Chapter 728 Somalia Naval Battle
The intelligence from Dire Dawa was obviously lagging behind. Although there were telegraph connections with the rear, the source of the intelligence came from the Arabs in British Somaliland, and it took them several days to arrive in Dire Dawa, which was enough time for the British Royal Navy to make its next move.
Mogadishu port waters.
The East African Navy has long been in a state of combat readiness, and warship patrols have become normalized. The Mogadishu naval force is not strong.
There are only three gunboats serving as main combat ships, but the entire Somali coastline is nearly two thousand kilometers long.
"Gala'ad sent back a message that a British fleet passed through the waters near Gala'ad seventeen minutes ago. They are heading towards our Mogadishu port. According to the report from Gala'ad Town, there are thirteen warships in total, including four first-class ironclad ships and five second-class ironclad ships. They bypassed the Gala'ad waters in a menacing manner."
Alex: "Send a message directly to Bagamoyo. We need support. If an emergency occurs, our Mogadishu Navy is unable to undertake this level of blocking mission."
This is a time that will test the patience of the East African Navy. Although the Naval Headquarters said in advance that it should be wary of the British Navy, Britain has not yet declared war on East Africa.
This is just like the US military exercises in the South China Sea of the Far East Empire in the past. You cannot be sure whether its purpose is really a "military exercise", so you must not be impulsive at this time, but you cannot let your guard down either!
"Don't get too close to the British warships. Try to drive them away first." Commanded Captain Alex of the Mogadishu Navy.
…
At three o'clock in the afternoon, Alex led his "small" formation, waited for the opportunity, and successfully intercepted the British Royal Navy fleet in the north, but the situation did not look very good.
"Lai Sol, are the ships driven by these East African monkeys the main battleships of the East African Navy?"
Filler liked to call East Africans East African monkeys because in his opinion the "apes" in such uncivilized regions of Africa were a group of monkeys that could not integrate into civilized society, even though East Africans were largely part of the German people.
"Don't underestimate the East Africans. Although their shipbuilding technology is backward, the combat effectiveness between ironclad ships largely tests the commander's military ability. The East African Navy was taught by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which still has desirable qualities in shipbuilding technology," said Laisol.
"And we haven't encountered the main force of the East African Navy yet. According to intelligence, the main naval force of East Africa is in the waters of the former Sultanate of Zanzibar. There are currently more than a dozen ironclad ships. Although their quality varies, they can still pose a certain threat to us."
The strength of the East African Navy is far inferior to that of the British Royal Navy. Many of East African first-class ironclad ships would actually be second-class ironclad ships in the UK.
First of all, in terms of tonnage, the main battleships of the British fleet that arrived in East Africa this time all had a tonnage of more than 6,000 tons, and four of them were over 8,000 tons.
The largest ironclad ship in East Africa was only over 7,000 tons, and there were only three of them. The lowest tonnage was not much higher than that of the East African gunboat, at only over 1,000 tons.
The displacement of the East African gunboat is less than one thousand tons. In the UK, this type of naval equipment is the Randall gunboat, which rose rapidly in the 1870s, but declined rapidly in the 1890s and withdrew from the naval stage.
This type of alternative gunboat has a very short history, having flourished for less than twenty years, but it is currently the most technologically mature domestically produced warship in East Africa.
But it is simply nonsense to think of confronting the British Royal Navy battleship in front of them with a displacement of at least 8,000 tons.
In the original history, that is, the naval battle between the Far Eastern Empire and Japan in 1879, the "mosquito boats" or Randall gunboats were no match for the ironclad ships.
The United Kingdom also equipped a large number of these cheap "gunboats", but they were mainly used in colonial areas.
As for the main combat ships of the British Royal Navy, that is, various types of ironclad ships, they are mainly deployed in the British homeland waters in the North Atlantic or in the Mediterranean Sea, which are also the two most important areas of British maritime hegemony.
The idea is similar in East Africa. Ironclad ships are the main maritime force to ensure national security, so the East African Navy's ironclad ships are basically distributed in the eastern waters, with Bagamoyo Port, Pemba Island and Zanzibar as the main core.
At the same time, the cities of Mombasa, Tanga, and Pemba (one of the pure military ports in East Africa) constitute the outer maritime defense, while the port of Mogadishu is not even considered as the outer periphery, and its strength is not as good as that of the South Ryukyu Islands colony in East Africa.
This is also the main reason why Acris had no hope of expelling the British Navy. The three gunboats under his command were not enough to fill the gap in the teeth of the British ocean-going fleet.
"Give these East African monkeys a little shock and kill them right away!"
Grafton, commander-in-chief of the Royal Naval Expeditionary Force, ordered.
Because the East African Navy had already discovered it, there was no need to conceal this expedition, so it was only natural to destroy this inconspicuous small gunboat formation.
Following Grafton's order, the main turret of the British Navy's "Gray Fox" turned its guns directly and aimed at the gunboat in East Africa.
Accompanied by a loud "boom" sound, huge waves were stirred up directly next to the East African gunboat.
Alex's command ship suddenly felt a jolt, his ears seemed to lose hearing in an instant, and the crew members fell to the ground.
"Damn it, this is a real war, fight back quickly!"
But the British would not give Alex a chance. After the first shot, the muzzle was quickly calibrated, and this time the shell landed closer to Alex's command ship.
The East African gunboat seemed to be in a precarious situation in an instant, and at this time the British "Giant" also joined the battlefield.
With the continuous sound of artillery fire, Alex's heart sank. The strength of both sides was no longer on the same level. At this time, they were no match for the British.
He shouted, "Send an order to the other two warships, we will withdraw to our home port. It is important to escape now, and do not make unnecessary sacrifices."
Relying on the artillery in Mogadishu, we might be able to deal with the British, but if we confront them at sea, it would be a dead end.
The British only dispatched two ironclad ships, but the Mogadishu Navy in East Africa was already beaten and fled in panic. In the midst of the storm, Alex was unable to even exert his command ability.
The Mogadishu Navy used the method of circling the sea to avoid the British Royal Navy's artillery fire, while using its main guns to fire back as much as possible to slow down the speed of the British warships.
But in the face of the huge gap, all these efforts were in vain. At 3:12 pm, after the fifth pre-aiming, the "Gray Fox" successfully hit the "Andreas" gunboat in East Africa with one shot.
A large hole was blown in the hull of the "Andreas" in an instant, seawater poured into the cabin in an instant, and the "Andreas" began to tilt.
Alex was luckier. His ship and another one successfully escaped the range and quickly approached the home port of Mogadishu.
But escape could not avoid the inevitable fate. The Royal Navy quickly followed up and began to bombard the port of Mogadishu.
The port of Mogadishu suffered heavy losses, and a large number of ships that had not left the port were severely damaged. The silver lining in this misfortune is that this is the old port of Mogadishu, which is mainly used for military purposes.
After being hit by artillery fire, Mogadishu's coastal artillery defense system began to react and activated, preventing the British army from approaching the port area for shelling again, thus reducing losses.
After the British confirmed that the East African warships in the port could not move again, they left directly and headed towards the southern part of East Africa.
(End of this chapter)
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