The big explosion of a twenty-four-pound explosive bomb in the gun bay of the Manila immediately turned the place filled with flammable and explosive items such as powder packets, ropes, planks, firewood, etc. into a burning hell. Hot flames were flying everywhere, and the air was filled with choking poisonous smoke, making it impossible to breathe.
The flames bursting out from the explosive bombs first ignited the gunpowder bag, and the fire was ignited instantly. The Spanish gunners and sailors, who were swept away by the shock wave generated by the explosion of the explosive bombs, had never encountered such a rapid fire. Faced with it, I didn't know how to deal with the hell-like scene in front of me, so I could only escape from the gun cabin by rolling and crawling.
The fire quickly got completely out of control. The wooden sailboat was full of flammable materials. The water was first dried by the hot air, and then rolled over by the flames, turning into a ball of flames!
In order not to be swallowed up by the flames, the Spanish sailors who rushed onto the deck had no choice but to abandon the ship and jump into the sea like dumplings.
A two- to three-hundred-ton light Galen ship cruising near the Manila was not aware of the danger (at this time, the Spaniards had not yet realized that their fleet was being bombarded by the enemy with explosive bombs), so when it got close, it burned into a fireball. Manila, trying to salvage the crew members who fell into the water. As a result, as soon as it approached the Manila, it became the second victim because it was illuminated by the fire!
The Ming army's twelve 24-pound cannons quickly aimed their muzzles at the light Galen. However, after three salvos, a 24-pound shell hit the forecastle deck of the Galen ship. superior.
With a loud "boom", the "head" of the Galen ship exploded again, and a large ball of fire exploded!
"This is..." Admiral Garcia looked at the Galen ship with its "head" on fire, and his mouth was so wide that he could stuff his fist into it.
It used to be the "ship's butt", but now it's the "ship's head". Neither of these two parts are flammable or explosive, so why are they exploding now? Could it be that the crew of this little Galen placed the powder keg on the forecastle deck? Spanish sailors wouldn't be so stupid, right?
"boom!"
While Admiral Garcia was still dazed, another round of explosive shells exploded on the stern of the ship, which had a small chance of having its head on fire!
"Admiral... the Chinese are firing explosive bombs!" Barbossa had already reacted. "Oh God! They have a reliable explosive bomb! How did they do it? God, they How is it done?”
Of course someone opened the golden finger! Zhu Cixiang did not have a super memory, and he was not a skilled worker or manufacturing engineer in his previous life, so he did not have many golden fingers.
But he still knew the concepts of sleeve bayonets, fixed ammunition, mini bullets, fuze tubes, shell fins, and pointed bullets. However, knowing concepts and creating reliable products cannot be equated. Some concepts are just a layer of paper, and it is not difficult to break through them. For example, sleeve bayonets, fixed ammunition, and Minie bullets are not difficult to obtain.
These three items were developed by Zhu Cixi very early. Among them, the sleeve bayonet and fixed ammunition have long been popular. The minie ammunition was not yet mass-produced by Ming Dynasty's iron factory with reliable rifled guns, so Zhu Cixi ordered it to be hidden. ——In this era, Europe already had relatively reliable rifled guns, the most famous of which was the Minin rifle. Zhu Cixiang has ordered copycats, but they have not yet successfully achieved mass production... so the minie bombs cannot be produced, because it is much easier to copy minie bombs than copycat rifles!
The fuze tube, the shell fin and the pointed bullet are all used to improve the blooming projectile. The fuze tube has been produced a long time ago, and the shell fin has been changed again and again, and finally turned into a bullet holder. The idea of Mine bullet is similar. Yes, it's just that the wooden support needs to be fixed on the cannonball. The pointed warhead is not yet mature due to casting problems.
However, during actual use, the improved blooming bullets also encountered the problem that the shells were easily crushed by excessive chamber pressure, so they could not be used on long-barreled artillery (cannons). Therefore, at the beginning, this kind of wooden support bullet was not popular and could only be used on mortars. It was not until the siege of Beijing that the emergence of the Hongxing 6-year-old 24-pound short-barreled gun (actually a kind of howitzer) solved the problem of no cannons with shells on wooden supports.
The battle where the Muto bombs shined was undoubtedly the Battle of Dinghai Anchorage that took place in the early morning of the third day of August in the ninth year of Hongxing.
The Spanish fleet that successfully raided the anchorage should have won a great victory, but now it tragically became a living target for the 12 24-pound short-barreled guns. In a very short period of time, two galenic ships were lost, one of which was a valuable medium-sized galenic ship, and hundreds of sailors were still uncertain whether they were alive or dead. The loss of the sailors troubled the Spanish more than the loss of the ships. Feeling distressed!
"Admiral! We can't let the fleet be a living target!" Colonel Barbosa, who realized that his opponent had a new type of explosive bomb, knew that the Armada's curse of defeat was about to strike again, so he quickly said to Admiral Garcia, "Send the retreat signal." Signal it!”
"No!" Garcia immediately vetoed Barbosa's proposal, "We have to destroy those 12 Galen ships...otherwise we will have to retreat from the west coast of the Pacific, and we will not be able to stop them from entering the New World!"
"But the enemy's explosive shells..."
"Send the signal, retreat first, and then reorganize!"
Boom boom!
When Garcia gave the order, another four to five hundred-ton Galen ship was hit by explosive bombs on the stern, and a fire broke out from the butt of the ship! However, this ship had much better luck than the previous two ships, because it was hit while retreating. There was a northeasterly wind blowing on the sea, so the sailboat could flee with the wind and soon left the effective range of the 24-pound short-barreled gun. There are not many flammable and explosive items in the stern of Galen's ship. As long as we put out all our efforts, we can still save it.
De Velasco, who had just captured a medium-sized armed galenic ship, now had to give up the spoils he had just obtained!
However, he would not return the warship to the Ming army intact. Before evacuating, he ordered people to light the most flammable ropes on the ship. Burning ropes would not necessarily cause a fire large enough to destroy the entire ship, but the flames would still make the sailboat a target for arson bombs.
Although the Spanish encountered a military revolution in the Battle of Dinghai Anchorage and became the target of explosive bombs, from a tactical perspective, the surprise attack was still a success!
Dinghai Anchorage was indeed a very bad naval base option in the era of sailing battleships. There were too many waterways in and out, and there were too many islands blocking the view, making it impossible to defend against. Moreover, this is an important trading port and the place where merchant ships from the south must pass before entering Shanghai Port. There are too many merchant ships from various countries coming and going, and there is no way to keep it secret...
If the Ming army had not possessed revolutionary explosive ammunition, the Battle of Dinghai would have ended in a disastrous defeat for the Ming army!
But tonight, new weapons change the outcome of the battle!
boom!
At the same time as there was a loud noise, De Velasco, who was originally standing on the stern deck of the Pacific Star, was suddenly thrown up by the air waves, and then fell heavily to the deck amidships. Not only did he see stars, And every bone and muscle in the body was trembling, as if falling apart!
The Pacific Star's butt was also blown open and set on fire!
However, the sailboat has completed its turn and partially deployed its sails. Now it can quickly move away from the terrible explosive bombs with the northeast wind.
As long as it can stay farther away, the Spanish Eastern Armada can save some face.
After all, the opponent's heavy artillery is not large in number. The reason why the attack is so accurate now is because it is close. As long as it is farther away and then uses the artillery with an absolute advantage in quantity to fire arson bombs, it should be able to burn down all twelve Ming Dynasty naval ships on the dock. warship...
But what about after burning twelve Ming army warships? After winning the naval battle, does Garcia dare to return to Manila Bay?
The terrain of Manila Bay is actually not much better than that of Dinghai Anchorage. The entrance of the bay is too wide (compared to the front-mounted smoothbore cannon) and cannot prevent the intrusion of the Ming army fleet armed with explosive ammunition!
