Chapter 296: The Destruction of the New Spanish Fleet

The side guns of the New Spain, which had a three-story gun bay, were aimed at the two oncoming ironclads ahead.

Boom boom boom.

The first volley fired were twelve sixty-four pounders.

Along with New Spain, there are three other warships that are first-class battleships.

Four first-class battleships, with a total of forty-eight sixty-four-pound guns, fired salvos, and the shells flew towards the Ming Dynasty's armored ships like raindrops.

On board the sailing battleship of the New Spanish fleet.

The Spanish sailors suddenly burst into loud cheers.

On the current battlefield of naval battles, what matters is a preemptive strike.

Occupy a favorable position first and launch a powerful volley first!

So many sixty-four-pound cannons were fired together. Although they were all solid bullets, it was enough to cause enough damage to the two strange ships.

It is impossible for anything to stop the power of the sixty-four-pound gun! !

Forty-eight solid projectiles flew at a speed visible to the naked eye.

About one-third of them hit the steel armor of the front bow, making a clanging sound.

At the same time, about a dozen small black white dots appeared on the bow steel armor.

This is the cannonball that knocked off the anti-rust paint.

The shells that hit the steel armor on the tilted bow were refracted and flew into the air and lost kinetic energy before falling into the water.

Not even a lot of water splashed!

Zheng Xiaoyi breathed a sigh of relief when he saw this scene.

Although the solid bullet bulletproof test was also conducted when the Dingyuan class was finalized.

It proves that the Dingyuan class with steel armor has enough defense to withstand the bombardment of the old smoothbore cannon.

But this is the first actual combat of the Dingyuan class.

So after seeing that he successfully blocked the bombardment of his opponent's most powerful and longest-range sixty-four-pound cannon, Zheng Xiaoyi showed a smile on his face.

He put down the binoculars.

He said to his deputy: "The Spaniards are finished. They are simply antiques from the last era! I even think that the Naval General Staff is too conservative. With our current strength, it is more than enough to directly find a place to establish a military port on the west coast of North America. !”

Zheng Xiaoyi is a naval officer with a professional background - that is, an officer who has studied at the Ming Naval Academy for three years.

And now most of the personnel of the Naval General Staff are three hundred old brothers who received some "European-style" education in European military academies.

They are somewhat afraid of offending European countries in an all-round way - almost like Emperor Zhu.

However, most "localists" like Zheng Xiaoyi and Cai Qian believe that there is no need to fear these European countries at all.

Both in terms of technology and national strength.

Ming Dynasty is a crushing existence against any European country. ,

The development of North America was too conservative.

"If they want to escape, where will they escape?" Zheng Xiaoyi whispered.

'Based on the ocean current and wind direction, it is most likely heading towards Hawaii. ' His deputy said from the side.

"Hawaii" Zheng Xiaoyi nodded slightly, "Is it possible for us to pursue Hawaii?"

"Lieutenant Colonel, the military department did not give us instructions to go to Hawaii. And the range of the ironclad ship is not that far."

"The order given to us by the military is to destroy the Spanish fleet, but it does not delineate the combat range. The vast ocean, where can't be a battlefield? Moreover, we also have twelve hybrid ships. In addition, we can tow the ironclad ship to Hawaii. "

"this"

The deputy looked at Zheng Xiaoyi and said nothing.

There have been some radical voices within the Navy recently.

For example, destroy the Kingdom of Hawaii and incorporate Hawaii into the territory of the Ming Dynasty.

This way.

Only Hawaii can truly serve as a springboard to march into the North American continent, and also serve as a transit point for the Ming Dynasty to immigrate to the North American continent. ,

The reason why these radical voices appear.

It's because most of the recent wars in the Ming Dynasty were on land.

In the army, there are already many generals who have been granted lordships.

As for the navy.

Don't talk about being a marquis.

There are not even a few generals.

The Generalissimo's Mansion is basically the voice of the Army.

Even though the Ming Navy now has dozens of ironclad ships, it can be said to be the most powerful naval force in the world today.

But in terms of their various tasks, they seem to be essentially a fleet affiliated with the army.

On the other hand.

The naval generals who carried their stars on their shoulders were also conservative.

They don't even dare to attack the Kingdom of Hawaii, and they still want to talk about leasing a port.

The army has already reached the Western Region and defeated the main force sent by the Russian army to the east.

The Navy can't even let out a fart now.

Many young naval officers were very disappointed with this.

Many people even privately criticized these naval officers for betraying the emperor's favor!

"Send the order to fire! Defeat their four first-class battleships first!"

Zheng Xiaoyi suppressed the idea of ​​going to Hawaii to perform extraordinary feats and ordered loudly.

The other side.

Malosca, the commander of the New Spanish fleet, immediately realized their failure.

The sixty-four-pounder cannon fired solid bullets that could not defend the opponent's bow.

That's a slap in the face.

The distance between the two sides was now less than three hundred yards.

The opponent's bombardment is enough to kill the New Spain!

Right now.

On the bow of the Songjiang ship, eighteen four-inch guns fired.

Boom boom boom!

Although there are only eighteen artillery pieces.

But this is a rifled gun, and its accuracy and velocity are not comparable to those of the old smoothbore guns.

The four-inch cannonball spun out of the muzzle and drew a wonderful parabola in the air.

It accurately landed on the deck of the New Spain. The rotating shells easily tore through the deck boards and penetrated into the cabin of the New Spain.

'Oh, God! Got hit...'

"It's over now."

Both Malosca and Valeriano closed their eyes in pain.

They all know that the bombardment guns equipped by the Chinese use yellow powder and have extremely powerful explosions.

and

Even if it were black powder, it would be enough to severely damage any sailing battleship if it exploded in the cabin!

Boom!

Huge explosions sounded one after another.

Almost at the same time.

Marosca just felt like he was flying in the sky and fell heavily into the sea.

He struggled to climb out of the water and saw a scene he would never forget.

The fully loaded battleship New Spain with a displacement of nearly 3,000 tons has been blown into two pieces.

The bow part of the ship has sunk.

The stern of the ship is tilted upward because the center of gravity is farther back.

But it hasn’t sunk to the bottom of the sea yet.

But New Spain was doomed.

"Lieutenant General! Get out of here!"

A surviving Spanish sailor swam to Marosca's side.

Marosca glanced at the completely destroyed New Spain.

He sighed and headed towards a light fast ship ahead.

If they still have a chance to leave, then this kind of faster light ship may have some chances.

(End of chapter)