"Damn Indians, damn Hindustan Shipyard, good ships have been repaired by them! Every Indian in Hindustan Shipyard should be hanged, every one..."
Rear Admiral Thomas Corcoran started scolding the Indians again because the Blake, the second flagship he was riding in today's naval battle, had another inexplicable malfunction. However, it was not the steam engine that broke this time, but the servo system of the front and rear main gun turrets - the turret could not rotate and the electric loader failed. In fact, the Blake's turret was not damaged in the previous battle and did not need repair at all. It was just maintained at the shipyard...
In other words, the Blake, which looked like something very similar, is now unable to fight at all!
Fortunately, the long-wave radio station on the Blake was produced by the American Weir-Morse Company, and American engineers personally came to India to install it on the Blake, so it can still play a role. None of the twenty Edgars under Thomas Corcoran were equipped with long-wave radio transmitting devices, only short-wave radios and ore receivers. Therefore, Major General Thomas Cochrane could only remain on board the Blake and command. However, he still adjusted the formation, placing the Blake without combat capabilities behind the twenty Edgar-class ships that formed two columns, and then entered the Strait of Malacca, cursing all the way.
"Major General, there is fire ahead, more than 30,000 yards away!"
Just when Major General Thomas Cochran was scolding the Indians very much, he suddenly heard an exciting shout from a staff officer. So he immediately stopped talking, then raised his telescope and pricked up a pair of particularly sensitive ears.
Through the eyepiece of the telescope, he saw that the eastern horizon, which had become fishy white, was flashing with a strange red light, as if something was burning! At the same time, his ears could distinguish a muffled thunderous roar from the noisy machines and waves!
"There is..." Thomas Cochran muttered under his breath.
"It's the Bay of Alanya!" a staff officer said excitedly, "Major General, the fighting there is still going on! We have caught up!"
"Thank God!" Thomas Cochrane crossed himself on his chest and shouted loudly, "Send the order and raise the Z flag... The Royal Navy needs each of us to fight bravely! Long live the Emperor!
The whole team accelerated to 20 knots! "
"Long live the Emperor!"
"Yes, sir!"
As Major General Corcoran's order was issued, the 21 armored cruisers that originally sailed at a speed of 16 knots on the sea suddenly accelerated, and amidst the huge roar of the steam engines, their speed increased to more than 20 knots. These 21 nearly 10,000-ton patrol boats seemed to have turned into 21 sea predators full of strength and struggle. 20 of them "behemoths" also showed their sharp fangs (and one "behemoth" "The fangs were repaired by the Indians), and they quickly pounced on the seven Haohan-class armored cruisers that had been fighting all night and were already exhausted.
It turns out that the Fourth Armored Patrol Formation of the Nanyang Fleet led by Chen Huacheng fought quite hard in the Bay of Alanya! Although their first wave of torpedo boat assaults were very effective, the 24 torpedo boats rushed to a distance of less than 1,500 meters from the British modified battleships before firing torpedoes. There were a total of 48 steam gas torpedoes, which knocked down 7 beggar's battleships in one wave! But after the torpedo boat fired all the steam gas torpedoes, Chen Huacheng's formation fell into a hard battle. He only had 12 heroes on hand, and one of them was hit by a 12-inch armor-piercing projectile during the attack. He retreated after not holding on for long, while the opponent also had 8 beggars' battleships.
Although the British eight beggar battleships cannot compare with serious battleships, when they fight on land and face the enemy head-on, their firepower and protection are not weak!
The power of these beggar's ships is not good, and the armor on the sides and stern is not good. Moreover, there is no main gun on the stern, and there are only two 6-inch rapid-fire cannons placed on the lugs on the sides. However, the armor of their bow and turret has been strengthened. The two 12-inch main guns are comparable to those of a battleship, and the 6-inch guns on the turrets on both sides can also fire forward.
That is to say, the mine protection is too poor (the threat of torpedoes is not great these days, so all types of ships ignore mine protection), and the enhanced steam gas torpedoes sank 7 ships at once!
However, the Ming Dynasty's steam gas torpedoes have just been mass-produced, and there are only two models: 530 mm and 610 mm (the torpedo engines currently in use are relatively large, and small torpedoes cannot be installed), so there are only the Ming army's battle cruisers, torpedo boats, and new models They only have cruisers and destroyers, as well as top-secret submarines, and they don't have much ammunition. Therefore, Chen Huacheng's torpedo boats ran out of ammunition after completing a wave of attacks. Then they could only use their 240mm main guns to concentrate firepower on those beggar-style battleships from a distance of 5,000 meters.
However, the 240mm armor-piercing bullets were not powerful enough to hit the opponent. After a whole night of fighting, the gun barrels were "sore", and only three beggar battleships were damaged by the hammer, causing them to withdraw from the battle and find a place to beach themselves. . In addition, five third-class cruisers or destroyers of the British and Indian Navy were sunk by the Haohan class and the cruisers escorting them when they attempted to launch torpedo attacks.
The 12-inch cannons of those beggar-style battleships also hit Chen Huacheng's "Haohan" several times, hitting four Haohan-class ships one after another. One of them was seriously damaged and had already withdrawn from the battle with scars. Although the other three Haohan-class ships were not seriously injured, Chen Huacheng still asked them to evacuate to Luba Island (Sumatra) more than 50 kilometers away together with the two severely damaged Haohan-class ships before the British and Indian reinforcements arrived. A subsidiary island of the island) went to the east to "rest".
The weak firepower and insufficient protection of the hero class were fully exposed in this battle!
And just when these heroes were using their full strength to hammer the remaining five beggar-class battleships, 20 Edgar-class and 1 Blake-class commanded by Major General Corcoran arrived. 1 to 7... This advantage is too big.
Probably because they knew they were no match, when the fleet commanded by Corcoran appeared on the battlefield, the Ming army's armored cruisers, second- and third-class cruisers, and destroyers immediately panicked. They didn't even have the guts to line up to fight, so they all released smoke together, and then Escape to the east of Luba Island. The five heroes who were there also started to smoke in a panic, trying to cover themselves. As a result, he turned himself into a very conspicuous target - with such a big smoke, there must be a big fish!
Cochran stood on the bridge of the Blake and saw this scene from a distance. He was so excited that he danced with excitement: "Force ventilation, attack at full speed... Don't let them go, not even one of them!"
"Yes, sir!"
As the order was sent from the Blake, all 20 Edgar-class ships began to charge at high speed, except for Blake... The Blake's pressure blower was broken - it was originally good, but was maintained by the Indians. After some maintenance, now it breaks when I turn it on!
So Corcoran could only watch the 20 Edgar-class armored cruisers pounce on the prey that was already in a mess like 20 sharks with their mouths open.
The chase at sea immediately began. The Ming warships near the Bay of Alanya obviously all had very powerful main engines. After turning on the forced ventilation, they also ran at a high speed of more than 20 knots. 20 Edgar-class ships and the light ships following them Although the ship tried very hard to catch up, it could not catch up after more than an hour. Major General Corcoran was really anxious in his eyes, but he couldn't help, so he had to urge the engine department to repair the pressure blower quickly.
Suddenly, a staff officer in the bridge exclaimed: "Rear Admiral, the Edgar reported that a large number of enemy ships were found east of Luba Island, including more than 10 battleships! Also included 4 Hero-class battleships!”
"What?" Major General Cochran was petrified when he heard the news! 0 battleships, and 4 are hero-class... This is obviously the main force of the Nanyang Fleet!
Moreover, the speed of the Hero-class is similar to that of the Blake-class and Edgar-class. Can those 20 unlucky Edgar-class escape under their 280mm main guns?
In addition, why are these 10 battleships squinting behind Luba Island? Did they already know they were coming? Is this a trap?
"Hahaha..." At this moment, in the command tower of the Hongwu Emperor, Lieutenant General Guan Tianpei looked at the 20 Edgars that had fallen into his trap, and laughed up to the sky, "He deserves death. The Yingyi, Guan has been waiting here for a long time!"
