In the wee hours of the morning

The officers and men of the fleet stood solemnly on the side of the ship, bidding farewell to their comrades in the sad sound of the horn, and the snow-white waves engulfed the bodies of the martyrs, and the heroic souls lived forever.

The battleship whistled a long whistle, piercing the early morning sea.

The ocean-going freighter "Taishan" departed with the wounded officers and men on board, and it will be the first to go to Singapore, where there are conditions for further treatment of the officers and men.

After a night of intense repairs, the fleet added 46 sailors on the Tarzan and regained a certain combat capability.

Due to the sacrifice of all the main commanders of the "Pelican" battleship, after urgent consultations between He Fang and Geng Guigui, he temporarily appointed his deputy Luo Yun as the captain of the "Pelican" and transferred personnel from various ships to supplement the "Pelican" to improve the navigation command capability.

After this battle, the fleet lost 30% of its manpower.

Although part of the personnel of the Taishan ship were replenished, the combat effectiveness was inevitably greatly reduced.

"The fleet sets sail and targets the port of Medan."

Commander He Fang gave an order, and thick smoke billowed from the tall chimneys of the four warships, cleaving the waves all the way, and swooping in the direction of the port of Medan.

Two hours later

Port of Medan

It is a semi-open harbor facing the Strait of Malacca, with a distinct recessed bay along the coastline, and excellent deep-water conditions, where the Dutch set up a dual-use trading port for both military and civilian purposes, for the security of the strait and for ocean-going trade.

A red sun hung overhead, and it was another sunny day.

The Queensland fleet hovered outside the harbor, and the marks of war could be seen everywhere on the brand-new hulls, and it had experienced the baptism of bloody naval battles, which was already a powerful maritime force to be reckoned with.

The remnants of the Dutch army in the harbor were silent, and the shore artillery base, which reflected the icy steel sheen, was ready for battle, and the three-masted galleon of the "Utreven Warriors", which had fled all the way back to the harbor, was moored in the depths of the bay, and a cargo ship full of sand and gravel was parked outside, covering most of the hull.

The guns on the other side of the hull were carried ashore overnight, and shore artillery positions ranging from near and far were set up to intensify the fire against the counterattack of the incoming fleet.

Another three-masted galleon was similarly arranged, and a tragic atmosphere of slaughter permeated the entire harbor, preparing for a decisive battle with the Queensland fleet.

On the battleship Albatross

Commander He Fang put down the binoculars, his face was very solemn, and a difficult choice was placed in front of him.

Through observation, there are two sail warships in the port of Medan that are being repaired and rebuilt on the slipway, two old sail warships that cannot sail, and two fish that slipped through the net in yesterday's naval battle, a total of six sail warships of different states.

The Dutch stayed up all night, and most of the ship's guns were unloaded to the shore overnight, forming a tight shore gun position, and only six shore gun positions could be observed, and it is unknown whether there were any more large-caliber shore guns in the green tropical jungle.

The port of Medan is now covered in spiked hedgehogs, waiting for the Quinlan fleet to break in.

To break or not to break is a difficult choice for the commander.

Unlike the fluctuating naval guns on the sea, the shore guns have a longer range, are more accurate, and have relatively complete earth and rock defense facilities.

As a last resort, no fleet commander was willing to attack shore artillery with expensive warships, and this was obviously a bad deal.

Then again

The Dutch still have more than a dozen sail warships in the East Indies, as well as six ironclad warships led by the Seven Provinces, and they still have the strength to fight.

Taking advantage of the opportunity to occupy an absolute superiority to defeat the water dogs, cut off their wings, and weaken the enemy's strength is an urgent need at hand.

has already torn his face and started fighting, just giving up like this is not his style.

I thought about it for a long time

He Fang gave the order with a solemn expression; "Order the fleet to set up artillery arrays and bombard targets in the harbor one by one, with a focus on clearing enemy ships, and prepare for firing in 5 minutes."

The flagship, the Albatross, raised the battle flag, the piercing battle sirens sounded, and outside the port of Medan, four battleships lined up in a line for shelling.

The thick muzzle of the main gun was raised, and it was aimed at the target in the harbor.

"Boom, boom, boom......"

The artillery sound that resounded throughout the world was heard continuously, and the shelling of the Queensland fleet attracted a fierce counterattack from the Dutch artillery positions, and a fierce artillery battle between the two sides began.

Raining shells fell on the surface of the sea and exploded, splashing countless jets of water.

In the clear weather, you can see the trajectory of cannonballs crossing the sky inside and outside the Port of Medan, intertwined into a dense network of fire, and you come and go quite lively.

More than 10 minutes later

Looking at the column of water far away from the fleet, a smile appeared on the corner of He Fang's mouth;

Very good, very good, no large-caliber shore artillery has been found at the moment.

If there are no medium and large-caliber shore guns in the port of Medan, then you can only consider yourself unlucky.

The Queensland fleet was not frightened by the tight defensive shore artillery net set up in the port of Medan, and through the early artillery fire test, it gradually figured out the details of the shore artillery in the port.

The large-caliber shells fired by the fleet fell on the water in the harbor, and they were still far from the target, but He Fang was not in a hurry at all.

"Order the artillery crew to raise the muzzle of the gun and fire at a fixed point at the limit range."

The order was conveyed through the flag, and the ships continued to slowly raise their guns, and then the shelling began again.

The German 239 mm main gun has a limit range of 8.5 nautical miles, and the 120 mm secondary gun has a limit range of 6.2 nautical miles.

Whoever is to lead out the enemy's large-caliber artillery by artillery fire, if there is, he immediately leads the fleet to turn around and leave.

Lightly armored cruisers simply cannot withstand the bombardment of large-caliber guns, and close misses will cause serious damage to the hull, so they have to be guarded against.

If you don't have large-caliber artillery, hehe...... Then Lao Tzu is welcome, and he wants to blow up the port of Medan into a sea of fire.

Albatrosses, flamingos, pelicans, and herons raised their muzzles and began to bombard the port of Medan at the limit range, keeping the fleet in the open sea area 8 nautical miles away, unhurriedly hoisting at targets in the harbor.

For a German-made 239 mm naval gun, the lifting degree at the extreme range is very touching, and whether it can hit can only depend on God blessing.

He Fang is not in a hurry, he now has time to play with his opponent.

The artillery fire of the counterattack in the port of Medan was lively, but the maximum caliber of the shore guns was only 120 mm, and it only created a forest of water columns at a great distance, which could not reach the Queensland fleet at all.

Half an hour later

The Dutch defenders in the port of Medan stopped their artillery counterattack, and the port fell completely silent in the face of cunning opponents.

No way, it's too far to reach!

See this scenario

The Queensland fleet became more confident and began to patiently bombard the port facilities.

The German-made 239-millimeter guns on each ship bombarded the port facilities at a rate of three minutes at a distance of three minutes, and finally saw results after more than 20 minutes.

The sail battleship, which was being built and renovated in the dockyard, was hit by a 239-millimeter gunfire, and it instantly exploded with sawdust and powder, and it was a mess.

A huge fire enveloped the sailboat, which soon ignited the canvas and oil stains, and the fire on the slipway burned more and more fiercely.

After twenty minutes of intense burning

The tall mast of the sail warship collapsed and smashed into another sail warship on the nearby slipway, instantly sparks flew everywhere, and flames flew away, enveloping the sail warship in a sea of fire.

The two large torches on the slipway were blown by the sea breeze, and the scattered flames flew and ignited the nearby wooden houses, bushes, workshops and cargo ships, almost plunging half of the port of Medan into flames.

The burning spread to the artillery positions, and many of the Dutch defenders fled for their lives like rabbits, and no one wanted to be burned alive, and they couldn't care about the artillery at all.

A moment later

The raging flames in the bushes caused the ammunition of the artillery positions to detonate, and the earth-shattering explosions continued to be heard, and the earth and grass clippings were lifted into the air by the violent explosion, forming a huge gray-black mushroom cloud.

The two sail warships anchored at the edge of the harbor were also damaged, and they were hit by artillery fire one after another and burst into flames, and the Dutch sailors ran around like flies, and many people jumped into the sea in a panic, which was a scene of the end of the world.

Faced with such a catastrophic scenario

Rushing out is death, and not rushing out is death.

The Dutch defenders in the harbor were powerless to resist, and the sailors of the "Warriors of Utreven" schooner quickly withdrew, as did the other sturged galleon that was still intact, and they chose to give up resistance.

The bombardment lasted for nearly three hours, and finally destroyed and ignited the three-masted galleon "Utreven Warriors" hiding behind the steel freighter, and the last intact three-masted galleon was also destroyed, and the entire port of Medan was already in a sea of fire, and from time to time you could hear the violent explosion of ammunition and explode into the billowing smoke.

After the end of the shelling

The Queensland fleet did not enter the harbor, but turned around and headed southeast, four warships lined up in a long array, and the hulls of the battle-hardened ships remembered their glorious exploits, cleaving the waves and cleaving the waves.

This moment

The midday sun shone on the battleship, and it was so dazzling to put on a golden coat for the victorious battleship.

British cruiser HMS Boulder

The officers of the Royal Navy of the British Empire stared blankly at the port of Medan, and the eyes were full of fiery red, and the fierce fire had spread from the harbor, igniting the lush tropical jungle nearby.

A large amount of ash and sparks from the burning flew like black mist, falling on the sea and among the hills, this is a burning port, a hell of death with fire.

"Uh...... Mr. Captain, the fire is so big, will the Dutch crew we rescued still be sent to the port? Major Spencer was shocked by the scene in front of him and said subconsciously.

Listened to this

Captain George and Colonel Joe Howard rolled their eyes in unison, too lazy to talk to him.

Isn't this nonsense?

"It's been a long time since I've seen such a big flame, it's really spectacular!"

"Well, yes, that's a big fire!"

"It's so ruthless, the Port of Medan is completely ruined."

"yes, yes."

"This fire will definitely not be extinguished in a few days, and the Dutch have kicked the iron plate this time, and I am afraid that the bones of the foot will be broken."

"yes, yes."

"So...... Shall we read on? ”

Silent.........

This tragic war scene made the officers of the Royal Navy lose their ability to express themselves in the past, and their words seemed so pale.