Chapter 288 The Royal Navy is not afraid of sacrifice! (Please subscribe and vote monthly)

Admiral Codrington on the battleship Revenge has discovered the chaos in the transfer area at sea, but this experienced admiral will not panic because he is very familiar with the performance of torpedo boats and torpedoes.

In the past two years, due to the popularization of small steam turbines, first-class industrialized countries such as the Ming Dynasty and Great Britain have begun to equip high-speed torpedo boats driven by steam turbines. The fastest speed has reached 34 knots and 35 knots. The impact is of course amazing. But driven by compressed air

However, the torpedo boats run very slowly, usually only 6-7 knots, and the range is also very short, usually within 1,000 meters. At this distance, even torpedo boats that run to 35 knots can easily be defeated by small and medium-caliber firepower installed on large warships.

shelled.

So Admiral Codrington ordered calmly: "Every ship turns on its searchlights, fires its artillery freely, and makes every effort to prevent the torpedo boats from approaching the transport fleet! Strengthen the search alert to the north to prevent enemy ships from the Persian Gulf from coming over for a sneak attack!"

"

As the admiral's order was issued in the light language, the large and small cruisers, destroyers, and small artillery installed on the transport ships in the Indian fleet were all directed by the suddenly lit searchlights to attack those fast-moving ships almost simultaneously.

The approaching torpedo boat opened fire!

The lights were shining, the shells were raining, and water columns were rising into the sky on the impact route of the torpedo boats! Occasionally, 9.2-inch or 10-inch shells fired by first-class armored cruisers fell, and the water columns stirred up were like a wall of water.

.Fragments of the shells roared and danced on the sea, but those small torpedo boats were still moving straight forward at a top speed of 34 knots!

Wang Zuo took the lead and stood in the cockpit of the torpedo boat with his chest held out. He personally held the steering wheel and steered the torpedo boat through the water columns while squinting his eyes to look for the largest individual among the chaotic ships of the Royal Indian Navy.

target. He only has two precious steam gas torpedoes, which are treasures enough to sink a battleship! It would be a waste to use them to deal with a destroyer of several hundred tons. He would have to sink a cruiser of two or three thousand tons anyway.

?It would be even more beautiful if we could sink a larger first-class armored cruiser. If that doesn’t work, we have to send away a large troop carrier.

Originally, the Royal Indian Navy ships on the sea did not dare to turn on their lights, but occasionally turned on their searchlights, so Wang Zuo and the others did not know which ship was the most valuable. But with Admiral Codrington’s order

Below, the sea is full of second- and third-class cruisers that turn on their searchlights and let themselves fly. There are even a few Shannon-class, Northampton-class, and Arrogant-class armored cruisers that can be regarded as first-class cruisers according to their tonnage. They are very brave and "stand up."

"Ship out" and guard in front of the troop carriers filled with Indian Asan infantry.

Wang Zuo has already set his sights on a Northampton-class armored cruiser with a standard displacement of more than 7,500 tons. This is the second type of steam-powered ironclad built by the British Empire after the end of the Napoleonic War. Although it is equipped with a steam engine capable of providing 6,000 horsepower,

But it still retains three tall masts that can be used to hang the sails. There is also a unicorn-like bow mast on the bow, and there is a powerful ramming horn on the underwater part of the bow!

This very majestic-looking ironclad ship was not afraid of the torpedo boats approaching at high speed. It did not bother to hide the huge hull in the darkness. Instead, it turned on all the searchlights, pointed them at the torpedo boat driven by Wang Zuo, and fired.

Dazzling lights came out!

The torpedo boats captured by the searchlights are live targets. Although the accuracy of naval guns these days is relatively poor and cannot hit the torpedo boats three or four thousand meters away, at a distance of 1,000 meters, various types of weapons on the side of an armored cruiser can be seen.

With the artillery combined, it is not difficult to sink a small torpedo boat. And with the Northampton class's speed of 13.17 knots, it is not a big problem to avoid a 6.5-knot compressed air torpedo.

Therefore, this suicide torpedo boat assault launched by the Ming Army has failed!

"The Ming army's raid has failed!" Admiral Codrington saw that the beams of light emitted by the searchlights had locked onto more than ten torpedo boats. He finally breathed a sigh of relief, showed a relaxed smile, and said to Elfin next to him.

Stone said, "Colonel, it looks like we'll be taking Muscat soon!"

Just when Admiral Codrington was full of confidence and expected that the Ming Navy's attack had failed, Wang Zuo's torpedo launchers were already in position, and their torpedo boats struck from a 65-degree angle. On the boat

The torpedo tubes were turned sideways at an angle. A sailor behind the torpedo tube, who was responsible for aiming, put half of his body outside the small torpedo boat. He squinted his eyes and tried hard to aim the tube at the place four or five kilometers away.

Tiao illuminated his warship with a searchlight. All he could see was that he was holding a red flag in his hand, heavily under his command, and at the same time shouted: "Let go!"

A torpedo soldier in charge of launching immediately shouted: "Torpedo, launch!"

While he was shouting, his two hands had simultaneously pressed down the wrenches on the two torpedo tubes, one on the left and one on the right. Only two "bang bang" sounds were heard. Under the action of air pressure, two 530 mm steam gas blasts were fired.

The torpedo had been sprayed out of the thick launch tube and plunged into the undulating sea water. The torpedo motor drove the propeller installed at the tail to start rotating at an extremely fast speed. Driven by the propeller, the two torpedoes quickly

It was accelerated to a high speed of 40 knots!

This is an unbelievably high speed, and what’s even more unbelievable is that this kind of torpedo driven by the power of an internal combustion engine can actually hit 5,000 meters away! You must know that the main gun of today’s battleships has a distance of six to seven kilometers.

Without too much accuracy, the ideal artillery battle distance between battleships is within 5,000 meters!

After the two 530mm torpedoes were launched, the torpedo boat driven by Wang Zuo suddenly lightened up and jumped up a lot faster. However, without the torpedoes, Wang Zuo would be seeking death if he continued to charge with the torpedo boat. Now it is the last step.

The important thing was to feel that he was running away. So he immediately turned to the helm and steered the torpedo boat in a different direction, preparing to go around the stern of the armored cruiser in front of him and escape from the battlefield to the north.

It was not only Wang Zuo's torpedo boat that turned at the same time. Almost all the torpedo boats on the sea turned at the same time at the same time and started the escape mode at full speed.

"Did they run away?"

Captain Elphinstone, who was holding a telescope to watch the torpedo boat being blown up, showed a look of contempt as he spoke.

He actually escaped from the battlefield! He simply had no regard for the dignity of a soldier. The so-called military force of the Ming Dynasty seemed to be nothing more than this.

Admiral Codrington sighed: "What a pity."

As soon as he finished speaking, something happened that shocked everyone.

Just as the Ming Army torpedo boats on the sea turned around one after another, a huge water column suddenly rose from the starboard midship of the Northampton armored cruiser with a standard displacement of more than 7,500 tons, and there was a flicker of fire in the water column.

In the diffuse mist, Codrington could only see that the 7,500-ton ironclad ship that once made Rakshasa, Prussia, France and Austria deeply feel that the British Royal Navy was invincible, had not had time to show off its powerful firepower.

, began to roll over at a speed visible to the naked eye, and then sank at an extremely fast speed. Just as the Northampton was sinking rapidly, there were one, two, three, and four loud blasts from the sea.

ring!

Immediately afterwards came the exclamations of the people on the bridge of the battleship Revenge.

"God! The Shannon"

"Manniu"

"Oh my God, the Oxford. It's gone too!"

"Oh, look, the Plassey, it seems to have been hit by a torpedo too!"

How is this possible? Codrington couldn't believe his ears. 2 armored cruisers, 1 second-level cruiser, 2 third-level cruisers, a total of 5 cruisers were just finished like this?

Codrington quickly raised his telescope and looked around on the sea. After a quick look, he found that there were really three or four very large ships at the sea transfer area, either flipping over and sinking, or turning upside down.

Drill into the water, or the butt of the ship enters the water. In the lightest case, the ship body tilts severely but is recovering its balance. It should be that water is being injected to the other side.

But even so, Codrington also lost 2 armored cruisers and 2 third-level cruisers inexplicably.

"Admiral," Elphinstone's voice trembled, "Are we going to retreat?"

"Retreat?" Codrington looked at Elphinstone with a livid face. "If we retreat now, won't the Royal Navy's sacrifice be in vain? Now, let your people land quickly! I need to capture Muscat!"

"Yes, Your Excellency, General!"
Chapter completed!