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- The British Navy was beaten hard
(0843)
In July 1634 AD, a large-scale naval battle finally broke out.
In the sea between Las Palmas Islands and Madeira Islands, the White Army Navy concentrated 300 large warships, and the Western Combined Fleet concentrated 500 warships, and launched a protracted fight. Since July, the waters south of the Madeira Islands have been in a state of war. Except during the silent nights, at other times, the sound of artillery almost never stops. The purpose of both sides is to consume the other's vitality.
The White Army Navy is based on the Las Palmas Islands, and the Western Combined Fleet is based on the Madeira Islands. They continuously dispatch a large number of warships to fight on the vast sea. The fierce fighting lasted for more than half a year. By the beginning of 1635 AD, the losses of the Western Combined Fleet had exceeded 200 warships.
Of course, these are things for the future. Any large-scale naval battle begins with small battles. This battle, known as the First Battle of the Atlantic, began with the battle between the White Navy's Fourth Fleet and the British Fleet. To be precise, the battle took place on July 23, 1634 AD.
That day, the sun had just risen, and the observation post of the White Army Navy had already discovered the enemy fleet. This is a mixed fleet composed of Western countries, with about 150 warships of various colors. On the White Army Navy side, there are three squadrons led by Chen Xinhai himself. The specific numbers are the Fourth Fleet, the Ninth Fleet and the Fifteenth Fleet.
Xu Canxu¡¯s job is as a deck officer. Therefore, in the initial stage of the battle, he basically has nothing to do. His only task is to be ready to take over from others at any time. Due to the long distance between the two sides, there were no casualties yet, so there was no need for him to take over from others. Since he has no mission, he is happy to relax and watch the fun.
Looking through the telescope, we can see that there are many warships in the Western United Fleet, more than 30% more than the number of warships in the White Army Navy. However, the tonnage of the enemy warships does not seem to be as large as the warships of the White Army Navy. On the White Army Navy side, they are basically large warships with a displacement of more than 1,500 tons. As for the enemy fleet, there are also warships with a displacement of less than 1,000 tons. Which one is better or worse can be known at a glance.
The Western United Fleet has adopted an aggressive offensive posture. Their warships were arranged in a T-shape, trying to tear the white army's warships into pieces with powerful artillery fire. If the White Army Navy is accidentally fooled, the losses will be huge. However, the battleships of the White Army Navy are not fools either. Following Chen Xinhai's order, the warships of the White Army Navy also formed a straight line.
Seeing that the white-coated navy did not take the bait, the Western United Fleet once again formed a T-shaped lower horizontal line. Obviously, it was about to adopt an offensive formation. If they break through from the middle and all the cannons on both sides of the battleship fire, the losses to the White Army Navy will also be serious. As a result, Chen Xinhai quickly gave the order and also formed a column formation. In this way, both sides have only the option of head-on confrontation.
There is no doubt that going head-on is not the best option. The saying goes that if you kill one thousand enemies, you will suffer eight hundred losses. This is what we are talking about. Any wise general will not easily confront the enemy head-on. Otherwise, even if victory is achieved, it will be a disastrous victory at a very heavy cost. The consequences of a tragic victory are unknown. However, when the formation cannot completely overwhelm the opponent, head-on confrontation becomes the only option.
There is a big difference between naval battles and land battles. The mobility of a battleship is much worse than that of a war horse. If you repeatedly maneuver the battleship, it will inevitably lead to your own chaos. Besides, communication on the sea is really difficult. It is very difficult for any order to be conveyed to all battleships. The chance of error is almost 100%. Therefore, a wise naval general will never change his orders repeatedly.
Basically, once both sides make up their minds about what strategy to adopt, they will try their best to implement that strategy in the next battle. Changes in formation are very risky. From a probability perspective, the chance of failure is much higher than the chance of success. It would be tragic if they were attacked by the opponent when changing formations.
Finally, after realizing that it was impossible to obtain strategic advantages, the Western United Fleet decided to use all warships to launch a frontal attack on the White Army Navy. All the Western United Fleet warships hoisted red pennants to the top of their masts. The White Army Navy is not yet clear about the meaning of this action, but judging from the actions of the opponent's warships, the Western United Fleet should be preparing to fight to the death with the White Army Navy.
"Commander, how should we respond?" Zhou Jian asked in a low voice.
?"They attack theirs, and we attack ours." Chen Xinhai replied calmly.
His order is for each squadron to choose its own combat opportunities and look for opportunities to attack. Their purpose is not to block the attack of enemy warships, nor do they need to achieve any strategic goal. They only need to find a way to sink a few enemy warships, and that will be enough to complete the mission. Of course, if possible, it is also possible to sink a dozen enemy warships. If a dangerous situation is encountered, each squadron can deal with it immediately without asking for instructions.
Obviously, Chen Xinhai did not hope to wipe out the entire Western Combined Fleet in one battle. His purpose is to cause certain losses to the enemy and demoralize the enemy. The enemy loses a few battleships today and a few battleships tomorrow. The cumulative effect will be gradually manifested. From a long-term perspective, the follow-up development of the White Army Navy is much stronger than the development of the Western Combined Fleet.
Regardless of the current Western United Fleet, the number of battleships is greater than that of the White Army Navy. In fact, this was the end of the war effort of the Western powers. They have vacated all the battleships. However, a considerable number of the warships of the White Army Navy were performing missions in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean and did not participate in the decisive battle.
In terms of the stamina for building warships, the Western powers are no match for the White Army. The White Army now controls vast areas along the Pacific and Indian Oceans, tens of millions of square kilometers of land, hundreds of millions of people, and an absolutely astronomical amount of fiscal revenue. The captures captured by the White Army on the battlefield alone are enough to build tens of thousands of large warships.
For example, when the White Army conquered the Mughal Empire this time, they plundered more than five million taels of gold and tens of millions of taels of silver. With so much wealth concentrated in Xu Xingxia's hands, he who liked to be militaristic most naturally expanded his army crazily. There is no need for the army to continue to expand. Such a large amount of military expenditures will naturally be tilted towards the navy.
In the current White Army Navy, new large warships are launched almost every day, and the total number and tonnage of warships are constantly increasing. In fact, in the sixth year of Taichang, the total strength of the navy had surpassed that of the army and became the largest branch of the White Army. Now, the total number of soldiers in the White Army Navy is approaching an astonishing half a million people.
On the contrary, the Western powers can only control the Atlantic Ocean, North Sea and Mediterranean Sea for maritime trade, and trade profits continue to shrink. Without enough profits, there will not be enough fiscal revenue. Without enough fiscal revenue, there will naturally not be enough military spending. Without enough military spending, there will not be a sufficient number of warships. This is a problem of the same origin.
¡°Moreover, behind Chen Xinhai, the White Army Navy already has at least five squadrons, heading from the west coast of Africa to the east coast of America. They will establish port bases in places such as Carne and Pernambuco. Their purpose is to invade and control the Americas and covet the Caribbean. If possible, control the Caribbean Sea.
Of course, these squadrons of the White Army Navy are not here to visit America. Their goal was to destroy the maritime trade transportation lines of the Western powers as much as possible, and to plunder, capture, and sink the enemy's merchant ships. Xu Xingxia has ordered that no matter what method they adopt, as long as they can cause effective damage to the enemy, they can gain military merit.
There is no doubt that Xu Xingxia¡¯s order is a great blessing to some naval generals with special backgrounds. Many of the naval generals of the Western powers were pirates. Some of the generals of the White Army Navy were pirates. Among them, the most famous ones are Zheng Zhilong, Yan Siqi and others. They were all pirates in the past, but later they felt the power of the White Army Navy, so they applied to join the White Army Navy.
This time, Zheng Zhilong, Yan Siqi and others were sent to the east coast of the American continent. When they passed by Calihet, Xu Xingxia summoned them and gave them face-to-face instructions. One can imagine what the consequences would be if five fierce pirates appeared and passed by such a merchant ship in the Caribbean and other places. Not to mention wealth, I am afraid that even the most basic shipbuilding timber needed by the Western powers cannot maintain a sufficient supply.
"The white army and navyare they going to fight on their own? Okay! Let's attack! For the sake of the British Empire, move forward bravely!" At this time, the Western United Fleet also began to take action.
Nominally, it is the Western United Fleet, with centralized management, centralized command, and centralized fighting. In fact, the fleets of each country are still under their own command. No country would be willing to hand over its fleet into the hands of the other party. They just coordinated their actions as much as possible.
The first to bear the brunt was, of course, the Dutch fleet. Secondly, there is the British fleet. They have always been the most active in fighting the white army and navy. This time, the Western United Fleet took the initiative to launch an attack, and the British decided to take the lead.
The Fourth Fleet of the White Navy was facing a squadron of the British Navy.
At that time, the British Navy had not yet been called the Royal Navy. Their name is still the British Navy. The commander in charge of this British naval squadron was called Rafidy. The rank is rear admiral. He was a typical pirate, but he later cleared his name and joined the British Navy. In terms of combat experience, it is still very rich.
"One-on-one? Very good! Let's continue the attack!" Rafidi said in a deep voice.
Rafidi is still very confident in his squadron. His squadron has more than thirty large warships. Among them, there are fully twenty warships with a displacement of more than 1,000 tons. Moreover, most of these warships were launched recently. Both in terms of technology and quality, they are quite guaranteed.
In order to defeat the menacing White Army, the British once again made major improvements in the casting of cannons. They installed smoothbore guns with a caliber exceeding 360 mm on large warships. This ultra-large-caliber smoothbore cannon can eject eighty-pound solid projectiles hundreds of meters away. If shotgun is fired, the range is more than three thousand meters.
Of course, this is not the most important reason. The most important reason is that Rafidi has full confidence in the bombardment skills of his squadron. The British Navy has always emphasized bombardment, and their officers and sailors have worked hard for this. This is also the reason why the British can repeatedly defeat the Dutch. The ability to defeat the Spanish Armada was also due to the British bombardment skills that they practiced day and night.
"Get closer to 300 meters and fire!" Rafidi ordered decisively.
It is an unwritten rule of the British Navy that no guns will be fired within a distance of less than 300 meters.
No one knows when this rule was passed down. However, all the British admirals silently complied. Research shows that this rule is still very scientifically based. Because, for smoothbore cannons, if the range exceeds three hundred meters, the hit rate is basically terrible. No matter how skilled the gunner is, there is no guarantee that he will hit the target with ten solid bullets. Instead of wasting cannonballs, tiring out the gunners, and draining morale, it is better to wait for the enemy ship to get within three hundred meters and hit it in one fell swoop.
"Boom!"
"Boom!"
Before Rafidi finished speaking, the mighty sound of cannons was heard.
But it was the battleship of the White Army Navy that opened fire. The white army and navy did not have the rule of never firing at a distance of less than 300 meters. As long as there was an opportunity, they would fire without hesitation. At this time, the distance between the two fleets was still at least 1,500 meters!
Xu Canxu stood on the deck, holding a telescope to carefully observe the impact point. But I saw the cannonballs roaring away one after another, falling continuously on the sea and exploding, stirring up a large amount of water columns. It's a pity that those water columns are relatively far away from the British warships, and even the water splash cannot splash on the British warships. In the first round of firing, no shells hit.
This is not because the gunners of the White Army Navy are too poor. From the first year of Taichang to 1634 AD, the White Army Navy had been fighting on the sea for more than ten years. More than ten years have been enough for the White Army Navy to train a group of experienced gunners.
The gunners of the Fourth Fleet are quite capable. The reason why it didn't hit was because the distance was too far. To be honest, at such a long distance, whether the howitzer can hit the opponent accurately depends entirely on God's will.
Of course, if the British underestimated the white army and navy because of this, they would definitely be the ones who suffered. Because, after the first round of shelling, the gunners of the White Army Navy will quickly adjust the shooting parameters. With the help of rangefinders and angle meters, the British battleships were not so lucky with the next round of shooting.
"Boom!"
"Boom!"
Sure enough, the second round of shooting by the white army and navy soon started again.
The huge recoil produced by the howitzer firing made Xu Canxu feel that the soles of his feet were constantly shaking. For some reason, he felt that the second round of shelling was obviously more intense and more brutal than the first round of shelling. The vibration in his heart became even stronger. It was probably the first round of shelling, with only some of the cannons firing. After adjusting the firing parameters, all howitzers will fire.
Amid the roaring sound of cannons, shells roared and hit the British warships one after another. Sure enough, after adjusting the shooting parameters, the howitzer's hit rate was greatly improved. A large amount of water columns rose in the middle of the British battleship. The splashing water enveloped the nearby British warships in a white mist.
¡°Boom!¡±
¡°Crash!¡±
Suddenly, a deafening loud noise came, making Xu Canxu feel shaken all over.
He quickly turned his head and looked in the direction of the loud noise. He only saw a dazzling fire bursting out of the telescope, as if the sun was exploding in an instant, which stung his eyes almost unbearably, and tears flowed out uncontrollably.
He hurriedly wiped away his tears, and when he looked carefully, he saw that a British warship was directly hit by a howitzer in the middle of the ship's side and burst into flames. I don't know what vital point the shell hit, causing a raging fire, and the fire seemed to cover up the light of the sun. The British sailors on the battleship took desperate measures to try to prevent the spread of the fire.
However, the damage caused by the howitzer explosion was too great, and they had no way to make up for it. The raging fire continued to spread to all directions. The raging flames even penetrated into the cabin. Soon, the captain had to abandon ship. A large number of British sailors jumped into the water to escape. The entire sea suddenly boiled.
"What's going on?" Rafidi's face was very ugly.
" His fleet lost a warship even though it was still thousands of meters away from the battleship of the White Army Navy. This was indeed not a good sign. He had to wonder, did the Dutch really not exaggerate? Could it be that the artillery fire of the white army and navy was really so powerful? Is it true that a single cannonball can destroy a large warship?
Before, although the British got some information from the Dutch, they learned that the cannons of the White Army Navy were powerful. However, after all, they have never tried it personally, so they will not easily believe it. Because of their previous hostile relationship with the Dutch, they once thought that the Dutch were deliberately exaggerating to cover up their ugly failures in the East! But now, the British have to believe it.
The artillery fire of the White Army is really so powerful!
A single cannonball can really destroy a large warship!
"Boom!"
Suddenly, there was another muffled sound.
But it was the British warship that suddenly had a violent explosion.
It is estimated that the raging fire detonated the ammunition compartment of the battleship, causing an unprecedented explosion. The violent explosion immediately completely destroyed the British warship, and the fragments sank directly into the sea. It seemed that there was less than twenty minutes between the time the battleship was hit and the time it sank. Such a fast sinking speed really surprised the British. In addition to being surprised, they began to feel a little bit of fear.
"Damn it! Huh!" Rafidi's face was so gloomy that it almost rained.
There is no doubt that the sudden sinking of this British warship was definitely a very serious blow to the morale of the British Navy. It is estimated that many British naval officers and soldiers will feel a blow to the head and a bit numb when they see the sinking of this British warship. Although the number of warships in the British Navy is not as large as that of the Dutch, and the tonnage is not as large as that of the Dutch, judging from the results of the battle, the British will obviously have the upper hand.
Since defeating the Spanish Armada, the British Navy has never lost the first warship in a battle! In every naval battle, the British navy was the first to damage or sink the enemy's warships. As time passed, the British even had the illusion that their warships would never sink first. Unexpectedly, this good record was abruptly destroyed by the navy in white.
"Boom!"
Unexpectedly, another loud noise came.
Actually, another British warship was hit by a cannonball and was in critical danger.
Although this British warship did not catch fire, although there were no obvious scars on its appearance, there was no major change in its behavior on the sea. However, the interior of its cabin was in a hopeless mess. Somehow, the artillery shells of the white army navy actually passed through the deck and exploded inside the cabin.
The interior of a battleship¡¯s cabin has always been the most vulnerable. There are people, cannons, and ammunition here. Once it explodes, the consequences will be disastrous. The 75mm-caliber artillery shell fired by the White Army Navy exploded right in the middle of the cabin. As a result, everything around him was destroyed. The cannon, whose mount was blown up, was rolling back and forth in the cabin. There are also gunpowder barrels rolling back and forth, and they may explode at any time.
¡°Plop!¡±
¡°Plop!¡±
The situation was so dangerous that British sailors jumped into the water to escape without waiting for the captain's order.
Sure enough, the choice of those British sailors was absolutely correct. Because, in less than five minutes, the battleship had multiple small explosions in succession.?The sides of the ship were penetrated in many places, and seawater poured in desperately, causing the warship to continue to sink. About thirty minutes later, the British warship completely disappeared below the sea level.
"Damn it! Damn white army, I will never let you go!" After sinking two large battleships in a row, Rafidi's cheeks were almost twisted. The British navy, which has always been proud of itself, was severely beaten on such an occasion in full view of other powers. How could he bear it?
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