Admiral Tasman of the Eight-Nation Allied Forces Fleet stayed in the North Five Islands Bay among the Five Islands due to physical discomfort, and supervised the construction of the defense facilities in the North Five Islands Bay. The left deputy general Zheng Jiangong was commanding the landing operations, so the Ming Dynasty flourished for ten years. On the evening of February 18th, those commanding the main fleet to cover the landing in Kagoshima Bay were the fleet's right adjutant, David Jones, and chief of staff, Shen Shiwen.

David Jones was originally a captain of the Dutch Navy, and later experienced the "Japanese-Mongolian Naval War" (the Ming Dynasty fleet under the Japanese flag and the Spanish fleet under the Mongolian flag were fighting an undeclared war), and accumulated rich experience in naval warfare. .

Shen Shiwen was originally a Confucian scholar and the nephew of Shen Tingyang. Before the Jiashen Rebellion, he was a Imperial College student in Nanjing and was a classmate of Zheng Sen. After Jiashen, he first served in the Beiyang shogunate and was later recommended to the Naval Academy to learn Western-style naval warfare. .Because he was born in a Southeast maritime merchant family and had already been involved in navigation and Western learning. He picked up everything quickly and graduated with excellent results.

After graduation, he worked back and forth between the Naval Academy and the fleet, and was promoted to the director of the Naval Academy. In fact, he was the assistant to the deputy director Tasman. Of course, his level was not as good as that of the great navigator Tasman, because his background was more suitable and he was not a foreign devil. , so he became the principal. However, he also knew his own level, so he always acted as Tasman's assistant in the Naval Academy.

Because the cooperation with Tasman was very pleasant, Tasman was appointed as the fleet chief of staff after Tasman served as the admiral of the Eight-Nation Allied Forces Fleet.

All in all, Shen Shiyuan is an average naval staff officer.

After learning that the Spanish fleet was coming in force, he also proposed a satisfactory response plan.

"Admiral, we should form a single column, with eight flying-class ships as the vanguard, launch close range artillery fire with the enemy, close the distance as much as possible, and destroy the enemy ships with explosive shells."

Seven of the eight Flying-class ships are equipped with gyrating bombardment guns, because the Flying-class adopts a low forecastle and low stern design, the center of gravity of the ship is low, and this class of warships is the standard for installing fast battleships of the Dutch Navy. The hull is designed to be relatively solid. Therefore, the upper deck of the Flyer class can be equipped with more or heavier revolving bombardment cannons.

During the refit at the end of the ninth year of Hongxing, the Ming Dynasty Navy chose a plan with a heavier bomb and installed the latest 24-pound cast iron short-barreled cannon on the deck of the Feixiang (successfully installed in arsenals in Nanjing, Shanghai, Quanzhou, and Guangzhou) After learning how to design and develop new types of artillery, the Ming army's artillery began to change from pound to pound. In this process, the weight of the artillery shells also generally increased). There were the same number of bombardment guns on the Big Bird ship, also five. However, The layout plan is different from the Big Bird ship. Because of the obstruction of the bow sail, there is no forward-firing bow gun. Instead, five guns are arranged along the central axis, all on a circular track that can rotate 360 ​​degrees.

Because the Flying No. 1 has a low center of gravity and good stability, the accuracy of the swivel bombardment gun's shooting is relatively high, and the power of the 24-pound bullet is greater than that of the 24-pound bullet.

Therefore, the seven flying-class ships equipped with rotating cannons are the trump card of the Ming Navy!

"No, this won't work." David Jones disagreed with this arrangement. "Now we are downwind and the enemy is upwind, so the distance between the two columns is not decided by us, but by the enemy. Forget it."

"But after the two sides sail past each other in opposite directions, won't we have the upper hand?"

David Jones shook his head and said: "In the Anglo-Dutch War that just ended, there were some cases where the two fleets always kept sailing in the same direction."

"Always in the same direction? Are you talking about George Munch's tactics?"

George Monk was an outstanding man under Cromwell, an amphibious general. He had been working in the army before the first Anglo-Dutch War. He worked for more than 20 years and experienced hundreds of battles. After the outbreak of the British Revolution, he was initially the king.

Party, was later arrested by the Parliamentary Army and imprisoned in the Tower of London. After two years in prison, his mind was reformed. After he was released, he followed Cromwell as a revolutionary soldier. However, his biggest change was not that he changed from a royalist to a revolutionary.

He became a revolutionary army, but after the outbreak of the first Anglo-Dutch War, he changed from an army rear admiral to a fleet commander, and also proposed a quite revolutionary naval tactic - T-tactics.

However, the T-shaped tactic is not always possible, and the enemy is not stupid. When he sees you fighting for the T-shaped position, he will inevitably follow you and turn, so that the two fleets will sail in the same direction on the battlefield.

"Yes!" Davy Jones said, "And our main task is to cover the landing fleet... Although the landing fleet is preparing to rush into the inner Kagoshima Bay in order to take advantage of the bombardment and the narrow channel of Sakurajima Strait

Stop the Spanish fleet.

But we still have to prevent the Spanish fleet from entering Sakurajima Strait, and we cannot risk the destruction of the troop transport fleet!"

"Then what should we do?" Shen Shiyuan asked.

"We can adopt a detachment tactic," David Jones said, "divide the eight flying-class ships into four groups, and serve as the lead ship and stern ship of the four groups respectively, and then divide the remaining ships into four equal parts.

Four detachments... We have a total of 27 warships. Each detachment will be composed of six to seven warships. Each detachment will fight on its own. After the engagement, we will seek opportunities to divide the enemy columns and engage in chaotic battles. We

There are many ships and fierce firepower. Once it enters a chaotic battle, the odds are high! At least it can prevent the Spanish fleet from rushing into the Sakurajima Strait. As long as they cannot rush in, the landing fleet can find a new landing place in the inner Kagoshima Bay."

A chaotic battle is a melee. Generally speaking, it is beneficial to the side with a higher level of ship management and a larger number. The main forces of the Eight-Nation Allied Forces fleet are Ming, British, Dutch, and French. Their standards are not low, and they also have bombardment cannons.

, so you are not afraid of melee.

"Our target is the Flying Class of the Ming Dynasty Navy!"

On the armed Galen ship of the New Spain, Spanish Admiral Garcia is issuing an order: "The generals should follow the flagship as much as possible, and should use the flying class as the main target of attack as much as possible, first destroy their sails and masts, and then

Bombard with arson bombs... Remember to keep your distance, do not approach under any circumstances, do not engage in boarding battles, and do not pay attention to the Ming Dynasty's bird ships!

We have only one mission, to burn down as many Ming Dynasty flying classes as possible!"

This Spanish admiral is not confused. He knows very well that the anti-Spanish alliance in the Western Pacific is centered on the Ming Empire! And those who support the Ming Empire’s ambition to dominate the Pacific include the wealth of the Ming Dynasty’s navy.

A flying class ship.

Although the tonnage of these Flying-class ships is not as large as that of the New Spain, they are large in number, fast in speed, and have powerful firepower, which is enough to compete with battleships like the New Spain-class.

If the Spanish navy could destroy them all, the anti-Spanish alliance in the Pacific would collapse because of the lack of a core.

And today's battle of Kagoshima Bay is undoubtedly the last chance for the Spanish Eastern Armada to reverse the unfavorable situation.

Because the coalition fleet had to cover their landing fleet, it was impossible to use it at full strength, and the wind was southeasterly, so the Spanish fleet was in a favorable upper wind position.

A Spanish navy staff officer walked into the command room at this time: "Admiral, the lookout post has discovered the coalition fleet! There are at least 20 warships, which have formed a column and are heading towards us against the wind. The first ship is flying

class."

"Okay!" Garcia nodded, "Let's begin!" Then he stood up and solemnly crossed himself on his chest, "God bless the king, God bless Spain, God bless us..."

The officers who were with him also stood up and crossed themselves and prayed.

After praying to God, everything depends on the ability of the Spanish naval officers and soldiers!

At dusk on February 18th, in the increasingly darkening sky, amidst the accompaniment of the rumble of cannons coming from the direction of Sakurajima in the distance, the great sea battle that could determine hegemony in the Western Pacific finally began!
Chapter completed!