Volume 4: Hot! The whole world is a warring state Chapter 673: Breaking the Indian Ocean
"Admiral, several masts were spotted about 20,000 meters ahead."
"Good man, we've been out for so long, and we've even changed the coal. We finally caught it. We have everything. The whole fleet is in combat mode!"
"yes!"
On June 2, 1638, at 7 a.m. Eastern Time, Yan Siqi, who led the entire Ming Navy's Indian Ocean Fleet out to disrupt the commerce, finally discovered the European coalition's transport fleet after patrolling the sea for more than half a month.
As the Ming fleet adjusted its course and sped towards the opposing fleet, the distance between the two sides got closer and closer, and the entire European coalition's second batch of transport fleet appeared in full view in Yan Siqi's telescope.
"Hmm~ a 10,000-ton ship. Hehe, I knew it. For such a large-scale invasion, how could the enemy not send out 10,000-ton ships? Well, three 5,000-ton battleships, and six 2,000-3,000-ton ships. Hiss, there are more than 40 transport ships? Hahaha, we caught a big fish today!"
He was observing the enemy from his flagship Wuchang, while the other side, Rear Admiral Garcia, commander of the squadron escorting the transport fleet, was also nervously observing him through a telescope.
"Five heavy cruisers and ten destroyers. Damn it, the Chinese actually have so many ironclad ships in the Indian Ocean!"
If the two fleets simply fought a decisive battle at sea, Garcia was not afraid at all: control of the sea was crucial in this EU expedition. And the biggest reliance for ensuring control of the sea was the three battleships named after several famous generals of the Spanish Navy in the 16th century. They had a full load displacement of 14,300 tons, a maximum speed of 12.5 knots, and were each equipped with six 305mm main guns.
At this moment, Garcia's ship was the Barcelo, named after Antonio Barcelo, who once led the navies of all the countries along the Mediterranean coast to fight against the Ottoman navy. With such a huge ship, if it really was a simple naval decisive battle, Garcia would have been invincible long ago.
But the situation is different now. His primary task this time is not to defeat or sink the opponent, but to save all of his transport ships: on these more than 40 5,000-ton ironclad transport ships, there are 150,000 soldiers and a large amount of weapons and ammunition. If any of them sinks, it will be a huge loss!
However, the maximum speed of these fully loaded transport ships was only 8 knots! During the 10-day voyage, they could not maintain this speed continuously, otherwise the ship would not be able to bear it! And based on Garcia's many years of naval experience, the high-speed warships on the opposite side could travel at least 15 knots!
Therefore, since there is no way to run away, the only thing we can do is to think of ways to save as many transport ships as possible in the battle.
Putting down the telescope with a heavy heart, Garcia turned around and said to the staff in the command tower: "Order. First, the enemy ships outnumber our escort warships and are faster. Therefore, the transport fleet cannot be disbanded at this time and must maintain formation, otherwise they will inevitably be sunk one by one by the enemy ships. Inform them to increase their maximum speed and run as fast as they can while maintaining formation."
"Yes, sir."
"Second, the escort fleet will be divided into three groups. The battleship Barcelo will advance alone and actively enter the enemy formation to engage in artillery battle. Three heavy cruisers will be in the north, and six destroyers will be in the south, sandwiching the transport fleet in the middle."
"As you command, sir."
"Tell the captains that the enemy ships are undoubtedly much faster than the Barcelo. So in the next naval battle, the enemy ships will soon bypass the Barcelo and attack the transport fleet. My requirement is that no transport ship can be lost unless all heavy cruisers and destroyers are sunk!"
"Yes, sir!"
Following Garcia's order, the formation of this EU Navy squadron began to change rapidly.
"Hmm~ The big ships are charging in, and the other warships are sandwiching the transport ships in between. Haha, what a good plan."
Putting down the telescope, Yan Siqi yelled: "Signal all ships. My fleet is divided into two rows, one for large ships (5,000 tons) and one for small ships. Ignore the enemy's giant ship that's rushing towards us, and just charge at the enemy's transport fleet. If anyone is unlucky and can't move after being hit by a cannon, then abandon the ship immediately. The enemy's goal is to escort the transport fleet to India safely, not to annihilate us. So, if you need to jump in, jump in, and I'll fish them out after the battle! In short, our goal this time is not to sink the enemy's warships, but to sink as many of the enemy's transport ships as possible!"
"Yes, sir!"
So, under the command of the commanders of both sides, the Ming fleet started to fight from north to south, and the Barcelona from south to north. The European coalition transport fleets burned their boilers to the maximum and fled desperately from west to east.
"Boom boom~" As the distance between the two sides rapidly shortened, at 8:03 in the morning, the main gun of the Barcelo first fired at a 3,000-ton ironclad ship of the Ming army.
"Hey, those damn white people are smart. They know to attack the fast ones first." Yan Siqi muttered to himself in the command tower, and immediately ran to a row of copper tubes: "Brothers, don't worry about whether the opponent is within our range or not, speed up! Speed up! I will only attack transport ships!"
"Boom boom~" Although it shows that the fleet, under Yan Siqi's request, did not care about the artillery fire on the Barcelo and just focused on charging. However, the shells fired by the 305mm main gun were also real. In the collision between the two sides, as the distance became smaller and smaller, the shells of the Barcelo became more and more accurate.
Finally, at 8:37, after firing more than 40 shells, the Barcelo achieved its first victory.
"Captain, the Ganzhou behind our ship sent a signal that they were hit by a near miss and a hole was broken below the waterline. The speed dropped to 15 knots and is still dropping."
The first ship of the Ming Dynasty's 3,000-ton fleet was Cao Bianpeng's Lanzhou. After hearing the report from the signal flagman, he said without even turning his head: "Let the Ganzhou withdraw from the battle line. The other ships continue to charge forward at full speed!"
"Boom~" Just as he had given the order and his men had not yet had time to go out to pass on the message, a huge explosion sounded not far away.
"What's wrong?"
"Captain, it's the Ganzhou, and this time it was hit directly!"
"Hey!" In two or three steps, he stepped out of the command room, raised the telescope on the bridge and took a look: Hiss, he saw that after the 3,000-ton body of the Ganzhou was directly hit by the 300-kilogram shell, the deck part of the entire ship was completely unrecognizable.
"Send a signal and have the Ganzhou abandon the ship!" After saying this, he returned to the command room without looking back, and then shouted into the copper tube: "If you don't want to die, make the ship go faster!"
"Boom, boom, boom~" As the sailors in the engine room desperately added coal to the boiler, the boiler of the Lanzhou made a huge roar, and the battleship finally reached its maximum speed: 17.5 knots!
The Lanzhou was like this, and so were all the Ming warships. So at 9:17 a.m., the 14 Ming warships finally left the Barcelo behind and rushed towards the European coalition's transport fleet.
"Damn it! These cunning Chinese! Turn around, turn around quickly!"
A warship of more than 14,000 tons facing an opponent of 3,000 to 5,000 tons would certainly be extremely powerful in a fight. But its flexibility...
As a result, the three Spanish 5,000-ton cruisers, La Coruña, Valencia and Bilbao, which were guarding the north side of the transport fleet, had to break away from the formation and meet them.
"Xiangyang, Yunyang, Jingzhou, go and harass them! Chengtian, De'an, follow the Wuchang and keep charging forward! The small ships must keep charging forward too!"
As the Ming fleet changed its formation again, the three Spanish heavy cruisers soon became entangled with the three large Ming warships. Although the Spanish commanders kept changing their routes to block more Ming warships, the Wuchang, commanded by Yan Siqi, moved more skillfully. Soon, in front of Yan Siqi, more than 40 transport ships were completely in his sight.
"Admiral, the enemy transport ship is only six kilometers away from our ship."
"Hahaha, turn east and go in the same direction as the enemy's transport fleet. Signal each ship. It's better to cut off one finger than to hurt nine. Let the Chengtian and De'an behind us follow us and attack the same target."
After saying this, he didn't even look at the signalman who went out to raise the flag, and teleported to the copper pipe connecting the turret: "The enemy ship has entered our range, right?"
"Yes, General, very close!"
"Okay, then let's aim at the ship on the opposite side that has three floors on its deck and fire! Brothers, please work hard and fire faster. We only have one hour at most!"
"Please rest assured, General!"
Soon, roars from the gunners at various gun positions came from under the copper tube: Fire!
As the Wuchang opened fire, the Chengtian and De'an following behind it also opened fire.
The main gun of the Ming army's 5,000-ton ironclad warship had a caliber of only 150mm. Although its power was not as strong as that of the 305mm cannon, its firing rate was much faster. In just five minutes, the three warships fired nearly 60 shells.
With so many artillery shells and a close-range attack of six kilometers, the victory was achieved quickly.
In the transport fleet where the European coalition forces were desperately fleeing, the Princess Isabella hospital ship, with a full load displacement of 5,200 tons and loaded with Europe's most advanced surgical medical equipment, was hit first.
The 150mm main gun shells weighed more than 100 kilograms each. Such shells hit the hospital ship, which had no armor and was not built for combat. However, only two shells hit the waterline of the ship, which was blown to pieces.
"Bang, bang, bang~" Just as Yan Siqi's three warships were fighting happily, the nine 3,000-ton warships led by Cao Bianpeng also ran to a place only 4,000 meters away from the enemy's transport fleet. The 105mm main guns with faster firing rates on these warships also began to fire one after another.
Amid the roar, one European coalition transport ship after another was set on fire...
