Seven 533mm heavy-duty torpedoes, not to mention a pre-dreadnought of more than 10,000 tons like Iowa, would have to be killed instantly if replaced by a dreadnought of more than 20,000 tons, not to mention that the battleships at this time did not have any anti-torpedo means.
, there was no protection at all five meters below the waterline, and with a series of loud explosions, half of the hull of the USS Iowa was torn apart. This symbol of the strength of the US Navy was screamed in despair.
, disappeared from the sea at an extremely fast speed, leaving only a faintly visible mast and the huge whirlpool showing traces of its former existence.
Dewey, who was pale, clutched the guardrail in front of him with his hands and stared at the vortex with a look of disbelief, imagining that everything in front of him was just an illusion.
At this moment, there was a sudden and earth-shattering noise in the distance. The Americans finally used their cannons to regain some face for themselves. The USS Columbus armored cruiser was devastated by 330mm shells and finally ended up exploding with ammunition.
took his own life.
But no one in the Americans cheered for this, not even the USS Indiana that sank it. Compared with this result, the losses of the Atlantic Fleet were too great. One first-class battleship and one second-class battleship were sunk.
, on the distant sea, the Olympia, which was crippled by the Princess Astraas, has been completely scrapped, floating like an iron coffin with its body covered in flames, losing all power, and the Newark because of
There was serious water intrusion, and it was already tilting greatly at this time, and it was estimated that it would overturn before long.
So far, what makes the Americans sad and angry is that the battleship they hate so much has not even been hit by a single shell, and is walking the remaining seven protected cruisers on the sea like a show of force.
"George, it's time for us to retreat." Schley walked up to Dewey and said with a sad expression.
"Retreat? How do we retreat?" Dewey said painfully. This problem is indeed difficult to solve. There is a huge difference in speed among the warships under his command. Among the remaining four battleships, the USS New York and the USS Brooklyn both have speeds of more than 20 knots.
, while the Indiana and Massachusetts only have a speed of fifteen knots, which is even slower than any Spanish warship. They cannot escape no matter what. Even if the two New York ships can get rid of the Spanish main force together with the protective cruise fleet,
It is impossible to get rid of the diesel fleet headed by Princess Astraas, not to mention that the speed of those auxiliary cruisers is very slow, which means that there will be no auxiliary cruiser protection on their retreat path.
Once the forces are separated, because the speed difference between the two sides is too big, those diesel warships can even help the main fleet to deal with the Indiana and Massachusetts first, and then catch up and besiege the New York and Brooklyn. With their speed, these two ships can be defeated first.
The warships could easily catch up with them before they reached Key West by running for three hours.
After thinking about this, Schley's mood sank to the bottom.
But even so, it would be impossible not to retreat. Dewey looked at the Carlos V, which was firing at the Indiana, and gritted his teeth and said: "Turn around and order the protective cruiser fleet to withdraw. Keep the formation back to Key West."
The sailing Atlantic Fleet immediately began to turn. At the same time, the protective cruise fleet that was trying to surround the Princess of Astrias also turned around and moved closer to the main fleet. Dewey was turning around, but the Spanish did not turn around. The ships of the Pelayo
They were all seriously injured, so they took this opportunity to take a breather. Anyway, the Americans couldn't get rid of them because of the speed of the Indiana and those auxiliary cruisers. Of course, the most important thing was to take this opportunity to readjust some torpedoes.
Depth.
Cervera prepared to finish off the Atlantic Fleet.
Dewey quickly completed the turn and rendezvoused with the protected cruiser fleet. Just as he was about to sail west to Key West, the remaining five battleships and destroyers led by Kamala immediately divided into two groups and cut across from the left and right.
.
The Princess Astrias, which was left alone, targeted the Olympia and Newark, which were struggling on the sea. Both ships had lost the ability to resist and could only watch it approach them.
Then he easily sank himself with the 240 main gun. After dealing with the two cruisers, the battleship personally commanded by Cervera immediately pursued them at high speed, but it did not join the battleship formation. Instead, it
The destroyer fleet rushed forward and headed straight for the Brooklyn, which was at the forefront of Dewey's fleet. It was obvious that it was preparing to block the fleet.
The Brooklyn had actually been severely damaged. This giant ship with a displacement of more than 9,000 tons had lost nearly half of its firepower, including one main gun, under the concentrated fire of the Pelayo and the Empress Theresa. In addition,
Because the main gun of the Pelayo penetrated the waterline armor, hundreds of tons of water have entered the interior. Now the entire hull is slightly tilted. Fortunately, the decrease in speed is not shown because the formation must be maintained.
Captain Cook was startled when he saw the Princess of Astrias rushing toward him. He hurriedly braced himself and prepared to deal with it with all his strength. At this time, the fastest Cologne in the Spanish main fleet on the other side also came.
Pounced over, this 7,000-ton armored cruiser suffered the lightest losses among the entire Spanish main fleet. The Armstrong Shipyard partially referenced the design concept of the Soryu class during construction, and the waterline armor belt also used materials from Bofors.
The company introduced alloy armor, so even though its previous opponent was the USS Massachusetts, which was much more powerful than itself, it has not suffered any serious damage so far.
This armored cruiser, which was commissioned just before the war started, has extremely powerful rapid-fire firepower. It has one 254 cannon, two 203 cannon, ten 152 cannon, and six 120 cannon. When it fires, it is a violent wind.
The heavy rain of blows and the amount of ammunition projected were not far behind the Brooklyn when it was intact, not to mention that its strength was greatly reduced now.
Two 7,000-ton armored cruisers opened fire on the Brooklyn almost simultaneously. The dense shells instantly submerged the scarred battleship. Seeing this, six escorting auxiliary cruisers and two protective cruisers immediately faced the Brooklyn.
A Trias Princess rushed forward. Their purpose was not to fight, but to drive it away to prevent the Brooklyn from being attacked from both sides.
However, just as these cruisers bravely rushed out, the two destroyers hiding behind the Princess Astraas emerged. Under the cover of intensive firepower from behind, they rushed straight to a protected cruiser within five kilometers.
and an auxiliary cruiser fired torpedoes.
Such a distance was almost unavoidable. The two cruisers were hit by torpedoes at the same time and sank quickly in a huge explosion. Immediately afterwards, an auxiliary cruiser also fired the 240 main guns of the Princess Astrias.
They sank under the attack, and the remaining five ships were frightened and lost their courage. However, their current position had nowhere to run, so they could only bite the bullet and continue to block the port side of the Brooklyn.
At this time, the ships behind had also launched a large-scale melee. The Pelayo and Carlos V faced off against the Indiana and Massachusetts, the Queen Teresa and the Vizcaya against the New York, and the Bishop and Toca.
The Na singled out two protected cruisers each, and the destroyers that had readjusted the torpedo depths launched a massacre against the remaining US cruisers.
The torpedo tracks on the blue sea are like spears piercing these warships with weak firepower. These small boats of one to two thousand tons or even hundreds of tons only have small and medium-caliber naval guns. Compared with destroyers, they can't even fight with naval guns.
Neither has an advantage.
The four 75-gun guns on the bow of the Viper-class destroyer have a rate of fire of more than 20 rounds per minute, and their range is comparable to the US military's 120-gun naval gun. Once fired, there is a sea of fire on the opposite side. Under their cover, 35-guns are fired.
Destroyers with a speed of 45 knots can easily close the distance to within five kilometers. Facing torpedoes at a high speed of 45 knots, those auxiliary cruisers, which are only about 15 knots at the fastest, do not even have the ability to evade, as the explosions continue one after another.
Sounding, the auxiliary cruisers sank to the bottom of the sea one after another with endless grief and anger.
Dewey on the Indiana was no longer thinking about anything else at this time. He only thought about how to bring as many battleships back to Key West. The United States had lost the war. There was no doubt that,
However, the purpose of his war was achieved. Even if the Spanish ships were victorious, they would still be seriously injured. The Port of Santiago did not have the ability to undergo major repairs, and they would eventually have to return to the mainland for repairs. This meant that the threat of shelling the coast of the United States was automatically eliminated.
In this way, the United States still has the qualifications to bargain during negotiations. If it can retain two battleships and some cruisers, it may be the result of a handshake and peace. After all, Spain is not the United States, and their financial resources cannot support it for too long.
war, and the torpedoes will be delivered in a few months. The completion of the Viper-class destroyers that are being built day and night in major shipyards can ensure the safety of the coast. Then in two or three years, the new battleships and cruisers will be completed. At that time, it will be
It was the Spaniards' turn to be unlucky, and the worst they could do was start the war again.
The failure of a war cannot stop the rise of the United States. An industrial empire with a steel output close to one-third of the world has extremely powerful war potential. It is simply not something that a third-rate country like Spain can defeat with a few new weapons.
, now it just takes time, three years is enough.
While Dewey was imagining, he did not notice that all the auxiliary cruisers escorting the Indiana had sunk, and eight destroyers were launching a desperate raid on his ship under the cover of intensive firepower from the Carlos V.
"Hurry, stop them!" He didn't wake up until Schley's scream sounded.