Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 1196 Interception
"In the South China Sea, we sailed eastward. The Feiyun sailed in the front as the pilot, then the flagship Nengchao, the coal carrier Haifeng in the middle, and finally Daishuang under my command. All ships formed a column. I commanded The gunboat is the tail ship of the flotilla. Shortly after leaving the port and turning eastward, the flagship ordered to sail only on a zigzag crosswind to save fuel. In this way, the speed was greatly reduced, but in order to preserve fuel for the search and combat phases, this was early in the plan. As scheduled, the time is enough. Along the way, at 8 o'clock every morning, the four ships communicated with each other by radio, and also notified the Lingao main station. We carried out several times of sea coaling on the way-there was a lot of danger. When we arrived in Bahrain Before entering the Tang Strait, we had made sudden changes of direction several times. It should be that Feiyun’s radar had spotted passing ships. But we didn’t see any ships directly, but in the Balingtang Strait, we once saw the Babuyan Islands We passed through the Balintang Strait and circled Luzon Island from the north, and the dark blue Philippine Sea unfolded in front of us." "Lu Yang's Memoirs (Internal Release) Volume One"

Under the guidance of Feiyun's radar, the formation maintained a distance of about 20 nautical miles from Luzon Island and began to turn south.Along the way, the southeast wind was always below level 7, and it was quite difficult to sail.But fortunately enough time was reserved. On July 3, the formation bypassed Catanduanes Island from the east. On the far horizon, the "world's most perfect cone" of Mayon Volcano on Luzon Island "Shaped Mountain" stands in the west, and there seems to be traces of volcanic ash in some cirrus clouds in the blue sky.Continuing to go south, the next day, they reached the scheduled interception point.

"The San Bernardino Strait is here. But there are coral reefs everywhere along the coast, we'd better stay away from the shore to be safe."

"Let's start the search formation early tomorrow morning. Go ashore and explore Samar Island today."

The formation anchored not far from Samar Island—for the sake of caution, Lin Chuanqing ordered the formation to sail into the bay of the small island on the other side to wait.Although Feiyun's weather radar showed that nothing happened, but the typhoon was formed and developed at a very fast speed, and it was very difficult for a steamship to avoid it once it encountered it.

The small rowboat was lowered from the big ship, and the special forces went ashore to conduct a one-day investigation. They did not find any Spanish strongholds, but only saw some local fishing villages in the distance.But there are a lot of mosquitoes, which is frightening.Before sunset, the special forces withdrew to the ship.Legaspi under Mayon Volcano is still a few years away from building a city, and the traversers are too lazy to investigate for the time being.

The sailors caught some fresh seafood on the shore, so the elders held a simple barbecue party on the Feiyun.

"This is the place where the gun king Yefen was broken into parts. Cowardly Kurita and stupid bull Halsey, it would be great to have a BB artillery battle here."

"How about we support several countries here in the future, and specialize in the arms race of iron-clad ships, steam, iron-clad and heavy artillery, and shoot them in a line here to bombard each other, heroic!"

"Let's watch it in an airship in the sky? It's a bit like a dragon. I'm afraid it's impossible to do this on the day of death."

The elders were talking and laughing on the deck of the Feiyun while drinking the California wine privately kept by Qian Shuiting.

"The battleship's technical level is very high, I don't know if it can reach that level..."

"I personally like the bunch of weird ironclad ships in the second half of the 19th century--fat hulls, stubby artillery, weird masts...they are so industrially beautiful, compared to the dreadnoughts, which are all carved out of the same mold. Yes, it's boring."

On the morning of July 7th, the formation launched a search formation and sailed eastward. 15 was located at the northernmost point where Luzon Island could barely be seen, while Feiyun was at the southernmost point. Each ship was separated by 854 nautical miles, forming a 5 nautical mile line. Long NW-SE search line.The radio station sent a simple message to Lingao: "The formation has launched a search at the scheduled interception point."

After receiving the report, Chen Haiyang said to Fu Sansi: "The voyage was so smooth, which was better than expected. It's not bad that the first long-distance voyage was so smooth."

"It's not easy not to meet other people along the way. It would be great if we could complete the task so smoothly."

The interception point was indeed not a busy channel, and no merchant ships passed by for a few days.Even if there are some signals on the radar, it is just a small fishing boat of the locals.Although some people suggested that "kill one person in five steps, and never stay behind for a thousand miles", several leaders thought it was too troublesome and meaningless.

"What do these poor Malays have? It's not worth the coal and bullets we consume." Lin Chuanqing said, stroking his beard.

In the early morning of July 7, the radar on the Feiyun found a signal 18 nautical miles to the east, and it was still moving slowly to the west.Feiyun immediately sent a telegram to summon the entire formation.At present, the distance is still far away. When it comes to battle, the walkie-talkie is more real-time.

The ships began to increase the power of their boilers to the maximum and rendezvous first.Half an hour later, the ships approached within the range of the walkie-talkie, and Zhou Weisen impatiently grabbed the walkie-talkie and asked Nongchao to put down the boat and come pick him up.The Feiyun is too unique in this time and space, with a low freeboard, it is not suitable for participating in battles.It can only be used as a surveillance job from a distance.

After the rendezvous of the ships, Nongchao took the lead, and after Shuangju, they headed in the direction of the silver transport ship in a single column.Only Zhou Weisen and the Feiyun and Haifeng stayed where they were with a few people, and continued to monitor the positions of the ships with radar.At the same time, Feiyun sent a telegram to Lingao: "Suspicious targets have been found, and the fleet is in the process of approaching the enemy. The wind is southeast, light, and the waves are one meter high."

More than an hour later, the target finally appeared in the binoculars of the eager commanders on the tidal bridge, as if rising from the water, the three masts gradually rose from the sea level, and then the tail mast, the forward rake masts and the tall forecastle and poop of a Spanish galleon.Everyone couldn't help but heave a sigh of relief, after running such a long distance, it can be considered that you have been caught!

This guy is really big. Lin Chuanqing estimates that the displacement is about 1000 tons or more-only such a big ship can take on the important task of transporting royal funds from New Spain to Manila across the Pacific Ocean.Judging by its draft, it is fully loaded.

He noticed that the flag of Castile was flying on the mast. Yes, this was a galleon belonging to the royal family.It was the Manila Galen they were looking for.

"Raise the flag! Get ready to fight!" Lin Chuanqing excitedly issued an order, and his order was immediately conveyed to the waiting frost ship through the walkie-talkie.Both ships hoisted the "ready for battle" signal flag at the same time.

"Fleet attention, take the flagship as the benchmark, and change directions to the right in turn!"

"Attention all fleet, turn left at the same time!"

After completing the order, the second ship formed a horizontal formation and continued to approach the Spanish galleon head-on.

"Even if the durability of this ship was 80 originally, now it only has 60 at most, saving us a round of grenades." Lu Yang said to himself.In his binoculars, the ship was in a bit of a bad state, with damage to the sails in many places--it seemed to have been in a storm.This also explains why it sailed alone rather than in formation with another Galen.Obviously it has also spotted the oncoming fleet and feels the danger.It was trying to turn left against the wind, obviously knowing that it could not escape even with a tailwind, but the turning speed was very slow and laborious.

"It seems that its rudder is broken, you can't run away, wait for the prefix T to be cut."

Then the fleet turned right again and moved eastward in a column, continuing to cut towards the bow of the galleon. When the distance approached an estimated 2000 meters, Lin Chuanqing ordered: "The distance is 2000 meters, load grenades, and fire a salvo from each gun."

The 130mm guns installed on the balcony on the deck fired almost simultaneously, but the shells all hit close to each other, and spread out, causing everyone on the bridge to shake their heads.

"This fire control equipment is nothing but scum, it will drive Father Fei to death." Zhou Weisen cursed.

"It doesn't matter if you miss it," Lin Chuanqing shook his head, "If our character explodes and directly hits the ammunition depot, we'll be in vain."

Thinking about it, Zhou Weisen broke out in a cold sweat. It felt like beating a mouse in a porcelain shop.

"Get closer to the enemy!" Lin Chuanqing issued the next order.At this time, we can only learn from Nelson first. Fortunately, the Spaniard's shooting range will only be shorter and more accurate.

"At a distance of 1000 meters, load the grenade! The whole fleet fires in salvo!" This time, the accuracy was much better, and the galleon was immediately shrouded in a group of water jets.However, due to the slow turning and the long distance, the Spaniard's broadside guns were completely unable to fire, and it became a situation where they could only fight back after being hit.

"All ships are fired! Load grenades, and be careful not to shoot at the waterline!" Lin Chuanqing noticed that the ballistic lines of some shells were very low, so he hurriedly added.The formation continued east, across the bow of the galleon.The water column rises near the galleon from time to time, but the hit bullets can't be seen clearly. Even in the binoculars, the commanders just muttered, "Smoke, hit a bullet?" The bombing made everyone see the obvious effect. The topmast trembled suddenly, then fell backwards with the sails, hit the deck, and then drooped to the starboard side.

"Damn, this is a disaster. The ship is paralyzed, but I'm afraid it will be destroyed." Zhou Weisen couldn't help cursing in a low voice, "Which gunner aimed so accurately, the mast was knocked down in seconds."

After cutting the bow, the formation turned left, sailed in the wrong direction with the galleon, and continued to bombard.The two sides faced each other side by side, and the opponent's artillery deck began to receive shells, but the artillery fire it fired was not threatening at all.After one shot, a burst of fire was suddenly seen from a gun emplacement, which then turned into thick smoke.

"Oops, it looks like the Spaniard's gunpowder has caught fire."

(End of this chapter)