Volume 4: Hot! The whole world is a warring state Chapter 773 Lancers at Sea
After the battle on the day of the 16th, both Inukai Toji and Garcia were actually dissatisfied with the result.
What the Ming Dynasty needed was to destroy the main force of the Spanish fleet, or at least prevent the enemy from posing a fatal threat to their transport fleet during their large-scale landing. The Spanish side hoped to inflict heavy damage to the Ming Dynasty's navy and force it to give up its large-scale landing in India. Even if this could not be achieved, it would severely weaken the Ming Dynasty's navy, making future operations to disrupt trade smoother and safer.
But after just over four hours of fierce fighting, both sides only sank a few heavy cruisers: no one achieved their goal.
Therefore, at night, the commanders of both sides deployed all their light cruiser destroyers: in this era without submarines, disrupting or escorting commerce required the main fleet to complete. If they could launch a torpedo attack at night and destroy several of the enemy's main battleships, it would be much more beneficial to the next step of the battle.
However, after the commanders of both sides deployed all their destroyer fleets, they made different choices on how to retreat their main fleets.
On the Western Alliance side, 33 heavy cruisers participated in the battle, 6 of which sank, and 3 lost power and were forced to abandon. So although the coalition still had 24 heavy cruisers alive, psychologically, Garcia could not bear to lose more than heavy cruisers. Therefore, his choice was to slowly retreat at a speed of 6 knots with the severely damaged heavy cruisers.
On the Ming side, 25 heavy cruisers participated in the battle, three of which sank. Among the nine heavy cruisers that were severely damaged, three were evacuated in advance. So Inukai Touji dared to abandon all the remaining six heavy cruisers to cover the retreat. Then the remaining main fleet returned to Yangon at a high speed of 15 knots.
So after nightfall, the Spanish Navy, which had hundreds of light cruisers and destroyers, had two detachments with more than 30 light cruisers and destroyers that discovered the six Ming Dynasty heavy cruisers that were slowly retreating at a speed of six knots before Dong Zhining, and quickly launched an attack. Although these six heavy cruisers tried their best to fight back, and although the Spanish Navy only had white-headed torpedoes with an underwater speed of no more than eight knots and a maximum range of no more than 600 meters, the six Ming Dynasty heavy cruisers were severely damaged. Even in this dark night, the searchlights could see the slow torpedo tracks, and the scarred hull itself could not make evasive actions. So after more than two hours of fierce fighting, after the Spaniards paid the heavy price of five destroyers being sunk and being forced to abandon the ship due to severe injuries, three of the six Ming Dynasty heavy cruisers were sunk one after another.
But that was it. When they wiped the blood from their mouths and wanted to kill the remaining three ships as soon as possible so as to continue to pursue the Ming main fleet, these Spanish destroyers encountered the Ming 4th and 5th destroyer fleets that had received the telegram from the six heavy cruisers and rushed to rescue them. In the chaotic battle between the 75mm guns of both sides, four more ships of the two Spanish destroyer fleets were sunk.
As the battle here lasted longer, more Spanish destroyer detachments were attracted. Then, more than 20 Ming light cruisers and destroyers surrounded the three dying heavy cruisers and tried their best to deal with the enemy.
At 11:55 that night, the Ming army had only two heavy cruisers and fifteen destroyers left out of the three heavy cruisers and twenty-six light cruisers and destroyers. Although many of the enemy's light cruisers and destroyers surrounding them had sunk, the absolute number of them was increasing with the arrival of more Spanish destroyer detachments. As a result, the Ming army soldiers, who were surrounded by heavy siege, were almost in despair.
But what is strange is that at midnight on the 17th, the Spanish destroyers, which had already gained the upper hand, actually retreated like a tide?
At 00:33 on the 17th, on the sea more than 80 kilometers west of the battlefield where the Spanish destroyer fleet surrounded and killed the severely injured Ming heavy cruiser, the thirteen warships of the Ming Third Destroyer Squadron approached one by one and began to form a neat cone formation with the lead ship Qiongzhou light cruiser as the center.
Thirteen warships, the largest of which was the Qiongzhou, had a displacement of only 3,000 tons. As for the other destroyers, they were all only 1,500 tons. The main fleet of the Western Austrian coalition in front of them was not only a behemoth in tonnage compared to them, but also more than double their numbers.
If at this time, Zhu Youdong, Philip, and Yi Praxin, the three time travelers, could sit in an airship and watch the battle from a high vantage point, then when the third team had completed their formation and was ready to charge, it is estimated that the three time travelers would shout out in unison at this scene: "In The Lord of the Rings, Faramir obeyed his father's orders and led dozens of knights to attack the tens of thousands of orcs!"
At 00:35, a loud whistle sounded, and then the Qiongzhou, in the center as the vanguard, led six destroyers on the left and right wings, and launched a charge towards the north side of Theo's main fleet at a speed of 23 knots.
At this time, the coalition main fleet had cancelled the blackout, and dozens of searchlights were shining on the path of the destroyers. Then the eight heavy cruisers on the north side and the seven battleships in the middle all turned their turrets that could still be rotated to the north side.
"Fuego!"
"FireStarter!"
As the captains of the Theo fleet roared in unison, the anxious gunners quickly pulled the bolts. Then, dozens of shells fired from 305mm and 150mm guns flew into the air and quickly hit the sea where the destroyers were charging.
“Boom!”
“Huahua~”
Dozens of water columns of varying sizes shot up into the sky. Some of the columns that landed closer even splashed higher than the bridges of the high-speed destroyers not far away. Some of the water columns even covered these small destroyers with a large amount of seawater after they collapsed... However, none of the destroyers hesitated. The helmsman held the direction steadily, the sailors in the power cabin desperately added coal to the combustion chamber, and the captain remained calm in the face of the whistling in the sky and the huge water columns everywhere - the first round of artillery fire from the Theo fleet did not achieve any results, nor did it cause any obstacles to the charging Ming destroyers.
More than 40 seconds later, the 150mm guns of the eight heavy cruisers on the north side fired the second round of shells. At the same time, the eight heavy cruisers on the east side of the coalition fleet, which were originally responsible for the rear guard mission, also began to turn to the north to form a more dense defense line with the eight heavy cruisers there.
At 41 minutes, about ten seconds after the eight heavy cruisers on the north side fired their fifth round of shells, the seven battleships in the formation also fired their third round of shells. This time, the Ming destroyers were not so lucky.
"Captain, the bow of the Nanxiong was hit and a large amount of water is entering the hull. The captain of the ship has abandoned the ship."
"Got it!" Dong Zhining didn't even turn his head: "Are the Foshan and Shunqing okay?"
"They were at the very edge of the array, and almost no shells hit near them."
"That's good, keep going!"
Before going out to sea for this naval battle, Dong Zhining learned that on the two destroyers of his detachment , Foshan and Shunqing, there were eight of the thirty special torpedoes codenamed "Spiny Barracuda" that were urgently made by Fangshan Academy of Sciences and the craftsmen of Da Nei. Compared with the white-headed torpedoes that the side used before, which had a maximum speed of eight knots and a maximum range of eight hundred meters, the maximum speed of this Spiny Barracuda can reach twenty-five knots, and the maximum range is over three thousand meters!
Then, in the deployment of troops for this operation, Dong Zhining naturally arranged Feng Jingdi's Foshan and Zheng Chenggong's Shunqing to the very edge, which was relatively the safest position. What surprised the other destroyer captains was that the two captains, who had always been at the forefront of every formation and took the lead in dangerous tasks during previous training, actually accepted Dong Zhining's arrangement without saying a word.
At forty-three minutes, the Fuling, on the right rear of the Qiongzhou, was hit by a heavy cannon fired from a battleship. The Fuling, with a mass of only 1,500 tons, struggled and sank in an instant after being hit by this cannon. Of the more than 80 people on the battleship, only three escaped.
At forty-four minutes, the Jiading was hit by a shell fired by a heavy cruiser, and its speed immediately dropped below fifteen knots, but the Jiading still struggled to move forward.
Dong Zhining's eyes were red with bloodshot when he heard the huge explosion behind him and the tearful reports from his staff. However, he did not turn back and did not issue an order to send a ship to rescue. His arm was pointing forward, and the Qiongzhou was still roaring and rushing forward.
At forty-five minutes, the Qiongzhou, which was in the middle of the array and had been the most conspicuous due to its body, was also hit. A shell fired by a heavy cruiser accurately hit the bow of the Qiongzhou. The Qiongzhou was like being pressed hard by a giant's arm, and the entire bow was briefly buried in the sea.
After the bow of the Qiongzhou struggled to climb out from the sea level , a heavy artillery fired by a battleship exploded underwater only thirty meters away. The super-strong water pressure generated by the huge shell directly deformed the not-so-thick armor below the waterline, and then the sailors in the cabin saw in horror that a rivet, after resisting in vain for a while, suddenly popped out from its original position, and then a small but extremely powerful stream of water burst in from the outside of the ship.
"Water is entering the cabin, stop the leak!"
"yes!"
Just as the sailors under the deck began to move towards the leak, there was another shaking under their feet: the Qiongzhou was hit again!
At this time, the time has come to 0:46, and it has been eleven minutes since the third team launched the charge. They have also run 7,600 meters and are only 2,400 meters away from the opponent.
Although the main guns of the enemy battleships in the array had stopped firing as the distance shortened, the eight heavy cruisers on the east side of the enemy had already approached the north side, and at least the two turrets on the front of the three artillery positions had also begun firing at the Ming destroyers. At the same time, in addition to the 150mm main guns on these sixteen actually much denser than at the beginning.
But, what does it matter? These frail destroyers still rushed forward resolutely. However, the closer the distance, the higher the hit rate of the enemy ships. Therefore, in the last thousand meters, Huizhou, Chaozhou, Kuizhou and Jiading, which had been hit by a cannon and slowed down, were sunk one after another.
At forty-eight minutes and thirty seconds, the remaining seven warships of the Ming Dynasty's Third Destroyer Squadron, except for the Qiongzhou which slowed down due to being hit by three shells and fell behind, all the other six warships arrived within 800 meters to the north of the enemy fleet, which had formed a formation of sixteen heavy cruisers.
Then, without the need for command from the lead ship, the six destroyers almost simultaneously pulled their ships sideways and quickly fired twenty-four white-headed torpedoes!
"Lightning strike!"
"Machine gunner, lower the muzzle and explode the torpedo."
"Be careful to avoid it!"
"Impact proof!"
