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Chapter 1230 Sheep entering tiger’s mouth
The final result of the debate was that it was stopped by the emperor, who also criticized the naval chief of staff, the astronaut, in person, scolding him for not doing his job and only doing superficial work.

Later, this issue was raised again at a high-level meeting of the entire army held by the General Staff. To sum it up in one sentence, the direction of the construction of the Ming army was to focus on substance rather than appearance.

As long as the combat effectiveness is strong enough and the battles are won every time, officers can go into battle naked without being blamed. If they cannot win, it is useless to build a golden statue. This also rejected another proposal of the General Staff to use special fabrics to make uniforms for commanders and above.

Military uniforms must be exactly the same as the soldiers', and no more than one button is allowed except for the rank! What's the point of wearing something so flashy? The army is the country's weapon, used for fighting and killing, it is a weapon, it must look like a weapon, and it is not allowed to show off in a superior uniform.

If you want to be powerful, you don't need to wear a military uniform to show off. Victory is the most important thing. Over the years, the number of countries, forces, and regimes defeated by the Ming army and navy has increased significantly. Except for the natives of the offshore territories, all of them are very powerful. Some of them still put on airs even after surrendering.

What good is that! As the ancients said, a defeated general is not brave enough. Even if they are dressed in the emperor's robes, they are still captives. In front of the Ming soldiers wearing only coarse cloth uniforms, they all had to bow their heads. If they dared to say no, they would be beaten in the face with a rifle butt. It was a waste of time.

With the support of such an emperor, the wretched faction immediately became the mainstream in the army, and there was a tendency for them to surpass their predecessors.

I heard that many captains specially asked craftsmen to embed thick steel plates in the stern walls on both sides of the steering platform as a wartime command post. In case the shell penetrates the stern wall, there is still a layer of steel plate protection, which is basically foolproof.

Hong Tao's flagship was a Han-class ship of the East China Sea Fleet. There was no steel plate on the stern wall, but there were three small holes. Each was as thick as a thumb and penetrated the stern wall. Hong Tao didn't pay attention to it at first, until he found that the Spanish fleet was preparing to fight.

Together, these three holes served as the former captain's observation holes. He could get a general idea of ​​the battlefield situation without even sticking his head out, which increased safety.

But Hong Tao was not so extreme. He only encouraged self-preservation, and did not advocate putting self-preservation first. So after the war, he planned to make a fuss about these holes, and use them to warn the generals at all levels, so that they could grasp the degree more accurately.

It had been 20 days since the main fleet arrived at the Galapagos Islands, and ten of the thirty or so supply ships that followed had already returned in formation ahead of schedule. All the supplies they had on board had been consumed, and staying here was useless except for feeding a few hundred more mouths.

If the trend continues, if the Spanish still don't fall for it in 20 days, they will have to return. Fortunately, Settle lived up to the trust and completed the task ahead of schedule, successfully bringing the Spanish fleet here, and the number was larger than expected.

With the main fleet of 5 Han-class and 7 Qin-class ships, it was indeed difficult to encircle and annihilate more than 40 Spanish naval warships. In order to cause greater damage to the enemy, Hong Tao left behind the 3 Qin-class ships that were escorting the logistics fleet.

Since the Spaniards were out in full force, the logistics fleet no longer needed to be escorted. In the Pacific Ocean, apart from the Ming Empire and Spain, no third country could threaten the existence of the logistics fleet.

The 15 warships were divided into two groups, attacking from the north and south at the same time. In fact, it would be more effective to concentrate on attacking the Spanish fleet in one direction, but Hong Tao was afraid that the Spanish commander on the other side would be too cunning and turn around and run away as soon as he found that his friendly forces were attacked, so that the plan could only be completed halfway.

Maybe it's less than half. Who knows where the main Spanish warships are. If they let them escape, it will be of no use sinking more ships.

The flagship and seven Qin-class warships chose the south. It was nothing special. It was just a matter of throwing silver coins. The north was a little slower because they had to go around the protruding head of the main island to go north. The Spanish lookouts discovered the enemy at about 7 kilometers away, which resulted in the more than 3 ships that were originally lined up to block the waterway not having time to turn around before they entered the range of the 20mm breech-loading rifled cannon.

"Boom boom boom... Report, two shots from the first round hit the waterline, and one hit the stern!"

The flagship rushed to the front of the Spanish warship at high speed with the wind and was more than 300 meters away. When it was about to collide, it suddenly turned to the starboard side. Then there were more than a dozen muffled sounds, and then the report from the deck gunner observer.

The 100mm pointed solid bullets did not seem to cause much damage to this three-masted sailing ship with a displacement of more than 600 tons. It was still moving straight forward, trying to cut off the Ming Navy's formation.

However, there should be some trouble in its bottom cabin. The entrance of the 25-type 100mm armor-piercing fragmentation projectile is very small, but the exit is very large. This funnel-shaped damage is difficult to seal under the pressure of seawater. The faster the speed, the larger the gap and the more water enters. It is best to stop the ship for repairs.

But the rumbling of cannons and the whistling of shells reminded the captain all the time that he should rather risk having the hull torn apart than stop or even slow down, otherwise he would be hit by more shells.

"Notify all ships to change into pairs and move in alternating positions. No. 084 and No. 113 will follow the flagship and turn south!" If another round of shells could be delivered in time, this three-masted sailing ship might quickly lose its combat effectiveness.

Unfortunately, the sailboat's guns swayed up and down and left and right along with the hull. Although the high-speed turn looked cool, the resulting large side tilt of the hull also made the guns lose their shooting angle, and they could only watch the prey pass by.

You must not turn around and chase at this time. Dozens of sailboats from both sides are gathered here, all driving at high speed and shooting while sailing. Once a ship leaves the formation, course and speed, it may cause a collision accident, or the speed of your own ship will be reduced, giving the enemy an opportunity to take advantage.

Now it is the turn of the sails and sailors to perform. The Gothenburg sails equipped on the Han and Qin classes are more flexible to operate and have a larger wind-catching angle. Not only are they quick to turn, but the speed loss is also minimal.

The cross-sails equipped on the Spanish warships were too clumsy. Regardless of turning with or against the wind, most of the canvas had to be folded up first, and only the triangular sails at the bow and stern would be used in conjunction with the rudders. After the course was fixed, the canvas would be raised and tightened.

This process would take at least several hundred meters to complete. In other words, the turning radius of European square-rigged warships was relatively large, usually exceeding 7 times the length of the hull.

The Han-class and Qin-class warships not only had advanced sails, but also had thinner and smaller hulls, with a turning radius of about three times with a tailwind and no more than four times with a headwind.

The hull is small, which has disadvantages such as small carrying capacity, poor endurance, weak firepower, and relatively low defense; at the same time, it has the advantages of strong seaworthiness, high speed, flexible control, and small impact area.

It is really impossible to generalize whether a large ship is better or a small ship is better. It depends on the usage scenario and the target, and the specific situation should be analyzed.

(End of this chapter)