The violent explosions in the distance seemed to shake the waves. Clemento's face was drained of color. In his vision, the warships at the forefront of his own battle line were suffering unimaginable damage. The first-class warships that were acting as the main attacking force had already been blasted to pieces by enemy shells before they could even launch an attack.
Amidst the deafening explosions, the sturdy ship structures were destroyed, shooting out of the sea in a radial pattern, the mangled hulls still burning from the flames.
Amidst the burning wreckage of warships, plumes of black smoke rose into the sky, and beneath the shroud of smoke, broken and burned masts fell one by one.
The brutality of the battle almost suffocated Clemento.
At the forefront, the warships that suffered the most severe shelling had even begun to disintegrate. Shells exploded on the middle deck, almost destroying everything, while subsequent shells fell onto the deck, blasting huge gaps in it, with flames burning fiercely in all directions.
The soldiers who miraculously survived the explosion were too late to put out the fire. Their eardrums were nearly ruptured, and they could barely control their bodies. They could only sway and let out feeble cries, though the sound was faint like the chirping of insects amidst the explosion. Flames then surged into every part of the building and then burned into the lower deck.
The soldiers in the lower deck were already terrified by the sudden explosion. When the flames came, they instinctively chose to take cover. The fire could no longer be contained and burned brighter and brighter until it spread to the important engine rooms in the lower deck.
In a sailing warship, the most important room is undoubtedly the ammunition room, which stores a large number of cannonballs and gunpowder, playing a vital role in fighting the enemy. But at this moment, the deck above the ammunition room has been torn open by an explosion, and the fallen planks are still on fire.
Finally, when the flames reached this point, the raging fire ignited the stored gunpowder.
Immediately following.
"Bang!"
The gunpowder ignited instantly, and even more intense flames exploded in all directions from the ammunition compartment!
The soldiers near the ammunition compartment were ignited in the intense flames like willow catkins. Their hair, body hair, clothes, and other flammable materials that first came into contact with the flames were charred almost instantly. Their eyes were blinded by the instantaneous heat, leaving only pale pupils. Their exposed skin turned red in an instant, then charred and cracked, and the flesh beneath the skin burst open, yet not a single drop of blood flowed out.
They crashed to the ground, flames engulfing their bodies, for they had already suffocated to death in the instant of the explosion.
Clemento, positioned at the rear of the fleet, could almost feel the intense heat and the choking smoke, but what was most terrifying was the horrific explosions. He was horrified by the power of the shells, which were destroying his own warships with overwhelming force.
The horrifying sight made Clemento feel as if a block of iron was stuck in his throat, and he couldn't utter a single word.
He had anticipated that his own warships would inevitably suffer damage in the engagement, with some being sunk, while the enemy would suffer even greater losses. However, the outcome of the battle was that his side suffered heavy casualties, and his proud warships were easily destroyed like rotten wood by enemy shells, without even having played a role.
Meanwhile, the shelling continued.
The Yan army fleet, which was launching a fierce attack in a "T" formation, had hundreds of warships in front of it constantly firing explosive shells. This bombardment was completely different from the first one.
In fact, the hit rate of their shells in the first bombardment was not particularly high. This was because the initial bombardment at the start of the naval battle served more as a range finding tool. The enemy warships were still far away in their field of vision, and only a few shells actually hit the enemy warships, while most of them fell into the sea. However, after the range finding from the first round of bombardment, the hit rate of the second round of bombardment would be significantly improved.
At this very moment, after calibrating the turrets, the gunners launched fire at the remeasured target.
One after another, explosive shells shot out from the barrel. The unique conical structure significantly increased the speed of these shells, and with a whooshing sound, they flew into the sky in an arc.
On the opposite side, during the first round of bombardment, the leading warships of the Allied fleet's longitudinal battle line suffered heavy damage. The first ships to be hit almost all began to sink due to various damages to their hulls, and the warships behind could only choose to avoid the wreckage and continue sailing forward, looking for an opportunity to launch a bombardment.
But by then, the second round of shelling from the opposite side had reached above these warships, which was completely unavoidable. The warships could only withstand it. In previous naval battles, this was the usual tactic for all warships: it was a contest of who could hold out the longest.
Having already experienced the power of explosive shells, the Allied soldiers were now trying their best to find cover, but the shelling was so intense that they could only hope that the shells would not hit the ships or land near them.
In fear, "Boom! Boom! Boom!" the shells came crashing down!
As expected, a new round of explosions rang out in quick succession. The soldiers, who were hiding in various places, were like ants being trampled by giants. They futilely hid in things that could not stop the shelling, and what followed was still collapse and disintegration.
On a leading warship, soldiers hiding in their compartments were horrified to see a gaping hole blown open above them, and almost simultaneously, unseen shrapnel entered their bodies.
With nowhere to go on the deck, some of the quick-thinking soldiers crawled into the barrels. They huddled inside in terror, curling up and covering their heads, faces and chests with their hands, praying that the explosion would not reach them.
This chapter is not finished yet. Please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
