While the high-level officials of the subcontinent were discussing here, the fleet led by Liu Da had already conducted multiple rounds of bombardment.
These rounds of shelling have caused huge losses to the right fort. They have a total of 16 cannons, and now only two or three can be used normally. The others have been destroyed in these rounds of shelling.
Liu Da saw in the telescope that the distant fort had almost been lost, and immediately issued an order with a semaphore to other warships, asking them to start moving forward, form a formation at the front of the four Iowa-class battleships, and join the bombardment queue.
With the addition of more than a dozen other warships, the attacks on the right fort immediately increased in a straight line.
At this time, although some of the warships in the fleet led by Liu Da had entered the range of the fort, in the face of such fierce bombardment, the artillery in these fortresses were no longer capable of careful aiming and fired shells casually, which was simply useless.
Can't get close to Liu Da's fleet.
As time went by, after half an hour of shelling, the right fort in the port was completely destroyed.
Seeing this situation, Victor Bruce knew that he could not wait any longer, otherwise he would wait until the enemy destroyed the left fort, and then start bombarding the port and city.
So the governor of the subcontinent immediately ordered the troops and servants behind the city to enter the city, and then ordered the army artillery to start setting up artillery positions to prepare for a bombardment with the enemy's naval artillery.
However, the governor also knew that this was completely hopeless and was just a matter of personal matters.
Because the artillery owned by the army's artillery cannot compete with the navy in terms of range and power, the current exchange of bombardments with the navy is just to delay time.
Liu Da saw in the telescope that the right fort had been basically destroyed, so he ordered everyone to turn around and start cruising to the left side of the port.
When Victor Bruce saw this situation in the rear, he felt extremely regretful. If he had known better, he would not have allowed the subcontinental fleet to go north.
If the fleet is still there, although it cannot stop the opponent's attack, it can use warships to disrupt the opponent's deployment, and when necessary, it can bring the opponent within the range of its artillery.
But now our side can only be passively beaten, without the ability to fight back at all.
It is said that the fleet led by Liu Da regrouped on the left side of Mumbai Port, and then still used the old tactics.
Four Iowa-class battleships conducted the first round of bombardment, while other warships were deployed around the four battleships to prevent sudden attacks.
Following the fierce bombardment by the Iowa-class battleships, the left turret also gradually collapsed like the right turret.
When all the big guns in the left fort were lost, Liu Da ordered other warships to join in the bombardment. After another half an hour, the left fort was finally completely destroyed.
Now, except for a dozen newly built gun emplacements, Mumbai Port has no defense.
The next thing is easy to say. Although there are more than a dozen newly built gun emplacements in Bombay Port, the artillery they use, in terms of caliber and range, cannot match the battleships of the warships led by Liu Da.
Therefore, Liu Da no longer concealed this time, and directly ordered all the warships to start approaching the port of Mumbai, and then took advantage of the long range of naval guns to clear the final obstacles.
The last fortress in the port also launched a fierce counterattack, but the shells they fired were either because the range could not reach the fleet led by Liu Da, or even though they hit Liu Da's warships, they were already at the end of their strength and could not deal with them at all.
Warships pose no threat.
Just like that, when it got dark that day, all the heavy artillery in the port had been destroyed.
Liu Da originally thought of continuing to attack at night, but his staff reminded him, "General, after a day of shelling, our soldiers are very tired. If we continue to attack, by tomorrow, the soldiers may not have the energy to continue fighting."
Fighting with intensity.”
After hearing this, Liu Da thought for a while and thought that this was indeed the case. The threat of building his own team has not yet been completely eliminated.
The enemy's subcontinental fleet is still missing. If the soldiers consume too much energy today, and if the subcontinental fleet suddenly appears in front of them tomorrow, they may not have the energy to continue fighting.
So Liu Da followed his advice and ordered the fleet to reorganize and sail to the open sea.
Victor Bruce finally breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that the enemy warships finally retreated.
Then the governor immediately returned to his temporary office and informed the country of the situation in Mumbai Port via telegram.
London, on the other hand, was very worried after receiving the news that important ports in the subcontinent were attacked.
If the Port of Mumbai is completely destroyed, then the expedition fleet of such a large scale may not have a foothold after arriving in the Far East.
Therefore, the London side no longer cared about hiding its strength, and directly issued a telegram requesting the Continental Fleet to return to Mumbai immediately to participate in the defense.
As for the naval headquarters, they did not expect the subcontinental fleet to be able to repel the Nanyang Navy. They just asked them to deal with the Nanyang Navy on the sea and try to delay as much time as possible, hoping to delay the arrival of the expedition fleet.
At the same time, he ordered the governor of the subcontinent to make every effort to ensure the safety of the Port of Mumbai. At the same time, just in case, he asked them to expand a port in northern India and try to make the port as large as possible so that when Mumbai cannot be used, there will be one.
Alternate parking place.
After dealing with these troublesome matters, London began to issue urgent telegrams, asking the expedition fleet to speed up and reach the Far East within 15 days.
At this time, Marshal Richard Meade, the commander-in-chief of the British Expeditionary Fleet, which was advancing in the Mediterranean Sea, was silent for a long time after receiving the order from the Navy Headquarters, and finally ordered the fleet to speed up.
However, this experienced marshal already had a bad premonition in his mind. This time they organized an unprecedentedly large fleet and traveled thousands of miles to attack a country on the other side of Blue Star.
Relatively speaking, an expedition with troops is already a taboo, and now the fleet is being asked to speed up. In this way, the entire fleet will have less time to rest and recover. If it rushes to the Far East in such a hurry, it will soon face the opponent.
The fate of the decisive battle.
The soldiers under his command are just humans, not machines. After such fatigue, one can imagine their combat effectiveness.
However, he could not object to London's orders, he could only obey them.
At this time, the governor of the subcontinent, Victor Bruce, after receiving instructions from London, also knew that the port of Maimon was probably in danger.
So Victor Bruce ordered people to immediately expand the Surat Port north of Mumbai Port.
The Port of Surat in the north of the subcontinent was an important trading port in the 18th century and was extremely prosperous. However, over time, it declined due to port siltation and the rise of Mumbai.
Although Surat Port is now in decline, due to its former prosperity, the port's infrastructure is still very complete, and the port's berths are among the best in the subcontinent. Therefore, it is now very easy to repair and expand it.
.
At this time, the subcontinental fleet was anchored in Surat Port.
Lieutenant General Paul Rofokin, commander of the Subcontinental Fleet, felt very heavy after receiving the orders from London and Mumbai. He knew that with the current strength of his own fleet, if he wanted to compete with the main force of the Nanyang Fleet, it would be like hitting a stone with an egg.
However, faced with the urging from London and Mumbai, he had no choice but to bite the bullet and order the fleet to set sail and head south overnight.
Due to the emphasis on this continent, the subcontinental fleet maintains about 20 warships all year round, but they are all old-fashioned ironclads and cruisers, and do not have the latest Sovereign-class battleships.
Lieutenant General Paul Rufkin was very clear about the current size and combat capabilities of his fleet. He knew that it would be impossible to win without his fleet.
But in order to buy time for the expedition fleet, he could only burn everything.
In this way, this tragic fleet set sail overnight. After a night of sailing, it finally appeared on the outskirts of Mumbai Port at eight or nine o'clock in the morning of the second day.
The appearance of the subcontinental fleet shocked Liu Da. He did not expect that the subcontinental fleet would no longer hide and come out to die.
By now, Liu Da was beginning to be glad that he had not been shelling all night long, otherwise he would not have had the energy to continue fighting the fleet that suddenly appeared today.
After Paul Rufkin came to Bombay, he had learned about the specific strength of Liu Da's fleet through contacts on land.
After Paul Rufkin learned the specific situation of the several battleships owned by Liu's fleet, he became even more desperate for victory.
The current situation is very obvious. If our team has a head-on confrontation with the opponent, there may be no hope of winning.
In order to delay as much time as possible, Lieutenant General Paul Rofkin decided to adopt unconventional combat methods.
So the fleet led by the general only showed its face outside the port, and then sailed into the deep sea again and disappeared into the ocean.
After the opponent's fleet arrived, Liu Da also sent a reconnaissance ship to track and monitor them.
But soon the reconnaissance ship came back with news that the fleet had sailed into the deep sea and disappeared without a trace.
Liu Da frowned after receiving the news. He didn't understand what the commander of this fleet was going to do.
However, Liu Da didn't take the enemy fleet to heart. With his current strength, the opponent could come up with any tricks.