Chapter 1325 Dead End

The Spanish fleet fully thought that with its rich combat experience and advantages in fleet size, it could defeat the Haihan Navy as long as it didn't take advantage of the opponent's low-level tricks and just push forward. However, it never expected that the opponent only sent a warship.

The harassment from the side has already caused the fleet to be in a state of chaos, and for a while it seems that there is no effective way to prevent the other party from such long-range fire harassment.

Faced with such a situation, the Spanish commander naturally had no response plan or combat examples to learn from. No country's warships have ever equipped naval guns with such range and power.

It's like the coastal defense artillery has been moved to the ship. But judging from the firing frequency, the weapons equipped on the Haihan battleship are obviously more advanced. After all, such a fast ammunition loading speed is not what the coast defense artillery can have.

The only thing that makes the Spaniards feel lucky is that the number of guns on this ship is too few. With only four guns, it is obviously insufficient to deal with the huge Spanish fleet. Although the Spanish warship that was hit did have some damage to its hull.

The damage was not serious. The relative speed of the two sides was at least twenty knots. No matter how powerful the ship was, it could only fire one or two shells at each target. This was far from enough.

It is not enough to destroy the combat capability of the hit ship. Although the scene looks one-sided, the actual impact of the strike is relatively limited.

After Pinto realized this, he decisively gave up responding to the ship's provocation and commanded the fleet to continue advancing at full speed, targeting the main force of the Haihan fleet ahead.

"The Spaniards are not stupid!" Johnson, who was commanding the battle on the flagship, could only make a bitter comment when he saw that his opponent was not moved by the harassment war. He had originally hoped that after using the trump card of the "Warrior", he could

The opponent was thrown into confusion and part of the force was allocated to deal with the attack of the "Warrior". However, although this ship had strong individual combat capability, it was still an experimental ship after all, and its firepower configuration was still a bit weak.

The four guns installed on the ship are definitely accurate, but their power is actually relatively limited, because manufacturing this new type of naval gun is also a new topic for Haihan Ordnance Industry, and coupled with the limitations of the hull itself, there is no hard work.

Heavy artillery. Although the side of the Spanish warship was smashed into pieces and the situation seemed tragic, in fact it was basically just skin trauma.

The "Warrior" still has some weaknesses that the Spanish are not aware of. Many technologies used to build this ship are still in the verification stage, especially the new high-horsepower steam engine equipped on the ship, because it is the only prototype of this machine.

, there are no standard spare parts that can be used for maintenance and replacement. Once some key positions fail, it is likely to be in a state that cannot be repaired in the short term. By then, the speed advantage of the "Warrior" will be gone.

In addition, the shells used by these four naval guns are also special copper-cased shells. They were originally only used to demonstrate the performance of the artillery during the Leapfrog military exercise a few days ago, so the number produced is extremely limited. This time, although the relevant units after receiving the intelligence

We worked day and night to make some more, but it was still a bit stretched to support a large-scale naval battle. Once the existing shells were used up, these naval guns would become completely decorative, and there would be no other heavy firepower weapons on the ship.

, then you can only withdraw from the battlefield on your own.

Therefore, for the Haihan Fleet, although the combat effectiveness of the "Warrior" is powerful, its combat endurance will not be too long, and it is unlikely to complete multiple back and forth attacks at sea. At most, it will only do things on the periphery.

It's just destruction. The real main force in the battle is still the Haihan fleet on the frontal battlefield.

Seeing that the harassment of the "Warrior" failed to have much effect, Johnson could only retreat and use a more secure way to meet the opponent. The Haihan fleet was far inferior to the opponent in terms of the number of warships. If it entered a dogfight,

The situation will definitely suffer, so Johnson's tactics are similar to the method used by Tao Donglai yesterday, using maneuverable steering to seek rhythmic initiative.

"Here we go again!" In the eyes of the Spanish commander, this movement of the Haihan fleet was like a repeat of an old trick. He wanted to use the steering of the battle line to pull the Spanish fleet to change its formation, and then use its speed to get rid of the entanglement.

, facing the Spanish warships, they formed a situation of attacking more and less.

Although this tactic is simple, it is very effective in actual combat. For the Haihan battleship with the speed advantage, as long as Spain follows suit, the initiative will be firmly controlled by Haihan. However, the Spaniards yesterday

Having already suffered a loss at the hands of Tao Donglai, he would naturally not suffer the same trick again intact.

Yesterday, the two Spanish commanders learned from the experience and roughly figured out how to deal with this tactic of the Haihan fleet, which was to ignore changes in their formation and respond to all changes by staying the same. No matter how the formation of the Haihan fleet changed, they were still on board the ships.

The numerical disadvantage is irreparable, and this is the only advantage the Spanish fleet may have on this battlefield. If you follow the opponent's rhythm, your only advantage will soon be gone, and then you will

Falling into a passive and beaten situation.

The goal of the Spanish fleet is Sanya, and the Haihan Navy also wants to protect Sanya. Therefore, as long as it is attacked and saved, the Haihan Navy cannot play any tricks and can only prevent the Spanish fleet from attacking the port through frontal combat.

At least in the mind of the Spanish commander, the situation on the battlefield was interpreted from this perspective.

Using an upright offensive to force the Haihan Navy into a head-on confrontation was the Spanish commander's idea of ​​​​solving the problem. However, there are too many unpredictable things in the world, just as they never imagined before the war that the combat effectiveness of the Haihan battleship would be so powerful.

Seeing that the Spanish fleet's course remained unchanged, the Haihan fleet continued to sail straight towards the coast of Sanya. It did not turn around to intercept it, but continued to move closer to the flank of the Spanish fleet from the east. It seemed that it still planned to launch an artillery attack with naval guns.

.

At this time, what is in front of the Spanish fleet is a smooth road leading to the port area without any obstacles - at least there is no eyesight of the Haihan battleship on the sea. All that needs to be done now is to rush in and complete it without any distractions.

Landing, as long as you have hostages in your hands, are you afraid that you won't be able to deal with Haihan's fleet?

"Go north! Attack at full speed!" Pinto could not wait to give the order. Although he also knew that there was Haihan's coastal defense fort near the coast, but that thing was a dead thing after all, and it would never be better than this sea.

Is the Han fleet difficult to deal with? As long as we break through this layer of defense and change the current passive situation through the battle after landing, we can achieve it.

Almost at the same time, the Manila fleet on the other side also began to engage its opponent. The naval guns on the Haihan battleship roared, carrying out a unilateral attack on the Spanish warship at an advantageous combat distance.

The advantage in gun range made it difficult for the Spanish fleet to launch an effective counterattack. Although the range difference was not large, the Haihan fleet controlled the engagement distance extremely accurately, leaving almost no possibility for the Spanish warships to hit.

Fortunately, the two armies were heading towards each other, and the Haihan fleet did not have much shooting time. Except for one ship in the Spanish fleet, it was unfortunate that its mainmast was broken, and it temporarily lost most of its power and could no longer continue.

Following the pace of the fleet, the other ships that were bombarded were basically unharmed and were still within the controllable range of damage control. However, the casualties among the crew and sailors were inevitably heavy, which indeed had a negative impact on the morale of the Spanish fleet.

Quite a blow.

But now that he has broken through the defense line of the Haihan Fleet and the entrance channel of Sanya Victory Port is clearly visible, Louis can no longer care about the current loss. As long as he can enter Sanya, all this will be richly rewarded!

Although the damaged ship was constantly sending signals for help to the flagship, Louis no longer cared about rescuing it. His current mentality was the same as Pinto. Now that he had arrived at the gate of Sanya, and the Haihan Navy defending here had also

Being left behind, what power can there be to prevent his fleet from rushing into the port and killing everyone?

Both commanders believed that they had secured a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. How long would it be before they launched a charge now? However, some people held completely opposite views. Among the onlookers observing the seaside highlands of the Luhuitou Peninsula, there were many

A discerning person commented on the charge of the Spanish fleet: "This Port of Victory is a dead end. They are still digging in with their heads down. How can they escape when the Haihan fleet turns around and outflanks it?"

Liu Shang was shocked when he heard such comments. He originally thought that Haihan's release of the Spanish fleet was a serious mistake in tactical execution, but after hearing such comments, he realized that his military

His knowledge was so shallow that he didn't even realize that the Haihan people were trying to spread suspicion and lead the Spanish fleet into their pockets. He also recognized the person who made the comment. He was a military attaché sent to Sanya for further training from Annan State. He must have far-reaching vision in this regard.

Better than myself, I think this review is not wrong.

Of course not everyone has such a vision. The military attache who commented on the tactics actually did so because he had visited the coastal defense forts set up by Haihan on both sides of the Sanya Victory Port entrance and exit channel before and knew the terrifying nature of these fortifications.

They have this judgment on the current war situation. However, Liu Shang and the Spaniards only knew that there were fortifications near the shore, but they did not know the number of weapons deployed, their power, and their range. Naturally, it was difficult to accurately judge whether they could

Break through this layer of defense. What's more, the Spanish fleet has already reached this point, and it is absolutely impossible to give up the opportunity to invade the port area.

Among the two ports in Sanya, Sanya Port has a narrow passage in and out. The Spanish fleet never considered it as the main attack target from the beginning. Otherwise, if Haihan blocked the passage with ships after attacking, he would be unable to get in and out.

That would be troublesome. Although Victory Port has similar problems, the waterway is much wider than Sanya Port, and the difficulty of attacking is not that great. It is reasonable for the Spanish fleet to choose this direction as its main attack direction.

However, there are many people who have similar views to Liu Shang. Seeing the Spanish fleet approaching the Port of Victory, but the Haihan fleet already falling behind it, many people were so nervous that they stood up to watch, and many others anxiously

Ask the officers present if the situation is not good.

At that moment, an officer picked up the tin trumpet and loudly told the audience not to panic, everything was under the control of the Haihan Army. Although everyone still had doubts in their hearts, since the military people came out to say that everything was fine, there was still a certain degree of certainty.

Credibility, after all, the Haihan Army is always victorious and undefeated, and they should not make fun of their own reputation.

Not long after, the Spanish fleet had already approached the entrance of Port Victory. From this distance, one could almost clearly see with the naked eye the densely packed coastal defense forts on the slopes of the east and west banks.

The American Fleet located to the west is the first to bear the brunt. The part of the Yulin Peninsula that goes deep into the South China Sea is the only way to enter the Victory Port. The east coast of the peninsula is almost densely covered with three miles of coastal defenses. Large and small forts are scattered at different heights, and they are dark.

The muzzles of the guns were all pointed in the direction of the Spanish fleet. These forts were built one after another during the eight years that Haihan occupied this place. The artillery on some of the forts had been replaced for several generations, although they had never played any practical role before.

However, the Haihan Executive Committee and the military have been sparing no effort to continuously renovate and expand it, striving to build this place into an unbreakable fire blockade.

Of course, Pinto also noticed the coastal defense fortifications here. Although the opponent had not yet opened fire, he had secretly begun to complain in his heart. The intelligence did mention that Haihan had built a coastal defense fort outside Victory Port, but there were no detailed drawings.

For reference. When the Manila military formulated the action plan, it only regarded it as an ordinary port fort. But after seeing the real thing, Pinto was so angry that he wanted to curse. The scale of this fort is not comparable to that of an ordinary port.

There are few fortress-style forts like this even in Europe. Could it be that the intelligence officers sent to Sanya as undercover agents are not smart?

Pinto's complaint is actually not unreasonable. The Manila authorities had originally sent soldiers from Luzon Island to serve as intelligence agents. However, Haihan's immigration inspection was extremely strict. Intelligence agents with military backgrounds pretended to be civilians, often because of some minor reasons.

The identity was revealed through the details. Later, the detectives sent by Manila to Sanya were genuine civilians. Although these people could successfully lurk, their professional qualities were not that strong. Even if they knew the shore outside Victory Port

It is difficult to give an objective and detailed description of the fortifications. We have no idea how many guns are deployed, how large the fire coverage is, the size of the troops stationed there, etc. The intelligence sent back to Manila does not have many details.

Omissions in intelligence work have now led to great consequences.
Chapter completed!