(0849) Zambrotta's order gave the White Army Navy a chance. The Fourth Fleet and the Fifteenth Fleet took the opportunity to compress the distance and increase the hit rate. At this time, the Spaniards had no intention of fighting and just wanted to flee for their lives. As a result, in the panic, there were Spanish battleships colliding with each other, each with damage. Some Spanish warships were unable to move and could only float and wait to die. Several more Spanish warships were hit, caught fire and eventually sank.

The other Spanish warships noticed that something was wrong and hurriedly retreated. They had already fought very painfully with the Fifteenth Fleet, and now, with an even more ferocious fleet, where would they dare to continue to support it? Even without Zambrotta's orders, they would have retreated on their own. The British all retreated, and they continued to stay, isn't it a fool?

However, if the Spaniards wanted to retreat, it was not easy. Because, the sails of their warships are mostly square square square sails. Obviously, in the case of a headwind, the quadrangular sail is not very suitable for escape. When the battleship was first designed, the designers did not think at all that the main purpose of the battleship they designed was actually to escape.

There was no way, and the captains of the warships of the Spanish naval fleet had no choice but to give the order to retreat at high speed to the southwest with all their sails full. Only a retreat in this direction is a tailwind and can increase the speed of the battleship to the limit. Inadvertently, the Spaniard followed closely behind Lafaydi.

"Want to run?"

"It's not that easy!"

"Chase! Pursue! Catch up now! ”

The 15th Fleet of the White Army immediately caught up.

The opportunity to beat the water dog has come, and Wu Yunfeng will never let it go.

The Spanish warships that had been broken up were not a threat at all, and the white-coated navy could wipe them out as long as they caught up. The Spanish naval fleet has all collapsed, morale is at the bottom, and even if they have great ability, they have no way to turn it around. Such a one-sided battle was really the most rare opportunity for the 15th Fleet, which participated in a large-scale naval battle for the first time.

"All the army turns!"

"To reinforce the Ninth Fleet!"

The Fourth Fleet did not participate in the pursuit. There is no need for them to take credit with the Fifteenth Fleet. With the Fifteenth Fleet catching up, the Spaniards should not have many ships to escape. If the fifteenth fleet had had been lucky, it was estimated that even Zambrotta would have been captured alive. The Fourth Fleet turned again and attacked the Dutch fleet.

The combined fleet of the Western Ocean encountered by the White Navy this time was dominated by the Dutch and the British. Among them, the Dutch had the largest number of warships. Now the British have been beaten back, the Spaniards have also withdrawn from the battlefield, and only the Dutch are left. As long as the Dutch are routed, the white-coated navy will be victorious.

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

The Fourth Fleet had not yet joined the battlefield when it smelled a strong smell of gunsmoke.

The air seemed to be suffocated. The oxygen in the entire area of the war seemed to have been exhausted by gunpowder. The smoke from the shelling was so thick that the oxygen from outside could not be replenished at all. No matter which angle the sea breeze blows from, it can't blow away the rich smell of gunsmoke. There is no way, the artillery fire of the warring sides is too dense and too fierce.

In this naval battle, the Dutch dispatched hundreds of large warships. Leading them was Admiral Derek, the number one man in the Dutch Navy. This old fellow, Derek, was the backbone of the Dutch Navy. He has been fighting on the sea since he was five years old. So far, he has been fighting on the sea for sixty years.

Sixty years is enough time for Derek to experience countless big and small things, and countless ups and downs. Not to mention anything else, his experience alone is incomparable to others. He has walked more bridges than many people have walked. He had eaten more salt than many people had ever eaten. His life is a living textbook and history book.

In front of this veteran, even the fierce British did not dare to slack off in the slightest. In the Netherlands, this veteran is even more worshipped. The Dutch Navy was able to achieve what it is today and was able to become a maritime hegemon, and Derek contributed a lot. Derek personally played this time, which shows that the Dutch has indeed taken out the ability to press the bottom of the box.

In the Netherlands, the level of support for Derek is also unprecedented. In order to defeat the white-coated navy, the Dutch simply tightened their belts, saved money, and desperately increased the military spending of the navy. In recent years, more than half of the Dutch domestic income has been invested in the Navy's military expenditure, and a large number of giant warships have been built.

Under Derek's direct command, there were hundreds of giant warships. These warships are the latest design, the latest construction, and the latest launch by the Dutch. The smallest have a displacement of more than 1,600 tons. The largest displacement exceeded 2000 tons. The least number of cannons was more than 90 pieces. The largest number of cannons was 108 pieces. The largest caliber gun, which can fire eighty-pound solid shells. They apply all the most advanced technology at the disposal of the Dutch and represent the most formidable combat power of the Dutch Navy.

The opponent of the Dutch was the Ninth Fleet of the White Navy.

In terms of the time of formation, the Ninth Fleet was an uncooked force. It does not have the history and experience of the Fourth Fleet. It also did not have the youth and inexperience of the Fifteenth Fleet. Overall, it's a very ordinary fleet. So ordinary that apart from its number, no one else knows much about this fleet.

Perhaps, even the Ninth Fleet itself did not expect that the opponent they encountered was actually the most powerful Dutchman. If it had the freedom to choose its opponents, the Ninth Fleet would be willing to choose the Spaniards. Of the British, the Dutch, the Spaniards, it was clear that the Spanish navy was the weakest. However, since it was encountered, the Ninth Fleet did not flinch. Led by the commander of the fleet, Cao Zhenggang, they fought fiercely with the Dutch.

The attack of the Dutch naval fleet was very fierce. The Dutch Navy had more than a hundred large warships, while the Ninth Fleet had only thirty warships, and the warships of the two sides were more than three to one. If it is compared to tonnage, the proportion is even more disparity. As for the number of cannons, it is even more needless to say. The Dutch had hundreds of huge ships with nearly 10,000 guns. The Ninth Fleet of the White Army Navy has less than 500 guns.

Relying on the superiority in the number of battleships and the number of guns, Derek put on a posture of besieging the Ninth Fleet as soon as he started the battle. He ordered the whole army to attack in advance, trying to eat the Ninth Fleet as quickly as possible. He was determined to give the white-clothed navy a real dismount with superior forces and severely hit the morale of the white-clothed navy. As long as the Ninth Fleet of the White Navy was successfully eliminated, the initiative in the battle would be in the hands of the Dutch.

Cao Zhenggang, commander of the Ninth Fleet of the White Army Navy, is not a fool either. Although he did not have as much knowledge as Chen Zhan, nor did he have Chen Zhan's prestige, and the officers and men of the Ninth Fleet did not have as rich combat experience as the Fourth Fleet, in the face of the frantic siege of the Dutch warships, the Ninth Fleet was able to deal with it calmly.

Cao Zhenggang ordered all the battleships to be arranged in a circle, crowded together with each other, and the muzzles of the guns were outward. No matter which direction the enemy is coming from, greet them with heavy artillery fire. To put it bluntly, this is a typical hedgehog strategy, the purpose is to make the enemy have no way to attack. No matter how many enemy ships there were, the Ninth Fleet was already invincible.

Sure enough, Cao Zhenggang's tactics made the Dutch feel very painful. The Ninth Fleet of the White Army Navy is really a hedgehog now, and it is all sharp spikes on the outside. If you're not careful, you'll be stabbed all over your body. If the Dutch had attacked, the losses would have been significant. But if you don't attack it, you won't be able to achieve your goal. If he retreats like this, Derek can't let go, and the Netherlands is probably unacceptable.

"Assault!"

In the end, there was no way, and Derek had no choice but to order a strong attack.

The Dutch warships continued to rush forward desperately, trying to rush over and engage in hand-to-hand combat with the white-coated navy. This is the only chance they can win. Objectively speaking, in a simple artillery battle, no matter how many Dutch warships there are, they are no match for the White Coats Navy. But if it were hand-to-hand, the Dutchman's chances would have increased dramatically.

In the face of the frantic attack of the Dutch warships, the Ninth Fleet of the White Army Navy naturally had to fight back. The Dutch navy tried hand-to-hand combat, while the white-coat navy avoided hand-to-hand combat as much as possible. Like the 15th Fleet, the 9th Fleet has no other skills, and the ability to fire artillery is not bad. The rate of fire of the cannon was quite high, and the hit rate was not bad.

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

Bursts of fierce cannon fire shook the sea nearby. The waves were constantly rolling and surging, as if there were giant monsters pushing them below. The surging waves continued to lap on the warships of the warring parties, rolling up waves of spray. After some of the waves broke, the water droplets splashed directly onto the deck of the battleship. The thrust of the waves is also very strong, even if the displacement of more than 1,500 tons of warships is constantly swaying from side to side.

Objectively speaking, the fighting spirit of the Dutch fleet is quite commendable. They faced the Ninth Fleet of the White Army Navy and were not at a disadvantage. Despite the loss of several warships and hundreds of sailors, they continued to attack. Even when the news of the retreat of the British navy was heard, the Dutch continued to attack.

Derek believed that as long as the Dutch warships successfully approached and engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the White Navy, the end of the White Navy would come. He estimated that at this time, there should not be a long wait. After all, in terms of the number of battleships, the Dutch had an absolute advantage. Regrettably, however, the arrival of the Fourth Fleet upset this balance.

When it was in the South Seas, the main opponent of the Fourth Fleet was the Dutch Navy. And the biggest opponent of the Dutch Navy is also the Fourth Fleet. It can be said that the Dutch Navy was pursued by the Fourth Fleet from the East to the West, from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic. It is conceivable what kind of sparks will be stirred up when the two meet.

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

Sure enough, the encounter between the two, the intensity of the war, immediately escalated.

Both the Fourth Fleet and the Dutch Navy showed their ability to press the bottom of the box, and smashed the cannonballs at each other like crazy. Regardless of whether it can hit the opponent or not, at least it cannot be weaker than the opponent in the speed of shelling. This is a kind of momentum, a kind of attitude, which has a serious bearing on the morale of both sides. And morale is related to combat effectiveness.

Due to the rapid consumption of shells, the spare shells in the magazines were used up and had to be carried from the ammunition depot in the bilge. Xu Canxu and others all joined the army of carrying shells. A grenade with a caliber of 75 mm weighs about 10 catties. Each ammunition box contained eight shells, and the total weight was about eighty-five pounds. Xu Canxu and the others had to carry the heavy ammunition box on their backs and climb up the stairs step by step from the bilge.

The warships later designed by the White Clothes Navy have already used equipment such as pulley sets and gantries to help lift artillery shells to save manpower and improve efficiency. However, the flagship of the Fourth Fleet, which belongs to the design type of the first generation, is still primitive manual handling. Chen Zhan has always felt that manual handling of cannonballs is not necessarily a bad thing. At the very least, the perseverance and will of quite a few sailors can be honed. At the same time, it is also the best way to train the centripetal force of the entire battleship.

Everyone knows what serious consequences can be in the event of a battle if there is not an adequate supply of shells. Therefore, once the battle is carried out to the most intense stage, a large number of artillery shells are needed, and the soldiers who go up to the commander Chen Zhan and down to the engine room must be thrown into the carrying army without hesitation. At this time, there is no distinction between posts, ranks, and positions. Everyone's identity is a porter. Everyone has to put their heads down.

From the beginning to the end of the battle, Xu Canxu ran back and forth a total of twelve times, carrying a full ninety-eight shells. There are many porters like him, at least hundreds. There are a lot of people, and the number of shells they carry is more than Xu Canxu. The shells they had brought in were quickly fired. From this, it can be seen that the battle is fierce.

Fortunately, the efforts of Xu Canxu and others have been very fruitful. Under the artillery bombardment of the White Navy, the Dutch warships were constantly destroyed. The loud noises and the fires are the best rewards for Xu Canxu and the others.

…… After two hours of fierce fighting, the Dutch could not bear it anymore.

Derek had to lament, lamenting that he had no skills to recover. From the beginning of the war to the present, the Dutch have lost more than fifty battleships. However, they still did not have the opportunity to get close to the warships of the White Navy, and they still did not have the opportunity to engage in hand-to-hand combat.

(To be continued)