"Your Majesty Lieutenant General, the enemy has divided its forces!"
Aboard the New Spain.
Captain Silva has been observing the enemy's movements with a telescope.
"Is that a steam ironclad? I don't know if Madrid has any plans to start manufacturing such a ship."
Silva said.
The six iron ships that came into view were really weird in shape.
There is no sail.
Just the chimney.
It's spewing black smoke.
"There don't seem to be many cannons, and the caliber is not large?"
"It should be the auxiliary ship, right? Those twelve hybrid ships are the main force?"
On the ship, several Spanish officers were talking a lot.
"Their hybrid ship is heading towards Ryukyu. It seems to be going to land, right?" Valeriano said. "Ignore them and pass on the order. If the winner is not decided before dark, the formation will be disbanded and retreat. Let's go to Hawaii to meet up!"
Boom boom boom!
The first to fire was the Spanish fleet.
They lined up in a straight line, turned the ship sideways, and hundreds of giant cannons fired a terrifying barrage.
The Spanish fleet fired solid shells first.
Because wooden bullets cannot withstand too much chamber pressure, their range is not as far as solid bullets.
But in fact.
The purpose of firing artillery shells in this way is only to harass and control the opponent's course. It is impossible for their artillery to hit them from such a long distance.
What these Spaniards don't know is...
The six ironclad ships were simply beyond what their old-fashioned smoothbore cannons could handle.
The Ming fleet was virtually invincible.
"They have few cannons, no more than a hundred. We have more than a thousand cannons, and the number is ten to one!" Malosca said.
According to his naval battle experience, the final competition in naval battles is artillery.
Quantity, range.
This is the most important.
In terms of numbers, the Spanish fleet had an absolute advantage.
On the range.
Up to now, the Ming fleet has not started firing, which shows that the range of their small-caliber artillery is far inferior to Spain's 32-pound naval long gun.
These two facts gave the old-school naval admiral Malosca some confidence.
not to mention.
The Ming army divided its forces even though they were not numerically superior.
Now there are twenty-four Spanish battleships against six Ming ironclads.
24:6
The advantage is mine.
"We can destroy them!" Valeriano said, "As long as we can win a naval battle, we can negotiate terms with the Chinese. After all, they are a land nation, and the ocean will not belong to them!"
"The wooden pallet is ready to explode!!"
Vice Admiral Malosca, who was in charge of the command, suddenly raised his voice.
His eyes looked at the Ming fleet that was getting closer and closer.
My palms started to sweat.
This was a battle with enemies and warships that he had never faced before. The fear brought about by this strange feeling made the Spanish naval general a little nervous.
No matter how you look at it, we have the advantage!
Maloska almost gritted his teeth and said this sentence in his heart.
What he didn't know was.
Britain's Eastern Fleet had been completely destroyed, and the British did not tell their allies the real reason for the destruction of the British Eastern Fleet.
therefore.
The Spaniards had no idea how powerful the ironclads were!
By this time the wind on the sea had almost stopped.
For the Spanish fleet, which relied on sails for power, they also had to fight - otherwise they wouldn't be able to escape.
As the sun gradually tilts towards the west.
Around four o'clock in the afternoon.
The fleets of both sides met thirty nautical miles northwest of Ryukyu Island.
The two sides were moving towards each other. The Spanish fleet was arranged in a neat column. The waterproof doors of the gun warehouses on both sides of the ship had been opened. Cannons were pushed out one after another. The black muzzles pointed at the six Ming Dynasty ironclads.
"We have 708 artillery pieces on one side, and the artillery they can point at us is only thirty-six turrets and 108 artillery pieces!!"
at this distance.
Marosca clearly saw the six rotating turrets on the front deck of the Ming army's ironclad ship two nautical miles away.
Making the artillery into a turret and installing it on the front deck will open up the firing range, but what's the point? Artillery relies on quantity!
Malosca thought.
"Send the order, aim the turret! The enemy ship is two nautical miles away!" Cai Qian's voice was transmitted to every warship through the order system.
"Songjiang and Hangzhou attack the left side of the enemy column, Xuzhou and Jinan attack the right side of the enemy column, and Dalian and Qingdao aim at the belly of the enemy column! We are going to start and stop them, and bloom in the middle!!"
Cai Qian's heart was burning.
This is a great achievement delivered to your door.
These Spaniards are so stupid that they actually dare to confront the armored ship head-on!
"General, with this formation of the Spanish fleet, all the pressure will be on the Songjiang. Is it necessary for the Songjiang to maneuver to avoid it?"
Wei Licheng, the captain of Xuzhou on the side, said loudly.
"No need! Now the Songjiang is going to make a great contribution!" Cai Qian said, "The firepower of the Songjiang is enough to sink more than 20 wooden-hulled ships!"
"Send the order to the Songjiang, the Ming Dynasty Navy, I am invincible!"
Leading the Songjiang and Hangzhou to attack was Fleet Chief Officer Zheng Xiaoyi.
He now operates the ship himself!
His face showed excitement.
Now the opponent's fleet is right in front of him, and this credit is almost picked up!
"Closer, closer!"
Zheng Xiaoyi muttered.
He knew the protective power of the ironclad.
With this thickness of steel armor, it is impossible for the opponent to penetrate it.
Therefore, at this distance, it is impossible for the opponent to run.
But he still hoped to fire when he was closer.
Because the closer the distance, the greater the advantage of the ironclad ship.
The sturdy bow can even directly break the opponent's wooden-hulled warship!
On the Spanish fleet.
Catholic hymns sounded.
These Catholics sang praises to God and the King of Spain.
Military music played in unison.
The soldiers saluted with their guns raised.
The signal for all-out war has officially begun.
The sailors of the New Spanish Fleet, who have been hiding in the Western Pacific for more than a year, have long been looking forward to this battle.
Unlike senior executives like Marosca.
On the one hand, these Spanish sailors did not know what happened to the British.
On the other hand, they are also full of confidence in defeating the Chinese on the ocean.
The sea once belonged to Spain.
They were the first countries to colonize the world.
When the military music disperses.
Marosca discovered that the Ming Dynasty's armored ships were still facing the enemy from the bow.
"The advantage of installing artillery on the bow of the ship is that it can reduce the ballistic surface."
Malosca thought.
But at this time he was full of confidence in this battle, because the Spanish fleet had already seized a favorable shooting position.
Four of the Chinese ironclad ships were blocked behind the other two, and their firepower was temporarily unable to be used. The only enemies we faced were two armored ships!
(End of chapter)
