Chapter 107 The Battle of Java II
The first one to be hammered by the "China heavy hammer" was the Orange Lion, the East India sailing ship of the backbone of the Batavian fleet. This is the Orange Lion-class ship No. 3 (the first two were built in Europe and were launched earlier than it was launched), with a displacement of 1,500 tons, seventy artillery, and it exists as the deputy flagship of the Batavian fleet and the flag of the backbone fleet.
The first Orange Lion was sanctioned was not completely unlucky. In fact, this ship had been targeted by the commander of the Eagle Fleet Li Beiji. When the first wave of fire was opened, the large fleet was basically running side by side with the Batavian fleet. Due to the different ranks between the two sides, the guards were against Batavian's backbone. The Orange Lion was taken care of because the Dutch warships were relatively scattered and the guards could not enter one-on-one.
When they were in duel, they simply concentrated their firepower. At a distance of 1,200 meters, the thirty-nine thirty-two-pound guns of three Taiwan-class battleships fired a round of sequels at the Orange lion. Only one of the thirty-nine shells hit, which was valuable for such a long distance. For the superstitious sailors, the round hit made them believe that the Goddess of Destiny raised their underwear at them (if there was a Goddess of Destiny and wore underwear).
Thirty-two-pound shells were about the size of grapefruit, and a basin-sized hole was smashed on the main artillery deck of the Orange Lion. The Orange Lion's hull, which was less than 40 cm thick, did not cause much obstacle at all. For this armed merchant ship with huge displacement, it could only be considered a scratching sound through the shoe. At least Li Beiji thought so, but the actual damage was much greater.
This shell penetrated near the main artillery deck of the Orange lion, smashing half of a gunner's body into a pool of flesh and blood. Various types of wood chips caused at least three people to be injured to varying degrees. This was a very lucky one. You must know that if the shell moved half a meter left or right, five people might be killed. (The sailors who were preparing to drag the cannon to reset were on both sides of the cannon, while the cannon was right behind the cannon)
But this good fortune was not what the Dutch wanted, because after killing people, the thirty-two-pound shell hit an idle eighteen-pound cannon on the port side of the artillery deck, and directly smashed the cannon cart. The eighteen-pound cannon has recovered its long-lost freedom and caused a bloody storm in the cabin. Because the Orange Lion occupied the upper wind direction and the hull was tilted to the right. For the eighteen-pound cannon, it was a downhill. The two-ton "free" cannon rolled down, smashing two support pillars and the legs of four people. The long barrel also smashed the two cannon cars. The equally "free" 18-pound cannon also rolled around on the artillery deck. For sailors and natives who were not wearing shoes, it was a dangerous thing to crush their toes.
This shell alone caused the Orange Lion to lose three eighteen-pound cannons, eight crew members, and countless toes, which was like a bloody storm. Therefore, the Dutch fire officer on the ship directly ordered a counterattack, and the whole ship was in a mess. The eighteen-pound cannons on the main artillery deck and the nine-pound cannons in the stern building, and even the six-pound cannons on the open deck began to slam the fire. The Orange lion's roar attracted the entire fleet to fight back.
In the command room of the Taipei City, Li Beiji listened to the dong dong sound from outside the hull, looked at the staff officers around him, shrugged and said, "Everyone, the handsome man of the Taipei City will never return."
The officers knew that the sound of dongdong was the sound of shells hitting the shells, and they burst into laughter. At this distance, even the eighteen-pound cannon could not penetrate the Taipei. The thickest part of the ship was nearly 90 cm, and even the stern tower was 65 cm thick. At this distance, it was absolutely defensive to the Dutch artillery, which was only twenty-four pounds of the strongest cannon.
On the Qinglong, Li Mingxun was also puzzled. He pulled the blinds and saw the smoke filled the Batavian fleet. He asked in confusion: "What have we done? How could they have such a big reaction?"
"Not professional at all." A young officer whispered, obviously mocking the Dutch. No one understood why Batavia fired at such a long distance. It made no sense. Not to mention that most shells were not hit, and it was almost impossible to penetrate if they hit. Why bother?
After a quarter of an hour of shelling, the Batavian fleet finally stopped. It was obvious that the officers controlled the situation. The large fleet was still approaching in an orderly manner. When the distance was less than a thousand meters, twenty-four-pound guns participated in the battle, which meant that the battleship's upper artillery deck, main battleship, Great Garen and the main artillery deck of the heavy patrol could all participate in the battle. The only free trade-class armed transport ship was the free-trade-class armed transport ship. Its strongest artillery was the eighteen-pound cannon, which was not allowed to fire, although it had entered the firing distance.
At the beginning of the free trade-level design, the Navy once made a request that the only layer of artillery decks have the ability to assemble twenty-four-pound guns. This requirement, like the preset lower artillery decks, was rejected. Cost was not the main consideration. The Senate believes that the free trade-level is the basis of intercontinental trade between the East and the West, and no one can guarantee that such ships will not be snatched or even requisitioned in Europe. The United States does not want the ships designed with great effort to deal with themselves.
Before three o'clock in the afternoon, the battle lines between the two sides approached about 400 meters, and the large fleet no longer approached. Instead, by fine-tuning the route, avoiding the further indentation of the Dutch. In fact, if we consider the strength of the artillery on both sides, the large fleet is the most advantageous, which means that the navy's large-scale assembly of nine- and twelve-pound cannons can also penetrate the opponent, while the opponent's six-pound cannons do not have the ability to break through, but Li Mingxun is considering the loss of sail equipment. The fleet advances with full sail equipment. If it gets too close, it will lightly shoot chain bullets and shotguns from the cannons destroy the sails and ropes. Li Mingxun does not want to make the fleet lose its power.
Even at a distance of 400 meters, the Dutch six-pound guns that cannot cause breakdown are used to use chain bullets, heavy shotguns and light shotguns. After all, they cannot penetrate the solid shotguns. However, at this distance, the hit rate of this type of shell is extremely low, especially the chain shots, and they don’t know where to fly if they get 150 meters.
(The two iron balls in the chain bullet are smaller than the diameter, and the airtightness of the solid shell and the inner chamber is "insert a chopstick")
The large fleet was not unresponsive. The ships began to put away the sails between the masts, and even the rear-mast inclined sails, which were extremely important for steering, were also put away the direction, relying on the rudder to control the direction. After all, the area of the blow of the sail was large. At a distance of 400 meters, although the shotgun could not kill people, it was enough to penetrate the canvas. The captains did not want the sail to be beaten into a hornet's nest. After the sail was closed, the large fleet was slower and insignificant.
(The killing distance of shotgun is not far, usually within four hundred meters, heavy shotgun may be far away. It should be pointed out that naval socks are generally used within two hundred meters, and the shotgun of the 6th Army is different. The difference is in the wrapping method. The shotgun of the navy is wrapped in linen, because it is often called a bag of shotgun. The difference is only that the shotgun of merchant ships is randomly loaded with long bags, and the shotgun is wrapped with thin linen ropes, and the shotgun is woven into a cylindrical shape, and there is a round wooden board in the middle. This is to increase airtightness, while the 6th Army is more refined. The one that loads the shotgun is a thin tin cylinder, which may be cast, and the bottom is iron plate. Only in this way can it effectively kill enemies four hundred meters away. The so-called effective killing lies in the accuracy and greater energy given by airtightness)
When the sail is closed, the effect of the shotgun is very small. The Dutch began to focus on chain bullets, which is a shell that is effective for canvas and ropes. Of course, at this distance, it is more effective for canvas. If you are lucky enough to hit the cross sail, you can tear a huge hole. However, even in terms of destroying sail installations, the large fleet is more professional.
First, the large fleet used nine-pound and twelve-pound cannons to destroy sailing equipment, which was more powerful. Secondly, the professional navy's ammunition for the sailing equipment was more than shotgun. The United States Navy equipped standard artillery with chain shells, star-shaped bullets and rod-shaped expansion bullets. Star-shaped bullets are an iron ball with chains. The effect is not significant, but it is a longer range than chain shells, so it is rarely equipped. (When dealing with ordinary armed ships, star-shaped hulls can be used, and its armor-breaking ability is also higher). However, rod-shaped expansion bullets are equipped in large quantities. This thing looks like a dumbbell at a glance. In fact, the rod in the middle is not fixed. After flying out of the barrel, it will expand and sweep everything it encounters. The disc-shaped structure at both ends is the same as that of the same caliber shell, so it has better airtightness and a longer range and more accurate.
The only angina of this type of shooting is the fleet's quarrestrial officer. Alien bullets other than solid bullets have huge damage to the barrel. Originally, artillery with a two thousand lifespan often has a lifespan of several hundred after using the alien bullets, but at this time, who would consider this?
The large fleet has been keeping distance from the Batavian fleet, while the staff members observed the scars and water columns on both sides of the hull. Different shells have different water columns. The staff members thus determine the loss of Dutch alien shells. Generally speaking, each artillery in the seventeenth century had about sixty shells, of which alien shells accounted for one-third to one-quarter. The Batavian fleet, which was mainly merchant ships, should have fewer. Perhaps increasing the storage of shells is simple, but alien shells are not so easy to increase production on a large scale.
(In the Napoleon era, the base of battleship artillery reached 12 to 15. It should be noted that most of the shells were in the ammunition compartment, not on the artillery deck.)
The staff gathered all kinds of information to Li Mingxun. The number of alien bombs in the Batavian fleet's destructive sails determines whether the battle line will continue to approach. If news of its alien bomb exhaustion can be obtained, Li Mingxun will definitely shorten the distance to about 250 meters.
In the flagship combat room of the Grand Fleet, Li Mingxun was bored and tugging the globe in the corner with a cup of coffee. He looked up at the clock from time to time. The staff officers were busy in an orderly manner and played their roles in their respective positions. Li Mingxun was very satisfied and proud of the scene in front of him. He knew very well that the century-old navy was not just a moment of talk, but accumulated through time. He personally created the United States Navy and won one naval battle after another with foresight and technological advantages. However, Li Mingxun knew that sooner or later, he would leave the position of naval commander forever, and the navy's leading technical advantages would slowly disappear. Therefore, Li Mingxun needed to establish a capable and effective team to establish reasonable and scientific rules for them. Now, it has already taken shape.
Li Mingxun firmly believes that professional navy is easier to win than brave navy, and strict systems are more stable and reliable than the individual moves of generals.
Suddenly, Li Mingxun calmed down. He realized something was wrong and asked, "What happened? Why did you stop?"
The staff were confused. At this time, the captain walked in from the combat room and said, "Commander, the Batavian fleet has stopped shelling!"
"What did you give birth?" Li Mingxun made a move to go out, but was blocked by two 6th team members. This was the rule of the navy. During the battle, the navy commander was not allowed to appear on the open deck. The calm and steady commander needed by the United States Navy was not a pretentious person standing in a rain of bullets in a dress. Compared with the disaster brought by the commander's death, the encouragement brought to the sailors by such pretentious behavior was simply not worth mentioning.
Li Mingxun, who could not get out, opened the blinds and used a telescope to observe the enemy ship behind the side. It was found that the smoke of gunpowders there had gradually stopped. The Dutch fleet was still sailing along the original route, and except for stopping artillery, there seemed to be no special movement. The open-air deck was as usual, but Li Mingxun knew that the entire fleet ceased fire was definitely the order of the commander of Batavian fleet, Haruss. This order must be conspiracy, but Li Mingxun could not see through it.
"It must be the enemy's artillery deck adjusting tactics, that's for sure!" A young officer shouted loudly. He suddenly pointed at the second ship of the Batavian fleet, a warship with about fifty artillery pieces. This ship, named Udrecht Province, may be the most unlucky ship in the Batavian fleet, because it faced the two battleships, Qinglong and Xuanwu alone, and was already in a mess. On the starboard side of the large fleet, a one-man-high hole appeared, which was caused by continuous hits by heavy artillery. From this big hole, it can be seen that the sailors inside were moving.
"Commander, they seem to be adjusting the angle of the artillery fire!" the officer shouted loudly.
Chapter completed!