The ironclad cruiser Changbaishan patrols the Atlantic Ocean.
The autumn weather was crisp and the wind and rain on the sea had decreased a lot. Zheng Sen used his telescope to watch the huge fleet ahead.
A fleet composed of hundreds of sail warships sailed towards Gibraltar in a mighty manner.
He immediately asked: "Has the destroyer completed the minefield layout?"
This time, the Changbaishan escorted the destroyer and laid mines on the path that the combined fleet must pass through.
The European navies have never seen the collision mines developed by the Dahua Empire, and they do not know how to guard against mines.
They laid mines right in front of the United Fleet. These Europeans didn't know what they were doing?
"Captain, the destroyers have sent a message, and most of their mines are deployed on the forward route."
Zheng Sen waved his hand and ordered: "Everyone withdraws to the Strait of Gibraltar."
Braving black smoke, the ironclad ship turned around and retreated to the Strait of Gibraltar.
A very small number of mines have been deployed in many sea areas along this route, just to frighten the combined fleet.
He was not afraid that the combined fleet would take a detour. No matter which direction they went, they would encounter mines.
Zheng Sen didn't think about what to do with these mines when the war was over.
This is what European countries should have a headache with.
When the Changbaishan entered the strait, there was a lighthouse on the shore for command.
The waterways of the Strait of Gibraltar are also covered with new types of mines.
Even if the ironclad ship has steel armor, if it touches a few mines, it will easily damage the weak parts such as the propeller.
…………………………
George Monk, commander-in-chief of the British Navy, stood on the Elizabeth and looked at the warships of the Chinese Navy through binoculars.
He took a breath of cold air. The bright silver-white reflective metal armor of the Dahua Empire warship made him unable to take his eyes away.
"It turns out that this is an ironclad ship. The British Navy must have its own ironclad ship in the future."
George Monk was unable to observe the defensive performance of the ironclad ships of the Imperial Navy.
But judging from his experience, the artillery of the main warships of the combined fleet may not be able to penetrate the armor if it is at a slightly longer distance.
The defense of steel is far superior to that of wood. Countries have experimented with covering the surface of warships with steel.
Just doing this will seriously affect the speed of the battleship.
When a warship like this fights against warships of the same class, it will be like an iron turtle on the sea. It can only be beaten without being able to fight back.
He observed that the speed of the Dahua Empire's armored ships was not slow at all.
The Dahua Empire completely solved this problem. Ironclad ships have strong defense and are faster than sailing ships.
When George Monk saw the performance of the Dahua Empire's warships, he understood why Robert Blake was so nervous when he mentioned the Dahua Empire's navy.
When George Monk saw the Imperial Navy of Great China, they seemed to be provoking. At first they just docked in front of the fleet. After discovering that the combined fleet was relaying, they stayed for a long time before leaving.
He sent a signal to Robert Blake, commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet, asking if the fleet was operating as usual.
George Monk quickly waited for Robert Blake's reply, and the combined fleet operated as usual.
Robert Blake frowned. He felt that something was wrong with the Imperial Navy, but he couldn't see why they were wrong.
He saw the fleets of various countries asking the combined fleet if they were operating as usual.
He immediately conveyed the order via semaphore, and the combined fleet followed the plan.
When they approach the Strait of Gibraltar, they will use provocation, encirclement and other means to force the Imperial Navy of China to leave the port and engage in a decisive battle with them on the Atlantic Ocean.
Okany Boudier is the French Navy, the weakest country in the combined fleet.
They are the weakest and do not play much role in naval battles. They take the initiative to assume the responsibility of exploring paths.
The French Navy has only two main warships, but it also has a number of destroyers and other small warships.
These small warships explore the path in front of the main warship to prevent the main warship from being ambushed by the enemy.
A ship sails on the sea under the influence of sails. Even if the mast is cut off immediately, the ship will float forward a long distance.
The task of exploring the path is extremely important. Once there is an ambush ahead, it is not discovered.
The combined fleet cannot react in advance and will run directly into the trap.
Okani Budil saw the destroyer fleet successfully pass the position where the Dahua Navy fleet had just stopped.
Only then did he completely let go of the tension he had been feeling.
The powerful firearms of the Great China Empire left a deep impression on European countries.
The combined fleet was also afraid of being ambushed by the Imperial Navy.
What he didn't know was that the mines deployed by the Great China Navy could submerge at a certain depth under the sea.
Small warships with low drafts cannot touch mines at all.
Because of the poor shipbuilding technology of the French Navy, its main warships are relatively small and their drafts are not good enough.
Only large warships with deep drafts can touch mines and detonate mines located under the sea.
Okani Budil happily passed the location where the Dahua Navy docked just now.
"I'm scared to death. The Imperial Navy of Great China didn't ambush here at all.
It looks like you have a clear view of the sea from here, and there are no islands around, so this is not a good place for an ambush."
Okani Budil immediately sent a signal to the combined fleet that the front was safe.
Robert Blake, the commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet, saw a signal of safety from Okani Boudier.
His nervous mood immediately relaxed.
The formation of the combined fleet was with the English fleet in the center, the Spanish fleet on the left, and the Dutch fleet on the right.
The location where the Imperial Navy warships dock is exactly where the Spanish Navy and the English Navy meet.
On the British Navy's three-decker battleship HMS Sea Giant, Captain Jerry is indulging in the power of the ironclad.
On the bottom of the sea where he could not see, a mine that looked like an iron barrel had been mounted on the bottom of the warship.
Due to the collision of the warship, the mine immediately triggered the fuse in the mine, and the huge mine detonated directly on the bottom of the ship.
Jerry only felt the warship shake violently, as if it was encountering a hurricane.
At the same time, I heard a huge dull sound coming from the bottom of the sea.
He was standing on the warship, unable to stand firm at all, and immediately fell to the deck.
Then the warship tilted at an angle of up to 30 degrees.
Captain Jerry felt as if he was falling rapidly into the sea.
George Munch looked at the situation ahead with a calm expression.
He suddenly discovered that the Sea Giant seemed to have been hit by a huge cannonball.
The water column on the sea surface to his left rose five to six meters high, and then the warship immediately swayed violently and swayed forward.
After he traveled not far, a huge explosion sounded again, and two large holes were blown out of the bottom of the battleship Sea Giant.
Sea water continued to flow into the warship, and the ship sank at an extremely fast speed.
The sailors jumped off the warship one after another and swam with all their strength in preparation to escape from the warship.
But the warship sank too fast, forming a huge whirlpool on the sea and sucking all nearby sailors into the seabed.
Not only the Sea Giant, but also the other main battleships of England and Spain in the front, they were all attacked by unknown firearms under the sea.
George Monk shouted: "Lower the sail, lower the sail quickly, and drop the anchor immediately."
The sailors heard the order and took action one after another.
The Elizabeth's speed slowed down significantly, but it still drifted quickly towards the trap sea area.
George Munch had a look of despair on his face.
According to the lessons learned from the warships in the front row, the Elizabeth was also in danger.
The combined fleet moved in a relatively dense formation, and the Elizabeth now had no room to evade even if she tried to evade it from left to right.
George Munch will soon experience his destiny.
He suddenly realized that the explosion method of this firearm was too similar to that of a landmine.
He immediately roared so loudly that his throat broke.
"The Elizabeth will follow the course of the Sea Giant, and it must not deviate from the course."
George Monk also used semaphores to issue orders to other warships in the fleet.
Let them take routes already traveled by other warships.
The Elizabeth had entered the trap area, and he had to take a gamble. If he guessed correctly, most of the warships would survive.
George Munch's heart was already in his throat. He looked at the situation of the surrounding warships and was finally able to confirm that the Elizabeth was safe.
As if all his strength had been drained from his body, he immediately collapsed on the deck.
In this short period of time, he seemed to have spent several years.
If his guess is wrong, he will be buried with the Elizabeth.
Robert Blake wiped the cold sweat from his brow as he saw the army weather the crisis.
For the first time, he felt the danger of his opponent, which was completely different from any opponent he had encountered before.
The Dahua Empire obviously laid mines similar to mines in this sea area.
This kind of mine can be set at a specified depth, and destroyers with a shallow draft, even French warships, have not triggered the mine.
Only warships with a deeper draft will trigger mines, especially battleships in the front, which will basically trigger more than two mines.
Even if it was not sunk on the spot, the battleship had been severely damaged and could no longer participate in the rest of the war.
After passing through the minefield, a total of three warships were sunk, and seven warships were seriously damaged and could no longer participate in the subsequent war.
If George Monk hadn't been extremely hasty and discovered that this was a mine in advance, and each ship had found a way to avoid it, the combined fleet would have suffered heavy losses.
As the commander-in-chief of the United Fleet, Robert Blake immediately summoned the fleet commanders from all countries to go to the flagship HMS England for a meeting.
He saw the commanders of the fleets of various countries, and the expressions on their faces were not very good.
The naval generals of all countries are like this, and the morale of the sailors at the bottom will be even lower.
Admiral Robert Blake said with a serious expression: "The Chinese Imperial Navy has a way of laying mines on the sea.
This type of firearm is specifically targeted at battleships and other deep-draft battleships.
If the combined fleet encounters two or three more such ambushes, morale will collapse directly.
We must find a way to completely eliminate the naval mines of the Dahua Fleet."
Everyone knows that Robert Blake's proposal was absolutely correct.
This time ten main warships withdrew from the combined fleet, and if they met two or three more times, more than thirty main warships would withdraw from the combined fleet.
If the loss of an army reaches 20 to 30%, the morale of the army will collapse and it will be difficult to maintain combat effectiveness.
General Okani Budil has always believed that it was his responsibility that the main force of the Combined Fleet was attacked by mines.
They didn't suffer from mines, so they didn't need to appease the soldiers.
Okani Budil has more time to think about how to avoid mines.
Now that he had a rough idea, he immediately stood up and said, "I think we can find mines in the sea in advance based on their characteristics.
The naval mines of the Dahua Empire are fixed under a certain water depth. They only need to be touched with something to detonate the mines.
We can completely let the destroyer drag the iron net and explore the safety of the sea ahead."
Robert Blake heard about General O'Kanye Boudier's approach.
This is an effective, but very time-consuming method.
Adopting this method will definitely slow down the march of the combined fleet.
But Robert Blake thought that the Combined Fleet was not far from Gibraltar.
Sacrifice the speed of the fleet to ensure the safety of the fleet, and it will not be painful to make this choice.
Robert Blake nodded and said: "I think this method is good, what do you think?"
George Monk, Commander-in-Chief of the British Navy, said:
"This is a good idea. Our most important task now is to ensure the safety of warships.
But the safer way is not to abandon this route and take other routes."
Robert Blake said: "No matter which route we take, we must use this method to find out whether the sea area ahead is safe.
If we find that other routes are also mined by the Imperial Navy, we will still take this most suitable route."
Spanish Admiral Oquendo then supported: “It is an honor to fight against the Imperial Navy of Great China in an upright manner, even if we lose.
The morale of the navy will not drop too much, but like today, without even seeing the enemy, our army suffered heavy losses.
If this phenomenon continues, we will definitely not be able to defeat the Imperial Navy of Great China."
Dutch Navy Vice Admiral Marton Tropp was not very satisfied with this method.
But he couldn't think of a better solution and could only support this method.
Robert Blake immediately agreed to General Okani Boudier's suggestion and asked him to mobilize the destroyers of the Combined Fleet to explore the path for the Combined Fleet.
General Okani Budil received this mission. He took great care and led the destroyer to explore the sea ahead.
He asked the destroyer to use this method to explore other routes, and traces of mines were also found in the waters that other routes must pass through.
The combined fleet finally decided to maintain this most suitable route.
Okani Budil used this native method to detect dozens of mines in the sea areas that the route must pass through.
The number of these mines was obviously not as dense as the ones they encountered before.
Okani Budil knew that this was the strategy of the Great China Navy.
Use a small number of mines to slow down the march of the combined fleet.
But he did not dare to be careless, just in case this was a strategy of the Imperial Navy to confuse the enemy.
Now these mines only make them relax their vigilance. Once the detection is reduced and a large number of mines are discovered in the front again, the combined fleet will suffer heavy losses.
This method is slower, but the combined fleet will not lose any warships.
Robert Blake was very anxious, but he knew that the speed of the combined fleet could not be increased.
It took the combined fleet several times longer to finally reach the southernmost tip of the Iberian Peninsula, just a stone's throw away from Gibraltar.
The combined fleet will engage in the largest naval battle in European history with the Chinese Empire. (End of this chapter)
