Chapter 1325 Dead End
The Spanish fleet fully thought that with its rich combat experience and fleet size advantages, it could defeat the Haihan Navy as long as it didn't take advantage of the opponent's low-level tricks and just pushed forward. However, it never expected that the opponent only sent a warship. The harassment from the side has already caused the fleet to be in a state of chaos, and for a while it seems that there is no effective way to prevent the other party from such long-range fire harassment.
Faced with such a situation, the Spanish commander naturally had no response plan or combat examples to learn from. No country's warships have ever equipped naval guns with such range and power. It's like moving the coastal defense artillery to the ship. But judging from the firing frequency, the weapons equipped on the Haihan battleship are obviously more advanced. After all, such a fast ammunition loading speed is not what the coastal defense artillery can have.
The only thing that made the Spaniards feel lucky was that the number of guns on this ship was too few. With only four guns, it would obviously be insufficient to deal with the huge Spanish fleet. Although the Spanish warship that was hit did have some damage to its hull, it was not to the extent of breaking its muscles and bones. The relative speed of the two sides was at least twenty knots. No matter how powerful the ship was, it could only fire one or two shells at each target. This was far from enough to destroy the combat capability of the ship that was hit. Although the scene looked one-sided, the actual impact was relatively limited.
After Pinto realized this, he decisively gave up responding to the ship's provocation and commanded the fleet to continue advancing at full speed, targeting the main force of the Haihan fleet ahead.
"The Spaniards are not stupid!" Johnson, who was commanding the battle on the flagship, could only make a bitter comment when he saw that his opponent was unmoved by the harassment war. He had originally hoped that using the "Warrior" as its trump card would disrupt the opponent's position and allocate part of the force to deal with the "Warrior"'s attack. However, although this ship's individual combat capability was strong, it would still be weak in the end. For an experimental ship, the firepower configuration is still a bit weak.
The four guns installed on the ship are definitely accurate, but their power is actually relatively limited, because manufacturing this new type of naval gun is also a new topic for Haihan Ordnance Industry. In addition, due to the limitations of the hull itself, there is no hard work. Heavy artillery. Although the side of the Spanish warship was smashed into pieces and the situation seemed tragic, in fact it was basically just skin injuries.
The "Warrior" still has some weaknesses that the Spaniards are not aware of. Many technologies used to build this ship are still in the verification stage, especially the new high-horsepower steam engine equipped on the ship, because it is the only prototype of this machine. , there are no standard spare parts that can be used for maintenance and replacement. Once some key positions fail, it is likely to be in a state that cannot be repaired in the short term. By then, the speed advantage of the "Warrior" will be gone.
In addition, the shells used by these four naval guns are also specially made copper shells. They were originally only used to demonstrate the performance of the artillery during the Leapfrog military exercise a few days ago, so the number produced is extremely limited. This time, although the relevant units worked day and night to produce some more after receiving the intelligence, they were still somewhat stretched to support a large-scale naval battle. Once the existing artillery shells are used up, these naval guns will become completely useless, and there will be no other heavy firepower weapons on the ship. At that time, they will have to withdraw from the battlefield on their own.
Therefore, for the Haihan Fleet, although the combat effectiveness of the "Warrior" is powerful, the combat endurance will not be too long, and it is unlikely to complete multiple back and forth attacks at sea. At most, it will only do things on the periphery. It's just destruction. The real main force in the battle is still the Haihan fleet on the frontal battlefield.
Seeing that the harassment of the "Warrior" failed to have much effect, Johnson could only retreat and use a safer way to deal with his opponents. The Haihan fleet was far inferior to its opponents in terms of number of warships, and would definitely suffer losses if it entered a dogfight. Therefore, Johnson's tactics were similar to those adopted by Tao Donglai yesterday, using maneuvering steering to seek rhythmic initiative.
"Here we go again!" In the eyes of the Spanish commander, this movement of the Haihan fleet seemed to be a repeat of the old trick. He wanted to use the turn of the battle line to pull the Spanish fleet to change its formation, and then use its speed to get rid of the entanglement. , facing the Spanish warships, they formed a situation of using more to defeat fewer Spanish warships.
Although this tactic is simple, it is very effective in actual combat. For the Haihan battleship with the speed advantage, as long as Spain follows suit, the initiative will be firmly controlled by Haihan. However, the Spaniard had already suffered a loss at the hands of Tao Donglai yesterday, so naturally he would not suffer the same trick again intact.
The two Spanish commanders learned from the experience yesterday and have roughly figured out how to deal with the Haihan people's tactics, which is to ignore the changes in their formation and remain unchanged in response to all changes. No matter how the formation of the Haihan fleet changes, their disadvantage in the number of ships is irreparable, and this is the only advantage the Spanish fleet may have on this battlefield. If you follow the opponent's rhythm, your only advantage will soon be gone, and you will fall into a passive situation of being beaten.
The goal of the Spanish fleet is Sanya, and the Haihan Navy also wants to protect Sanya. Therefore, as long as it is attacked and rescued, the Haihan Navy cannot play any tricks and can only prevent the Spanish fleet from attacking the port through frontal combat. At least in the mind of the Spanish commander, the situation on the battlefield was interpreted from this perspective.
Using an upright offensive to force the Haihan Navy into a head-on confrontation was the Spanish commander's idea of solving the problem. But there are too many unpredictable things in the world, just like they never imagined before the war that the combat effectiveness of the Haihan battleship would be so powerful.
Seeing that the Spanish fleet's course remained unchanged, the Haihan fleet continued to sail straight towards the coast of Sanya. It did not turn around to intercept it, but continued to move closer to the flank of the Spanish fleet from the east. It seemed that it still planned to launch an artillery attack with naval guns. . At this time, what was in front of the Spanish fleet was a smooth road leading to the port area without any obstacles - at least there was no longer any unsightly Haihan warship on the sea. All we have to do now is to rush in and complete the landing without any distractions. As long as we have hostages in hand, are we afraid that we will not be able to deal with Haihan's fleet?
"Go north! Assault at full speed!" Pinto could not wait to give the order. Although he also knew that there was Haihan's coastal defense fort near the coast, but that thing was a dead thing after all. No matter what, it couldn't be more difficult than the Haihan fleet, right? As long as this layer of defense is broken through, the current passive situation can be changed through the battle after landing.
Almost at the same time, the Manila fleet on the other side also began to engage its opponent. The naval guns on the Haihan battleship roared, unilaterally attacking the Spanish warship at an advantageous combat distance. The advantage in the range of naval guns made it difficult for the Spanish fleet to launch an effective counterattack. Although the difference in range was not large, the Haihan fleet controlled the engagement distance extremely accurately, leaving almost no possibility for the Spanish warships to hit.
Fortunately, the two armies were heading towards each other, and there was not much time left for the Haihan fleet to shoot. Except for one ship in the Spanish fleet, it was unfortunate that its mainmast was broken, temporarily losing most of its power and unable to continue. Following the pace of the fleet, the other ships that were bombarded were basically unharmed and were still within the controllable range of damage control. However, the casualties among the crew and sailors were inevitably somewhat heavy, which indeed had a negative impact on the morale of the Spanish fleet. Not a small blow.
But now that he has broken through the defense line of the Haihan Fleet and the entrance channel of Sanya Victory Port is clearly visible, Louis can no longer care about the current loss. As long as he can enter Sanya, all this will be richly rewarded!
Although the damaged ship was constantly sending signals for help to the flagship, Louis could no longer care about rescuing it. His current mentality was the same as Pinto. Now that he had arrived at the gate of Sanya, and the Haihan Navy defending here had also Being left behind, what power can there be to prevent his fleet from rushing into the port and killing everyone?
Both commanders believed that they had secured a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. How could they not launch a charge now? However, there are also people who hold the opposite view. The onlookers observing the seaside highlands of Luhuitou Peninsula, including some with insight, commented on the charge of the Spanish fleet: "This Victory Port is a dead end, and they are still bored. If you dig in with your head, how can you escape when the Haihan fleet turns around and surrounds you?”
Liu Shang was shocked when he heard such comments. He originally thought that Haihan's release of the Spanish fleet was a serious mistake in tactical execution, but after hearing such comments, he realized that his military His knowledge was so shallow that he didn't realize that the Haihan people were trying to lure the Spanish fleet into their pocket by spreading suspicion. He also recognized the person who made the comment. He was a military attache sent to Sanya by Annan Kingdom for further training. His vision and knowledge in this area must be far better than his own, so he thought that this comment was unmistakable.
Of course, not everyone has such a vision. The military attache who commented on the tactics actually did so because he had visited the coastal defense forts set up by Haihan on both sides of the Sanya Victory Port access channel before and knew the terrifying nature of these fortifications. He has this judgment on the current war situation. Liu Shang and the Spaniards only knew that there were defenses near the shore, but they did not know the number of weapons deployed, their power, and their range. Naturally, it was difficult to accurately judge whether they could break through this layer of defense. What's more, the Spanish fleet has already reached this point, and it is absolutely impossible to give up the opportunity to invade the port area.
Among the two ports in Sanya, Sanya Port has a narrow passage in and out. The Spanish fleet never considered it as the main attack target from the beginning. Otherwise, if Haihan blocked the passage with ships after attacking, it would be difficult to get in and out. That would be troublesome. Although Victory Port has similar problems, the waterway is much wider than Sanya Port, and the difficulty of attacking is not that great. It is reasonable for the Spanish fleet to choose this direction as its main attack direction.
However, there are many people who have similar views to Liu Shang. Seeing the Spanish fleet approaching the Port of Victory, but the Haihan fleet already falling behind it, many people were so nervous that they stood up to watch, and many others anxiously Ask the officers present if the situation is not good.
At that moment, an officer picked up the tin trumpet and loudly told the audience that there was no need to panic, as everything was under the control of the Haihan Army. Although everyone still had doubts in their minds, since the military people came out and said everything was fine, it still had a certain degree of credibility. After all, the Haihan Army was always victorious and would not make fun of its own reputation.
Not long after, the Spanish fleet had already approached the entrance of Port Victory. From this distance, the densely packed coastal defense batteries on the slopes of the east and west banks could almost be clearly seen with the naked eye.
The American Fleet located to the west is the first to bear the brunt. The part of the Yulin Peninsula that goes deep into the South China Sea is the only way to enter the Port of Victory. The east coast of the peninsula is almost densely covered with three miles of coastal defenses. Large and small forts are scattered at different heights, and they are dark. The muzzles of the guns were all pointed in the direction of the Spanish fleet. These forts were built one after another during the eight years that Haihan occupied this place. The artillery on some of the forts has been replaced for several generations. Although they have never played any practical role before, the Haihan Executive Committee and the military have always Sparing no effort to continuously renovate and expand it, we strive to build this place into an unbreakable fire blockade.
Of course, Pinto also noticed the coastal defense fortifications here. Although the other party had not opened fire yet, he had secretly begun to complain in his heart. The intelligence did mention that Haihan had built a coastal defense fort outside Victory Port, but there were no detailed drawings. For reference. When the Manila military formulated the action plan, they only regarded it as an ordinary port fort. But now that he saw the real thing, Pinto was so angry that he wanted to curse. The size of this fort was not comparable to that of an ordinary port. Even in There are few such fortress-style forts in Europe. Could it be that the intelligence officers sent to Sanya as undercover agents are not smart?
Pinto's complaint is actually not unreasonable. The Manila authorities had originally sent soldiers from Luzon Island to act as intelligence agents. However, Haihan's inspection of immigrants was extremely strict. Intelligence agents with military backgrounds pretended to be civilians, often because of some minor reasons. The details revealed the identity. Later, the detectives sent by Manila to Sanya were genuine civilians. Although these people could successfully lurk, their professional qualities were not that strong. Even if the shore defenses outside Victory Port are recognized, it is difficult to give an objective and detailed description of them. How many guns are deployed, how large the fire coverage is, the size of the troops stationed there, etc., are not known at all. The information sent back to Manila is also unknown. There aren't many details to speak of. These omissions in intelligence work have now caused great consequences.
(End of chapter)