Chapter 731 Heavy losses
If the situation cannot be opened at this time, as these covering forces are gradually lost, the ironclad ships in East Africa will also face a situation of being unable to support themselves.
At this time, the Second Fleet, which Vice Admiral Kerry had placed high hopes on, was also facing its own dilemma. The British ships had a numerical advantage, which forced the Second Fleet to force the encirclement tactics just halfway through. termination.
"Rear Admiral Anton, the enemy ship blocked our direction, what should we do now?"
Rear Admiral Anton did not speak, but carefully observed the battlefield. At this time, Lieutenant General Kerry's third The first fleet has gradually fallen into a disadvantage, so the second fleet must bear greater responsibilities.
Seeing the disparity in strength between the two sides, Rear Admiral Anton carefully analyzed the problems faced by his side now. That is, it is impossible to continue to implement the surround plan, and returning to support Vice Admiral Kerry's First Fleet will not be effective. , on the contrary, it will delay the fighter plane
"All warships, turn on the maximum power, attack to the right, break through the enemy's blockade, each ship is its own unit, and has only one goal, that is to attack the enemy's main fleet. In the central area, no matter what method you use, I only want the result." Anton ordered.
After Lieutenant General Kerry decentralized power, Major General Anton decentralized power again. This time, the Second East African Fleet is truly fighting on its own.
However, Major General Anton’s strategic goal is very clear, that is, to disrupt the British army’s conventional offensive posture at all costs and rescue the First Fleet. If the First Fleet is wiped out, then the Second Fleet will only have A dead end.
The Hamburg has a total displacement of about 6,700 tons. It is the second largest ironclad ship in the Second Fleet after the Trieste. After receiving the new order, Captain Sberg ordered without hesitation: "The ship The ship increased its speed to the maximum and sailed toward the southwest with all its strength. Its artillery aimed at the British ships ahead and cut a bloody path!"
Almost at the same time, the Second Fleet began a state that was unimaginable to the intercepting British army, that is, the East Africans were crazy!
The British gunner on the Gray Fox asked: "Which direction should we fight now?"
After the command of the Second Fleet in East Africa was decentralized, the ironclad ships of the Second Fleet, including gunboats, showed their special abilities. , there was no order, which made the three British armored ships responsible for interception instantly not know which target to hit first.
"Attack the armored ships first, then deal with the gunboats, pick the bigger ones!" said the commander of the Gray Fox.
But at this time, three East African ships opened fire first, all targeting the Gray Fox. They thought the same as the British at the first moment, which was to pick the bigger one.
After the delegation of command, many ships chose their own opponents or strategies to achieve their own goals. Among them, the Pace was the main force, and its target was the Gray Fox, while the other two were gunboats.
Although the gunboat is easy to be sunk and has low defense, its firepower is not weak. It is called a mobile fort. At this time, three large and small warships focused on the Gray Fox at the same time, making the Gray Fox powerful. , but it’s hard to resist.
A shell from the Gray Fox directly hit the Pace, but the East African gunboat Hermann and the Pace hit the Gray Fox at the same time, and the gunboat Margaret took the opportunity to drill behind it. It arrived less than two hundred meters away from the left side of the Gray Fox and successfully penetrated the side armor of the Gray Fox.
Its 305mm main gun successfully penetrated the hull of the Gray Fox. This shelling directly caused the Gray Fox to shut down, and the internal power system suffered a huge impact. Subsequently, the three ships continued to exert their firepower, and the Gray Fox Fox announced his withdrawal from the battle.
While the Second East African Fleet made achievements, other British warships also inflicted heavy losses on the Second East African Fleet. The Second East African Fleet has so far lost two gunboats, both of which were sunk.
However, relative to this loss, East Africa finally opened a gap on the left wing of the British Navy. Trieste and Hamburg dragged the two intercepted British ironclads, and the other four warships of the East African Second Fleet took this opportunity to enter. The hollow area to the left of the British fleet.
The ironclads held back by the Hamburg and the Trieste were unable to return to the rescue. At this time, the main force of the British fleet was trying to beat the drowned dogs of the First Fleet in East Africa. The influx of four East African ships caused the British main battle order to be cut off. At this time, the Second East African Fleet could completely eat up the flank of the British Navy. However, due to the previous order of Rear Admiral Anton, it must directly attack the British at all costs. The British navy's main center began shelling. At the same time, in order to prevent being hit, the four gunboats came towards the British army at high speed, taking an unorganized route.
The turmoil in the rear of the British army instantly attracted the attention of Lieutenant General Kerry, and he knew that the Second Fleet must have played a role.
Immediately ordered: "Stop attacking the British head-on. The remaining ships will be divided into three directions to find attack targets, completely disrupting the British rhythm."
As a result, the command of the First Fleet was also delegated to various ships. At this time, the East African Navy was completely disorganized, and the disintegration of the First Fleet also caught the British fleet off guard. In addition, there were four East African "flies" causing trouble in the rear. Now chaos began to appear on the British front.
Commander Grafton of the Royal Naval Expeditionary Force has noticed something is wrong, but it is too late to make adjustments at this time.
He could only order the British warships to rearrange themselves with the Giant as the center, but after the order was issued, the effect was not good.
The East African ships played the trick of "Qin King circling the pillar" with the British on the sea, and they fought independently, with British ships as the main body, attacking wantonly.
At this time, the British army and East Africa have become a complete mess as a whole. In this kind of close contact, if the artillery is fired, it may not hit the enemy, but friendly forces.
Of course, the British ships are large and strong, and they can choose to collide with the East African ships. However, even at such a close distance, the East African Navy still chooses artillery as a means of attack. Now the East African Navy cannot distinguish between ourselves and the enemy, and it just grabs the big ships and bombards them. .
The British ships were large and numerous, and they were mixed with East Africa, so they were naturally easy to be hit. However, it was not easy for the British to counterattack these "running around" East African warships.
And at this time, Britain had already been at sea for several days. It had only rested in Somaliland before, and it could be said that it was exhausted.
Under this state, the combat effectiveness of the British Expeditionary Force soldiers plummeted, especially their mental activity. After successfully disrupting the war situation in East Africa, everyone was finally brought to the same level.
In a blink of an eye, it was around ten o'clock in the morning, when the war finally came to an end with the arrival of East African reinforcements.
Archduke Ferdinand personally led the remaining main force of the East African Navy and came from the home port of Bagamoyo. By this time, both the British army and the East African navy were exhausted and unable to fight anymore.
After seeing the East African reinforcements, Commander-in-Chief Grafton did not hesitate to issue an evacuation order, but he was still bitten by the reinforcements, leaving the British cruiser Hyderabad behind.
The Battle of Lamu was completely over, but both sides suffered heavy losses. Almost a quarter of East Africa's navy was destroyed in this battle. Two ironclads were sunk, six gunboats were lost, and the remaining ironclads were basically brought down. Injured, although the Friedrich did not sink, I am afraid it will be decommissioned soon.
The British Expeditionary Force also had three ships sunk, four seriously damaged, and two captured, which meant that half of the expeditionary force’s combat ships were wiped out in East Africa, especially the two captured warships, let Graf Commander-in-Chief Dun was very unwilling.
(End of this chapter)