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Chapter 1007 The Collision of Two Continents 3
Although Count Supero was somewhat surprised that the Ming Empire fleet successfully passed the Cape of Storms and was still capable of fighting, he was not afraid to fight it. After only a few minutes of thinking, he decisively issued the order to fight.

Judging from the appearance, the Ming Empire fleet was composed entirely of slender three-masted fast sailing ships with a displacement of about 200-300 tons.

Based on this size and displacement, the number of guns equipped should be within 30, and the caliber should be small, with no more than 18 guns capable of carrying 12 pounds.

Taking their flagship Coronada as an example, it had a displacement of 800 tons, and had 50 12-pound short cannons alone, plus 32-pound and 18-pound cannons, for a total of 48 cannons, not to mention the various caliber small cannons on the deck that were mainly used to kill personnel.

Although the British brought a large number of privateers converted from merchant ships, the several warships headed by the flagship were also quite powerful.

The flagship HMS Ark Royal has a displacement of more than 800 tons. Although it is more than 50 years old, it was completely remodeled 20 years ago. Even though it is only equipped with 50 18-pound Kabarin guns, its combat power cannot be underestimated.

(The British ton is a unit of weight in the United Kingdom, and it still exists in later generations, usually called a long ton. It is equal to 2240 pounds, 1016 kilograms. It comes from the weight of the wine in the barrel, which is called a tun.

When collecting taxes, 10 tun was charged for every 1 tun of wine. Later, the word tun in Old English gradually evolved into ton, which is the ton in later generations. In the United States, there is also a unit called short ton, which also comes from this kind of wine barrel. A short ton is equal to 2000 pounds, which is the net weight of the wine in the barrel.
The Invincible Armada of that time suffered from the Caballine long-barreled naval guns with relatively high range and accuracy. At a distance of 600 meters, although the Caballine guns' projectiles could not completely penetrate the hull of the Spanish warships, they could cause great damage to the superstructure, sails and personnel.

Land battles are based on the number of troops, combat experience, weapon level, and tactical arrangements. Naval battles are similar, with ship tonnage, number of artillery, sailor experience, and other parameters all coming before tactics.

As long as the commander does not make a foolish mistake, when the strength of the two sides is quite different, the weaker side basically has no chance of turning the tables. The only difference is how much damage can be caused to the other side, and whether it can break through successfully.

Now Count Supero believes that the Ming Empire’s maritime power is not as strong as the Portuguese say. It’s just that its warships are faster and more maneuverable.

It is indeed very useful against merchant ships, but it is far from enough to compete with professional warships with thick skin and fierce firepower. This is very similar to the approach taken by the British in the past, and it does play a certain role.

Unfortunately, the British who invented this naval warfare routine stood on their side this time, and their privateers also had similar capabilities. Therefore, the chances of their side winning this upcoming naval battle were very high, almost 100%.

But they could not be too careless. The Count planned to use the Spanish fleet as bait and take the initiative to rush forward to engage in a head-on battle with the Ming Empire fleet, first entangle part of it and destroy it as soon as possible.

At this time, Lieutenant Colonel Blake led the English fleet to the north to seize the upper hand, making full use of maneuverability and artillery accuracy to exert pressure, forcing the enemy to not dare to turn with the wind, and thus fall into his arms.

As long as they entered the boarding distance, the naval battle was doomed to be won, and it was not a miserable victory. Although it showed that the design of the empire's warships was not satisfactory, they were still sailing warships, much more valuable than armed merchant ships, and it would be a big profit to capture a few of them.

The fleet that appeared off the coast of Table Bay was indeed the rescue fleet led by Hong Tao. After spending a whole day sailing around the Cape of Good Hope in strong headwinds and waves averaging 6 to 7 meters high, only a small number of ships arrived at the assembly point.

This is not a big deal, and the overall performance is slightly higher than the previous assessment. In addition to wind and waves, crossing the Cape of Good Hope in the winter of the northern hemisphere and the summer of the southern hemisphere, there is another very worrying problem, fog. Due to the interference of ocean currents, the Cape of Good Hope is very prone to fog in the early morning, evening and night in summer, and the visible distance on the sea surface is only a few hundred meters.

If it is placed on land, it can see hundreds of meters without any delay, which is very safe. But in the sea and in the air, this distance is very dangerous.

Ships in formation or sailing in opposite directions will collide with each other if they are not careful. They may also lose direction and deviate from their route, and then be pushed by killer waves towards reefs and cliffs, and be smashed to pieces.

Without a word, Settle knew why the navigation lights were hung and the distance between the ships was increased. As long as there were no ships nearby and the course was correct, after more than ten hours of tossing in the wind and waves, this gate of hell would be passed.

According to the original plan, the deviated ships would follow the guidance of the nautical chart to reunite at the assembly point after they left the formation. When the familiar sails appeared one after another, the naval officers and soldiers who experienced this kind of danger for the first time immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

They may not realize that their abilities and mentality have improved a lot at this moment. From now on, unless they are extremely unlucky, they will hardly encounter more dangerous sea conditions in most seas. In other words, these officers and sailors can sail in most seas in the world.

If there are more than a dozen such officers and soldiers on each naval ship, it will be a great psychological comfort for officers and sailors who have never experienced such dangerous situations. Just like training apprentices, with their personal demonstration, it will be much easier and safer for others to go through this level.

But this delay also caused problems. When the last Qin-class battleship appeared in the lookout's field of vision, the warship responsible for guarding the eastern waters also sounded the alarm and discovered two unidentified brigs.

"Let No. 078 return to the team quickly, and everyone set sail to follow it!" Based only on the direction the ships appeared from and the fact that they did not fly any flags, Hong Tao concluded that they most likely belonged to the Anglo-Spanish Combined Fleet.

No matter how much they planned, they still couldn't be sure of a sure thing. They didn't expect the commander of the Anglo-Spanish Combined Fleet to send the patrol ships so far away. Then they lost the possibility of a surprise attack and could only prepare for a head-on naval battle.

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"Send a message to Yan Bushi, asking him to entangle the Spanish fleet and try to move south. Once I have dealt with the British, I will come over to help."

Two hours later, the lookout sounded the alarm again. Seeing two fleets sailing out of Table Bay, Hong Tao thought for a moment and issued another very risky order.

Yan Bushi's squadron had only five warships, including one armed merchant ship. They had to face nearly 5 enemy ships, more than ten of which had a displacement two or three times that of the Qin-class warships, and the rest were equally matched.

On the contrary, the British fleet that the main fleet had to deal with seemed to be weaker in strength. Although it was also at a disadvantage in displacement, the number was similar, not exceeding 20 ships.

(End of this chapter)