Chapter 653 Naval Battle

Shibazhi paid a lot of money to invite the Dutch to Nanri Island to help in the war, not just to let them serve as sentinels on the outside. In fact, Zheng Zhilong really hoped that the Dutch could play the role of the Han people in the opponent's camp. After all, the previous big war

When the Ming, Hai, and Han coalition forces attacked Nanri Island, the main force was actually not the Ming army, but the Hai and Han militia that came to help. Such foreign aid was worth sending boxes of empty money.

Zheng Zhihu was already suffocating when his request for help was rejected yesterday. If he hadn't asked for help from the other party, he would have turned against him at that time. However, after one night, the Ming Navy navy could no longer restrain itself and came to the door. Now Holland

Even if people want to relax, they can't have leisure. Zheng Zhihu did not order his troops to go to sea to assist the Dutch, and he was more interested in watching the excitement. Of course, he also knew that although the number of Ming warships seemed to be much larger,

But it would be difficult to cause substantial trouble to the Dutch. As long as the Dutch didn't stupidly stay put and don't let the Ming warships swarm up and surround them.

The performance of the Dutch did not disappoint Zheng Zhihu. While they bombarded the Ming army's warships with fierce artillery fire, they rationally maintained a fighting distance to avoid giving the opponent the opportunity to close up and engage in close combat. The Ming army soon realized

Realizing their inferiority in weapons and ship performance, they soon began to turn westward and fight and retreat.

Of course, Van der Wegen also noticed the changes in his opponent's tactics, but he had no intention of letting it go. Since Akito was so ignorant that he came to the door, he should seize this opportunity to teach them a lesson. Of course, the more important thing is

The reason is that Van der Wegen realized that his opponent's combat level did not seem to have improved much compared to before, and his fleet could take advantage of the victory to pursue it and inflict further blows to the Ming army.

As for the company's senior management's concern about antagonism with the Ming Dynasty, Van der Wegen did not particularly care - with the combat effectiveness of the Ming Dynasty's navy, even if they fell out, it would be difficult to cause any trouble to the East India Company. It would be better to seize it

This opportunity will give the Fujian Navy a hard blow to their arrogance. Maybe they will consciously shy away from Dutch sailing ships when encountering them at sea in the future.

Zheng Zhihu was gloating at first as he watched the Dutch fleet chasing the Fujian Navy at sea, but soon the smile on his face solidified - another fleet suddenly appeared in the sea east of Nanri Island, this one

The size of the fleet was not large. From a distance, there were only about ten ships. However, what chilled Zheng Zhihu was that all the ships that made up this fleet were all Haihan warships.

It was obvious that the Haihan people had been quietly waiting for the opportunity to attack. Although they had not yet figured out what their combat purpose was, Zheng Zhihu already had a bad feeling in his heart.

"Pass my order, and the sailors will immediately board the ship and leave the port, and raise a flag to the red-haired people, telling them not to continue chasing westward!" Zheng Zhihu responded decisively, and immediately issued a combat order.

But one of the biggest problems with civilian armed forces is command efficiency. When Zheng Zhihu's order was conveyed to the dock a few minutes later, the warships here were not even ready for battle, and even the sailors didn't know where they were. At this time, the sky was dark.

It had just been lighted up, and although the pirates had already come out of their tents to watch the battle at sea, most of them were still in disheveled clothes, and few of them realized that they might also immediately participate in the battle at sea.

By the time the captains of each ship gathered their men and organized them onto the ship, a long time had passed since Zheng Zhilong issued the order. At this time, the Haihan fleet also approached the north coastline of Nanri Island from the east, and Shibazhi's

Before the sailing ship had time to leave the harbor, it faced the dilemma of being blocked in the harbor by the Haihan people.

At this time, the Dutch had also noticed the Haihan fleet that suddenly appeared behind them, and began to slowly turn back. Van der Wegen also realized that the Fujian Navy's offensive was just a feint attack, and the real killer move was the Haihan people ambushing nearby.

This fleet. However, he was not as panicked as Zheng Zhihu. Although Haihan's surface troops were heard to be very powerful, they were only compared to Shiba Zhi and the Ming army. Van der Wegen would not be so easily affected by some rumors.

.Which one is strong and which one is weak can only be determined after a battle.

At the same time, Xie Li also issued an order on the flagship "Tiger Shark" of the Haihan fleet: "Raise the gun windows, six small boats stay to block the harbor, and other ships follow the flagship to intercept the Dutch fleet! The target enters

You can fire within the range, no need to ask for instructions!"

The so-called "six small ships" refer to the exploration-class warships with the smallest tonnage among the six Haihan standard warships, two of which were exported by Haihan to the Fujian Navy. Of course, this small is just a relative term. Recently,

The tonnage of 300 tons is already considered large in Shibazhi's fleet, and each ship is equipped with about ten artillery pieces. The level of armament is more than one level higher than those of Shibazhi's sailing ships. In recent years,

At the Pearl River Estuary, the Haihan Navy used this kind of warship as its main force and defeated the numerically superior Liu Xiang fleet, and in one fell swoop gained actual control of the Pearl River Estuary waters.

The four exploration-class warships with larger tonnage are used to deal with the main force of the Dutch. This class of warships not only have more than double the number of artillery on board than the exploration-class, but the types of artillery are also different.

The larger hull allows it to carry larger and heavier naval guns, and its caliber and barrel length are more advantageous than those of the Discovery class. Of course, the most important thing is that the Haihan Military Commission can confirm that the guns on its own warships are

The performance of the gun in every aspect greatly surpassed that of its contemporary maritime competitors, and the Dutch were no exception. This was enough for Xie Li to have full confidence when facing the Dutch armed fleet, and divided his forces with only four

warships to deal with the Dutch.

While the pirates were still in chaos at the dock of Nanri Island, the fleets of Holland and Haihan had already encountered each other on the sea on the north side of Nanri Island. Both sides turned in advance, trying to seize the T-position to take the lead.

However, due to the influence of wind direction and ocean current, no one could take advantage of this link, and the result was two parallel columns heading northward.

"Lean over!" Xie Li gave the order without fear. Qian Tiandun had given Xie Li private instructions before the war. As long as the battle was successful, Qian Tiandun would write to the Military Commission to ask for credit and thank him.

Li is also expected to become the first naturalized officer among naval officers to be promoted to the position of lieutenant colonel.

The adjustment of the opponent's course naturally fell into the eyes of the Dutch fleet commander Van der Wegen. For the Dutch who call the sea their home, there is no such option as "fear" in naval battles. He also issued the order to adjust the course.

Order to move the fleet to the opponent's sailing route.

The distance between the two fleets quickly shortened from 500 to 600 meters to less than 200 meters. Haihan's side opened fire first, and the "Tiger Shark"'s shipside guns fired in sequence, and the shells roared and hit the Dutch sailing ship.

.

One of the cannonballs passed just a few meters above Van der Wegen's head, tearing a two-foot hole in the sail, and then fell into the sea from the other side of the ship. Although the cannonball did not cause substantial damage,

But Van der Wegen was shocked, because this showed that his fleet had entered the range of the opponent's naval guns. However, at this distance, it seemed difficult for his own naval guns to be 100% effective.

As a vibration came under his feet, the cannonballs fired by his own sailboat immediately confirmed Van der Wegen's worries. These cannonballs were exhausted and fell into the water ten meters away from the opponent's sailboat, and they were unable to cause any damage to the opponent.

harm.

"Very good, keep this distance and keep shooting!" Of course Xie Li also observed this detail, and this was exactly the scene he was waiting for. The performance advantage of the Haihan artillery was enough to enable the fleet to maintain a relatively safe distance.

, carry out long-range strikes against enemy ships without being damaged by enemy weapons.

Van der Wegen's response was completely opposite to Xie Li's. He chose a simple and crude solution to change this passive situation: "Get closer to their ship! Let them know that our cannonballs are not made of flour."

of!"

If we just talk about the strength of the hull, the Dutch sailing ships are not inferior to the warships built by Haihan. Some Dutch sailing ships even have certain advantages in the thickness of the outer hull. But the Dutch sailing ships and all other Western sailing ships

National ships also have a very fatal shortcoming, that is, they do not have watertight compartments.

The ship structure of watertight compartments had been invented in the Tang Dynasty. After the Song Dynasty, it was widely used in the construction of sea-going ships. Even some inland river ships also adopted this structure. When Zheng He's fleet sailed to the Western Ocean, all sea-going ships were

A watertight compartment structure is adopted.

This kind of compartment has three very significant advantages in function. First, it improves the sinking resistance of the hull by dividing the sealed compartments. Second, it uses watertight partitions to enhance the lateral strength of the hull. Third, it improves loading and unloading efficiency and facilitates cargo transportation.

Storage and custody during transportation.

From the perspective of shipbuilding technology, watertight partitions have another advantage that must be mentioned, that is, watertight partitions replace the process of adding ribs to the hull, thus greatly simplifying the shipbuilding process and shortening the construction period.

It can be shortened a lot.

Although this advanced shipbuilding technology had already spread overseas when Zheng He made his voyages to the West, it was already at the end of the 18th century that Western countries truly introduced this technology into their own shipbuilding industries and promoted it, that is, not until now

This time point was about a century and a half later. In 1795, the Englishman Bentham shot six new warships for the British Royal Navy, and it was the first time that the watertight cabin structure of the Chinese sailing ship was applied to the construction of Western warships.

Every member of the Haihan Navy has received relevant knowledge training about this difference in hull structure during their training, and they also understand how this difference will affect the ships of both sides in a naval artillery battle. Therefore, for maritime

In the artillery battle, the soldiers on the Haihan side had a natural psychological advantage.

As the distance between the two fleets further shortened, cannonballs finally began to hit the Dutch sailing ships. At this distance, the oak hull alone could not withstand the huge kinetic energy of the cannonballs. It could easily tear a big hole in the hull and sweep it away.

Clear all obstacles on the way forward.

The Dutch sailing ship called Fluyt was an improved version of the early Spanish galleon. The hull was lightweight, the number of arms and sailors was reduced, and the cargo hold below the waterline was enlarged.

.This change allowed the Dutch sailing ship to achieve goals such as high speed, lightweight, low cost, high cargo capacity, ease of construction, etc. It was also one of the important reasons why the Netherlands rose to become a maritime empire in a short period of time. But this kind of sailing ship

The shortcomings of the ship are also very fatal. The draft is very deep, but the hull is relatively thin. Although it is relatively exciting and flexible, it lacks the ability to withstand attacks and the intensity of its firepower output.

In the middle of the 17th century, during the Anglo-Dutch War about ten years ago, the Dutch navy and armed merchant ships suffered heavy losses from cannon fire in front of the British navy's heavy battleships. The Dutch could only rely on the quality of their sailors and the speed of shipbuilding.

advantages to make up for the inherent deficiencies in equipment.

This disadvantage has not been fully exposed at present, because there are only a handful of maritime forces that can compete with it head-on in the Far East, and whether it is the Spanish or the Portuguese, even the Ming Navy, the number of armed ships is very low.

It is difficult to compare with the Dutch. In large-scale naval battles, the Dutch will definitely have the advantage. But under the current conditions of a small-scale six-on-four naval battle, the disadvantages of Dutch sailing ships are undoubtedly exposed under the Haihan artillery fire.

First of all, under the premise that the total number of naval guns between the two sides is not much different, the hit rate is more than doubled. With the support of a relatively high hit rate, the Haihan warship took the lead in destroying more than one-third of the Dutch sailing ship.

gun position, this caused the Netherlands' firepower output intensity to drop rapidly, and the hit rate dropped to an appalling level.

Secondly, the lethality and killing effect of the Haihan naval gun are much stronger than those of its opponents. As long as a Dutch sailing ship is penetrated by a cannonball near the waterline, a large amount of water will enter the hull and affect the performance of the ship in a very short period of time.

There will even be obvious roll - which is almost equivalent to the ship's broadside guns losing its combat capability. However, because the Haihan warship has a watertight compartment structure, even if it is penetrated and flooded, it will not survive in a short period of time.

Have a great impact on ship performance.

The naval artillery battle between the two sides only lasted less than half an hour. Three sailing ships in the Dutch fleet gradually lost their combat capabilities under the artillery fire. On the Haihan side, although all four ships were hit by bombs,

However, none of the ships withdrew from the battle due to injuries, and they were still able to continue launching artillery attacks on their opponents. The firepower output capabilities of the two sides were not much different, but the ratio quickly changed during the battle. The Dutch sailors were approaching under heavy artillery fire.

After seizing the opponent's sailboat, they desperately discovered that the opponent's sailors and crew were all equipped with flintlock guns. They now had to withstand the double blow of artillery and muskets.
Chapter completed!