There has never been such an unprecedented war in the history of war in Central America, and Iquique has completely turned into a purgatory.
The two fleets on the sea faced each other in the north and south directions, arranged in two parallel lines more than two thousand meters apart, and were pouring firepower at each other desperately.
The power of the 24-pounder cannon is not exaggerated. Every time it fires a salvo, you can see the entire hull shaking violently. The Esmedale is the warship with the largest tonnage and the most powerful firepower in this war. Every time it fires a salvo, it will It can form a black cloud that covers the entire battleship, and the huge vibrations create countless ripples on the sea. All fish that can escape on the seabed have already escaped.
"Salvo...Starboard volley concentrated fire attack...The Juanasca is already on fire! They can't hold on for long...Keep firing!"
The Peruvian army on the opposite side also went crazy. All the warships displayed a flag: "Concentrate fire and destroy the Esmedale! Destroy the enemy's flagship regardless of casualties!"
Shoot, reload, shoot again, reload... hit, start fire, put out fire, hit again, put out fire again! This naval battle has turned into a fixed death loop. By the end of the fight, the naval soldiers have become completely indifferent machines, only instinctively completing the familiar actions they have been trained to do.
After the artillery battle lasted for half an hour, the Peruvian Navy, which had a superior number of warships, gradually suppressed the Chilean fleet. Even the old sailing battleships had quietly moved to the west of the battlefield, forming an attack posture on the flank of the Chilean Navy.
This time the parallel fire situation was broken. The Peruvian Navy had formed an L-shaped firing array on the sea, and they attempted to break through from the west side of the Chilean Navy.
The pressure on the left wing of the Chilean Navy has increased unprecedentedly. They must allocate part of their firepower to deal with the changing sail warships. Now the flagship Esmedale in the central area has suffered more artillery fire.
When later generations analyzed this war, they found it a bit incredible that it was clearly an era of pure ironclad naval battles, but the commanders of both sides subconsciously adopted the same tactic, which was beheading.
The two armies were like two cavalrymen in the Middle Ages. Everyone focused their firepower on the other side's commander, leaving the two flagships alone for a duel.
Now the Esmedale and Juanasca have become two blazing fire ships. The iron armor on the side of the opposite side has been scorched, and even huge gaps have been blown out in some areas, exposing the white wood. Stubble.
These are not pure iron-clad giant ships. These are transitional products of the iron-clad ship era. It is not easy for them to survive such a high-intensity battle until now.
The Chilean naval admiral looked at the enemy fleet with angry eyes, and then looked at the soldiers who were fighting desperately on land, and a sad feeling of a hero's end came to his heart.
He ordered in the deepest voice, "The Esmedale... prepare to charge! Prepare the port side for salvo fire... We will rush forward and kill the Juanasca with close range shooting and hand-to-hand combat! Prepare to charge... …”
"General..." the surrounding officers exclaimed, "We can retreat first! We have tried our best to this point in the battle. The enemy is outnumbered and we are not guilty of war. Let's retreat!"
"Shut up! Retreat? Do we still have a way out! The army is fighting desperately, but you say retreat? I will shoot you..." The roaring captain was about to draw his gun, but fortunately the surrounding officers rushed forward to stop him.
"Look..." The commander pointed at the burning Esmedalai with a trembling hand. "Can we still escape? It's already in such tatters that we can't escape even if we want to!"
At this moment, there was a loud bang, and the battleship shook violently, followed by a noise on the deck outside, "The boiler room has been shot... Call the military doctor quickly, the boiler room has been shot, there are countless casualties..."
There was no retreat for the Esmedale, and everyone present fell silent. Soon, the respective signal flags were flying on the flagship mast, and this injured behemoth on the sea began to turn around and prepare to launch a fatal charge.
Before the change of formation, the Chilean Navy was on the south side of the battlefield, with its bow facing the west, while the bow of the Peruvian Navy in the north faced the east. Both sides actually used their starboard artillery to bombard the enemy, and the port artillery was not used.
At that time, people did not have the awareness of arranging battleship artillery on the central axis. Although it was an iron-clad battleship, the artillery was still placed on the left and right sides, but the angle could be rotated and adjusted within a limited angle. But there is absolutely no unparalleled design like the Zhiyuan's main gun that can rotate 360 degrees.
Although this old-fashioned layout has enhanced combat effectiveness due to the improvement of artillery craftsmanship, it is only an enhancement and will never achieve an epoch-making improvement like the Zhiyuan.
Of course, another advantage of this artillery layout is that it can implement the assault tactics commonly used in the era of sail battleships, that is to say, abandon the T-shaped shooting array and quickly penetrate into the enemy's fleet. Within the shortest distance, the left and right sides A dense volley of artillery fire.
There are often classic scenes like this in later film and television works, in which two warships pass each other, the closest distance is less than three meters, and then the artillery rumbles at each other, and the entire screen is filled with smoke, fire, and wood debris.
And now the Esmedale is about to implement such primitive assault tactics. It is going to use its port-side artillery, which has not yet been put into combat, to conduct a beheading operation on the enemy's flagship.
After all, the Esmedale had a displacement of 500 tons more than the Juasca, the thickness of the armor, and the power provided by the boiler were both more powerful. Although it was riddled with holes, its basic performance was not damaged much.
The warship drew a curved arc on the sea, and the bow of the ship, which was heading toward the west, turned north and rushed toward the flagship of the Peruvian Navy.
"The boiler is pressurized...the shells are loaded...waiting for the firing order...brave soldiers! The decisive battle is today!"
The Juasca also understood the opponent's intention. "No...these Chileans are going to burn the boat! They are going to die together...Change the posture, we also rush up, and prepare the volley on the port side! Since they want to choose the knight-like A glorious duel, we will give him this opportunity..."
The heavy bow pierces and splits the waves, the heroic sailors shout the slogan of victory, the desperate commander throws his life behind, the God of War has dropped the dice, but now no one can see the final size.
The two flagships were followed closely by other armored ships. Now the formation on the entire sea was in chaos. There was only one fanatical thought in the minds of all the soldiers: "Charge forward and tear the enemy to pieces even with a broadside battle!"
The navy is indeed a glorious branch. The vast sea, isolation, and a place of life and death make these people never lack the courage to fight. Compared with the indigenous soldiers in the army who are just dawdling, we have to admit that this army is formed by the descendants of white immigrants. The two navies are quite excellent.
Regardless of victory or defeat, they at least showed the spirit that soldiers should have!
