The Imperial Age with the Resurgence of Han Style

Chapter 131 Ironclad Ship

On April 1726, 4, in the Gulf of Guinea, an English fleet consisting of ten warships and two supply ships was meandering forward, heading south.

Yesterday, they passed through the Portuguese island of Formosa (today's Bioko Island in Equatorial Guinea). After replenishing some fresh food and fresh water, they did not stop too much and chose to continue south.

This English fleet was dispatched by the Royal Navy Commission. It wanted to take advantage of a large number of Qi ships stranded in the North Atlantic waters to get behind them, patrol the west coast of Africa, and attack and intercept Qi merchant ships passing through here. , cut off their routes to Europe as much as possible, and block possible follow-up supply transport ships.

After a year of fighting with the Qi Navy, not only did the English merchant ships suffer repeated losses, but more than ten merchant ships disappeared almost every month (most likely intercepted by the Qi Navy). The merchants complained endlessly, and many went bankrupt. Even the Royal Navy suffered losses. More than [-] large and small warships were sunk or captured by the Qi expedition fleet, which made the whole of England feel a silent suffocation.

Kou can go, so can I!

The Royal Navy of England, which was under tremendous pressure, was forced to organize a special expedition fleet, preparing to kill the Qi people's retreat and retaliate accordingly.

It is incredible to say that last year, before arriving in Europe, the Qi expedition fleet, in addition to capturing Portuguese Cape Verde and retaking the Spanish Canary Islands, also attacked Portuguese Angola, Portuguese Guinea, and several British capture sites in Guinea. The slave stronghold actually ignored it and allowed it to exist behind them.

In this way, after passing Cape Verde, this task force did not worry about its own supply problems at all. Portuguese Guinea, Portuguese Formosa Island, and the Portuguese Sao Tome Island in front were even close to Qi's South African territory. Portuguese Angola can provide them with necessary supplies and fresh water supplies.

"Oh, God!" A bearded sailor pointed to the sea in the distance in horror and exclaimed: "Captain, look, what is that?"

Primo Winger, the captain of the "St. George", held up his telescope and looked in the direction he pointed.

"Steamboat!"

After looking at it for a while, his body shook violently. He was well-informed and knew that the thick black cloud in front of him was the black smoke emitted by the steamship's chimney, and there was more than one line of smoke.

At present, there are only a handful of countries in the world that have steamships (including sail hybrids). After counting, there are probably only three countries in Qi, England and France. However, French steamships were still undergoing experiments on the Seine River and had not yet sailed into the sea. England's ships can only sail offshore in the North Atlantic, transporting some goods and people, and their efficiency is much higher than that of traditional sailboats, especially when entering and leaving ports and in calm conditions.

However, the cost of using steam ships is not necessarily cheap. They need to carry a lot of coal and fresh water, which reduces the utilization rate of the cargo hold a lot. At the same time, steam ships also have special requirements for the destination they arrive at, that is, they must have coal supplies. Otherwise, a steamship without coal would be worse than an ordinary sailboat.

Therefore, many merchants and cargo owners who did not attach much importance to timeliness were unwilling to choose motorized sailing ships to transport goods, which somewhat restricted the development of steam-powered ships in England. As for the several motor-sailing ships equipped by the Royal Navy, they did not play a big role in the maritime battle with Qi State. Either the machines malfunctioned and were lying on the road, or they lacked power and could not keep up with the maneuverability of Qi State's motor-sailing ships. However, during the battle, a number of sailing battleships were needed to protect their safety.

In Captain Primo Winger's impression, the Cleveland Company in England, which had only been established for a few years, had conducted a transatlantic experimental voyage. A sailing ship set out from Swansea, successfully arrived in New Jersey in British North America, and then returned fully loaded with tobacco and cotton. However, no similar voyages from the company appear to have been heard from since then. Perhaps for security reasons, or perhaps a technical issue, more likely a combination of both.

As for the waters of the Gulf of Guinea, needless to say, the steamships that can come here must be from Qi and no other!

Captain Primo Winger had a very bad premonition in his heart, so he subconsciously prepared to order the sailors on the mast to send a signal to the flagship behind, whether to immediately turn to avoid it.

But at this moment, the lookout whistle on the mast let out a heart-rending roar: "Enemy ships found!... A large number of steam battleships! The number is... fifteen!... Oh, God! No, enemy ships The number is eighteen ships!”

When Captain Wenger heard this, his head felt dizzy and his face turned livid. He did not doubt the professionalism of the lookout posts. In fact, these people were strictly trained. Everyone studied in a specialized school. The teachers gave detailed explanations to everyone with pictures of important ships from various countries, ensuring that everyone Students can identify the country of the opposite ship the moment they encounter it.

Unfortunately, they encountered the Qi State steam battleship today. This kind of ship would probably not be recognized by the lookout post, because it is too special and easy to recognize.

This fleet is likely to be the second batch of fleets sent by Qi to conquer the UK.

Oh, God, in order to defeat England, the people of Qi actually increased their troops massively!
Captain Wenger suddenly ran up to the bridge, and then picked up a telescope imported from Qi. In comparison, Qi's telescope was more accurate than those produced in England, and the observation distance was also farther. He searched carefully The horizon rises in the distance.

A few minutes later, black smoke columns rising into the sky appeared in the field of vision, and then the armored hull was gradually revealed.

The features are too obvious, the dark brown armor, several huge chimneys that constantly spit out black smoke, the bow cannon pointing far ahead, several... armored turrets, and that special slender hull. On the tall mast, the red rising sun and yellow dragon flags are fluttering in the sea breeze!
Eighteen enemy warships!
Based on the smoke plumes coming out, it is roughly estimated that the opponent's steam-powered warships are at least seven or eight!
Big trouble!

"Major, the flagship has sent a signal, asking us to adjust the yard, turn to the southwest, and move forward at full speed!" While Captain Wenger was still in a state of confusion, the signal officer hurried over and said with a panicked look on his face.

"Full speed ahead?" Captain Wenger looked at the signal officer in disbelief.

Did you misread the flagship signal?
The Qi fleet has eighteen battleships, and even if there are several supply ships among them, the number of ships that can be used for combat is still much more than our own. What's more, the opponent also has a large number of sailing ships, whose maneuverability and high speed are beyond the capabilities of ordinary sailing warships like ours. "Major, less than thirty miles ahead is the Portuguese island of Sao Tome." The signal officer reminded in a low voice.

Oh yes.

Captain Wenger suddenly realized that all the ships accelerated their sailing and broke through the interception of the Qi fleet. As long as they escaped to Sao Tome Island, with the slightly complete coastal defenses there, they would be temporarily safe. But if they turned to escape, with the speed of Qi Guoji's sailboat, they would not be able to escape before nightfall.

As for what to do after escaping to Sao Tome Island?
We can only take one step at a time, and first avoid the sharp edge of Qi's support fleet. If the Qi people follow them to São Tomé Island and even blockade and siege them, then so be it. Maybe we can just use this to hold back Qi's fleet and prevent them from joining the European expedition fleet, which can also reduce the pressure on our Royal Navy.

It has to be said that the professional quality of the English captains is worthy of recognition, not to mention that they are all outstanding captains carefully selected by the Royal Navy. After the flagship "Mildenhall" issued a breakout order, all ships adjusted their sails and yards, first turning to the southwest in order to avoid the interception of the Qi fleet, and then looking for an opportunity to head south to São Tomé Island.

But their behavior seems a bit idealistic. Several Qi steam warships rushing at the front ignored any of their movements. After estimating the speed of the English fleet's warships, they decisively adjusted their direction and headed northwest of the English fleet.

When encountering our Qi warships, if you still want to play tricks such as maneuvering and escaping, I'm afraid you are overthinking it! Don’t you know that our sail warships are faster and can turn more flexibly, so no one can escape our pursuit?
What's more, there is a "big killer" in our fleet, which will definitely open your eyes!
Fifteen nautical miles, ten nautical miles, five nautical miles, three nautical miles, one nautical mile... The distance between the two sides is getting closer and closer. The horsepower of several Qi steam warships has been turned to the extreme, the steam propulsion system is running at full speed, and the thick chimneys are constantly puffing out black mist. The captain of the "St. George" sailing on the port side of the fleet, Primo Winger, is almost The cold light shining from the 75 mm caliber naval gun on the bow of the battleship at the front can already be seen clearly.

"God, this speed is too fast!" Wenger seemed unable to accept the fact before him and murmured: "It has only been less than two hours and we have almost caught up with us. We can't escape, we can't escape Already..."

Indeed, although the Qi Guo's sail warships that were catching up were larger in tonnage, their steam propulsion system had already boosted their speed to an astonishing twelve knots.

The fleet commander was determined not to let these "fish" slip away in front of his eyes, so he didn't care about saving coal and desperately demanded acceleration. The stokers in the engine room have taken off almost all their clothes, leaving only a pair of shorts on them. They are sweating and shoveling coal into the red stove to keep the fire burning brightly. The entire battleship is like a predatory shark, chopping through the waves and approaching their prey at extremely fast speeds.

Pursuit on the sea is completely different from that on land. Unlike on land, it depends on the physical strength and will of both parties, as well as terrain, environment and other factors. The mode of chasing and escaping on the sea is simple and direct, that is, competing for speed to see whose boat can run faster. There is almost no room for opportunism.

For example, if the speed of the escaping enemy ship is 4 knots, the speed of the pursuing our warship is 6 knots, and the two ships are twenty nautical miles apart, then theoretically it will take our warship at least ten hours to catch up with the enemy ship. After such a long time, it is likely that it will be night before they catch up, which gives the pursued ship the possibility of escaping under the cover of darkness. After all, in this era there were no radars, no searchlights, and no water reconnaissance aircraft. It was quite difficult to pursue a ship that extinguished the lights and fled with all its strength at night.

The English fleet discovered each other through the thick smoke emitted by the steam engines about 6 nautical miles away from the Qi support fleet. In order to avoid the interception of the Qi fleet, the English fleet sailed southwesterly and against the wind, with a pitiful speed of only 3-4 knots.

The Qi State's sail warship, which was rapidly advancing, was fully powered by steam, and with the help of sails, the warship was extremely fast, reaching an astonishing speed of 12-14 knots, and pounced on its prey like a dragon swimming in the sea.

It took the Qi fleet less than two hours to approach the English fleet, which was turning to escape. Then, he began to prepare to hunt the targets in front of him one by one.

Every time an English warship is destroyed at sea, it means that their maritime strength is weakened by one point. By the time of the final decisive battle, the pressure they face will be getting smaller and smaller.

"Boom!" A 75mm solid bullet fell into the water hundreds of meters behind the "St. George", causing huge waves.

Captain Wenger couldn't help but feel excited in his heart after seeing it, and there was a feeling of despair in his heart. He knew that this shell was actually just a test fire, not a real threat, and it was impossible for others to attack them with the bow cannon.

But in less than 10 minutes, the enemy warships will sail to their side, and then attack them with powerful broadside firepower. If the two sides were to fight each other, Captain Wenger really had no confidence that he could defeat the other side. The Qi people's sail warships not only have high speed and strong maneuverability, but they also have a cannonball that will explode accurately on the deck and can easily tear the wooden hull apart, just like the devil.

"Boom!" Another 75mm shell struck, this time only more than a hundred meters away from the "St. George"! The huge splash of water after the shell hit the water was so dazzling that Captain Wenger suddenly came to his senses and saw him rushing down the bridge quickly, roaring like a mad tiger: "Get ready to fight!... All personnel ,Ready to fight!"

"Major, what do you think that is?" The first mate next to him suddenly pointed at several approaching Qi warships, with an expression of disbelief on his face.

"Huh?" Captain Winger looked at the position pointed by the first mate.

I saw a slender, blue-grey warship like a dragon on the water, approaching from the port side at a very high speed. Like most Qi State's sail warships, there were three huge chimneys standing on the ship, constantly spitting out Smoke. But the obvious difference is that there is no mast on the ship, and it is a purely steam-powered warship!

What's even more surprising, oh, no, what should be scary is that just by looking at it with the naked eye, you can tell that this battleship is made of iron.

That's right, both the sides of the ship and the turrets on the deck are all made of steel, and the entire battleship is full of metallic texture.

This is not the kind of steel armor installed on an ordinary wooden hull ship, it is indeed a steel battleship!
(End of this chapter)