Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 556 Tyrrhenian Sea ([-])

"Boom! Boom! Boom!" The powerful 32-pound long-tube naval gun made a trembling roar. The boilers of the four battleships of the East Coast Fleet have been heating up for more than half an hour, and the sails are also assisted by steam power. Quickly adjusted, seized the T-head at a speed far exceeding the flexibility of the Spanish fleet, and then used side artillery to bombard the Spanish four-masted warship rushing to the front in turn.

The 32-pound, 24-pound, and 18-pound shells rained down, with some chain bombs and hot shells mixed in during the period. The Spanish largest battleship "Santiago" was ravaged by four battleships on the east coast. The building was hit in many places, and the forecastle and poop were directly hit by more than 20 shells.

The bulky "San Diego" has only 4 bow guns that can fight the enemy, but the enemy has more than 100 guns attacking her, how can this be continued.So, under the captain's order, the "San Diego" began to turn to the northeast with the wind, trying to attack the enemy ship with side fire.However, the captain of the ship, Martin Ledron de Guevara, soon discovered in horror that the other side's strange ships that were emitting black smoke soon started to turn as the "Santiago" moved, and turned like the same ship. Inserted a sharp knife into the gap between the "Santiago" and the two-masted battleship "Santa Maria" and the powerful battleship "San Salvador" with 50 guns, and then started a terrifying salvo of the whole ship .

"Your Excellency, their speed is too fast. It is unbelievable that they can still reach a speed of more than 4 knots in the Tyrrhenian Sea and the wind is not favorable. This must be the magic of the heathen." On board the "San Diego" , a Spanish officer suddenly yelled uncontrollably.And his words quickly caused a chain reaction in the surrounding crowd, and many people's faces became a little nervous.

That's right, since the discovery of the East Coaster's fleet was reported at both Cadiz Port and Cartagena last month, the Spaniards immediately began to report to the king who was stationed in Valladolid at this time.The king's response was simple, that is, to destroy this daring east coast fleet, and let them know the fate of offending the Kingdom of Spain.The Mediterranean Fleet, which received the king's response, immediately acted. They mobilized several main battleships (supported by the Atlantic Fleet and the Netherlands Fleet) and a large number of small transport ships, loaded nearly [-] troops, and then headed straight for the port of Naples .

After arriving in Naples, more than 1000 Naples troops and a large number of Mediterranean galleys were assembled there, and then they rushed to Pisa and Livorno in a mighty manner, preparing to besiege the east coast fleet.They didn't know how huge the East Coast Fleet was. What they got was a report from the captain of the frigate "Saint Nicholas" who had fled back to Cadiz. a big ship".This made Baron Guevara, who had participated in the Battle of Downs and had just been transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet, make up his mind to use the calm Mediterranean Sea to wipe out all the intruders from the east coast.Even with the help of a large number of galleys, it is not impossible to capture an enemy ship or two.

Although the Mediterranean Fleet was completely wiped out in the Downs naval battle a few years ago, as the Genoese bankers continued to withdraw from the Spanish economic field in recent years, the king also encountered financial difficulties and had no money to rebuild the Mediterranean Fleet.However, relying on some ships replenished from the Southern Netherlands and the Atlantic Fleet, the Mediterranean Fleet finally regained a little bit of strength.In particular, the flagship of the Spanish Navy during the Downs Sea Battle, the "Santiago" with a displacement of 1200 tons and sixty light and heavy artillery was also transferred to the Mediterranean Sea. This ship can be called one of the most powerful warships in Spain and even in Europe. The arrival of the sea monster made Baron Guevara full of confidence in victory.

However, after actually entering the battle, Baron Guevara, who served as the fleet commander and commander-in-chief, only wanted to hang the captain of the "Saint Nicholas" who "lied about military information".God, they have four warships as powerful as the "Santiago", no, the number and caliber of artillery are stronger, and the range is better than that of the Spanish Navy.And it can be seen that the frequency of their naval training is far higher than that of the Spanish Navy, which can be seen from the frequency and accuracy of their artillery firing.These two indicators cannot be faked. If you want to improve, there is no shortcut. You can only rely on a lot of training, and this often means a lot of money-but the Spanish Navy has no money.

The enemy's four warships inserted obliquely into the Spanish fleet formation in a column formation, dividing a total of 36 Spanish ships into two halves.Each of these four warships has 8 terrifying 32-pound guns and 12 24-pound guns, while the mainstream artillery caliber of the Spanish Navy is only 8-pound and 12-pound guns. The number of 18-pound guns is very small. There will be 2-4 guns. As for the 24-pound naval gun, only the "San Diego" has 4 guns.With such a disparity in firepower, the fleet of the people on the east coast cut through the opponent's formation easily like a hot sharp knife into butter.

The four main battleships of the guerrilla fleet led by the "August 4" fired at the "Virgin Maria" and "San Salvador" on the left with their port artillery, and at the same time, the starboard artillery continued to fire at the ship that was turning awkwardly. The bow of the "Santiago" was bombarded, and its forecastle was smashed, causing casualties of many Spanish naval officers and soldiers.

The "August [-]" did not stop after shooting, but continued to move forward with full power, and rushed straight ahead towards the "San Miguel" and "San Francisco". On the left and right sides of a battleship, three or four two-masted battleships are hurriedly trying to approach, intending to surround the battleship formation of the people on the east coast, so that they will not penetrate the entire Spanish fleet and rush into the galleys and small transports behind. within the array of ships.

After the "August [-]th" charged forward, the "Free Trade" that followed it also fired several rounds of salvos under the command of Captain Guo Zili, and one of the chain bombs hit the ground firmly. It hit the canvas of the "San Diego", making a big gap in it.And a fiery bomb wrapped in tin foil also hit the spinnaker of the "San Salvador" on the left side of the mizzen, making it blaze, but the Spaniards were still well prepared, and they quickly lowered the sail. Then quickly extinguish the fire.

And after the four ships on the east bank passed by at high speed, the "San Diego" finally completed its turn.However, to Baron Guevara's dismay, his ship had just adjusted its course to the east by north, and soon the second wave of the East Coaster's assault fleet struck again.The assault fleet headed by the double-decker battleship "Cadiz Rock" with 44 cannons once again obliquely inserted into the gap, followed by four escort gunboats, with a total of 140 cannons. Heavy shelling was launched on the "Santiago", "Santa Maria" and "San Salvador".

At this time, the clumsy and tragic "San Diego" was facing about 30 degrees east by north, while the "Santa Maria" and "San Salvador" could only drift slowly on the sea because of the wrong wind direction and current direction. The captain was sweating profusely directing the sailors to turn around in order to catch up and block the four east coast battleships rushing left and right in their formation.However, after seeing the second wave of assault fleets approaching, the two ships wisely stopped turning, and began to shoot each other with the east coast assault fleet with port artillery.It's just that the firepower of the East Coast Fleet is too dense, and the training of the gunners is better than that of the Spaniards. Therefore, the mizzen mast of the "Virgin Mary" was quickly interrupted, and the top mast canvas was also damaged in a large area, forcing it to withdraw. fighting.

While Spain's most powerful warships were a little dizzy from the two waves of raids on the east coast, a huge fleet of 17 transport ships finally moved forward in the smoke of gunpowder on the sea, trying to break away from the entire battlefield.

Even though the sea was full of gunpowder and the sight was blurred, the Spaniards still guessed the idea of ​​the people on the east coast. The "Santiago" simply spread its sails and was wedged horizontally into the transport fleet on the east coast driven by the west wind. And forced the six east coast flute-shaped ships to change course, preparing to bypass the fighting area between the two sides from the southeast, and then flee.

The disruption of the "San Diego" immediately caused many variables in the East Coast Fleet's plan to break through.The four escort gunboats serving as the rear guard began to meet them and actively blocked the attack of the "San Diego". A total of 96 artillery pieces from their four ships were directed at the "San Diego" and the "St. Nicholas" and "St. The "Juan Baptista" launched a desperate struggle to buy time for the merchant fleet to evacuate quickly.

More than 20 warships from both sides engaged in a life-and-death battle in the Tyrrhenian Sea. For a while, the battle surface was covered by thick smoke from artillery firing. Even with the sea breeze blowing, the visibility was still very low.And this situation is obviously very unfavorable to the east coast escort fleet aiming to break through, because then the various ships may lose contact and fall into a melee.Especially those flute-shaped transport ships, each ship has only 4-6 small and medium-caliber artillery, so they can't fight any battles at all. If they encounter the opponent's galley or small transport ship full of army soldiers, they may be captured .

Under such circumstances, the battleship formation that had just pierced through the formation of the Spanish fleet and rushed to the periphery had to reluctantly give up the temptation to ravage the opponent's galley fleet, and instead turned against the wind with a small radius on the right that shocked the Spaniards. , Turned back again, and killed the Spaniard's "San Nicolas" and "San Juan Baptista", intending to get rid of these two little bugs first, and then rescue the merchant fleet.However, in this way, the plan of the east coast escort fleet to quickly break out of the siege was stranded, and a breakout battle turned into a war of attrition.

(End of this chapter)