"General, the enemy's airships are coming. There are about thirty of them."

"This is really unpleasant." After a long sigh, Inukai Touji said: "Inform the entire army to put up the modified machine guns and see if they can hit one or two ships."

"Got the order!"

Although the speed advantage forced the Theo coalition to turn, the Ming Navy had nearly half an hour of hearty unilateral bombardment. However, although the results were not small, Spain's seven battleships still maintained their combat effectiveness.

In other words, this naval battle still has not achieved decisive results. But at this time, the opponent's airship troops actually arrived. God knows what will happen to the battlefield situation?

"Colonel, we have arrived at the battlefield. It seems that our side is slightly at a disadvantage."

"Well, I've seen it all."

Different from the navy's usual white military uniforms and the blue and white combat uniforms during war, the uniforms of the airship troops are all sky blue. At this time, sitting in the pod of the leading airship, one shoulder carries the rank of colonel, and the collar badge is painted

Holding an eagle, a middle-aged man named Lopez observed carefully through the window of the pod and issued an order: "Pioneer 35 and 36 maintain an altitude of 1,500 meters and hover over our fleet.

Provide calibration for the bombardment of our fleet. Pioneer 3 to 32, raising the altitude to two thousand meters, we try to bomb the enemy battleships."

"yes!"

Following Lopez's order, the thirty airships slightly adjusted their formation in the air, then drove their motors and began to slowly fly towards the Ming Navy's array. Below them, the airships that had been gathered by the enemy were

After half an hour of fire attack, the morale of the coalition fleet was greatly reduced. At this time, when they saw their own "air force" entering the battle, everyone felt as if they had been given a shot of chicken blood. At least the sailors on the deck couldn't help it.

He took off his hat, waved his arms towards his comrades in the sky, and cheered enthusiastically.

"Your Excellency, the pioneers in the sky on the 35th and 36th sent telegrams. They will conduct ballistic calibration for us. The 35th is responsible for the battleship array and the 36th is responsible for the heavy cruise array."

"Very good!" Garcia slammed the table and shouted: "Gentlemen, the battle is far from over. Cheer up and let us send the Chinese opposite to the bottom of the sea! Spain will win!"

"Yes! Spain will win!"

The coalition forces with renewed morale once again began to bombard the Ming Navy fiercely. The Ming army also fought back without giving in. As the battle lasted longer, the warships of both sides were hit more and more, so that the battle

It's becoming more and more cruel.

At 5:12, the Ming Navy flagship Lian Po, which had been under intensive fire attack since the beginning of the battle, was hit for the eighth time: this time, the enemy's shells directly knocked off the No. 2 turret, destroying the No. 3 Lian Po.

Not to mention one-third of the combat power. The billowing smoke from under the No. 2 turret completely obscured the sight of the command tower.

But just a moment later, at thirteen minutes, the Li Mu's main gun also hit the Spanish Navy's flagship Fernando V: one of the chimneys at the rear of the ship's bridge was blown away, and bursts of soot-laden missiles were blown away.

The heavy smoke made the Fernando V appear to be in extremely serious condition.

At fifteen minutes, the Cao Sanxi, the slowest ship in the Ming Dynasty battleship array, was hit by two shells in succession below the waterline amidships. The heavy armor could no longer withstand the continuous attacks from the adjacent parts. It was below the waterline.

A large opening of 50*30cm was opened, and a large amount of seawater poured in, causing the battleship Cao Sanxi to roll slightly, and its speed suddenly dropped to 12.5 knots.

Eighteen points, twenty-three points, thirty-one points... In just twenty minutes after the coalition completed its turn, the firing frequency of both sides continued to increase, and each other scored hits one after another. And when the battle just started, the blood was full.

Even if a warship is hit by one or two rounds, it will not affect the difference in combat. At this time, basically every warship on both sides is injured. So if it is hit at this time, the danger of the warship itself will rise sharply...

At 5:35 pm on September 16, 1647, an epoch-making node in this plane arrived: Although the slow airship bombed the Ming army's warships below at an altitude of two thousand meters. However, this

After all, this was the first aerial bombing of this era.

However, although it was the first epoch-making bombing, at this time the Spanish and Ottoman airships and the suspended pods under the huge helium balloon were only ten square meters in total. After deducting the motor, backup battery, backup gas bottle and necessary

After the operator space, the space left for bombs is already very limited. Therefore, each of the thirty airships led by Lopez only has two 250KG bombs in the pod.

Fortunately, this is an airship developed by the time traveler, so these two bombs do not need to be thrown out by the pilot to bomb like in the historical plane - even if you are not a professional weightlifter, you cannot lift such a heavy bomb.

.

Sixty 250-kilogram bombs fell from the pods on the airship one after another. Their own weight plus the acceleration of gravity actually caused a shrill sound of breaking through the air during the fall. Several

As they breathed, these bombs became bigger and bigger in the eyes of the Ming soldiers...

However, although this first bombing seemed to have a good momentum, the hit rate was poor.

With bursts of rumbling explosions, dozens of huge water columns were stirred up in the sea area around the Ming army fleet. However, the targets of these airships, the Ming army warships, at least on the surface, were unscathed.

"Ha! I thought these airships were so powerful, but I didn't expect their bomb-delivery skills to be so poor. Where are our machine guns?"

"General, the brothers at the relevant artillery position are shooting into the sky."

"Well, this thing is not good for dropping bombs from the air, but it is still very useful for reconnaissance and calibrating artillery battles. Let the brothers work harder and try to win a few. We will hand over the wreckage to those in Fangshan

Let’s see if we can do it too.”

"That's right, General. It would be better if there were radios on these airships."

"Hey, you're right, damn it. Fortunately, the emperor strategized and equipped each ship with the emergency radio that Fang Shan just made. The flagship is equipped with three units. Until now, most warships have been equipped with naval battles.

None of the radios can be used anymore. Well, it would be great to get a radio from the West Bandits and use it as a reference."

"General!"

"What's up?"

"The Cao Sanxi sent a signal, saying that the bomb dropped from the air just now exploded underwater about fifty meters away from the ship's hull. This near-missing bomb caused the ship's newly plugged hole to leak again. The current amount of water in

It was too large, causing the hull to tilt nearly 15°. In order to restore the balance of the hull, the ship had to inject water on the other side. However, after the water was injected, the ship's speed had dropped to 8 knots. The captain of the ship requested to withdraw from the battle line."

"I..." Shengsheng stopped the swearing in his mouth and Inukai Dongji nodded heavily: "It is allowed to withdraw from the battle line and let the ship return directly to Yangon Port."

"yes!"

The communications staff here had just left with a solemn expression. The gunnery staff not far away put down the phone but suddenly jumped up happily: "General, our ship's shot at the high-altitude airship has hit!"

The machine guns on the ships of the Ming Navy are not equipped as anti-aircraft guns. Although the maximum range of its sea shooting reaches 3000 meters, its air shooting will definitely not reach this height. Moreover, its rate of fire is higher than that of later generations of professional guns.

It is also much slower than the anti-aircraft guns. However, what is above the Ming fleet at this time is not the aircraft with a speed of hundreds of kilometers per hour in World War II, but a slow airship.

At 5:50 in the afternoon, after the Lianpo's cannon hit, the ships of the Ming Navy successively hit the target. Although the airships in the sky either tried their best to increase their altitude or dodge awkwardly, in less than half an hour, three

Twenty-seven of the ten airships were shot down.

The huge airbags of these airships are filled with helium, so if the airbag is penetrated by the Ming army's machine gun, it will not directly set the airship into a fireball. But precisely because of this, once there is a hole in the airbag, the entire airship will be destroyed.

The airship suddenly accelerated, and after making a shrill roar, it carried the pod below and scurried around at high speed - and at the beginning, in order to ensure the hit rate, the spacing between Spain's thirty airships was extremely small.

Therefore, it is inevitable that two or more airships will violently collide with each other at extremely high speeds.

Then there was a loud bang, the air bag ruptured, and the pod below fell straight into the sea: the most outrageous thing was the pod of Pioneer 25. It did not fall into the sea, but hit directly below.

On the deck of the heavy cruiser Wei Zhongxian, a medium-sized hole was smashed into the deck of the battleship - in this way, it can be regarded as a real hit.

The airship bombing was just a small episode in this naval battle: in future history textbooks, this bombing will have a high significance. But really speaking of the impact of this aerial bombing on this war, the biggest impact is just to make the original

The scarred Cao Sanxi just withdrew from the battlefield early.

…

The time came to 6:30, and the sun began to set significantly. After more than four hours of naval battle, both sides of the battle were scarred and panting. And as the sight gradually worsened, and the gunfire

Due to the inevitable metal fatigue of the tube after long-term shooting, the accuracy of both sides also began to decline.

By seven o'clock in the evening, the lower edge of the sun had already sunk into the sea. The afterglow of the setting sun coated the sea surface with a brilliant golden color, and the sound of artillery fire from both sides slowly began to weaken, so that it gradually became silent.

"Today's battle for our battleships will be almost over at this point. The results and battle losses will be tallied."

"Yes, General. According to our calculations, as of now, six enemy heavy cruisers have been sunk and at least twelve have been severely damaged. Among these twelve, at least three have completely lost power and are just parked on the sea.

Superior Death. As for the enemy's battleships, the two Ottoman battleships have already retreated. Among the seven battleships of the Western Thieves, the leading flagship was at least Zhongchuang, and the remaining six were all hit by at least five shots.

As for our army, three of the twenty-five heavy patrols were sunk, and nine were seriously damaged. However, all nine of the severely damaged ships can still move. The slowest Gansu can maintain six knots, and Gansu, Guangdong, Fujian

The three heavily damaged heavy cruisers of the "Cao Sanxi" had already retreated with the "Cao Sanxi" more than half an hour ago. In other words, we currently have six heavy cruisers on the battlefield that were seriously injured.

As for the battleships, the Cao Sanxi was severely damaged and has withdrawn from the battlefield. The flagship Lianpo was hit by twelve bullets and the No. 2 turret was completely destroyed. The Yu Dayou was hit by one bullet under the waterline and took in more than 300 tons of water. The other ships may have more

It may have taken seven or eight to thirteen or four shots, which will definitely have an impact on its combat effectiveness, but the ship as a whole is not seriously affected."

"Okay, order the battle fleet and heavy patrol team to evacuate the battlefield in twenty minutes." At this point, Inukai Touji hesitated for a moment, but still said firmly: "The six heavy patrol ships are the rear with serious injuries."

"Huh?" After a slight hesitation, the communications staff officer responded firmly: "Yes!"
Chapter completed!