Chapter 331 The Brave Wins
To be honest, Franz didn't like the feeling of standing on the front line in danger and watching the shells flying. But now that he was on the pirate ship "Venecia", he couldn't help but think so much.
"Uncle Friedrich, you should be lucky that your opponent does not have high-explosive shells. Otherwise, we would have returned to the embrace of our ancestors by now."
Franz said, pointing to the solid cannonball that had just shattered the reinforced glass and smashed into the bridge.
"Franz, I think it's best for you to leave here. No matter what, this is the front line of the battle. As the captain, I naturally have the unshirkable responsibility, and you are just our guest."
Friedrich continued to observe the enemy situation around him with a telescope and said calmly.
"Uncle Friedrich, we are all descendants of the royal family after all; if we retreat without permission or even escape at the slightest hint of danger, I am afraid it will have a serious impact on our morale."
At this moment, the two of them were chatting calmly, and their calm expressions immediately eased the tense atmosphere in the bridge. After all, there were two royal princes sitting in charge, so even if they died in battle, it would not be a big loss. .
Moreover, most of the naval officers at this time were of noble origin. During this period, the nobles paid great attention to the so-called temperament-elegance.
As a result, a strange phenomenon occurred on the ship. Although everyone was pretending to be calm, it gave people a really calm atmosphere.
There was so much gunfire outside that even the glass was shattered. Someone came over and asked Archduke Franz, "Do you want dessert and coffee?"
"Coffee, thank you."
Although Oshiosugine on the side has always boasted that she is not afraid of death, at this moment she only dares to lie on the ground and look up at her master.
"Ms. Shanyin, you will increase the probability of being shot like this. Not to mention that you will catch a cold easily if you lie on the deck, and it is also easy to trip other people, especially now that we are in the middle of a battle." Franz reminded kindly.
"Archduke Franz, aren't you afraid?" Da Yanshan asked with a trembling voice.
"Afraid? That's natural! But it's a bit late to talk about this now. Since you can't refuse, let's enjoy it. Do you need dessert?" The other party did not see that this was Franz's pretending to be calm answer, but She felt that his unique image in her heart was now even greater.
"Please give me some sugar. It is said that it can calm people down." Da Shioshanyin finally mustered up the courage to kneel down on the deck.
Franz took two sugar cubes and handed them to her. The sudden and violent impact caused the hull to almost lose its balance, and various lamps and interior items fell like rolling stones.
Obviously Friedrich's iron-head tactics worked. The flagship "Venecia" directly rammed and sank the largest warship of the opponent; the enemy warship wanted to escape at the last moment, but the "Venecia" equipped with a steam turbine "The power of the "Sail Battleship" is not comparable to that of this sailing battleship.
The 4,700-ton super-class battleship "Venecia" directly smashed Mayed's flagship "Veritas" into pieces. The Omani navy, which lost its flagship, immediately fell into chaos.
However, this was only the beginning. Later, the Austrian first-class battleships, also wrapped in iron sheets, entered the enemy's formation one after another, turning the Arab fleet upside down.
At this time, Friedrich, who was standing on the command podium, shouted loudly: "Sign up and tell them to prepare for the second phase of the attack!"
Five first-class battleships with full firepower in the enemy formation is terrifying enough. Although the Omani navy's pseudo-battleships did not cut corners like the Egyptians, they could not withstand the close fire of the first-class battleships.
But soon the Omanis discovered some strange launchers on the deck of the enemy ship. Although this kind of rodless spin rocket is very powerful, its poor hit rate makes it almost useless in naval battles.
But that's only under normal circumstances, such as this kind of close-range melee, where the advantages of rockets are most vividly demonstrated.
Most of the sailors in the Omani Navy are pirates. They have dealt with ships and death all their lives, so they are not afraid of death and boarding battles.
The battle situation at this time shows that it is difficult for the Omani artillery to cause effective damage to those enemy giant ships. In this case, a boarding battle may be a good choice.
There were even Omani generals who took off their clothes and stood on the bow of the ship with only a scimitar, just like the Barbary pirates who once shocked the world. But this soon proved to be a wrong decision.
When the Austrian anti-infantry rocket exploded in the air, the unarmored Arab warrior instantly became a sieve, and the scattered steel balls directly cleared the deck.
The killing effect of incendiary rockets is even more obvious. As the combustibles spilled by the explosion fall directly on the wooden deck or people's bodies, just one spark will ignite a fire that reaches the sky. Those Omanis who were about to jump to the border just now were instantly Turned into a burning man, he could only jump into the sea in order to survive.
Of course, Mayed also prepared a backup plan, which was a huge self-destruct fleet.
Like the Wahhabis, the Taliban, and members of Al Qaeda in later generations, these people have very firm beliefs or are afraid of harming their families who are in the hands of Mayeed. In short, they are not afraid of life and death.
It's a pity that with Mayed's flagship sinking and the whereabouts of the coach unknown, no one can command this special force. When someone finally "convinced" some of its members to charge the enemy ship, they discovered a problem.
That is, the self-destructing fleet cannot approach the Austrian warships at all. An insurmountable blockade composed of artillery, rockets, and marksmen.
These self-destruction ships are nothing more than carrying a large amount of gunpowder and flammable materials, which are the favorite targets of the opponent's high-explosive artillery shells and rockets, because they can trigger secondary explosions.
And due to the development of rifled technology in the Austrian Empire, rifled guns are no longer superior, but can be equipped by all soldiers.
The Marines who had been forced to hide in the cabin took this opportunity to vent their anger against the Arabs who were fighting undeclared war.
Friedrich's Marine Corps, as the only Austrian unit equipped with breech-loading guns, would naturally not miss this great opportunity to test the power of this new weapon.
The rate of fire of the breech-loading gun was far beyond the awareness of the Arabs on the opposite side. They thought that after a round of bullets, they could reveal their heads to paddle, but they did not expect that just a few seconds later their heads would be covered with bullets. Blood flowers exploded.
As more opposing warships rushed out of the bay, the Omanis were increasingly at a disadvantage at sea, and they had no choice but to retreat. But as time went by, the steam engines equipped on the Austrian warships gradually began to work.
(It takes a certain amount of time for a steam engine to heat up from a cold state to a working state.)
How could a pure sail warship outperform a sail-steam hybrid ship? The battle quickly turned into a one-sided massacre. Since the Omanis fought undeclared, the Austrians naturally had no need to abide by the conventional rules on the battlefield.
The naval soldiers picked up their rifles and long hooks to wildly kill the Arab soldiers who fell into the water. Several large battleships continued to pursue the remaining enemies in the front, while the small warships following behind destroyed all the enemies they saw and salvaged them by the way. some goods.
The people of Bagamoyo, who had witnessed the whole process from the shore, rejoiced because the Omanis who had oppressed them for many years were finally defeated.
But Benny Erbin and a group of Bagamoyo dignitaries were horrified and speechless. They thought that the Austrians would be defeated by the Omanis, who would be so weakened that they would let them go.
However, the terrifying combat effectiveness displayed by the Austrian Navy really made them sweat.