The gunfire that rang out again was not from the artillery of Jiangnan and New Spain, but from the Spanish and British warships following the two warships.
First, two warships fired at each other, and then more, more warships joined in. A sea chorus played by cannons was staged in Kagoshima Bay at dusk.
When the artillery battle began, the distance between the fleets of both sides was more than three miles, and both maintained a single column. But if you look down from a high altitude, you can see that the routes on both sides are not actually parallel, but are slowly approaching!
As the distance between the two sides slowly approaches, the hit rate of the artillery attack will definitely become higher and higher!
And when it gets close to a certain level, it's time for the bombardment cannon to show its power.
How to grasp the distance between the fleets of both sides reflects the command level of Admiral Garcia.
When the artillery battle between the two sides was going back and forth, Admiral Garcia, who was once one of the seven captains of Spain, no longer cared about the artillery fire, but concentrated on directing the sailors to control New Spain. The number is up - the level of boat handling is indeed the Spaniard's biggest advantage at this dusk!
It's not that the Spaniards can surpass the Dutch and English in sailing skills. Don't even think about it... But today's Eight-Nation Allied Forces fleet is dominated by 8 Chinese Flying Ships. All Dutch, Spanish, French and Portuguese ships had to follow these eight Chinese ships.
The level of Chinese sailors operating soft sailing ships is still far inferior to that of the Spaniards... They are a century-old navy!
The ability to operate a soft sailing boat cannot actually be reflected when the sails and masts are intact. At this time, the performance of the ship is more important, and the performance of the Flying Class is definitely better than that of the New Spain.
Therefore, during the period when the artillery battle began, the Jiangnan continued to close the distance with the New Spain by virtue of its superior performance.
As the distance got closer, the chain bombs from both sides began to exert their power!
Two iron balls tied to an iron chain were spinning and flying in the air. They came and went and hit the open sails. After a few rounds, the sails of the two sailboats were broken into pieces. cloth.
However, this does not mean that the sailboat will slow down significantly, because neither side has full sails. If part of the sail is damaged, the sail can be raised to obtain more power for the ship.
The Spanish has a greater advantage in this regard. Not only is the sailor's level higher, but the sail area of this ship is larger (the ship is bigger). Relatively speaking, the ability to withstand damage to the sail is stronger.
However, the Jiangnan's performance was also good. Facing the superior firepower of the New Spain (more cannons) and the continuous damage to the sails, it still tried hard to maintain its speed and pursued the New Spain as it approached the Satsuma Peninsula. At this time, the fleets of both warring parties began a second turn... The location of this turn was called the "Ibusuki Turn" by later naval experts because it was close to Ibusuki Hot Spring.
The reason why there is such a term but is because during this turn, the Eight-Power Allied Forces began to implement fleet division tactics-in the 17th century, this was a brand new naval tactic!
The reason why the tactic of dividing the fleet can be implemented is of course related to this turn from west to north. When heading towards the opposite direction, the Eight-Nation Allied Forces fleet was at leeward, so of course it could not attack the Spanish battle line against the wind. Therefore, we could only follow the Spanish to make the first turn. At this time, the fleets of both sides began to head westward towards the Satsuma Peninsula. After approaching the Satsuma Peninsula, Admiral Garcia commanded his warships to start turning north. Chen Shangchuan's first detachment also followed and turned north. If the Eight-Nation Allied Fleet did not adopt detachment tactics, then the whole team should move north, with the two sides continuing to maintain a distance of about 3 miles and slowly approaching.
However, after the first detachment turned around, the second detachment commanded by David Jones spread its sails and continued to attack westward. To a certain extent, the T-shaped position was given to the Spanish, but when the Flying Charge charged, it was not the powerful New Spain that occupied the T-shaped position, but a small Galen ship with a 200-dwt capacity. There were only nine 6-pound guns on one side of it, which could not do anything to the Flying's solid bow. After several rounds of ineffective bombardment, just before darkness fell, the detachment commanded by David Jones suddenly cut the Spanish fleet into two pieces.
Because the Spanish fleet was previously ordered to follow the flagship, but now it encountered a sudden cutoff in the battle line. After cutting off its position, the dozen or so Spanish Galen ships immediately lost their unified command.
The third and fourth detachments of the Eight-Nation Allied Forces fleet immediately began to turn to the southwest and launched a charge-cutting diagonally into the Spanish battleship formation, completely disrupting their formation.
It's just confusion, not division and encirclement. Because after completing the impact, the three detachments of the Eight-Nation Allied Forces Fleet themselves were in chaos. The Eight-Nation Allied Forces Fleet was improvised and did not undergo long-term running-in training. It is impossible for them to use the detachment encirclement tactic at night. .
But chaos is originally the goal of the Eight-Nation Alliance fleet!
The Spanish ships, which lost their queue and fell into chaos, soon discovered that they had been mixed up with the ships of the Eight-Power Allied Forces. At this time, the sky had not yet completely darkened, and the two warring parties could still distinguish ourselves from the enemy. The most intense firefight in the entire naval battle began immediately.
The first to make a contribution was the Zhejiang ship of the Eight-Power Allied Forces Fleet. The captain of this warship was named Hong Rihai. He came from a family of pirates in Shandong. He was later recruited by Su Guansheng, who supervised the Tianjin Navy, and his whole family became officers and soldiers. , and later became the Beiyang Navy. Hong Rihai was young and alert at the time, and he knew how to write, so he was recommended to the Shanghai Mariner School. His grades in school were very poor and he almost failed to graduate. But this guy is extremely ferocious when he reaches the sea! Dare to fight and charge, he was the first Han captain among all the Han captains of the East China Sea Fleet of the Ming Dynasty Navy to sink a Spanish warship (flying the Mongolian flag). Because of his excellent military exploits, he became the captain of the Zhejiang ship.
This time he showed his usual courage to fight and charge, and with red eyes he personally steered the ship to charge a Spanish Galen ship of 400 to 500 tons. Because the charge was so fierce, the commander of the Spanish warship thought that the Chinese warship was going to engage in a boarding battle! Just as the deck crew was ordered to prepare for collision, the Zhejiang passed by.
Taking advantage of the opportunity of passing by, five 24-pound bombardment guns opened fire together, firing five fatal wooden-supported shells.
Because the distance was too close, it was impossible to miss. All five explosive shells hit, causing sawdust to fly on the Spanish warship, and several scary holes were opened in the side planks and upper deck.
However, the Zhejiang was also beaten. The artillery on the Spanish warship hurriedly sprayed out many chain bombs. Some of them hit the thick deck of the Zhejiang without penetrating; some of them swept the deck, but caused a lot of damage. casualties! Although this kind of artillery shell consisting of two iron ball bolts and an iron chain is not as lethal to personnel as shotgun shells, it can cause horrific consequences! Everyone who was hit by those two iron balls had their bones and muscles broken! And the iron chain is even more terrifying. It can easily cut a good human body into two pieces like a hot knife cutting butter!
The deck amidships of the Zhejiang was suddenly filled with blood mist, the dead and injured were scattered everywhere, and the seriously injured and dying people were wailing in despair... Victory is always hard-won!
However, Hong Rihai's attention was not on his brothers who died in pieces, but on the Spanish warship that was hit by five explosive shells.
After the two ships passed by, his eyes were still fixed on the Spanish warship.
He was waiting for the wooden tube fuses of the five 24-pound explosive bombs to work!
Boom boom boom... Three balls of fire accompanied by loud noises almost simultaneously rose from the Spanish Galen ship of 400 to 500 tons!
