"Sir, airships, many airships! Coming to us!"
The staff officer's desperate cry rang in George Yilu's ears, and the command tower of the Indomitable suddenly filled with fear. Brigadier General George Elliot just stood blankly on the platform outside the command tower, looking up at the airships flying in formation in the sky, feeling filled with regret.
He never expected that the ambush of the Ming Navy was actually in the sky!
He originally thought that after disbanding the formation, he could take advantage of the British Royal Navy's strengths in melee warfare and win in chaos. Even if he couldn't really win, he could just drive the four warships of the Ming Navy from Japan's territorial waters into the Pacific Ocean. Claim victory.
And things developed as he expected at the beginning. The Ming Navy also broke up and fled south. Because the Lushun class and Xinchang class are very fast, and the captains of the British Royal Navy are very clever. Therefore, George Elliot believed that the result of this pursuit battle must be that the Royal Navy successfully chased the enemy away... This is of course also a victory!
As for the front and rear turrets of the Revenge being destroyed...that's not his fault, that's the designer's fault. The armor on the Revenge is thick and plentiful, and everything is protected. Why is the turret missing? ? Shouldn't that be the most important thing? Doesn't the Revenge rely on its four 13.5-inch cannons to fight the war? Without these four cannons, the Revenge is left with only 10 6-inch cannons, 5 on each side, and its firepower is not as good as the Port Arthur class!
In addition, the four 13.5-inch cannons were not accurate at all, and the rate of fire was extremely slow. It only took three to five minutes to fire one round... These cannons were useless!
And even more useless than the 13.5-inch cannon of the Sovereign class is the 16-inch front-loading cannon of the Indomitable class... The 16-inch cannon is still front-loaded. When loading, the muzzle of the cannon must be lowered first. At the lowest level, the gunners can only put in the shells with great effort. This is simply an old cannon from the last century!
Obviously, the Royal Navy of the British Empire was not ready to fight a world war at all. Although the Royal Navy looked very glamorous, if it was not ready, it was not ready!
Therefore, George Elliot was ready to "stop as soon as possible". After driving the Ming Navy away from Japan's territorial waters, the British Empire would have to withdraw from Japan. As for how Ming Dynasty will deal with Japan...the British Empire can only provide all support except help!
But George Elliot never expected that when the Royal Navy was doing its best thing of "just quitting when it's good", it would have another accident... again!
There are actually airships of the Ming Navy lurking in the sky above Jiyin Waterway, and these airships are obviously capable of attacking the sea! Needless to say, the plumes of smoke rising into the sky from the sea were caused by the airships of the Ming Navy's aviation force - otherwise, how could they fly from the place where the plumes of smoke rose into the sky?
Now I just don’t know who was bombed? Looking at the billowing smoke, it seems that it was not a destroyer of several hundred tons that was bombed, but a cruiser of several thousand tons...
When he thought of air strikes, a particularly desperate question came to George Yilu's mind.
How to fight an airship in the sky?
It's definitely impossible to hit with a 16-inch front-loading cannon, and it doesn't seem to work with a 6-inch retractable half-speed cannon... Not only does this artillery have a slow rate of fire, but its firing angle is not high enough to shoot into the sky. Fight - The Indomitable was built and served during the Napoleonic Wars, and there were no rigid airships in those days!
As for the 2-inch rapid-fire gun...it doesn't seem to be able to shoot into the sky, because the cannon is equipped with a shield that limits the gun's firing height - this kind of gun is used to deal with torpedo boats and sweep the decks of enemy ships , and never considered using it to hit targets in the sky.
Thinking of this, cold sweat broke out on George Yilu's forehead!
Although the firepower configuration of this Indomitable is very outdated, it is still a large ship with a platoon of nearly 12,000 people. Its protective capabilities are very strong and can withstand heavy artillery bombardment. As long as the artillery is upgraded, it will be a good ship again.
Now the airship is going to be blown up and sunk, but it would be too unfair...
"George, our British Empire is not yet at war with the Ming Empire. If we can show them that we have no hostility, maybe..."
George Elliot looked back and saw that it was his cousin Charlie Elliot who made this genius suggestion.
"So, how do we show we're not hostile?"
"You can fly a white flag symbolizing peace..."
"Charlie!" George Elliot glared at his cousin, "What nonsense are you talking about? Our Royal Navy of the British Empire will destroy the enemy on sight, so how can we fly a white flag?"
"But... what are we going to use to attack the airships in the sky?" Charlie Elliot asked, "The Indomitable is an old battleship, and it doesn't even have a large-caliber machine gun that can shoot in the air."
"Use, use..." George Yilu thought hard, and finally gritted his teeth and said, "Use a rifle! There is a new bass breech-loading rifle on the Indomitable! The rifle can shoot into the sky!"
The so-called "New Bess" breech-loading gun is actually a copycat of a certain type of Ming Dynasty's breech-loading rifled gun, so it is not named after the designer or the factory. It is simply called "New Bess" to distinguish it from the old-style guns. Brown bass and rifled bass (also a copycat gun).
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This new Bess rifle was no longer considered advanced by 1827, but it could at least "shoot into the sky". It could always shoot to a height of several hundred meters. Using a rifle to shoot an airship was much more reliable than using a samurai sword.
Thinking of this, George Yilu gritted his teeth and stamped his feet: "Quick, call the sailors. Except for those who must stick to their posts to keep the warship sailing at high speed and fight with artillery, everyone else should take their guns and get on the deck... ..The Royal Navy must hold its position and fight to the death!”
"Yes, sir!"
Now, the British Royal Navy has become an army lined up to be shot. They were all summoned by Charlie Elliot. Each person had a new bass, and they were lined up in many rows on the deck of the Indomitable. Everyone pointed their guns in the air. Just waiting to hit the airship.
...
"Sign up the Indomitable and ask them to surrender!"
When the Ming Dynasty Naval Air Force's airship team approached the Indomitable, Guan Tianpei, who was riding on the airship, issued an order that was difficult to execute - how to display a semaphore on an airship?
While the pilot and communications officer on the airship was in a daze, observer No. 1 had already shouted: "Sir, the enemy ship Indomitable not only refused to surrender, but also dared to open fire on us!"
"Fire?" Ma Xuchen, who serves as the captain of the boat (and also the captain), was stunned. "What are they using to fire?"
"Use rifles!" said the observer. "The British sailors stood in a row on the deck of the Indomitable, each with a rifle, and they were shooting at us!"
This scene... A fully armored battleship with a platoon of nearly 12,000 tons, or a battleship with four 16-inch cannons, is now actually engaged in a real queuing and shooting!
And the object of the shooting was an airship floating more than a thousand meters in the sky!
"Playing volleyball? This is really... a commendable spirit!" Guan Tianpei nodded in admiration, "The Royal Navy of the British Empire really deserves its reputation!"
Ma Xuchen on the side laughed and said, "No matter what, if you fall behind, you will be beaten... This is the famous saying of King Wu Zhong!"
All military academies of the Ming Dynasty Army and Navy, as soon as you enter the door, there is a huge stone tablet with this sentence on it!
Guan Tianpei nodded and said: "Okay, now it's time for the British Empire to fall behind and be beaten... Since they refuse to surrender, let's start fighting! Captain Ma, you take command."
"yes!"
Ma Xuchen immediately took over the task and loudly ordered: "Generate electricity for each boat...change the formation into a column, and the whole team follows the flagship boat, with an altitude of 1,200 and a speed of 20 knots...starting from the enemy ships in turn Indomitable top flies over and prepares to drop bombs!”
