Chapter 1648
Desperate
Chapter 1648 Desperate
The tonnage of Haihan Majestic-class warships is over 25 tons, which is almost half the size of the "San Diego".The maximum number of naval guns deployed on one side of the ship can reach [-], fully double that of the "San Diego". As for the performance and power of the naval guns, Haihan's side clearly has the advantage.Two majestic-class battleships sandwiched "San Diego" from the left and right sides, and then bombarded them head-on and face-to-face.
There are still some tactics that need to be paid attention to in the battle of naval guns like this. For example, the tactics of the Haihan battleship are to focus on attacking the opponent's gun positions first, and strive to weaken or even eliminate the opponent's counterattack ability in the shortest time. If you are lucky Hit the gunpowder barrel near the cannon position, then you can get twice the result with half the effort.As for the Spanish side, the only thing they can do now is to pray that they will not be hit by shells in the next moment, so that they will have the opportunity to fire on the enemy again.
The twelve-pound guns deployed on the deck of the Majestic-class battleship mainly fire grape shells, and the targets are the deck personnel of the enemy ship, while the large-caliber naval guns deployed on the lower deck are used to attack and destroy the opponent's gun positions and hull.In a very short time of firefighting, the artillery shells fired by the Haihan warship destroyed more than half of the naval guns on the "San Diego", and several very large gaps were blasted on the hull, as if a piece was bitten off by some monster. like.
Luckily, Juan was still alive, he didn't even have any injuries on his body, and he was still able to command operations, but the people around him were not so lucky. Both of his adjutants were unfortunately shot and killed by the enemy ship's artillery fire .So he could only temporarily promote his orderly to adjutant and let him convey his orders.It's just that there are too many casualties on the "San Diego" at this time, and many positions on the ship are already unattended, and the situation is about to fall out of control.
But at this time, Juan's eyes were red, and he didn't care about how to evacuate the battlefield. He just ordered the remaining crew members on the ship to fill in the positions of the naval guns as much as possible, and continued to fire on the enemy ship at all costs.
But transforming the determination to fight into combat power is not something that can be achieved just by relying on blood. Although most of the Spaniards on the "San Diego" are brave and fearless, the current state of the ship is not enough to support them The battle is determined.Of the more than 20 cannons on board, less than ten can still maintain normal operations at this time. Perhaps after two or three rounds of shelling by the enemy ships sandwiched between the two sides, the remaining firepower output will come to an end.
Sure enough, the remaining cannons were quickly named by the Haihan battleship and turned into squibs.Juan knew that this battle might not be spared, so he ordered the firing of muskets on the crew, preparing for the final resistance.But at this moment, as if a miracle had occurred, the two majestic-class warships sailed away from the "San Diego" on their own initiative.
"It must be that God heard our prayers!" Some crew members were greatly puzzled by this scene, and could only attribute it to a miracle.
But Juan didn't think so. He had never heard that the Haihan people had any special religious beliefs. Could praying to God really work against these vicious heretics?Then he had already prayed once before the war, and God should help him defeat them early, instead of waiting until the last desperate moment to show up.Moreover, Juan had a bad premonition in his heart. The two warships left voluntarily, which may not mean that the "San Diego" was out of trouble. You must know that although this place is not far from Manila Port, there is no way to get shore fire protection. As a cover, the other party has no reason to let him go.
Sure enough, Juan's premonition was immediately verified, because some crew members found that the devilish black battleship was coming rapidly from the rear of the "San Diego", and saw that the distance between the two ships was shortening at a speed visible to the naked eye. .It seems that the two Haihan warships left voluntarily just now, just to make room for this ironclad ship that is easier to attack.
This ironclad ship that impressed Juan has not really joined the battle group in today's battle, but cruised around the periphery, cooperating with other Haihan warships to carry out the final battle against those Spanish sailing ships that were left behind or were seriously damaged. one strike.Obviously, its target now is the "San Diego".
If it was the "San Diego" intact, Juan might try to fight it out. After all, the coast of Manila Harbor can be vaguely seen ahead, and there is a high chance of being saved if he struggles into the port.But at this time, the "San Diego" was devastated, with more than half of the crew killed and injured, and the artillery on the ship completely lost the ability to continue fighting. What else could Juan use to resist the enemy ships chasing after the tail?
"Aim at the stern rudder of the ship in front and hit them until they can't go."
On the "Black Shark", Wu Sen issued an order with a stern face.According to Wang Tom's deployment today, he has killed several Spanish sailing ships, but in comparison, the flagship of the Manila Fleet must be the most important.Wang Tom gave him the order to keep the ship instead of sinking it. Wu Sen understood that this was probably Wang Tom's intention to capture the important people on the ship, so he didn't plan to be ruthless directly.As for whether the important people on the ship are still alive at this time, that is not something Wu Sen needs to worry about. Life and death are a matter of life. If the target Tom Wang wants to catch fails to survive this catastrophe, it is also a matter of fate.
After the "Black Shark" chased after the "San Diego", it remained behind its starboard side, separated by a distance of about 200 meters, so that both front and rear naval guns were aimed at its stern rudder and fired.After only two rounds, a shell directly hit the tail rudder, knocking out about two-thirds of the entire rudder oar, and immediately lost the ability to steer flexibly at sea.
Then the "Black Shark" suddenly increased its speed, catching up with the position parallel to the "San Diego", and the two naval guns concentrated fire on its main mast.Eight rounds were used this time, hitting the bottom of the mast where it joined the hull.As the mainmast slowly fell amid the roar of gunfire, the "San Diego" also lost most of its forward momentum, and its speed quickly dropped to a level close to zero, and it was left in a ship only two kilometers away from the port of Manila. The sea in the sea.
Although it was very close to the harbor, this distance was a voyage that the "San Diego" could no longer complete.Juan watched the ship slowly come to a stop, but the black battleship had already sailed quickly from the starboard side of the "San Diego", chasing a Spanish sailing ship ahead.
escape?The flagship has lost its forward momentum. If the lifeboat is lowered and rowed to the coast, it will not be able to reach the shore for a while.fight?There were no artillery on the ship, and it would be faster to order everyone to swallow their guns and kill themselves by giving the crew these muskets to shoot at the enemy's ironclad ships.
If he died on the ship before, Juan would no longer have to worry about whether it was a battle or surrender.But now the surviving crew members on the ship were all looking at him, waiting for him to give an order, but Juan hesitated a little instead.Of course he can order a death battle, but for the "San Diego", a death battle is meaningless after all.The Haihan people didn't even need to get close to the ship. They only needed to fire a few more cannons from a distance to make a few big holes in the ship's hull, and let the ship sink slowly to disintegrate all means of resistance.As for why the Haihan people were merciful, Juan knew well that the other party just wanted to capture the commander of the "San Diego" alive.
An expedition-class warship slowly approached the "San Diego", and someone on board shouted in Spanish with a tin horn, asking all the personnel on the "San Diego" to immediately put down their weapons and surrender. will be healed.If not, what awaits them will be the fate of being completely sunk.
After all, people have a desire to survive. Once the battle is over, the defeated party knows that they still have the possibility to continue to live, and the will to resist is often not so firm.And this is exactly the situation on the "San Diego" at the moment. All the surviving crew members are gathered on the deck, waiting for the fate's verdict-a word from Commander Juan will determine their next life and death.
Juan looked around and saw the expectation and unwillingness in the eyes of these familiar crew members, but he lacked the determination to fight. He knew that he was powerless. These crew members wanted to live, not for the Spanish Empire. Defeated and buried.
Juan took a deep breath and announced his decision to everyone: "Do as they say! We surrender..."
After saying this, Juan sat down on a box of cold shells, drooped his head and never gave another order.The boxes of chain bombs that were just brought onto the ship last night didn't even have time to be used in the battle, and the battle was already declared over.Juan only felt that his mood was colder than these icy steels. Although he had predicted the result of defeat before the battle, when this moment came, he still found it difficult to accept.
The combat goals that Juan formulated before the battle were to destroy or severely damage the iron-clad sailing ship, and to hold back the pace of the Haihan fleet’s attack. However, after this battle, neither of the two goals was achieved. He commanded the Manila Fleet.Although the fleet has tried its best to fight, Juan has to admit that the gap between the two sides in terms of ship performance and weaponry cannot be made up by fighting determination. His own fleet has been in a passive state throughout the entire engagement process. I didn't see any chance of winning at all.
Juan has actually been preparing for battle since the last time he fought off the coast of Sanya, but the preparations he can do are limited by many objective conditions. , so the defeat was actually expected.It's just that the defeat was so clean and thorough that Juan couldn't help but feel hopeless. He even doubted whether the enemy's weakness he thought was really there. During the entire battle, the combat distance was widened, and the Manila fleet was completely denied the opportunity to use chain bombs.
The Manila Fleet finally fled back to the port, only half of the ships at the time of the expedition, and all of them were damaged to varying degrees, and the remaining combat effectiveness could only be greatly reduced.On the surface of the sea outside the port of Manila, the Haihan Fleet has already begun to clean up the battlefield, and more than [-] prisoners were taken from the sea alone.
The battle process of this naval battle was very intense, but it did not last long. It took less than two hours from the arrival of the Manila fleet at the fishing port of Pasay Town to the time Tom Wang ordered Ming Jin to withdraw his troops.Haihan made the greatest contribution to the "Black Shark". In this battle, the number of enemy ships damaged and sunk reached double digits. Although most of them were of the nature of supplementary damage, they all completed the task very well. In particular, the pursuit of the Manila Fleet flagship "San Diego" was perfect, allowing Haihan to capture its fleet commander Juan Luis.
According to incomplete statistics after the war, the Haihan Navy destroyed eleven enemy ships and captured as many as 500 enemy sailors in this battle.As for the number of casualties of the Manila Fleet in this battle, preliminary estimates are at least five to 700 people.Although a few ships were barely able to sail at sea when they were captured, after Haihan robbed the ships of all personnel and materials, they all sank into the sea.These Spanish sailboats need to be overhauled before they can be put into use again. Tom Wang is not interested in taking them all the way back to Sanya for repairs.
Haihan's battle damage situation is naturally much better than that of the Spaniards, but casualties are inevitable.A total of 35 sailors were killed in the battle and more than 140 were injured to varying degrees in this battle. It was also the battle with the most casualties of the Haihan Navy in the past year.However, in the eyes of senior generals such as Wang Tom, this number of casualties is still within an acceptable range. After all, during the battle between the two sides, there were many operations of using naval guns at close range, and casualties must be inevitable.
The damage situation of the ships is not optimistic. Two expedition-class warships were severely damaged in the artillery battle, and basically lost the ability to continue fighting. They had to return to the port to wait for repairs.In addition, seven combat ships, including a Majestic-class battleship, were damaged to varying degrees, which had a certain impact on their combat effectiveness.
But the good news is that this battle almost broke the backbone of the Manila fleet. The local Spanish army has no other established maritime armed forces available. The Haihan fleet should not have similar combat missions for a while. The stage for the next performance will be handed over to Haihan Army.
The captured Spanish prisoners were transported to the port of Cavite at noon that day, and the former station has now become a place to imprison them. This is also a great irony to the Spaniards.And Juan finally met his opponent here, Yan Chujie, Minister of Defense of Haihan, and Wang Tom, Commander of the Navy.It's just that this is not an equal dialogue between the generals of the two countries, but a front-line interrogation of the defeated prisoners by the victor.
(End of this chapter)
The tonnage of Haihan Majestic-class warships is over 25 tons, which is almost half the size of the "San Diego".The maximum number of naval guns deployed on one side of the ship can reach [-], fully double that of the "San Diego". As for the performance and power of the naval guns, Haihan's side clearly has the advantage.Two majestic-class battleships sandwiched "San Diego" from the left and right sides, and then bombarded them head-on and face-to-face.
There are still some tactics that need to be paid attention to in the battle of naval guns like this. For example, the tactics of the Haihan battleship are to focus on attacking the opponent's gun positions first, and strive to weaken or even eliminate the opponent's counterattack ability in the shortest time. If you are lucky Hit the gunpowder barrel near the cannon position, then you can get twice the result with half the effort.As for the Spanish side, the only thing they can do now is to pray that they will not be hit by shells in the next moment, so that they will have the opportunity to fire on the enemy again.
The twelve-pound guns deployed on the deck of the Majestic-class battleship mainly fire grape shells, and the targets are the deck personnel of the enemy ship, while the large-caliber naval guns deployed on the lower deck are used to attack and destroy the opponent's gun positions and hull.In a very short time of firefighting, the artillery shells fired by the Haihan warship destroyed more than half of the naval guns on the "San Diego", and several very large gaps were blasted on the hull, as if a piece was bitten off by some monster. like.
Luckily, Juan was still alive, he didn't even have any injuries on his body, and he was still able to command operations, but the people around him were not so lucky. Both of his adjutants were unfortunately shot and killed by the enemy ship's artillery fire .So he could only temporarily promote his orderly to adjutant and let him convey his orders.It's just that there are too many casualties on the "San Diego" at this time, and many positions on the ship are already unattended, and the situation is about to fall out of control.
But at this time, Juan's eyes were red, and he didn't care about how to evacuate the battlefield. He just ordered the remaining crew members on the ship to fill in the positions of the naval guns as much as possible, and continued to fire on the enemy ship at all costs.
But transforming the determination to fight into combat power is not something that can be achieved just by relying on blood. Although most of the Spaniards on the "San Diego" are brave and fearless, the current state of the ship is not enough to support them The battle is determined.Of the more than 20 cannons on board, less than ten can still maintain normal operations at this time. Perhaps after two or three rounds of shelling by the enemy ships sandwiched between the two sides, the remaining firepower output will come to an end.
Sure enough, the remaining cannons were quickly named by the Haihan battleship and turned into squibs.Juan knew that this battle might not be spared, so he ordered the firing of muskets on the crew, preparing for the final resistance.But at this moment, as if a miracle had occurred, the two majestic-class warships sailed away from the "San Diego" on their own initiative.
"It must be that God heard our prayers!" Some crew members were greatly puzzled by this scene, and could only attribute it to a miracle.
But Juan didn't think so. He had never heard that the Haihan people had any special religious beliefs. Could praying to God really work against these vicious heretics?Then he had already prayed once before the war, and God should help him defeat them early, instead of waiting until the last desperate moment to show up.Moreover, Juan had a bad premonition in his heart. The two warships left voluntarily, which may not mean that the "San Diego" was out of trouble. You must know that although this place is not far from Manila Port, there is no way to get shore fire protection. As a cover, the other party has no reason to let him go.
Sure enough, Juan's premonition was immediately verified, because some crew members found that the devilish black battleship was coming rapidly from the rear of the "San Diego", and saw that the distance between the two ships was shortening at a speed visible to the naked eye. .It seems that the two Haihan warships left voluntarily just now, just to make room for this ironclad ship that is easier to attack.
This ironclad ship that impressed Juan has not really joined the battle group in today's battle, but cruised around the periphery, cooperating with other Haihan warships to carry out the final battle against those Spanish sailing ships that were left behind or were seriously damaged. one strike.Obviously, its target now is the "San Diego".
If it was the "San Diego" intact, Juan might try to fight it out. After all, the coast of Manila Harbor can be vaguely seen ahead, and there is a high chance of being saved if he struggles into the port.But at this time, the "San Diego" was devastated, with more than half of the crew killed and injured, and the artillery on the ship completely lost the ability to continue fighting. What else could Juan use to resist the enemy ships chasing after the tail?
"Aim at the stern rudder of the ship in front and hit them until they can't go."
On the "Black Shark", Wu Sen issued an order with a stern face.According to Wang Tom's deployment today, he has killed several Spanish sailing ships, but in comparison, the flagship of the Manila Fleet must be the most important.Wang Tom gave him the order to keep the ship instead of sinking it. Wu Sen understood that this was probably Wang Tom's intention to capture the important people on the ship, so he didn't plan to be ruthless directly.As for whether the important people on the ship are still alive at this time, that is not something Wu Sen needs to worry about. Life and death are a matter of life. If the target Tom Wang wants to catch fails to survive this catastrophe, it is also a matter of fate.
After the "Black Shark" chased after the "San Diego", it remained behind its starboard side, separated by a distance of about 200 meters, so that both front and rear naval guns were aimed at its stern rudder and fired.After only two rounds, a shell directly hit the tail rudder, knocking out about two-thirds of the entire rudder oar, and immediately lost the ability to steer flexibly at sea.
Then the "Black Shark" suddenly increased its speed, catching up with the position parallel to the "San Diego", and the two naval guns concentrated fire on its main mast.Eight rounds were used this time, hitting the bottom of the mast where it joined the hull.As the mainmast slowly fell amid the roar of gunfire, the "San Diego" also lost most of its forward momentum, and its speed quickly dropped to a level close to zero, and it was left in a ship only two kilometers away from the port of Manila. The sea in the sea.
Although it was very close to the harbor, this distance was a voyage that the "San Diego" could no longer complete.Juan watched the ship slowly come to a stop, but the black battleship had already sailed quickly from the starboard side of the "San Diego", chasing a Spanish sailing ship ahead.
escape?The flagship has lost its forward momentum. If the lifeboat is lowered and rowed to the coast, it will not be able to reach the shore for a while.fight?There were no artillery on the ship, and it would be faster to order everyone to swallow their guns and kill themselves by giving the crew these muskets to shoot at the enemy's ironclad ships.
If he died on the ship before, Juan would no longer have to worry about whether it was a battle or surrender.But now the surviving crew members on the ship were all looking at him, waiting for him to give an order, but Juan hesitated a little instead.Of course he can order a death battle, but for the "San Diego", a death battle is meaningless after all.The Haihan people didn't even need to get close to the ship. They only needed to fire a few more cannons from a distance to make a few big holes in the ship's hull, and let the ship sink slowly to disintegrate all means of resistance.As for why the Haihan people were merciful, Juan knew well that the other party just wanted to capture the commander of the "San Diego" alive.
An expedition-class warship slowly approached the "San Diego", and someone on board shouted in Spanish with a tin horn, asking all the personnel on the "San Diego" to immediately put down their weapons and surrender. will be healed.If not, what awaits them will be the fate of being completely sunk.
After all, people have a desire to survive. Once the battle is over, the defeated party knows that they still have the possibility to continue to live, and the will to resist is often not so firm.And this is exactly the situation on the "San Diego" at the moment. All the surviving crew members are gathered on the deck, waiting for the fate's verdict-a word from Commander Juan will determine their next life and death.
Juan looked around and saw the expectation and unwillingness in the eyes of these familiar crew members, but he lacked the determination to fight. He knew that he was powerless. These crew members wanted to live, not for the Spanish Empire. Defeated and buried.
Juan took a deep breath and announced his decision to everyone: "Do as they say! We surrender..."
After saying this, Juan sat down on a box of cold shells, drooped his head and never gave another order.The boxes of chain bombs that were just brought onto the ship last night didn't even have time to be used in the battle, and the battle was already declared over.Juan only felt that his mood was colder than these icy steels. Although he had predicted the result of defeat before the battle, when this moment came, he still found it difficult to accept.
The combat goals that Juan formulated before the battle were to destroy or severely damage the iron-clad sailing ship, and to hold back the pace of the Haihan fleet’s attack. However, after this battle, neither of the two goals was achieved. He commanded the Manila Fleet.Although the fleet has tried its best to fight, Juan has to admit that the gap between the two sides in terms of ship performance and weaponry cannot be made up by fighting determination. His own fleet has been in a passive state throughout the entire engagement process. I didn't see any chance of winning at all.
Juan has actually been preparing for battle since the last time he fought off the coast of Sanya, but the preparations he can do are limited by many objective conditions. , so the defeat was actually expected.It's just that the defeat was so clean and thorough that Juan couldn't help but feel hopeless. He even doubted whether the enemy's weakness he thought was really there. During the entire battle, the combat distance was widened, and the Manila fleet was completely denied the opportunity to use chain bombs.
The Manila Fleet finally fled back to the port, only half of the ships at the time of the expedition, and all of them were damaged to varying degrees, and the remaining combat effectiveness could only be greatly reduced.On the surface of the sea outside the port of Manila, the Haihan Fleet has already begun to clean up the battlefield, and more than [-] prisoners were taken from the sea alone.
The battle process of this naval battle was very intense, but it did not last long. It took less than two hours from the arrival of the Manila fleet at the fishing port of Pasay Town to the time Tom Wang ordered Ming Jin to withdraw his troops.Haihan made the greatest contribution to the "Black Shark". In this battle, the number of enemy ships damaged and sunk reached double digits. Although most of them were of the nature of supplementary damage, they all completed the task very well. In particular, the pursuit of the Manila Fleet flagship "San Diego" was perfect, allowing Haihan to capture its fleet commander Juan Luis.
According to incomplete statistics after the war, the Haihan Navy destroyed eleven enemy ships and captured as many as 500 enemy sailors in this battle.As for the number of casualties of the Manila Fleet in this battle, preliminary estimates are at least five to 700 people.Although a few ships were barely able to sail at sea when they were captured, after Haihan robbed the ships of all personnel and materials, they all sank into the sea.These Spanish sailboats need to be overhauled before they can be put into use again. Tom Wang is not interested in taking them all the way back to Sanya for repairs.
Haihan's battle damage situation is naturally much better than that of the Spaniards, but casualties are inevitable.A total of 35 sailors were killed in the battle and more than 140 were injured to varying degrees in this battle. It was also the battle with the most casualties of the Haihan Navy in the past year.However, in the eyes of senior generals such as Wang Tom, this number of casualties is still within an acceptable range. After all, during the battle between the two sides, there were many operations of using naval guns at close range, and casualties must be inevitable.
The damage situation of the ships is not optimistic. Two expedition-class warships were severely damaged in the artillery battle, and basically lost the ability to continue fighting. They had to return to the port to wait for repairs.In addition, seven combat ships, including a Majestic-class battleship, were damaged to varying degrees, which had a certain impact on their combat effectiveness.
But the good news is that this battle almost broke the backbone of the Manila fleet. The local Spanish army has no other established maritime armed forces available. The Haihan fleet should not have similar combat missions for a while. The stage for the next performance will be handed over to Haihan Army.
The captured Spanish prisoners were transported to the port of Cavite at noon that day, and the former station has now become a place to imprison them. This is also a great irony to the Spaniards.And Juan finally met his opponent here, Yan Chujie, Minister of Defense of Haihan, and Wang Tom, Commander of the Navy.It's just that this is not an equal dialogue between the generals of the two countries, but a front-line interrogation of the defeated prisoners by the victor.
(End of this chapter)