Chapter 148: The Jewel and the Grand Duke

Although it had been at a speed of 22 knots, it had been chasing for nearly four hours! But finally, as he expected, the Dutch fleet with two badly damaged warships did not go far!

Looking at the four warships that were getting closer and closer to them, and the eight Sea Hawk-class frigates had not rested much for a day, the blood in the hearts of the Huo family soldiers who were physically and mentally exhausted became boiling again! They longed for another meritorious service!

"Captain, you see that the speed of the Jewel and the Grand Duke has increased!" Chen Changshan raised his binoculars and looked at the two warships that were leaving behind the Prince and the Oranch, and the speed was gradually increasing, and said solemnly.

"Well, it seems that their captain is not as sloppy as the Turquoise!, and he still has the courage to fight us!" Looking at the two battleships that were rapidly raising the battle flag, Chen Jinshen smiled indifferently and said.

"Then what about the remaining ironclad cruisers of the Prince and the Orlanch? Do you just let them go?" Although from the binoculars equipped with him, Chen Changshan had already seen that the damage to these two warships was very serious, but what the specific situation was, whether they still had combat power, was it too clear!

Looking at the Crown Prince and the Orlanche covered with blood and gunsmoke, and the hulls that had been damaged in many places, as well as most of the damaged naval guns, Chen Jin raised his eyebrows and said: "Their equipment is seriously damaged, and they don't have much combat power anymore! Moreover, with the slow speed of the Prince and the Orlanche, they are simply a target under our 130mm twin naval guns, I believe that their commanders will not be so unwise! And they will not joke with the lives of the soldiers and officers on these two warships!" Otherwise, we don't have to fight, it's just that these soldiers who value their lives more than the honor of the country will be able to revolt on the battlefield!"

After hearing his words, Chen Changshan couldn't help but touch his chin, which had grown dark blue stubble, and he also admitted that what Chen Jin said was indeed good, because the Prince and the Oranch had already begun to turn and head west! Of course, it was impossible for them to escape at their current speed, but chose to avoid the battlefield where the two sides were fighting! Avoid being affected by the gunfire of the battleship, otherwise if they were sunk, it would be too wronged!

At this time, the eight Sea Hawk-class frigates did not care about the two ironclad cruisers that were trying to leave the battlefield, and their eyes were always fixed on the Jewel and the Grand Duke, which had been increased to 15 knots by ventilation and pressurization! At this time, the two Dutch battleships had already begun to complete their turn, and they were ready to meet the enemy!

Mendley felt the violent tremors under his feet and the deafening roar of machinery coming from the boiler room! He knew that the steam engines of the Jewel and the Grand Duke had been turned on to their maximum power! This was also something that could not be helped, because the speed of the enemy's warships was too fast! If they did not try their best to make up for it, the main guns on their battleships would not even be able to hit the shadow of the enemy ships!

"I hope these boilers can hold up, otherwise they will ......!" Meng Deli whispered a few words in a somewhat ugly voice! He understood very well the serious wear and tear of the power equipment of the warship caused by pressurized ventilation! Moreover, in order to meet their own warships as quickly as possible and prevent the enemy ships from breaking through, they had already sailed a long distance in a state of ventilation and pressurization! Therefore, now he was really a little worried in his heart! If the power equipment of the two ships really cannot support it at that time, then after losing the most important speed of the battleship, they will become targets under the guns of the enemy's battleship! Then I am afraid that there will be no better way than to surrender as soon as possible!

As the warships of the two sides continued to get closer, they also completed the final change of formation, and the eight Seahawk-class frigates were divided into two, outflanking the two Dutch warships that were moving quickly from one side after the other! And after a distance of nearly five thousand meters, the naval guns of both sides roared at the same time!

Although the actual combat distance between the two Dutch ironclad ships was only about 2,500 meters, they had no choice but to open fire in advance after understanding the enemy's shelling distance from the crews of the Prince-Prince-and-Orlanche! Although it was too difficult to hit the enemy ships at this distance, they did not even have the slightest hope! Moreover, they did not want to be beaten passively like the Prince-Princes and the Orlanche!

However, the gap in the ability of the naval guns was difficult to make up for even with the excellent naval quality of the Dutch, so the shells of the four 210mm main guns all fell 300 meters away from the eight battleships! Although compared to them, the hit rate of the Huo Jiajun was not very good, but the high speed of the naval guns and the density of the projectiles ensured to the greatest extent that they were far more advantageous than their own enemies!

Accompanied by eighteen huge columns of water rising into the sky, the new smokeless gunpowder showed a far more powerful power than the Dutch black powder! However, the first round of shelling was not too accurate on both sides, and even the shells from the first five Sea Hawk warships that had already fought two skirmishes were still fifty meters away from the two Dutch warships! But this result had already jumped the Dutch!

Although the waterline armor of the Grand Duke and the Jewel was very thick, because they were built much earlier than the Prince, Oranch and Emerald, the two main guns in the bow and stern were not the most advanced open batteries in Europe today, but the old front-loading rifled deck guns weighing 18 tons and 25 times the diameter! It was designed and built by the Netherlands according to the design of the British new cruiser Shannon-class, but due to its own technical strength, it did not reach the displacement of more than 5,000 tons of the Shannon-class, and there was also a big gap in the caliber of the main guns and the number of naval guns!

However, after the first round of shelling, the gap between the two warships in terms of performance and design became more and more apparent! And while the Dutch sailors were still wiping the breeches and preparing for the next round of shelling! The shells from the eight Seahawk-class battleships had already rained down!

At this time, the sailors on the two battleships finally understood why the Prince and the Oranch had been beaten so miserably! Because the more and more accurate shells fired by the enemy ships around them, as well as the continuous deafening sound of cannonballs on the sea, were the best proof of this!

At this time, the main guns and artillery on the eight battleships became the busiest people, and they excitedly turned the turrets and pulled the running bolts again and again according to the calculated position of the enemy ships! The use of hydraulic bomb supply devices not only saved manpower to the greatest extent, but also greatly improved the speed and efficiency of the main guns!

As time passed, just as the Dutch guns fired the second round and the eight Seahawk-class battleships fired the twelfth round of shells, a shell from the Seahawk One finally hit the forward deck of the enemy's Jewel!

"Boom!"

Under the violent explosion, Munch was suddenly bounced out, fell to the ground, rolled twice, and lay on the ground! And Munch, who had been sitting on the side and did not command the fleet to fight, was also hit by this 130mm shell that hit the front armor plate and tore a large hole of nearly one meter in diameter, and was directly overturned and fell to the ground! However, compared with the unprepared Mundley, he was not too embarrassed when he subconsciously grasped the steel handrail next to him!

Quickly getting up from the ground, Meng Deli secretly gritted his teeth, and the severe pain coming from his left arm made him feel annoyed and frightened at the same time! He knew the caliber of the enemy's naval guns! However, the shells of the 130mm caliber naval guns at a distance of five thousand meters had no less power than the 155mm shells! This was really amazing! At this time, he couldn't help but feel a sense of fear in his heart for his enemy this time, the Chinese People's Army occupying the East Indies! They are so mysterious! Moreover, the level of design and construction of naval warships is also unexpectedly strong! You must know that this is a backward Far East, not the center of the world, and Europe with a developed economy and a strong navy!