Chapter 297 Hood vs. Guan Tianpei (Indian shipbuilding is trustworthy!)

"Damn the Indians, they didn't repair it at all, otherwise steam engines No. 3 and No. 4 would not have completely broken down so quickly!"

"Major General, they actually repaired the No. 1 steam engine that was damaged by the Blenheim last time. Now the No. 1 steam engine is still running."

"But why don't steam engines No. 3 and No. 4 move? What's going on? They must not have carried out maintenance. I have said long ago that the repair and maintenance of battleships should not be left to the Hindustan Construction Company. The workers there are all

It’s a clumsy Indian!”

"Well, Major General, they did inspect steam engines No. 3 and No. 4, but only Steam Engine No. 2 did not have time to inspect."

"Has it been inspected? Then why is it broken? How long did it take?"

In the bridge of the armored cruiser Blenheim, Rear Admiral Thomas Cochrane, the commander of the battle cruiser division of the Second Indian Fleet, was furious at his chief of staff and captain of the Blenheim, Colonel Jervis.

This provoked this man who participated in the Napoleonic Wars, and later went to South America to help Peru and Chile fight for independence. He also served as the Commander-in-Chief of the Brazilian Navy in Brazil and received the title of Marquis from the Brazilian Emperor, and then ran away again.

The legendary rear admiral who supported the Greek War of Independence and did not return to the British Navy until 1828 was angry about two malfunctioning steam engines.

It should be mentioned that his flagship Blenheim is a Blake-class ship with a standard displacement of 8,500 tons. It is one of the three Blake-class ships that participated in the Battle off Goa. This ship is there

The damage "forced the Ming Navy to seize the Persian Gulf" caused several holes. A 210mm armor-piercing bomb also penetrated the No. 1 engine room and damaged a steam engine.

After the Battle off the coast of Goa, this heroic armored cruiser was sent to the Hindustan Shipyard in Mumbai for careful repairs. Not long ago, it was towed out of the dry dock with a brand new look. At this time, Corcoran, who had just arrived in India, took office.

The rear admiral fell in love with this beautiful warship at a glance, so he made it his flagship.

And this brand-new armored cruiser soon brought good luck to Major General Cochrane - he was appointed commander of the armored patrol detachment of the Second Indian Fleet and was ordered to command 12 armored cruisers!

However, Rear Admiral Corcoran never expected that this large warship, which looked as beautiful as a new ship that had just been commissioned, would break down not long after it was used. The No. 3 steam engine that broke down at first was the No. 3 steam engine.

The detachment broke down on the way to the Ten Degree Strait following the main force of the Second Indian Fleet. The No. 4 steam engine did not last long and broke down early this morning!

The Blenheim, which broke down two steam engines in a row, lost half of its power. Even if the remaining two steam engines no longer break down, it can only maintain a speed of 12 or 3 knots at most. It cannot keep up with the patrol unit!

"Rear Admiral, the Strait Fleet sent an urgent message. They have successfully lured the Ming Dynasty Fleet's armored patrol unit. There are now 12 Haohan-class armored cruisers chasing the Strait Fleet! Lieutenant General Hood ordered us to go to the rescue immediately and flank the enemy formation with the Strait Fleet!"

As soon as Major General Corcoran and Colonel Jervis entered the bridge, the communications staff handed over the telegram they had just received.

Major General Corcoran jumped up like a rabbit, snatched the telegram copy from the communications officer with red eyes, and seemed to be gritting his teeth and said: "Damn it. We are about to attack. Why did we destroy two steam engines?"

"Major General," Colonel Jervis said with a sad face, "Why don't you call the Blake and take it to Malacca to join the war."

"No!" Major General Corcoran shook his head and shouted, "The Blake was also repaired by the Hindustan Shipyard. I can no longer trust these Indians!"

Nothing has happened to the Blake so far, but what if it breaks down on the battlefield?

"Call the Edgar over!" Major General Corcoran said, "I will take this armored cruiser to join the battle, Colonel Jervis. You continue to command the Blenheim, organize manpower to repair it, and repair it as soon as possible!"

"Yes, Rear Admiral!" Jervis didn't want to stay on the Blenheim, but he was the captain and it was his responsibility!

So he had no choice but to have someone flag down the Edgar and lower the launch, and then watched Major General Corcoran leave.

But at this time, he didn't know that the Blenheim armored cruiser he was riding on was a truly trustworthy ship.

"Report, Guan Junmen asked how long it will take for us to catch up?"

On the bridge of the Haohan-class armored cruiser Zhao Zilong, Chen Huacheng, a veteran in his fifties, pulled off his hat and shouted: "Tell Guan Junmen that our team is chasing at full speed and we expect to catch up in six hours."

!”

Chen Huacheng is as anxious as Corcoran. He is currently leading a large formation consisting of 12 Haohan-class armored cruisers, 12 second-class and third-class cruisers, 12 destroyers and 24 torpedo boats, sailing in the Strait of Malacca at a speed of 16 knots.

"Speeding ahead" - Although the Haohan class has a maximum speed of 23 knots, which is the third fastest among the large ships currently owned by the Ming Dynasty Navy (the first fastest is the Shu Zhongwang class, and the second fastest is the Zhongwang class), but it is assigned to

His second- and third-class cruisers are all "old ships" and it is not easy to maintain a speed of 16 knots.

The enemy they were chasing now managed to run 10 knots - which is already very fast for a shallow-water heavy gunship. Even the Ming Dynasty's "Island" class has a top speed of 12 knots, but its economic speed is 8 knots, which means it can travel long distances.

It’s not bad to maintain 10 knots.

In other words, Chen Huacheng's fleet can only get closer to its opponent by 6 knots, or 6 nautical miles, every hour. Now there is still a gap of thirty to forty nautical miles between the two sides. It would be good to catch up in 6 hours.

Because they had been chasing for four hours before, six hours later, Chen Huacheng's team had chased 160 nautical miles northwest and was already far away from the main fleet at the entrance to the Strait of Malacca.

When he thought of this, Chen Huacheng became a little worried. Although the main force of the Indian fleet was far away in the Gulf of Oman, the current Minister of War of the Indian Empire was Marquis Nelson!

"Pass my order," Chen Huacheng said, "Get ready for a night battle!"

"General Town, you mean a night battle?" The chief of staff of the team on the side was stunned. "Intelligence shows that the enemy's shallow-water heavy gunboats now also have radio stations. The enemy has 15 shallow-water gunboats and at least 30 heavy guns above 300 mm.

If we look at the target uniformly and shoot within 5,000 meters, we are no match."

The heavy firepower of the Haohan class is not strong. The foreign trade version only has two 240mm main guns. The one in Chen Huacheng's hand is the "enhanced firepower version", which uses twin 240mm guns on the bow and a single 240mm gun on the stern.

Configuration, the 12 Heroes have a total of 36 240mm guns, which is indeed no match for the 30 heavy guns with a caliber above 300mm.

"Not afraid." Chen Huacheng gritted his teeth, "We still have 24 torpedo boats. Each torpedo boat has 2 steam gas torpedoes. As long as we can take a risk and close to the enemy's formation at a certain loss, we can cover the torpedo boats to launch an attack.

We will definitely be able to severely damage the British fleet! As long as we destroy these 15 shallow-water heavy gunboats, we can win the Strait of Malacca, which has been stuck for more than 100 years!"
Chapter completed!