The sea was surging and the turbulent waters seemed to have become fierce at this moment. The Allied fleet sailing on it was adjusting the positions of its warships under fierce artillery fire.
Despite enemy artillery fire hindering their turning, the windward position made it easier to adjust the sails, and each warship on this voyage had an experienced captain. Therefore, even under such difficult circumstances, the warships in the middle finally managed to form a horizontal battle line.
The warships at the forefront, which had taken the most damage from the shelling, were now almost completely destroyed. Hundreds of warships were bombarded and disintegrated. Some warships that were not completely destroyed were still burning at sea, and the raging flames turned the sea surface red. Shipwrecks were everywhere on the sea, and the number of floating corpses was unimaginable. Most of the people were not even killed by the bombs, but drowned by the sea after the ships sank.
Clemento stared palely at the battle ahead. He roughly estimated that the allied forces had lost at least a hundred warships in this short period of time. The naval battle had not been going on for long, yet it had already been reduced to this state, which was truly shocking.
Fortunately, the officers at the front were all brave men. Despite the terrible casualties, they did not back down. Now, the warships at the front were barely arranged in a rough "I" line, with their hulls facing the Yan army warships. This gave Clemento a glimmer of hope.
He immediately raised his fist and roared, "Fire! Return fire!"
"We still have plenty of warships! Fire all the shells!!"
The Allied fleet fired its cannons, and the gunners on the ship's side hurriedly loaded solid shells into the foredrons, then lit the fuses while drenched in sweat. In a normal naval battle, they would never be so flustered, but this time was different. The enemy's shells were extremely powerful and were whistling overhead. No one knew if they would land on their heads.
If it were a conventional shell, you would be fine as long as you dodged it. But these shells cannot be dodged. They explode as soon as they hit the ground, and the destructive force they generate is enough to annihilate everything in the center of the shell.
But that wasn't the worst thing. The worst thing had already happened to those sunk warships: the ammunition compartment was hit by a shell. Once the ammunition compartment was hit, the entire ship would perish.
In past naval battles, both sides used wooden warships, and the cannonballs they fired had limited power. The ammunition compartments, being of paramount importance, were located at the bottom of the ship, making it difficult for the cannonballs to hit them. But in today's naval battle, everyone realized that there was no safe place on their warships.
Whether it was the upper deck, the engine room, or the lower deck, the entire warship, inside and out, was unable to withstand the explosions of enemy shells. Therefore, at this moment, all they seemed to have was a elusive bit of luck.
But it was clear that under the intense barrage of fire and the relentless bombardment, even God could not grant them the luck to escape the shells.
Just like now.
Although the Allied fleet managed to turn its midships to face the enemy at the cost of sacrificing the leading ships, this action actually increased the surface area of their ships exposed to attack.
In a column formation, their warships face the enemy bow to bow, allowing the warships behind to avoid cannon fire. However, in a horizontal formation, even more warships become targets, and the opposing Yan army fleet is now being used as targets!
"Blow them up!!"
"Blast these scum to dust!"
Amidst the rough shouts and curses, the Yan soldiers were sweating profusely, their faces flushed, while the cannons fired until their barrels glowed red, unleashing a dense barrage of explosive shells like a sudden downpour, all raining down on the allied warships.
Immediately following was a series of explosions, and the allied warships, which had spun sideways toward the guns of the Yan army warships, suffered heavy damage!
The Allied artillerymen were firing, but the shells kept exploding around them, the powerful destructive force even overturning the heavy cannons, blasting the muzzles to pieces and exposing all the soldiers to the explosive shells.
Flesh and blood followed the ship's hull as it collapsed, disintegrated, shattered, and splattered.
Before they could mount a strong counterattack, their formation was destroyed, the lead ships were capsizing one after another, and their keels were broken in two by explosions and flames.
The warship split open completely!
Soldiers, their eardrums shattered by the explosion, looked around in bewilderment, then groaned as shells pierced their bodies, exploding them in a rage. Their livers, intestines, hearts, and lungs shattered into a pool, spraying everywhere. Blood trickled down the charred hull, then was scorched by the flames into a wisp of smoke, vanishing without a trace.
"Still can't do it?"
"Damn it, is this how we're going to end up...?" On a sinking warship, the captain, his will broken, knelt on the ground and let out a powerless wail.
"Slaughter them!!! Charge!"
Meanwhile, the Whale Fleet on the right flank launched a fierce attack on the Yan Army's warships. Like the Allied Fleet, they had also suffered heavy casualties in the previous naval battle. However, as the auxiliary force in this naval battle, the Yan Kingdom's fierce attack was more aimed at the Dawn Fleet in front.
Federich was not a coward. After being commissioned by Emperor Saint-Ist, he was determined to defeat the Yan Kingdom's fleet. Although the bombardment he was currently suffering was terrifying, he still ordered the Whale Fleet to launch a fierce offensive.
They were not only using their shipboard cannons to retaliate, but also hundreds of warships broke away from the front lines and sailed at high speed with their bows facing the enemy. These warships would charge into the enemy formation from the side!
They are launching a suicidal charge, intending to destroy warships with their own!
But at this moment, dozens of warships suddenly emerged from behind the Yan Army fleet. These warships were not large in size, but their speed was incredibly fast, and they were charging toward the giant whale fleet in a deadly attack.
Moments later, the lead Whale warship, which was charging forward, suddenly suffered a breach in its lower deck without warning, and a large amount of seawater rushed into the lower deck. The more the warship sailed, the deeper it sank into the seawater.
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