Ten Dragons Take the Inheritance

Chapter 457 The Burning Ocean
When it comes to naval warfare in the Age of Sail, one cannot fail to mention a person and a method of warfare, that is, Horatio Nelson, known as the "soul of the British Royal Navy" and the Nelson's method of warfare advocated by him. The birth of the advocated Nelson's method of warfare led to the demise of the battle-line method of the age of sail.The so-called Nelson's tactics are actually not complicated to say - when the enemy fleet adopts a long snake formation, our fleet can be divided into two columns, and the enemy fleet can be cut into three sections. Concentrate and besiege the enemy's cut-off and surrounded ships with superior forces, and use the mode of boarding battle to encircle and wipe out the besieged enemies. After the besieged enemies are wiped out, continue to launch a general attack on the remaining remnants of the enemy, always forming a battlefield with more fights and fewer local advantage to win the entire naval battle.

Although it was half a century before Horatio Nelson was born, this did not prevent the Qing Navy from understanding Nelson's tactics. Few have conducted corresponding exercises on this kind of tactics, but Nelson's tactics have three important prerequisites. One is the wind direction, which requires that the fleet using Nelson's tactics must be in the upper hand, otherwise it will not be able to launch a strong attack to cut off the enemy fleet; Second, Nelson's tactics have extremely high requirements on the ability of fleet sailors. If one's own ability to control the sails is insufficient, the opponent has already prepared for the contingency before you launch an attack. The use of this tactic can only bring heavy casualties to oneself, but cannot effectively destroy the enemy; third, because Nelson's tactic is to attack the enemy's battle line in a single column, it is impossible to fire at the enemy while driving. Being passively beaten is also a great test for the courage of one's own soldiers. Whether they can withstand that crucial shock journey is a severe test.

courage?What the Qing navy lacked most was courage. Although the officers and soldiers of the Qing Dynasty who had never experienced such a big scene would be a little flustered at the beginning of the war, the Qing navy, which advocates offense and adventure, definitely does not lack the courage to fight to the death; the upper hand?The Qing fleet seized the upper hand as soon as it came up. In addition to showing its courage to fight to the death, it also wanted to adopt Nelson's tactics, but in the end, Qiao Hailong still didn't use this kind of assault tactics. Spirit, but the basic capabilities of the Qing Navy are not enough to use this type of warfare—in fairness, the training of the Qing Navy is very strict, and the level of sailor training is considered good among the naval powers today, at least It is not worse than Spain, the Netherlands and other countries, but compared with the English Navy, the gap is still obvious.Once the combat plan to cut off the enemy fleet cannot be implemented, what awaits the Qing fleet is to fall into the siege of the enemy fleet and be crushed by the enemy's superior fleet.

At this moment, the rear fleet of the Qing Dynasty dragged the rear fleet of England, and the three Weizi ships in the middle entangled the flagship of the English fleet. The front and middle lines of the two fleets had reached a stalemate, and the front fleet of the Qing Dynasty had succeeded After leaving the battlefield, the conditions for the implementation of Nelson's tactics are ripe. The only key point is whether the "Yanlong" can withstand the attack of an enemy ship, so as to buy time for the maneuvering and detour of the frontline fleet of the Qing Dynasty. "" couldn't stand it, fled, or was sunk, then the four enemy ships that were attacking "Yanlong" would inevitably approach the center of the battlefield. Even the three prestige ships that were in the upper hand will be hit hard by the enemy's superior forces. If so, the Qing Navy will face a disastrous defeat of the entire army.

The "Yanlong" is a medium-sized battleship with 64 artillery pieces in total. Except for two cannons at the front and rear, only 190 cannons can be used to attack. What is facing is a first-class battleship of the English Navy, three A total of [-] second-tier battleships bombed wildly with two artillery pieces. Although the firing speed of the Qing army's rear-mounted rope-drawn artillery was a bit higher than that of the British army's front-mounted old-style artillery, it faced England's overwhelming firepower advantage. , less than a quarter of an hour after the start of the war, the "Yanlong" was already seriously damaged: the main mast was broken, the hull was damaged everywhere, and the whole ship was on fire in many places. The most terrible thing was that it was hit by three bombs near the waterline. There were less than ten guns left on the gun deck and they could barely fight back. The officers and soldiers were killed and wounded. The captain died in battle, the first mate died in battle, and the second mate died in battle. Fighting tenaciously.

Liao Chenghong, a native of Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, graduated from Shanghai Naval Academy, with the rank of lieutenant, less than [-] years old, and only four years on board. There is only one comment: rigid.Yes, rigid. Liao Chenghong is a person who strictly obeys orders. He never knows what flexibility is. For him, an order is an order, and he just needs to execute it. There is no need to ask why or what will happen after he does it.Liao Chenghong will never be a qualified naval general for the keen insight required by a senior naval general, but as a junior naval officer, Liao Chenghong, who executes orders without compromise, is undoubtedly extremely good-the captain, first officer, The second officer died in battle one after another, the hull was damaged, the battleship began to sink, more than half of the crew were killed and injured, the artillery was completely damaged, and the main mast was broken. According to the combat regulations of the Qing Navy, the "Yanlong" at this time can completely withdraw from the battle. Or abandon the ship and escape, but Liao Chenghong did not forget the captain's confession before his death - fight to the last man.

Liao Chenghong didn't know the meaning of insisting on fighting. He only knew that this was an order. Since it was an order, it had to be carried out desperately. Therefore, even though the "Yanlong" had almost no firepower to fight back, Liao Chenghong did not order to withdraw. Instead, he gritted his teeth and commanded his officers and soldiers to stay at the forefront of the Qing army's battle line. At this time, because the main mast of the "Yanlong" was broken and the cabin was seriously flooded, the speed of the ship inevitably slowed down. The central battlefield, which had been separated for a distance, gradually caught up. Through the thick black smoke, the huge hull of the English flagship "Great Britain" that was fighting with the three "Prestige" could already be seen. Liao Chenghong issued an order An order that made both the enemy and us somewhat unexpected - turn left 120 degrees and crash into the "Great Britain".At this time, the "Yanlong" was on fire in many places, and the whole ship was like a huge torch, emitting thick black smoke, rushing towards the battle line of the English fleet.

Chaos, chaos!Seeing the "Yanlong" launch a suicide attack like an arson ship, the four English battleships that were attacking the "Yanlong" suddenly lost their positions, firing shells non-stop, covering the "Yanlong" "" to prevent its crazy impact, bullets rained down in an instant, and the "Yanlong", which had been hit by dozens of bullets, was immediately smashed into a sieve. Liao Chenghong and his officers and soldiers standing on the deck were the first All of a sudden, he was knocked to the ground by chain bullets and shotguns fired by the English fleet. Except for the sailor at the helm and more than a dozen officers and soldiers in the hold who were desperately trying to drain water, there was no longer a single person on the entire deck who could stand up. Clean officers and soldiers, but that's it, the severely damaged "Yanlong" still rushed towards the battle line of the English fleet like a monster covered in flames. Although the speed was slow, it was extremely resolute.

crazy!Absolutely crazy! The crazy impact of "Yanlong" attracted all the attention of the English fleet, but unfortunately, this kind of madness did not last long. The slow "Yanlong" had not had time to rush to the front of the British battle line. Under the violent bombardment of the British army, more than [-] bullets were shot in a row near the waterline. The water was seriously flooded. into the bottom.

Although the crazy impact of the "Yanlong" failed to achieve the goal of dying with the enemy, the tragic sinking of the "Yanlong" bought enough time for the detour of the Qing frontline fleet. While the "Yanlong" was cheering happily, the frontline fleet of the Qing Dynasty, which circled a circle not far away, had completed its turn, and was heading towards the English fleet at full speed like a sharp sword drawn from its scabbard. Dash through the gap between the "Rose" and the "Dancing Girl" on the central battlefield.

The frontline fleet of the Qing Dynasty was sailing with the wind, and the speed was already astonishingly fast. Although the battle line of the British army was still intact at this time, the four warships gathered together for the annihilation of the "Yanlong" were unavoidable. The ground was at a certain distance from the central battlefield, and when the sprint of the Qing army's front-line fleet was discovered, it was too late to fill the gap that was not too wide, so it could only keep firing, trying to use fierce The impact of the firepower to crush the front fleet of the Qing army.

Sprinting at the forefront of the Qing frontline fleet was the "Yansheng". At this time, the "Yansheng" had only two front deck guns that could fire. However, due to the speed of the ship itself, the shooting effect of these two artillery pieces was about It was equal to zero, and the artillery of the four British warships smashed the shells at the "Yansheng" like a hailstorm. In an instant, the water column around the "Yansheng" shot up into the sky, and the dense rain of bullets hit the "Yansheng". After piercing through hundreds of holes, as soon as it rushed to 50 meters in front of the British battle line, the heavily damaged "Yansheng" had to drive sideways, giving way to the forward position, and hit a few shots on the sea. After turning, it slowly sank to the bottom of the water.

The successive sinking of the "Yanlong" and "Yansheng" was undoubtedly a big blow to the Qing fleet, which was already at a numerical disadvantage. The impact of the Qing frontline fleet created the best fighter. The "Wei Ning", which was ranked behind the "Yansheng", took advantage of the opportunity when the British fleet concentrated its firepower to attack the "Yansheng", and rushed to the 50th line of the British battle line. Within meters away, regardless of the baptism of artillery fire from the British army, they inserted into the battle line of the English fleet at full speed. The gun portholes on the three-story gun deck were fully opened, and [-] artillery pieces were fired one by one. The whole ship was like a ship. Like a flaming hedgehog, it rained cannonballs on the "Rose" and "Dancing Girl" who were busy adjusting the shape of the ship. In an instant, the "Rose" and "Dancing Girl" who were caught off guard became a sieve. The configuration of half solid ammunition and half flowering ammunition exploded the stern of the "Rose", and the flying shrapnel instantly cleaned the three-layer gun deck of the "Rose". The English gunners were busy fighting on the gun deck None of them was spared, and the "Rose" completely lost its combat power, the mainmast and sidemast were all broken, and it completely lost the ability to continue sailing except for turning around on the water; The situation of the Dancing Girl was better than that of the "Rose". Although the three-story gun deck was only partially damaged, only more than [-] artillery pieces and more than [-] officers and soldiers were lost, but the main mast of the "Dancing Girl" was also damaged by the "Weining". Interrupted by this blow, the "Dancing Girl", which was originally entangled with the three prestige ships on the central battlefield, lost one-third of its firepower, and immediately became the focus of the three prestige ships. In less than a stick of incense, he was severely injured and completely lost his combat effectiveness.

After the "Venin" broke through the battle line of the English fleet, it rushed forward for a certain distance and immediately began to turn, aiming at the "Great Britain" which was fighting hard with the side of the ship. The "Great Britain" and the "Mayflower" supported by the British, and the rest of the Qing frontline fleet that rushed into the English battle line tried their best to block the English frontline fleet that had begun to turn around and tried to break through the blocking of the Qing fleet. A big melee broke out. The prologue has begun.

"Order: The rear fleet attacked obliquely, entangled the British rear fleet; the front fleet blocked the enemy at all costs; the two ships 'Weiyi' and 'Weiwu' covered, and the 'Vailong' moved up to engage in a side-to-side battle. , be sure to annihilate the enemy's flagship, kill! Don't die!" Seeing that the frontline fleet of the Qing Dynasty successfully achieved the planned combat objectives, the fighter planes had appeared, and Qiao Hailong, who had been standing on the deck of the "Veyron" watching the battle, finally issued a general attack The command.

As the orderlies on the main mast of the "Vielong" conveyed the orders to the ships, the morale of the officers and soldiers of the Qing Navy was immediately boosted, shouting the slogan "I will not die!" and began a desperate attack. In the chaos, the disjointed English fleets were fighting on their own, busy attacking the central battlefield, and the battlefield was chaotic for a while...

-

The first update has arrived, the critical time has come, Xiaoliu calls for fire support, brothers smash monthly tickets!

(End of this chapter)