Chapter 564: Broadside Battles, Shelling of Islands and Reefs
The direction of the wind has indeed changed, and it has changed almost instantaneously.
The warship that set out to meet the pirates under the order of Sengoku just now was originally a tailwind one second, but the next moment a strong crosswind blew and immediately disrupted their course.
The navy has never known as much about the climate of this sea area, and among the 43 pirate groups under the command of the Whitebeard Pirates who came to support, there are many excellent navigators, relying on their familiarity with the climate of this sea area, the pirates put away their sails in advance, and at the same time controlled the ships to turn in advance, so they were least affected.
Taking advantage of the change in the direction of the wind and the impact on the course of the navy, the pirates had already adjusted the direction of their ships to a tailwind, and at the moment when the wind rose, they lowered the sails again and immediately began to act, and they quickly preempted the front of the naval warships and took the lead in seizing the T position.
The so-called T position is very important in naval warfare, generally speaking, the number of gun emplacements of ships on the side of the ship is the largest, if you can line up in a horizontal row one step ahead of the enemy on the sea surface, and attack with the guns on the side of the ship, then the firepower can reach the maximum, in this case, the enemy ships can only be lined up in a longitudinal column because of the position, so that the enemy only the guns in the bow position can fire, and because the ships are blocking each other, the ships in the rear will not be able to fire because of the problem of line of sight.
The navy's warships are certainly strong and artillery, but some pirate ships are also weak, as long as they are willing to spend money on cannons, they can also exchange quantity for quality.
Among the 43 pirate groups that came to support this time, there were many such pirate ships known for their artillery power, and they came with the wind, lined up, and opened fire on the naval warships!
Boom Boom! The continuous cannon sounded, and the Navy warship, which was one step behind, immediately jumped up a high column of water, this was just a test shot, most of the shells fell into the sea, but there was still an unlucky warship, which was hit by the pirate's cannonball hit the mast, and the lookout on it turned into a pile of minced meat at the moment when the cannonball exploded, and the top of the mast was blown off and collapsed, and even the naval flag on it was burned.
But this is not over, the second round of shooting came again, this time the hit rate was much higher than the previous test shot, and from time to time I saw fireballs rising from the warships of the Navy, which were hit by shells.
Debris flew indiscriminately, and some unfortunate naval soldiers were unfortunately affected by the explosion, either blown out and fell into the sea, or were blown into the sky, screaming again and again.
However, the sturdiness of the navy's warships is not in vain, such an attack is not enough to sink the warship, although it was grabbed by the pirates who came prepared, but this does not mean that the navy has no ability to resist.
On a warship caught in the middle of the fleet, a rear admiral rose into the air and kicked out a cannonball that flew towards the deck, causing it to fly away in an instant, landing on the sea and exploding.
One after another, the pirate ships continued to fire, but as more and more high-ranking naval officers joined the battle, the damage to the ships began to decrease.
Only those shells that cannot be intercepted will hit the warship and cause an explosion.
At the same time, the Navy's fleet was desperately turning, and they similarly adjusted their ships so that they were also in a tailwind position, trying to move their hulls to a parallel line with the pirate ships.
The left and right flanks of the fleet facing the pirates were like this, the fleet drew an arc of waves on the sea, and while turning, the side of the pirate ship also opened the cannon covers, and rows of guns were pushed out, waiting to be in position and start attacking.
However, soon, the naval fleet realized that something was wrong, and when they turned, the pirate fleet had been constantly pressing and approaching them, and by the time the naval fleet completed the turn and was parallel to the pirate ships, the ships of both sides were already very close!
"Kill!!"
An earth-shattering shout sounded, and countless pirates jumped towards the navy warship with the help of ropes!
The navy is completely mistaken, these pirates actually didn't think about engaging in an artillery battle with them from the beginning, because the pirates know very well that the artillery on their pirate ships is always inferior to the naval warships, both in number and power, and even the gunner's quality is not as good as that of well-trained naval soldiers, in this case, it is simply stupid to have an artillery battle with the navy.
So they adopted the tactic they are most familiar with, which is broadside combat!
A large number of hideous-looking pirates jumped towards the Navy warship in waves, startling the Navy soldiers on board.
"Quick! Fire! On a warship, the rear admiral in charge of the command drew his sword and ordered.
The next moment, the naval soldiers with guns on the deck opened fire on the pirates who jumped over.
A burst of gunfire rang out, and some of the pirates who were still in mid-air were hit by bullets, screaming and falling into the sea in the splash of blood, but the rest of the pirates ignored their companions, and after biting the knife and swinging over, they landed on the deck, kicked under their feet, and immediately killed the crowd of naval soldiers, and slashed down, and one of the naval soldiers immediately fell in a pool of blood.
Although the naval soldiers are required to learn swordsmanship when they are training, to be honest, because of the tactical problems of the navy, they are more often using guns to fight, and they rarely experience such frontal battles.
The pirates are the opposite, they rarely use guns, and they fight more in close combat with the enemy, and these pirates are all famous pirates in the New World, so they are naturally very rich in combat experience.
Therefore, when the pirates came to the ship, the chaos of the naval soldiers began to appear, although they also drew their swords to resist, but when they saw the murderous and ferocious expressions of the pirates, the momentum suddenly fell to the downside, the pirates who are not afraid of death, even ordinary pirates, can often fight several naval soldiers alone, but ordinary naval soldiers can not do this.
Only those officers with higher ranks can calmly counterattack, but in the same way, there are also powerful pirates on the pirate side, and they are specifically looking for such officers.
After the broadside battle, the pirates' side immediately gained the upper hand, and a large number of pirate monsters screamed and shouted, jumped on the warship, and cut down one navy soldier after another.
Boom Boom! The naval soldiers at the bottom of the cabin finally controlled the cannon and fired at the pirate ship that was close at hand, however, although it was blown up and screamed again and again, the pirate ship on the opposite side also did not show weakness, and also fired at the naval warship, and it was the opponent's gun position.
This kind of confrontation can be described as a face beating, comparing who can't hold on first, and who is the first to coax!
The scene was extremely tragic, the ships on both sides were bombed, blood and limbs were mixed with debris and flew around, a naval soldier was hit by a cannonball, and his entire abdomen was directly broken, while the pirate who fired the cannon on the opposite side licked the blood that flowed from his forehead to his lips and let out a sinister smile......
Although the naval soldiers who were mobilized this time were all elite soldiers of the headquarters, how could they have experienced such a tragic battle? So the first to collapse were these grassroots naval soldiers.
Although the pirates suffered heavy casualties, they suppressed the navy in the battle with their strong psychological qualities.
Far away on the other side of the battlefield, the Warring States held the binoculars and watched the scene, and couldn't help but sigh.
They also knew that this first battle was the defeat of the navy, the attacking fleet was suppressed, and the pirates would soon be pressed on a large scale.
Sengoku in the telescope, carefully identifying the flag of the pirate side: "Wanderer Dom...... Lei Qing Makugai...... Rumba...... Garuma ...... No, of the 43 pirate groups under Whitebeard's command, less than half of them are present now, what about the rest of the pirate groups? ”
After thinking about it, Sengoku understood, so he immediately ordered: "Notify all the fleets in the front row and prepare to meet the enemy!" According to the original plan, the rear fleet aimed at the Atwall reef group and prepared to bomb the islands! We don't know what the rest of the hiding pirates are trying to do, but we can force them out anyway! ”
Lieutenant General Karp was sitting at a table behind Sengoku, drinking tea, and couldn't help laughing when he heard this: "Sengoku, you don't want to bombard Whitebeard directly on the island like this, do you?" ”
"If it can be done, of course it will be good!" Sengoku said with a serious face.
"Humph!" Karp also became serious, and said: "Don't underestimate Whitebeard, that's the strongest man in the world, he's injured now, but like an enraged monster, it's a price to underestimate him......"
"......" Sengoku was silent for a while, and didn't say anything more, just said to the herald next to him: "Inform those Seven Martial Seas...... And Doflamingo, if the rest of the pirates show up, it's time for them to strike......"
"Ah...... Be! The herald was stunned for a moment, but when he came to his senses, he quickly saluted and went to deliver the order.
Ah He was also on this flagship, she had been standing with her hands in hand and watching the battle ahead, after hearing Sengoku's words, she couldn't help but turn her head and look at Sengoku, although she didn't say anything, but the dissatisfaction in her eyes was obvious.
After Doflamingo was deprived of the title of the Seven Martial Seas, Lieutenant General Ah Crane also went out again to hunt down Doflamingo, although Doflamingo defected to the Hundred Beasts Kaido, but did not stay with the Hundred Beast Pirates, but ran around in the New World, and did not know what he was planning, which also gave Ah Crane the opportunity to pursue.
However, after this war, I don't know what the world government thinks, so it sent someone to contact Doflamingo, and promised that as long as he helped the navy fight, he could temporarily stop chasing him.
This result made Lieutenant General Ah He very dissatisfied, in her opinion, Doflamingo was the most dangerous person in the Seven Martial Seas.
It was a man of the most evil natures......
In any case, the order of the Warring States was transmitted to the entire naval fleet, and the hundreds of warships in front of them rushed forward in the direction of the pirates, while the rest of the fleet surrounding the Atwall Island and Reef Group raised the muzzle of the bow of the ship and pointed at the Atwall Island and Reef from afar.
As the order was given, a huge roar resounded through the heavens and the earth, which was the resonance caused by the simultaneous fire of hundreds of cannons, and the whole sea seemed to tremble.
In the next second, countless fires rose above the reefs of Atwall Island......