Chapter 731 Heavy Losses
If the situation cannot be improved at this time, as these covering forces are gradually lost, the East African ironclad ships will also face the situation of being unable to support themselves.
At this time, the Second Fleet, which Vice Admiral Kerry had high hopes for, was also facing its own difficulties. The British had an advantage in the number of ships, which forced the Second Fleet's encirclement tactics to be terminated just halfway through.
"Major General Anton, the enemy ship has blocked our way. What should we do now?"
Major General Anton did not speak, but carefully observed the battlefield. At this time, Lieutenant General Kerry's First Fleet had gradually fallen into a disadvantage, so the Second Fleet had to assume greater responsibility.
Seeing the huge disparity in strength between the two sides, Major General Anton carefully analyzed the problem he was facing. It was impossible to continue to implement the encirclement plan, and returning to support Vice Admiral Kerry's First Fleet would not only be ineffective, but would also delay the opportunity to fight.
"All warships, turn on the power to the maximum, attack to the right, break through the enemy blockade, and each ship will act as a unit with only one goal, which is to attack the center area of the enemy's main fleet. No matter what means you use, I want results." Anton ordered.
Following Vice Admiral Kerry's decentralization of power, Major General Anton decentralized power again. This time, the Second East African Fleet was truly fighting on its own.
However, Major General Anton's strategic goal was very clear, which was to disrupt the British Army's conventional offensive at all costs and rescue the First Fleet. If the First Fleet was destroyed, the Second Fleet would have no way out.
The total displacement of the Hamburg was about 6,700 tons, and it was the second largest ironclad ship in the Second Fleet after the Trieste. After receiving the new order, Captain Sperger gave the order without hesitation: "Increase the ship's speed to the maximum, and sail to the southwest at full speed. Aim the artillery at the British ships ahead and fight your way out!"
Almost at the same time, the Second Fleet began to enter a state that was unimaginable for the intercepting British army, that is, the East Africans went crazy!
The British gunner on the Gray Fox asked, "Which direction should we fire in now?"
After the command of the Second East African Fleet was decentralized, the ironclad ships and gunboats of the Second Fleet showed their abilities in a disorderly manner, which made the three British ironclad ships responsible for interception suddenly not knowing which target to attack first.
"Attack the armored ships first, then deal with the gunboats, pick the big ones!" said the commander of the Gray Fox.
But at this time, three East African ships opened fire first, targeting the Gray Fox. They thought the same as the British at the first moment, which was to pick on the big one.
After the command was decentralized, many ships chose their own opponents or strategies to achieve their own goals. Among them, the Pace was the main force, and its target was the Gray Fox, while the other two were gunboats.
Although the gunboat is easy to sink and has low defense, its firepower is not weak and it is called a mobile artillery. At this time, three large and small warships simultaneously focused their fire on the Gray Fox, making the Gray Fox powerful but difficult to resist.
A shell from the Gray Fox directly hit the Pace, but the East African gunboat Hermann and the Pace hit the Gray Fox at the same time. The gunboat Margaret, which followed closely behind, took the opportunity to get to within two hundred meters of the left side of the Gray Fox and successfully penetrated the side armor of the Gray Fox.
Its 305mm main gun successfully penetrated the Gray Fox's hull. This shelling directly caused the Gray Fox to stop and its internal power system suffered a huge impact. Then the three ships continued to exert their firepower and the Gray Fox announced its withdrawal from the battle.
While the Second East African Fleet was making achievements, other British warships also inflicted heavy damage on the Second East African Fleet. So far, the Second East African Fleet has lost two gunboats, both of which were sunk.
However, compared with this loss, East Africa finally opened a gap on the left wing of the British Navy. The Trieste and Hamburg delayed the two intercepting British ironclad ships, and the other four warships of the East African Second Fleet took this opportunity to enter the hollow area on the left side of the British fleet.
The ironclad ships that were held back by the Hamburg and Trieste were unable to return to the rescue, and at this time the main force of the British fleet was trying to strike hard at the First East African Fleet.
The influx of four East African ships cut off the combat order of the British main force. At this time, the Second East African Fleet could completely eat up the flank of the British Navy, but because of the previous order from Major General Anton, it had to start shelling directly at the center of the British Navy's main force at all costs. At the same time, in order to prevent being hit, the four gunboats came towards the British army at high speed, and their route was disorganized.
The turmoil in the British rear instantly attracted the attention of Vice Admiral Kerry, who knew that the Second Fleet must have played a role.
He immediately gave the order: "Don't engage the British head-on anymore. The remaining ships should be divided into three directions, each looking for a target to attack, to completely disrupt the British rhythm."
As a result, the command of the First Fleet was delegated to each ship. At this time, the East African Navy was completely disorganized, and the disintegration of the First Fleet also caught the British fleet off guard. In addition, there were four "flies" from East Africa making trouble in the rear, and now chaos began to appear on the British front.
Commander Grafton of the British Royal Navy Expeditionary Force had already noticed something was wrong, but it was too late to make adjustments.
He could only order the British warships to rearrange themselves around the Giant, but the effect was not good after the order was given.
The East African ships played the "Emperor Qin circling the pillar" trick with the British on the sea, fighting each on their own, with the British ships as the main body, attacking indiscriminately.
At this time, the British Army and East Africa had become a complete mess. In such a close contact, if they fired, they might not hit the enemy but friendly forces.
Of course, the British ships were large and strong, and they could easily choose to collide with the East African ships, but the East African Navy still chose artillery as a means of attack even at such a close distance. Now the East African Navy could not distinguish between friend and foe, so it just grabbed the large ships and bombarded them.
The British ships were large and numerous, and mixed with the East African ships, so they were naturally easy to be hit. It was not easy for the British to fight back against these "random" East African warships.
Moreover, at this time, Britain had already been at sea for several days and had only rested in Somaliland before, so it was exhausted.
Under this condition, the combat effectiveness of the British Expeditionary Force soldiers plummeted, especially their mental activities were obviously unable to keep up. After successfully disrupting the war situation in East Africa, everyone was finally brought to the same level.
Time passed quickly and it was around ten o'clock in the morning. At this time, the war was finally declared over with the arrival of East African reinforcements.
Archduke Ferdinand personally led the remaining main forces of the East African Navy from the home port of Bagamoyo. At this time, both the British Army and the East African Navy were exhausted and unable to fight anymore.
After seeing the East African reinforcements, Commander-in-Chief Grafton issued an evacuation order without hesitation, but was still caught by the reinforcements, leaving behind the British cruiser Hyderabad.
At this point the Battle of Lamu was completely over, but both sides suffered heavy losses. Almost a quarter of the East African navy was destroyed in this battle, two ironclad ships were sunk, six gunboats were lost, and the remaining ironclad ships were basically damaged. Although the Friedrich did not sink, it was probably about to be retired.
The British Expeditionary Force also had three ships sunk, four seriously damaged, and two captured, which meant that half of the expeditionary force's warships were destroyed in East Africa, especially the two captured warships, which made Commander-in-Chief Grafton very unwilling.
(End of this chapter)
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