The news that the Spanish reinforcement fleet led by Admiral Camara had set sail from the mainland spread fear like wildfire on the east coast of the United States. Even if they were all replaced by high-speed diesel engines, they would not be able to cross the Atlantic in the short term.
However, countless Americans still swore that they saw Spanish battleships on the coast, and some irresponsible tabloids even began to publish fabricated news that a certain port was shelled to gain attention.
Especially the New York Daily News owned by Hearst is full of such news. Fortunately, there is still a truly trustworthy media at this time. Tomorrow Daily and People's Broadcasting Station are going all out to fight against these scum of the news industry.
With the support of Yang's consortium, lies were quickly exposed one after another every day. In the end, the intensity of the struggle between the two sides exceeded that of the war.
In order to calm the domestic panic, McKinley ordered the second-class battleship Texas under Dewey to be transferred out of the fleet and go north to join the North Atlantic Fleet led by Commodore Schley at Norfolk Naval Port. In addition, a large number of old-fashioned coastal defenses were transferred
Ironclad ships were dispatched to major ports. Although these old-fashioned warships with wooden boards and wrought iron were of no practical use, seeing their warships in the port made the people feel more at ease after all.
In addition, the U.S. government also distributes cannons to coastal city militias, including old cannons from the Civil War. Since ordinary people don’t understand the difference between these antiques and modern artillery in their hands, it’s okay to fool them.
In the Strait of Florida, on the USS Indiana, the flagship of the Atlantic Fleet, the hero of the Civil War. Major General Schefter, commander of the Fifth Army of the U.S. Army, was looking curiously at the dark sea in the distance, where there was a light like a will-o'-the-wisp.
The fleet was driven at such a high speed from the back to the front, and even made a circle in front to the other side.
"What is that?" he asked Dewey next to him. The two were about the same age. They both crawled out of the blood and fire of the Civil War. They were just one in the Army and the other in the Navy.
"That's the enemy!" Dewey said with a wry smile.
This destroyer has been following the fleet since it set sail in the Port of Tampa. It is obviously waiting for the reinforcements to arrive. Cervera should not have much fuel on hand. After all, this is a diesel warship. All fuel must be shipped from Europe, Spain
Although he had built an oil depot before, no one knew whether the next batch of oil would be delivered. He had to use it sparingly, otherwise the dozens of high-speed ships attacking ships at sea would have dealt a very serious blow to the United States.
"General, the reconnaissance cruiser reported that the enemy's main fleet has been discovered!" An officer hurried over and handed a telegram to Dewey. When he saw the contents, Dewey's expression immediately changed.
"Order the cruise fleet to disperse immediately to protect the left wing, no, protect both wings!" He ordered hurriedly. In his fleet, more than a dozen hastily converted cruisers and gunboats were just added. These original merchant ships were equipped with
There are a large number of 76, 105, and 120mm guns, some of which are even directly mounted with army guns. Their mission is to serve as bodyguards for the battleships and protect them from torpedoes. Of course, this cannot be said to them.
The merchant ship captains who had been hastily recruited happily drove their auxiliary cruisers to disperse. Some of them even pounced on the small destroyers in the distance with murderous intent. Unfortunately, they quickly distanced themselves from them as soon as they turned around.
The goal of the U.S. military was to storm Havana. Originally, Deputy Secretary of the Navy Roosevelt proposed that the fleet be sent to the Port of Santiago to block the Cervera fleet, and then the army would land and attack the Port of Santiago to kill the Spanish fleet first. However, this strategy was rejected by Dewey.
He felt that if his warships were blocked at the exit of San Diego Bay, they might be killed by destroyers one night, so it was better to play it safe. Although this would plunge the US military into a quagmire of land operations, at least
It can ensure the safety of the Atlantic Fleet.
Of course, it is not advisable to land directly in Havana. There are nearly 30,000 Spanish army elites in that area, all veterans who have been withdrawn from the Philippines. They are not only well-equipped but also extremely rich in combat experience. They are far more than comparable to American soldiers who only have hunting and fighting experience.
, so their target is Matanzas, a small town 90 kilometers away from Havana, where the defensive strength is much worse.
When he was less than a hundred kilometers away from his destination, a faint and huge explosion suddenly came from the distant sea. Dewey couldn't help but trembled in his heart. He hurriedly ordered the transmitter to contact the reconnaissance cruiser. As a result, the telegram was sent out.
Didn't receive any reply at all.
"Asshole!" General Dewey still didn't know what was going on. He must have entered the bottom of the sea.
Admiral Cervera in the distance was also cursing the same words at this time. Of course, he was cursing the officers under his command. Originally, he did not want to pay attention to this small reconnaissance ship, but unfortunately one of his destroyer captains was eager to do so.
Merit, before he could give the order, he rushed forward and fired two torpedoes. The result was that this small boat of only more than a thousand tons, those were two torpedoes worth 20,000 pounds. Their targets were not worth the money even if they were sold.
What's more, the torpedoes in Admiral Cervera's hands were missing.
As he was sending a telegram to severely reprimand the captain, suddenly on the sea near dawn, a huge formation of dozens of ships appeared. Both sides issued a battle alarm almost at the same time.
The Fox-made 240 main gun fired first. The shells filled with picric acid roared across the sea and exploded four water columns on the starboard side of the Indiana. Along with the water columns, yellow smoke of picric acid rose at the same time.
Dewey did not fight back, and the distance between the two sides reached 12 kilometers, which was beyond the range of the 330 main gun. But then the second round of bombardment from the Princess Astraas arrived. This battleship used two main guns.
, two twin 240 main guns carry two twin 152 main guns on their backs, and there is a twin 152 main gun on the left and right sides. After the four 240 shells are adjusted by the optical rangefinder, one
The shell immediately hit the bow of the Indiana, and the flames instantly exploded in front of the main gun. The smoke that came with the wind made Schefter cough violently. He quickly retracted the command cabin, and then hurriedly took the shot from his orderly.
Gas mask.
At this moment, the Indiana's main gun opened fire, followed by the Massachusetts, which followed, and the New York and Brooklyn's main guns subsequently joined in. The firepower advantage was instantly reflected, and the Princess Astrias in the distance hit two batteries.
After the bomb was fired, the armored cruiser that cut in from the front immediately adjusted its course to regain distance, returned to the range of the 330 main gun and fired again. Although its hit rate was very low, it did not need to take risks.
The Tocana following it moved further away from the ten destroyers to avoid being attacked by those giant guns. Several destroyers tried to turn around and rush forward to launch torpedoes, but the auxiliary cruisers following the battleships immediately
They popped up to block the side. Although this also made them a target for the Princess Astraas, it at least blocked the ambition of the destroyer. Obviously, Severa does not necessarily have valuable torpedoes for these.
The warship was not interested and immediately ordered the destroyer to retreat. The two fleets headed towards each other and soon passed each other. Relying on its high speed, the Cervera fleet quickly circled to the other side of the Dewey fleet.
Their main opponent here is the cruiser fleet headed by the Olympia.
Dewey sailed in double columns. Otherwise, he had to sandwich the transport ship in the middle. Those merchant ships filled with soldiers must not escape the protection of his two steel walls, otherwise the enemy could easily leave him to hunt these tiny creatures.
The merchant ships were unable to fight back, and the speed gap between the two sides was really too big. Even the slowest ship on the other side was five knots faster than the fastest ship on the other side.
The Princess Astrias rushed up from the rear of the fleet and immediately bit the Raleigh at the rear. This 3,600-ton protected cruiser now had to face an opponent twice as powerful as itself alone. In fact,
It had no power to fight back. The Princess Astrias pulled away from the side and rear and attacked it with its main gun outside its range. There was no way the Raleigh could hurt it even a hair. The Boston and Atlanta in front were
The ship immediately turned around and tried to break away from the formation and return to help.
This scene scared Dewey and forced them back with the harshest orders. Looking at the destroyers in the distance that had begun to accelerate, the captains of the two cruisers also broke out in a cold sweat. It was obvious that this was what Severa wanted.
Yes, as long as they give up space, those destroyers will immediately rush up at high speed to massacre the merchant ships inside. The nearly double speed difference between the two sides allows them to do whatever they want.
Fortunately, at this time, a brave auxiliary cruiser rushed over. This 4,000-ton merchant ship was equipped with six 120 guns and six rotating guns. The firepower was still considerable, but immediately after the Tocana
It also rushed towards it, and started to ravage this poor guy with eight 152 cannons outside the range of its naval guns. How could this unprotected cruiser with only a thin layer of steel plate withstand the picric acid shells?
Within minutes, it was engulfed in fire. The high temperature detonated the nitrocellulose propellant, and it was shattered into pieces with a huge explosion.
"We can only watch?" Schefter stared at this scene with a telescope.
"What do you think? As long as we go over to help, their destroyers will take the opportunity to rush over. Because the speed difference is too big, we can't come back to protect them anyway. They don't bother to attack our auxiliary cruisers with torpedoes. That's
Because the price of this kind of torpedo is as high as 10,000 pounds. To be honest, many of these cruisers are not worth the price, but if there are one or two thousand soldiers on the ship, it will be very worthwhile. We can win this war, but the cost is probably unimaginable.