Wild North America 1846

Chapter 338 The Expeditionary Fleet Shines on the Stage
After Admiral Dai Changfu left, Li Cha calmly picked up a report on the imperial case and read it carefully.

This is the military intelligence report sent back from New Orleans by the Royal Navy Expeditionary Fleet. After four months of long journey, the fleet bypassed the whole of South America and arrived in Kohler, Panama Province, which is on the Gulf of Mexico in early July. Personnel replenishment and warship maintenance, 4 patients in the fleet went ashore for treatment.

more than 20 days later

Due to the anxious urging of the Confederate States, the expeditionary strike fleet had to end its rest early, and took two large cruise ships, two coal carriers and five 5000-ton freighters stranded in the port to form a mighty force. The mixed formation sailed north.

The mixed formation arrived in the outer waters of New Orleans on August 8, and the first Atlantic naval battle broke out with the US Federal Navy (Northern) here.

In this short one-and-a-half-hour naval battle, the advanced iron-clad destroyers "Qiuyue", "Spring Moon" and "Hanyue" of the Datang Kingdom showed hideous appearances, relying on the advanced Colt 30-pound breech main Naval guns and dexterous positioning sank the 752-ton coastal armored patrol ship "Minuteman Spirit" and the 630-ton "St. George" of the U.S. Northern Navy, and wounded and captured the 2550-ton steam merchant ship "Lawrence". , and captured two colliers, and achieved a complete victory.

The victory in this naval battle greatly deterred the arrogance of the Northern Navy, reversed the passive situation after New Orleans was occupied by the Northern Army, and blocked the fleet led by General David Farrager of the Northern Navy in the port of the Mississippi River. , became the turtle in the urn.

How could this be so?

General David Farage, the general of the Northern Navy, was ordered to carry out the blockade mission, and it was still very difficult to carry out.

The northern navy with limited strength wants to blockade the coastline of more than 5630 kilometers in the south, and also conduct patrols in nearly 200 ports and navigable rivers.

Even more sinister, if the Confederacy were to be completely cut off from Europe, it would also risk triggering disputes with European countries.

However, the entry of the Tang Kingdom into the war quickly collapsed the entire Western Front. The US Federal Government (North) urgently needed to exert greater war pressure on the South, and the blockade of the southern coastal ports became a necessary choice.

When General David Farrager arrived at the port of New Orleans, in order to capture two forts on the mouth of the river, one east and one west, he bombarded them for seven consecutive days, but the forts stood still.

In desperation, General Farrager chose a dark night and led seventeen warships to line up, ready to venture through the barrier.

The defense forces of the Southern Fortress heard the movement and fired heavily at them, sinking one warship, and the other three were also severely damaged and could not move forward, but the remaining thirteen ships broke through the blockade safely.

When he arrived in New Orleans, General Farrag discovered that New Orleans was defenseless. The thousands of Confederate soldiers stationed there had already fled, and the rest were ordinary people.

So General Farrager took a big advantage and occupied New Orleans without firing a single shot. The flag of the Confederate Army was also replaced with the flag of the Confederate Army.

More than two months later, General David Farrager was still unable to persuade the southern defenders of the two forts at the mouth of the Mississippi River to surrender, and the two sides remained in a stalemate.

The Union fleet occupied New Orleans, but the navigation of the Mississippi River was still in the hands of the Southern Army fortresses. Without their permission, all passing ships were sunk.

The entire port of New Orleans was completely abolished. The Northern Army could not obtain supplies through the port, and the Confederate States could not use the port. The mountains of cotton could not be exported to Europe, so the stalemate persisted.

Until the arrival of the expeditionary fleet of the Kingdom of Tang, while annihilating the armored patrol fleet in the estuary, it broke the deadlock and blocked 13 warships led by General David Farragh in the Mississippi River.

The advanced artillery shells equipped on the ironclad warships of the Tang Dynasty all use proximity fuzes. The shells fired by the 30-pound main gun are sharp and powerful, which is a layer higher in damage than the 60-pound solid shells, and can easily break through General Farage. The shell of the ironclad ship to which it belonged was dealt a fatal blow.

On the other hand, the 13 warships led by General David Farage all used solid shells, which at most left a conspicuous dent on the surface of the opponent's warship.

With such a disparity in the strength of the ships of the two sides, how could General David Farage dare to risk the lives of his sailors?
The Royal Expeditionary Fleet of the Tang Dynasty was personally led by Lieutenant General Pan Hengchen, chief of staff of the Navy, with the flagship "Qiuyue" and Brigadier General Zheng Shuyu, deputy chief of staff of the Navy, also in the expedition fleet. Do your best.

In addition to the three 3550-ton iron-clad destroyers "Qiuyue", "Spring Moon" and "Cold Moon", the expeditionary strike fleet also has five 5-ton "Cold Wind"-class iron-clad frigates accompanying them, which are 1500 improved "Cold Tide", The 7th ship "Bitter Winter", the 8th "Ice", the 9th "Cold Dew" and the 10th "Frost", almost took out 12% of the entire navy's family property, and this was formed. An expeditionary fleet with 7 ironclad ships as the core.

Now the No. 4 and No. 5 ships of the "Akizuki" class armored destroyer have been launched successively and are undergoing trial voyages. They are expected to be delivered to the Navy before the end of the year.

Line 6, Line 7 and Ship No. 8 are rushing to work at the shipyard day and night. The construction progress varies. They will be launched for sea trials at the end of next year and the first half of next year. It is estimated that they will be delivered to the Navy from the end of next year to the first half of next year.

Ship No. 9 has just boarded the berth. Three warships No. 10, No. 11, and No. 12 are waiting for an empty dock. .

Therefore, the iron-clad destroyers "Qiuyue", "Chunyue" and "Hanyue" are the three leading roles in the Royal Fleet of the Tang Dynasty. Once lost, there is no place to make up for it.

Unlike the United States of America (North), which developed its navy regardless of cost, the Datang Kingdom maintained a steady and steady development strategy. Even after the outbreak of the North American War, it did not significantly increase its naval expenditure.

This made Lieutenant General Pan Hengchen, chief of the naval staff, very anxious. He knew that His Majesty still did not trust the combat power of the navy, so he personally took command of this expedition to the Atlantic Ocean and used all the naval elites to attack. He must make a good situation.

If you want to increase your military budget, you must speak for yourself with meritorious service.

The United States of America (North) suffered a big loss at the beginning of the war, and was frightened by the British, which is interesting to say.

Soon after the war broke out in October 1857, the Confederacy was eager to gain the support of European powers, so they sent politicians Mason and Slidell with diplomatic experience to break through the blockade and go to Cuba to take the British cruise ship "Trent" to serve as envoys to Britain and France respectively. .

The Northern Federation went to intercept after learning about it. The steam cruiser "San Jacinto" successfully intercepted and captured the two on November 1857, 11.

This behavior angered Britain, which declared war on the North claiming that its flag had been insulted, and sent the Royal Navy fleet and 8000 soldiers to Canada.

This time, the James Buchanan government was frightened. On the one hand, it quickly sent envoys to Britain, France and other countries to speak softly and do work. Slidell, that's slap in the face

On the other hand, by stabilizing domestic public opinion, using the advantage of unequal information to publicize the victory over Britain in 1812, and encouraging the enthusiasm of the people who are not afraid of declaring war against Britain, they have done enough double-faced work.

After a lot of difficulty, it was only then that I muddled through it.

After being intimidated by the British, the Commonwealth of the United States realized its shame and acted bravely. It specially set up the Iron Armor Construction Bureau, and tried its best to build the navy throughout the war, almost completely curbing the economic lifeline of the Confederate Army.

It was the end of September 1860, the fourth year since the war broke out. The United States (Northern) warships had grown to more than 9 ships, totaling more than 4 tons, and more than 500 artillery pieces of various calibers. The strength was quite impressive.

compared with

The expeditionary strike fleet dispatched by the Datang Kingdom consists of 8 ironclad warships with a displacement of only 1.8 tons, which is one-twentieth of the size of the Northern Fleet.

The characteristics of the Datang Kingdom fleet are advanced and unified ship types, all of which are powered by propellers, and all of them use unified Colt breech-loading naval guns, which are divided into three gun calibers of 30 pounds, 20 pounds and 12 pounds, with fast speed and fierce firepower. , representing the latest technological level of today's ironclad warships.

The "Akizuki" class ironclad destroyer is equipped with four 4-pound main naval guns, two on the bow and two on the stern, all arranged front and rear along the central axis, and the broadside fire can exert full firepower.

The ship is also equipped with six 6-pound Colt secondary guns, three on each side, which can be used as supplementary firepower. The firepower density is quite high, which can be described as a strong ship.

The deadliest thing is the trigger-fuze shell fired by the ship, which is loaded with a large amount of yellow high explosive, not the kind of solid shell that hits a hole. This is almost a dimensionality reduction blow to the US ironclad ship.

Li Cha closed the military report in a happy mood, and prepared to go to the Wanshou Mountain (Wan Beast Mountain, homophonic for auspicious) in Neiwan of the Imperial Court with his hands behind his back, to tease the ferocious beasts raised in the deep mountains.

I haven't seen these little guys for a long time, and I still miss them in a panic...

Lieutenant General Pan Hengchen's military report came from New Orleans, which means that the fleet led by the Royal Navy has defeated the US fleet, landed in New Orleans and reoccupied it.

The process of the naval battle was not complicated. It was impossible for the expeditionary strike fleet to linger in the open sea area outside the mouth of the Mississippi River for a long time. After it was determined that the David Farrager fleet of the Northern Army avoided the battle.

Vice Admiral Pan Hengchen decisively led the fleet into the Mississippi River, along the river to the wide port area of ​​New Orleans, where a fierce battle with the US Northern Fleet began.

To say it was a fierce battle would be better to say it was a unilateral bloody massacre.

The warships of the two sides began shelling at a distance of 8 chains. After 11 rounds of shelling each other, the ships of both sides approached to the close range of 4 chains. The accuracy of artillery fire further increased, and both sides received hit results.

The artillery of the Northern Army Fleet hit a dozen holes, and the Expeditionary Fleet of the Datang Kingdom hit a dozen big holes. The violent explosion of the shells lifted the forts of the Northern Army Fleet, broke the keel, and opened one after another on the side of the enemy ship. gulp...

The gap is too obvious, it is completely bullying.

After more than an hour of shelling, of the 13 warships led by General David Farage, 5 were sunk, [-] were severely damaged, and the rest obediently hung up and surrendered.

General David Farage took several officers under his command and fled to the port in a small boat, and then led thousands of US Marines to retreat in a panic, and respectfully gave up New Orleans, an important port city in the south.

The cruise ships and cargo ships of the Expeditionary Strike Fleet approached the port of New Orleans one after another, and a large number of Royal Marines dismounted from the ships, and they also occupied New Orleans without firing a single shot.

So far, the biggest headache for the Confederate States of the United States has been solved, and a steady stream of cargo ships will set sail from here in the next step, full of cotton, to Europe and France on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, reopening the trade routes that are crucial to the south.

In the next step, Lieutenant Pan Hengchen will divide the fleet into three and set up the first, second and third squadrons respectively, with an "Akizuki"-class armored destroyer and a "Kingfeng"-class iron-clad frigate as the core, plus How many ships of the Confederate States were on board, and they traveled east and then north along the port of New Orleans, looking for and annihilating the warships of the Northern Army, and lifting the blockade of the coastal ports one by one.

This phase of the campaign is expected to last 4 to 5 months.

Actual combat shows
The advanced strong ships and sharp guns of the Datang Kingdom have an overwhelming advantage over the northern US warships. Those US northern warships equipped with solid shells are not opponents at all.

Lieutenant General Pan Hengchen is well versed in the principle of "strike while the iron is hot". This is also a good opportunity to show yourself in front of His Majesty. How can you not do your best?
The better the performance of the expedition fleet, the more likely it is that the 7800-ton "Zhenwei" ironclad ship plan proposed by the Royal Navy will be approved, and that will be the dream ship of the Royal Navy to truly go to the ocean and participate in world ocean competitions.

In the plan, the "Zhenwei" ironclad ship will be equipped with four 4-pound Colt cannons. This amazingly powerful cannon can sink an enemy ship with one shot. It is exciting to think about it.

Of course, such an iron-clad giant ship that brings together the world's top shipbuilding technology is expensive, and it is also a very high challenge to the shipbuilding process of the Datang Kingdom. It can be called the treasure of the country.

In order to obtain His Majesty's Royal Assent, the Royal Expeditionary Fleet must fight extremely well in order to get a share of the army that won the brilliant victory.

There is really no way, the land and sea armies of the Tang Kingdom are too involuntary.

The Royal Army's brilliant victories one after another have almost overwhelmed the Royal Navy, and there is almost no room for a cone in the court. The performance is really outstanding.

If the Royal Navy can't come up with a strong record, it will not be convincing, let alone compete with the Royal Army for military budgets, it is better to go to bed early.

As the leader of the Royal Navy, Lieutenant General Pan Hengchen has always had a heart that refuses to admit defeat.

(End of this chapter)