The formation of the British fleet changed in this way, and the British battleships that were surrounded at the beginning expanded rapidly to the two wings, forming a horizontal formation and the warships of the Huaxing Army to fight side by side.But James forgot that of his twenty fleets, only ten were ironclad warships, and the other ten were all merchant ships.After the two ironclad frigates were sunk, the remaining eighteen battleships had to face the twenty ironclad warships of the Huaxing Army.Zheng Dahai and Wang Zhenyuan, respectively, stood on the bow of the Taishan and Huashan and looked straight ahead.In the afterglow of the setting sun, the red robes behind the two were whirring in the sea breeze, and their faces were all high-spirited.After dealing with the two ironclad battleships of the British army, the warships of the Huaxing army have maintained an absolute superiority.Because the British army was not prepared in time, it was suppressed by the main artillery of the Huaxing army and could not raise its head.Although the power of the Broken General is huge, the launch speed is very slow.First, the chamber of the cannon must be loaded with propellant, and then the shells of more than 300 catties must be loaded into the barrel with hoisting equipment, and it will take nearly three minutes before and after.Therefore, when the two sides broke through the distance of two thousand meters, each battleship fired a maximum of two shells.At this time, the British breech artillery technology was quite mature, and the firing range was also more than three thousand meters.After changing formations, the eighteen battleships quickly turned their bows and aimed their side at the Huaxing Army's battleships.The warships of the Huaxing Army also quickly turned their bows and fought parallel to the British warships.The two extra ships flanked the British fleet from both flanks."
Boom, boom, boom" The eighteen British warships were the first to fire, and bursts of sparks suddenly appeared from the side side, and the black round shells smashed at the fleet of the Huaxing Army like raindrops.The angle of the first batch of shells was not adjusted, and the eighteen battleships fired hundreds of shells, and only a few of them killed the warships of the Chinese Xingjun.At a distance of almost a thousand meters, the power of the shells clearly decreased considerably.The iron armor of the Huaxing warship is ten centimeters thick, and the penetration of the iron ball is like a mosquito tickling.After the warships of the Huaxing Army turned their bows, the guns on the side also opened fire one after another.It is the same artillery, but there is a big difference between the two sides.The artillery of the Huaxing Army is the latest rapid-fire artillery, because the shells and the firing gunpowder are integrated, which greatly increases the firing speed, and can fire ten shells per minute.After the first round of shells fired, the British battleship had to clean the chamber with a stick, then reload the gunpowder cartridge, then reload the round shell, and then ignite the gunpowder cartridge, and finally the shell was pushed out of the chamber by the huge explosive force, which could only fire three shells per minute.After the warships of the Huaxing Army returned fire, the British battleships were soon covered with a dense barrage of shells.During the period when the British artillery was reloading, the Huaxing battleship fired three shells from each gun.Explosions rang out, billowing black smoke rose into the sky, and fierce flames roared in the sea breeze.In the future, the wind and waves on the sea will be even more rolling, and even the huge warships will be swayed from side to side with fear.Ten wooden commercial warships of the British army were the first to catch fire, and were directly blown to pieces by the dense shells.The chaotic battlefield was suddenly much quieter, and the British battleships were badly damaged, leaving eight ironclad battleships, completely surrounded by the fleet of the Huaxing Army.James had formed a phalanx of battleships, ready to break out before night fell.Where are the warships of the Huaxing Army allowed the fat to be thrown away, and the two extra battleships have completely blocked the back road.The other eighteen ships soon closed in a circle, completely enclosing the British warships."
God, where did these yellow people get these strong ships and cannons, could it be that the French sold them to them" James looked at the ironclad battleships on all sides, and tears were about to come out.He was originally a royal nobleman who came to India to serve as a naval commander, just to gild it.is ready to have a good future in the officialdom in the future, who knows that today's battle is a battle of life and death.The only opponent he could think of was France, and he still insisted in his heart that it was impossible for the yellow race to invent such a powerful weapon."
Colonel, don't panic, night will fall soon, as long as it gets dark, the Huaxing army can't help us, we can definitely break through while the night is dark" Steven also regretted his carelessness just now, allowing the Huaxing army's warship raid to succeed.Now the gap in strength between the two sides is too big, and they can't fight hard anymore, so they can only hope for a breakthrough."
I hope I can make it until dark."
James muttered in a trembling voice and prayed to God.God did not appear after all, and the ships of the Huaxing Army relied on suppressive firepower and rushed directly within a thousand meters.The artillery of both sides fired intensively, and the hit rate suddenly increased dramatically.Shells continued to hit the battleships, and several ironclad ships of the British fleet were flooded by the shells.The sailors on the ship hurriedly blocked it with planks and quilts, but where could they block the pressure of the seawater, and soon the entire cabin was filled with seawater.The British artillery shells were also constantly returning fire, but with little effect, and many artillery pieces had been blown up by the shells fired by the Huaxing army.The crew members were either killed or were busy plugging leaks and fighting fires, and there was still time to fire guns.Their artillery can only organize the Huaxing army and cannot move forward, if it is not for nightfall, it is estimated that it will all sink in another hour."
It's time to end" Zheng Dahai looked at the sunset that was about to set in the sky, and finally decided to use the killer weapon of the naval warship."
Dudu" The South China Sea Fleet also sounded the whistle, and Wang Zhenyuan thought of it with him at the same moment."
Heralds, all warships have orders" Zheng Dahai shouted at the herald behind him, his voice full of irrepressible excitement.This is also the first practice of the killer feature, and even Zheng Dahai doesn't know how powerful it is."
All have orders" heralds quickly waved the command flag at the heralds on the mast.Soon, the heralds on the masts of the ten battleships all got the news and waved the command flags in their hands one after another."
Torpedo launch" Zheng Dahai almost popped out four words from his mouth, his eyes looked straight ahead, and narrowed into a straight line.The heralds on the mast of "torpedo launch" shouted loudly, and then all waved the command flags in their hands.The navy's killer weapon was finally revealed, and a small tree-like cannonball was thrown from the side of each warship of the Huaxing Army almost simultaneously.Unlike ordinary shells, it was a battleship that swam quickly towards Britain in the sea."
Brothers, hold on until dark, we'll be able to break through in no time" Steve was still below the deck of the command ship, constantly cheering on the artillery.Because the command ship was hiding in the rear, it was also the least damaged, and it still maintained considerable combat effectiveness."
Look, what's that" The British Navy on the deck was attracted by the foreign object under the water, and when the two sides were two hundred meters apart, the foreign object looked like a fish swimming quickly.James also looked curiously at the fish-like unknown object, and saw that it was about to swim up against his command ship."
Are the Chinese really crazy, do they want to crash my warship at such a slow speed" A sneer appeared on James's face, looking up at the sunset in the sky, at this time the sky and earth were about to be shrouded in darkness again.Before James could come back to his senses, there was a sudden earth-shattering roar from the bottom of the hull, and even the entire command ship shook violently, almost overturned by the huge impact.The gray sky suddenly splashed with sparks, and the firelight was unusually dazzling when night came."
The ship is sinking, run for your life" "God, what's going on" "The cabin is flooded, come quickly" The eight ironclad battleships of the British army capsized one after another, and after the first class broke, there was a loud gurgling sound, as if a bone had been broken in the middle.The surviving British soldiers were in disarray, crying out for help, on fire, barricaded in bed compartments, cries mingled, but were soon swallowed up by the icy sea.After the torpedo exploded, the entire bottom of the ship was blown in half.Under the pressure of the seawater, the boiling sea water poured in, and soon the entire cabin was submerged.The battleship, which was already badly damaged, had no room to remedy it now, and only held out at sea for less than ten minutes, and was soon completely swallowed up by the sea.All the Huaxing army and navy gathered on the deck to watch this amazing scene, and no one expected that this torpedo would be so powerful.When the fire was completely extinguished, the officers and men of the navy recovered from the shock."
Victory, victory, victory" Wang Zhenyuan and Zheng Dahai took the lead in raising their arms and shouting, this was the first battle of their ocean-going battle.It took only one afternoon to completely annihilate 20 British warships, which greatly increased the confidence of all the officers and men in victory.The steam gas torpedo brought by Qiao Zhiqing appeared in the world thirty years ahead of schedule.Although the technology is still very imperfect, and the maximum firing range is only more than 1,500 meters, it is enough to catch the British army off guard.The torpedo is not like a cannonball, it falls in a parabolic line in the air, and the accuracy is very difficult to master.It itself parades in the sea, because of the installation of gyroscopes, which when traveling in a completely straight line.As long as the warships of the two sides are facing each other, the torpedoes can hit them with unmistakable accuracy.Just now, the officers and men of the British fleet were still snickering, secretly saying that the Huaxing army did not know how to fight, and even let the ships face them straight to increase the hit rate of their shells.Their shells only smashed a few small grooves in the Huaxing battleship, but the Huaxing army's torpedoes sent their battleship to God in its entirety."
Colonel James, wake up, the Huaxing Army has evacuated" In the dark, on a lifeboat, a young man with a whole body kept pressing the chest of the middle-aged man under him."
Poof" The middle-aged man's body shook suddenly, and he spit out a lot of seawater from his mouth when he stood up."
Am I dead, is this heaven?"
it took a long time for the middle-aged man to sit up and look at the dark night sky in confusion.Under the moonlight, the sea was unusually quiet, and only a dozen people on the lifeboat were left facing each other, all sighing with bitter faces
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