Wild North America 1846

Chapter 330
After having lunch outside, and sat in two venues in the afternoon, His Majesty returned to the palace with satisfaction. This journey made Lieutenant General Liu Wu very nervous.

Since His Majesty came to power, he has encountered 27 consecutive assassination or attempted cases. Although the Yankees have calmed down a lot now, who knows if they will break their cans and lose their nerves?

In charge of His Majesty's security guard duty, Lieutenant General Liu Wu would be trembling every time Weifu visited abroad, walking on thin ice.Because he didn't know where His Majesty's wishes would end up, he could only throw out most of his imperial guards and adapt accordingly.

Fortunately, there was no danger, and everything passed safely.

Today's North American war, which focuses on fighting for the Great Lakes region, has no major impact on ordinary residents of the Tang Kingdom.

The war took place outside the country, and the main force involved in the war was recruits from the mainland and the former standing army. There was still a distance from ordinary residents, and the feeling was not so real.

In China, the horses still run, the dances continue to dance, and the business continues, although prices have risen a little.However, it did not affect the lives of new immigrants at the bottom, and Tang Yuan's purchasing power remained strong.

The supply of chicken, duck, fish, vegetables and fruits in the market is sufficient. The prices of grain and oil products have risen slightly but are generally stable. The people generally have a kind of blind trust in the kingdom's military capabilities, and hoarding and panic buying are rarely seen.

The news of victory constantly coming from the front line has further increased the confidence of the people. The battle ahead has become a topic that everyone talks about after dinner.

Just as everyone was focusing their attention on the land war, the ocean-going strike fleet headed by three Akizuki-class ironclad ships of the Datang Kingdom quietly left the port of Los Angeles and went all the way south. Head north to the Gulf of Mexico to perform combat missions.

At the request of the Confederate States of the United States, the Royal Navy Fleet of the Kingdom of Tang made its first expedition to the east coast. This is a very symbolic event.

The battlefields of the American Civil War were not limited to land, and the navies of the two sides also fought many times, winning and losing each other.

the beginning of the war
President James Buchanan ordered;
Try to block the main ports in the south, prevent the south from shipping out agricultural products, exchange industrial products with other countries, and strive to paralyze the economic order in the south.

The plan was good but had a serious flaw, and that was that the Navy of the Northern Union was not strong enough to accomplish the task.

The Confederacy has a long coastline, extending from the Chesapeake Bay to the Gulf of Mexico, with a total length of about [-] kilometers. The coastline is continuous and tortuous, with many beaches, islands, and ports.

The navy of the Northern Federation wanted to block the entire line, but did not have enough powerful warships. It took a long time for the North to finally build a navy that had begun to take shape.

early civil war
The South did not have a navy, and the Confederate government did not have the necessary funds and military factories. Britain once provided warships to the South, but then the Temple cabinet changed its course to support the North and stopped supporting the South.

Therefore, the surface transportation of the Confederacy mainly relied on the ships of private shipping companies.

There were about 30 private ships under the Confederate Confederation. In the early days of the war, there were frequent reports of success, and they were successively converted into warships. The "Florida" captured more than [-] northern cargo ships.

The "Alabama" captured more than 60 ships, and was finally sunk by the "Kelsage" off the coast of France. The "Shenanduo" ran rampant in the Pacific Ocean, captured forty ships, and made great achievements.

Although the South has won many victories and invented many new technologies, it still cannot stop the ferocious Northern Navy.

The northern navy was already stronger than the southern navy, and it grew rapidly during the war.

In the first two years of the Civil War, the Northern Fleet occupied several southern ports, including Hatteras and Roanoke Island in North Carolina, Port Royal in South Carolina, and Pensacola in Florida, directly threatening the most important ports in the South. The port of New Orleans.

In view of this
The United States of America requested its ally, the Kingdom of Tang, to send an ironclad fleet to attack the northern fleet and at the same time remove its threat to the southern ports, so that the important trade with Europe would not be completely cut off.

Located near the mouth of the Mississippi River, New Orleans was the largest city in the South, as well as its largest seaport, and gradually developed into a busy industrial center, producing war supplies for the Confederate Army.

If the Northern Army occupied New Orleans, it would be able to control the Mississippi River. Admiral David Farrag led a fleet of 17 warships to arrive at the sea off the port of New Orleans on April 1860, 4, and blockade the largest port.

If you want to take New Orleans, you must break through the other two Confederate castles along the Mississippi River. These two castles are located on the high ground at the mouth of the river, and their geographical location is very critical.

The dark cannons in the castle are pointing directly at the mouth of the river. Any warship trying to pass through will inevitably suffer direct artillery fire, which will cause heavy losses.

Farage bombed the two castles for six days and nights, but the castles were extremely strong and did not suffer major damage, which made the Northern Army's attacking troops anxious.

Access since 1860

The Tang Kingdom's outrageous participation in the war, with sharp soldiers and successive victories, completely reversed the originally good situation on the Western Front and made it even more unfavorable for the Northern Federation.

under these circumstances
While the James Buchanan government was doing its best to "save Chicago", it continued to take offensives on the Eastern Front, trying to defeat the Southerners first, so as to reduce the pressure on the North American battlefield.

The fighting on the Eastern Front was unprecedentedly brutal, and the navy also wanted to completely cut off the Port of New Orleans, support the land war, and kill the Confederate States of America as soon as possible.

Seeing that the attack could not be defeated for a long time, Farage decided to take an extremely risky assault operation. Farage chose a dark night and led seventeen warships to line up, preparing to break through.

Sensing the movement, the Confederates fired at them, sank one battleship, and suffered heavy damage to three others, unable to move forward, but the remaining thirteen safely broke through the blockade and broke into the Mississippi River.

It was only after arriving in New Orleans that Farage discovered that New Orleans was defenseless. The thousands of Confederate soldiers stationed there knew that they could not withstand the attack of the Northern Army, so they fled long ago, and the rest were ordinary people.

In this way, Farage occupied New Orleans without firing a single shot, and the Confederate flag was replaced by the Confederate flag.

And this is a major victory for the Northern Army. It can be seen that the successor troops in the South have been exhausted, and even such an important seaside port city does not have enough troops to guard it, allowing the Northern Army fleet to succeed easily.

After the capture of New Orleans, a new type of naval warfare took place off the coast of Hampton Roads, Virginia, the world's first battle between ironclad warships.

The battleship of the Confederate Army was the "Virginia", which was transformed from the captured Northern battleship "Morrimack", which was different from any previous battleship.

The "Virginia" is 80 meters long, and the part exposed to the water is made of [-] centimeters thick wood, covered with a layer of [-] centimeters thick iron plate.

There are ten windows on both sides of the ship, and a cannon is installed behind each window. When fighting, the windows are opened to fire the cannon, and then closed immediately.Its prow is an iron point that can penetrate the hull of any wooden ship.

The "Virginia" was traveling very slowly and was difficult to maneuver. It took almost half an hour to turn around.

Despite this, this iron-clad monster is still invincible. It has destroyed two Northern Army warships, and now it is the "Monit" that is once again in battle against the Northern Army.

The Monite is also an armored ship, but the hull is much smaller than the Virginia, and the ship is only equipped with two cannons. These two cannons have good maneuverability and can turn quickly to fire in any direction.

December 1860, 4

The "Virginia" and the "Monit" confronted each other head-on, firing at close range.Confederate shells hit the Monette's hull and bounced back, and the Union sailors cheered because the Virginia's guns did them no harm.

But it wasn't long before they discovered to their dismay that their guns were also unable to penetrate the Virginia.

Sailors on both ships were overwhelmed by the noise, heat and smoke.The sound of the artillery they fired was huge, and the explosion of the enemy artillery was even more deafening. Some people's eardrums were shattered, and at least one person was knocked unconscious by the shell that hit the hull and exploded. next to the wall.

The smoke from the artillery explosion not only filled the ship, but also floated on the water.Sometimes the two ships can't even see each other.

The artillery fire filled the battlefield, and the officers and soldiers on both sides of the battle could only rely on the flickering fire from the artillery to judge the opponent's position, and then poured out the artillery fire with all their strength.

The "Virginia" and the "Monit" fought for three hours, but neither of them hit the opponent's vitals. The round solid shells left only a conspicuous sunken mark on the opponent's bulletproof armor. Can't do more damage.

more than three hours later
The Confederate "Virginia" finally stopped firing. The Confederates had used up all their shells and almost ran out of fuel, and the hull began to emerge from the water.

At this time, the captain of the South Army decided to retreat, and the captain of the North Army was exhausted from fighting and had little ammunition left, so he didn't want to fight and let the opponent leave.

Although the Hampton Roads naval battle did not achieve any results, it left a strong mark in the history of world warships. This is the end of the era of sailing warships and the beginning of the era of ironclad ships.

The two fleets of the United States and the North are pecking at each other, unintentionally leading the new wave of naval fleet development in the world today. Although the whole process is lacklustre, it is the first appearance of an ironclad battle after all, which has brought great benefits to the navies of the world powers. vivid impression.

First of all, the power of the old-fashioned front-loading artillery has lagged behind the development of the times. Outdated solid ammunition cannot cause more damage to the enemy and will inevitably be eliminated by the times.

Instead, a new generation of artillery shells represented by Colt trigger fuze explosives, and new naval warfare equipment mainly loaded with Nobel yellow high explosives and Colt breech-loading artillery appeared on the scene.

The development of new technology in the steam age is surging. When you are eliminated, you will not even say hello, but it will only make those who are behind the times taste the bitter fruit.

(End of this chapter)