Volume 4: Hot! The whole world is a warring state Chapter 769 Morale and Hit Rate
“Boom~”
"Fire!"
After the main gun of Lian Po fired the first shell, the seven battleships of the Ming Navy opened fire one after another. Dozens of shells weighing 420 kilograms each flew into the air, smashing towards the Western Austrian coalition with a dull sound of breaking through the air.
Before these dozens of shells reached the apex and began to fall, the commanders of the Ming army's ships saw through telescopes that dozens of voices were coming out from the enemy ships opposite: the enemy's battleships had also opened fire.
Amid the mixed sounds of breaking through the air, within a few breaths, the shells fired by the first round of artillery fire from both sides fell one after another, and then all fell into the sea, stirring up huge water columns. Then the observers of each ship quickly began to report the impact points to the commander and the gunners.
"General, our ship fired six shells at the enemy's lead ship, and the closest one is still about 600 meters away."
"Understood. The gunnery commander notifies each battery to adjust parameters and continue firing at the enemy's lead ship."
Putting down the telescope with a serious expression, Inukai Touji said to the first mate of the Lianpo who had just walked into the command tower: "It seems that the enemy ships are also focusing their fire on our ship."
"That's right, General. I just counted outside the bridge and found that more than 20 shells have landed in the waters around our ship. The closest one was only about 300 meters away."
Now the two battle lines of the Ming army, with heavy cruisers in front and battleships in the back, are 1,500 meters apart. And within each battle line, the distance between the front and back ships is 500 meters. Just now, the salvo fired by the nine battleships of the Western Austrian coalition, more than 20 of the 60 shells fell near the Lian Po.
"Flagships are treated the same way." After a light laugh, Inukai felt a slight tremor under his feet. "Hey, the gunners performed well today. They fired another round so quickly?"
"Yeah, that's right. After so many years of hard training, our gunners have become extremely skilled in operating the main guns. They can increase the firing rate from one round every three minutes when we first received the ship to one round every two minutes and forty seconds. But now..." The gunnery staff looked down at his watch: "Two minutes and twenty-three seconds."
This is the bonus of Wu Qu. On this day, because Zhu Youdong followed behind, the morale of the soldiers of the entire Ming fleet has reached full height. In the excited mental state, the Ming soldiers, who were already very skilled in operation, entered a higher level: after the shell was fired, the shell was immediately processed as soon as it was ejected. After the new shell was loaded, the soldiers were always able to fire it in time as soon as the new shell landed...
However, on this day, Zhu Youdong was hanging behind the Ming army to boost morale. And Philip, who had the talent of breaking the army, was also behind the Western and Austrian coalition forces.
Therefore, although the Ming army's second round of artillery fire was about thirty seconds faster than the coalition forces, when the Ming army officers and soldiers were still cheering for achieving a near miss, at 2:15 p.m. on the 16th, all the Ming soldiers on the Lian Po suddenly felt a darkness on their heads!
"Oops, it was a straddle shot!"
"Don't worry about it. The entire army continues to sail north at a speed of 13 knots. All battleships, continue to focus fire on the lead ship in the enemy battleship array."
"yes!"
Following Inukai Toji's order, the Ming fleet continued to advance slightly northwest, while the Western-Oceanic combined fleet advanced slightly northeast. The distance between the two sides continued to narrow. At 2:50 p.m., a shell fired from the Queen Isabella finally achieved the first victory: a shell fired from the 305mm main gun landed directly amidships of the Lian Po.
"Long live!"
"God bless!"
“God is great!”
While the coalition forces cheered, the Ming army did not show much panic. Inukai Touji did not even step out of the command tower: "Is the loss big?"
"Fortunately, there was a hole opened in the middle of the ship, about 20 by 30 centimeters, above the waterline. Apart from the splashing of waves, it did not have much impact on the hull."
"That's good, let's continue...Where did you get shot again?"
After a while, a voice came from a brass tube: "Report to the commander, the stern of the ship was hit by a bullet, about three centimeters below the waterline. The armor there is reinforced and has not been penetrated."
"Very good, all ships, attack the target, keep heading unchanged, and continue moving forward."
"yes!"
As the fleets of both sides continued to advance, the distance between the battleship formations of the two fleets narrowed to 7,200 meters, and the distance between the heavy cruiser formations of both sides also narrowed to less than 5,000 meters. At 3:05 pm, the 150mm main gun of the Spanish heavy cruiser Barcelona opened fire first, and the Ming heavy cruiser battleships also began to return fire - the firing rate of this 150 gun was much faster than that of the 305 main gun. For a while, the sound of shells breaking through the air came one after another, and water columns of varying sizes and heights surged one after another, and the entire sea surface was completely boiling.
The shortened distance naturally brought about an increase in the hit rate. At 3:06, when the heavy cruisers of both sides just started to exchange fire, the battleship of the Ming Navy finally scored the first hit: a shell fired from the Lian Po's No. 3 battery hit the front deck of the coalition flagship Fernando V. The splashing shrapnel took away the lives of more than a dozen sailors, and the huge explosion also damaged the observation and aiming equipment of the No. 1 battery.
However, just as everyone in the command tower of the Lian Po raised their hands to cheer, their feet shook as the stern of the Lian Po was hit by another shot.
"Damn it! How come the Western bandits are so accurate today? We've been hit by three shells! Two of them hit our butts!" Inukai Dongji, who has been stationed in the southeast coast for a long time and speaks Ningbo dialect, cursed fiercely and said, "Order, Lian Po speeds up to 16 knots and increases the distance from the warships behind the enemy battle line. The stern of the ship has been hit repeatedly. If there are a few more shells, it will be troublesome if the rudder is damaged."
"Yes, sir!"
…
"Sir, the enemy's flagship has increased its speed."
"Hehe, this is because the enemy's butt has been hit by too many artillery shells, and I'm afraid the rudder will be damaged. Order the battleship fleet to speed up, chase the enemy, and continue to kick their butts hard!"
"yes!"
As soon as the communications officer finished speaking, a huge roar came from the front of the command tower of the Fernando V, and a large number of people in the command tower fell down in an instant.
"What's going on?"
"Sir, our ship has been hit again, this time on the deck right in the middle of the ship."
"What is the damage?"
"There's a big hole in the deck. Below is the petty officers' mess, so the damage isn't too bad."
"That's good. Order the damage control personnel to fill the gap immediately."
"yes."
After arranging this matter, Garcia raised his head irritably, raised the telescope and looked behind him: "What are the two Ottoman battleships doing? They have been fighting for more than half an hour, and the main guns have fired six or seven rounds. I feel that they have not even missed a single round."
"Sir, that's true. Even if our seven battleships didn't hit, most of them hit straddles or near misses. But the two Ottoman warships were really off target."
"Well, forget it. This is the first time their ironclad ships have entered actual combat and this is a huge scene. They are lucky to be able to keep firing."
"Sir, I do have a suggestion."
"you say."
"Maybe it's God's blessing. I feel that our hit rate today is at least 10% higher than before. So I personally feel that even if it's seven to seven, we still have the advantage. Therefore, I suggest that the two Ottoman battleships stop chasing the enemy's flagship with us and attack the enemy's heavy cruiser instead."
"Hey, this is an interesting arrangement. So many of our light cruisers and destroyers cannot participate in the battle right now and can only watch from the sidelines. Isn't it because the enemy has too many heavy cruisers and cannot break through their defenses and torpedo the enemy's battleships? If we destroy the enemy's heavy cruiser fleet, then perhaps the light cruisers and destroyers alone can reap the victory of this battle. Very good, I agree with your opinion. Send a telegram to the battleships Berkel and Omar and ask them to attack the enemy's heavy cruisers. You can choose any target."
"yes!"
After receiving the order from the flagship, the two Ottoman battleships, though swearing, still turned their guns to attack the Ming army's heavy cruiser formation. Although this was the first time the Ottomans used ironclad ships in actual combat, their hit rate was still 0. However, if a heavy cruiser was hit by a 305mm cannon, even if it was not a fatal blow, it would most likely be half dead. As for the 150mm cannon of the heavy cruiser, it could basically be ignored as long as it was not a weak spot - it was so easy to achieve results, and they were almost invincible, so why not do it?
However, when the Ottoman heavy artillery began to attack the Ming army's heavy cruiser array, Inukai Toji, who was on the Lianpo, quickly noticed that the enemy's tactics had changed.
"The last two ships in the enemy battleship array have nine main guns. Their bridge styles are completely different from the first seven ships. They also fly the crescent-shaped flag instead of the cross flag... These should be the two Ottoman warships mentioned in the intelligence, right?"
"I think it should be correct."
"..." After a brief pause, Inukai said, "Since our navy was established, from the era of sailing warships, we have been fighting with the Spanish navy until now. But it seems that after I followed Dinghai Gong (Li Guozhu's posthumous title) to join the emperor's army, I have never fought against the Ottoman navy in more than 30 years."
Then he smiled and said, "I am such a fool. I didn't want to bully such an easy-to-beat newbie, but wanted to destroy the enemy's flagship first. Order! Lian Po and Li Mu continue to attack the enemy's flagship. The five battleships behind, all focus their fire on the two Osman battleships!"
"Yes, sir!"
As Inukai Toji also made adjustments, starting from 3:45 pm, the Ming army's thirty main guns, from the Bai Qi, Wang Jian, Deng Zilong, Yu Dayou, to the Cao Sanxi at the end of the array, began to concentrate fire on the Bakr and Omar.
The naval battle had been going on for more than an hour, and the morale of the Ming army soldiers was still at its peak. Moreover, after operating the guns for so long, the barrels had expanded to the extreme due to heat. As a result, the stability of the physical properties of the barrels and metal fatigue had not yet appeared, and the hit rate of each main gun had obviously increased. Only twelve minutes after the adjustment of the attack target was made, the Wang Jian was the first to hit.
A 420-kilogram armor-piercing shell came in from mid-air at an angle of 30 degrees, and after hitting a chimney of the Omar, its trajectory changed, and it landed at the root of the chimney at an almost vertical angle, then penetrated the deck here, causing a huge explosion below.
For a moment, billowing black smoke carrying a large amount of coal ash filled the deck of the Omer, not only completely shrouding the command tower in darkness, but also seriously interfering with the vision of the No. 1 and No. 2 gun batteries in front of the command tower.
"Damage control! Where are the damage control personnel? Put out the fire and stop the leak!"
Unfortunately, the order was given, but what is most needed for something like damage control is experience - what experience can the Ottoman sailors, who are going to the battlefield for the first time, have to talk about?
The billowing smoke not only caused the Umar to lose more than half of its firepower, but also made it particularly conspicuous among the array of dozens of warships. Then, the Ming army's artillery shells came one after another. Near misses, straddles, hits... In just half an hour, the Umar was hit by three more shells.
At 4:25 in the afternoon, a shell from the Bai Qi hit the Omar again: this shell entered unimpeded along the hole fired by the Wang Jian's main gun on the opponent's deck half an hour ago, which the Omar's damage control team had not yet repaired. After penetrating deep into the hull, it hit the boiler protected by heavy armor. The armor-piercing shell, which had a strong armor-piercing ability, broke a large hole in this layer of armor before exploding violently... Then, a loud bang suddenly spread across the already scarred body of the Omar!
