Half seawater, half flames.

When the ship detachment led by He Fang fell into a bitter battle, the "Flamingo" and "Pelican" led by Geng Guigui fought brilliantly.

After more than half an hour of fierce fighting, the two ships achieved the dazzling result of sinking one and damaging the other; the "Pelican" was hit by enemy counterattack artillery fire and suffered minor damage, and the 35-ton fast patrol ship in the rear of the hull was blown up, causing six injuries in the bilge.

now

Having killed a three-masted galleon, Geng's fleet had a clear advantage over only two sail ships, one of which was severely wounded.

The battered sail ship's foremast mainsail and mid-mast mainsail were on fire and were burning violently, and the falling pieces of cloth and wood from the heights ignited the cable piles on the deck, and the surviving Dutch sailors were fighting hard, and the other Dutch sailors were manipulating the guns to return fire.

The two sides are not only competing in ship handling skills, shooting skills, and sea tactics, but also in the spirit of fearless courage and sacrifice.

Under the deliberate control of the Queensland fleet, the distance between the two battle groups gradually widened to ten nautical miles, and as much as possible to free up more sea area for the high-speed and flexible ironclad cruisers, which was conducive to giving full play to their speed advantage.

The British ironclad cruiser "Stubborn Stone" honestly and unceremoniously inserted itself into the middle of the combat area, so that it could be seen more clearly.

Faced with this situation, the Dutch were so angry that they vomited blood, and the Australian fleet was helpless.

On the sea in the distance

At the beginning of the battle, the Dutch 820-ton sail battleship, which was hit by 239 mm heavy guns, was drifting alone on the sea.

The entire hull was heavily tilted due to the massive amount of water, and the captain directed the remaining sailors to go crazy and salvage, throwing all the excess items into the sea, including the guns and the remains of the corpses.

This would do some good, but there was little hope of rescuing it.

In general, wooden warships are more resistant to sinking than steel warships, and will not sink quickly in a short period of time.

It was around 4:20 p.m

The westerly sun shone on the blood-colored sea, and the black smoke and floating corpses, charred canvas, ropes, barrels and other stumps were all over the sea, and the sea water had been soaked in blood.

The rumbling of artillery continues, and the killing continues......

"Gather fire to the enemy ship on the left and kill him for me." Geng Guigui's face was black and white with gunsmoke, and he roared with blood-red eyes.

He was referring to the only intact three-masted galleon in the sail fleet, the Dawn, a 1,200-ton three-class sail battleship, now armed with eight 120 mm breech guns, armed with a sturdy steel rear-sliding gun mount, 22 95 mm breech guns, halved the firepower of a single port, 15 shells of different calibers can be projected at a time, and the density of firepower is comparable to that of two Seagull II battleships, the only drawback is that the power is far inferior.

Geng Guigui's tactics are very chicken thieves, why do you say that?

The "Flamingo" and "Pelican" used high-speed maneuvering to line up on both sides, trying to hide in the blind spots of the fire on the bow and stern sides of the three-masted galleon, forcing them to constantly adjust their steering, and surrounded the three-masted galleon "Dawn" in the center and beat it fiercely.

The three-masted galleon "Dawn" refused to give up its friendly ships because they were wounded and moved slowly, so the range of movement was very limited, and although the firepower was fierce, it was difficult to catch the traces of the enemy ships, and its accurate gunnonical skills could not be used, and it fell into a situation of passive attack.

After more than a dozen rounds of bombardment, the "Flamingo" and "Pelican" successively hit the three-masted galleon of the Dawn, two of which were 239-millimeter guns, which hit it heavily in the thick smoke rising, and the guns on the "Dawn" ship, which had been firing non-stop, were also instantly muted.

meanwhile

The "Pelican" also suffered a 120-millimeter shell, which hit the wheelhouse just in time, and as a result, the flying shrapnel caused a bloody storm in the wheelhouse, and a total of six people were killed on the spot by the captain, deputy captain, and helmsman of the "Pelican," two people were killed in the main gun position behind the bow, nine people were slightly and seriously injured, and three people in the front main gun position were slightly injured, and the red blood stained the battle position.

In the midst of the raging fire on the sea, the three-masted galleon "Dawn" caused a cannonball to explode, which was blown to pieces in an earth-shattering explosion, and a huge gray-black mushroom cloud rose on the surface of the sea.

The "Pelican" lost its commander and main gun crew, and had to withdraw from the battle with a sad wound.

At this point, there was no suspense in the battle, and the flagship "Utreven Warrior" led the two remaining sail warships to fight and retreat, trying to escape from the warband.

The stubborn "Albatross" and "Heron" stalked their opponents, swam closely behind their tail flanks, and constantly attacked the enemy ships with artillery fire.

After dozens of minutes of pursuit, the 239-mm guns of the "Albatross" fired and two heavy shells hit the broken sail battleship "Storm" one after another, blowing up the second half of the ship's hull.

The Pelican then approached and fired a round of shells, completely destroying the Storm.

At this time, the "Flamingo", full of rage, destroyed the last opponent who was still struggling and caught up from behind.

The four scarred warships converged and pursued the battered flagship "Utreven Warriors", at this time, the brilliant blood-colored sunset soaked the sky, reflecting this infinitely tragic post-war picture.

In the evening, around 6:40 p.m

Port of Medan

Chasing and fleeing on the sea, the embarrassed flagship "Utreven Warrior" fled into the harbor with the only remaining sail warship, narrowly leaving a life.

The last guns fired by the Queensland fleet seemed to see off the opponent, weaving an elegy to the end with the sound of cannons, and at the same time ending the curtain of this fierce naval battle.

After 4 hours and 40 minutes of bloody battle, the Queensland fleet won an indisputable victory, the Dutch sailing fleet that attacked in the Strait of Malacca consisted of ten warships, of which eight were sunk, one was seriously damaged, one was slightly wounded, and a total of more than 2,360 people were killed and wounded.

The British cruiser "Boulder" played the role of rescuer, rescuing more than 230 survivors floating at sea.

The Queensland fleet suffered one serious wound and three minor wounds, unsunk, and suffered 117 casualties, including 42 killed and more than 75 lightly and seriously wounded.

Out of caution, considering that it was already dark and the sight was not good, the fleet commander He Fang decided to abandon the pursuit for the time being and return to the strait to wait patiently.

There must be land batteries in the harbor to guard, and unless it is necessary, how can you not want to risk your precious warship.

These are all new ships, to be precise, new ships that have just undergone a bloody battle, and they have delivered the perfect answer.

It was a sleepless night in which the warring parties each returned to lick their wounds

The British cruiser Rock cruising in the strait was brightly lit, and more than 200 officers and men of the Royal Dutch Navy who had come up from the rescue crowded the cabins and aisles, the wounded were moaning in low voices, and many more sat in the aisles with dull expressions, their eyes full of endless despair and sadness.

The British sailors were heavily armed with ammunition and strictly forbade the rescued Dutch to enter the engine room, the main gun emplacements and the cruiser superstructure, so as to prevent the desperate Dutch from revolting and seizing the cruiser.

The British cruiser Boulder had less than 200 men in total, and had to be guarded against the larger number of Dutch.

The staircase leading to the second deck of the ship was guarded by four British sailors armed with spears through an iron door.

On the second deck

Several British officers, including the captain of the ship, Colonel George, and Colonel Joe Howard of the observation team, talked in twos and threes, and next to a rectangular table covered with a white tablecloth, there were bread cakes and fruit salad, and it was a small buffet.

The buffet was attended not only by British officers, but also by two Dutch captains, one Colonel Van Trouy and the other Lieutenant Colonel Bergkamp.

"Dear Colonel Van Trouy, I have my admiration for the courage and sacrifice shown by you and your companions in battle, and rest assured that they will receive food and hot water and the necessary medical treatment, and we will return you to the port of Medan after the departure of the Queensland fleet." Captain George said comfortingly.

Colonel Van Trouy's uniform was stained with blood, perhaps because he had eaten some food, and his face was not as pale and terrible as before, but from the desperate look in his eyes, it could be seen that a heart had already been scarred and shattered into mud.

Even so

Colonel Van Trouy, still able to maintain the necessary courtesy, bowed slightly; "Thank you, Mr. Colonel, and I would like to express my sincere gratitude to you for your noble humanitarian act, which, like a ray of sunshine warms people's hearts, will surely be widely praised on this day of calamity."

"God willing, this is what we should do." That being said, Colonel George had a smile on his face that could not be concealed, and he took a great credit out of thin air, saying that it was false to be unhappy; "May I ask? My British colleagues and I have always wondered why they split forces that are not rich in two. ”

"This ...... Maybe it's out of arrogance. "This question pierced Colonel Van Truy's heart deeply, and the muscles on his face twitched involuntarily, and his expression was extremely gloomy;" These Queenslanders grew up in silence, we must admit to underestimating them, paying a great price for it, there was an air of blind optimism in the Royal Navy before the war, many captains saw it as a good opportunity to earn military merit, in fact it was a complete disaster, pray that God forgive us our sins, Amen! ”

Looking at the prayerful Colonel Van Trouy, Captain George confirmed his suspicions and behaved more warmly; "Mr. Colonel, as a wonderful naval officer, you have done everything you can without remorse."

All he got was a long sigh and silence.

This utter fiasco had destroyed the self-confidence of the officers and men of the Royal Task Force of the Dutch East Indies, and the arrogance and contempt of blind optimism had been shattered and turned into a trace of fear from the bottom of their hearts.

In many cases, you can only get your attitude right if you hit your head in the face of reality, and that's the case with the Dutch.