Chapter 427: 427 Brutal tactics
Chapter 427427 Brutal Tactics
“Good guy! This is heading for the port!” Bernard was also startled when he saw the enemy’s sudden change of formation.
Looking at the opponent's posture, he knew that the opponent's transport fleet was carrying army troops. Otherwise, the other party would not rush to the port so crazily.
His original plan was to chew the turtle shell in front of him in circles until he had eaten all the opponent's warships.
But it was obvious that the other side did not intend to sit still and wait for death. Instead, they seized the best opportunity and planned to launch a desperate counterattack.
According to the opponent's attack idea, they want to use the naval fleet to stop the smaller Datang Group naval fleet, and then allow the landing fleet to take the opportunity to rush into Dongwan Port.
Bernard put down his telescope and thought about his way to break the situation - he was now on the outermost level, sandwiched between the mirage navy fleet and the port.
He probably has several options now: The first one is to continue to move forward according to the existing route, bypass the Mirage Navy fleet, catch up with the enemy transport ships preparing to land from the other side, and sink these ships preparing to attack the port. .
The problem is that this method is not easy to succeed. The enemy is likely to land before he arrives, so he may not be able to intercept the enemy's landing force in time.
The second method is to maintain the route and continue fighting, leave the enemy landing troops to the army, and concentrate on picking up those targets at sea. The advantage of this is that at least Bernard can ensure that none of the Mirage Navy warships lying in front of him can escape.
With this choice, the enemy's landing fleet will cause more or less damage to the port, which Bernard does not want to see.
The third method is more risky. He can immediately turn the fleet around and pass through the enemy array. Penetrate the opponent's defense line and catch up with the enemy's landing fleet.
The advantage of doing this is that he can catch up with the enemy's transport fleet as quickly as possible, but his fleet will directly face the close attack of enemy artillery fire - this will test his battleship defense.
It only took Bernard two seconds to make a bold decision—he chose to use the most direct, effective, and deterrent method to solve the problem he faced.
“Order the fleet to turn the right rudder! Adjust the course! Rush towards the enemy ship!” Holding the telescope with his fingers, Bernard issued an almost crazy order.
He was prepared to voluntarily give up the T-letter and use an unfavorable fleet formation to rush straight into the enemy's battle line across the sea, break through the opponent's formation, catch up with the enemy's landing transport fleet, and face the enemy's threat. attack before the port.
“Full right rudder!” the adjutant repeated his order faithfully.
"Full right rudder! Maintain speed!" On the bridge of the Wolf 1 battleship, the captain gave the steering command loudly and hoarsely, with his hands behind his back.
The helmsman standing in front of the helm turned the helm hard, and the heavy warship drew an increasingly larger arc on the sea.
The waves spread towards both sides of the battleship until they hit the waves cut by another battleship, and then intertwined with each other, and the mutual interference gradually faded away.
Following the transmission of signals from lights and flag bearers, the battleships of the Datang Group all began to turn within a minute. The Wolf 1 cruiser in the center took the lead and accelerated towards the enemy's battle line.
Mirage Kazuo was startled by the scene in front of him. He really didn't expect that the opponent's commander would have such courage and made a crazy decision to crash into his battle line almost in an instant.
Logically speaking, under normal circumstances, the enemy will not give up its superior formation and start a decisive battle with the most disadvantaged formation.
In his opinion, the opponent has already taken advantage of the advantage of speed. At this time, as long as he maintains the formation, he can slowly consume his fleet and eat it at the minimum cost.
But the other side seemed to care about Dongwan Port, so they messed up their plans and even gave up their speed advantage and headed straight for his fleet.
This is a stupid decision to voluntarily give up the advantageous position starting with T and approach the enemy at a disadvantage! In Mirumi Kazuo's view, the other party's commander was simply a fool.
Since the opponent has given up an easy victory, he must seize this last opportunity for the Mirage Navy and turn defeat into victory.
Suddenly, Kazuo Mirage became energetic and immediately gave the order: "Let the troops surround both wings in a crescent shape! Turn the two wings!"
As a naval admiral, he decided to use his 15 strongest and most advanced paddle steamers to collide head-on with the opponent. This was his most certain arrangement.
When the two sides are entangled and there is no winner, the numerical advantage of his fleet can be brought into play.
The opponent will soon find themselves surrounded on both sides by sailing battleships. At that time, the opponent is likely to collapse due to lack of willpower, and will most likely lead the fleet to surrender.
Even if the opponent leads a fleet to break through, he will pay a heavy price for the hard battle. If the landing force behind him captures Dongwan City, the opponent will probably have no place to retreat. Thinking of this, Mirage Kazuo suddenly felt a little hopeful, expecting that the opponent's warship would arrive as promised and rush into his cloth pocket!
As time passed, the enemy warships began to charge towards his fleet just as he expected.
The distance between the two sides became closer and closer, and the shelling began. The Datang Group's cruiser has three cannons right in front, which cannot exert its full firepower.
The Bunas class only has two artillery pieces that can directly attack forward, so in total, Datang Group's fleet can only fire 15 artillery pieces at this moment.
What is different is that the paddle steamer battleship of the Mirage Navy that has just been launched can use the two cannons on the bow and stern at the same time because it is engaging the enemy on the side, so it can fire 30 cannons.
In terms of firepower, the Mirage Navy is twice as powerful as the Datang Group Navy. But in terms of firepower quality and other data, the overall strength of the two sides is actually not much different.
First of all, the Datang Group has 150mm cannons, which the Mirage Navy does not have. Datang Group's artillery has optical sighting equipment, and the Mirage Navy obviously does not have such advanced gadgets.
Secondly, the Datang Group is not without its advantages - they meet the enemy head-on, and the area to be bombed is very small, which also brings trouble to the mirage navy with insufficient aiming capabilities.
Although there were many artillery shells, flying towards the charging Datang Group Navy like raindrops, very few hit them.
On the other hand, the situation on the Datang Group's warship seemed a little different: after approaching the enemy ship, the cannon on the bow spurted out flames, and the Mirage Navy warship's side was immediately stirred into the sky by an explosion. water column.
Subsequently, a cannonball hit a Mirage paddle steamer. Facts have proved that the strength of this kind of paddle steamer made by Cyric actually depends on fate...
There were several paddle steamers that were beaten into scrap and were still floating on the sea. For a time, the naval gunners of the Datang Group thought that the opponent's warships were extremely strong.
But this time, because of bad luck, the Mirage paddle steamer that was hit by the cannonball exploded immediately. The cannonball in the hull caught fire and exploded. Before anyone could rescue it, the ship and the people were blown up into the sky.
The tragic explosion startled the Mirage sailors on the paddle boats on both sides. They leaned on the railing and stared wide-eyed, seeing some parts falling on the deck of the battleship where they were.
Because it was covered with iron armor, the paddle wheel of the paddle steamer almost sank directly. On the chimney of the battleship, you can still see the flames ejected from the internal combustion.
While everyone was stunned, another battleship was also hit and caught fire, instantly losing its combat effectiveness. A few seconds later, the explosion knocked the turret of this battleship into the air.
Kazuo Mirage, who lost two battleships in an instant, truly understood the destructive power of Datang Group’s naval battleships.
He saw with his own eyes that his own warship hit the enemy ship, but the warship of the Datang Group Navy did not catch fire, and there was not even a sign of injury.
The opponent still rushed over desperately, carrying an unstoppable terrifying aura, like a sharp sword, slashing at the Mirage Navy's battle line.
"Keep the formation! Keep firing! I don't believe it! I don't believe we can't sink these monsters!" Mirage Kazuo clenched his fists and ordered his men to continue holding on through gritted teeth.
In his own bridge, Bernard saw that the warships of both sides were almost entangled together. He ignored the enemy sailing warships that were already surrounding them from both sides and ordered: "Penetrate the enemy's battle line! Don't do it." No need to fight with them!"
Following his order, the main gun on the bow of the cruiser Wolf 1 opened fire again, and three shells hit an enemy paddle steamer that was very close at hand, directly shattering one side of the paddle wheel.
In fact, by this time, the warships of both sides were almost face to face. Mirage Yinan could clearly see the towering and sharp bow of the Datang Group's naval warship, as well as the opponent's superstructure made purely of steel.
His artillery bombarded these copper and iron walls. Although it could cause damage, the damage effect was really not worth mentioning.
But when the opponent's artillery attacks the hull of his warship, the destructive power is completely different - his ship is made of wooden iron shell, and its ability to withstand hits is obviously much worse.
“Boom!” This time, the Wolf-class cruiser gained side artillery with an attack angle and joined the battle, which made Datang Group’s attack suddenly sharper.
The ratio of artillery pieces on both sides changed rapidly. The number of 150mm-caliber artillery pieces that Datang Group could invest in direct attacks increased linearly, and the losses of the Mirage Navy fleet also became unbearable.
Within a few minutes, more than five of their paddle steamers were destroyed. The remaining battleships could not see each other from head to tail, and were completely unable to prevent the Datang Group from breaking through their defense line.
(End of this chapter)