Chapter 169: The Fall of the French Far East Fleet (Part I)
November 1, 26 (1911), Cam Ranh Bay.
"Boom...... Rumble...... Boom ......"
With the thunderous roar, mushroom clouds continued to rise around the Cam Ranh Bay Fort. Six huge ships cruised back and forth on the sea 18 kilometers away, and the main guns of those black holes occasionally burst into dazzling fireworks and roars, then the sky sounded like the roar of a speeding train, and finally a violent explosion around the battery.
The Chinese Navy's one-and-one style of play is obviously playing with a mouse. Well, according to Commander Gao Yujie, this is a rare target in actual combat training, and if you don't take the opportunity to practice well, you're sorry for the forts built by the roosters, isn't it?
Although Cam Ranh Bay is the best port in Indochina, the French did not initially operate as a military port, but mainly for commerce, and their main focus was on North Africa, so the defense of Cam Ranh Bay was not too careful. Especially after the signing of the Anglo-French Entente in 19o4, the French thought that they could sit back and relax, and the defense of Cam Ranh Bay was even more inappropriate.
Seriously, their ideas can't be miscalculated, after all, at that time, except for Britain and the younger brother Japan, who could threaten the Indochina Peninsula, other countries were either beyond the reach of the whip or lacked strength. Well, the Qing Dynasty has this strength and is very close, but do they dare? As long as they reconcile with the British, the Indochinese Peninsula will naturally not have to worry.
Later, although the People's Republic of China was founded, it also showed strong combat effectiveness, which was completely different from the style of the Manchu government. But their impression of China did not turn so quickly, and they remained in the Manchu era, and under this inertial thinking, they did not strengthen the military power of the Indochinese Peninsula.
So when China's Pacific task force blocked the door, they couldn't regret it. The largest cannon in the entire Cam Ranh Bay Fort is the 1884 O-mm heavy cannon, and only this gun is an old gun, only 2 times the diameter, the maximum firing range is only 17 kilometers, and the effective firing range is less than 2 kilometers. The most important thing is that this cargo is still a rack back gun, and it is designed to shoot for 2 minutes.
On the six giant ships in the Chinese fleet, there are 3o2oo mm heavy guns, all of which are new guns, at least 45 times the diameter. The actual firing can reach 62 per minute, not to mention the range, the O-mm 6 times diameter main gun of the Qingcheng-class heavy cruiser has an effective firing range of 2 kilometers, and the maximum firing range is 33 kilometers. The 2o mm 6 times diameter main gun of the Qinling-class large cruiser can reach 3 km, and the maximum firing range is 4o km. And the strongest Fuxi-class battleships had an effective firing range of 34 km and a maximum range of 45 km with a 3O mm 45x diameter main gun.
Although, in theory, when shore artillery and naval artillery are bombarded, shore artillery is more dominant. But that means that under the premise of the same level of artillery, the current situation of the disparity in the performance of the artillery of the two sides is completely unsuitable for this theory.
Now this giant ship is outside the maximum range of Cam Ranh Bay Battery, and it is a good game of target shooting. Although a salvo is not used, if it is the previous style of play, the hit rate of the single is relatively low. But now, there are a few aircraft batteries circling in the air, constantly bringing Xiuzhen back to the battleship. Under the correction of the Shui Gun-1 "Sea Duck" water reconnaissance aircraft, the hit rate was quite impressive, even with a single shot.
I saw that the reinforced concrete shore defense batteries were lifted one after another, and in less than twenty minutes, the 4o mm heavy cannon that threatened the most was blown away. Then there are secondary targets such as 2-mm, 19-mm, 64mm.
The French Far East Fleet hid in Cam Ranh Bay, watching its batteries being lifted off one by one, but did not dare to fight. There is no way, compared to the Chinese Pacific Task Force blocking the door, the strength of the French Far East Fleet is too weak to take the table at all.
The main forces of the Far Eastern Fleet were two Leons. Gambida-class armored cruiser, Jules. Ferry and Leon. The Gambida, which was two 19-launched first-class armored cruisers with a displacement of 24oo tons, had 2 twin 19-mm turrets with 2 twin guns, 6 64-mm secondary guns with single turrets and 6 twin turrets), door-to-pound Haggkes guns (single-mounted guns), and 2 46o mm underwater torpedo tubes. The broadside armor belt was 71-152 mm Krupp armor, and the armor of the main turret and conning tower was 2o mm. Judging from the numbers, these two warships are barely good, but the problem of the small caliber of the main guns of the French ** ship still exists, the weakness in firepower is too great, and the navigation can only reach 2. 6 knots.
There are also two Friant-class protective cruisers, the Friant and the Chaseruborobat, with a displacement of 33 tons and 1o 152-mm guns with 2 knots. This is all old goods from 2 years ago, and it is said that it is a maximum of 2 knots, and it would be good to be able to run to 6 knots. In addition to this, there were about thirty torpedo ships and ten auxiliary ships, which were also old men.
This pile of warships looks like the number is okay, but compared with China, they are all goods that can be thrown. Not to mention those two dreadnoughts, even if the other side dispatches two Qingcheng-class heavy cruisers, they can send the entire Far East Fleet to the bottom of the sea.
It was precisely because of this understanding that the commander of the Far East Fleet, Rear Admiral Montcalm, made up his mind that Lao Tzu was a turtle that would not come out. According to his original idea, as long as he does not take the initiative to go out, the Chinese should not knock on the door, after all, we still have Brother Niu covered, this little bit of face Chinese dare not give? When the Chinese fleet began to transfer to the demolition and relocation office, he reacted at this time, and now this China does not seem to be a polite and courteous Qing Dynasty.
Jules. Captain Quinnet of the Ferry said hurriedly: "Commander, we can't wait any longer, if we don't rush out, our fleet will be finished." β
Montcalm glared at him: "The other side is two new dreadnoughts and two dreadnoughts, can they rush out?" We are here, we can β₯ torpedo ships to cooperate with the defense, if we go out, we can only be beaten......
Quinnet was anxious: "But we can only be beaten here, and if we rush, we can always rush out some ......"
The officers were immediately divided into two factions, the main attack and the main defense, and quarreled. Rear Admiral Montcalm was not a good admiral, he came to the Far East only to retire, and when he encountered such a thing, it was really beyond his ability. Just as he was struggling, he suddenly heard someone shouting.
"Airship: China's airship, oh God, it's a cloud ray-class strategic airship," the lookout post screamed hoarsely.
I saw eight huge airships galloping from the northeast sky, just like a giant beast in the air in the wilderness towards its prey.
Colonel Liu Chenxu on the No. 1O1 airship salivated and looked at the neatly parked French ** ships in Cam Ranh Bay, and laughed happily.
"Wow Ka Ka Ka Ka, it's so good that our luck is so good today, the good start of our cloud rays is them, the boats are in place, the 2o kg armor-piercing shells are ready, and the target ...... is immediately assigned"
A few minutes later, the liaison officer reported: "Report to the Wing Commander, the target has been assigned and the bomb is ready for dropping......"
Liu Chenxu followed the example of his old boss Lin Shenhe with a teacup, and waved his hand calmly: "Start attacking"
In the eyes of the French officers and soldiers below, the huge shadows of the airships almost obscured half of the sky, and the oppression of the apex predators was grateful for their genetic fear, making them almost unsteady.
"They are about to attack, the anti-aircraft weapons are going to attack quickly, the ships are at anchor, and the ships are immediately rushing out of Cam Ranh Bay," at this time, Rear Admiral Montcalm's cry made them come back to their senses a little. Although this Mr. Commander has mediocre ability, he still has experience, and now he doesn't have to worry about whether to attack or defend. If you don't leave, you will only be bombed.
Fortunately, the boiler was always burning, and there was no need to make a fire to preheat it, and the officers and men on the various ships hurriedly raised anchors. At this time, a lookout screamed in horror: "Bombs they dropped"
I saw that the baffle under the pods of the eight airships opened, revealing the bomb ports of the black holes, and then a string of bombs fell. The fan safety behind the bombs rotates rapidly, and the low-drag shape allows them to fall extremely quickly. The anti-aircraft gun positions at the Cam Ranh Bay base and the anti-aircraft guns on the ships were also firing desperately, but the airships were so high that their small-caliber anti-aircraft guns couldn't reach them.
"Boom...... Boom ...... "Two of the first bombs fell on the flagship Jules. At a position of 3 meters on the port side of the Ferry Ferry , two columns of water more than ten meters high suddenly rose on the sea.
"Boom ......" a torpedo ship was probably too close, and a bomb originally aimed at the Friant hit its chimney, penetrated the deck, and exploded in the cabin. This torpedo ship is only more than 3o tons, where can it afford 2o kg bombs. There was a bang, and the center of the torpedo ship bulged, and then there was an earth-shattering explosion, and a large fireball enveloped the entire hull.
By the time the fireball disappeared, the torpedo ship was no longer visible, only the oil and debris floating on the sea surface could prove that there was still a warship here just now.
The terrible situation of the torpedo ships scared the roosters, and several of the ships that were in a hurry did not even want to anchor, and were slashing the anchor chains.
However, by this time it was too late, the calibration on the airship was complete, and the bomb was dropped as if it were not for money.
"Boom...... Rumble...... Rumble...... Boom ......" The entire anchorage constantly rises with water columns, like a snow-white eerie forest. The picture looks wonderfully beautiful, but for the Far Eastern Fleet it is an out-and-out nightmare.
As soon as the Chaseru Polobat, which had just cut the anchor chain, was launched, a bomb falling from the sky smashed on its port side, penetrating the deck and exploding, and the violent shock wave swept across the port side, the human body and broken steel and iron flew everywhere, and the 152-mm main gun and the δΈ¨ gun were blown into the sea along with a dozen gunners.
A torpedo ship was hit by two bombs, and the hull was blown open with a hole more than 2 meters long, and a large stream of seawater poured in, and it sank to the bottom of the sea in less than three minutes. Leon. The Gambida also received a bomb on the left and right sides, and the secondary gun turret and several firing guns were blown away.
"Rush out, rush out, fight freely, fight freely, fight with the Chinese," Major General Montcalm roared into the radio.
Jules who was attacked as a key point. The Ferry, however, had a strong character and never ate the bomb. Of course, this is also related to the captain's handling level. Jules. The Ferry sped at full speed, zigzag and rushed out of the harbor. The other ships followed the flagship, braving a torrential rain of bombs.
After sinking a torpedo ship, the bombs of the airship finally stopped, after all, it was a high-altitude bombing, although there was inertial guidance, but the hit rate was relatively low, in fact, the attack effect was not very ideal. The panic effect is even greater.
"Bastard bastard air force bastard Lin Shenhe, your second uncle" Captain Liu Chenxu of the Air Force was blown up happily, but Gao Yujie outside the port was so angry that he jumped violently. Nima, who was robbed and blamed, was in a hurry.
"Attention ships, battle queue towards Cam Ranh Bay"
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