Smoke, blood, gunfire, gunshots and shouts echoed in the black smoke. On the boiling river, the dreadnought boats were like elves on the river, constantly firing at the Brazilian warships.
The dense shells hit the ship's deck like raindrops. While the shells tore up the ship's deck, in the bottom compartment of the "Amazon", the damage control sailors tried their best to block the breach with canvas wood.
.
Although the sailors tried their best, the surging river water still made the Amazon slower and slower. What was even more terrible was that Nanhua's gunboats would always fire one round when passing by her side.
The shells accurately hit the hull. In the continuous explosions, the sides of the "Amazon" were full of large and small holes.
Faced with the crazy influx of river water, the already overwhelmed "Amazon" even began to make noises. Faced with the reality of serious flooding, Admiral Inácio gave a direct order.
"Quick, grab the beach at full speed!"
In order not to sink, this was the only option. During the naval battle with the Paraguayans, many warships were forced to run aground on the sandbar.
"Put him up!"
After discovering the "Amazon"'s attempt, Du Guofeng did not continue to stare at the "Amazon", but turned his target to the "Belmont" coastal defense ship. Different from the previous column-style cutting, now the Brazilians were numerically overwhelmed
The dreadnought boats that had gained the upper hand surrounded the Brazilian warship like a pack of three, with a violent output. However, it only took a moment for the "Belmont" to be severely damaged. The 20mm machine gun on its side had
More than twenty washbasin-sized holes were made, and a dozen holes were also opened on the other side. Although the damage control sailors desperately rescued them, the raging river water almost flooded the bottom cabin. In order not to sink, Captain Antonio only had to
Can command the warship to sail to a sandbank and run aground.
The same situation also happened on the "Jekitinya". This warship was surrounded by three dreadnought boats. It was constantly hit by artillery fire and did not even have a chance to grab the beach. In order to rescue him, "Panaiba"
When the USS coastal defense ship tried to rush up, its rudder was shattered by a 20mm shell. In the end, she could only remain motionless, just like a woman facing three strong men, helpless.
Silently enduring the fierce output of the three dreadnought boats.
During the continuous shelling, the ammunition depot of the "Panaiba" was hit by artillery shells. The moment the powder barrel was detonated, there was a "boom", and the 1,255-ton "Panaiba" exploded in a violent explosion.
Falling apart.
Hundreds of Brazilian sailors didn't even have time to jump into the water. In the violent explosion, they were blown into the sky together, and then fell into the turbid river water. Only a few of them were among the floating corpses on the wooden boards that fluctuated with the waves.
The lucky ones are struggling to survive there.
The river surface near the sunken ship was dyed scarlet in an instant. As for the "Excellence", it turned around with difficulty during the siege and sailed towards the sandbar in the river. Facing the fierce artillery fire, the Brazilian sailors could only huddle around as if resigned to their fate.
It became a ball, at a loss, waiting for an unknown fate.
On the smoky river, the three surviving Brazilian warships passed through the black fog and flew towards the sandbar, desperately trying to beach themselves to avoid sinking. Around them, the following dreadnoughts were like a
They were like vicious wolves, with no intention of stopping at all. These dreadnoughts were like hungry wolves, determined to tear the prey to pieces, including their bones and flesh.
When the Dreadnought was sailing at high speed, it would always bump into Brazilian sailors struggling in the water. The sailors who were hit sank to the bottom of the river without even having the strength to struggle.
Although the "Amazon" was just stranded motionless on the sandbar, the Brazilian sailors on the ship did not give up resistance. The gunners operated 68-pound cannons and aimed at the dreadnought flying on the water with shot shells. At the same time, the sailors on the ship also
They were firing back with rifles and machine guns.
courage!
These Brazilian sailors definitely did not lack the courage to fight. Whether they were black or white, they all shouted and responded to the South China gunboat attack with rifles.
Although the dreadnought was very fast, in the face of such a hail of bullets, some sailors were unfortunately hit by projectiles. When the gunner operating the machine gun was hit, he fell down without even having time to grunt.
But other than that, the rifle bullets hitting the steel plate of the Dreadnaught were like scratching an itch, except for the big paint loss.
By 11 o'clock at noon, the battle had been going on for two hours. The three Brazilian warships stranded on the sandbar were like forts and fired back at the Nanhua gunboat. Although the gunboat's Gatling cannon fired fiercely, they faced
Such a "fort" is completely useless.
Seeing that the casualties on the boat were increasing, Du Tianfeng immediately gave the order.
"Stop the attack temporarily and stay alert on the periphery..."
A fierce battle finally came to an end. Both the Brazilian sailors and the South Chinese sailors had a chance to take a breath. When they sailed to safe waters, Li Tao seemed to be paralyzed from exhaustion and sat down on the gun emplacement.
There were brass bullet casings everywhere around him, and some of the bullet casings were even stained with blood. Several sailors who had died in battle were just lying there on the deck.
Victory is never without price, sacrifice is always inevitable, and the leaden-gray hull of the boat will be full of gunshot marks.
"Gunner, do you want to come and smoke?"
"Give me……"
When he wanted to raise his hand, Li Tao realized that he could no longer lift his hand. Two hours of fighting had turned his unicorn arm into useless material.
Du Guofeng, who was standing on the command tower, looked at the exhausted sailors around him, whose faces were covered with blood, and his whole body was full of exhaustion.
"Sir, they are stranded now, and small cannons can't do it!"
Wang Huidong said loudly.
"Not even washing the deck!"
Small cannonballs can kill sailors by washing the deck, but they cannot sink the ship! As long as the ship does not sink, the Brazilians will definitely continue to resist.
"otherwise……"
At this moment, Li Tao, who was sitting on the gun emplacement and couldn't even lift his arms, shouted loudly.
"Sir, let's use mortars. This distance is just right!"
Mortar!
There were also mortars on the ship. Li Tao's suggestion made Du Guofeng's eyes light up. He stared at the 150 mortar in front of the gun emplacement and said forcefully.
"Then let's try a few shots!"
The mortarman seconded from the army stood on the gun emplacement on the bow of the ship, staring at the "Amazon" in the distance and adjusting the firing angle little by little. While he was taking aim, the helmsman tried to keep the gunboat as still as possible.
"Try it first!"
The ammunition hand on the side immediately stuffed a 35-kilogram artillery shell into the chamber. There was a muffled "boom" and the gunboat swayed slightly the moment the shell roared out.
A few seconds later, a cloud of smoke exploded from the sandbank on the side of the "Amazon". The sudden shelling and rising smoke startled Admiral Inacio, who was discussing countermeasures with the officers.
"They actually have heavy artillery!"
Before Admiral Inacio could recover, another shell roared in. Although many shells missed, some shells still hit the "Amazon". High-explosive shells weighing 35 kilograms fell from the sky.
At that time, it even directly penetrated the deck and exploded directly in the bottom cabin. The power of the shell explosion was extremely amazing. It almost directly opened the warship deck and blew the sailors on the deck into the air...