Chapter 726: Spanish Armada
In the classification of sail battleships, the third class battleship, that is, the load ship in the combat fleet, has two decks and is armed with a total of 64 to 74 guns.
The 2nd class battleship had three decks and was armed with about 90 guns; A three-deck ship with more than 100 guns is called a first-class sail battleship, and it is also the highest rank of warship in the sail era.
Although Spain's maritime power began to be lost decades ago, the country's shipbuilding technology has always been ahead of that of its rival, Britain.
Today, Count Fernando's flagship 'San Padro' is a powerful first-class sail battleship, and among the other nineteen warships, there are ten third-class and nine second-class sail battleships, which can be said to be very powerful.
Seeing that the Spanish fleet quickly set up an attack formation, Li Nan directly used the special effect of the Hidden Rudder without saying a word to make his 'Sea King' invisible.
Although Blackbeard was extremely arrogant, he also knew how fierce the firepower of the Spanish battleship was, and if he had met it directly, it was estimated that the 'Queen Anne Avenger' would have been sunk by enemy fire before it could be shipped.
In the end, Li Nan and Blackbeard chose the same approach, and the two ships set sail and circled the left and right flanks of the Spanish fleet respectively, hoping to find the enemy's flaws before attacking.
As the most trusted admiral of the Spanish emperor, Fernando naturally had a strong ability to command operations.
When Fernando spotted two enemy pirate ships in the monoculars, one strangely disappeared and the other went around the flank of the fleet, he immediately sneered and gave the battle order.
The Spanish fleet, which formed the pyramid shape, did not wait to stand still, but changed its battle formation, from the original triangle to split from it in an instant, and turned into two V-shaped battle formations, like crab pincers, outflanking Li Nan and Blackbeard's ship respectively.
It has to be said that the tactics used by generals who have received formal military training in such large-scale naval battles are indeed stronger than those of pirates who have become monks halfway.
In the face of the sudden change of formation of the Spanish fleet, Blackbeard had a bad heart, and quickly changed the direction of the voyage, and immediately turned the rudder and retreated, so as not to fall into the enemy's attack from both sides.
In the other direction, although the 'Sea King' entered a state of stealth, the captains of the battleships of the Spanish fleet were not stupid, they estimated the approximate movement speed of the enemy warships, and began to attack with artillery directly on the predicted sea surface.
Seeing the imminent changes in the Spanish fleet, relying on the advantage of stealth, Li Nan, who was a little unimpressed, was suddenly frightened and shocked.
If it weren't for the fact that the Aquaman was equipped with the Black Sails of the Wind and sailed a little faster than the Spaniards had predicted, most of the attacks would have hit the target accurately.
"What now?" Seeing that the Spanish fleet continued to approach, Mrs. Qing, who was holding a telescope, asked urgently.
Li Nan thought about it for a while, and said calmly: "They can't find our ship, and the Spaniards don't know the speed of the 'Sea King', so our original plan remains the same and directly inserts into the middle of the other party's fleet!" ”
This plan is very risky, but the 'Sea King' with the effect of hiding and stealth is indeed capable of carrying out a sneak attack, as long as this ship can reach the vicinity of the enemy warship, then the hundreds of guns on the ship can fire as much as they want, and with the enemy ship on both sides to protect, the other Spanish warships dare not fire for fear of accidental damage.
Li Nan has a good plan, but the so-called plan does not change quickly.
As the distance between the two ships continued to approach, the captains of these battle-hardened Spanish warships saw through the location of the 'Sea King' in a very short period of time.
A moment later, the roaring cannon sounded, and Li Nan and the others were all startled, because more than a dozen cannonballs smashed a big splash around the 'Sea King', and even one cannonball hit the bow of the ship directly.
"How did the Spaniards discover the Aquaman?" This is the first question that arises in the minds of Li Nan and others.
Now the Spaniards would definitely not explain this to Li Nan, so Li Nan immediately responded.
A huge black shadow appeared from the keel of the 'Sea King', and after the mutant blue whale was released, it quickly swam towards the Spanish fleet that was constantly firing on the opposite side.
The blue whale, which was originally kind-hearted, has become cruel and easy to kill after being transformed by the soul bone, and there are many delicious foods that attract it on the Spanish warships not far ahead.
The mutant blue whale has the attribute of devouring the flesh and soul of enemies to become stronger, and after eating pirates on a dozen or so pirate ships last time, its size has grown by almost a third.
Now the mutant blue whale, which is more than forty meters long, suddenly jumped out of the sea, and its huge tail smashed into a Spanish third-class sail warship.
The whale's tail weighing more than a dozen tons smashed into the Spanish warship, which really turned into flesh and shredded when it hit, and the ship's mast and even the deck were broken and shattered by this blow.
The appearance of the mutant blue whale attracted the attention of most of the Spanish warships, and compared to the 'Sea King', which had not yet approached, it was obvious that this destructive monster should be dealt with first.
Both the Norwegian sea monster and the blue whale are creatures cursed by the Soul Bone, and although they have lost the freedom of their souls, they have gained physical strength.
If you don't have enough attacks, this kind of monster that can recover itself by devouring the enemy is an invincible existence on the sea.
Although Li Nan's mutant blue whale is not as powerful as the Norwegian sea monster because of its short time, it is not something that can be wiped out with a few cannonballs.
The mutant whales that frantically attacked in the Spanish fleet bought enough time for the 'Sea King', and while the enemy was in chaos, Li Nan finally controlled his flagship to rush into the enemy formation.
Li Nan, who had long been ready to attack, shouted: "Fire!" ”
"Fire!" Lady Qing, Angelica, Elizabeth and others chanted in unison.
Hundreds of guns on both sides of the Aquaman burst into flames one after another, and the swarthy solid shells bombarded the two nearest Spanish warships.
Before the Spaniards could react, the Aquaman fired a second salvo, and hundreds of shells of various sizes flew towards the enemy's hull.
As the rumbling sound continued to sound, when the 'Sea King' sailed forward, it left two Spanish warships in place, which were slowly sinking into the sea.
With the disturbance of the mutant blue whale, Li Nan finally rushed to the enemy formation and bombarded indiscriminately, and Blackbeard, who was surrounded by the Spanish fleet on the other side, also began to counterattack.