Wild North America 1846

Chapter 364 "The Constitution"
"My God, it slowed down, we did it, we caught the Constitution."

Commodore Phillips was even more excited than the officers and soldiers of the 3rd Squadron. The same was true for Colonel Henry Hughes and Major Campbell standing behind him, waving their arms excitedly, losing the usual arrogance and calmness of the British.

They're like kids getting candy for Christmas, almost jumping for joy.

Rear Admiral Mo Chengcai gave the combat order in an orderly manner, while taking time out of his busy schedule to answer the British; "Don't worry guys, we will beat it hard, and then try to capture this ship as much as possible, and dedicate it as a gift to His Majesty the Emperor to ascend the throne." What do you think of a gift from me?"

"I think this idea is great. It's like the Tatars making wine cups from the heads of enemy chieftains, inlaid with exquisite gems and gold. It's really a wonderful idea." Brigadier General Phillips responded excitedly casually.

After hearing this, Major General Mo Chengcai couldn't help rolling his eyes, turned his head to focus on commanding the battle, and ignored the excited British guy.

It would be blasphemy to compare His Majesty, whom all the people admire, to a Tatar. This damn British guy can talk nonsense without restraint.

In response to the changes of the "Constitution", the 3rd Squadron also quickly changed from the high-speed pursuit state, and discharged a large amount of excess high-temperature and high-pressure steam while reducing the speed.This made the ship seem to rush out of the misty white mist, galloping with a long cloak behind it.

The advantages of the steam ironclad warship are fully reflected at this moment. Compared with the sail warship, the acceleration is faster and the steering is flexible.

Its bow points accurately and changes direction quickly. While reducing the speed of the ship, three armored warships have been arranged in a battle formation and slowly approach from the side.

While the crew of the USS "Constitution" was tying and adjusting the sails in a hurry, the officers and soldiers of the 3rd Squadron were already loading shells, adjusting the gun pointing, and making all preparations before firing.

In just over ten minutes, the distance between the two sides rapidly approached from 15 links to 12 links, 10 links, 8 links...

One chain or several chains is a commonly used unit of distance at sea. One chain is about 1/10 of a nautical mile, which is about 185 meters.

From the Age of Discovery to the present
风帆战舰的交战距离一般都在3链以内，即550米以内，在距离目标500多米时，战舰上的32磅、24磅加农炮发射的实心炮弹能够穿透敌舰5英尺厚的橡木船壳。

The range of artillery on warships in the mid-19th century was not very far. Taking 24-pound or 32-pound artillery as an example, when the firing angle was 4 degrees, the firing range could reach 1350 meters, and when the firing angle was raised to 8 degrees, the firing range could reach 2250 meters. Always fight within a distance of 500 meters, otherwise the hit rate of the cannon is not high and the lethality is not enough.

The "Constitution" added a thick iron shell in Boston, and its defense is far stronger than that of ordinary wooden sail warships. This forced the 3rd Squadron to bombard at a closer distance in order to produce ideal damage. Effect.

The "Constitution" is not a sail battleship in the true sense, but a sail frigate with two gun decks, with a displacement of 2200 tons.

The total length of the ship is 62.2 meters, the width is 13.6 meters, the molded depth is 6.85 meters, the sail area is 3969 square meters, equipped with 28 24-pound and 10 12-pound guns, and has a crew of more than 400 people.

In the division of British ship types, only sailing battleships with 3 or 4 gun decks can be classified as battleships. Sailing battleships are the protagonists of maritime hegemony. They are often equipped with hundreds of artillery pieces and nearly a thousand sailors. The displacement ranges from 3000 tons to With a weight ranging from 5000 tons, it is like a moving castle on the sea. The "Constitution" obviously cannot meet such standards.

For example, the French battleship "Valmy" has four artillery decks and 120 cannons. It was launched in 1847. Its length, width and draft are 64.05 meters X 18.11 meters X 8.61 meters, and its displacement is 5826 tons. A standard second-class sailing battleship.

The British battleship "Warrior" has a displacement of 9357 tons, and its main armaments are: 26 68-pound large-caliber guns, 4 70-pound large-caliber guns, and 10 110-pound guns.Launched in December 1860, it measures 12 meters long, 115.8 meters wide, and has a draft of 17.8 meters. It is a first-class battleship.

The "Warrior" was designed by the British designer Isaac Watts and started construction in May 1859. It achieved high-speed blocking through the V-shaped front of the hull, and its densely packed gun positions made people feel heartbroken It's all cold.

This is the world's first ironclad battleship, and there are four ships of the same class. It is also a symbol of the imperial power of the British Empire. The Tang Empire has not yet equipped an ironclad battleship with such a large displacement, and it is completely blank in this regard.

It should be noted

The Armstrong front-loading gun equipped on the "Warrior" is still in the ranks of old bronze guns and can only fire solid iron bullets. The artillery technology is still at the early 19th century and has not been able to keep up with the development trend of artillery technology in the new era.

The tonnage of the "Qiuyue" class armored destroyer of the Tang Empire is really similar, and the gunfire setting is relatively similar to the British "Immortal" class cruiser, but the technology types of these two types of ships are different.

The immortal-class "Glasgow" iron-hulled clipper ship is powered by sails and steam propellers, with a displacement of 4047 tons. Its main armaments are: 30 40-pounder guns, 20 32-pounder guns, and 1 68-pounder gun.

Launched in March 1861, the ship is 3 meters long, 76.2 meters wide, and has a draft of 16 meters. The steam-powered machinery is an expansion engine.

As can be seen
The technical route of the British "Immortal" class cruiser belongs to the sail steam ironclad ship, which is driven by sail and steam power.

In fact, the result of doing so is; the benefits are wanted, but neither side can rely on them.

The sail warship's complex sail cable handling facilities occupied a large number of decks, coupled with the steam-powered chimney and mechanical equipment layout, resulting in the "Glasgow" only being able to design gun positions at random. The layout was messy and complicated, and it looked extremely bloated.

The disadvantages brought about are that the cost is expensive, the speed is slow, the operation is complicated, and the living conditions of officers and soldiers deteriorate. Many people can only sleep on coal piles, or set up hammocks between gun positions, and there is not even a place on the deck where they can plug in.

And this situation is common on the main ships of the Royal Navy of the British Empire today.

The technical route adopted by the "Qiuyue" class steam armored warship is different. It completely abandons the sail power design, and only retains an expansion steam engine power. It uses two expansion steam engines and 8 high-pressure boilers as the main power, with two shafts and two propellers. Very simple and durable.

After biting the tail of the "Constitution", when the distance between the two sides was close to about 5 strands, the armored destroyer "Spring Moon" opened fire first, starting the prelude to the Virginia naval battle.

The four 4-pound main guns from front to back fired in sequence, and the six 30-pound secondary guns on the starboard side also fired in sequence, and at the same time, ten shells were slammed into the enemy ship.

Nine of the shells fell into the sea around the "Constitution", splashing nine high water columns, and only one shell hit the stern of the ship and exploded instantly. Blast a big hole in the ship's stern wooden building.

During the explosion, the shattered pieces of broken wood swept across the area, spattering the blood of several nearby crew members, and fell to the ground with loud wailing.Two of them died motionless, and the remaining wounded writhed like earthworms in pain.

"Oh, it's a hit."

The Chinese officers and soldiers on the deck shouted excitedly, and then worked harder to load the shells, aimed, and waited for the order to start the next round of shelling.

This... Could this be the power of the new artillery?
Seeing the rear stern of the battleship being blasted by the enemy with a big gap half a person high, Colonel Michelle, the captain of the USS "Constitution", gasped, his eyelids twitched violently, and the only trace of luck left in his heart The rapid exit like melting ice and snow was replaced by deep despair.

But at this time, he was not allowed to show a little cowardice. Colonel Michel drew out his shiny command knife and pointed at the enemy ship, shouting in a hysterical tone; "Keep heading, the bottom deck guns fire."

"Boom boom boom..."

A series of cannons roared one after another, and with the thick black smoke rising, the "Constitution" fired 1 rounds of 14-pound shells in the first round of counterattack, and slammed toward the "Spring Moon" less than 24 km away.

Only two clear sounds of "clang" and "bounce" were heard, and this round of shooting actually hit two 24-pound solid bullets at the same time. and stop.

Because the two solid shells did not produce any damage other than two clear depressions.

With a bang, the shell hit the empty deck of the crew's quarters, producing a strong cavity echo.

With a "boom", the shell hit the iron plate outside the solid coal bunker, and the movement was much quieter.

Since the American ship is shelling outside the 4 chains at an elevation angle of 5 degrees, the range of the 24-pound artillery is close to the limit distance, and the power of the shelling is almost equivalent to a 24-pound heavy object hitting the steel plate of the enemy ship fiercely, nothing more.

Before the crew of the Constitution came back to their senses, the shelling of the "Cold Wind" and "Cold Night" that followed hit their heads and faces, and this round also hit two shells.

A 12-pound secondary artillery shell hit the foremast and exploded. The violent explosion shot out shrapnel, knocking five or six nearby white crew members to the ground, bleeding, and causing the foremast sail to burn.

Another 20-pound main gun shell hit the rear side of the ship, shaking the hull of the "Constitution" violently, directly tearing a 0.7-meter-long crack on the side of the ship, and the flying fragments smashed the bottom deck. Several shirtless artillerymen were covered in blood and screamed.

Even though the iron armor was attached, the 20-pound shell still penetrated the iron armor and exploded. After tearing the 5-foot-thick oak plank, the gunners on the lower deck suffered heavy casualties.

Such sharp artillery fire caused an uproar among the white crew members of the "Constitution".

unfortunately it's too late
The fierce artillery fire covered the head and face one after another, and the distance from the five chains was only more than 5 meters.

After several rounds of shelling, as the distance got closer and closer, the accuracy of the shelling became higher and higher. Almost every round of shelling set off a bloody storm on the "Constitution"...

just half an hour

The 3rd Squadron shelled more than a dozen rounds and hit dozens of shells. The deck of the "Constitution" was already covered with corpses. More than [-] sails were on fire. Under the light of the fire, it was extremely miserable.

The "Constitution" has been completely paralyzed on the sea and lost its power. Except for a few 24-pound guns on the bottom deck that are still insisting on returning fire, the other gun positions are all dumb, either dead or injured or bombed by violent artillery fire. Bad.

"The main gun stopped firing, and the secondary gun aimed at the enemy's lower deck gun position, and hit me hard." Major General Mo Chengcai waved his hand vigorously and gave the order.

The iron-clad ship "Chunyue" had already pulled in to about three chains at this time, about 500 meters away, and the secondary guns on the side could fire directly at the enemy's stubborn gun positions to carry out precise strikes.

However, the 30-pound main gun was too powerful, and Major General Mo Chengcai wanted to capture the enemy ship. While killing a large number of enemy ship crews, he did not want to destroy the ship. He simply ordered the four 30-pound main guns to suspend firing and stay on guard.

"Boom boom boom..."

"Boom boom boom..."

Thick gunpowder smoke and the smell of blood permeated the sea. More than 10 minutes later, the 24-pound artillery of the "Constitution" stopped firing back. , The bottom deck was full of corpses, as tragic as a slaughterhouse.

At this moment

The "Spring Moon" just issued the order to stop the shelling, and slowly leaned up. The sailors held the King's rifle and shot at the enemy, killing all the white crew members in sight one by one, and then held them with iron claws. The enemy ship tied the two warships tightly together.

"All bayonets, search for remnants."

Give an order

Armed sailors loaded sharp bayonets, scrambled over the side of the ship and rushed up, and began to search in groups of three and five.

At this time, blood flowed like a river on the deck of the Constitution, spreading everywhere as the ship shook, and the shoes were greasy and slippery when stepped on. Many soldiers fell down after walking a few steps, and their bodies were covered with blood.

Sporadic gunshots sounded one after another, and the soldiers mostly used bayonets to solve the problem.

The process of occupying the "Constitution" was quite smooth. Under the intensive artillery bombardment, most of the more than 400 crew members on the "Constitution" were killed in battle.

according to the rules of naval warfare

The white sailors who died in battle after the "Constitution" were thrown into the sea one after another. Buckets of bloody seawater washed the deck, and then all the tattered cables, wooden barrels containing food or gunpowder were thrown away one by one, and even those deck guns Overturned into the sea, with furniture and everything that can be thrown away.

This is because the "Constitution" has poured in tens of tons of seawater because of the leak on the left side of the hull, which makes the entire hull tilt at 10 degrees. Abandoning all loads can raise the waterline and make the damaged hole higher than the sea surface.

The next step is to clean up the mess. Major General Mo Chengcai ordered the two armored frigates "Hanfeng" and "Hanye" to chase the enemy ships separately, and sink them on the spot if they cannot be captured.

The four schooners were of no great significance, and one would be destroyed if one could be destroyed.

The armored destroyer "Spring Moon" stayed behind to rescue the "Constitution" with all its strength. The carpenters on board began tinkling to repair the hole. Hundreds of crew members went down to the cabin and used wooden basins and buckets to drain the sea water. They were extremely busy. It's fun.

I have been busy for more than 6 hours. After dark, all the dozens of holes were blocked, and the tens of tons of seawater that seeped in were all drained, and the deck was cleaned up. The wounds after the war still remain. clear and distinct.

All the crew were gasping for breath. Rescuing the "Constitution" was much more tiring than fighting a battle.

The boat was returned to port for a complete overhaul, replacing the damaged oak planks, reattaching the plating, repairing the sails and hawsers, replacing damaged hawsers, redoing the wooden poop, and painting After painting it looks brand new.

This very meaningful gift is dedicated to His Majesty the Emperor, and it must be able to win the favor of the Holy One.

(End of this chapter)