With a tragic taste, Dewey led his fleet to leave the Port of Tampa again. This time his strength was even far inferior to last time. Because he was worried that Cervera would bombard the US military in Matanzas, he sent
The Boston and Atlanta remained in Matanzas Bay, and three auxiliary cruisers were left behind. After excluding the lost Raleigh, he now only has five main ships left in his hands, and ten auxiliary cruisers.
Cruisers, there are still twelve merchant ships carrying 150 million army soldiers and a batch of ammunition supplies.
This includes a volunteer cavalry brigade personally led by Roosevelt, Deputy Secretary of the Navy. Of course, they are just cavalry in name, but they are actually infantry. His behavior of promoting himself has aroused great popularity in the United States, and even tomorrow
Rigorous newspapers like the National People's Congress praised his patriotism and called on the American people to learn from this true hero.
However, Dewey disagreed with this.
"Theodore, you should not go to Cuba. It is a real mountain of corpses and a sea of blood. Even the greatest life there is as humble as a dog." Dewey said sincerely to his boss.
"George, the blood-stained mountains and rivers are the truly picturesque scenery." Roosevelt said proudly.
Dewey sighed and said nothing more.
Just as the fleet sailed out of Tampa Bay, Cervera, who received the report from the scout ship, also issued an order. The eleven warships originally stationed outside Matanzas Bay quickly started to sail at a speed of twenty knots.
Heading north to meet Dewey's fleet.
At this time, the first war between the two sides on land has ended. This is a battle without a winner. The land of Cuba is covered with the corpses of old and new colonists. There are still fires burning among the smoke on the battlefield. On the arms,
Soldiers from both sides, tied with white cloth strips, were each looking for their own wounded among the dead bodies.
In the end, the Americans relied on their relatively excellent training level and the bravery of the Cubans to repel the Spanish attack with hand-to-hand combat. Of course, the cost was heavy. At least 1,500 American soldiers were killed or injured, and more than half of the Cubans were killed or injured. The Spaniards
The losses were equally heavy, because they were the attackers, and the power of the large-caliber naval guns of the US military was terrifying. General Torres's men suffered more than 3,000 casualties. The casualty rate of one quarter frightened the soldiers who were not very tenacious in the first place.
I'm afraid he won't be able to attack until his morale recovers. Both sides stopped and licked their wounds while waiting for their respective reinforcements.
However, their reinforcements now have their own troubles to face. The news of the US military's occupation of Matanzas made the Cuban revolutionaries excited. Countless guerrillas who had disappeared reappeared and launched crazy attacks on almost all roads in Cuba.
The Spaniards, and even traces of guerrillas appeared outside Havana, including some Cubans who were originally just sympathizers of the revolution, began to rise up. The volcano that had been suppressed by poisonous gas boiled again, and the Governor of Pollavixia was extremely worried.
In order to force the Americans to end the war as soon as possible, he even sent a request to Prime Minister Canovas to request the navy to attack the United States, and even sent army troops to land and harass the United States.
In the last Panay Island transaction, the Spanish Navy also received two landing ships from Yang Feng. Although it is impossible for these ships to support a large-scale landing operation against the United States, it is still completely feasible to conduct a small-scale symbolic attack.
of.
Of course, Canovas would definitely not agree to such a crazy plan. Landing two thousand people in the United States is no different from committing suicide. However, bombarding the coast of the United States is worth considering. Immediately afterwards, an order on this issue was sent to Admiral Kamara.
in hand.
Admiral Camara's fleet had just arrived in Puerto Rico at this time. After receiving orders from the country, it went directly to Cuba without even replenishing fuel.
And just as he was doing it, Dewey's fleet encountered Cervera's fleet again. Just like last time, the U.S. military moved in two rows with merchant ships in between. Like a herd of migrating wildebeest, they looked cautiously with fearful eyes.
He looked at the wolves opposite him.
The Princess of Astorias and the Tokaya cut towards the starboard side of the Indiana one after another, and the two sides opened fire again from a distance of 12 kilometers. After this period of combat training, the Spanish sailors were originally relatively poor in shooting.
The level has been greatly improved, and actually one shell hit in the first salvo. Looking at the firelight rising in the distance, Severa couldn't help but reveal a faint smile.
Just as he was biting the Indiana, the Tocana also opened fire on an auxiliary cruiser. These two guys were outside the range of the US naval guns. There was no need to worry about being attacked. They attacked from the front like a review.
From behind, they circled at high speed and then attacked from the other side. There were only the Brooklyn and the New York on this side. The two large armored cruisers couldn't escape because they had to protect the merchant ships, so they could only endure their attacks.
The counterattack shells landed on the sea three kilometers away from the two ships, causing the Spanish sailors to boo.
Dewey watched this scene expressionlessly. He had no way to deal with this fleet. Ten destroyers were watching from a distance. As long as a warship left its post, they would immediately rush up and launch torpedoes at the merchant ship. Fortunately,
Due to tonnage issues, two 9,000-ton armored cruisers can still withstand such bombardment. The Spanish shells are basically high-explosive shells, which are powerful but have no penetrating power. In addition, they can hit New York from a long distance.
On the two ships, the superstructures were damaged at most. If we hope to sink them with 240 cannons, it is estimated that even if the Princess Astorias uses all the shells, it may not be effective.
Cervera certainly knows this, so he is now going all out to hold on to the New York, preparing to use naval guns to destroy all its firepower, and then work with the Tocana to suppress the firepower of the auxiliary cruisers and let the destroyers
Rushed to the nearest distance of seven kilometers to launch torpedoes. However, he underestimated the protection of these American man-made warships, which were known to be afraid of death. Although this was an armored cruiser, there were almost no protections that should be on the warship at this time.
All armor, waterline, turret, command tower, dome armor, and even horizontal armor. Although the strong Harvey carburized steel plate is incomparable with the alloy armor on the Princess Astraas, it can defend against 240
There was still no pressure from the high-explosive bombs. After being shelled for half an hour, the firepower was not affected at all. This fact made Severa dumbfounded.
Of course, this has a lot to do with the distance being too far and the low hit rate of the shells.
"If they don't use torpedoes, it will be difficult for them to sink us?" Roosevelt asked with a frown. Although he was somewhat prepared for this battle, he was still shocked by this situation of being beaten and unable to fight back.
"Yes, the difference in speed is barely bearable, but no one can bear the fatal blow from that torpedo!" Dewey nodded expressionlessly.
Roosevelt was silent, staring closely at the Spanish fleet and not knowing what he was thinking.
"Commander, Admiral Camara's fleet has arrived in Puerto Rico." At this time, on the Princess of Astrias, the chief of staff of the fleet walked up to Cervera with a telegram and said with a smile.
"Has he brought additional torpedoes?" Cervera doesn't care whether Camara has arrived or not. What he cares about is whether the torpedoes have arrived. Now each ship has less than half of its torpedoes left. Otherwise, the American fleet in front of him will not be able to
They are all sure to be sent to the bottom of the sea.
"No, they only brought supplementary artillery shells and repair parts, as well as a group of engineers from Yang's Shipyard." the chief of staff said regretfully.
"Why?" Severa frowned.
"The United States has just repealed the Chinese Exclusion Act as a gesture of goodwill to the Chinese. His Highness the Prince does not want to openly sell torpedoes to us at this time, so it must go through a third country. The government is currently negotiating with the Turks," the chief of staff said.
"Turkey? Do we have a good relationship with the Turks?" Cervera asked doubtfully. Yang Feng refused to sell torpedoes publicly. This is normal. As a gentleman with a good reputation in Europe and a self-proclaimed pacifist,
It would certainly not violate the neutrality law, but it was a bit puzzling to change hands to the Turks. In fact, in his opinion, it would be most appropriate to go through Germany. Spain has no friends in Europe, and if it does, Germany can barely count.
"Because it was appointed by the prince." The chief of staff said with a wry smile. Poor Spain has now been reduced to living on the charity of a Chinese.
Admiral Cervera did not dwell on this issue anymore. He looked at the New York, which was covered in fire and billowing smoke but still standing tenaciously on the sea, and ordered bitterly: "Give up attacking the New York and target those people."
Auxiliary cruiser, use up all the main battery shells and retreat!"
The Princess Astraas immediately turned around and made a large circle on the sea, and then appeared behind the American fleet. All its guns were aimed at the two ships that were fighting fiercely with the Tocana or being ravaged by the Tocana.
The auxiliary cruiser's 240mm shells immediately roared past.
This kind of shell was a little difficult to deal with the New York, but it had no pressure against these auxiliary cruisers without any armor protection. With a series of huge explosions, the two ships, which were already seriously injured, quickly began to sink.
Looking at this scene, Dewey in the distance couldn't help but shed tears of humiliation. After all, he was also a general. As a soldier, this was simply stepping on his face in the mud, but he could only watch helplessly.
The enemy's arrogant humiliation.
Subsequently, the Princess of Astrias and the Tocana sank another auxiliary cruiser until all the main gun shells were empty, and then turned around and headed west around the island of Cuba to return to the port of Santiago in the southeast corner. (Unfinished)