Chapter 480 Encirclement and suppression of the enemy fleet
In Nanfeng Port, Duan Hongxiao stood on the deck of the flagship Sanlin, watching the fleet starting to set sail with black smoke in the harbor. Although he looked calm on the outside, he was extremely excited inside.
This is not only the first time that he has led such a large fleet in combat, it is actually the first large-scale combat of the Nanhai Prefecture Fleet in the past twenty years.
Previously, the maritime power in Nanhai Prefecture was scattered in the hands of various vassal towns, and it was simply impossible to concentrate such a huge force.
Nine of them are fully iron-clad ships with iron frames and full iron armor. Their protective capabilities are astonishing. Each of them has a tonnage of more than 3,000 tons.
There are another thirteen cruisers with smaller tonnage, although they have wooden frames and wooden hulls, but are still equipped with iron armor.
A total of twenty-two steam battleships formed this powerful escort fleet.
In particular, the nine ironclads among them, although the tonnage is large and small, and the age is old and new, they all have strong protection capabilities and huge tonnage. Four of the ironclads, which are relatively new in age, have been completely refitted.
A breech-loaded rifled gun.
Four armored ships with breech-mounted guns, including the 6,000-ton Sanlin, are the core combat force of this escort fleet.
The thirteen cruisers are relatively weak. Limited by tonnage and cost, their protection capabilities are slightly worse, and their firepower is also relatively weak. Except for a few relatively new cruisers that have been equipped with some breech-mounted rifled guns, most of them still use
Front-loading rifled or smoothbore cannon.
To put it simply, this is a mixed fleet with different ages, speeds, and firepower.
Now, Duan Hongxiao will lead this slightly mixed fleet to intercept the enemy.
This morning, a reconnaissance ship patrolling overseas reported that it had discovered an enemy fleet in Shayang Bay. It was initially estimated that there were two ships. Judging from their navigation trajectory, they should have sneaked through Shayang Bay last night.
Yangwan Strait enters it.
You don't need to guess to know that these damn northern feudal towns are sending fleets to try to break into Shayang Bay to attack their own transport fleet.
There are only two warships. They are obviously not going to Nanfeng Port or Luohai Port. If they want to attack Nanfeng Port or Luohai Port with this small force, even if there is no fleet, they can just rely on the many artillery on the land fort.
Kill them all.
This is not the first time that the enemy has sent warships to secretly attack transport ships. They have been discovered at least three times, and there are probably even more who have not been discovered.
After all, they can enter and leave the Shayang Bay Strait at night. It is difficult for the Nanhai State Fleet to completely block the strait, which is more than 30 kilometers wide. Not to mention that the other end of the strait is still the territory of Ningyu State. They can completely block the strait along the
Access to and from the coastline was even covered by Ningyu Prefecture.
However, since you broke into Shayang Bay, don't expect to make it back alive.
For this reason, Duan Hongxiao is preparing to use all his main force this time and fight with a sledgehammer attitude.
No matter what, we must find these two enemy ships and kill them, giving the northern feudal towns a great deterrent and letting them know that Shayang Bay is not a sea area where they can come and leave as they please.
This is the territory of Nanhaizhou Fleet!
After the fleet successfully left the port, the fleet quickly dispersed to conduct a search.
Duan Hongxiao led four main armored ships, including the Sanlin, to follow in the center, flanked by the same four relatively new cruisers. This was the main formation in the escort fleet, the First Squadron.
The eight cutting-edge warships in the First Squadron are all equipped with rear-mounted artillery, and their speeds have reached more than fourteen knots. They are used to intercept the main fleet.
Only the other warships that dispersed to search were slightly inferior in speed and firepower, and were not suitable for large-scale mobile interception operations.
In order to better utilize the combat effectiveness of this fleet, Duan Hongxiao and a large number of naval officers have formulated relevant tactics based on their explorations over the past six months or more.
Among the relevant tactics they formulated, the most core one is to use the range advantage of the breech-loaded rifled gun to extend the combat distance to more than one thousand meters.
To keep the distance, maneuverability is very important. Even some warships that were in service in the early years had stronger protection capabilities, but they were of little use if they were not fast enough.
This is also the reason why there are obviously nine ironclads, but only four are incorporated into the first squadron. The other five are either relatively old and cannot keep up with the speed.
The elite of the entire Nanhai Prefecture Fleet is in the escort fleet, and within the escort fleet, the main battleships are all concentrated in the First Squadron.
As for the other two squadrons, it seems that they also have large-tonnage ironclad ships, and there are a lot of them, but in fact they are old ships, their speed cannot keep up, and their firepower is not very good.
After the fleet went to sea, Duan Hongxiao had been paying attention to the reports from the surrounding ships. However, Shayang Bay was actually quite large, so it was not easy to search.
It was not until the morning after setting sail that Duan Hongxiao received a report that there was a suspected enemy fleet fifty nautical miles away in the northeast.
At around ten o'clock in the morning, Duan Hongxiao once again received a report from the outpost fleet and confirmed that the small fleet discovered was the enemy fleet that secretly broke into Shayang Bay a few days ago.
At this time, Duan Hongxiao began to give orders continuously. He asked the second and third squadrons to gather their forces to prevent the ship from being alone and being attacked by the enemy. At the same time, the two of them carried out outflanking.
At around one o'clock at noon, as the fleet outflanked the fleet, the First Squadron also began to use its high speed to conduct pursuit operations.
It is unrealistic to expect to bring more than 20 warships to kill them together. The ships of the second and third squadrons are too slow, and the four ships of the opponent are here to play raids, and they are not slow.
, according to the observation of the outpost fleet, the enemy fleet has also discovered its own side, and is now moving forward at full speed, with a speed of more than fourteen knots. This speed is already on par with the speed of the cutting-edge battleships in the First Squadron.
If you're not careful, someone will probably run away.
But Duan Hongxiao has another advantage, that is, the enemy fleet is in the northeast!
No matter how fast you run, is it possible that you can still reach land...
Because Shayang Bay has only one entrance and exit, and that is the Shayang Bay Strait, and this strait is in the south...
No matter which direction the enemy fleet runs, it actually has to make a big circle before it can go south and leave Shayang Bay.
If it is a battleship of the Second Squadron or the Third Squadron, it may be slipped away by the enemy because its speed is too slow.
Then the First Squadron will not have this problem. Their speed is about the same as that of the opponent. It is unlikely that they can catch up in a straight line. However, if the enemy fleet wants to bypass them and go south, this is unlikely.
The enemy fleet seemed to know this, especially after seeing the First Squadron catching up, they knew that they could not avoid the First Squadron just by relying on speed.