Chapter 1639 Quick decision

The sudden bombardment immediately caused the sailors on the "Martin" to panic. These sailors were not professional soldiers and had received very limited combat training. As for the experience of engaging in an artillery battle with enemy warships at sea, it was absolutely impossible.

Most people were completely at a loss. When the violent vibrations after the hull was hit came from the deck below, almost everyone panicked in an instant. All the training they had received before the war were wiped out at this moment.

Forgot to forget.

"Don't mess up! Everyone return to their positions! Gunners, load the artillery, aim at the enemy ship, and prepare to counterattack! Adjust the course and avoid that ship!"

The only person on the ship who remained calm was probably the officer on board, who loudly ordered the sailors to return to their proper positions. He knew that if no one on the ship stepped forward to take command at this time, then the opponent would be like him next.

It was slowly destroyed like a target. The "Martin" entered Subic Bay single-handedly. It was already quite far away from the city of Manila. There was no need to expect rescue from nearby. The only one who could save them now was themselves. Try to get out of the way.

Intercepting from the front and breaking out of Subic Bay may still have a glimmer of hope.

However, this was only the unilateral idea of ​​the Spaniards. Before they could complete the adjustments to the "Martin", the second shelling from the opposite side followed. However, this time the Spaniards' good luck continued.

The shell passed near the stern of the "Martin" ship, hit the air, and splashed a wave of waves on the sea.

"Fire back immediately! Don't let these damn Haihan people go!"

"Aim for me! Aim both guns at their stern rudders!"

Seeing the two ships passing each other head-on on the sea less than a hundred meters apart, the commanders on the ships were ordering fire to bombard each other, fearing that they would miss the best opportunity to attack each other. However, the firepower intensity of these two ships,

On the surface, it looks like a good deal. The black Haihan battleship only has two guns, one in front and one in the back. At this time, they are all aimed at the Spanish sailing ship. And the "Martin" only has a few temporarily deployed on the deck.

It is a small-caliber artillery. To be honest, even if a gun of this caliber is focused on a target at a distance of 100 meters, it is probably difficult to cause any major damage to the opponent.

This time, the "Martin" was the first to fire. The two cannons fired towards the black battleship one after another. The two shells flew straight over and hit its side firmly. But the cheers on the "Martin" had not yet come.

The sailors were stunned by what they saw - the two shells did not penetrate the side of the black battleship, but seemed to hit an iron plate, making two clear metallic sounds.

The collision made a crisp sound, and then it was launched into the sea.

Iron ship? At this moment, almost everyone thought of the legend of Haihan's big iron ship. This mysterious shipbuilding technique is still one of Haihan's methods to frighten foreign countries, but it is said that Haihan's big iron ship has long been in the world.

It has taken root in the harbor of Sanya and will no longer sail on the sea. So what is going on with this strange ship in front of you? And it is said that the large iron ships of Haihan have no masts and sails, but the ship in front of you is clearly a three-masted sailing ship.

, is this another new weapon made by Haihan?

The Spaniards guessed well. The ship that appeared at the entrance of the bay to snipe them was the "Warrior" class prototype ship that was currently used as a test model by the Haihan Navy and set foot on the actual battlefield for the first time. The existence of this ship,

Only some close allies and allies who participated in the Danzhou military exercise in 1635 knew it, and it was regarded as a military secret to the outside world.

The person responsible for commanding this battleship is Major Wu Sen of the Haihan Navy’s Sanya Fleet. Military generals from South Vietnam are not uncommon in the Haihan Navy, and Wu Sen is considered a leader among them. The Ministry of National Defense can rest assured that this ship will be

The fact that a battleship of great significance was entrusted to him to command and carry out its first combat mission shows the trust and importance placed in him.

In this expedition to Manila, the Navy insisted on taking this battleship with it, and even adjusted the departure time for this purpose. Of course, Wu Sen also understood how significant this new battleship was to the Haihan Navy. If there was no such thing on the battlefield,

After such a brilliant performance, the Navy may not have enough confidence to apply for military funds from the Ministry of National Defense and the Executive Committee to build this type of warship.

In order to facilitate the command of the fleet, the warship, which had not yet had time to be officially named during the expedition, was temporarily given the code name "Black Shark". After arriving at Subic Bay, the "Black Shark" and the officers and soldiers on the ship did not receive the code name.

After too much rest time, I once again devoted myself to pre-war training. When the Spanish sailing ship broke into Subic Bay, the "Black Shark" was patrolling the northwest waters of the bay, and happened to miss the opportunity to meet it.

However, the "Black Shark" was equipped with a radio, and it received the warning message immediately. It immediately turned around and rushed back to Subic Bay. It happened to hit the "Martin" rushing out in a panic in the channel at the mouth of the bay.

When Wu Sen saw this, he was naturally not polite and immediately commanded the "Black Shark" to attack the opponent.

The main weapon of the "Black Shark" is two naval guns that can rotate and fire, one in front and one in the rear. The performance advantage is naturally far better than the current mainstream naval guns, but the shortcomings are also obvious, that is, the firepower output point is greatly reduced.

Reduced, there are higher requirements for the lethality effect of naval gunfire. When encountering enemy ships like this, the best time to bombard is naturally when they pass by, but the relative speed of the two ships is at least 12

Above the knot, there are probably only one or two rounds of shooting opportunities. If you miss it and then turn around to chase, it will definitely take more time.

What Wu Sen wanted was the effect of killing with one hit, so he ordered the two naval guns to be aimed at the target's stern waterline, trying to destroy its rudder and make it lose its steering ability during navigation. As for the opponent's

Wu Sen didn't pay attention to the shelling at all. The "Black Shark" was covered with iron armor, and ordinary naval guns could only scratch his own warship at this distance.

The gunners on the "Black Shark" did not disappoint Wu Sen. In the next round of shelling, the two shells fired by the two naval guns at the front and rear accurately hit the stern waterline of the "Martin", hitting a

Two large holes visible to the naked eye. After the two ships passed each other, the "Black Shark" fired an additional shot from its rear gun, hitting the poop at the stern of the ship.

Of course, even though several shots were fired, the "Martin" did not immediately lose power. The ship still stumbled towards the mouth of the bay, and Wu Sen quickly ordered a U-turn to continue the pursuit.

The two shells that hit the waterline at the stern of the ship had the desired killing effect, and seawater immediately poured into the hull from the damaged area. Although the sailors on the ship responded quickly and immediately performed damage control on the stern of the ship, they were destroyed.

The rudder of the ship could no longer be saved, and the "Martin" rushed straight towards Grand Island in the middle of the channel. Although the Spanish crew tried their best to change the course, the ship ended up on the beach on the north shore of the island.

Stranded.

Finding that it had been surrounded by several chasing enemy warships and unable to escape, the "Martin" finally did not continue to resist and chose to surrender to save its life. Haihan sent personnel to inventory the Spanish sailing ship and found that

The brief exchange of fire just now also caused five casualties on the "Martin", and the more than 30 surviving crew members were all captured.

The officer on board the ship was quite tough. When he handed over the command knife to Wu Sen, he still said toughly: "You have made a big mistake. You will regret it if you go to war with the Spanish Empire!"

"What did he say?" Wu Sen naturally didn't understand Spanish, so he turned around and asked the interpreter assigned to him by the Portuguese.

After listening to the translation, Wu Sen couldn't help laughing and said: "It's been a few years since the war began, and you still tell me this...take him away!"

If we count from the time when Haihan attacked the Spanish stronghold in Taipei in 1633, the history of the war between the two countries has actually reached the fourth year. During this period, there were several overt and covert confrontations, and the Spanish side basically suffered the loss, especially in the confrontation on the frontal battlefield.

According to records, Haihan had an absolute advantage. The Spanish officer's verbal threat was naturally regarded as a joke that was not funny to Wu Sen.

However, Wu Sen was once captured by the Haihan Army when he served in South Vietnam, so he felt the same way. He did not intend to humiliate the Spanish prisoners, but just asked them to be held captive. Of course, these prisoners would be redeemed by Spain with money in the future.

, or be sent to a plantation somewhere to work as a coolie, that is not something he needs to worry about.

The damage to the stern of the "Martin" was more serious than it appeared on the outside. The large amount of seawater that poured into the hull made the entire ship lose its balance before it ran aground. Even if the Haihan battleship did not pursue it, it would be impossible to recover.

Back to Manila Bay. After Haihan checked it, he thought that the repair was of little significance, so he only removed the few supplies from the ship, and the ship was left alone on the island shore.

As for the captured crew members, of course they must first be taken back to the headquarters for interrogation to understand the Spaniards' response measures. Although the Haihan Army has full confidence in defeating the Spaniards, the principle of knowing yourself and the enemy is always correct.

Yes, the more information you have about the enemy, the more initiative you can take when fighting on the battlefield.

At the end of the day, the "Martin", which was out on a maritime reconnaissance mission, did not return to Corregidor Island at the mouth of Manila Bay as usual, and the news was not conveyed to the ship located twenty nautical miles away until the next day.

Outside the Cavite Naval Base.

Cavite is located on a peninsula on the southern shore of Manila Bay, about thirty kilometers away from Manila City. After the Spanish occupied Manila Bay in the last century, a shipyard was built here and it was used as the base of the Manila Fleet. It is worth visiting.

What I mentioned is that many merchants and immigrants from the Ming Dynasty settled in this place, which is even the same size as the Han population near Manila.

In a military sense, Cavite is equivalent to a peripheral defense point of Manila City. If Haihan wants to attack Manila City, he must first seize control of Cavite. Although the mission of the Manila Fleet is to meet the naval forces in naval battles,

Han Chinese, but Juan still managed to organize a group of people in Cavite to reinforce the land defenses. It was definitely too late to build large coastal defense forts, but it was relatively simple to build a few temporary gun emplacements with earthen bags.

The more than 20 artillery pieces Juan received from the arsenal in Manila were all deployed at the port pier here. Although they are not as stable as the coastal defense forts in Manila Port, Juan believes that they can at least provide the Haihan people with armored weapons to attack.

They caused some trouble when they arrived in Midi. When the Haihan people fought across the sea, it was difficult to replenish their troops in time. The casualties and casualties had a much more serious impact on the overall combat strength than the Spanish side. Juan believed that as long as he could cause a certain number of troops to the Haihan army,

The number of casualties was enough to make them give up their plan to attack Manila City.

Of course, this goal is easy to say, but not at all easy to achieve. Juan knows that there is a gap between his strength and his opponents, so when formulating tactics, he almost always focuses on defense, striving to hold off the Haihan Army as much as possible.

offensive to prevent it from approaching the city of Manila so quickly.

It is normal for ships going out to sea to patrol for an extra day and a half, but Juan has strict requirements for the recent patrol arrangements, so when the news that the "Martin" did not return all night reached Juan, it immediately aroused his concern.

Be alert. It has been calm near Manila Bay for the past two days. It is unlikely that the "Martin" was delayed due to weather conditions. If they did not return to port on time, perhaps they encountered an accident caused by some unnatural factors. For example

, met the Haihan fleet at sea.

"Send two more ships to search the waters patrolled by the Martin. If any abnormality is found, report back immediately. Do not act without authorization!"

Although the uneasiness in Juan's heart was already very strong, he still tried to remain calm and dealt with the disappearance of the "Martin" in the usual way. The Haihan fleet had not yet appeared, and he could not disrupt his own family without fighting.

It was just that he never expected that the "Martin", which was famous for its fast speed in the Manila fleet, would be quickly dispatched as soon as it encountered the enemy. Although the enemy's situation was detected, there was no way to send back the news.

One day later, the observation post on Corregidor Island reported that a sailboat flying the Haihan flag appeared on the outer sea. This time, the alarm really sounded. After receiving the news, Juan immediately asked all combat ships of the Manila fleet to prepare to leave.

In preparation for the battle in Hong Kong, now that Haihan's ship has arrived outside Manila Bay, the next step is a hard battle. As for the "Martin" that still has no news, Juan has already acquiesced that it will never come back.

"The two islands ahead, the big island to the north is Corregidor Island, and the small island to the south is Carvalho Island. After passing these two islands, you will enter Manila Bay."

While the Spanish were preparing for war urgently, Haihan's fleet had already completed its assembly at sea and arrived at the entrance of Manila Bay. As one of the guides for this operation, the Portuguese Simao was introducing General Haihan to what was ahead.

geographical conditions.
Chapter completed!