Chapter 1325
Dead End
Chapter 1325 Dead End
The Spanish fleet thought that with its rich combat experience and the advantages of fleet size, as long as it didn't take advantage of the opponent's low-level routines, it would be able to beat the Haihan Navy with a flat push, but it never expected that the opponent just sent a warship Harassing from the side has already made the fleet uneasy, and it seems that there will be no effective way to stop the opponent's long-range fire harassment for a while.
Faced with such a situation, the Spanish commander naturally had no countermeasures or examples to learn from. No country had ever equipped a naval gun on a warship with such a range and power. The coastal defense guns were moved to the ship.But judging from the firing frequency, the weapons equipped on the Haihan battleship are obviously more advanced. After all, such a fast ammunition loading speed is not something that coastal defense guns can possess.
The only thing that makes the Spaniards feel lucky is that the number of artillery on this ship is too small. Only four cannons are obviously still insufficient to deal with the huge Spanish fleet.Although the hull of the Spanish warship that was hit was indeed damaged, it was not so severe.The relative speed of the two sides was at least [-] knots. No matter how powerful this ship was, it could only fire one or two shells at each target in time, which was far from enough to destroy the combat capability of the ship hit.Although the scene looked one-sided, the actual strike effect was still relatively limited.
After realizing this, Pinto resolutely gave up responding to the ship's provocation, and commanded the fleet to continue advancing at full speed, targeting the main force of the Haihan fleet ahead.
"The Spaniards are not stupid!" Johnson, who commanded the battle on the flagship, saw that his opponent was not moved by the harassment battle, so he could only make a resentful evaluation.He originally hoped that after using the "Warrior" as his trump card, he would be able to make the opponent lose his position and allocate part of his troops to deal with the "Warrior"'s attack. For an experimental ship, the firepower configuration is still a bit thin.
The four guns installed on the ship must be accurate, but their power is relatively limited, because manufacturing this new type of naval gun is also a new topic for Haihan Ordnance Industry, and coupled with the limitations of the hull itself, there is no hard work. heavy artillery.Although the side of the Spanish warship was smashed into pieces, the situation seemed tragic, but in fact it was basically a skin trauma.
There are still some weaknesses of the "Warrior" that the Spaniards do not know. Many of the technologies used to manufacture this ship are still in the verification stage, especially the new high-horsepower steam engine equipped on the ship. , There are no standard spare parts that can be used for maintenance and replacement. Once some key positions fail, it is likely to be in a state that cannot be repaired in a short period of time. At that time, the speed advantage of the "Warrior" will disappear.
In addition, the shells used by these four naval guns are also special-made copper shell shells. They were originally only used to demonstrate the performance of the artillery in the leaping military exercise a few days ago, so the number of production is extremely limited.This time, although the relevant units rushed to work day and night after receiving the information and produced some, it would still be a bit stretched to support a large-scale naval battle.Once the existing shells are fired, these naval guns will be completely for display, and there are no other heavy fire weapons on board, so they can only withdraw from the battlefield by themselves.
Therefore, for the Haihan Fleet, although the combat effectiveness of the "Warrior" can be called strong, the combat endurance will not be too long, and it is unlikely to complete multiple back and forth at sea, at most it will engage in peripheral activities It was nothing more than destruction, and the main force in the battle was still the Haihan Fleet on the frontal battlefield.
Seeing that the harassment from the "Warrior" did not have much effect, Johnson could only take the next best thing and use a more secure way to meet his opponent.The Haihan fleet is far inferior to its opponents in terms of the number of warships. If it enters a dogfight state, it will definitely suffer. Therefore, Johnson's tactics are similar to those adopted by Tao Donglai yesterday, seeking the initiative in rhythm by maneuvering.
"Here comes this trick again!" In the eyes of the Spanish commander, the movement of the Haihan fleet seems to be repeating the old trick. He wants to pull the Spanish fleet to change its formation by changing the battle line, and then use its speed to get rid of the entanglement. , In the current situation, the Spanish warships formed a situation of fighting more and fighting less.
Although this tactic is simple, it is very effective in actual combat. For the Haihan warship, which has an advantage in speed, as long as Spain follows suit, the initiative will be firmly controlled by Haihan.However, the Spaniard had already suffered a loss under Tao Donglai's hands yesterday, and naturally he would not suffer again with the same move.
Yesterday, the two Spanish commanders learned from the painful experience and roughly figured out how to deal with the tactics of the Haihan people, which is to ignore the changes in their formation and respond to all changes with the same.No matter how the formation of the Haihan fleet changes, their disadvantage in the number of ships is irreparable, and this is the only advantage that the Spanish fleet may have on this battlefield.If you follow the opponent's rhythm, your only advantage will soon disappear, and then you will fall into a passive situation.
The goal of the Spanish fleet is Sanya, and the Haihan Navy also wants to protect Sanya, so as long as the attack must be saved, the Haihan Navy can't play any tricks, and can only prevent the Spanish fleet from attacking the port by confronting it head-on.At least in the mind of the Spanish commander, he interpreted the situation on the battlefield from this perspective.
To force Haihan's navy to face-to-face confrontation with an upright offensive is the Spanish commander's way of solving the problem.But there are too many unpredictable things in the world, just like before the battle, they never imagined that the combat power of the Haihan battleship would be so powerful.
Seeing that the Spanish fleet's course remained unchanged, the Haihan fleet continued to sail straight to the coast of Sanya, but did not turn around to intercept it, but continued to move closer to the Spanish fleet's flank from the east. It seemed that they were planning to launch a round of artillery attack .
At this time, what was before the Spanish fleet was a smooth road leading to the port area without obstacles—at least there were no more conspicuous Haihan battleships on the sea.All that needs to be done now is to rush in and complete the landing without distraction. As long as there are hostages in hand, are you afraid that there is no way to deal with Haihan's fleet?
"Go north! Assault at full speed!" Pinto has already issued the order impatiently.Although he also knew that there were Haihan's coastal defense forts near the coast, but those things were dead after all, and they couldn't be more difficult than the Haihan fleet, right?As long as you break through this layer of defense, you can change the current passive situation through the battle after landing.
Almost at the same time, the Manila Fleet on the other side also began to engage with the opponent. The guns on the Haihan battleship roared, and unilaterally attacked the Spanish warship at an advantageous engagement distance.The advantage in the range of naval guns made it difficult for the Spanish fleet to launch an effective counterattack. Although the difference in range was not large, the Haihan fleet controlled the engagement distance extremely accurately, leaving little possibility for the Spanish warships to hit.
Fortunately, the two armies were heading towards each other, and there was not much time left for the Haihan fleet to shoot. Except for one ship in the Spanish fleet, the main mast was unfortunately interrupted, and most of its power was temporarily lost. Keeping up with the pace of the fleet, the other ships that were bombarded were basically fine, and they were still within the controllable range of damage control, but the casualties of the crew and sailors were unavoidably severe. This did indeed affect the morale of the Spanish fleet. No small blow.
But now that the defense line of the Haihan Fleet has been broken through, and the entrance channel of Sanya Shengli Port is clearly visible, Louis can't care about this loss at the moment. As long as he can enter Sanya, all of this will be rewarded handsomely!
Although the damaged ship is constantly sending signals to the flagship for help, Louis no longer has the time to rescue it. His mentality is the same as that of Pinto now. Now that he has reached the gate of Sanya, and the Haihan Navy defending this place has Being left behind, what power can stop his fleet from rushing into the port to have a good time?
Both commanders believed that they had won a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so when would it be better not to charge at this time?However, there are also people who hold the diametrically opposite view. Among the spectators observing the seaside highlands of the Luhuitou Peninsula, there are many people with insight who commented on the Spanish fleet's charge: "This Victory Port is a dead end. They are still bored." Drill in with your head, and wait for the Haihan fleet to turn around and outflank it, how can you get out of it!"
Liu Shang was also shocked when he heard such comments. He originally thought that the situation where Haihan let the Spanish fleet come over was a serious mistake in the execution of tactics, but after hearing such comments, he realized that his military The knowledge is so shallow that they didn't see through the reason why the Haihan people set up suspicious formations to lure the Spanish fleet into their pockets.He also recognized the person who commented. He was a military officer sent by An Nanguo to Sanya for further training. His vision and insight in this area must be far better than his own, and he would not be wrong to come to this comment.
Of course, not everyone can have such a vision. The military officer who commented on the tactics was actually because he had visited the coastal defense forts set up by Haihan on both sides of the access channel of Shengli Port in Sanya before, and knew the horror of these fortifications. There is such a judgment on the current war situation.However, Liu Shang and the Spaniards only knew that there were fortifications near the shore, but they didn't know how many weapons they had deployed, the strength of their power, and the range of their shots. Naturally, it was difficult to accurately judge whether they could break through this layer of defense.What's more, the Spanish fleet has come to this point, and it is absolutely impossible to give up the opportunity to attack the port area.
Among the two harbors in Sanya, the Spanish fleet never considered taking Sanya Port as the main target because of its narrow access channel. That would be troublesome.Although there are similar problems at Victory Port, the channel is much wider than Sanya Port, and the difficulty of attacking the fortification is not so great. It is reasonable for the Spanish fleet to choose this side as the main attack direction.
However, there are still quite a few people who have the same perception as Liu Shang. Seeing the Spanish fleet approaching Victory Port, while the Haihan fleet has fallen behind, many people were so nervous that they stood up to watch, and many people were anxious Ask the officers present if the situation is not good.
At that moment, an officer picked up the tin horn and told the audience loudly that there is no need to panic, everything is under the control of the Haihan army.Although everyone still had misgivings in their hearts, since the people from the military came out and said nothing was wrong, they still had a certain degree of credibility. After all, the Haihan army was always victorious and undefeated, so they probably wouldn't make fun of their own reputation.
Not long after, the Spanish fleet approached the entrance of Victory Port, and at this distance, the densely packed coastal defense forts on the slopes of the east and west banks could be clearly seen almost with the naked eye.
The American Fleet, located in the west, bears the brunt of the brunt. The part of the Yulin Peninsula that penetrates into the South China Sea is the only way to enter Shengli Port. The east coast of the peninsula is almost covered with three-mile-long coastal fortifications. All the muzzles were aimed at the direction in which the Spanish fleet was coming.These forts were built successively during the eight years that Haihan occupied this place, and the artillery on some of them has been replaced for several generations. Although they have never played any practical role before, the Haihan Executive Committee and the military have always Spare no effort to continuously renovate and expand it, and strive to make this place an unbreakable fire blockade.
Of course, Pinto also noticed the coastal fortifications here. Although the other party hadn't opened fire yet, he had already started to complain secretly in his heart. The intelligence did mention that Haihan built a coastal defense fort outside Victory Harbor, but there were no detailed drawings to show it. for reference.When the Manila military formulated the action plan, it only regarded it as an ordinary port fort to presuppose the conditions, but now after seeing the real thing, Pinto was so angry that he wanted to curse. There are few such fortress-style forts in Europe. Could it be that the intelligence personnel sent to Sanya as an undercover agent have a bad brain?
Pinto’s complaints are actually not unreasonable. The Manila authorities also sent local soldiers from Luzon Island as intelligence personnel at the earliest. However, Haihan’s inspection of immigrants is extremely strict. The details of the identity were seen through.Later, the detectives sent by Manila to Sanya were genuine civilians. Although these people were able to lurk successfully, their professional qualities were not that strong.Even if they recognize the coastal fortifications outside Victory Port, it is difficult to give an objective and detailed description of them. They don’t know how many guns are deployed, how big the fire coverage is, and the size of the troops stationed there. Not many details to speak of.These omissions in intelligence work have now led to great consequences.
(End of this chapter)
The Spanish fleet thought that with its rich combat experience and the advantages of fleet size, as long as it didn't take advantage of the opponent's low-level routines, it would be able to beat the Haihan Navy with a flat push, but it never expected that the opponent just sent a warship Harassing from the side has already made the fleet uneasy, and it seems that there will be no effective way to stop the opponent's long-range fire harassment for a while.
Faced with such a situation, the Spanish commander naturally had no countermeasures or examples to learn from. No country had ever equipped a naval gun on a warship with such a range and power. The coastal defense guns were moved to the ship.But judging from the firing frequency, the weapons equipped on the Haihan battleship are obviously more advanced. After all, such a fast ammunition loading speed is not something that coastal defense guns can possess.
The only thing that makes the Spaniards feel lucky is that the number of artillery on this ship is too small. Only four cannons are obviously still insufficient to deal with the huge Spanish fleet.Although the hull of the Spanish warship that was hit was indeed damaged, it was not so severe.The relative speed of the two sides was at least [-] knots. No matter how powerful this ship was, it could only fire one or two shells at each target in time, which was far from enough to destroy the combat capability of the ship hit.Although the scene looked one-sided, the actual strike effect was still relatively limited.
After realizing this, Pinto resolutely gave up responding to the ship's provocation, and commanded the fleet to continue advancing at full speed, targeting the main force of the Haihan fleet ahead.
"The Spaniards are not stupid!" Johnson, who commanded the battle on the flagship, saw that his opponent was not moved by the harassment battle, so he could only make a resentful evaluation.He originally hoped that after using the "Warrior" as his trump card, he would be able to make the opponent lose his position and allocate part of his troops to deal with the "Warrior"'s attack. For an experimental ship, the firepower configuration is still a bit thin.
The four guns installed on the ship must be accurate, but their power is relatively limited, because manufacturing this new type of naval gun is also a new topic for Haihan Ordnance Industry, and coupled with the limitations of the hull itself, there is no hard work. heavy artillery.Although the side of the Spanish warship was smashed into pieces, the situation seemed tragic, but in fact it was basically a skin trauma.
There are still some weaknesses of the "Warrior" that the Spaniards do not know. Many of the technologies used to manufacture this ship are still in the verification stage, especially the new high-horsepower steam engine equipped on the ship. , There are no standard spare parts that can be used for maintenance and replacement. Once some key positions fail, it is likely to be in a state that cannot be repaired in a short period of time. At that time, the speed advantage of the "Warrior" will disappear.
In addition, the shells used by these four naval guns are also special-made copper shell shells. They were originally only used to demonstrate the performance of the artillery in the leaping military exercise a few days ago, so the number of production is extremely limited.This time, although the relevant units rushed to work day and night after receiving the information and produced some, it would still be a bit stretched to support a large-scale naval battle.Once the existing shells are fired, these naval guns will be completely for display, and there are no other heavy fire weapons on board, so they can only withdraw from the battlefield by themselves.
Therefore, for the Haihan Fleet, although the combat effectiveness of the "Warrior" can be called strong, the combat endurance will not be too long, and it is unlikely to complete multiple back and forth at sea, at most it will engage in peripheral activities It was nothing more than destruction, and the main force in the battle was still the Haihan Fleet on the frontal battlefield.
Seeing that the harassment from the "Warrior" did not have much effect, Johnson could only take the next best thing and use a more secure way to meet his opponent.The Haihan fleet is far inferior to its opponents in terms of the number of warships. If it enters a dogfight state, it will definitely suffer. Therefore, Johnson's tactics are similar to those adopted by Tao Donglai yesterday, seeking the initiative in rhythm by maneuvering.
"Here comes this trick again!" In the eyes of the Spanish commander, the movement of the Haihan fleet seems to be repeating the old trick. He wants to pull the Spanish fleet to change its formation by changing the battle line, and then use its speed to get rid of the entanglement. , In the current situation, the Spanish warships formed a situation of fighting more and fighting less.
Although this tactic is simple, it is very effective in actual combat. For the Haihan warship, which has an advantage in speed, as long as Spain follows suit, the initiative will be firmly controlled by Haihan.However, the Spaniard had already suffered a loss under Tao Donglai's hands yesterday, and naturally he would not suffer again with the same move.
Yesterday, the two Spanish commanders learned from the painful experience and roughly figured out how to deal with the tactics of the Haihan people, which is to ignore the changes in their formation and respond to all changes with the same.No matter how the formation of the Haihan fleet changes, their disadvantage in the number of ships is irreparable, and this is the only advantage that the Spanish fleet may have on this battlefield.If you follow the opponent's rhythm, your only advantage will soon disappear, and then you will fall into a passive situation.
The goal of the Spanish fleet is Sanya, and the Haihan Navy also wants to protect Sanya, so as long as the attack must be saved, the Haihan Navy can't play any tricks, and can only prevent the Spanish fleet from attacking the port by confronting it head-on.At least in the mind of the Spanish commander, he interpreted the situation on the battlefield from this perspective.
To force Haihan's navy to face-to-face confrontation with an upright offensive is the Spanish commander's way of solving the problem.But there are too many unpredictable things in the world, just like before the battle, they never imagined that the combat power of the Haihan battleship would be so powerful.
Seeing that the Spanish fleet's course remained unchanged, the Haihan fleet continued to sail straight to the coast of Sanya, but did not turn around to intercept it, but continued to move closer to the Spanish fleet's flank from the east. It seemed that they were planning to launch a round of artillery attack .
At this time, what was before the Spanish fleet was a smooth road leading to the port area without obstacles—at least there were no more conspicuous Haihan battleships on the sea.All that needs to be done now is to rush in and complete the landing without distraction. As long as there are hostages in hand, are you afraid that there is no way to deal with Haihan's fleet?
"Go north! Assault at full speed!" Pinto has already issued the order impatiently.Although he also knew that there were Haihan's coastal defense forts near the coast, but those things were dead after all, and they couldn't be more difficult than the Haihan fleet, right?As long as you break through this layer of defense, you can change the current passive situation through the battle after landing.
Almost at the same time, the Manila Fleet on the other side also began to engage with the opponent. The guns on the Haihan battleship roared, and unilaterally attacked the Spanish warship at an advantageous engagement distance.The advantage in the range of naval guns made it difficult for the Spanish fleet to launch an effective counterattack. Although the difference in range was not large, the Haihan fleet controlled the engagement distance extremely accurately, leaving little possibility for the Spanish warships to hit.
Fortunately, the two armies were heading towards each other, and there was not much time left for the Haihan fleet to shoot. Except for one ship in the Spanish fleet, the main mast was unfortunately interrupted, and most of its power was temporarily lost. Keeping up with the pace of the fleet, the other ships that were bombarded were basically fine, and they were still within the controllable range of damage control, but the casualties of the crew and sailors were unavoidably severe. This did indeed affect the morale of the Spanish fleet. No small blow.
But now that the defense line of the Haihan Fleet has been broken through, and the entrance channel of Sanya Shengli Port is clearly visible, Louis can't care about this loss at the moment. As long as he can enter Sanya, all of this will be rewarded handsomely!
Although the damaged ship is constantly sending signals to the flagship for help, Louis no longer has the time to rescue it. His mentality is the same as that of Pinto now. Now that he has reached the gate of Sanya, and the Haihan Navy defending this place has Being left behind, what power can stop his fleet from rushing into the port to have a good time?
Both commanders believed that they had won a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so when would it be better not to charge at this time?However, there are also people who hold the diametrically opposite view. Among the spectators observing the seaside highlands of the Luhuitou Peninsula, there are many people with insight who commented on the Spanish fleet's charge: "This Victory Port is a dead end. They are still bored." Drill in with your head, and wait for the Haihan fleet to turn around and outflank it, how can you get out of it!"
Liu Shang was also shocked when he heard such comments. He originally thought that the situation where Haihan let the Spanish fleet come over was a serious mistake in the execution of tactics, but after hearing such comments, he realized that his military The knowledge is so shallow that they didn't see through the reason why the Haihan people set up suspicious formations to lure the Spanish fleet into their pockets.He also recognized the person who commented. He was a military officer sent by An Nanguo to Sanya for further training. His vision and insight in this area must be far better than his own, and he would not be wrong to come to this comment.
Of course, not everyone can have such a vision. The military officer who commented on the tactics was actually because he had visited the coastal defense forts set up by Haihan on both sides of the access channel of Shengli Port in Sanya before, and knew the horror of these fortifications. There is such a judgment on the current war situation.However, Liu Shang and the Spaniards only knew that there were fortifications near the shore, but they didn't know how many weapons they had deployed, the strength of their power, and the range of their shots. Naturally, it was difficult to accurately judge whether they could break through this layer of defense.What's more, the Spanish fleet has come to this point, and it is absolutely impossible to give up the opportunity to attack the port area.
Among the two harbors in Sanya, the Spanish fleet never considered taking Sanya Port as the main target because of its narrow access channel. That would be troublesome.Although there are similar problems at Victory Port, the channel is much wider than Sanya Port, and the difficulty of attacking the fortification is not so great. It is reasonable for the Spanish fleet to choose this side as the main attack direction.
However, there are still quite a few people who have the same perception as Liu Shang. Seeing the Spanish fleet approaching Victory Port, while the Haihan fleet has fallen behind, many people were so nervous that they stood up to watch, and many people were anxious Ask the officers present if the situation is not good.
At that moment, an officer picked up the tin horn and told the audience loudly that there is no need to panic, everything is under the control of the Haihan army.Although everyone still had misgivings in their hearts, since the people from the military came out and said nothing was wrong, they still had a certain degree of credibility. After all, the Haihan army was always victorious and undefeated, so they probably wouldn't make fun of their own reputation.
Not long after, the Spanish fleet approached the entrance of Victory Port, and at this distance, the densely packed coastal defense forts on the slopes of the east and west banks could be clearly seen almost with the naked eye.
The American Fleet, located in the west, bears the brunt of the brunt. The part of the Yulin Peninsula that penetrates into the South China Sea is the only way to enter Shengli Port. The east coast of the peninsula is almost covered with three-mile-long coastal fortifications. All the muzzles were aimed at the direction in which the Spanish fleet was coming.These forts were built successively during the eight years that Haihan occupied this place, and the artillery on some of them has been replaced for several generations. Although they have never played any practical role before, the Haihan Executive Committee and the military have always Spare no effort to continuously renovate and expand it, and strive to make this place an unbreakable fire blockade.
Of course, Pinto also noticed the coastal fortifications here. Although the other party hadn't opened fire yet, he had already started to complain secretly in his heart. The intelligence did mention that Haihan built a coastal defense fort outside Victory Harbor, but there were no detailed drawings to show it. for reference.When the Manila military formulated the action plan, it only regarded it as an ordinary port fort to presuppose the conditions, but now after seeing the real thing, Pinto was so angry that he wanted to curse. There are few such fortress-style forts in Europe. Could it be that the intelligence personnel sent to Sanya as an undercover agent have a bad brain?
Pinto’s complaints are actually not unreasonable. The Manila authorities also sent local soldiers from Luzon Island as intelligence personnel at the earliest. However, Haihan’s inspection of immigrants is extremely strict. The details of the identity were seen through.Later, the detectives sent by Manila to Sanya were genuine civilians. Although these people were able to lurk successfully, their professional qualities were not that strong.Even if they recognize the coastal fortifications outside Victory Port, it is difficult to give an objective and detailed description of them. They don’t know how many guns are deployed, how big the fire coverage is, and the size of the troops stationed there. Not many details to speak of.These omissions in intelligence work have now led to great consequences.
(End of this chapter)