Thursday, May 15, 1625.

In the bay of Manchu, on the dock of the military port, the light cruiser Constitution is preparing to leave the port. Today marks its official commissioning day and its first military deployment to the island, with the destination of Guadeloupe to provide artillery support for the Army's last East Island offensive before the rainy season with its powerful 120mm naval guns.

Hundreds of cheering citizens were on the shore, and the naval flag was raised to the top of the mast to the beat of military music and drums, and the naval officers and men lined up on the deck stood up and saluted. In the upper left corner of the blue and white flag, a golden six-winged double-headed dragon coils around an iron anchor and carries a symbol of the earth.

The battleship's boiler began to heat up, the sails tightened, and only the faint smoke came out of the chimney. On the deck, a group of naval officers and men who had finished the flag-raising ceremony began to sort out the affairs of various posts in an orderly manner, and Major Sun Yang, the new captain of the USS Constitution, stood on the semi-protective bridge and looked into the distance.

The Type 25 naval uniform, which began to be officially installed in May, is now being worn on Sun Yang and other officers and soldiers of the Constitution. There are three types of modern naval uniforms: spring, autumn, summer and winter, except for the dark blue and black in winter, the other two are pure white. In winter, military uniforms are cut from high-grade woolen wool imported from Europe, while in spring, autumn and summer, they are made from locally produced high-grade cotton and wool blended fabrics.

On the snow-white military uniform, there are silver star epaulettes on a black background on both shoulders. On a tassel of the large-brimmed hat is a Beaulieu iron anchor cockade surrounded by olive branches, and the neckline of the military uniform is embellished with silver flakes of beaded flowers. In addition to the summer short-sleeved military uniform, the other two seasons of military uniforms also have a rank identification line on the cuffs.

Captain Andrew, who was also transferred to the USS Constitution this time, served as Captain Sun Yang's deputy. According to the personnel arrangement of the Navy Command, after accumulating experience in commanding sailing warships aboard the Constitution, Andrew will become the captain of the first Jewel-class light cruiser "Sapphire" next year, and will also be the first European captain in the Navy.

Having grown up on a sailboat since the age of 12, Andrew has developed the subconscious ability to sense the direction of the wind and currents from almost any part of his body. But when the USS Constitution, which could ride the waves without relying on sails and currents, appeared, Captain Andrew's heart trembled again.

Captain Andrew, who is already a father of five children, may not have imagined that his sea career would achieve such a result five years ago. The country is changing with each passing day. The vigorous and rapid development, all kinds of new things emerging in an endless stream, whether it is the living environment or the content of life, all of them hit his mind at the beginning. Now, as the oldest qualified immigrant to witness the rise of this New World country. Aboard the Constitution, which can overwhelm any sailing warship in all of Europe. At the age of 40, Andrew has long felt content in this life.

"Andrew, half-sail and cruise, we're going to make it to Twin Bays, Bermuda, for the weekend." Sun Yang saw that his deputy was still pondering. So he grinned and patted the other party on the shoulder.

"Yes, sir." Andrew came back to his senses and quickly conveyed the captain's instructions to the microphone beside him.

In the power compartment of the ship's cabin, deep beneath the ventilators, more than 20 stokers rotate in front of four boilers, even in the cold winter months. The temperature is above 30 degrees Celsius, and only a limited exhaust air can be cooled with the help of a ventilator. At cruising speed, the intensity of coaling is very low, and basically one or two people can take care of a boiler.

After receiving the order from the microphone, one of the leading non-commissioned officers made a gesture, and the soldiers began to speed up the delivery of coal. The abundant calorific value provided by high-quality anthracite began to increase the steam pressure of the boiler, and the vigorous power was sent to the stern of the ship along the propeller shaft and rumbling vibration of the steam unit.

With the help of sails, the ship's cruising speed was increased to 12 knots, creating a large arc in Manchester Bay. Follow the left kaido of the Inner Bay Fortress towards the Atlantic Ocean.

On the fortress of the inner bay, a Type 24 120mm Visworth fortress gun was under the command of the non-commissioned officer, slowly turning the barrel and aiming at the light cruiser Constitution in the distance.

This state-of-the-art heavy artillery, which is common to naval artillery, has been practiced for a long time in various environments. The sea trials on the light cruiser USS Constitution are also in line with expectations, and now they have officially entered the army, and will successively replace the Type 21 90mm Visworth fortress guns that have been used for many years, and become the main equipment of the fortresses everywhere.

Longer range. Stronger power, with the assistance of a new generation of liquid-gas combined production and decommissioning device. The stability and sustained combat performance of the Type 24 120mm gun will be better than that of the Type 21 90mm gun, and the rate of fire will remain basically the same while still using split shells.

According to the pace of military development of NORINCO, the 120 mm caliber of the Westworth rear-loading hexagonal rifle, which has made outstanding contributions to this country, will become the most mature product in the overall design and manufacturing process. With the continuous improvement of metallurgical technology and machine tool finishing level, the next generation of artillery equipment will use more modern breech-loading rifled guns, and this time point is carefully set by Lin Youde after 1630.

The first generation of combined rangefinders has also been officially put into use, although the ranging baseline is only 1 meter, and the manufacturing and processing technology of optical glass is also quite tricky, and the accuracy is not very optimistic, but at least it is countless times stronger than purely using the naked eye and personal experience. In this regard, the talent situation in the public is the most shallow, and it is impossible to quickly apply it with only theoretical knowledge. The technical restoration project of optical instruments also has to deviate from the traditional idea of gradual development, rather than adopting leapfrog development like other industrial projects.

Standing on a certain battery in the Neiwan Fortress, Lieutenant Colonel Zhang Chunrui, who is the Navy's training director, has also served as an artillery adviser to the army for a long time, and is now instructing the artillery of the army fortress to carry out adaptive training for new equipment. The navy's experience in the application of artillery has long been far behind that of the army, which means that the army must always ask the navy for advice in this regard.

No warhead was used in the artillery training, only a cartridge was stuffed, and under the training subjects defined by Zhang Chunrui, the officers and men of the artillery crew set the target on the Constitution, which was leaving the port. The combined rangefinder kept reporting the numbers, and the officers and men of the artillery crew adjusted the muzzle height and were always ready to shoot.

"On the surface, it is still very skilled, but in actual combat situations, the proficiency of ranging readings will directly affect the course of the battle." Zhang Chunrui looked at the officers and soldiers in training and did not directly evaluate the merits and disadvantages, but the European non-commissioned officers beside him obviously understood that the senior naval training director was alluding to the Su zhì of the army fortress artillery.

"Lieutenant Colonel. We need more time to learn, maybe we should start with the previous way of training. The European non-commissioned officer nodded awkwardly.

The two-knife rangefinder was constantly changing the readings, and the members of the artillery crew were getting impatient. The final result was read when the Constitution was about to sail parallel to the inner and outer forts.

"Fire!"

The muzzle of the 120-mm fortress gun emitted a cloud of orange-red smoke, although no actual shells flew out of the chamber. But it symbolizes a shot at an intruder at sea.

There are no logical comprehension difficulties. The light cruiser Constitution, which was targeted by the artillerymen of the Inner Bay Fortress as a training subject, should have gone on unscathed.

But the truth is, anything weird comes with a kind of heart-wrenching coincidence. For example, the USS Constitution, a kilometer west of the Inner Bay Fortress, is now. There was a violent tremor, followed by an even more dull explosion, like a volcanic eruption that had been intensely suppressed inside, and a row of portholes below the middle of the hull were cracked, and a trace of smoke squeezed out of the cracks. Puffs of snow-white steam with black smoke burst out of the deck ventilation ducts.

"Oh my God...... Did we hit it? The fortress artillerymen, who were preparing for the next shooting training, were dumbfounded, and the young artillerymen who were holding a new cartridge were even more frightened.

"Damn, did you load the shells?!" The European non-commissioned officers were about to collapse, rushed to the gun position in a few steps, pulled the collar of the soldier in charge of loading, and scolded him with an unprecedented roar.

"But there aren't any warheads here. The USS Constitution must have exploded in a boiler! Zhang Chunrui was also stunned at this time, but quickly. He understood why.

In the line of sight, the speed of the Constitution in the distance had suddenly decreased, and officers and men were constantly running on the deck, and flames were also rushing out of the blast hole, and the uncontrolled snow-white steam almost enveloped the entire middle of the battleship. Let the chaos and misery blur there, and the unsightly things continue to fall from the boat into the water.

The explosive power of one boiler directly tore through the thin isolation plate of the boiler compartment, and also made other intact boilers unrecognizable. It is accompanied by a spurt of high-temperature and high-pressure steam. The coals that blew up also caused fires of various sizes throughout the ship's hold.

The more than 20 stokers in the boiler room could no longer see a standing figure, under the steam and flames. Several corpses of soldiers, torn apart by the explosion and the heat of steam, were scattered around, and many more were dying on the floor where the hot boiler water flowed.

At the time of the explosion, Sun Yang and Andrew were watching the drill of the officers and men of the gun crew at the 90-mm secondary gun position in the middle of the port side. One second after the explosion, the load-bearing members of the gun mount deck on the port side above the boiler compartment were shattered, and high-temperature steam was instantly ejected from the crack under the gun mount.

There was a violent shaking under his feet, the sound of the deck cracking in his ears, and almost in the blink of an eye, a terrible stream of high-temperature steam filled the entire gun crew, followed by a terrifying scream.

Andrew almost subconsciously rushed towards Sun Yang, the captain of the ship a meter away from him, and directly knocked the other party out of the ship's side, while he himself was swept into most of his body by a nearby burst of high-temperature steam.

Hoarse shouts abounded everywhere, the officers and men who had escaped on deck and in the cabins were in disarray, and black smoke from the internal flames began to rise from cracks or ventilation pipes that had been shaken open. Under the orders of the gunner, several sailors turned on the emergency hand-operated water pump and began to fill the ammunition compartment, while more people ran towards open flames everywhere under the organization of the non-commissioned officer to avoid the biggest disaster caused by the internal fire.

Sun Yang had been fished out of the water, and now he was hoarse, constantly directing his subordinates to carry the wounded officers and soldiers out of the cabin, and his beautiful military uniform was already dirty and out of shape.

The smoke rising from the Constitution not only silenced the farewell crowd in the military port, but also caused many inland cargo ships to slow down and watch between the outer islands and the Changdao New Area.

The first river cargo ship began to turn toward the Constitution, and a Navy offshore patrol ship accelerated, followed by more and more ships heading toward the Constitution, ready to join the rescue.

The National Hospital in Manja has entered a state of high operation, and even President Tan Yuen Yuan has personally entered the hospital's emergency room. Congress terminated the ongoing deliberations on the creation of a new town in former Boston in Massachusetts Bay, sent delegates directly to the hospital, and the administration terminated its routine business and began an emergency meeting on the handling of the incident.

Countless families of wounded officers and soldiers crowded in horror outside the hospital corridor separation line, through the gaps between the arms of the officers who maintained order. He stared at the medical staff who kept coming and going in the wards at the end. Occasionally, a weak and painful moan was heard, triggering several nervous family members to faint, and several babies who were still in their mother's arms also cried, and the atmosphere was extremely depressing.

The highly scalded wounded had long since fallen into a state of shock, and several doctors from the 21st century in the operating room were at a loss in the face of the bloody and blurred injuries. The damage caused by the high temperature penetration of steam is far more severe than that of fire damage. Expensive alkaloid analgesics extracted from Arabic opium were injected into the body of the injured at any cost. In order to alleviate the pain that makes life worse than death, in addition to a large amount of body fluids, wound disinfection and bandaging and other anti-infection treatments, whether the wounded can survive depends entirely on their personal will.

It's been a whole night, and Sun Yang has been sitting stupidly on the bench in the corridor. The somewhat deformed large-brimmed hat was tossed aside, a few streaks of ash were still stained on his messy hair like a chicken's nest, and a pair of bloodshot eyes stared at the ground vacantly.

Three figures appeared in front of Sun Yang, and the young captain raised his head slightly. Two small European-American youths wore snow-white military uniforms and Navy cadet epaulettes. Next to two young Europeans. A middle-aged European housewife is looking at herself with tears in her eyes.

......Compared with Andrew's eldest son Elson, who has a calm personality and is silent, the second son Baker is only 16 years old, and now he has tears and snot on his face, and there is still a cry in his voice, "When will my father wake up." ”

"Elson, Baker, your father is a hero, he'll be fine." Sun Yang slowly stood up, straightened his dirty military uniform, and put his hands on the shoulders of Captain Andrew's eldest and second sons. "We have the best doctors and medicines in the world, trust me."

After speaking, he turned his head to Andrew's wife again, and Sun Yang looked guilty: "Mrs. Andrew, your husband is undergoing treatment. We'll do our best! ”

A hoarse cry could be heard in the corridor in the distance, two paramedics carrying a stretcher covered in white cloth squeezed through the crowd, and a European housewife half-knelt on the ground, clutching the edge of the stretcher with one hand. Crying to death.

The waiting crowd was stimulated, and there was perhaps a commotion. Many female family members tried to squeeze into the corridors to see their loved ones, and the police clasped each other to stop each other, fearing harsher consequences.

Rear Admiral Wang Tiezhu, the commander of the Navy, sat alone and silently behind his desk, with a list of wounded officers and men on the USS Constitution in front of him.

Of the 122 officers and men on board the USS Constitution, 16 died on the spot in the boiler explosion, and as many as 32 were burned, burned, or fallen, including 14 seriously injured. Within one hour of being sent to the hospital, nine more people died, all of them stokers in the boiler room.

The high-pressure steam of the boiler, which can reach temperatures of hundreds or thousands of degrees Celsius, can cause far more terrible scalds than fire, and even if the explosion is sprayed through the guò ventilation pipes or cracks to the outside, the temperature is still enough to make the skin open in a short period of time.

In the Constitution stoker department, which has two teams and a total of 25 people, there are currently 5 people left, 3 of whom escaped the catastrophe in the coal bunker at that time, and now there are 2 seriously injured stokers who have been unrecognizable and are dying in the rescue room.

There was a knock on the door, and Wang Tiehammer took his eyes off the list and stared quietly at the gradually opening door, knowing that the latest news of death in the hospital had arrived again.

"General, news from the hospital that another person has died...... Caterina said as quietly as she could, holding her paper clip, and cautiously to the supreme commander of the navy.

Katarina, who has been promoted to lieutenant, after giving birth to a son for Yan Xiaosong, her arrogant and arrogant habits have changed greatly, and the combination of the mature young woman's demeanor and the sassy and heroic posture of a naval officer has become the most beautiful scenery of the naval headquarters. Although she did not have the opportunity to board the battleship, Katerina was fully integrated into the clerical job of the Navy Command, and this year she became the secretary of the office of Rear Admiral Wang Tiehammer.

"Well, got it...... Is there any news from the Ministry of Defense? ”

Wang Tiehammer slowly closed the list of wounded who had made him feel distressed for a day, suppressed the grief and unwillingness in his heart, and said almost word by word.

"The Ministry of Defense has issued a notice that you will need to sign off on the formation of a joint investigation team." Lieutenant Caterina hurriedly walked up a few steps and handed over a piece of paper in Wen Jiàn's folder.

Almost without looking, Wang Tiehammer directly grabbed the pen, signed his name with a sigh, then took off his military hat, leaned on the back of the chair and closed his eyes.

Seeing such a heavy and tired look from the Supreme Commander, Caterina could only quietly exit the office.

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