Volume 1 Tigers in Southeast Asia Chapter 75: Heavy Attack on the Flagship
The shells fell into the water, and the waves they created overturned one Muslim warship after another. This scene was very similar to the battle between the Nuwa ship and the Flying Arrow warship. Although the explosive power of the Spanish warship's shells was not as strong as that of the Nuwa ship's shells, these Muslim warships were smaller than the Flying Arrow warships and were not as stable as the Flying Arrow warships.
The Muslim warships were in a very dense formation, because their ships were too small and carried few people. Only if everyone rushed forward would they have a chance to destroy the Spanish ships, so they were very close, hoping to form a situation of outnumbering as soon as possible. However, a dense formation made it easy for them to be killed by artillery shells. More than a dozen Muslim warships sank in the process of approaching from three thousand meters to two thousand meters.
But the Muslim warriors were not afraid of death. They watched silently as their fellow tribesmen struggled and sunk in the water, and put all their hatred into paddling with their arms. In the blink of an eye, they were 1,500 meters away from the Spanish fleet. At this distance, the artillery of the Spanish fleet was more accurate, and more Muslim warships sank.
On the Casillas, Captain Antonio said to Commander Banderas: "Commander, should we let the troop transport ship leave the coast and take shelter in the open sea?"
Banderas thought for a moment and said, "There's no need to do that for now. Although there are many Moros, our artillery shells are also powerful. Their small boats will definitely break through our defenses." Antonio nodded but did not send a signal for the troop transport ship to evacuate.
The Muslim warships were hit by the firepower of the Spanish fleet and immediately directed their attack towards the Spanish fleet. Their original plan was to launch a sneak attack on the troop transport ships parked on the seashore, but now that they discovered the Spanish fleet, they wanted to destroy it first.
The Muslim warships turned around and besieged the Spanish fleet. Banderas frowned when he saw this. He thought that there were many Moro warships and it was entirely possible that some of them would approach him . Once these Moro warships approached his warships...
Banderas shuddered at the thought. He knew that these Muslims had many strange weapons, such as pepper bombs. They would make a can, fill it with chili powder, and throw the can over when approaching the enemy ship. Once the can was broken, the chili powder inside would float out, and people who inhaled the chili powder would cough uncontrollably and cry.
Muslim warriors also have an even more powerful poison bomb. This bomb is made by putting poisonous snakes, scorpions, and centipedes in jars, and then throwing the jars onto enemy ships. These poisonous creatures will start attacking people once they are on the ship. Banderas once saw a troop transport ship that was attacked, and more than a dozen people were bitten to death by poisonous snakes.
Banderas thought about this and made up his mind that he would not let these Muslim warships get close to him, so he shouted, "Turn left and change course."
Banderas' order was exactly the same as Lin Fei's order at the time, both of which were to order the warships to turn around to form a situation of chasing. At the beginning, the five warships rushed towards the Muslim warships at an angle, so it only took a short time to turn to the direction that made the Muslim warships chase them. However, the Muslim warships still refused to let the Spanish fleet go and chased them closely.
At this moment, a warship came quietly from a distance. Under the cover of night, the Spanish fleet did not notice it at all. It was the Nuwa ship led by Lin Fei!
The Spanish fleet did not find the Nuwa ship, but the Nuwa ship had already discovered the Spanish fleet! The reason was simple. In order to see the Muslim warships on the sea clearly, the Spanish fleet turned on the searchlights on the ships. Although the searchlights illuminated the Muslim warships, they also exposed themselves.
Lin Fei stood in the watchtower on the mast. He also had to indicate the distance change rate of the enemy ships to the entire ship, just like when he sank Columbus. He observed the Spanish fleet and found that five warships were lined up in a column, with the Casillas in the front and the other four gunboats following closely behind.
Based on his rich experience in naval command, Lin Fei estimated the speed of the Spanish fleet and found that they were sailing at a constant speed of about eight knots. He couldn't help but feel pleasantly surprised. The speed was not fast and it was constant, so the rate of change of distance must be easy to estimate, and the artillery must be more accurate.
Lin Fei gave an order to turn, letting the Nuwa ship and the Spanish fleet sail side by side , so that the Nuwa ship's firepower could be brought into full play. The Nuwa ship quickly turned into position. Lin Fei picked up the megaphone and notified each gun position: "First, attack the front protected cruiser Casillas. The distance change rate is 43 meters per second. The distance is 2,000 meters. Prepare high-explosive bombs."
The guns at the bow and stern of the ship have been turned to the side, and the guns on the side are also ready, waiting for Lin Fei's order. As soon as Lin Fei's order came out, the four guns roared one after another, and four high-explosive bombs flew towards the Casillas ship in unison.
At this time, the Nuwa ship and the Casillas ship were heading in the same direction, so the distance change rate was not large. The Casillas ship also turned on its searchlight and measured the distance very accurately, so the Nuwa ship's artillery shells were very accurate. In addition, the ship was very lucky, so the first shell hit the artillery at the stern of the Casillas ship.
In order to fire the shells quickly, the gunners of the Spanish fleet piled the shells and propellant next to the cannons. This shell exploded next to the cannon, directly detonating the shells and propellant.
The gun at the stern of the ship is a 150mm gun. A large amount of propellant is needed to fire the shells, and there is also a lot of explosives loaded in the shells. The explosion can only be described as earth-shattering.
A ball of bright yellow flame rose into the sky, accompanied by thick smoke and a deafening roar. Under the strong shock wave, the searchlight cover and porthole glass shattered into pieces, and the Casillas ship began to shake like a drunk man.
The shaking lasted for a few seconds, and many people fell to the ground. Banderas was one of them. When he fell, the shattered porthole glass splashed down and scratched his head. Blood flowed down his eyes and cheeks. Banderas only felt a blood-red in front of his eyes. He raised his hand to wipe his eyes, and the world in front of him returned to its original color.
Banderas shouted, "What's going on?"
Antonio also got up from the ground. His head hit the steering wheel, and a big bump appeared on his head. Antonio was hit and his head was not very clear. He said dazedly: "The explosion came from the stern. It should be the shells at the stern gun position that exploded."
Banderas angrily asked, "How could it explode? How do you usually train?"
Antonio looked confused and at a loss. At this time, they had not guessed that they were attacked. They would never dream that it was Lin Fei, the guy who looted their plantation and seized their warships, who led the warships to attack them.
Banderas grabbed a megaphone and shouted, "Damage Control Officer, Damage Control Officer!" But after shouting for a long time, there was no response. He threw the megaphone down and turned to shout at the messenger, "Call the Damage Control Officer!"
The messenger was also injured in the explosion. He stumbled out and ran back just as he reached the door. Banderas scolded him angrily, "Why are you back?"
The messenger said tremblingly: "No, it's bad, we are being attacked by artillery shells!"
Banderas frowned and said angrily: " Were we attacked with artillery shells? How is this possible? Who is attacking us? The Moros don't have artillery shells!"
The messenger pointed in the direction of the Nuwa ship and said in a trembling voice: "The shells are coming from that direction!"
Banderas asked, “How do you know?”
The messenger replied: "I... I just saw a column of water rising next to our warship. It must have been caused by a cannonball."
Banderas shouted without thinking: "Nonsense! You must have seen it wrong. Stop talking and go find me the damage control officer. No, no need to find him. Antonio, go to the stern with my messenger and take a look."
Antonio agreed and walked towards the stern in two steps with the messenger. However, just when they reached the middle of the ship, they heard a loud "bang" from the deck and the ship shook again. Antonio was surprised and suddenly saw the deck door opened and a sailor screamed out from it. Antonio looked at the sailor and was immediately frightened!
The sailor was shirtless, with not an inch of intact skin on his upper body. His bright red muscles were exposed. This sailor had been skinned alive!
The messenger was a young man. He screamed in fear when he saw this scene, fell to the deck, lowered his head and vomited continuously. Antonio rushed up to the flayed sailor and asked, "What happened?"
The skinned sailor did not answer and fell to the ground dead. At this time, another sailor came out. This sailor was also naked, but there were not many burns on his body. Antonio knew that they were sailors in the steam engine room. The steam engine room was very hot, so the sailors liked to be naked, so he went over and asked: "What happened?"
The sailor cried out "Wow" and said, "The steam generator made a 'boom' sound, and the steam gushed out all at once. The chief engineer was scalded to death. All the skin on his body was burned off..." He pointed at the dead sailor.
Antonio knew that the steam in the steam generator on the ship was extremely hot, more than enough to scald a person to death in an instant, but he couldn't figure out why the steam generator would make a "boom" sound for no reason? Why did the steam burst out all of a sudden?
Antonio asked hurriedly: "Tell me in detail, what happened?"
The sailor collapsed on the ground, shook his head desperately, and cried out, "I don't know, I really don't know!"
A terrible thought popped into Antonio's mind - the Casillas ship was hit and someone was attacking it!
