It's a pity that Dewey's pride did not infect his sailors, especially those on the auxiliary cruisers. These people already knew their duty, which was to rush up to protect the battleship with their own lives when the enemy used torpedoes to attack it. Very soon
Great and noble, but it's a pity that Tamar is such a fool!
So far, ten of these cruisers, hastily converted from merchant ships, have been sunk, and hundreds of sailors have died at sea. In the past, volunteers inspired by patriotism were still driving them, but now those people have long since disappeared.
The urgently recruited naval soldiers may maintain enough courage if they do not pierce the window paper, but after knowing that their mission is to die, the morale of the sailors on these auxiliary cruisers is generally low.
Of course, even the morale of the sailors on the capital ships was not very high. During the months-long war, this fleet was always struggling in the shadow of failure. What the hell if they could maintain high morale like this!
They all know clearly that their warships are not as fast as the enemy's, their cannons are not as far range as the enemy's, their shells are not as powerful as the enemy's, and more importantly, their fleet does not have the enemy's terrifying torpedoes. How can they fight this? Who?
Can you tell us how to defeat the enemy in this way?
From the eyes of his subordinates, Dewey saw confusion about the future. He couldn't help but sigh. To be honest, he was also confused, but he had to fight. In such a complicated mood, the Atlantic Fleet sailed out
The Florida Straits.
Neither side needs to search or anything. Anyway, the Caribbean Fleet comes out of the Port of Santiago and wants to go north to New York. It has to go through the Santarem Strait between the Muertos Islands and Andros Island. Just wait there.
The two huge fleets soon encountered each other on a sunny noon as if they had a tacit understanding.
"Get ready to fight!" Looking at the Spanish fleet approaching in double columns on the opposite side, Dewey took a deep breath. Eliminating the distractions in his mind, he gave the order with a cold expression. The advancing Atlantic fleet quickly separated, with six main ships leading all auxiliary forces.
The cruisers formed a group, and the nine protected cruisers headed by the Olympia formed a group. They rushed towards the Spanish fleet from both sides.
Cervera on the opposite side also separated his fleet, Pelayo, Carlos V, Cologne, Queen Teresa, Vizcaya. The six ships of Columbus were led by Admiral Camara.
Directly inserted into the middle of Dewey's fleet to face the main U.S. fleet, the single ship Princess Astrias rushed towards the U.S. protected cruiser fleet, preparing to single out nine protected cruisers with its high-speed and long-range artillery.
This is indeed a bit crazy, but Admiral Cervera, who personally commanded the battleship, was full of confidence in it. The U.S. military's protected cruiser can reach a maximum speed of 22 knots. It cannot match the 28-knot Princess Astrias in terms of speed.
On a par with that, their artillery range is no more than ten kilometers at most, which is also incomparable with the 240 main gun whose actual maximum range can reach seventeen kilometers. As for armor protection, let alone armor protection, the main gun of the US military protective cruiser does not have any
One can really damage this cruiser, which uses the latest alloy armor, but their dome armor of Harvey carburized steel plates cannot stop 240 shells.
As for the Bishop and Tocana, they led all the destroyers to attack from the other side of the US main fleet. They were a pack of predatory wolves, ready to attack those weak prey at any time.
The first one to start the battle was still the Princess Astrias, which came out at high speed. The Americans hated this warship deeply, otherwise they would not have made a joke about attacking the Hamid II.
, with a high speed of 28 knots, it soon faced the Olympia. Four 240 main guns fired at the same time twelve kilometers away. The first round of shelling missed a hit. In the second round, a shell hit the bow of the Olympia, and then
Then I saw a huge fireball suddenly erupting from under the five-centimetre-thick flat deck in front of the twin 203mm main guns. Countless hull fragments sprayed into the sky.
"Internal explosion? What's going on!" Dewey, holding the telescope, subconsciously leaned forward and exclaimed.
No wonder he exclaimed, the Spaniards have always used picric acid high-explosive bombs, which are powerful but have no armor-piercing ability. This kind of internal explosion after penetrating the hull will never occur. Therefore, Dewey has never
He was afraid of artillery battles because he knew that it would be extremely difficult for the opponent's main guns to sink his own battleship.
He didn't know that the Spaniards had changed their shells now. The 240 shells equipped with delayed fuzes easily penetrated the bow of the Olympia, and even penetrated the ten centimeter-thick dome armor, and then the 30 kilograms inside the shells
Antimony En Antimony exploded with a bang, and the terrifying power directly opened a huge hole in the bow of the more than 5,000-ton battleship, which looked shocking.
After Dewey screamed, he immediately realized something was wrong. This was definitely not an accident. Before he could think about it carefully, another 240 shell hit the Olympia. This time it directly hit the main turret, then penetrated the armor and exploded.
, and saw the entire turret being torn apart in the flames.
"Piercing bombs, remind all ships that the enemy has replaced them with explosive bombs!" Dewey woke up instantly and exclaimed with a hint of fear.
Just when the Princess Asterias attacked the Olympia, the protective cruiser fleet behind the Olympia immediately changed its formation. The eight battleships changed from columns to horizontal formations, preparing to outflank this hated battleship. Astri
The Yas Princess was not in a hurry and continued to face the Olympia, pouring shells at it all the time. Soon the Olympia slowed down, and four explosive bombs with delayed fuses made a mess inside it.
Even the power system was severely damaged, with billowing smoke and flames pouring out of it. This scene made Dewey feel like a knife.
After quickly crippling the Olympia, the Princess Astrias immediately turned around, cut across the U.S. protected cruiser fleet ten kilometers away, and aimed its guns at the Newark at the same time. Then the ship numbered
A chimney of the C1 protected cruiser was instantly blown away.
At this time, the main fleets of both sides finally entered the fighting distance. The front main guns of the Pelayo and Iowa aimed at each other almost simultaneously and sprayed out flames. The 320 guns and the 305 guns fired at a distance of six kilometers.
Hitting the opponent instantly, the U.S. military's brown high-explosive bomb exploded into a huge fireball on the Pelayo, but the Pelayo's 320 shells penetrated the hull above the Iowa's armor belt, and then
Fifty kilograms of antimony charges tore its front deck into pieces. Dewey on the Indiana behind felt a cold feeling all over his body when he saw it. He knew that the fate of his fleet was in danger.
But now he has no other choice. He can't escape by running, he can only let go and fight to the death.
"Fight, inform all ships that behind us is our homeland. We have no choice but to fight to the end!" the fleet commander roared with a ferocious face.
The two teams of steel behemoths began a head-to-head fight. As the ships of both sides gradually entered the firing range, countless cannons roared one after another. The calm sea surface instantly boiled. Cannonballs flew across the sky, making terrifying roars.
The sound is breathtaking, huge explosions keep ringing, water columns pierce the sky, steel and flesh are scattered in the smoke, life and machinery are shattered in the raging fire, an ancient empire that defends its dignity, and an emerging empire that protects its homeland.
The great powers began a battle of blood and fire on the clear Caribbean Sea.
Just as the main fleet was starting to fight, the Bishop and Tocana led fifteen destroyers in a huge arc around the sea at high speed and pounced towards the battleship Texas, which was dragging at the rear.
.
This second-class battleship with a displacement of just over 6,000 tons has two 305-guns and six 152-guns. Its actual combat effectiveness is even inferior to that of the unmodified Dingyuan. The reason why it remains in the main fleet is that
Just because of its speed of seventeen knots, it was unable to fight against the protective cruiser formation. However, because the two main fleets were heading towards each other, it had not yet participated in the battle. When it saw the wolves in the distance rushing towards it, it was frightened.
Quickly assume a fighting stance.
Unfortunately, because the range of the main gun was too close, before it could fire, the Bishop and the Tocana opened fire at the same time. The eight 152 rapid-fire cannons hit it like a hail of high-explosive shells, and the explosion of fire instantly destroyed it.
The Texas was submerged, and the two 4,000-ton armored cruisers rushed straight up from the side and rear like two ancient knights, pouring cannonballs.
Soon they entered the range of the USS Texas's main gun. Amidst the flames of exploding shells and the poisonous smoke of picric acid, the heroic American sailors stubbornly held on to their posts and fired shells at the enemy non-stop. Soon
The Bishop was hit by a 152 shell, but at this time they also rushed to the firing distance. Four torpedoes were fired out of the bow launch tube by high-pressure steam at the same time, and then the two ships turned around and retreated at the same time.
Four heavy torpedoes dragged an obvious track line straight towards the Texas, frightening it into turning the steering wheel to avoid it. An auxiliary cruiser following it hesitantly moved forward, preparing to use its own body.
To block the torpedoes, at the same time, the ship's six 105mm guns and six 75mm guns frantically poured shells towards the sea, trying to use the shells to intercept these torpedoes traveling at high speed underwater.
The distance was less than seven kilometers, and the torpedoes were fired at a high speed of 45 knots. It took only a few minutes. At the moment when the stern of the auxiliary cruiser aligned with the stern of the Texas, two torpedoes simultaneously penetrated under its waterline.
, while the other two rushed past its bow one after another and directly hit the bow of the Texas.