Xinshun 1730

Chapter 703 Naval Battle ([-])

"The Chinese only know how to attack ships with fire, and they don't understand ocean warfare at all. It's like those natives who have got muskets and cannons, but still don't know how to fight on land. If we seize the opportunity, we may be able to capture a few warships."

From a distance, the absolute number of Dashun Navy must be much larger than the company fleet.

However, the Dutch fleet commander was not very worried.The Netherlands has a tradition of naval warfare for more than a hundred years, and it is common for the weak to defeat the strong.

What's more, defeating the strong with the weak is all about traditional naval powers such as Britain, France, and Spain.

The Dutch really despise Dashun's navy.They feel that the Chinese do not understand astronomy, navigation, and naval tactics at all.

Like the Sinhalese, there are British guns, British cannons, and even British instructors, but what happened?The Sinhalese army with brown basses and eight-pound guns was still vulnerable.

Perhaps in offshore operations, the Dutch would be worried about Dashun's tactics of attacking ships with fire.But here is the ocean in Southeast Asia, and there is no room for fire attack ships at all.

However, although he underestimated Dashun strategically, the Dutch captain still made full preparations tactically.

After watching Dashun's approaching fleet for a while, the Dutch made a decision.

Give up the upwind.

The fleet turned and spread out to leeward, maintaining formation.

If Dashun chooses to seize the wind, they will take advantage of Dashun's change of formation, go around to the side of Dashun's fleet, and surprise the cruisers behind instead of attacking the battleships in front.Cut off one finger and run away.

If there are no flaws in the formation on the opposite side, don't take the risk of making an assault, stick to the shooting until the afternoon, and use your familiarity with the sea conditions to retreat eastward.

If the Dashun fleet pursues, it will retreat to Ambon.The terrain of Ambon is very special, there is a narrow strait in the harbor, the Dutch have been operating there for many years, and there are forts in the narrow strait, Dashun's navy can't attack it at all.

If the Dashun fleet does not pursue, it will follow behind and continue to harass, using the fleet's speed advantage and familiarity with sea conditions to ensure that Dashun cannot completely control the sea and delay Dashun's capture of various strongholds in Southeast Asia.

Choose the downwind direction, so that you can run away if you can't beat it.

After the clear order was conveyed, the Dutch side completed preparations for the battle at about 12 noon, when the distance between the two sides was already close.

The Dutch also began to line up, taking advantage of the wind direction to move eastward, maintaining the formation while maintaining high-speed mobility, ready to take advantage of the opportunity of the Dashun fleet to catch its tail.

On the Tianyuan, Liu Yu was also observing the movement of the Dutch.

He is not proficient in naval warfare. He has been a daughter-in-law for many years and has become a mother-in-law. He has fought a few battles and commanded large corps. He has learned how to do it.

But naval warfare, he is still a theoretical type.I learned a lot of theories from the French and the Dutch, and combined with my mastery of "the key to winning a land battle is to maximize firepower superiority", I can only say whether it is normal or not, it depends on the result of this naval battle up.

The wind direction officer reported the wind direction and speed at this time, the standard northwest monsoon in the tropical dry season of Nanyang.

Normally, the movement of the Dashun fleet at this time should be to maintain the formation and continue to approach, and when it reaches the distance from the enemy, it should turn east.

While seizing the upper wind tactically, we must also seize the upper wind strategically: to seize the upper wind tactically, which is often referred to as the T-head; Between the Shun Fleet and Java Island, it is not so easy for the Dutch Fleet to slip away, and there are no good ports with forts nearby.

However, Liu Yu did not do this. When he was not close to the enemy, he began to turn, forming a state that seemed to be slightly parallel to the Dutch fleet, but there was an angle to gradually approach.

Around one o'clock in the afternoon, the distance between the two sides became closer.

The Dutch captain observed Dashun's fleet formation and made a preliminary judgment in his mind.

"Obviously, the Chinese don't want to grab the T-head. They think their fleet is strong and has a lot of cannons, so they don't need to grab the T-head. Instead, they choose the approaching parallel line and line up with us. . This is a situation that must be avoided.”

The Dutch captain is relatively clear-headed, and of course he must refuse such a parallel line-to-bomb situation.Eight armed merchant ships, and some messy auxiliary ships, to confront a real battleship fleet?
Even if the Dutch naval god of war Michel Adrianson de Ruyter was reborn, it would be impossible to rely on these broken ships to choose to line up with battleships.

The Dutch captain was not afraid that Dashun's side would grab the T prefix, but he was afraid that Dashun's side would not grab it at all.

If you want to grab the T prefix, the maneuverability of the Dashun warship is weaker than that of the Dutch ships with a smaller tonnage. Once it moves, it will have an opportunity.There may not necessarily be a flaw, but if it doesn't move, there must be no flaw.

If you don't move and don't grab the T prefix, it is a moving Great Wall with wooden walls equipped with more than 1000 cannons. How can it have an advantage in confronting bombs?

However, Dashun's fleet also has problems, their speed is not fast, which is completely in line with the Dutch impression of battleships, which is slow.

Moreover, Dashun's formation was even more weird, with battleships in front and fast cruisers behind.To maintain the formation, the speed of these cruisers must be consistent with that of the battleships.

"Stupid Chinese."

The commander of the Dutch fleet cursed and thought of a bold plan.

Now that Dashun's fleet and the Dutch fleet are both heading east in parallel, they are gradually approaching.Dashun's navy is in the north, and the Dutch fleet is in the south.

The angle between the two sides and the wind speed at this time, if normal, would enter the shelling range around [-]:[-] in the afternoon.

Once the two sides present this state of front-line confrontation, the Dutch will definitely suffer.And you will suffer a lot.

Since Dashun's navy is not moving, it is necessary to find a way to make Dashun's navy move. Only by moving can we seize the opening.

"Send a signal, tell the fleet to turn north, make a U-circle, and bite the tail of the Chinese fleet."

The Dutch captain estimated the speed of the two sides, the wind direction, and the familiarity with the current conditions here, and made such a decision decisively.

That is to use the speed advantage of the Dutch fleet and the distance advantage of one body beyond the Dashun fleet to turn in front of the Dashun fleet.

There are many advantages to doing this.

If the Dashun fleet didn't respond, then Holland was leeward and got the T-head, and could shoot at the warships in front of Dashun.

If the Dashun fleet responds, considering the turning radius, Dashun will inevitably choose to turn southeast and grab the tail of the Dutch fleet instead.

However, if this is the case, the Dashun Fleet has taken a strategic advantage.

First, the Dashun Fleet was originally in the north, the Dutch Fleet in the middle, and the coastline in the south. If they keep approaching, the space of the Dutch Fleet can be continuously compressed.Even if the Dutchman wants to run, after being caught, it will take a lot of effort to escape.

Secondly, if the Dashun fleet turned around to bite the tail of the Dutch fleet, then the tail of the Dashun fleet would be exposed.

With their excellent sailing skills and sailing skills, the Dutch were completely able to seize the wind and bite the tail of the Dashun fleet after turning around.

Because Dashun's battleships were in the front row, and the tails were cruisers and frigates. These warships were about the same tonnage as the Dutch ships, and they were completely capable of fighting.

By the time the main force in front of Dashun came back, the tail of Dashun's fleet might be in chaos. If they could capture five or six cruisers of Dashun in the chaos, it would probably be five or six o'clock in the afternoon. Neither side would be able to If there is a war, the Netherlands can withdraw calmly.

This tactical concept is not unsophisticated, and it fully demonstrates the Dutch tradition of naval warfare for more than a hundred years.The accurate grasp of hydrology, wind direction, ship speed, advantages and disadvantages can be regarded as the ultimate in what can be done at this time.

It's hard for a clever woman to cook without rice. With just these few ships, it is impossible to win if the Dashun fleet is not allowed to move and show its flaws.

Moreover, running away directly is also the next strategy.Just run away, although the fleet can be preserved, but the castles, Java, and even Batavia are sold directly.It can only be said that if it is really a last resort, you can only sneak away, otherwise you can still gamble if you can gamble.

Liu Yu also noticed the movement of the Dutchman starting to turn north.

In the beginning, Liu Yu didn't grab the T-shaped head, but was waiting for the Dutch to make the first move.

He deliberately put the battleship in front, one is that his tactics have to face the Dutch side string salvo impact split, the battleship can resist; second, the French 74-gun battleship is quite excellent, in the previous rounds, the ship is not Going forward at full speed is to make the Dutch feel that "the initiative is in their hands", and they can run and fight when they want.

It takes time to grab the horizontal head.The Dutch are downwind, and if their side really grabs the T prefix, the Dutch can easily slip away.

Without grabbing the horizontal head, the fleet does not turn or change formation. It can bite the Dutch and cause a great deterrent to the Dutch.

The premise of grabbing the T-head is that the strength of the two sides is about the same.But if you have 10 people on your side and 5000 people on the opposite side, do you have to set up an ambush on all sides?

Under the absolute advantage, you don't need to grab the horizontal head, and you can also deter the Dutch.It is impossible for the Dutch, and they will definitely not choose parallel bombing, unless the commander of the Dutch fleet eats too much spice and his brain is smoked.

The Dutchman suddenly made such a turn at this time, Liu Yu did not order Dashun's fleet to circle south and follow suit to bite the Dutchman's tail.

Biting the tail is not very useful, even if the sailors of Dashun performed super-level and bit the tail of the Dutch fleet.Seeing that the situation was not good, the Dutch ran away directly, so it was a waste of time.If the Dutch fleet is not captured, Nanyang will not be clean in a short time, and it will be quite unfavorable if the Dutch wander around to look for opportunities and seize the opportunity.

But this is a sailing sea battle, and the timing of the decision is at least a quarter of an hour. Liu Yu was not in a hurry to give an order immediately, but asked Li Yan beside him.

"Your Highness has also been in charge of the navy for many years. From His Highness's point of view, what do the Dutch do?"

Li Yan did not answer directly, but said with a smile: "I used to think that naval battles were just to meet and shoot. It turned out that in actual combat, if you are fighting for a day, you will spend most of the day circling and forming at sea. Compared with Lu War is much more troublesome."

Seeing this, Liu Yu didn't know whether to cry or laugh, so he said helplessly, "Land warfare is similar. It takes only half a day to decide the winner. But the previous training, maneuvering, investigation, supply, Logistics, deployment... Most of the time these staff officers have to do boring things. What the Lord General has to do is to make impromptu decisions and seize the opportunities on the battlefield."

Li Yan looked at the Dutch fleet whose lead ship was obviously turning around in the distance, and knew that Liu Yu was pointing at him, so he tried to make an impromptu decision.

Although if you make a wrong decision, Liu Yu will definitely advise and suggest, and it will not affect the outcome of the battle.But if I really want to take charge of the navy, and really get the support of the navy, this decision is a test.If he did something wrong, I'm afraid Liu Yu would really worry about handing over the fleet to him.

(End of this chapter)