(The first chapter is here! There will be a second chapter later)
The 6 'British' class warships in the Gerhardt fleet showed excellent performance. When they charged the Wasser fleet, they threw off the sail warships behind them and rushed towards the Iberian fleet quickly .
At 3:30 in the afternoon, the six 'British' class warships rushing to the front had entered the strike range of the Wasser fleet. Of course, this refers to the 155mm naval guns and 122mm naval guns on the 'Bonaparte' class The range of the gun. Wasser's ship is the "Emperor Napoleon". As early as when the Gerhardt fleet was discovered, the Wasser fleet was ready for bombardment. The starboard side faces the oncoming Gerhardt fleet.
In the huge roar, the two 155mm naval guns of the "Emperor Napoleon" and the three 122mm naval guns on the starboard side started the first shelling, but unfortunately, none of the shells hit the target , not even a near miss. The landing point of the shell was quickly observed by the airship above the battleship, and the shelling data was quickly transmitted back to the bridge. Five minutes later, after corrections, the "Emperor Napoleon" started a second bombardment, but still missed the target.
At 3:55, the "Emperor Napoleon" conducted its fifth shelling, and this time it finally achieved good results. A 122mm shell hit the front of a "British" class battleship. On the bow, the frail body of the 'British' class warship simply couldn't withstand the devastation of the 122mm shells, and the entire bow was blown up. At this time, the 105mm naval guns on the other battleships of the Wasser fleet also started shelling, and immediately, countless shells slammed into the Gerhardt fleet that rushed over.
It has to be said that when the Iberian fleet launched an artillery battle with the British fleet, it really took a very big advantage. The range of their naval guns was much higher than that of the British fleet. At that time, the latest naval gun developed by the British However, the range of the 105mm naval guns of the Iberian fleet has reached 6 kilometers, and the range of the 155mm naval guns has reached a terrifying range of about 12 kilometers. Such a naval battle between two fleets is basically an asymmetrical naval battle. But the war is inherently unfair, so when the Iberian fleet used its own gun range to ravage the British fleet, they would never feel ashamed.
At 4:10 p.m., the Gerhardt fleet had already entered their range, and shells began to fall around the Wasser fleet continuously. However, due to the relatively long distance, even though the British bombardment level was relatively outstanding, the hit rate was still high. Still very low. The huge body of the "Emperor Napoleon" undoubtedly became a shell magnet on the battlefield, and more than half of the shells went straight to him. But these shells can't do a little damage to its thick armor at all, at most it will leave a little dent on his deck or other places.
At 4:15, Wasser ordered the fleet to turn around. He didn't need to start a head-on confrontation with the Gerhardt fleet, although during this period, they had sunk 5 British warships, two of which were 'British' class warships , as well as a third-tier battleship and two gunboats. However, an 'Iberia'-class warship in the Wasser fleet was also damaged, but fortunately it would not affect the ensuing battle.
The Wasser fleet made an 'L'-shaped turn on the sea, taking advantage of their speed, and quickly got rid of the pursuit of the Gerhardt fleet. Except for the remaining 4 'British' class warships, Gerhardt The other warships in the fleet had no chance of keeping up with the Wasser fleet. And the four "British" class warships became the main targets of the Wasser fleet.
But good luck is not always accompanied by the Iberian fleet. At the last moment of the turn, the 'Cartagena', which was at the end of the fleet, was overtaken by four 'British' class warships. The Tagena' carried out fierce shelling. In less than 5 minutes, the 'Cartagena' fired at least a dozen shells. was affected and dropped to 9 knots.
Of course, the Gerhardt fleet would not let go of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and the battleships that followed immediately surrounded it like wolves, and the fate of the 'Cartagena' was decided. Under the siege of Hart's fleet, they had no chance of escape. At 4:40 in the afternoon, after being devastated by dozens of shells, the "Cartagena" sank, and none of the officers and soldiers on the battleship survived.
Wasser didn't have any extra time to grieve over the loss of the battleship. They quickly took advantage of the opportunity of the Gerhardt fleet to gather together and launched a fierce bombardment on those battleships, directly sinking a second-tier battleship and severely injuring a A Tier 1 battleship and a Tier 3 battleship.
Gerhardt had no choice but to order the main force of the fleet to pursue the Wasser fleet desperately. On the other hand, he immediately ordered the transport ships to retreat, and the warships protecting those transport ships immediately went south to intercept the Wasser fleet. .
At 4:50, the Sucrete fleet entered the battlefield from the southwest. Their arrival greatly relieved the pressure on the Wasser fleet. The fragile left wing of the Gerhardt fleet was severely hit by the Sucrete fleet. In less than 10 minutes, 1 gunboat and 1 third-tier battleship lost power, becoming the live target of the Sucrete fleet.
Gerhardt had no choice but to allocate some warships to intercept the Sucrete fleet and prevent them from approaching the main battlefield, while he continued to lead the main force of the fleet to pursue the Wasser fleet. The scene was very chaotic, and the entire battlefield was disrupted. A pot of porridge.
The situation of the Wasser fleet is also very bad now. Although they destroyed a 'British' class warship again in the subsequent naval battle, they will soon fall into the joint attack of the Gerhardt fleet. If they are entangled If not, their fate will be very tragic under the gang fight of many warships in the Gerhardt fleet. At 5:05, Wasser ordered the fleet to turn again, and the fleet broke through to the northwest where the Gerhardt fleet was relatively weak. Surrounded, even if the "Emperor Napoleon" is used to hit it, there will be a way out.
At 5:15, the Boult fleet arrived, and the situation on the battlefield was quickly understood. Boult immediately ordered not to worry about the chaotic naval battle for the time being, but to lead his fleet to pursue the British transport fleet fleeing north. If those transport ships are killed, even if the Wasser Fleet and the Sucrete Fleet are finished, then the Iberian Navy will win the final victory in this naval battle.
This move of the Burt fleet scared Gerhardt to death. The maximum speed of the transport ship is only 10 knots. It is the opponent of the Iberian battleship. According to the current situation, it will take up to two and a half hours. Burt The fleet will be able to catch up with the transport fleet, and at that time, the transport ships will only be left to be slaughtered by the opponent. No way, Gerhardt had to give up the pursuit of the Wasser fleet and lead the main force of the fleet to intercept the Burt fleet.
But his plan was still unsuccessful. The Boult fleet was much faster than his fleet. At 7:20 in the evening, the Boult fleet finally caught up with the British transport fleet that was fleeing northward. And so, the massacre began. How can a transport ship without self-defense weapons be an opponent of the well-equipped Boult fleet? In the first two bombardments of the Boult Fleet, three transport ships were sunk, and thousands of British Army soldiers fell into the sea.
But fortunately for Gehar, it was already dark at this time~www.mtlnovel.com~ The night became the best cover for the transport ships to escape. When the Boult fleet killed 16 transport ships, the other The transport ships all ran away and disappeared. In order to avoid being attacked by the Gerhardt fleet at night, Burt had to order a retreat. The naval battle is over.
The Gerhardt fleet was terrified, and it didn't even consider whether it should use the night to attack the Boult fleet, but chose to escape overnight.
In the end, the Boult Fleet paid for 3 warships of the "Iberia" class and sank, two of them were seriously injured. The "Emperor Napoleon" also lost a lot of shells and had to go back to the repair shop for a period of time. The "Prince Joseph" Also suffered a little injury. But they sank 1 first-class battleship, two second-class battleships and 5 third-class battleships, 11 gunboats and 7 three-masted clippers, and another 16 transport ships were sunk. Many army soldiers fell into the sea, and the hope of rescue was very small.
This can definitely be regarded as another big victory for the Iberian Navy, but Xiao Jie didn't put much energy on it at this time, and the main energy of him and the top leaders of the Iberian Army were attracted to the Rhine River area. For some other reason, after full preparations, Napoleon finally took the lead in launching a violent attack on the Anti-French Alliance on February 3.
(To be continued, if you want to know what will happen next, please log in to .FU., more chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!)