Chapter 989 The navy should not engage in land war with the army

Chapter 989 The navy should not engage in land war with the army

However, the old sailing warships could not outrun the steam ships of the Austrian Navy.

Although the killing efficiency is very low, it is safe.

Even the occasional brave British captain who wanted to fight back had to face the entire Austrian Imperial Navy.

So they can only be heroes for a few minutes at most, and then they have to abandon the ship and escape or sink with their ship in the depths of the sea.

Edward Hobart Seymour Sr. thought the Austrian navy was just lucky, but in fact there were Austrian naval intelligence agents at all the ports along the route.

Every move of the British fleet was under the watchful eye of the Austrian navy, so Edward Hobart Seymour Sr.'s squadron was attacked after only a few hours of detachment.

At night, the British were attacked at Valletta, the main port on the island of Malta.

At least more than fifty patrolmen were killed, but what was even more fatal was the fire in the port area.

Dozens of warehouses caught fire at the same time, and the fire spread to a third of the port. Thousands of people died in the fire, and the loss of materials was uncountable.

Edward Hobart Seymour Sr. could conclude that this must be the work of the Austrians. Otherwise, there was no need for any organization or individual to do such a thing.

However, before he could remember to get angry, new bad news came.

The Austrians had landed and were heading towards the center of the island.

Yes, it turned into a land war in the end.

The Austrian Navy took advantage of last night's chaos to send the Austrian Army to the island of Malta.

The British garrison on the island of Malta was no match for these professional armies, and the medieval defensive buildings were useless against modern artillery.

Compared with the Austrian Army, which marched towards the center of the island with great fanfare, the Austrian Marine Corps, which was divided into small groups and was almost everywhere, was more difficult to deal with.

The mission assigned to these marines was to destroy, and they attacked lone British sailors and small sites everywhere.

The British Empire could not lose the island of Malta, so Edward Hobart Seymour Sr.'s response was to send his own army to annihilate the enemies who landed on the island.

Then a naval patrol was sent to prevent Austria from continuing to send reinforcements to Malta Island. At the same time, it was also completely trapping the Austrians on Malta Island.

Edward Hobart Seymour Sr.'s response was quite satisfactory, but he overlooked one problem.

The Austrian army was closer to Malta than he thought. At this time, there were four Austrian military camps on Sicily.

Sicily is only 48.5 nautical miles from Malta, and even an old-fashioned sailing ship only takes four hours.

After Edward Hobart Seymour Sr. fought a week-long land battle with the Austrians on the island of Malta, not only was the British Marine Corps almost wiped out, but even the sailors suffered heavy losses.

However, Austria's army on the island of Malta was increasing. At this time, he finally understood a truth.

The Navy shouldn't be fighting a land war with the Army!

However, the island of Malta was too important to the British Empire. Old Edward Hobart Seymour gritted his teeth and fought with the Austrians for three days, hoping for a miracle to happen.

However, the miracle did not happen, and he got nothing except more casualties and more failures.

Instead of being content with occupying the center of the island, the Austrian army that landed on the island set its new target on the British military port.

Even with the cover of warships, the defensive battle at the port was fierce.

In fact, theoretically speaking, the Austrians did not bring many cannons with them when they landed on the island, and they should not have the ability to siege the city.

However, the overwhelming amount of rockets broke their illusion. In the absence of mules and horses, a cannon of several hundred kilograms may not be able to be carried, but a rocket weighing more than ten kilograms can still be carried around.

Both the ancient buildings on Malta Island and the wooden structures of the port have almost zero protection against rockets.

At this time, apart from the Austrian Empire, the main use of rockets was to burn buildings.

So when the overwhelming rockets fell into the port, the British finally felt the despair of the Danes.

Even though the sea was right next to them, even though the sea water was inexhaustible, they still couldn't extinguish the fire.

Finally, after paying a very heavy price, Edward Hobart Seymour Sr. and the Governor of Malta, Earl Solon, made a difficult decision.

Abandon Malta.

In the early morning, as the last cable was cut, the New Mediterranean Fleet finally left this island full of blood and smoke.

However, what awaited them was not the beautiful rising sun, but the main fleet of the Austrian Navy that had been waiting for a long time.

The fleet of the Austrian Empire slowly appeared from the distant horizon, and the black and gold flag slowly rose.

Both sides knew that the moment of decisive battle had arrived.

The sailors of the British New Mediterranean Fleet have long thought out their bad feelings, and the soldiers of the Austrian Navy have long been tired of eating salted fish on the beach.

Since there was a famine in Sicily, the Austrian Empire's army could only eat dry food.

Dry food and canned food are good things for the Army, but in the eyes of the Navy, dogs don't eat them.

In particular, there are a large number of nobles from Italy in the Austrian Navy. They are very picky about food, and the British opposite are undoubtedly the culprits.

This was the first time Edward Hobart Seymour Sr. had seen the full picture of the Austrian Imperial Navy. The number and quality of the opponent's warships far exceeded his imagination.

The number of warships alone is double the intelligence, not to mention that more than half of them are steam-powered giant ships, and there are even ironclad ships that are still in the experimental stage.

At this time, the ironclads designed by the Austrian Empire were still very crude and primitive, but their protective power was no longer comparable to that of old battleships.

Friedrich's flagship Prinz Eugen was fully equipped with the latest steel cannons. Its firepower could destroy a British warship with only two close-range salvos.

The damage caused by the British warships was almost negligible. Neither blooming bullets nor solid bullets could penetrate its thick armor.

At this time, Edward Hobart Seymour Sr. thought of a way, which was to directly attack the paddle wheel of the "Prinz Eugen".

The biggest weakness of steam battleships is the paddle wheel, so it has never received enough attention.

However, the British gunners did not find the Austrian paddle wheel.

After six hours of continuous fighting, Edward Hobart Seymour Sr. finally gave the order to retreat.

But Friedrich obviously did not want to let them go, and led the Austrian Imperial Navy to pursue them.

Edward Hobart Seymour Sr. was in an unprecedented predicament, unable to fight and unable to escape.

Unless he can run to Gibraltar in one breath, the New Mediterranean Fleet will definitely be annihilated in pursuit.

Now Edward Hobart Seymour Sr. could only hope for a miracle.

At this time, the lookout suddenly shouted, and another fleet appeared on the distant horizon.

"It's the French Grand Eastern Fleet! We are saved!"

Even Edward Hobart Seymour Sr. shed tears of emotion and hugged his men.

"Thank God."

For the first time he believed that God existed.

On the other side, Friedrich also had a smile on his face when he saw the flag of the French Grand Eastern Fleet.

"They're finally here!"