"preparaión~,fueg!"

"ready~fire~!"

As the Spanish flagship opened fire first, the British fired back, not to be outdone. As a result, the originally quiet sea near Bilbao suddenly became loud and rumbling, with water jets rising from all directions.

Of course, the distance between the two sides was actually very far at this time, and we couldn't count on the accuracy of the cannonballs. But generally speaking, even if the Spanish cannonballs fell into the sea, they would only be two to three hundred meters away from the nearest British ship.

The British cannonballs were far behind the opponent's warships.

At this moment, the Spanish fleet formed two parallel lines, with the large ships at the rear and the small ships in front, attacking with all their strength from the eight o'clock direction to the two o'clock direction. In order to compete for the "T", the British attacked from the six o'clock direction.

The direction of the clock is moving rapidly towards the twelve o'clock direction. Such two trajectories must have an intersection, and whoever can reach the intersection first will grab the "T".

"Quick, quick, quick~~! Tom! I want you to make full use of every sail! The Spanish's artillery has a farther range than ours. If we don't want to lose the army behind, we must win this naval battle! And we must win this naval battle!"

Winning and seizing the "T" is more important than anything else!"

"Yes, sir, our sailing team has gone all out!"

When the British commander was giving orders to the sailing team leader of his flagship, suddenly everyone on the deck felt a blackness above their heads!

"Oops! It's actually a cross-shooting!"

…

"Your Excellency, our shell just hit a cross-fire!"

Unlike the British, who suddenly felt their hearts sinking, the Spanish side cheered. Fleet Commander Baroudis excitedly pulled his beard hard: "Continue the bombardment! Order our five King-class ships,

Concentrate all fire to attack the opponent’s lead ship!”

At 11:30, the Spanish fleet appeared on the sea.

At 12:40, the distance between the two sides narrowed to two thousand meters, and the Spanish took the lead in firing.

At around 13 o'clock, the Spaniards took the lead in taking the cross-shot.

At 13:20 on this day, the twenty-four-pound shell fired from the Philip IV finally scored its first hit.

This huge solid iron ball, with the powerful momentum given by gunpowder, whizzed down in the air and accurately hit the deck on the left side of the British flagship. The thin and low wooden boards on the outside of the deck resisted in vain.

A moment later, cracks appeared immediately, and then the whole thing shattered. Then the cannonball followed the holes in the wooden board and drilled onto the deck.

At this position on the deck at this moment, a British sailing team leader was shouting hoarsely to his sailors to maneuver the huge sail. His sailors were still doing their best to carry out the leader's orders.

But suddenly, I felt that my ears were suddenly clear.

When he came back to his senses and turned around, he saw that the team leader who was standing next to him and yelling just now had fallen down, his headless neck was spraying blood, and the team leader's head had been hit by the cannonball at this moment.

So pulpy that it can no longer be distinguished.

The sailman couldn't help but sigh, and his feet immediately told him: the hull was still shaking violently, and other parts of the ship must have been shot again!

His feeling was correct. In addition to the shell that landed at his position and killed his team leader, there were three shells from other King-class battleships that successively focused on the Elizabeth. But fortunately, two of these four shells

Hitting the side string, two shells fell on the deck. Although it caused some damage to the people on the deck, the shells at this distance could not directly break through the thick ship wall below the deck. Therefore, these shellings did not cause

The explosion of gunpowder did not slow down the speed of the ship. The damage to the sky could only be regarded as minor damage.

"Don't be afraid, the brave British navy will not be frightened by such a small shell. Guys, continue to go north with all your strength, we must..."

Just when Commander Johnson loudly encouraged his soldiers, a panicked scream of mixed men and women appeared at the command podium of the flagship's stern tower at an extremely inappropriate time.

"Ah? Ah~~! Ah~~~!"

"Your Excellency, please calm down!"

"I can't calm down! Commander, look, that shell just killed five sailors on the deck in one fell swoop, and two others broke their legs... Retreat! Retreat, let's return to Great Britain as soon as possible.

!”

"Sir, what are you talking about? Behind us, thirty heavy troop carriers have all been stranded, and the Spanish fortress artillery is destroying them one by one. Our army has retreated, and is currently relying on those small sampans.

Floating on the sea. If we don't repel the Spanish fleet facing us, what awaits them is the annihilation of their entire army!"

"Don't worry about them, we can't save them! Let's take care of ourselves first! Hurry, where is the helmsman? Head to the southeast, we don't want to fight the Spaniards!"

"Bastard!" There was a loud slap, and Johnson yelled: "Come here, His Excellency the Duke is sick, please send him below the deck."

After the commander finished dealing with this, when he looked up again, he found that the distance between the two fleets had been shortened to about 600 meters.

At such a distance, the sail warships of this era can already unleash their full firepower! The hit rates of both sides have begun to increase significantly, and the battlefield has become more fierce.

At the beginning, as the leading ship to seize the "T" position, the British ship Elizabeth accepted the concentrated fire attack from the Spanish. However, the distance was relatively far, so the Spanish fired hundreds of shells and only hit four of them.

.But when the follow-up warships from both sides gradually approached, the leading USS Elizabeth was covered by powerful artillery fire!

Suddenly, the entire hull became a hell on earth. Thick solid bullets continued to make holes in the side strings of the hull. Shots fired from small-caliber artillery were wantonly harvesting the lives of sailors on the deck. Johnson was stunned.

What's even more trembling is: chain bombs appeared in the sky! Although the ship's mast and sails were not hit at the moment, with the increase in the number of chain bombs, it will be a matter of time.

What makes the commander feel even more depressed is that the distance between the two sides is getting closer at this moment, making the extension line of the two routes extremely clear: if the routes of both sides remain unchanged at this time, the Spaniards will be the first to arrive at the intersection of the two routes.

——Grab the horizontal position of the T!

"Send the order, all ships follow the flagship and continue to move due north! We can't grab the horizontal position, but we can rush into the Spanish queue. At that time, the artillery on both sides of us can play a role, and we can win or lose!

"

"As you command, sir!"

"Bang~!"

"Sir!"

"Hmph! I am the Duke of Buckingham, who was personally conferred by His Majesty the King. I am the supreme commander of this force. Who dares to imprison me? Adjutant Henry, now Commander Johnson has been killed by me for disobeying my command, and the entire fleet has been

I command! Send the order, all ships follow the flagship and turn to the southeast!"

…

"Sir, are the British turning?"

"Eh? How is this possible?" After hearing the lookout's report, Baroudis raised his telescope and observed it carefully for a while with a shocked look on his face. Then he put down the telescope easily, with undisguised contempt in his eyes:

"Tsk~! The British are really as timid as mice. Even if they can't grab the T-letter, they won't be too far away when we get to the position. Wouldn't it be better to be a little more aggressive and hit us directly?

These guys are really useless."

After expressing this emotion, Baroudis quickly ordered: "Send a signal to all ships not to attack the British lead ship, but let it pass. All our warships will focus their fire to attack the British ships that follow the opponent's lead ship."

Army follow-up battleship!"

"sí, ser!"

After the adjutant faithfully issued the order, he came back with a confused look on his face: "Your Excellency, why do you want to let go of the other party's lead ship? I just saw it clearly. There is the flag of the Duke of Buckingham on it. There is no doubt that it is

The other party’s flagship.”

"Haha, my dear Fernando, just because it is the flagship, we will not attack them for the time being. If we destroy the opponent's flagship, what if the person who takes over the command is a foolish and bold person? Directly lead the remaining British ships to charge

Coming here? We keep the other side's flagship and let the other side's flagship turn at such a close distance from us. Then the remaining British ships are forced to follow the turn, which is equivalent to lining up one by one for us to fight!

"

"That's it. Your Excellency is really wise."

"Hahaha, I am not wise, it is His Majesty who is wise. Well, speaking of it, when His Majesty taught our navy, he talked about many so-called battle examples. Strange to say, I have fought in many naval battles, but these

I have never heard of any of the battle cases, but when I use them now, it really feels like His Majesty has seen them with his own eyes."

While the two were talking, the situation was exactly as Baroudis expected. Due to the turn of the Elizabeth, the subsequent British ships could only follow the turn. As a result, Spain completely got the T-shaped horizontal position!

"Concentrate your firepower and attack the turning British ships one by one!"

"viva~!vitria~!fueg!"

Every British ship, when turning at a distance of five or six hundred meters from the opponent, had to withstand the concentrated fire attack of forty-five battleships. As the Spanish's gunfire became more and more accurate, the British suffered rapid losses.

's got bigger.

The first flagship to turn around, the Elizabeth, was only slightly damaged by a few shells. The courageous ship that followed was hit hard by more than thirty shells. The third ranked ship, the Resolution, had its mast directly damaged by the opponent's chain.

The bomb was smashed, and the speed of the entire ship suddenly dropped. The British ships in the rear were in chaos for a while!

Gradually, the British ships began to be sunk one after another, and slowed down. The sixty British ships that were originally neatly arranged in a line, by four o'clock in the afternoon, had completely lost all formations.

, turned into fighting independently.

At five o'clock in the afternoon, a British ship flew a white flag, and then more than 20 British ships still alive on the sea immediately waved white flags.

…

"Your Majesty, congratulations. Under your command, we annihilated the British navy and completely wiped out the British army of 20,000. The British will no longer be able to interfere with our cause of conquering France within two or three years."

"My Prime Minister, total annihilation is still not possible. It is said that the Duke of Buckingham escaped?"

"Yes, Your Majesty. But wouldn't it be a good thing for us if such rubbish escaped back to England?"

"Hahaha, you are right. Then...huh? Morales, what happened? Aren't you in Madrid?"
Chapter completed!