Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 185 Unexpected Encounter (Part [-])

But it's useless to think about it when the battle has reached this point, so we can only fight on first!

The two battleships gave full play to their superiority in firepower. After staggering past the two British warships, they aimed at the armed merchant ships rushing up, and began an intensive firepower baptism.

Under the command of the officer, the gunners took out the red-hot lead bullets from the fire pit built with bricks on the deck, then wrapped the lead bullets with lead skins, and quickly stuffed them into the barrel.With an order, dozens of hot lead bullets were fired at the sails of the British ships.The hit sail burst into flames, and the flames spread at a frightening speed with the help of the fierce sea wind.The officers and sailors on the British armed merchant ship who were eager to try suddenly panicked. They immediately extinguished any thoughts of fighting and began to rush to save the canvas.

"British guys still don't have a long memory." San Kai said with a smile after reading it, "I remember we taught them a lesson half a year ago off the coast of Portugal. I didn't expect them to be so stupid that they didn't make any progress."

"No, this returning fleet is obviously the East India Company fleet going to the Far East for trade." Lu Ming shook his head and said, "Maybe they went to India more than a year ago, and now they have just returned. The enemy is not Not stupid, some tricks can only be used once. Now, cheer me up and fight the British hard!"

The gunners fired more than 100 hot rounds in a row, consuming all the heated shells in the fire pit.These red-hot shells created countless small fires on the two oncoming British armed merchant ships, and one lucky shell broke a powder charge on the deck.The gunpowder barrel that was instantly ignited exploded horribly, and the huge air wave directly shook many large and small shells, tools, and even human bodies placed next to the powder barrel, and even the gun carts were directly thrown into the sea.

Witnessing this tragic scene, the naval officers and soldiers on the east coast whistled happily. They rolled up their sleeves and stuffed explosive bombs with their fuses cut off one after another into the barrel, creating a large number of death gifts for the British again.The navy’s explosive bombs seem to be much better than those fired by the army. Almost half of the shells exploded in the air above the deck of the enemy ship, and the scattered iron nails and pieces of iron hit the bodies of the British sailors who were busy fighting the fire on the deck. It drilled inside, then rolled, and stopped after exhausting its kinetic energy.These terrifying shell fragments caused serious damage to the British. The sailors involved in fighting the fire and many gunners standing on the deck were knocked down in large areas.

Hot bombs plus explosive bombs, this is an effective "malicious" tactic explored by the East Coast Navy. It is especially effective against Spanish and British merchant ships and warships with a large number of personnel.

The explosive bombs were followed by intensive attacks of grape bombs and solid iron balls. In short, the strike fleet led by two battleships successfully paralyzed the two British armed merchant ships in front of them in just 10 minutes.According to the estimation of Lieutenant Sankai of the Navy, the combined casualties of the British sailors on the two ships exceeded 100, and the casualty rate reached 60%, and they had basically lost their combat effectiveness.

And the two British warships that entered the battle at the beginning were also severely damaged. Although they still maintained considerable combat effectiveness, it is undeniable that the loss of personnel and artillery was not small.

This is the power of battleships!Thick ship boards, a large number of artillery, and high ship sides made the shelling results of these small-tonnage British warships very unsatisfactory.Especially at close range, due to the insufficient elevation angle of the artillery, most of the time it can only be bombarded on the side decks of the two battleships.However, the 8-pound and 12-pound guns they are generally equipped with cannot blast the waterline deck of the "August 40th" class battleship that is more than 50 cm thick and close to [-] cm in a short period of time. The reason is that it is impossible to repeatedly use strong charges to fire like the people on the east coast, which further reduces the power of the artillery.

All in all, even in close combat, the two "August [-]th" class battleships were completely unafraid of the siege of a few British warships, it was nothing more than the price paid.

The five warships lined up in a tight formation, with two battleships in front, and frigates and transport ships at the back. They walked on the sea like a fire-breathing dragon, fighting all enemies in front of them.

But they are not destined to be the most outstanding ones today. The two "Yangwu" class fast cruisers used their high speed to the extreme in the vast South Atlantic Ocean.They wandered on the left side of the British Grand Fleet, using the advantage of artillery to pick out those armed merchant ships that are full of cargo and slow, and continuously fired hot bombs, explosive bombs, grape bombs, chain bombs and solid iron bullets at these merchant ships On them, destroying their hulls and sails, killing their personnel.

These two battleships are like the most cunning gray wolves on the prairie, following the migrating bison herd, picking out the weakest looking calf from time to time, jumping up to bite it, and before the leading bull can react Flee quietly.

The sailors on the "Yangwu" and "Yangwei" are all carefully selected old sailors, and even the navigator is an experienced senior. The white stripes generally wandered around the British fleet, which made the British extremely distressed.

You say go after it, it won't work if there are fewer boats.Going up with two ships is just to deliver food. Five or six ships including two warships must be dispatched to board them together. This is the only way to use the advantage of numbers to block them, and then calmly compress their movement space. Use the advantage of numbers to win the battle.But the problem is that the six ships in front of you seem to be being abused by the people on the east coast, and they need your help urgently. If you leave them alone to attack these two "fast ships", it is tantamount to condemning the previous ships. Death penalty; but if you don't care about these two ships, and she keeps harassing you, something will happen after a long time.

This is a dilemma.However, the British commander did seem to be more decisive. He didn't dwell on this issue too much, perhaps because he didn't have much time to think about it.In short, all the British ships rushed forward in a shrinking formation, intending to join the six ships in front, and then find a way to gain the upper hand, and then continue to fight, or disengage and reorganize, it can be done relatively easily. arrive.

Since the British ignored the existence of the "Yangwu" and "Yangwei", these two fast warships would naturally be less polite. They picked a British merchant ship that had been ravaged just now, approached Then bombard it violently with broadside artillery.The British merchant ship also saw that something was wrong, but the hull full of porcelain, tea and silk was too clumsy.Soon, its foremast was torn apart by a chain bullet fired by "Yangwei", and the four sails of the topmast were also damaged to varying degrees. Sailing provides power.

With her speed dropping to more than two knots, she soon fell behind and became the prey of the fast cruisers "Yangwei" and "Yangwu".The desperate British captain ordered his crew to throw crates of valuable oriental cargo overboard in order to lighten the ship as much as possible for escape.But his actions were in vain, the speed of more than two knots was vulnerable to the speed of ten knots, and she was quickly submerged in the bullets fired by the two fast cruisers.

Lu Ming watched warily the main British fleet gradually approaching, and began to order the five warships to turn.He was not prepared to lead the fleet to stand in the way of the British, which would cause his fleet to fall into a large number of British ships, allowing the British to take full advantage of their large number of ships to start a chaotic war.In that case, one's losses will be infinitely magnified. If one is unlucky, the desperate British will even be able to jump on board their warships, which is not good.

Moreover, he faintly felt that the British's fighting spirit was not very strong. They seemed to be more eager to get rid of the harassment of their own fleet, and then left first.Is it because you feel that you have no certainty of victory, or is it because the cargo on the ship is too valuable, and the loss of a ship is extremely shocking?

That's fine, Lu Ming secretly breathed a sigh of relief, he didn't want to fight head-on with them, following behind and killing those merchant ships was his favorite thing to do.If you fight recklessly with the British today, then maybe you can win, but you will inevitably have to pay the price of sinking one or two warships.The capital of the East Coast Navy is too small to withstand too many losses, and usually it is a last resort, and Lu Ming is reluctant to fight head-on with the enemy.

After the two fleets of the British converged, they adjusted their formation slightly.During this process, the artillery battles on the periphery of the two sides have also been going on. The two "August [-]" gunboats and the four British warships launched a fierce confrontation.In just over ten minutes when the two sides crossed each other, hundreds of shells were poured on each other's warships.The superstructure of four British warships and an approaching armed merchant ship was completely swept aside, and the sailors suffered heavy casualties.

The people on the east coast are not without losses. Among them, the frigate "Beagle" with the worst luck is the last one.Unfortunately, she was interrupted by an 18-pound gun on a British battleship, and a mast was severely damaged, and the rudder control bar was also severely damaged. The pirate ship converted battleship suddenly lost control and floated on the sea.

Maybe the British warships wanted to buy more time for the evacuation of the merchant ships, or maybe they really didn't want to let go of the opportunity to beat the dogs in the water.Four warships and an armed merchant ship braved the gunfire of the "August 300th" and other warships to get close to the "Beagle" to a range of more than [-] meters, and then concentrated their firepower to bombard it.

After all, the "Beagle" was refitted from a pirate ship. Its maneuverability and speed were prominent, and its protection ability was even below the average level.Therefore, when faced with the siege of the British, it seemed a little powerless. The deck at the waterline was continuously pierced with several holes, and the sailors frantically blocked those holes with canvas.At the same time, several manual water pumps on the ship also started to operate, and streams of water were pumped up from the bilge and discharged into the sea through the drain holes.However, this is far from enough compared to the seawater pouring into the bilge frantically, and the seawater in the bilge of the "Beagle" is increasing a little bit.

The warships such as the "August [-]" and other warships that had completed their steering approached again, and frantically shelled the British to reduce the pressure on the "Beagle".After the British succeeded, they quickly turned and began to evacuate. Their merchant ships had already traveled a long distance. They had fulfilled their responsibilities, and now it was time to think about themselves.

At this time, the two "Yangwu" class fast cruisers had already sunk the British merchant ship and began to drive towards this side.So the five British ships and the five East Coast warships, who had begun to sprint, pursued at sea (the transport ship "Abbot" stayed behind to help "Beagle").Four British warships and an armed merchant ship fled separately, and the East Coast Navy remained unmoved. After selecting the target, two fast cruisers first used high speed to catch up with the enemy ship. Turn or slow down because the sails and masts are damaged. After the enemy ship slows down, the main fleet will swarm up and besiege it.

The chase lasted until nightfall, and two of the five fleeing British ships were sunk.The remaining ships took advantage of the cover of darkness and disappeared into the vast sea.When the main fleet gave up the pursuit and returned, the captain of the "Beagle" Chen Tumu and his crew were already standing helplessly on the deck of the "Abbot" transport ship.As for the sad "Beagle", it has become a new paradise for the fish at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.

3:1 battle loss ratio!Lu Ming suddenly felt a bit of a toothache, and his boat was missing another boat...

(End of this chapter)