"Why let them go? With the speed of the Brest, it is not difficult to find and pursue those warships."
This was York's question about Zhu Zaiming's order to stop the Brest's pursuit.
The Ming-French Combined Fleet made a big fanfare to cause trouble for the British. They thought they would be harsh, but who knew they just ran over and slapped them.
"Naturally let them bring the news back, let the British gather more fleets, and then decide the outcome in a battle!"
Zhu Zaiming groped his smooth chin and explained his thoughts.
How many battleships did the British have in the East? There are 25 main sailing battleships and more than 100 other small and medium-sized battleships. If you include armed merchant ships, it can be said to be countless.
If there are so many warships to be wiped out by the Brest, it will take until the year of the monkey and the horse.
Moreover, when the results of last night's naval battle came out, Zhu Zaiming's face turned dark.
Although there are negative effects of night battles, although the Navy has only trained for three months, although the hit rate of naval artillery battles is extremely low.
But Zhu Zaiming is still unhappy. That miserable shooting rate may last for a long time.
Although the speed can be used to quickly close the distance between the two sides and improve the hit rate, it violates the original intention of training troops.
A century-old navy is indeed not easy to build.
When the news reached Sydney, William almost jumped out of his chair.
The Ming Navy broke through the blockade and the guerrilla fleet fled without a fight...
When these two pieces of news were combined, William roared angrily: "Where's Ragnar? Why doesn't he dare to see me?"
The messenger was so frightened that he trembled and told what happened that night.
Steel battleship, super artillery, 18 knots speed...
William laughed angrily as he listened to these mythical stories.
This planet has been visited all over by navigators, and they know very well the technological level of civilizations in various places.
Even the mysterious ancient Eastern country occupies a huge population advantage.
Ignorant people, inefficient handicraft workshops, Manchu and Qing officials immersed in their dreams... everything here shows the decadence and backwardness of the East.
But you told me that the Ming Dynasty, which was driven away by the Qing Dynasty, actually built the battleships imagined by science fiction writers!
I'm not stupid yet!
William waved his hand, telling the messenger to get out, and summoned the generals to discuss countermeasures.
Now that the Ming Dynasty has broken through the blockade, it will destroy this fleet at sea and send the army to the sea to feed the fish.
The Ming army sweeping away the natives in the mountains is real, and the Ming army fleet on the sea is also real.
This is not an attack in the east and west, but a pincer-shaped offensive in both land and water.
William quickly made arrangements.
The army remained stationary, guarding against a land attack.
The navy, which had gathered to attack the Xinxiang City port, changed its strategy and entered Australia Bay to find the Ming Dynasty navy for a decisive battle.
Fifteen days later, the two sides met in Australia Bay.
The three giant steel ships had no choice but to slow down in order to keep up with the huge sailing fleet.
William assembled warships from all over Southeast Asia, plus a large number of armed merchant ships, and the fleet size reached an astonishing number of more than 600 ships.
When the two fleets gradually emerged from the skyline, more than 800 warships from both sides filled the entire sea area, and there were white sails everywhere they looked.
Collingwood, commander of the British Empire's naval fleet, began to direct the battleships to form a battle formation.
The British Empire has coveted Xinxiang City for a long time. For this war, Collingwood was sent to the Far East to blockade Australia.
At the same time, Nelson was sent to lead the expedition fleet into the East, join the East India Company's warships, and launch a complete attack on the French colonies in Southeast Asia.
At this time, Nelson began to siege Toulon in 1794, experienced the Battle of Cape St. Vincent and the Battle of Aboukir Bay, and achieved great victories against the French fleet.
Nelson, the one-eyed and one-armed Admiral of the British Empire, is a household name in Europe today.
The British Empire sent Nelson to the Far East with the determination to win.
At this time, his good partner Collingwood was one step ahead of him and began to attack the Mingfa combined fleet.
Both sides had a tacit understanding and began to enter the same flight battle.
The huge fleet was arranged in two columns, 2 nautical miles apart, traveling in the same direction.
At noon, the difficult formation adjustment ended and the two sides began to approach.
At this time, Collingwood also discovered three giant steel ships hidden behind the fleet.
The third Dingyuan ship released its boiler restrictions, thick black smoke began to rise, and its huge body passed through the queue of the Ming and French coalition forces at an alarming speed.
"It's the Brest!"
The sailors who had experienced that night's battle screamed in horror. At the same time, they were even more surprised by the other two larger battleships.
Only the Brest fought with the guerrilla fleet that night. The Dingyuan and Zhenyuan followed up in the rear and did not engage in battle.
At this time, when the more than 90-meter Dingyuan-class battleship entered the field of vision of both sides.
Collingwood understood that the sailors were not lying.
At the same time, he also arranged a plan that he thought was correct.
As Nelson's good partner, Collingwood also has the courage to lead by example.
The flagship Warrior broke away from the team with 6 first-class sailing battleships, preparing to circle south, insert directly into the rear of the Ming and French combined fleets, and bombard the transport ships.
This is already all the first-class sailing battleships currently assembled in Australia.
Facing a giant steel ship, even a fool understands that these front-mounted solid projectile artillery cannot break through the defense of thick steel armor.
In this naval battle, the British Empire would lose at least 70% of the time, and the 30% victory rate still relied on a numerical advantage of 600:200.
Still, naval battles have always been decisive battles between the main forces. In terms of the number of capital ships, although the British Empire has an advantage, this advantage will be wiped out by giant steel ships.
In order for Sydney to hold on longer, sinking the transport ship is the best way.
Shen Yulong, Admiral of the Ming Dynasty, saw his intention and ordered the Brest to intercept it.
The fastest speed of the Dingyuan-class battleship is only 14 knots, while the Brest can reach 19 knots, making it the best candidate to intercept the Warrior formation.
The first to fire were the Dingyuan and Zhenyuan. The 16th Regiment's fire suddenly appeared, and the main and secondary guns opened fire in sequence. The two battleships were shrouded in smoke.
The shells fell across a distance of 3 kilometers into the British Imperial Navy fleet.
Due to the emphasis on intensive broadside firepower in this era, battleships were arranged very densely.
Dingyuan and Zhenyuan, under the unified command of the shipboard lighting and semaphore systems, achieved results in the first salvo.
16 shells covered an area, and a sailing battleship was hit. The shells penetrated the planks, exploded in the cabin, and detonated the gunpowder barrel.
With just a loud bang, the battleship turned into a fireball. The huge explosion blew away the gun barrel, and splinters of wood and broken limbs were scattered everywhere.
Such a scene attracted naval soldiers from both sides, especially the salvo of Dingyuan-class battleships, which was very shocking.
The two closest warships were civilian armed merchant ships owned by the East India Company. The quality of the sailors was not up to that of the Royal Navy of the British Empire.
They scrambled in panic. One warship even wanted to break away from the team and escape, but was blocked by armed merchant ships from the side and could not advance or retreat.
The main gun of the Dingyuan-class battleship has a standard firing interval of three minutes. However, the poor training of the Ming Navy and French sailors forced this time to be extended to 5 minutes.
The distance of 3 kilometers between the two sides was shortened to 500 meters within ten minutes. The Dingyuan only conducted four bombardments and sank two sail battleships.
As time passed, the distance between the sail battleship columns on both sides came within 500 meters, and the artillery began to fire.
On the sea, the battle lines stretching for several kilometers were shrouded in the smoke of artillery.
