Admiral Tasman of the Eight-Nation Allied Forces Fleet stayed in the North Goto Bay among the Goto Islands due to physical discomfort, and by the way supervised the construction of the defense facilities in the North Goto Bay. The left vice-admiral Zheng Jiangong was commanding the landing operations. Therefore, on the evening of February 18, the 10th year of the Hongxing reign of the Ming Dynasty, those who commanded the main fleet to cover the landing in Kagoshima Bay were the fleet's right vice-admiral David Jones and chief of staff Shen Shiwen. Two people.
David Jones was originally the captain of the Dutch Navy, and later experienced the "Japanese-Mongolian Naval War" (the Ming Dynasty fleet under the Japanese flag and the Spanish fleet under the Mongolian flag were fighting an undeclared war), and accumulated rich experience in naval warfare. .
Shen Shiwen was originally a Confucian scholar and the nephew of Shen Tingyang. Before the Jiashen Rebellion, he was a student of the Imperial Academy in Nanjing and was a classmate of Zheng Sen. After Jiashen first served in the Beiyang Shogunate, he was later recommended to the Naval Academy to learn Western-style naval warfare. Because he was born in a Southeast maritime merchant family, he had already been involved in navigation and Western learning. He picked up everything quickly and graduated with excellent results.
After graduation, he worked back and forth between the Naval Academy and the fleet, and was promoted to the director of the Naval Academy. In fact, he was the assistant to the deputy director Tasman. Of course, his level was not as good as that of the great navigator Tasman, because his background was more suitable and he was not a foreign devil. , so he became the dean. However, he also knew his own level, so he always acted as Tasman's assistant in the Naval Academy.
Because the cooperation with Tasman was very pleasant, he was appointed as the chief of staff of the fleet after Tasman served as the admiral of the Eight-Nation Allied Forces Fleet.
In short, Shen Shiyuan is a quite satisfactory naval staff officer.
After learning that the Spanish fleet was coming in force, he also proposed a satisfactory response plan.
"Admiral, we should form a single column, with eight flying-class ships as the vanguard, launch close range artillery fire with the enemy, close the distance as much as possible, and destroy the enemy ships with explosive shells."
Seven of the eight Flying-class ships are equipped with gyrating bombardment guns, because the Flying-class adopts a low forecastle and low stern design, the center of gravity of the ship is low, and this class of warships is the standard for installing fast battleships of the Dutch Navy. Designed with a stronger hull. Therefore, the upper deck of the Flying Class can be equipped with more or heavier gyrating bombardment cannons.
During the refit at the end of the 9th year of Hongxing, the Navy Department of the Ming Dynasty chose a plan with a heavier bomb and installed the latest 24-pound cast iron short-barreled cannon on the deck of the Flying Ship (successfully installed in arsenals in Nanjing, Shanghai, Quanzhou, and Guangzhou) After learning to design and develop new artillery, the Ming army's artillery began to "change pounds to pounds". In this process, the weight of artillery shells also generally increased). The number of bombardment guns on the big bird ship was the same, five. However, the layout plan is different from the Big Bird ship. Because of the obstruction of the bow sail, there is no forward-firing bow gun. Instead, five guns are arranged along the central axis, all placed on a circular track that can rotate 360 degrees. .
Because the Flying No. 1 has a low center of gravity and good stability, the accuracy of the gyro bombardment gun's shooting is relatively high, and the power of the 24-pound bomb is greater than that of the 24-pound bomb.
Therefore, the seven flying-class ships equipped with rotating cannons are the trump card of the Ming Navy!
"No, this won't work." Davy Jones disagreed with this arrangement. "Now we are downwind and the enemy is upwind, so the distance between the two columns is not decided by us, but by the enemy. Calculated."
"But after the two sides sail past each other in opposite directions, won't we have the upper hand?"
Davy Jones shook his head and said: "In the Anglo-Dutch War that just ended, there were some cases where the two fleets always kept sailing in the same direction."
"Always in the same direction? Are you talking about George Munch's tactics?"
George Monk was an outstanding man under Cromwell and an amphibious general. He had been working in the army before the first Anglo-Dutch War. He worked for more than 20 years and experienced hundreds of battles. After the outbreak of the British Revolution, he was a royalist at first. Later, he was arrested by the Parliamentary Army and imprisoned in the Tower of London. After two years of imprisonment, his mind was reformed. After he was released, he followed Cromwell as a revolutionary soldier. However, his biggest change was not from the royal party to the revolutionary army, but from an army rear admiral to a fleet commander after the outbreak of the first Anglo-Dutch War, and he also proposed a quite revolutionary naval tactic - T word tactics.
However, the T-shaped tactic cannot be set up every time, and the enemy is not stupid. When he sees you seizing the T-shaped position, he will inevitably follow you and turn, so that the two fleets will sail in the same direction on the battlefield.
"Yes!" Davy Jones said, "And our main task is to cover the landing fleet... Although the landing fleet is preparing to rush into the inner Kagoshima Bay in order to take advantage of the bombardment and the narrow channel of Sakurajima Strait Block the Spanish fleet.
But we still have to stop the Spanish fleet from entering Sakurajima Strait, and we cannot risk the destruction of the troop transport fleet! "
"Then what should we do?" Shen Shiyuan asked.
"We can adopt a detachment tactic," Davy Jones said, "divide the eight flying-class ships into four groups, and serve as the lead ship and stern ship of the four groups respectively, and then divide the remaining ships into four equal parts. Four detachments... We have a total of 27 warships. Each detachment will be composed of six to seven warships. Each detachment will fight on its own. After the engagement, we will seek opportunities to divide the enemy columns and engage in chaotic battles. We There are many ships and fierce firepower. Once it enters a chaotic battle, the odds are high! At least it can prevent the Spanish fleet from rushing into Sakurajima Strait. As long as they cannot rush in, the landing fleet can find a new landing place in Kagoshima Bay. "
A chaotic battle is a melee. Generally speaking, it is beneficial to the side with a higher level of ship control and a larger number. Now the main forces of the Eight-Nation Alliance fleet are the Ming, British, Dutch, and French. Their standards are not low, and they also have bombardment guns, so they are not afraid of melee.
"Our target is the Flying Class of the Ming Dynasty Navy!"
On the armed Galen ship of the New Spain, Spanish Admiral Garcia is issuing an order: "Every admiral should follow the flagship as much as possible, and should use the flying class as the main target of attack as much as possible, first destroy their sails and masts, and then Bombard with arson bombs... Remember to keep your distance, do not approach under any circumstances, do not engage in boarding battles, and do not pay attention to the Ming Dynasty's bird ships!
We have only one mission, to burn down as many Ming Dynasty flying classes as possible! "
The Spanish admiral was not confused. He knew very well that the anti-Spanish alliance in the Western Pacific was centered on the Ming Empire! In addition to the wealth of the Ming Dynasty, the only thing that supported the Ming Empire's ambition to dominate the Pacific was the flying-class ships of the Ming Dynasty Navy.
Although the tonnage of these flying-class ships is not as good as that of the New Spain, they are large in number, fast, and powerful enough to compete with battleships like the New Spain-class.
If the Spanish navy could destroy them all, the anti-Spanish alliance in the Pacific would collapse for lack of a core.
And today's battle of Kagoshima Bay is undoubtedly the last chance for the Spanish Eastern Armada to reverse the unfavorable situation.
Because the coalition fleet had to cover their landing fleet, it was impossible to use it at full strength, and the wind was southeasterly, so the Spanish fleet was in a favorable upper wind position.
A Spanish Navy staff officer walked into the command room at this time: "Admiral, the lookout post has discovered the coalition fleet! There are at least 20 warships, which have formed a column and are heading towards us against the wind. The first ship is flying. class."
"Okay!" Garcia nodded, "Let's begin!" Then he stood up and solemnly crossed himself on his chest, "God bless the king, God bless Spain, God bless us..."
The officers who were with him also stood up and crossed themselves and prayed.
After praying to God, everything depends on the abilities of the Spanish naval officers and soldiers!
At dusk on February 18th, in the increasingly dark sky, and accompanied by the distant rumble of cannons from the direction of Sakurajima, the great sea battle that could determine hegemony in the Western Pacific finally began!
Tonight, Kagoshima Bay will turn into a burning ocean!
