Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 184 Unexpected Encounter ([-])

Off the coast west of Cape Town, early September 1637.

The weather was clear, the violent sea wind bulged the sails of the ship to the full, and the green waves stretched as far as the eye could see. It seemed like another boring afternoon.

However, all these illusions were broken by the continuous sound of rumbling guns on the sea. The two fast cruisers "Yangwu" and "Yangwei" relied on their impressive high speed and firepower, which can be called the upper class in the same tonnage, and beat an armed merchant ship flying the British flag completely without temper .

But half an hour later, the British ship that refused to surrender was sent to the bottom of the sea by the artillery of the task force.The "Abbot" transport ship (a Dutch merchant ship seized in the Gambia River) that had been watching the battle sent many small boats. The sailors rowed to the area where the British shipwrecked and began to rescue some British sailors who fell into the water.

"Is this the third British merchant ship that has been intercepted in a month?" On the battleship "August [-]th" in the rear, fleet commander Lu Ming put down the binoculars he had been holding up and said to himself.

"Yes, the third ship!" His adjutant, Second Lieutenant Sankai said excitedly, "And they are all merchant ships of the East India Company. The first two ships carried spices, and this one carried tea and silk. It's a pity. , did not have time to capture. The shareholders of the East India Company who were looking forward to it in London may be disappointed. The ships full of their hopes of making a fortune will never return to the mainland. Haha, maybe they thought it was a storm, after all, this is normal Well, no ship on this route in the Far East can go back and forth safely forever. I don’t know what the captains of the East India Company think, is this route so peaceful, and they don’t even implement the escort fleet system.”

"That's because there is no need for that." Lu Ming said, "The ocean is so vast, the chances of small fleets meeting on the sea are not high. You see, it took us so long to intercept three ships, maybe in places we couldn't see , Thirty or fifty ships have passed by safely. The British don’t even know whether their missing ships were hit by pirates or storms. It is also abnormally high, they have long been prepared to suffer a certain loss. Hey, what is that?!"

As Lu Ming picked up the binoculars to watch carefully, Sang Kai also hurriedly looked over, good guy, that's the big fleet!

"The entire fleet is in a single column formation, and quickly seize the upper hand!" Lu Ming ordered decisively. Although it is not clear which country's fleet is on the opposite side, it is always right to be careful.

Since the two transport ships "Penglai" and "Yingzhou" of the South China Sea Transportation Company are still moored in the Hezhongbao Wharf for rest, there are only seven ships of the task force left on the sea.Two of the battleships took the lead, followed by two frigates, while the transport ship "Abbot" hid inside the main battleship. Her weak firepower could not participate in a naval battle of this level.As for the two "Yangwu" class fast cruisers, they cruised outside the other warships as usual, preparing to use their high speed to harass and attack the weak links of the enemy fleet.

The fleet on the opposite side finally showed the true face of Mount Lushan, this is a large fleet from the United Kingdom!Just based on the enemy ships observed so far, there are already more than six ships, two of which are warships, and the remaining four are armed merchant ships; The towering mast clearly told the people on the east coast of the sea that there were still an unknown number of ships following them.

Fight or go? The officers on the battleship "August [-]th" all turned their attention to the master of the entire fleet - Lieutenant Commander Lu Ming.

"Hit it!" Lu Ming gritted his teeth and gave an order.There is a slow-moving supply ship "Abbot" in his fleet, and if he escapes, he will definitely be left behind. This is something Lu Ming cannot tolerate.That being the case, then simply fight the British guys!Of the seven ships on my side, six of them are professional naval warships, and there are two super battleships with powerful firepower in the lineup, so they may not lose to the British.

Now that the commander gave the order, the officers immediately dispersed to the deck and began to direct.The entire fleet quickly gained the upper hand, and then pressed past the British fleet ahead; while the two "Yangwu" class fast cruisers landed on the other side tacitly, at a speed of more than 9 knots and close to 10 knots. Outflanking the British at high speed, its pointed bow beautifully splits the waves, like a flying fish swimming in the waves.

The loose formation of the British fleet began to adjust at the first moment of the attack, but it was extremely difficult for them to adjust their formation in the downwind direction.Seeing that the people on the east coast had rushed to within 1000 meters, the English gave up their unnecessary efforts, began to adjust their course, and rushed towards the people on the east coast head-on, preparing for the chaotic battle they were good at.As long as they successfully hold the enemy for a short while, the ten ships following behind will quickly surge up, and then defeat the enemy fleet by virtue of their numerical superiority.

"Boom! Boom!" After entering a distance of 800 meters, the bow guns of the battleship "August [-]" took the lead in firing. Into the sea.

After the "August 500th" fired the first shot of the day, the twelve starboard guns of the fast cruiser "Yangwu" fired the first salvo of the day.Taking advantage of the opportunity when the British warship was attracted to the right, she used its high speed to gallop all the way, quickly approaching an outer British armed merchant ship, and fired a round of salvo at a distance of more than [-] meters.

Han Dezhi, the captain of the "Yangwu", was extremely lucky today. Half of the shells hit the target in the first salvo.Six rusty solid iron balls hit the midship and stern of the enemy ship, with unknown effects.The "Yangwu" that got the hit didn't like to fight. After taking the time to fire a few rounds of volleys again, it quickly broke away from contact with the enemy ship and rushed towards the next target.

And obliquely behind her, the fast cruiser "Yangwei" also performed the same trick, severely ravaged the British armed merchant ship that was slow and cumbersome because it was full of cargo at a distance of 650 meters, and then walked away.

The distance of 650 meters is within the optimal range of the artillery on the "Yangwei" battleship, and this distance is a bit embarrassing for the British who are used to firing within 300 meters.They also tried to fire more than a dozen shells at the "Yangwei" to fight back, but most of them missed. Only one lucky shell hit the target, but it did not cause any obvious damage.

At this time, the main battleships also began to engage with the British warships.The two British warships seem to be in the 750-800-ton class, and are equipped with nearly forty artillery pieces. It can be seen from the telescope that most of them are small-caliber artillery pieces.The largest caliber of artillery is nothing more than 18-pound cast iron cannons, and there are only four of them, and the main force is 12-pound and 8-pound cannons.

Sure enough, it was worthy of being a warship on an ocean-going route, both in terms of tonnage and firepower, which were much stronger than the British ships that the dispatched fleet had encountered before.

However, this kind of firepower configuration is not enough for the "August 18th" class battleships with a displacement of nearly [-] tons, thickened ship plates in important parts, and large-caliber heavy guns above [-] pounds. They may only bully It's just bullying the frigates on the east coast behind the two battleships.

The fight was one-sided from the start.

英国人的战舰在数量庞大的32磅、24磅和18磅长管加农重炮的猛烈轰击下被打得船板飞溅、死伤枕籍。从800米的距离一直轰击到400米，挨了无数发炮弹的两艘英国战舰终于得到了还击的机会。

The solid iron ball shells they fired destroyed a battery on the "August [-]" and injured two gunners of the adjacent battery.At the same time, the bowsprit of the "Common Market" was interrupted by a shell, a gun on the gun deck of the forecastle was destroyed, and several shells were also baptized in the forecastle kitchen, causing several casualties .

However, such damage was no different from scratching an itch for the two battleships, and they quickly destroyed the enemy's resistance one by one with more fierce artillery fire. The grape shells and explosive bombs fired by the 18-pound and 12-pound short-barreled guns continued to achieve results on the enemy's deck. The British sailors and gunners suffered a large number of casualties in the fierce artillery fire, and the enemy's counterattack became weaker and weaker.

"Commander, there are a large number of British ships ahead, there are eight or nine... no, there are ten ships! Sir, please pay attention, there are ten British ships ahead!" The watchman shouted heartbreakingly.

Lu Ming, who was distracted and focused on the situation ahead even during the most intense moment of the battle, felt relieved after hearing this.Taking advantage of a gust of sea breeze and the moment when the smoke dissipated, he raised his binoculars and looked ahead carefully: Sure enough, several British ships appeared in his field of vision, which seemed to be armed merchant ships.And behind these armed merchant ships, there are two warships that are rushing over quickly.

There are a total of sixteen ships, four of which are warships.Lu Ming quickly estimated the strength comparison between the two sides, and found that it was really hard to say.On the one hand, our side has only six ships capable of fighting, but all of them are professional warships with many artillery pieces, with a total of 246 large and small artillery pieces (the "Abbot" is equipped with 8 small-caliber copper cannons); There are almost 260 cannons down, and the number of cannons on both sides is about the same, but the cannons of the East Coasters have some advantages in caliber, and the British have a large number of ships, so the number of cannons that can be used at the same time is more than that of the East Coasters. There are more people on the shore.

Thinking of this, Lu Ming suddenly became a little confused.This is obviously a large-scale fleet organized by the East India Company, and I unexpectedly met him. How should this situation continue now?

(End of this chapter)