Fierce artillery battle in less than 30 minutes

The Dutch bait fleet has caused serious consequences of one blow, one heavy blow and one minor injury. Judging from the current battle situation alone, the Queensland fleet has an overwhelming advantage, which is undoubtedly the case.

"It's strange, I don't understand why the Dutch are like this?" Murdered Colonel Joe Howard.

"Yes, it would be very stupid to divide the originally not powerful fleet into two groups of investments, perhaps they had too much gin."

"It cannot be ruled out that the Seven Provinces have already hovered in the nearby waters and are preparing to launch a fatal blow to these ships. This possibility also exists."

"It's hard to understand, it's really hard to understand. The heavy price of the Dutch originally didn't need to pay, and the Queenslanders' tactics were also very strange. This short-term tactic similar to cavalry charges looked reckless, but the actual effect was good."

"I agree with the Lord's view that high-speed penetration is a very innovative choice compared to the fragile protection of wooden warships. The fate of this last sail warship is destined to be impossible to escape."

"It is true, and when they decided to leave their guards, they were destined to be destroyed."

Amid the sighs of several British Royal Navy officers, the artillery fire of four Queensland warships fell densely around the sailing warships that fled in panic, setting off dense rain-like water columns.

Due to the large amount of water in one side, the tall mast showed obvious side slanting, and it still flexibly changed direction under the command of the captain, as if it was a hunting rabbit. It survived several rounds of dense rain-like artillery bombardment, which has to be said to be a miracle.

Just doing this has greatly slowed down the speed of the sail warship chasing ahead, and it has dropped to about 11 knots and no longer has the power to fight back.

"Uh... Lord, I have an immature guess that may explain the Dutch's behavior." Major Spencer suddenly said.

This immediately aroused the interest of many officers and looked at them with all their eyes.

Colonel Joe Howard looked at him with interest, nodded gracefully, and said, "Tell me, Spencer."

"Maybe...it's just because of arrogance." Major Spencer said, then closed his mouth tightly.

The other British Royal Navy officers were all silent, looking at each other and silently turned their eyes to the fierce battle sea.

With more than twenty shells fired in each round, the artillery fire of four Queensland warships fell in concentrated areas, forming a large area of ​​artillery fire covering the area.

Perhaps because of the high-speed rushing, the accuracy of the artillery fire was unsatisfactory, and several rounds of volleys failed to hit the sailing warship, which was close to the corner.

Soon, the good luck of this sailing warship ran out.

When the distance between the two sides was shortened to less than 0.8 nautical miles, eight 239mm heavy artillery and 16 120mm secondary artillery that had almost flattened the barrel hit three shots in a round of volleys. In a blink of an eye, the 800-ton sailboat was torn into pieces, and the debris were sprinkled all over the sky with a strong explosion.

The three sail warships of the bait fleet were burning on the sea surface, and the wreckage fragments almost covered the nearby sea. The blood of the officers and soldiers fell into the water stained the sea surface red. The violent burning sound came from time to time, and the flames reflected the red of half of the sky.

The main force of the Royal Navy Fleet of the Dutch East Indies has a total of 7 sail warships, which have been set up several nautical miles away to face the enemy with the side of the ship.

The flagship gave the order

The bright guns and fireworks formed a sea of ​​fire, accompanied by the deafening sound of cannons, spreading down the hot rain of bullets, forming dense forests of water columns on the sea surface, stirring the blue sea surface like a boiling pot.

On this sea of ​​blood and fire, four warships still galloped through the ruins formed by thick smoke and fire, and passed through the forest formed by explosive water columns. They were only 3.8 nautical miles away from the enemy's main fleet. Faced with the fierce artillery fire covering the coming, the prospects are not optimistic.

Penetrating the fierce firepower net will inevitably cause serious damage to the light armored hull.

Sure enough, the Queensland fleet began to change its formation.

"Order the fleet to adopt the No. 2 combat plan, advance and attack in a split second, and strive for complete victory. The brothers will fight against the enemy chiefs in blood, and advance but not retreat." He Fang yelled and conveyed the order.

This elegant scholar who is well-versed in Chinese and Western learning has no trace of the quietness of the past at this moment. He has completely transformed into a burning sword that kills demons, and his sharp energy soars into the sky.

A command

The four warships received the flag-word order quickly formed a formation of two ships in a group, scattering to both sides in the shape of an "eight", drawing beautiful arc-shaped tracks on the azure sea.

Uh... it has changed, what trick is this to play?

Holding champagne in his hand, several officers of the Imperial Royal Navy who were discussing happily, immediately fell silent. This was a kind of change of formation they had never seen before.

Every officer here has received strict naval school training. Some even boarded sailing boats since the age of 9 to learn about navigation and star maps. Years of influence have cultivated keen intuition.

"This... seems to make full use of the highway to divide the battlefield, uh... I'm afraid my statement is not so clear. I think the Queenslanders have keenly grasped the biggest fatal flaw of the sailing warship, that is, the direction of the wind."

Captain George is good at flattery, but he is undeniable that decades of naval career have given him a keen combat intuition and can see the key points at a glance.

"Captain George, after you reminded me, I also saw that the Dutch sailing warships were scattered with a single-shaped shelling array, trying to cover the Queensland fleet's forward route with dense artillery fire. We know that whether it is 120mm or 95mm artillery, it can cause serious damage to light armored patrol ships, which is a medium-range naval tactic."

"Yes, these seven sail warships have been modified with the Germans' medium-caliber breech guns, which can exert more intense artillery fire than before, which is indeed very threatening."

"Lord, gentlemen, the firepower of the seven ships in the Netherlands has been counted, headed by the 1700-ton "Utrevan Warrior", which is the same class second-class sail battleship as the "Netherland Giant". In addition, there are two 1200-ton sail battleships and 4 820-ton sail battleships. After improvement, it has a total of 42 120mm breech guns and 136 95-mm breech guns. In addition, the head and tail guns are removed, and there are 21 120mm breech guns on the single side firepower and 62 95-mm breech guns. A single-smoking can fire more than 80 shells of different caliber, forming a dense fire net." Major Spencer put down the statistical data report in his hand and continued to express his opinions based on his own observations;

"Based on the judgment of all sirs, I think the Queensland fleet is very wise to split into two, and this will test the Dutch's response.

If the same is divided into two, the firepower coverage density that each assault group of the Queensland Fleet will be reduced by half, and the probability of hitting is reduced by an order of magnitude again due to the reduction of the area being bombed.

The two combat teams used high speed to cut along the periphery of the Dutch Sail Fleet's firepower edge. After reaching the extension line of the "One"-shaped shelling array, due to the shielding of their own ships, the Dutch Sail Fleet had at least 30-degree firepower dead ends, which provided an excellent opportunity for the Queensland Fleet to concentrate on fire to attack the outermost enemy ships, and could only be beaten unilaterally.

If the Dutch Sail Fleet gathers fire to an attack group, then this attack group can use high speed to appropriately increase the distance and use a gamble to deal with the enemy, while another attack group can exert its firepower with all its strength and stab the enemy in the butt, and vice versa.

The sailing warship turned slowly against the wind and its speed was greatly reduced. The headwind direction pointed out by Colonel George just now is very likely to be the focus of attack areas of the Queensland fleet.

My introduction is over, please correct me, Your Excellency Lord and all gentlemen.”

"Thank you, Mr. Major." Colonel George nodded in praise.

Steam Iron Crafts Age

The British Empire's Royal Navy officers have the highest quality and the best. As the Victorian Empire reaches its peak, the Royal Navy elites should be the leader of the times.

"Major Spencer, you are also graduated from Manchester Naval School. Is the teaching philosophy of this school so advanced now?" Colonel Joe Howard was confused. Everything he saw in front of him subverted his concept and put the champagne glass in his hand on the tray of the sailor's waiter.

"Please forgive the noble Lord Lord. I have been away from that school for 17 years. There will be countless things happening in the middle. Please allow me not to give you a perfect answer." Spencer bowed and replied, thinking about it, and explained. "As far as I know, Lord Lord, in this Queenslander fleet, the ship chiefs all come from the Manchester Naval School. There is no doubt that the knowledge and tactical qualities they have obtained come from the official school. This is certain. If the adults are interested, I will write to my friends in Manchester and believe he will give you a satisfactory answer."

"Well, I'm really interested, Spencer."

"Happy to serve you, Lord Lord."

As a civilian naval officer, Spencer, is five years older than Colonel Joe Howard. He is an excellent naval officer with extremely rich experience and extremely capable.

Without a stunning enough performance, the major is almost the end of his career, and the hope of climbing up is almost zero.

Colonel Joe Howard, born in the family of the Duke of Norfolk, the top British nobleman, is different. As long as he is willing to continue working, he stays in the navy every day and does nothing, and goes to the extravagant banquets of the upper class, returns to the manor castle to hunt foxes in the autumn, and goes to the warm Italian seaside vacation in winter, and is not the end of the brigade general and major general.

Even if he was just the second son of a nobleman, he could not inherit the title of Duke of Novo Folk, the territory fiefs and castles, that was not something ordinary civilians could defeat. This was the huge ravines between civilians and top nobles.

In this era of steam revolution, people were born unequal.

Aristocrats are nobles, untouchables are untouchables, free citizens are free citizens, and serfs are serfs.
Chapter completed!