Chapter 667: Ironclad Ship Attacks in the Sea Battle
Dutch Navy Vice Admiral Marton Tropp saw the sunset coming out.
After a day of fierce battle, the Dutch naval fleet destroyed more than forty warships, ten of which were double-layer plywood main warships, and the rest were destroyers.
The main function of these destroyers is to block artillery shells from the main battleships, which is why the losses were so heavy.
Marton Tropp must leave some seeds for the Dutch Navy.
The Netherlands has a developed shipbuilding industry, but once the navy's talent pool is out of supply, the Netherlands Navy becomes a subpar navy.
He must consider how the Dutch Navy will develop in the future if this war fails.
Marton Tropp's heart was bleeding. He hadn't seen the Imperial Navy fleet yet, it was just attacking the coastal defense batteries.
They have all suffered such heavy losses. Once they fight against the Imperial Navy fleet, he doesn't know how many warships they will lose.
The Dutch fleet suffered heavy losses, but it did not cause much damage to the Chinese Empire.
The Dutch fleet must be close to the shore in order to cause some damage to the shore defense guns.
In doing so, the fleet will get closer to the coastal defense guns and be hit by more shells, resulting in extremely heavy casualties.
Marton Tropp glanced at the warships that were burning on the shore or had sunk to the bottom of the sea.
He immediately gave the order to retreat.
The flagship of the Dutch fleet, the Free State, fired several strange cannons and hoisted a retreat flag.
After seeing the order to retreat, the remaining warships of the Dutch fleet did not flee the battlefield in panic. They each covered their friendly forces in an orderly manner and quickly evacuated the battlefield.
Marton Tropp saw all fleets withdraw from the battlefield.
Most of the warships were just filled with smoke and had no scratches at all.
The Dahua Empire's artillery is so powerful that as long as it is hit by an artillery shell, the warship basically loses the ability to escape from the battlefield.
Marton Tropp came to the flagship of the combined fleet with a gloomy face.
He saw Robert Blake and others here, and slapped the door frame hard with his hand.
"Our Dutch fleet was so miserable, with more than 5,000 casualties.
If this scale of casualties is carried out a few more times, the Dutch naval fleet will disappear."
Robert Blake, commander of the Combined Fleet, immediately consoled him: "General Marton Tropp, we decided on the tactics before we started the war.
The Dahua Empire is stronger than we imagined, but it is not without weaknesses. As long as we can discover the weaknesses of the Dahua Empire, the final victory will definitely belong to us."
General Marton Tropp punched the door frame and roared: "It's not your country's sailors who died. How can you get over it with just a few words?"
For the victory of the United Fleet, our Dutch fleet paid a huge price.
The arrangements for the first round have been assigned, and I now request to change the order for the second round. We have suffered heavy losses and need to rest for a while. Please adjust the order of our fleet in the second round to the back."
General Marton Tropp made their demands in anger.
He knew that if the Dutch fleet dared to refuse the arrangements of the combined fleet before the war started, it would not be good for the Netherlands' situation.
Other countries will not agree, and the Netherlands will suffer even greater losses by then.
But after this battle, they really suffered heavy losses, so they can find any excuse and ask to be moved further back in the second round.
General Marton Tropp knew that the Chinese Empire's counterattack would become weaker and weaker.
The commander of the United Fleet, Robert Blake, pondered for a moment and said: "The arrangements for the second round will be determined based on the losses of each fleet.
The fleet with lighter losses will be the first target of the attack.
All subsequent attack arrangements will be carried out in this way."
Robert Blake knew he had to choose a fair approach.
Otherwise, the combined fleet, which has different ideas, will soon fall apart, let alone deal with the Great China Empire Navy Fleet.
General Marton Tropp heard about this arrangement, and he reluctantly agreed.
The basis of this arrangement is fairness. The Netherlands is a small and powerful country, and if they can be treated fairly, they will not expect other treatment.
Spanish Admiral Oquendo did not object to this arrangement.
The Spanish Navy really wants to try their best to recapture Gibraltar, which is the territory of the Spanish Habsburg Kingdom.
Both the Dutch Navy and the English Navy may not be able to produce enough work, but the Spanish Navy will never do this.
The Spanish admiral Oquendo just wanted to trick the Dutch navy and avenge himself.
He never thought of being passive and attacking Gibraltar.
If he really dared to do this, King Felipe IV of Madrid would have his whole family imprisoned.
Spanish Admiral Oquendo believed that the Spanish fleet would suffer more casualties, and this rule was completely taking care of the Spanish fleet.
George Monk would not dismantle his colleagues, and he happily recognized this agreement on behalf of the British Navy.
With the difficult problem solved, Robert Blake led the admirals to analyze the situation of the Great China Empire.
Based on the performance of today's Dutch naval fleet, they continue to optimize the details of fighting the Great China Empire.
Early on the next morning, as soon as the sun rose, the combined fleet began to take action.
The Spanish navy showed its indomitable momentum and began to attack Gibraltar without fear of a large number of artillery shells from the Chinese Empire.
Robert Blake stood on the deck and observed the performance of the Spanish fleet through a telescope.
The Spanish fleet fought harder than the Dutch fleet, but the Great China Empire's coastal defense artillery still maintained a stable performance.
The Spanish fleet suffered heavy losses and still did not cause effective damage to Gibraltar's coastal defense guns.
Robert Blake continued to observe on the third day, and found that the English naval fleet was not so reckless and no longer formed an overall formation.
The English fleet consisted of a double-layer plywood main battleship, leading several destroyers, forming a small formation.
The dispersed formation of the British fleet can effectively reduce the casualties of the fleet, but it also becomes weaker against the coastal defense artillery of the Great China Empire.
The three fleets continued to attack the coast defense guns for three days, and now they have only destroyed two coast defense guns.
Even the minimum requirement of one coastal defense gun per day was not met.
The most critical point is that so many coastal defense artillery can be used for up to three days. It seems that the Dahua Empire has no shortage of artillery shells at all.
Robert Blake felt that the way they chose to fight was by no means the best way.
However, the combined fleet has suffered so many casualties that it is impossible to give up halfway. This way there is no way to explain to the country.
They can only follow this road. Even if there is a big mountain blocking the road ahead, they must find a way to move the mountain.
…………………………
In the Gibraltar military port, Captain Zheng Sen of the Changbaishan was a little out of sorts.
He came directly to the Imperial Navy Fleet Admiral Li Pinglang.
"Admiral Li, we can't be like turtles, huddled in the port.
Only a great war can verify whether ironclad ships are suitable for current maritime warfare.
You won't let the United Fleet touch the west, and you still won't touch the weak Mediterranean Fleet in the east.
Now the soldiers are training on warships and see the continuous achievements of coastal defense artillery.
There are many criticisms in the army, saying that you and Niu Baoguo have a very close personal relationship, so all the credit will be given to the coastal defense artillery."
When Admiral Li Pinglang heard what Zheng Sen said, he cursed: "Fart, am I such a person?
Don’t you have enough free time all day? If you don’t seize the time to train, all of you will become tongue-tied women.”
When Zheng Sen saw Li Pinglang getting angry, he quickly apologized: "It's because the people below don't know what the admiral is thinking, and they are also eager to fight."
Admiral Li Pinglang slammed the table, pointed at Zheng Sen and said: "I think these rumors are all caused by your kid.
The most restless person in the entire fleet is you, kid."
Admiral Li Pinglang was ready to continue to reprimand Zheng Sen.
He has stated many times the reason why the Great China Imperial Navy Fleet will not send troops for the time being.
Those who still don't understand, they just don't understand on purpose and just want to use the simplest way to achieve merit.
The door was pushed open directly without knocking, which showed the eagerness of the visitor.
Admiral Li Pinglang looked up and saw that it was Chief of Staff Gu Zhonghuang who had walked in.
Chief of Staff Gu Zhonghuang said: "Admiral Li, we are encountering a problem now.
Niu Baoguo said that the artillery shell reserve was insufficient and asked our fleet to distribute some artillery shells to them."
Admiral Li Pinglang frowned at the listeners. Normal coastal defense artillery and the navy did not have shells of corresponding caliber.
But Gibraltar's coastal defense guns are all replaced naval guns, which were put into use directly after simple processing.
The shell specifications of these coastal defense guns are the same as those of the navy's naval guns.
This is also the reason why Niu Baoguo chose to seek help from the fleet directly.
When Zheng Sen heard the news, he jumped up and immediately retorted: "The share of artillery shells belonging to the navy must not be divided.
The artillerymen of the coastal defense artillery have already made great contributions, and they can no longer encroach on the credit that belongs to our navy.
Besides, the coastal defense artillery cannot move and can only attack enemies on the seashore. Once the enemy evacuates, they will have nothing to do.
Our navy is different. Ironclad ships can chase and fight the enemy.
Leaving these shells to the navy will achieve greater results.
I don’t agree with this, I absolutely don’t agree with it.”
Admiral Li Pinglang said calmly: "The combined fleet has been attacking us for seven days, and they have also suffered heavy losses.
It weakened again and was exhausted after three attacks, not to mention that after attacking seven times, morale had collapsed.
It’s time for the ironclad ships to dispatch and completely destroy the combined fleet.”
When Zheng Sen heard what Admiral Li Pinglang said, he couldn't believe it and asked, "Is this true?"
Admiral Li Pinglang ordered: "Blow the whistle and raise the flag. You kid, hurry back to the Changbai Mountain."
Zheng Sen saluted with a military salute and trotted back to the Changbai Mountain.
Admiral Li Pinglang and Chief of Staff Gu Zhonghuang walked out of the room.
Chief of Staff Gu Zhonghuang said with emotion: "We have finally waited until this time to see the true power of the ironclad ship."
Admiral Li Pinglang nodded and said: "If the gap in the number of warships hadn't been too large, I would have commanded the fleet to attack the combined fleet.
Let these arrogant Europeans see the powerful navy of the Great China Empire."
The two of them quickly boarded the armored cruiser Wuyishan as the flagship.
The general's flag and the battle flag were raised on the armored cruiser Wuyishan, and the whistle sounded at the same time.
The meaning of this signal is known to all the fleets of the Imperial Navy.
As soon as Zheng Sen returned to the Changbai Mountain, he immediately shouted loudly: "Brothers, get up and prepare for war.
Admiral Li has decided to officially start the war."
Everyone on the ship kept cheering when they heard the news.
After waiting for several months, it was finally time for the war between the Great China Imperial Navy Fleet and the European Fleet to officially begin.
After Zheng Sen heard the whistle of the flagship, he immediately asked the Changbaishan to start blowing the whistle, which indicated that the Changbaishan was ready for war.
On the deck of the Wuyishan, Shi Lang heard the sound of the air whistle, and he immediately looked in the direction of the flagship.
Shi Lang rubbed his eyes, and after watching carefully, he laughed.
"The time has come to make great achievements. I, Shi Lang, will never stay under others for a long time. I must use this war to give full play to my strength."
Shi Lang immediately ordered the Qilianshan to raise the flag and blow the whistle.
During this period of rest, Shi Lang did not do anything. He had already prepared all the things that the Qilian Mountains should prepare before the war.
Changbaishan took the lead, followed closely by Qilianshan and Wuyishan, followed by destroyers in the rear.
They lined up in a single file and drove cautiously through the Strait of Gibraltar.
The bottom of the strait is covered with mines dropped by the Great China Navy.
There is only one safe route for the armored cruiser to pass safely.
The captains of each ship do not want their warships to be directly damaged by mines deployed by their side before they arrive at the battlefield.
Zheng Sen saw a destroyer from the Combined Fleet in front of the minefield, taking the opportunity to clear mines.
The firepower of the coastal defense artillery is all concentrated on the enemy warships, and little attention is paid to these small destroyers.
These destroyers saw the Imperial Navy fleet and wanted to come out.
Taking advantage of the fact that they would not trigger mines, they prepared to intercept the Imperial Navy fleet here.
When Zheng Sen saw this situation, he smiled contemptuously: "These destroyers in front of me, hit them hard with the secondary guns. Don't waste the shells of the main guns.
If the distance is too close, just smash these destroyers for me."
Upon Captain Zheng Sen's order, the Changbaishan armored cruiser's secondary batteries located on both sides of the main battery immediately opened fire.
The wooden destroyer is just a small role in the eyes of the Changbaishan armored cruiser.
These destroyers simply cannot withstand artillery fire.
The destroyer located at the rear simply abandoned its companions and fled the battlefield.
But among them, there are also some destroyer captains who want to make great achievements.
They shouted: "The majority bullies the minority. With so many warships, how can we not stop the Great China Navy for a moment?"
They must not be allowed to leave this strait."
The iron-clad cruiser Changbaishan concentrates on dealing with enemies in the distance.
The ironclad ship and a destroyer of the United Fleet were getting closer and closer.
The ironclad Changbaishan didn't hesitate at all, and directly used its sharp steel bow to tear open the enemy destroyer.
The armored cruiser Changbaishan made a move to continue the collision, which immediately frightened all the destroyers and fled.
Without the obstruction of the destroyers, the Imperial Navy fleet all successfully walked out of the mine area.
Captain Zheng Sen chuckled and said: "It's great, I can finally have a good fight.
Ironclad cruiser Changbaishan, attack." (End of this chapter)