African Nationhood

Chapter 506 Collapse at the First Touch

When the South China Navy was attacked by the French navy, the South China Military Headquarters received the news.

Chairman Shi, who was sitting here, immediately called London to report that the French Navy had launched an undeclared war and took the initiative to attack the South China Navy.

He demanded that the British Foreign Office immediately declare war on France and that the South China Navy would immediately counterattack the invading French navy.

When Sir Edward Gray saw the telegram in his hand, and then thought about the French allies he had finally won over, he felt unspeakably awkward.

However, the dignity of the United Kingdom cannot be desecrated, so he immediately summoned the French ambassador in London and asked him what he meant and why he attacked our autonomous territory without notifying the United Kingdom in advance.
Paul Gambon, the French ambassador to London, was speechless. Now that the matter has come to this, the UK cannot pretend not to see it anymore.

Sir Edward Gray solemnly announced to Ambassador Paul Gambon: "From now on, Britain and France are in a state of hostility. Please get out of London immediately!"

……

The declaration of war began, and European countries, especially Germany, paid more attention to this war.

Various countries quickly dispatched observation teams to try to observe the maritime war between France and the South China Dominion up close.

Following the British declaration of war, martial law was enforced nationwide in the South China Dominion.

At the same time, the media and radio stations in South China began to announce that our heroic navy was shamelessly attacked by the French navy, but our heroic navy was not afraid and resolutely fought back against the invading enemy!
……

Senior officials far away in Paris did not expect that Nanhua, an inconspicuous colony that had developed independently for several years, could be so powerful.

Not only are there huge ships and cannons, but there are also submarines.

Many naval powers have realized the important role of submarines.

However, because the volatility problem of gasoline is difficult to solve, the research and development of submarines has stalled.

Nanhua has a diesel engine and adopted a snorkel setting early.

These two inventions solved the problem of submarines sneaking under the sea for a long time. At the same time, Nanhua also made great explorations in the oxygen supply of submarines.

In addition to the "oxygen candle", it is the "oxygen hair growth board".

This technology has achieved a breakthrough. A germinal plate can basically meet the oxygen needs of 40 people for a day and night of diving.

……

As early as the era of sailing naval warfare, the firepower of combat ships was completely concentrated on the sides. If one can face the enemy ship in a longitudinal formation, one's own firepower can be maximized and the enemy ship can be inflicted maximum damage.

In the era of ironclads, naval battle lines once gave way to ramming tactics, but they were revived at the end of the 19th century.

By the 1860s, the importance of artillery gave way to steam power, iron armor, and ramming, which led to the decline of battle line tactics.

In the nearly 20 years since then, close combat and corner-to-corner combat have become the core of naval tactics.

By the 1880s, the close-range melee combat of the ironclad era gradually withdrew from the stage of naval tactics, and artillery once again became the main weapon of warships.

For this reason, in the late 1890s, the single-column battle line used in the sail era was again used.

Because the South China Navy has submarines always behind the French fleet, the South China Navy can accurately grasp the whereabouts of French warships.

Before the arrival of the French warships, the battleships of the South China Navy had already set up a battle line, lined up, and their guns were pointed directly at the French warships.

Because the French had traveled a long distance, their formation had not been adjusted at all, and there was no way to rush into the battle.

The Nanhua Navy was well prepared and would not give them a chance to adjust their formation calmly.

After the French army launched its attack, the Nanhua Navy, led by the flagship "Shu King", directly fired at the French warships.

……

The usual fleet tactics adopted by the South China Navy are: one-to-one shooting against the enemy's ships of the same order (shooting against the lead ship, shooting against the No. 2 ship, etc.),

After sinking or seriously damaging an enemy ship, you can transfer firepower to attack the new corresponding enemy ship (enemy No. 2 is sunk, our No. 2 and No. 3 ships focus on attacking the enemy No. 3 ship).

When the formation occupies the battle position, each warship in the formation will estimate the movement elements of the opponent's ships (course, speed, and their rate of change). However, unauthorized firing is strictly prohibited at this time.

Instead, a benchmark ship in the fleet (one with good visibility, good ship position and easy command, usually a flagship or lead ship) will attack the target or a prominent target in the target area (usually also the opponent's flagship or lead ship) Test fire a few rounds. The "King of Shu" is the flagship of the Nanhua Fleet this time. The artillery shells tested by the flagship are based on pre-estimated data.

(This estimated data comes from the shooting table made during daily tactical shooting training.)
After the "King of Shu" test-fires five guns, the main gun operator Wang Li will wait for feedback from the observers.

"The impact point of the first shot is 1.5 nautical miles away from the main target, the impact point of the second shot is 0.8 nautical miles away from the main target, and the impact point of the third shot is 0.2 nautical miles away from the main target.

The impact point of the fourth shot deviated from the main target by 0.3 nautical miles to the left, and the impact point of the fifth shot deviated from the main target by 0.1 nautical miles to the right. "

After Wang Li listened to the observer's feedback, he immediately adjusted the main gun's firing parameters based on the test firing results and tried firing another gun.

"Boom~"

"On target."

Wang Li grinned, ignoring the water splashing in front of him. He grinned and shouted: "Every gun, pay attention, set up to shoot at Zhu Yuan!"
Azimuth angle 27-00, angle of incidence 06-80. "

The numbers Wang Li shouted were secret positions. These numbers allowed other gunners to quickly pinpoint the enemy ship's location.

After the measurement of the "King of Shu" is completed, a communicator will notify other ships in the fleet by radio of the measured secret digits of the shooting elements, together with the position, speed and course of the "King of Shu" and the elements of the target.

After receiving the data of the base ship, each ship will recalculate and continue tracking (the data of the base ship will be corrected according to their respective positions in the battle column);
After the correction is completed, you need to wait for the fleet commander to issue the firing order.

……

Xue Youfu stood in the bridge, listening to the continuous reports from the correspondent behind him.

"Zhao Yun is ready", "Zhang Fei is ready", "Huang Zhong is ready"...

All the ships under his command were ready, and Xue Youfu gave the order to fire through the microphone.

"Attention, all guns, fire!"

In an instant, the sound of shells firing was heard endlessly, the spectacular sight of soaring fireworks appeared directly in front of us, and the view of the bridge was quickly obscured by smoke.

The observer standing on the lookout post held a telescope and constantly reported to the gunners below about the enemy ships being hit.

"In the first salvo of our guns, five bombs hit the enemy ship, in the second salvo there were four bombs, and in the third salvo there were three bombs..."

Each ship fired a salvo, and their attack targets were different, so the results were also different.

After taking turns to fire salvos, the submarine hidden under the water suddenly fired torpedoes.

Among the eight French warships, the "Cecil" cruiser, which had been blasted through the bottom of the ship before, was directly hit by a salvo this time and the entire hull was smashed. It was seriously flooded, the hull had tilted, and it was lost. Combat ability.

The "Forban", "Algiers" and "Tago" were penetrated by Nanhua's shells at the waterline, and the cabins had begun to flood.

So far, the four protected cruisers in the French "Island Protection Fleet" have suffered serious damage to varying degrees.

It was able to achieve such results because the South China Navy came up with the best treasure in the box - the shaped energy-breaking armor-piercing projectile that was successfully developed not long ago.

Armor-piercing shells equipped with a shaped metal cover are particularly damaging to ships with thin armor (50 mm) such as protected cruisers.

Other ships, such as the battleship "Brenus" on which Lacaz was aboard, did not suffer much damage due to their thicker armor.

Another battleship, the battleship "Suffren", suffered fewer attacks due to positioning issues, but this battleship was hit by a torpedo.

The torpedo only exploded in the stern rudder part of the hull and did not damage the cabin. However, the battleship's propeller was damaged and it was unable to maneuver quickly.

In one encounter, not only was most of the French fleet damaged, but the main ship was also crippled. This result was unacceptable to the French officers and soldiers.

The only question before Lacaz was, should he escape?

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(End of this chapter)