At this time, the 36-pounder gun was the main heavy artillery on Western warships.
In 1615, Juan de Silva, the Spanish governor of the Philippines, launched an expedition against the Dutch stronghold in Malacca. His fleet consisted of more than a dozen ships, equipped with a total of 300 cannons, and carried more than 5,000 sergeants and sailors.
Among them, the flagship La Salvadore was equipped with a total of forty-six cannons with a diameter of approximately 5-6 inches (127-152mm). The smallest shells weighed 18 pounds, most were 24 pounds, and a few were 30 pounds.
In the Battle of the Downs in 1632, the largest warship owned by the Republic of the Netherlands (the name of the Netherlands before independence, a Spanish colony) - the Amelia was taken as an example. The ship's light load displacement was about 600 tons.
After all, the Amelia is just a double-deck gunboat, with only 57 guns including deck guns and upper stern guns. The heavy guns are: 4 36-pound guns, 11 24-pound guns, and 9 18-pound guns. The total heavy guns
The quantity is only 24 guns.
Of course, this type of ship is not a first-class warship, and there is still a big gap between it and Spain's flagship Santa Teresa. The Santa Teresa has a light load displacement of 1,500 tons and a load of 80 guns. This displacement is not comparable to the tonnage of Yang Fan's cruiser.
up and down.
Therefore, Yang Fan's twelve cruisers at this time have reached the level of the first-class battleships in Europe at the same time. At this moment, when the Hengshan blocks the exit of the bay, an artillery battle between the two sides will inevitably break out.
This is a showdown between the highest level warships from the East and the West.
In the horrified cry of Count Masfeld, eighteen fifty-pound lead balls flew from more than 200 meters away. A shell of this weight is comparable to a siege cannon. At such a close distance, eighteen
All the shells hit the British ship HMS Prince Royal (the official name of this battleship).
This ship is not young. The famous British ship designer Pater redesigned a new type of warship for Prince Henry, who loves warships. Since Henry's title is Prince, the name of the ship is Prince Royal.
He is also the crown prince, so he is also called the crown prince.
In 1610, the Prince Royal was built, the first British three-decker warship.
This ship has been in service for 19 years. Although the British have continuously had three-decker warships in service over the years, this old ship is still the main warship of the British.
Charles I sent this ship to East Asia, which also reflected the importance he attached to this treasure hunt. In his opinion, this old ship was already invincible on the waters of East Asia.
The sides of the Crown Prince are made of one-foot-thick beech wood, which is very hard. It can easily block a direct hit from an 18-pounder gun at close range. The dense ribs and thick and hard ship plates can directly deflect the cannonballs.
Unfortunately, this time we faced a bombardment from a fifty-pounder gun two hundred meters away. These huge lead balls flew out from the eight-inch muzzle and directly smashed the side of the Kronprinz into pieces.
Such a heavy cannonball directly penetrated the ship's deck. Large holes with a diameter of about one meter were opened in the ship's deck. The shells and broken wooden spikes swept across the artillery deck behind. Suddenly, people in the gun compartment were turned upside down.
Tragedy fills the land.
The freeboard of the clipper ship is low. This design is to reduce the windward resistance and increase the speed. Therefore, the height of the gun window is relatively low, parallel to the middle floor of the bottom and middle gun bunkers of the Crown Prince. So this batch of 50 pounds Some of the artillery shells hit the 36-pound gun compartment on the bottom floor. Some hit the 24-pound gun compartment on the middle floor.
Because Yang Fan's heavy artillery does not use a Western wooden four-wheeled gun carriage. It uses a metal gun mount with tracks and heavy springs to offset the recoil. You can easily adjust the height and left and right shooting range by shaking the handle. Therefore, it can strike The enemy ship's entire position is not affected by its own height.
So this round was directed to the bottom warehouse. Because everyone knows that due to the center of gravity on the ship, heavy artillery must be placed on the lower deck. And heavy artillery poses a greater threat.
Earl Marshfield felt a violent tremor under his feet, which was like an earthquake. He suddenly fell down on the corridor.
The 36-pounder gun bunker was in a mess. Four or five heavy cannons were overturned. The piles of powder barrels and lead bullets were shot away. Groups of artillerymen were hit by jumping shells, leaving a bloody alley. Then It penetrated the opposite wall again and flew out.
Lord Marshfield saw with his own eyes that a fifty-pound cannonball actually penetrated this huge battleship. On the other side of the ship, a fifty-pounder cannonball fell into the sea, causing a huge splash.
He rolled and crawled into the VIP cabin and hid under the oak desk. Nowhere on this ship was safe because the opponent's heavy artillery could penetrate anywhere.
Theodore was standing on the bridge at the stern of the ship, his face ashen. He did not expect that he would encounter such a terrifying warship in East Asia. At this time, he greeted the Spanish Governor of Manila over and over in his heart.
In 1574, Governor Recker of the Philippines wrote a letter to King Philip II of Spain, claiming that he could conquer the Ming Dynasty of China with only 60 soldiers, and asked the king to allow his plan. Even the king thought it was ridiculous, so he did not approve it. .
But this letter was widely circulated in Europe, making them think that Ming's ships were extremely backward.
By 1586, a large number of Spanish colonial representatives gathered in Manila, including soldiers, missionaries, merchants, etc. After long discussions, they finally formulated a detailed plan to conquer the Ming Dynasty of China.
According to their ridiculous plan, they prepared to send 12,000 soldiers from Spain, Portugal sent 5,000 soldiers, and at the same time, Jesuit missionaries recruited 5,000 Japanese samurai in Japan. The total force would eventually reach between 20,000 and 25,000.
The Spaniards also tried to recruit the British. The Spaniards claimed that the Ming Dynasty's navy was not worth mentioning. They were only small ships, and the artillery caliber was small, and the number was small.
This time when he came to the waters of Southeast Asia, Charles I prepared warships based on the information provided by the Spanish.
But now, the ship that is firing at him looks like a pirate ship piloted by the Ming Dynasty. It is big and powerful. Although the cannons are indeed not as many as his warships, they are all fifty-pound heavy guns of the same caliber.
This is the first time Westerners have seen that there is a battleship with unified artillery calibers.
"Look at how many usable artillery pieces are left. Fire back immediately." Theodore shouted.
In the era of sailing battleships, the captain directed battles and ship navigation from the bridge at the end of the deck. So how did his orders get conveyed to the deck and the lower gun compartment?
After all, in this era, the West had not yet invented sound transmission channels on battleships.
In this era, war drums were used to convey the captain's orders.
On the bridge, three soldiers immediately beat the war drums. According to the rhythm of the drums, the whole ship knew the captain's orders. This is the same as the flag language, which is practiced in daily training.
As the order was issued, the gun positions on the deck, the middle gun bunker, and the bottom gun bunker all moved into action. At this time, the main hardest-hit area was in the bottom gun bunker.
Because there are heavy artillery there, which poses the greatest threat, priority is given to the cruiser Hengshan to take care of it.
The high quality of the sailors on Western first-class battleships was immediately apparent.
Although the first salvo fired by the cruiser Hengshan was a mess, the people on the Prince immediately rushed to their posts as they performed their duties.
This chapter has been completed!