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Chapter 1436 Each Fights Their Own Way 2
"Boom boom boom..." However, the curses had no effect whatsoever. The Ming warships that were speeding towards them did not slow down or turn around at all. They simply opened the port side gun ports, revealing ten dark cannon muzzles.

As they passed each other, the cannons suddenly spewed out tongues of fire several meters long, hurling ten cast iron wedge-shaped shells at a speed of 600 meters per second at the Atas, which had just completed its turn and was accelerating with its sails raised.

"You can't hit me, you can't hit me..."

Faced with shelling from over 200 meters away, the commander of the Atas could neither dodge nor retaliate. He could only lean against the bulwark, feigning composure and muttering to himself. What he said was inaudible even to the helmsman closest to him, but it was probably something like that.

"All missed! God help us! Come on, guys, let's get this damn ship moving!"

The prayers worked; some of the ten shells plunged into the sea, splashing up white spray; others whistled across the deck without touching a single rigging rig.

Witnessing the miracle unfold before his eyes filled the captain with immense excitement. He loudly encouraged the sailors working on the mast, hoping to unleash their full potential.

"Boom boom boom..." Sometimes last-minute preparation is really useless. In the blink of an eye, the port side of the second Ming warship was perpendicular to the Atas again, and it also spat out flames at the exact same time.

"Clatter, clang, crack..." This time, the miracle did not occur; the forecastle and stern of the Atas were each hit by two 100mm armor-piercing shells.

A thick, soaking wet oak plank, like the cheapest wooden crate on the dock, was smashed to pieces by a speeding carriage, sending all sorts of objects flying through the air, including parts of the helmsman and captain.

However, this was not the bottom of hell; it was merely the beginning. A few breaths later, the third Ming warship lined up and reached its firing position. It fired a volley from the port side, regardless of whether it hit its target, and charged forward without slowing down.

This warship was significantly smaller than the previous two, and its cannons were also smaller. According to intelligence gathered by the Dutch, it should be the Qin-class, one of the two main warships of the Ming Dynasty navy.

It was only equipped with 28 75mm naval guns, while another Han-class naval gun was equipped with 20 100mm naval guns. According to European naval standards, these were similar to 4-pounder and 6-pounder guns, all of which were considered light artillery, usually used for deck-firing shot to kill personnel, and were not qualified to be placed on the gun deck.

The strange thing is that the Ming Dynasty navy used some kind of technology to make the power of light naval guns reach or even exceed that of heavy naval guns, while maintaining many advantages such as light weight, high rate of fire, low recoil, and low cost.

All three shells hit the second gun deck, shattering two gun ports, creating holes the size of a human head, and then passed through the gun deck, tearing apart everything in their path before emerging from the other side of the hull, leaving two even larger holes.

Why did three shells come in, but only two holes came out? By sheer coincidence, one of them struck the base of the foremast in the middle of the cabin, resulting in a total destruction.

The cast iron shell shattered into several pieces, taking the lives of two gunners in the process, before embedding itself in the bulkhead, hissing and steaming.

The mast base was certainly not as hard as iron; it only survived the impact because of its large size. But it wasn't in much better shape; at least a third of it was sheared off, leaving a large gap.

Even more coincidentally, just then, the sailors of the Atas, braving the gunfire, finally managed to raise the top sail of the foremast. Instead of accelerating, they were met with a series of creaking and cracking sounds, followed by a snap as the foremast broke off from below the deck. The mast, dozens of meters high, along with more than ten sailors, plunged into the sea, the stern still attached to the ship, tearing a large hole in the foredeck. Like a giant oar blade, it gave the ship, which had just gained momentum, a sudden stop on the left side, nearly causing it to fishtail.

"Open the gun ports in advance and fire at will, regardless of distance!" Seeing that a three-masted cruiser of more than 400 tons had lost its combat capability without firing a single shot, the British squadron commander was also anxious and roared out the order.

In high sea states, to prevent waves from flooding the ship's hull, the gun ports on both sides of the warship are not allowed to be opened when not firing. But now there's no time to worry about that; we can't just take the hits without fighting back. Even if our own ship's guns have no accuracy at 200 meters, we still need to make a show of force. Even if we get hit by a stray shot, it'll still be damage!

Unfortunately, probability theory became an independent discipline precisely because it is useful. A difference of 10% in hit rate may not be very noticeable, but a difference of more than 20% makes a significant difference, and beyond 30%, the lower one will approach zero infinitely.

More than ten Ming warships passed by in succession, each calmly throwing cannonballs from its port side at the nearest British warship. A total of 11 cannonballs hit, crippling one and damaging two, with a hit rate of less than 10%.

Nearly half of the English fleet's warships failed to fire due to unfavorable angles, while the remaining seven or eight ships did fire, but no hits were observed by the naked eye; not a single shot was fired.

And don't curse the huge waves in the waters off the southern tip of Africa. If there weren't such strong winds and such high waves, the Ming warships' hit rate would instantly increase to over 50%, and they could even open fire at a distance of 400 meters. At that time, the British fleet's hit rate would still be zero!

The Ming naval fleet that launched its attack from the south also employed the same tactics: overpowering their opponents with speed, gun range, and reloading speed. Moreover, they fought a continuous offensive, advancing from the south all the way to the east.

Then they quickly broke away, went far away before turning due south, circled around and returned to the starting point, and began the second round of attack without rest.

By the end of the day, more than 30 coalition warships had been damaged to varying degrees. Eight of them had to run aground due to severe leaks, and four others were abandoned at sea before they could even reach the beach.

"Commander-in-Chief, how many more days will it take to get all the soldiers onto the ships? If this continues, we may not have enough ships left!"

Finally, as the sun began to set, the two Ming fleets, which had been rampaging all day without even a break for lunch, disappeared like ghosts on the horizon. The commanders of the allied fleets could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

However, as soon as they arrived on Tropp's flagship, the oldest and hottest Spanish naval commander, Oquendo, couldn't hold back any longer and turned his anger towards the commander-in-chief.

“Mr. Oquendo, I understand your feelings. I also witnessed part of today's naval battle from the flagship, and it was indeed very frustrating. However, that's reality. To be honest, I regret not taking Mr. Cohen's advice sooner; everything now proves he was right!”

Faced with the old general's questioning, Bernhard remained as calm as ever. However, this time he didn't mince words, but readily admitted defeat—the first time such a word had been uttered by the Allied Commander-in-Chief.

(End of this chapter)