The Hengshan was filled with thick smoke and turned around toward the open sea with its right rudder full.
Woohoo! As the whistle sounded, the Hengshan suddenly accelerated. The stern of the boat plowed out a large tumble of spray.
Theodore started, excitedly hammering the bulwark with his fist. He thought it was the shelling that caused the enemy ship to catch fire and billow out thick smoke. But he soon realized something was wrong. Because all smoke comes out of a chimney. After the smoke started, the ship suddenly accelerated. ww
Under normal circumstances, when the wind direction remains unchanged, turning will definitely slow down the speed. But the boat accelerated during the turn, and it was like seeing a ghost.
"Cake buyer, what did I see? Is this a battleship blessed by Satan?" First mate Benjamin trembled and made the sign of the cross.
The snow-white hull and sails of the Hengshan are in sharp contrast to the black skull and crossbones flag flying high on the top of the tallest mast. All this marks the ship as a pirate ship. Especially at the stern of the ship, there are two female officers wearing European rear admiral uniforms and three-cornered hats. One of them also wears a one-eyed dragon eyepatch. Proper pirate captain style.
"Oh my God, the pirates in East Asia actually have such powerful battleships, which are bigger than our first-class battleships and have even bigger guns." Second Officer Karl exclaimed.
The Hengshan quickly turned its bow, leaving its stern facing the Prince and three armed merchant ships. Then head out to sea.
"No, catch up immediately. Their guns should be eight-inch carronade cannons. We can't let them distance themselves."
At this time, the English fleet fired another salvo. This time, because it was static and dynamic shooting, and the Hengshan became vertical, the projection was greatly reduced. Only two 36-pounder cannon and ten 24-pounder cannon shells hit the stern and sides of the ship.
There was a loud bang, and a 36-pound shell hit the eight-inch armored steel plate on the bridge wall. It was directly ejected by the steel plate. There wasn't even a hole left in the steel plate.
Another shot hit the captain's cabin. It penetrated the floor-to-ceiling glass window of the captain's cabin at the rear, then shattered the captain's desk, then penetrated from the front, flew onto the deck, and smashed a soldier delivering ammunition to pieces.
The shell grazed the deck, jumped up, and fell into the sea with a thud.
Xiao Niangpi and Lin Yueru were so frightened that their faces turned pale. For the first time, they discovered that naval warfare could be so dangerous.
There is no safe place on the entire ship. If it weren't for the eight-inch steel armor surrounding the command platform, if the shell just hit it, looking at that position, at least the first officer would be gone.
After the steam engine started, coupled with the thrust of the sail, the ship quickly reached a speed of ten knots, left the bay exit at high speed, and entered the open sea.
Dong Tianpeng finally felt relieved. The shot just now scared him to death.
It wasn't that he was afraid, but that he had hurt his wife and he couldn't explain it. It's better this time. As long as we enter the open sea, there is plenty of room to move around. See how he kills these British guys.
However, he also woke up in his heart. He had fought too many battles with the wind and lost his vigilance. He rushed directly to such a close distance and was shot through the side by someone else's heavy artillery. Fortunately, there is a distance of more than 200 meters.
You know, in this era, when sailing warships dueled in Europe, they often bombarded them from a distance of sixty or seventy meters.
If we had just rushed within 100 meters, the opponent's 24-pounder cannon and 36-pounder cannon could penetrate our own warship. The loss is definitely greater.
Subsequently, the British also rushed out of the harbor. Four battleships fired at the Hengshan, which was five hundred meters away. At this distance, their artillery speed has seriously decreased. Several shots from the thirty-six-pounder gun hit the Hengshan, but none of them penetrated. One of them got stuck on the side of the ship, and the others bounced off.
"Madam, how do you plan to deal with these people? Use incendiary bombs to burn them directly. If you want to capture them, use solid bombs. Destroy their gun bunkers first. Then board the ship and fight hand-to-hand. However, I guess they will have mortars. These Large-caliber mortars will fire explosive shells, which is still a threat to us." Dong Tianpeng asked.
Xiao Niangpi thought about it, and she thought that if it were Yang Fan, he would choose to capture these people. Because she knew that the master was very concerned about the situation in Europe.
I said before that Europe is fighting a Thirty Years' War, but I don't know what the outcome is.
"Three armed merchant ships can be sunk, but this warship can be captured." Xiao Niangpi ordered.
Because she and Lin Yueru are rear admirals. Dong Tianpeng, whose military rank is higher than that of navy captain, is somehow higher. According to the principle of military rank, Xiao Niangpi has the right to command.
"Here! I will sink three small ones and capture one big one." Dong Tianpeng put his legs together and said loudly.
The Hengshan did not fight back in these rounds of shelling, but kept its distance and cruised in the distance, leaving Theodore a little confused. At this time, Earl Masfield also limped up.
"Dear Earl, I have to tell you honestly that we must give up the mission and retreat. At least this can avoid our unnecessary losses. We are no match for that huge pirate ship." Theodore said with some shame.
"No, no retreat is allowed. We have four ships, and they only have one. We are a first-class battleship. Our sailors are well-trained. Such a retreat will bring shame to His Majesty. I order you to open fire quickly and sink these damn pirates. Find the treasure." Earl Masfield was obviously irritated.
He was furious at his panic. In his opinion, the enemy caught him by surprise with a shameless sneak attack.
Didn’t you see the enemy ship running away in thick smoke after being hit? These cowardly fools.
He was still scolding his subordinates for their cowardice, but he didn't notice that the Hengshan had turned around.
At this time, the Hengshan ship had turned around and charged over again.
Because the Hengshan ship occupied the upwind direction, the sails on the three masts were filled with wind, and with the help of the steam engine, the speed instantly surged to 25 knots. The bow of the ship stirred up huge waves.
"Cake buyers, what's going on? How can they drive so fast?" Earl Masfield was shocked.
The Hengshan took advantage of its speed and cut diagonally towards the side of the British fleet. The gun windows of each battleship were narrow and the firing range was very narrow. Shooting range was soon lost. They also quickly turned the helm to prevent pirates from attacking their vulnerable stern. However, their turning speed is far inferior to that of the Hengshan.
Although they are on the inner circle, the Hengshan is on the outer circle. But the Hengshan was still ahead.
Five minutes later, the side of the Hengshan seized the word "T", and seventeen heavy guns on the side were aimed at the armed merchant ship Kraken.
A puff of smoke and fire shot out from the side. With a deafening loud noise. Ten fifty-pound shells hit the Kraken at three hundred meters.
The Kraken's mizzenmast and mainmast were hit by chain rounds. It was directly smashed into pieces of wood and sprayed towards the deck. The huge mast fell down with a loud noise, the main mast fell into the sea, and the mizzen mast fell to the deck, smashing the sailors on the deck who were manipulating the rigging below. The boat stopped suddenly.
