After just one encounter, less than half an hour, the Pyrenees had already lost its combat effectiveness. In the entire battle, this pure iron-clad battleship did not fire a single shot, and was tortured to death by the Zhiyuan.
The battleship had already tilted a little in the wind and waves, and the final power took the battleship away from the battlefield and fled to Spike Island, which was not far away. However, the so-called not far away was still a full five kilometers away. God knows whether it would be stranded in advance.
The remaining five battleships had gone completely berserk. These French sailors turned all their anger into dense artillery shells and began to bombard the Zhiyuan indiscriminately.
Although the design style of the ironclad battleships of this era has changed, the overall strategy and tactics are no different from the sail battleships of the past.
This is an era of alternation between the old and the new, a transitional era of upgrading from sailing battleships to armored giant ships. On this difficult upgrade path, the power of tradition is still very powerful.
Countless designers will still subconsciously follow the mature design plans of the past, such as arranging the artillery on the sides, increasing the number of artillery as much as possible, etc.
It’s not that no one has studied those rotatable turrets, but how to rotate? What angle of rotation? Is it arranged along the central axis or left and right? There is no unified standard for these issues.
Precisely because there is no unified idea, countless designers can only choose the old solution, because this solution will at least ensure that there is less error.
For example, the Glorious has a 120mm rotatable main gun at the bow and stern. The remaining cannons are all divided into two sides, with 18 150mm cannons on the left and right.
This design is actually a complete continuation of the design idea of the sail battleship. If you want to give full play to its combat effectiveness, you have to expose the sides of the battleship and fire 18 artillery salvos. This can increase the firepower and improve accuracy.
However, it was precisely this design that made this kind of battleship extremely vulnerable during the battle formation change process. The tragedy of the Pyrenees happened during the entire battle formation change process.
You must know that the main guns of the Zhiyuan are completely arranged along the central axis, and can fire freely at 180-degree angles from left to right. Although the bow of the ship just charged directly into the enemy formation, the main guns at the stern of the battleship cannot function, but the twin guns at the bow alone The 210mm main gun installed is enough for the enemy to drink a pot.
Taking advantage of the enemy's chaotic formation and being unable to fire, the Zhiyuan seized the opportunity to fire continuously and boldly used it from a long distance. Only then did it win a good start and a full house of applause!
But before Lin Zhen and others could cheer, the enemy's vengeful bullets rained down on them.
"Be careful... squat down..." Lin Zhen knew something was wrong when he saw a line of fire flashing in the distance. He yelled subconsciously, then pressed down the soldiers beside him and squatted on the ground.
Almost at the same time, the shells hit the bow of the Reach and the sea on both sides like hailstones.
Boom boom boom... Explosions came one after another, and the entire bow of the Zhiyuan was shrouded in flames. Of course, more shells hit the sea. The water columns set off by the explosions shot straight into the sky, and the waves even splashed Xiang Ying all over.
At that moment, Xiang Ying also squatted down and hid his body in the armored command tower. He only heard a jingling sound as exploding shells hit the armor outside the command tower.
The armor of the command tower is two inches thick, so of course it is not afraid of these fragments, but Xiang Ying is worried about the fighting sailors at the bow of the ship!
After a round of explosions, Xiang Ying stood up and lay on the armored iron plate while the French reloaded in the distance and looked down.
"Lin Zhen! Are you dead? How are the casualties among the brothers? Are there any breathing..."
The words stopped abruptly! The scene on the bow of the ship at this moment made him extremely calm, and Xiang Ying's breathing became heavy!
There is no way to describe his mood at this moment. The two completely opposite emotions of grief and joy are strangely blended together!
Since the Zhiyuan has always been heading straight towards the enemy's formation with its bow facing the enemy, this time all the enemy's bullets were fired at the bow.
After all, the battleship is long and narrow, and the bow area is not large, so the bomb impact surface is relatively small. The French just fired a salvo, and at least ninety shells hit it head-on. Although most of them were exploded in the sea water, Ten shells also hit the bow of the Zhiyuan.
Ten high-explosive shells exploded at the bow of the ship. The fire was so bright that even the French army landing on the beach could see it. Those soldiers were cheering excitedly. It seemed that they would see the sinking of the Zhiyuan in the next second!
Is the Zhiyuan miserable? The answer is yes. The explosion of these ten shells turned the bow of the ship into a mess. The more than 20 sailors who had just fought on the bow of the ship were now gone.
Some of them were thrown directly into the sea by the air waves, and some were blown to pieces. Xiang Ying even saw several brothers being knocked to the bridge, covered in blood and about to die!
All the glass in the command module was shattered, and fragments of ammunition flew in and were pinned to the chart on the wall!
The tragic scene is unbearable to watch!
Such a tragic scene made Xiang Ying extremely sad, but the next second his emotions were replaced by a wave of ecstasy from the heart!
"Hahaha, my goodness! These old-fashioned Prussians who don't know how to adapt have actually created a miracle! My goodness! A miracle!"
A layman can only watch the fun, but an expert can see the secret! In such a round of shelling, although the Zhiyuan suffered heavy losses with corpses everywhere, but...but the most incredible miracle is that the entire structure of the ship's bow was actually unscathed!
That's right! The entire ship structure of the Zhiyuan was actually unscathed!
The burning flames had turned the bow of the ship into incomparable darkness. The shells that hit the steel plate of the armor dented Zhiyuan's armor more than an inch deep!
But whether it's blackened or dented, after all, the structure of the Zhiyuan has not been damaged, not even a single steel plate has been penetrated!
The twin turrets had protective steel plates. Lin Zhen stood up unsteadily from the three-inch-thick steel plate. His ears were almost deafened, and the whole world was buzzing at him.
"Bah, bah, bah... Gou Ri's firepower is quite strong? What are you saying... speak louder... you haven't eaten, I asked you to speak louder..."
Lin Zhen roared for a long time before the dizziness in his head gradually dissipated. When he turned around and looked at the corpses of his brothers who died tragically, angry flames burst out from his eyes.
"Damn it! You're bullying me with your cannons, aren't you? Reload! Double high-explosive... hit the fucking flagship!"
"Double high-explosive! Reload...the medicine pack is fifty times two...rapid fire!"
Boom... The Zhiyuan, whose bow was blackened, after a brief period of dizziness, once again sprayed out angry flames!
