Wanli 1592

Chapter 457 Philippine Naval Battle ([-])
The flagship did not convey the order of the command, and the ships did not know how to fight at all. Whether to deploy a battle formation according to the previous reservation or fight guerrillas on their own, first kill the small gunboats of the Ming army, and the captain did not know what to do at all. manage.

Speaking of it, this is also the fault of a few people from the main combat faction.

This Spanish joint fleet was formed by warships brought back from various parts of the Southeast Asia. Most of them were of other formations, cooperated with other warships, and did not fight in the offshore waters of the Philippines. They were not very familiar with each other.

This time the battle was quite urgent, except for the commander-in-chief and the designation of the flagship, the second and third command were not confirmed.

Except for a commander-in-chief, there is no other commander appointed. What if the commander-in-chief dies and the deputy commander-in-chief also dies?
They were so anxious that they didn't have time to make an appointment, so they set sail. They thought that the Ming army's navy would not be so strong, and they could handle it, so they didn't care too much. In the end, no one expected how many Ming army gunboats They rushed into their inner circle and attacked the flagship, which was riddled with holes.

The warships that are far away from the flagship don't know what happened to the flagship at all, because they don't have binoculars, so they can only rely on the crew with good eyes to stand on the top mast.

But no matter how good a person's eyes are, there is a bottom line. It is impossible to see everything that should be seen, so except for a few warships around, the rest of the warships do not know that the flagship has been attacked.

Besides, they themselves can't protect themselves. The Ming army gunboat rushed into their formation and fired everywhere. It is not easy for them to deal with the Ming army gunboat. Once they are bombarded at close quarters, they will become dizzy and difficult to maneuver, so it is really very difficult to fight. difficulty.

And just in front of them, the main fleet of the Ming army has sunk four Spanish warships, and the obstacles in the way have been resolved. The main fleet began to rush over and attack the Spanish fleet, but the Spanish fleet was not ready yet. , or in other words, there is no way to prepare, and there is still no news about the flagship.

"Captain? What to do? The flagship has no instructions! The firepower of the Chinese is too fierce, we can't go on like this!"

Many captains have encountered their subordinates persuading themselves in this way. While there is no order, they have the order to start the battle formation before. Time has passed and the battlefield is changing rapidly. If you continue to implement the order to start the battle formation, it is estimated that many warships will not arrive at the predetermined position. It is about to be sunk by the Ming army!

The captains of many warships were very contradictory, but the firepower of the Ming army did not weaken at all, and the sound of the guns stimulated their nerves. Under such circumstances, the captains of several warships were cruel and gave up listening to orders. Prepare your own plans, prepare to fight on your own, leave the formation and look for opportunities.

It's okay for one or two ships to do this, but after one or two ships did this, the rest of the warships didn't know the situation, and thought it was the flagship that gave the order to fight freely, so all the warships did this, and the battlefield was in chaos. Spain The warships began to fight on their own, no longer sticking to the battle formation.

Wang Wei noticed the strange movements of the Spanish fleet with keen eyes. After thinking about it for a while, he knew that they seemed to be planning to start a counterattack, but the counterattack was not on a large scale, and there seemed to be no coordination between them.

He didn't know that the opponent's flagship was attacked. He thought it was a tactic to deal with the Ming army's gunboat, so he felt bad. The gunboat's vitality and tonnage were smaller than the opponent's big ship. Now it has an advantage in speed. Once it is attacked by them If you fight alone, the gunboats will suffer, so you must catch up with them as soon as possible to support those gunboats.

Of course, small ships have disadvantages against large ships.

They have more guns, and their hulls are stronger. The gunboats of the Ming army are not as big as their big ships, and their endurance is not so strong, because they are remodeled ships, not as good as the big ships produced by Xiao Ruxun himself in the Myanmar Navy Shipyard. It's so strong, so it's a bit difficult to get a few shots.

After the Spanish navy began to fight on their own, their firepower also began to increase. They began to look for their own targets and gave up fighting in formation. The sudden increase in the vitality of the Ming army caught the Ming army's gunboat by surprise.

After several rounds of shooting, several gunboats were shot one after another. One gunboat was hit by two solid bullets. The stern was smashed and a hole was punched in the hull. This avoids the shooting of the Spaniards.

At this time, speed is indeed the savior. Once the speed of the Ming army's gunboats increases, the disadvantages of the Spanish large and clumsy warships will be revealed.

Their artillery can't accurately aim at the Ming army gunboat. The Ming army gunboat is too fast. There is still a little time before shooting after aiming and firing. If you move faster during this period, you can still avoid the ammunition, and whether you can hit it is also a question. question.

Even so, the more guns and firepower on the Spanish warships still put a lot of pressure on the Ming army gunships, so when the Ming army gunboats discovered that the Spanish warships started a sharp counterattack, they also tried their best to avoid it, instead of directly fighting the Spanish warships. The ships collided face to face.

After confronting the pirates, the navy of the Ming army also learned a lot of pirate-style tactics. Although it looks a bit wretched, it is still quite useful to use.

Pirates cherish their lives very much. Generally, they will not rush forward without absolute certainty, but as an army, they must have this spirit. Combining the two into one is mobile warfare.

Shoot while moving without stopping.

Moreover, they also found that the big Spanish ships would chase them, so they broke away from their original formation, and instead of continuing to nest together, they separated.

This made the gunboats of the Ming army shine. At almost the same time, even if there was no unified command, the gunboats of the Ming army began to try to leave the battlefield, and at least one large Spanish ship followed.

This tactic was very successful. The Spanish fleet, which had been nestled together and had an absolute advantage in numbers, was scattered, making the main fleet of the Ming army not know what to do!

Wang Wei was overjoyed, and when he was about to order the whole army to attack, the signal of the main attack was sent from the Zhennan Ship not far away, and three more large ships joined the attack sequence.

Wang Wei knew that he had gained the superiority in numbers and firepower on the local battlefield. Taking advantage of the gunboats attracting part of the main force of the Spanish warships, he led the main force to pounce on the remaining Spanish warships, and the two sides immediately fought fiercely.

(End of this chapter)