The combat room of the Britannia is also busy.

".................. and the speed is three-eighth of the six knots..."

"Keep the course and slow down to four knots."

"Nine enemy ships, visually confirmed, they are sails..." The staff officer wanted to talk about sail cruisers, but found that most of the warships were spitting thick smoke. Although they all had three masts of cruisers, they all sailed. More importantly, this native Londoner had never seen a steam ironclad ship, and it was not marked in the naming rules of the British Navy. He could only say: "Six smoked cruisers, three thirty-two cannon sail cruisers......

The enemy ship heads southwest and the speed is visually measured...9 knots!! It is decelerating......"

This caused surprise to the British and Dutch fleet. Many people put down their work and ran to the outer deck to observe the Chinese ships. The speed shocked them too much. You should know that it is the southwest wind now, and the British and Dutch fleet sailing towards the northwest is in the most favorable position and direction. The wind blows from the side and back, and both horizontal sails can provide power, but the Chinese fleet sails completely against the wind and actually reaches a high speed of nine knots. Of course, this speed did not last long, because Su Jing found that the three horse-class cruise ships behind his butt could not catch up, and they could only go zigzag against the wind, so he immediately slowed down and waited.

Ruk's eyes were a little solemn, and this solemnity was out of fear of unknown things. He was also a native British man. He had sailed to the Mediterranean for the farthest time and was a cruise captain more than ten years ago. This was the first time he saw a steam-powered ship in his life. He had no idea of ​​the ability of such ships. He still remembered that a day ago, Sigale reminded on the ship that the Chinese had a ship that used steam engines as power and was equipped with iron armor. Ruk also mocked: "Tell me, the Chinese can let the ship sail against the wind by setting a fire at the bottom of the ship. I don't have time to talk nonsense to you..."

"Sigel, I remember you said you had seen such a steamboat..." This time Ruke asked sincerely.

"Yes, six years ago, I joined the East India Company and went to Cape Town, where I saw similar merchant ships......" Sigail gave me all his lessons in the face of Ruk's temporary cramming, but no matter how you look at it, it seems that he is the second to last and gives the first to last lecture.

"......... At that time, the Chinese did not have similar warships, and there were waterwheels on both sides of the merchant ships, which were driven by paddle wheels. But now there is no more, but looking at the chimney, it should be a kind of ship. The so-called steam power, you can understand it as a paddle boat, but the paddleman is tired and has infinite power. This kind of ship can sail against the wind and against the water, and in the wind, its speed can be comparable to that of a fly-slipper.

Their steering is also quite sensitive. Although they cannot turn almost in place like paddle boats, they are much more sensitive than our sailboats. There is no need to consider the direction of the wind. For example, we can only turn right now, while the Chinese can turn at will, and the radius of the steering is much smaller."

"......... General Ruke, look at the metallic luster reflected on the surface of the ship. It is obviously equipped with iron armor, but I don't know how thick it is. Maybe the iron armor is just to guard against shotguns and guns, but it may also resist our shells. The only thing we are glad that the enemy's firepower is very weak. Look, the two in the front seem to have only a dozen artillery pieces, and the four in the back are only thirty.

This is just the firepower of the cruiser, but the opponent's warship still has many things that we don't know, especially the tall chimney. My staff doubted whether the thing would spew flames or high-temperature smoke to ignite our sails and masts. Fortunately, we are in the wind direction, which is not easy to use at all.

Because there are too many unknown things, we must go to extremes, either to distance ourselves, conduct tests, and then move forward. Or we will get closer to the fight, the closer the better, so that the soldiers can prepare for the battle on the sidelines. In my opinion, the battle on the sidelines can solve everything." Sigail lived up to the name of bravery, and his suggestions were very pertinent, but Luke obviously had other ideas.

If the test is carried out, perhaps the enemy's main fleet will not decide the outcome until it leaves Bantry Bay. If it pounces on the decisive battle, Luke doesn't know what the so-called steam iron armored ship has reserve killing moves that he doesn't know.

Amidst hesitation and trade-offs, George Ruk issued an order to face the enemy on the battlefield. This order was full of compromise. He did not follow Sgael's advice to go to two extremes, but chose the most common way of dealing with it. Because this was the first duel between a ironclad ship and a wooden sailing battleship in history. No one in later history attributed the responsibility to George Ruk's hesitation and compromise, but Ruk did choose the most wrong way.

At 10:45 in the morning, the armored mobile fleet that attacked the British and Dutch fleet at an angle of nearly 90 degrees fired the first shell at a distance of 400 meters. The shell was fired by the 166-pound wine bottle cannon on the bow artillery deck. The reason for the long distance was not because of the certainty of hitting, but because one minute ago, Su Jing issued an order to turn to combat. If the gun was not fired, the heavy artillery weighing more than seven tons might not have the chance to fire.

Su Jing ordered Sato to turn right to 45 degrees, and the battle line was on the battlefield. The reason for the early response was because his previous order - the fleet maneuvered with the flagship.

The ironclad ship does not care about the steering distance. The ironclad ship has 120 mm wrought iron armor and 460 mm lining teak. According to the test of the Imperial Navy, when facing shells, the teak's defense is about one-ninth of the wrought iron armor, which means that the Ironclad Shield is equivalent to 171 mm thick armor. This thickness of armor is immune to the British-Dutch fleet artillery at any distance, even the forty-two-pound cannon on the Britannia.

However, except for the Iron Wall and the Panstone, the other ships do not have similar defense. If they turn closer, the four ships in the steering will be volleyed by passing British and Dutch ships, which is very dangerous. If they turn by themselves, the battle line will be destroyed.

In fact, the turning timing of the Iron Armored Mobile Fleet was not accidental, but was made by Su Jing himself. He had nine warships under his command, but the enemy was twelve. Before taking over the enemy, the staff had already figured out the identity of the opponent. First of all, they could confirm that the battleship with gorgeous stern and gun doors that were arranged on the fifth position of the battle line must be the legendary Britannia. The officers of the Imperial Navy are not unfamiliar with this warship, because it was the benchmark warship set during the reform of the Imperial Navy a few years ago.

At that time, the Imperial Navy had no plan to develop steam iron armored ships. Its main shipbuilding plan was new-class first-class battleships and third-class battleships. The Imperial Navy had always had the principle that a single-ship combat effectiveness must be better than its opponents. Therefore, the new-class first-class battleships were the world's strongest first-class battleships except the Empire. At that time, the new-class first-class battleships in the British Navy, which were also in the planning stage, became the benchmark.

The reason why the Imperial Navy understood the data of the Britannia was because the ship had been built long ago, but it was just too late to join the navy. The Britannia was built in the 17th year of the Empire and launched in the 21st year of the Empire. It only took four years to build it, but it took six years to renovate it to ensure that the magnificence of this warship meets the standards of the country called Britannia.

The Britannia is also a new warship that Britain adopted new technologies, which basically reached the five-year shipbuilding level of the Empire, including long keel technology, splicing technology, full artillery decks and short heavy artillery, etc. In terms of these technologies, the Imperial Navy was all pioneers, and its technology also spread from the Imperial Navy to the private shipbuilding industry, and then to the East India Company, which was finally Europe.

Because Britannia has 104 artillery pieces, the new first-class battleship of the Empire was stipulated as a battleship with 120 artillery pieces. However, unlike the Imperial Navy's complete replacement of short-heavy artillery pieces, the lower artillery deck of the Britannia has twenty-eight forty-two-pound artillery pieces, and the rest are thirty-two-pound short-heavy artillery pieces and a small number of twenty-four-pound short-heavy artillery pieces.

The four battleships in front of the Britannia are the Dutch warships in the coalition, namely the flagship North Holland with 72 guns, the Udrecht Blade with 64 guns, the Torun with 60 guns, and the Agatha with 68 guns. The four Dutch warships are all sail battleships with two-layer artillery decks. Originally Major General Sigail's ship and the third-layer artillery battleship of ninety-two guns, Princess Maria was severely injured in the Battle of Beech and is still in repair at this time.

The Dutch fleet was not in good condition because their commander was not in place. Major General Sigail was originally on the North Holland in the No. 1 battle position, but after the two sides contacted each other, Major General Ruke invited him to discuss the issue of the Iron Craft. He hurriedly took a small boat to return to the flagship, but before he could reach the flagship, he heard the sound of the Iron Craft's bow guns firing. At that time, the traffic boat was on the left side of the ship avoiding the enemy and could not see what happened. In order to avoid the commander being not on the ship when the war started, Sigail had to board the Agatha of the No. 4 position nearby.

After the Britannia, the Victory battleships were respectively the Victory battleships. This battleship was built twenty years ago and was in good condition after a reconstruction, but it was much worse than Britannia. The Victory tonnage was only 1,800 tons, while Britannia had reached 3,000 tons, and its defense was incomparable.

The Victory was followed by George Ruk's original 90-air three-deck battleship Duchess, while the eighth battleship was the seventy-air battleship Elizabeth. At the end of the battle line, there were four cruise ships, with twenty-four to thirty-two artillery guns.

The formation presented by George Luke is very professional. Of course, this professionalism is aimed at sail battleships. The vanguard fleet is the Dutch fleet, which is known for its sensitivity to steering, which is convenient for interception and surrounding, while the vanguard fleet is a fast cruiser, which is easy to chase and attack, while the sturdy fleet is the most powerful, which is the backbone of the fleet and prevents it from being dispersed.

If the Iron Armored Mobile Fleet is a sailing battleship, George Rook will definitely win, because the number is at a disadvantage. Whether it is aligning forward or backward, three battle positions will be vacant, and George Rook's front and rear guard fleets can be surrounded and attacked. Su Jing doesn't understand these things. He is very familiar with battle line operations, so he uses the steering to deal with it.

The Iron Wall turned toward the Britannia, and the Panshi followed closely behind. This was the military-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square-to-square

Finally, there were three cruise ships, and one more was used to disrupt the situation when facing the enemy. But the disadvantage was that the British and Dutch fleet's vanished the entire Dutch fleet's vanguards and the Dutch fleet were in the upper direction. The Dutch fleet only needed to turn with the wind to surround the avanguards of the iron armored mobile fleet. This move was familiar to the Dutch. Decades ago, they defeated the British fleet like this, taking advantage of speed and steering advantages.

But Su Jing thought it was nothing, because the Dutch who turned back was still facing the iron-clad ship, which was already the best solution under the disadvantage of military strength.

Su Jing's intention to fight was very simple. Let the ironclad ships approach Britannia and Victory, sink as quickly as possible, at least defeat these two first-class battleships, and then deal with the Dutch warships that were turned back. If the two first-class battleships did not withdraw from the battle after the Dutch turned, the Iron Wall would guide the battleships to turn, keep them flush with the Dutch fleet, and prevent them from being attacked. Su Jing left behind a killer weapon - collision. If he was entangled, he would immediately hit the enemy ship, disband the battle lines, and let the armed merchant ships and cruise ships retreat.

Su Jing wrote an order with these intentions and sent soldiers to the Panshi in a small boat. In the hands of the captain of Panshi Wei Yunfan, the captain of Panshi, was Su Jing's old classmate at Qingdao Naval University. Wei Yunfan was naturally familiar with Su Jing's intentions. Compared with Su Jing, he prefers collision tactics. If it weren't for the purpose of the Iron Armored Mobile Fleet to entangle the enemy and give the main fleet time to leave the bay, with Wei Yunfan's temper, he would directly hit the Victory at full speed during the stage of receiving the enemy.

At 10:50, the Iron Wall completed the steering and immediately began to turn the rudder and approached the Britannia. This is a different mode from the sailing warship. If it is a sailing warship, it will decide to fight after forming a battle line. However, Su Jing did not have that time. After giving the helmsman the order to approach the Britannia within fifty meters, Su Jing personally went down to the artillery deck. The environment here is quite quiet and the gunners were drinking tea.

"Do you want a cup? Sir, the serious imperial black tea, there is very little inventory," asked the gunman.
Chapter completed!