The Imperial Age with the Resurgence of Han Style

Chapter 117 Attack at Sea
October 1725, 10, North Sea, Jutland Peninsula.

"Boom! Boom!" Two shells hit the starboard side of the "Meng Huai" one after another, causing violent vibrations on one side of the ship.

Fu Qingli, the navy's second lieutenant, immediately scratched the side of the ship and stuck his head out to check the damage to the hull.

The 8 cm thick wrought iron armor only had two deep dents that did not penetrate the hull. He breathed a sigh of relief and retracted it again.

"The starboard side is clear!" he reported loudly to the officer in charge of damage control protection.

This steam-sail battleship with a displacement of 1350 tons has three damage control stations on the ship, namely the steam power cabin at the bottom, the mast and sail area on the deck, and the armor on both sides of the hull. There are complete fire-extinguishing facilities and temporary plugging materials such as sandbags and wooden boards, which can deal with various hull damage situations at any time during battle.

As the flagship of the Second Squadron of the Expeditionary Task Force, the "Meng Huai" can be said to be fully armored. The hull shell is equipped with wrought iron armor with a thickness of 8 cm. There is also a layer of teak support with a thickness of 36 cm on the inside. The main keel and The ribs are all made of steel. In naval battles, it can withstand the bombardment of 100-pound heavy artillery within 32 meters. It can definitely be regarded as an "infantry armor warrior" at sea.

In the past few days, twelve warships of the Second Squadron were sailing in the northwest waters of Jutland, looking for English merchant ships that might pass through the waters.

The tactics of maritime interception and blockade were first pioneered by the English Navy during the First Anglo-Dutch War, and achieved extremely successful results, eventually forcing the Dutch to surrender and agree to the so-called "Navigation Regulations" formulated by England.

However, this tactic is an extremely difficult task for naval officers and soldiers.On the vast Atlantic Ocean, under various complex and changeable climate conditions, the boring wait day after day, month after month, makes it unbearable for many people.Although the expedition fleet has established a temporary anchorage in the Faroe Islands, it can continuously cruise the sea through ship rotation to search for English merchant ships.However, this boring and boring task will still greatly consume the soldiers' energy.Unless, encountering a passionate battle, the flagging morale can be slightly boosted.

At about [-]:[-] in the morning, an English fleet escorted by fifteen merchant ships and eight warships appeared in the fleet's sight.The commander of the squadron, General Guangwei (Major General) Cui Jiwu, was overjoyed. He immediately divided the fleet into two and killed them in an outflanking formation.

Although there were only eight English warships escorting them, the other side still came over without fear, trying to entangle the hunting Qi warships so that the merchant ships could take the opportunity to escape into the depths of the ocean.

A fierce naval battle began.

According to the Royal Navy's navigation and combat regulations, several English warships lined up in a battle line, following their flagships and trying hard to seize the "T" prefix, hoping to take advantage of the firepower of their own broadsides at the first opportunity.The entire fleet formed a tight formation, with a distance of 200 yards from front to back, and constantly used the wind to rush towards the Qi fleet on one side.

The Qi people originally had a certain numerical advantage, but they arrogantly divided the twelve warships into two parts, pretending to capture the entire merchant fleet in one fell swoop.

Seeing this situation, the commander of the English escort fleet made a decisive decision and decided to concentrate all eight of their warships to form a local advantage. He would first severely damage the Qi fleet on one side, and then return to block the incoming Qi warships on the other side. .

As the fleets of both sides were moving toward each other, the distance quickly approached 500 yards. Within this reasonable and effective shooting range, the commander of the English escort fleet ordered some ships to conduct some concentrated fire in preparation for disrupting the enemy's line formation.

The performance of Qi's warships was so frightening. When they launched their attack, several of the warships actually dropped their sails, and then spewed out thick smoke and cut into their lines at an unimaginable speed. Disrupting one's own formation forced the English warships to open fire in advance.

During this period, the best shelling distance is generally 200-300 yards, so as to cause substantial damage to enemy ships.The distance is too far, and unless you are lucky enough to hit the ammunition depot directly, there are not many examples of enemy ships being sunk immediately - although there are also a large number of cases where the ship may be sunk due to hull damage after artillery fire.

The main reasons for the failure of naval battles are the damage of artillery, gunner casualties and the defeat of the enemy's morale and fighting will. These reasons will cause the ship to be either captured or sunk.After the English fleet gradually approached the distance, they immediately aimed their guns at the artillery positions of the Qi warships, hoping to use a dense rain of bullets to kill a large number of the opponent's gunners and destroy the gun emplacements on the ships.

However, the Qi warship seemed to be more calm. Within a distance of 300 yards, it still did not fire its artillery and continued to cross the line of the English escort fleet.Braving the constant flying shells, they approached the English warship bit by bit.Although the shells kept hitting the armor, they were never able to penetrate.

The sea breeze blew away the smoke.The English navy officers and soldiers were shocked to find that the Qi people's warships were not ordinary rough-skinned and thick-bodied ships.At such a close distance, more than ten shells clearly hit their side hulls, but they seemed to be unharmed. They dusted off the dust on their bodies and walked towards them with confident steps. Keep approaching.

In a naval battle, if two ships are equipped with the same number of artillery and manpower, and have the same rate of fire and accuracy, then the penetrating power of the shells will determine the outcome of both sides.But now, Qi's warships seemed to be covered with a layer of heavy armor, like unkillable warriors, not afraid of their own artillery bombardment.This caused an inexplicable fear in the hearts of the commanders and sailors on the English warships, and then a terrible and desperate feeling.

This battle is likely to be an extremely unequal battle.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!..."

The artillery of the Qi warship finally fired, and as soon as a thick smoke rose, the two English warships trembled violently, and then there were several violent explosions and flashes of fire. Countless figures were lifted high. It was lifted up, and then fell heavily to the deck. Roars, screams, and wailings suddenly resounded.

The officers shouted at the top of their lungs and ordered the sailors to immediately start putting out the fire to prevent the fire from spreading.On a wooden sail warship like theirs, encountering a fire is the most fatal thing.A slight mistake could ignite the gunpowder, causing a larger explosion that would destroy the entire ship.Even if the risk of gunpowder being ignited is eliminated, if the sail is engulfed by flames, the ship will soon lose power and become a lamb to be slaughtered by the enemy.

In previous sea battles, the bullet holes that were penetrated by ships were almost always above the waterline, because the surface tension of the sea would cause the cannonballs to change their direction, and the cannonballs immediately lost their momentum after entering the water.The worst that could happen is that a downwind shot would hit directly at the waterline, flooding the hold with water before the sailor could repair it.However, capable damage control personnel can often quickly seal the leaks in a short period of time to avoid the influx of large amounts of seawater.

I still remember that during the first Anglo-Dutch War, the flagship "James" commanded by the English naval commander Blake was shot through by the Dutch navy with more than 70 bullet holes in the hull during a battle, and the sails had even more bullet holes. Countless, more than 40 crew members were killed or seriously injured (minor injuries were not included). The mizzen mast was also broken and fell on the ship.But after a night of repairs, it set sail again, ready to go into battle again.Therefore, in a naval battle, the battleship commander is not actually afraid of being hit by the opponent's solid shells, but what he is most afraid of is explosions and fires on the ship.

This time we met the Qi attack fleet in a narrow road. Unexpectedly, not only was the ship itself extremely resistant to beating, but it also boldly approached the English warships and fired a salvo at them from an extremely close distance.What frightened the English even more was that the shells fired were explosive shells.

In recent decades, the English Navy has also been actively researching the manufacture of explosive bombs, and has produced some, but due to technical flaws, they are not yet stable.During launch, misfires or premature explosions often occur.The ships of the Royal Navy of England were not equipped with much equipment. For fear of not killing the enemy, they would sink their own ship.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!..."

Just as the ships of both sides passed each other, the six warships of Qi fired another salvo. At least five or more shells hit the three English warships behind them. Without exception, they were also explosive shells, and caused There was a violent explosion, and the fire covered most of the deck.

After such a round of fighting, the escorting English navy was badly beaten. Five of its own warships exploded and caught fire, causing heavy casualties.On the other hand, the opponent was almost unscathed except for a few dents on the hard hull shell.

Just when the commander of the English escort fleet was wondering whether to abandon the merchant ship and withdraw from the battle, three Qi warships missed each other, ignored the resistance of the sea wind, drew a beautiful inner arc on the sea, and quickly turned the ship around. head, and killed the English warship again.

It’s a steam battleship!
The three sail warships "Menghuai", "Qingqiu" and "Tianyu" were like three dragons on the sea, spitting out billowing smoke. They quickly overran the English escort fleet and fired another round at several burning warships. Round of force output.Then, at a very fast speed, he circled in front of the English fleet, forcing it to change its course so that the three pure sail warships behind could catch up in time.

The English merchant fleet, which lost the escort of warships, immediately began to scatter and flee, trying to escape the pursuit of the other six Qi warships.

The waves were rolling on the sea and the sky was gloomy.Twelve Qi warships rotated around the English fleet and escort ships, constantly suppressing the opponent through fierce firepower and flexible maneuvers.

The calm gunner skillfully controlled the artillery, and under the command of the officer, continued to bombard the opponent's ships and personnel.The sound of collision continued, and a cannon hit the hull of the ship, making a deep dent, and then fell into the sea, causing a splash of water.

When there was a loud roar from one's own artillery positions, dozens of gradually expanding artillery shells were flying towards the enemy.The gunner waited for the moment when his shell would hit the target, eagerly anticipating the scene of explosion and the dazzling flash of fire.Just when his shell hit the hull, the gunner's inner excitement and sense of accomplishment suddenly burst out. When he saw a huge hole appearing in the enemy's ship, he couldn't help but roar.But when he turned around, he found that his hull had also been hit hard by an enemy very close to him.

A large number of corpses were scattered on the deck, the injured crew members howled helplessly, and the cowardly coward hugged his head, huddled in the corner of the cabin, and kept praying to God.

As time went by, more and more ships were set on fire, and the smoke became thicker and thicker. The beasts deep in everyone's hearts were unleashed, roaring hysterically.

The battle gradually came to an end at two o'clock in the afternoon. Countless wooden boards, buckets, canvas, and daily debris were scattered on the vast sea.Several scarred merchant ships and warships floated alone on the sea, waiting for the winner's judgment. There were two ships burning with raging fire in the distance, but miraculously they did not sink into the water.

More than ten small boats were scattered on the sea, paddling gently, and fished out the English sailors who were holding buckets and floating with the water one by one.

"……Give you."

Fu Qingli looked at the wet English officer opposite. He didn't know whether it was because he was afraid or because he was frozen by the cold sea. He was shivering constantly. He held his head in his hands and murmured in his mouth.He couldn't help but feel some sympathy, took out a wine bottle from his bag and handed it over.

"..." The English officer subconsciously shrank back, widened his eyes, and looked at Fu Qingli in horror. After taking a closer look at the wine bottle, he hesitated, reached out to take it, opened the stopper, and put it in his mouth. Take a sip.

"Ahem..." Maybe it was because he drank a little too quickly, or maybe the strong smell of alcohol caused discomfort in his throat. The English officer coughed violently, making the two soldiers rowing the boat laugh.

"Oh, thank you!" With a grateful expression on his face, the English officer handed the wine bottle back to Fu Qingli.

"You are defeated. From now on, you are our prisoners." Fu Qingli couldn't hear what he was saying. After taking the wine bottle, he said to himself: "With your little strength in England, you can't stand it at all." You are no match for our Qi State. Although you performed very bravely on the battlefield and were very professional in your techniques and tactics, it is not enough in front of our absolute strength! The gap between the navies of our two countries is huge. It’s hard for you to imagine. You have also seen that after this naval battle, except for our two sail battleships that were seriously damaged, the other steam ironclads were almost unscathed. As for you, almost the entire army was wiped out, even the ones you escorted Only five merchant ships escaped."

The English officer listened to Fu Qingli's ramble. Although he didn't understand the language, he could guess from the enraptured expression that the Qi officer was bragging about their glorious victory in this battle.

Yes, none of their eight escort warships survived, four were sunk, two were seriously damaged, and two warships with less damage were captured, and most of the officers and soldiers were killed or injured.Their fleet commander, his captain, and his men were either hit by artillery fire and died on the spot, or they sank into the cold ocean with the ship. Only he, by chance, survived the battle. .

Oh God, I hope none of this is true!

The people of Qi were perhaps the most powerful enemies that the English had ever encountered.

Faced with such a powerful enemy, does our Royal Navy have any hope of victory?
(End of this chapter)