September 12, early morning.
The naval battle taking place in Kinmen Bay at this moment, in the report later submitted to the Naval Department of the Ming Dynasty Marshal's Mansion, was a well-designed ambush (Zheng Jing's writing is very good) - it was reported by Zheng Jing, the admiral of the Ming Dynasty's Eastern Fleet. The French, Dutch and Spanish navies prepared a sure-fire trap.
There were lures, ambushes, and obstructions, and a total of 56 enemy ships (15 mortar boats ran aground on Kinmen Beach, and 25 fireships were burned) were divided into three parts and lured in separately. The North Bay of Kinmen, the Middle Bay of Kinmen and the South Bay of Kinmen were selected so that they could be defeated one by one.
Zheng Jing also foresighted the great value of the "flying shear fast gunboat" - in the case of strong firepower and obviously insufficient defense, the ability to move at high speed obviously has extremely high tactical value. The "flying scissor fast gunboat" is like the army's light cavalry. It can rely on high-speed movement to the enemy's weak points and then launch a surprise attack.
Moreover, the higher speed also makes them less likely to be hit by the enemy's nail-headed shells, thus making up for the lack of defense to a certain extent - no matter how thick the ship's plank is, it can be penetrated by one shot, so it is better to choose a thinner one. Plates allow the battleship to run faster!
In addition, the speed of the "flying shear fast gunboat" is not obtained by reducing weight, but by using a flying shear bow, so the flying shear ship can also be built larger and heavier.
As for the shortcomings of scissor-type ships that are not stable enough during navigation and may swing violently due to salvoes of broadside artillery, this was not very prominent in the era when nail-head shells dominated naval battles - in order to prevent the shells from being detonated, the battleship's The number of guns on board is not large, and the most powerful battleships now only have forty naval guns.
The new clipper ship Zheng Jing has is equipped with eight 12-pound cannons, and it cannot fire salvos (because the gun cabins are all separated, making it difficult to conduct unified command), so recoil is not a big problem. .
"Keep the sail full...get right in front of it!"
"Report damage..."
On the command deck of the clipper clipper warship "Pinghai", Captain Chen Anping half-knelt behind a circle of sandbags, stretched out his head, and shouted orders while staring intently at the midship deck of the ship. Board the burning French battleship (Lorraine).
In the previous battle, the Lorraine and the Pinghai suffered a nail-head shell - it was a tie. Of these two ships, one has more guns and the other is faster, so each has its own advantages! Of course, having more cannons will make it easier to hit the opponent, while a fast ship will help you avoid the cannons... Not only can you use speed to make it difficult for your opponent to take aim, but you can also choose the angle to enter the battle, such as trying to get the T position as much as possible, so that This makes it difficult for the opponent's side-firing naval guns to exert their firepower.
However, because it was too dark, Chen Anping did not know where the Lorraine was at first. He just directed his Pinghai to rush towards the Kinmen Strait and block the exit of the strait first. As a result, they collided with the big fish Lorraine on the way, and then they shot at each other blindly (after launching a charge and distanced themselves from their own fleet, the Pinghai turned off its lights), because the two sides discovered The opponent was very close, so they hit each other immediately.
However, the damage caused by the explosive shells on both sides is different. The Lorraine has a gun cabin with up to 40 shells and cannons. The probability of being hit by the bomb cabin is of course higher, while the 12-pound shell fired by the Pinghai is With good luck, he directly blew up its No. 8 gun cabin, and also detonated a 12-pound shell and a pack of propellant that were igniting the fuse, causing a fire. Fortunately, the fire and explosion prevention methods that shipbuilding engineers from various countries have thought up are still useful.
The ammunition room, which was tightly protected by sandbags, had not been detonated yet, otherwise the Lorraine would have been scrapped by now.
The Pinghai suffered much less damage. The upper part of its bow was hit by a shot, which caused a large hole and caused a fire, but the fire was not large.
"Sir," the first mate of the Pinghai on the side immediately reported, "the bow of the ship was hit by a shot, but it was located higher and would not get water... and there was also a small fire."
Chen Anping immediately ordered: "Send the fire brigade immediately... put out the open fire at all costs!"
"Sir, we have been sent down..."
Nowadays, there are professional fire-fighting teams on the warships of various countries. Since the ship's planks cannot withstand nail-head bullets, we have to find ways to put out the fire.
...
"Sandbags... move the sandbags quickly..."
"Stab with a knife, break the sandbag! Damn it, move faster!"
"Where's the bucket? The bucket..."
"Wet the shells!"
The third officer of the Lorraine, Jean Bart, personally led the damage control team into the No. 8 gun cabin, which was burning. The choking smoke and the baked-hot air came to extinguish the No. 8 gun cabin. Hell of fire. All the gunners lost their lives in the big explosion just now. Some scattered propellants were first ignited, and then burned a bunch of miscellaneous things.
Fortunately, the sandbags installed on the bulkhead absorbed the shock wave generated by the explosion and isolated the fire, so that several surrounding gun cabins were not affected. But the middle deck above was still on fire...
"Quickly wet the cannonballs, then take them out and throw them into the sea!"
Jean Bart was directing the damage control team members to extinguish the fire and deal with the shells that had become dangerous goods.
When he saw the last cannonball being thrown out of the big hole (exploded by the Ming army's cannonball), he took a deep breath and ran towards the stern deck of the ship amid the smoke.
Before it passed the middle deck, the battleship Lorraine trembled violently again, and at the same time there was another violent roar. Barr lost his balance and fell to the deck. Before he could get up, the Lorraine trembled violently again, followed by a violent roar... Jean Bart, who was in charge of the battleship's damage control, knew that this was the 12-pound explosive bomb that had been killed. exploded!
A sailor helped him up. He leaned against the baffle and looked at the sea. He found two more hazy black figures approaching quickly in the night, and the muzzle flashes continued to flicker.
Two more Chinese light ships! Their speed is so fast, they will soon be in front of the Lorraine.
Once they seize the T-shaped position, these fast-sailing warships will definitely cause greater losses to the Lorraine.
Jean Bart was a little desperate. The Lorraine was being targeted... He really couldn't escape!
...
"Admiral, we hit another enemy battleship!"
A soldier from the Ming Navy loudly reported the latest battle situation to Zheng Jing.
The scissor clipper really came in handy this time! With their speed, they quickly rushed in front of the French battleships, and even occupied the T-shaped position at the exit of the Kinmen Strait. Although their firepower is not enough to destroy the French battleships that have repeatedly strengthened their fire and explosion protection, they can cause damage to them. Let them become floating torches on the sea and slow down the ship at the same time - once the fire ignites the sails, or the explosive bomb blows off the mast, the battleship is finished.
"How many ships have you hit already?" Zheng Jing asked loudly, with excitement that could not be concealed in his tone.
I originally thought that my trip to Xinzhou would turn into a disaster - my errands were done in a mess, and I would definitely be criticized when I returned. Maybe I would lose my official position and go home to live in old age.
Unexpectedly, they actually won a great victory... The fleet dispatched by the New Spaniards, perhaps the French and the Dutch was also quite large, perhaps with hundreds of ships. This was an unprecedented victory!
"Admiral, we have already attacked 5 ships... The Golden Gate Strait has also been blocked, now we are closing the door and beating the dogs!"
Zheng Jing listened to the report and laughed loudly and said: "Okay! Let's go to the Kinmen Strait too."
"Shall we go to the strait too?"
"Yes!" Zheng Jing nodded, "Go and block the door...send a signal and summon a few battleships to follow! Let's go and block the door immediately, and we won't let any of them go!"
