When the distance between the two sides narrowed to 6,500 meters, the first-class battleship of the southbound fleet opened fire.
The eighteen 125mm main guns all pointed at the Helan fleet and then fired a salvo.
After the shells easily crossed a distance of more than 6,000 meters, three shells hit the two Helan IV-class battleships at the front.
As mentioned before, the Helan people's classification of battleships is different from that of the Star Sea Kingdom.
The Helan people's fourth-level battleships are all large ships with a tonnage of 1000-1200, with 50-60 guns and a double-layer gun deck.
Of course, compared to the third-level, second-level, and first-level battleships, the caliber of the guns of the fourth-level battleships is definitely much smaller. Basically, they are between 12 pounds and 18 pounds, and a few are 24 pounds.
But even such a warship can be considered a big ship if placed in the waters close to the Ming Dynasty.
After all, converted into materials, it is more than 2,400 materials.
In the waters near the Ming Dynasty, Qianliang was considered a big ship.
No way, the treasure ship blueprints had been burned long ago.
But for such a large ship, after the deck was directly penetrated by a cannonball, the cannonball exploded directly on the artillery deck and ignited the gunpowder barrels piled on the deck.
Two loud noises were heard in unison, and the two fourth-level battleships suddenly lifted upwards and broke into two pieces in an instant. They hit the sea surface. Countless wood fragments flew and sank quickly, sinking to the bottom of the sea in a short time.
To be honest, after the lookout noticed the appearance of the enemy fleet, Lieutenant General Wilster ordered the entire team to attack, preparing to directly crush the opponent with the larger number of Helan fleets.
But what he never expected was that the enemy's artillery was so sharp. From such a long distance, the first round of firing sank two of his warships.
Although this did not do much harm to the strength of Helan's fleet, it also made Lieutenant General Wilster alert. He immediately ordered all warships to continue to accelerate and get as close to the enemy as possible.
This is also Wilster's helplessness.
In this era, although naval guns have developed to a 48-pound shell weight, the accuracy of naval guns is still disappointing.
Therefore, whether it was the strongest navy of the former Folangji or the strongest navy of the Helan people, they all liked to pull the enemy within a hundred meters, first with a burst of artillery fire, and then engage in a boarding battle!
Of course, the Franji Navy prefers to engage in boarding battles, so many of the sailors on their ships are swordsmen, while the Helan people have more elite gunners on the ship.
Let's put it this way, in the past, the Helan people used the sharp repair of naval guns to educate their enemies, but this time, they were educated by others.
Before Lieutenant General Wilster could recover from the explosion of two fourth-level battleships, three consecutive explosions sounded.
A Helan second-class battleship was hit on the bow, and the shell exploded, blowing the exquisite unicorn bow statue directly into the sky.
The other two third-level battleships were hit on the main mast and deck respectively. One had its mast broken, its canvas fell down, and it lost power. The other ship's deck was splattered with blood and flesh, looking extremely disgusting.
"Signal! Everyone, continue to speed up and prepare for artillery battle!"
At this time, Vice Admiral Wilster could only encourage the fleet's warships.
It is impossible for him to drag these battleships to the enemy.
The distance between the two sides continued to get closer. When the distance narrowed to less than four thousand meters, ten warships in Helan's fleet had sunk, and nine warships were damaged or incapacitated.
It can be said that this was the first time for Lieutenant General Wilster to encounter such a blow. The enemy killed ten of his warships without even firing a single shot!
But at this moment, as they entered the range of the 88 naval gun, the bombardment suddenly seemed to change from a gentle breeze and drizzle to a violent storm in an instant.
All 24 Xinghai battleships pointed their muzzles at the Helan fleet. Countless flames flashed at the muzzles, sending shells one after another to the bow of the Helan battleship.
Dozens of water jets splashed up on the sea surface, but more of them were fires from the Helan battleship, which was frequently hit by shells.
But having said that, the Helan fleet was beaten violently. However, due to the small power of the 88 naval gun shells, and the fact that most of the Helan warships were made of high-quality teak, as long as they were not hit on the mast or If the gunpowder barrel triggers the explosion, the combat effectiveness of the Helan battleship will not be greatly damaged.
Of course, even so, every time a shell explodes on the Helan battleship, it will more or less take away the lives of the Helan sailors.
As the distance continues to get closer, the hit rate of the Star Sea Battleship is also increasing rapidly.
When the distance between the two sides narrowed to about a thousand meters, the hit rate of the Star Sea Battleship increased to over 60%!
Almost every two guns will hit the Helan battleship.
Such a hit rate caused the losses of the Helan battleship to suddenly increase.
At this time, the flagship of the Star Sea Fleet issued an order to continue turning, from a 70-degree angle to the enemy fleet to a 110-degree angle.
In other words, the current Star Sea Fleet is equivalent to turning away with the Helan Fleet as the axis.
At this time, Lieutenant General Wilster was almost going crazy.
In just twenty minutes of naval battle, the Helan fleet lost 31 warships, and 17 ships completely lost their combat effectiveness.
The exploding shells of the enemy fleet brought huge trouble to the Helan fleet. Every time they were hit, a large number of Helan boys would fall, which made Lieutenant General Wilster's heart bleed all the time.
"Pursuit! They want to escape!"
He keenly discovered that the enemy wanted to turn away and it must be because the enemy's artillery shells were not enough! Catch them hard!
It has to be said that the Helan fleet is indeed the most powerful navy in this era. Even though it was beaten so badly by one side, the boys on the Helan battleship are still so energetic. They believe that as long as they catch up with the enemy and get close, them, then the enemy will be finished!
Well, in the next thirty minutes, no matter how the Star Sea Fleet turned, the Helan Fleet stayed behind them, enduring the constant baptism of shells!
By the time the Star Sea Fleet drew two big S-curves on the sea, the Helan Fleet's battle losses had reached 112 battleships.
Even Lieutenant General Wilster's flagship, the Blue Tulip, was hit by a shell, causing a auxiliary mast to fall and 12 sailors were killed.
By this time, Lieutenant General Wilster finally understood.
The enemy has been leading them by the nose.
To put it simply, the enemy took advantage of the long range, high accuracy and fast speed of its artillery to keep the Helan Fleet hanging and constantly attacking with artillery from long distances, leaving the Helan Fleet with no chance to fight back.
