Chapter 944: The Ironclad Ship Begins to Show Its Might (1)
That is to say, since that time, European countries have not had the opportunity to enter the coastal waters of the Ming continent through the Strait of Malacca, so for so many years, Daming's ironclad ships have appeared in the field of vision of Europeans for the first time.
Originally, in order to escort a huge fleet of troops and supplies, and the Atlantic Ocean is the most active sea of the five major sea powers in Europe, so the Ming warships have not crossed the Strait of Magellan at the southern tip of South America from the Pacific Ocean into the Atlantic, but with the end of the transportation of the last batch of soldiers and materials, the Ming is about to completely occupy the entire American continent, and there is no need for a large number of escorts for the time being. That's why this time, eight ironclad ships and thirty-two Shenwei-class wooden battleships crossed the Strait of Magellan to attack the fleeing Spanish fleet.
"Full speed ahead, don't let go of a single one!" Zheng Sen ordered with a cold smile.
Forty Ming warships advanced at full speed, especially eight ironclad ships, at full speed.
Driven by steam turbines, even a 5,000-ton battleship could sail much faster than a sail-powered wooden battleship, and the eight ironclad battleships soon surpassed the other thirty-two wooden Kamui-class battleships and quickly pounced on the Spanish fleet in front of them.
Like a cat and mouse, the Spanish fleet of hundreds of ships could never be faster than the steam-powered Ming ironclad battleships, even if they sailed desperately to escape.
Seeing the eight huge Ming ironclad battleships chasing closer and closer, whether it was the Marquis of Yaretoleka and Lancas and other high-ranking Spanish generals or ordinary Spaniards, they all felt a cold chill approaching, as if death was chasing them.
It was the imminence of death, and all Spaniards were terrified.
"Boom! Rumble! Rumble! Suddenly, a huge cannon sound came from the sea area behind him, and it was the eight huge ironclad ships of the Ming Dynasty that were quickly chasing after him opened fire.
This is at least a distance of more than seven thousand meters, and the cannons on the Ming battleship actually began to fire?
None of the Spanish generals and commanders of the naval fleet, such as the Marquis de Arlettoleca, dared to believe it, especially the Count of Lancas, who commanded the sixty warships of the Spanish American fleet.
Although Count Lancas had not participated in the war of the Eight-Nation Combined Fleet against the Ming Dynasty, and had not seen the power of the Ming Fleet with his own eyes, he could not believe that the range of the Ming Dynasty's warships could reach a terrifying distance of more than 7,000 meters.
However, he couldn't help but believe it.
"Bang! Boom! Boom! "Along with more than two dozen huge columns of water being blown up, three ships were hit, one of which was a battleship.
Huge flames erupted from the struck battleship, and countless pieces of wood and the corpses of the Spaniards on board were swept away by the powerful blazing waves created by the explosion, and fell into the sea.
Every ship was hit by a single cannonball, but this single cannon produced a great power that no Spaniard could have imagined.
Half of the hull of the ship that was hit was shattered, and one of the ships was even more critical because it was hit, and the hull of the ship instantly tilted to the rear, which was the rhythm of being directly sunk!
"Shhh Seeing this, the Spaniard gasped again, his face became whiter, and his expression became more frightened.
Only one shot was hit, and it caused such a consequence, and this shell was bombarded by the Ming warship at a distance of seven thousand meters, not only the range was long, but the power of the shell was so terrifying, so how powerful should these huge Daming gray battleships be.
"It can't be! It's impossible! "The Count of Lancas, commander of the Spanish American fleet, was once again filled with shock and disbelief.
In fact, at this moment, only the main guns of the eight Ming ironclad ships were fired.
In addition to the main guns of the first generation of ironclad ships or 150 mm caliber cannons, the main guns of the ironclad battleships built later are all 250 mm caliber guns, and the Spanish ship that was only hit by one shell and leaned backwards to sink was the result of being hit by a 250 mm caliber shell.
"Boom! Rumble! Rumble! The eight Ming ironclad ships continued to fire their guns, while also continuing to rapidly approach the Spanish fleet in front.
"Bang! Boom! Boom! "As huge pillars of sea water were blown up one after another, one Spanish warship or ship after another was hit by cannonballs, and its bodies were shattered and sunk.
The Marquis of Yaretoleka watched as his ships were blown to pieces one after another and sank to the bottom of the sea under the bombardment of the Ming warships. He subconsciously turned his head, looking at the eight terrifying and huge Daming warships like monsters thousands of meters away, and looked at the flames spewed out by the huge cannons on each Daming warship.
He didn't know when a cannonball would hit the ship he was on and bury him in the sea, and he didn't know how to defeat these eight monster-like terrifying Ming warships.
The Marquis of Arretolaika did not know, nor did the Count of Lancas, the commander of the fleet of sixty Spanish warships.
Soon, these eight huge Ming ironclad battleships chased to a distance of less than four thousand meters from the Spanish fleet, and at this moment, on the eight Daming ironclad battleships, not only the main guns were fired, but some secondary guns also reached the range and began to fire.
Although the caliber of the secondary guns is not as large as the huge caliber of the main gun of 250 mm, it is also the caliber of more than 130 mm, and the number of secondary guns is much more than that of the main gun.
The firepower of the eight Ming warships more than doubled at once.
The chances of being hit by the ships of the Spanish fleet in front have increased significantly, and the number of ships sunk is also increasing rapidly.
"Hehe, you can't escape!" Zheng Sen looked through the binoculars, looked at the tragic situation of the Spanish fleet in front of him, and sneered.
Under the steam-powered Ming ironclad battleship, none of the sail-powered Spanish ships could match the speed, even if they abandoned all the heavy materials on board, there was no possibility of escaping.
"If this continues, our entire fleet will be wiped out, and they must be intercepted!" The situation became more and more unfavorable, and the commander of the Spanish American fleet, Count Lancas, gritted his teeth and prepared to break the wrist of the strong man.
At this moment, the Spanish American fleet, which originally had sixty warships, had already sunk fifteen warships, and Count Lancas divided thirty of the remaining forty-five warships and took the initiative to meet the eight Ming ironclad ships backwards, hoping to buy some time for the fleet to escape.
Thirty Spanish warships turned around and took the initiative to meet the eight Daming steel warships.
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