back to normal, and the steam engine was running. The mechanical bomb supply facility feeds the shells into the turret without the expected explosions, flames and poisonous smoke pouring in. "We don't seem to have anything to do?" A Spanish sailor said with a skeptical tone. "The shells of the Americans will definitely not penetrate our defenses! We are invincible! A moment later, a cheer spread throughout the battleship.

"How's the Princess Maria?" Sevela asked.

"Nothing. The American shell hit the middle deck of the Princess Maria, but it was ricocheted away and exploded in the water. Scheer said with a calm face, but there was no excitement in his tone.

The inevitable blow had no effect and disappointed the Americans, who cursed the black-hearted arms dealers, the Admiralty, and the Congress. While continuing to fight hard, it has to be said that the US Navy's will to fight is much stronger than that of the Spaniards. But in the face of the repeated blows of as many as 9 10-inch guns, the fate of this 4,000-ton battleship is already sealed! 10-inch shells and 6-inch shells hit the small ship one after another, and in the round of strikes, the ship's front main gun had been destroyed, and the rear main gun could not be aimed because of the smoke. Ten minutes later, the Dreadbook finally began to break away from the battle column, dragging its broken body to the shallows. And the Princess Maria did not pursue, after all, the ship was almost burned to the shelves by the fire, and it had lost the value of repair. Instead, he chose to attack the USS Texas, which was at the back of the line. In less than an hour before the start of the battle, the American fleet lost its second battleship. …,

During this period of firefighting, the Americans did not gain nothing. The 4-inch rapid-fire gun still caused a little trouble for the Spaniards. All 4 battleships were hit by several shells and lit several fire points, but they were quickly extinguished. What really caused the trouble was a 12-inch shell from the USS Texas. The shell hit the Orkendo's Nakabe turret. Although blocked by the heavy hardened armor, the massive explosion shattered the hydraulic transmission of one of the guns, rendering the gun inoperable. In addition, a 12-inch high-explosive shell from the Saint swept through a 12-pounder rapid-fire gun emplacement on the Madrid. Smashed this small cannon and several gunners directly to pieces. But this is already the most difficult struggle. The end of the 2 American warships has been decided, and there is only a dead end if they continue to resist stubbornly. In half an hour at most, these two battleships will also be destroyed.

"Mr. Admiral, two more miscellaneous fish have come up and sent them to death." Just as Severa was bent on annihilating the American fleet, Scheer pointed to two torpedo boats that were speeding towards the fleet.

Distance. Two torpedo boats, TB2 and TB3, rushed to the Spanish fleet with a neat line of battle at a high speed of 24 knots. In order to evade the dense shelling, 2 torpedo boats took the S-type evasive route. BUT EVEN SO, WHEN THERE WERE STILL 1.5KM FROM THE FLEET, THE TB3 WAS HIT BY A 6-INCH SHELL. A high-explosive bomb weighing 45KG easily tore through the bridge of the TB3 and then exploded in the cabin! The huge force of the explosion tore through the entire cabin, and the entire bridge instantly turned into a burning iron box, and the subsequent 6-inch shell directly disemboweled the hapless torpedo boat. The shell exploded after penetrating the side side, and the flying shrapnel cut off the power of the torpedo boat, and the ship, which lost power, floated to the surface like a hound with a broken backbone, while another torpedo boat, numbered TB2, failed to fire a torpedo. At the end of the impact, a 12-pounder shell slammed straight into one of the torpedo tubes, igniting the torpedo with a high-explosive picric acid charge.

"Accompanied by a violent explosion. In a flash, the entire torpedo boat was completely blown to pieces. Some of the debris was thrown at least 100 feet into the air and then scattered on the surface of the sea, the first U.S. Navy ship to be killed in battle. The huge explosion was so violent that both sides were shocked, and even the roar of the artillery came to a temporary halt. Afterwards, one of the guns commander aboard the Dreador wrote in his battle diary.

And when the desperate assault of the torpedo boats did not achieve any effect. Two 14,000-ton battleships attacked a 6,000-ton shore defense ship, and two 10,000-ton armored cruisers attacked a 6,000-ton ironclad ship. This result, even if you think about it with your knees, you know what the ending is!

At the time of 80 minutes after the start of the battle. The Texas could not withstand the blow of an enemy ship with a total tonnage equivalent to more than three times its own. The head and tail had basically been beaten into a sieve by rapid-fire guns, all the artillery on the flanks had been destroyed, and a large amount of seawater poured in from the sideline. Pushing down the already inadequate freeboard, the flames and smoke on the bridge less than five feet from the waterline had turned the ship into purgatory. From time to time, American officers and soldiers covered in fire jumped into the water, and as the sea water flowed through the damaged cabin into the engine room, the boiler, which had been overwhelmed, finally shut down. The large amount of steam gushing out of the breach seemed to be the last breath of a dead person's sigh. Immediately, the whole battleship slowly tilted to the left, and quickly sank after the worst of the day, and the entire bottom of the ship was upside down on the sea, surrounded by struggling U.S. Navy personnel, dying struggles, hysterical cries and cries for help. The tragedy on their doorstep shocked all the Americans who saw it, some with a cross and some with their eyes closed. I can't bear to see everything in front of me. …,

And in the face of the last Saint, the deadline has basically arrived. The Saint struggled to get closer to the shallows. In order to give the crew a chance to live. At this time, Cervera decided to abandon the attack on the Saint. Instead, he commanded the fleet to rush towards the Newport News shipyard. In the eyes of Severa. Defeating this garrison fleet is nothing more than an appetizer. He needed to leave his precious ammunition for the two megaships that were being outfitted at the Newport News shipyard.

While the Hamilton Port garrison fleet was fighting, the Americans did not forget to strengthen the defense of the port area. Although there were no batteries and artillery there. Taking advantage of this precious time, the small boats approaching Hamilton Harbour quickly laid a small number of mines on the main channel. Under the command of the officer, the shore personnel arranged smoke canisters to cover the two huge ships that were being outfitted.

Faced with this situation, the Spanish fleet did not dare to get too close to the target, after all, its own fleet did not have minesweepers. If you hit a shot, it will be more than worth the loss. Just raised the elevation angle of the artillery and fired at the shipyard in the distance. If the battle between the fleets can still be called a battle, then now it is pure torture. Shells streaked through the air in curves that heralded destruction, and with a screeching sound that pierced the air, they fell into the battleships under construction and nearby factories kilometers away.

Shells exploded around the target, and the violent explosion caused the entire Newport people to panic, and the two huge ships under construction silently endured the bombardment of the giant cannons, and they were not yet finished. There were no armor plates, no artillery. It's like two targets. The first to be hit directly was the Kentucky, a 10-inch shell smashed directly on the Kentucky's gun ring, after a loud bang, the prototype's gun ring was directly blown off nearly half, and what was even more deadly was that the flames spread through the flammable materials in the cabin to the inside of the hull. AND THEN THE POWER COMPARTMENT OF THE HULL AMIDSHIP OF THE CHILSAGE WAS ALSO HIT BY A 227KG HIGH-EXPLOSIVE SHELL. Blow up the pipelines and power systems that are being installed inside.

Although because of the smoke and distance, there are not many shells that hit directly. But for these two unfinished ships, which are not finished, have no armor protection, and have no damage, such a blow is already quite fatal. The materials and flammables in the hull became accomplices in the burial of these two warships. A large amount of air poured in from the gun mounts and other holes, allowing the flames inside the hull to get enough oxygen. In the scorching flames, the two battleships, which were supposed to be completed in 1900, were completely reduced to a pile of scrap metal. At this moment the US Navy is crying.

Thanks to the book friend Brother Kongchen for the reward, as well as the book friend Long Guiren and the son of the li, techie81, and Chibei for the monthly ticket support. And the evaluation vote of the book friend techie81~~~. (To be continued.) If you like this work, you are welcome to (.) to vote for recommendation, monthly pass, your support is my biggest motivation. )