1825 My New Daming

Chapter 297 Hood vs. Guan Tianpeizhong (Indian shipbuilding, trustworthy!)
"Damn the Indians, they didn't fix it at all, otherwise the No. 3 and No. 4 steam engines would not be completely broken so soon!"

"Major General, they actually repaired the No. 1 steam engine that was damaged on the Blenheim last time, and now the No. 1 steam engine is still running."

"But why are the No. 3 and No. 4 steam engines not moving? What's going on? They must not have been overhauled. I said a long time ago that the repair and maintenance of the battleship should not be handed over to Hindustan. The workers there Clumsy Indians!"

"This... Major General, they have indeed overhauled the No. 3 and No. 4 steam engines, only the No. 2 steam engine has not had time to overhaul."

"It has been overhauled? Then why is it broken? How long has it been used?"

On the bridge of the armored cruiser HMS Blenheim, Rear Admiral Thomas Cochrane, commander of the battlecruiser detachment of the Second Indian Fleet, was furious at his chief of staff and captain of HMS Blenheim, Colonel Jervis.

It caused this man to participate in the Napoleonic Wars, and later went to South America to help Peru and Chile fight for independence. He also served as the commander-in-chief of the Brazilian Navy in Brazil and won the title of Marquis from the Emperor of Brazil. The legendary rear admiral who supported the Greek War of Independence and didn't return to the British Navy until 1828 was angry because of two malfunctioning steam engines
What needs to be mentioned is that his flagship Blenheim is a Blake-class with a standard displacement of 8500 tons, which is one of the three Blake-class ships that participated in the Battle of Goa Off the Sea.The ship was damaged in the battle that "forced the Ming Navy to seize the Persian Gulf", and several holes were opened. A 210mm armor-piercing projectile also penetrated into the No. 1 engine room and damaged a steam engine.

After the battle off the coast of Goa, this heroic armored cruiser was sent to the Hindustan Shipyard in Mumbai for meticulous repairs. It was dragged out of the dry dock not long ago with a new look. Corcoran, who had just arrived in India at this time The major general fell in love with this beautiful large warship at a glance, so he made it his flagship.

And this brand-new armored cruiser soon brought good luck to Major General Cochrane-he was appointed as the commander of the patrol detachment of the Second Indian Fleet, and was ordered to command 12 armored cruisers!

However, Rear Admiral Cochrane never expected that this large warship, which looked as beautiful as a new ship just commissioned, broke down in a short time. The No. 3 steam engine broke down at the beginning. The detachment broke down on the way to Ten Degrees Strait following the main force of the Second Indian Fleet.And the No. 4 steam engine didn't last too long, it broke down early this morning!
The Blenheim lost half of its power after two steam engines were broken in a row. Even if the remaining two steam engines were not broken, they could maintain a speed of twelve or thirteen knots at most. They couldn't keep up with the patrol team at all!

"Major Admiral, the Strait Fleet has sent an urgent message. They have successfully lured the Deming Fleet's patrol unit. Now there are 12 hero-class armored cruisers chasing the Strait Fleet! Lieutenant General Hood ordered us to go to the rescue immediately and flank the enemy formation with the Strait Fleet!"

Rear Admiral Cochrane and Colonel Jervis had just entered the bridge when the communications staff handed over the telegram they had just received.

Major General Corcoran jumped up like a rabbit, snatched the copy of the telegram from the communication officer with red eyes, and said with gritted teeth, "Damn it. I'm about to attack, why did you break down two steam engines?"

"Major General," Colonel Jervis said with a sad face, "Why don't you call Blake over here, and you can take it to Malacca to join the battle."

"No!" Rear Admiral Cochrane shook his head and roared, "The Blake was also repaired by the Hindustan Shipyard. I can't trust these Indians anymore!"

Nothing has happened to the Blake so far, but what if it breaks down on the battlefield?
"Call the Edgar!" Rear Admiral Cochrane said, "I will take this armored cruiser to join the battle Colonel Jervis, you continue to command the Blenheim, organize repairs, and fix it as soon as possible!"

"Yes, Rear Admiral!" Jervis didn't want to stay on the Blenheim, but he was the captain, so it was his duty!

So he had no choice but to ask someone to flag the Edgar, and at the same time let someone lower the motorboat, and then watched Major General Cochrane leave.

But at this time, he didn't know that the Blenheim armored cruiser he was riding on was a truly good and trustworthy ship.
"Report, Guan Junmen asked how long it will take us to catch up?"

On the bridge of the Haohan-class armored cruiser Zhao Zilong, Chen Huacheng, a 50-year-old veteran, tore off his hat and shouted: "Tell Guan Junmen that our team is catching up at full speed, and it is expected to catch up in six hours! "

Chen Huacheng is as anxious as Corcoran now. He is now leading a large formation composed of 12 hero-class armored cruisers, 12 second- and third-class cruisers, 12 destroyers, and 24 torpedo boats in the Strait of Malacca at a speed of 16 knots. Hurricane and Forward”——Although the hero class has a maximum speed of 23 knots, it is the third fastest among the large ships currently owned by the Ming Navy (the first is the Shu Zhongwang class, and the second is the Zhongwang class), but it is assigned to His second-class and third-class cruisers are all "old ships", and it is not easy to maintain a speed of 16 knots.

And the enemy they were chasing now ran out of 10 knots with all their might—quite fast for a shallow-water heavy gunship.Even if the "Island" class of Ming Dynasty has a top speed of 12 knots, its economic speed is only 8 knots, and it is not bad to maintain 10 knots for long-distance running.

In other words, Chen Huacheng's fleet can only get closer to the opponent by 6 knots per hour, that is, 6 nautical miles. There is still a gap of 6 to [-] nautical miles between the two sides. It would be good to catch up in [-] hours.

Because it had been chasing for 4 hours before, after 6 hours, Chen Huacheng's team had chased 160 nautical miles northwest, far away from the main fleet at the entrance of the Strait of Malacca.

Thinking of this, Chen Huacheng became a little worried, although the main force of the Indian fleet is far away in the Gulf of Oman.But. Now the Minister of War of the Indian Empire is Marquis Nelson!

"Pass my order," Chen Huacheng said, "Prepare for night battle!"

"General Town, you mean to fight night battles?" The chief of staff of the team on the side was taken aback, "Information shows that the enemy's shallow-water heavy artillery ships now have radio stations. If we look at the target uniformly and shoot within 15 meters, we are not opponents."

The heavy firepower of the hero class is not strong. The foreign trade version only has two 2mm main guns. Chen Huacheng has the "firepower enhanced version", which uses a double 240mm gun on the bow and a single 240mm gun on the stern. Configuration, the 240 heroes have a total of 12 36mm guns, which is indeed not the opponent of 240 heavy guns with a caliber of 30mm or more.

"Don't be afraid." Chen Huacheng gritted his teeth, "We still have 24 torpedo boats, and each torpedo boat has 2 steam gas torpedoes. As long as we can take a risk, we will approach the enemy formation with a certain loss and cover the torpedo boats to launch an attack. It must be able to severely damage the British fleet! As long as these 15 shallow-water heavy artillery ships are destroyed, the Strait of Malacca, which has been stuck for more than 100 years, can be taken!"

(End of this chapter)