Chapter 1107: The Battle of the South Pacific (First Update, Please Subscribe)
September 12, the 13th year of Shengde, this day is destined to go down in history!
The cannons roared on the sea,
Following an unexpected bombardment, the Peruvian-Bolivian fleet began to spit out flames, first from the 12-inch main guns of the Peruvian, then from the Bolivia and the main and secondary guns of the armored ships.
The great naval battle in the South Pacific begins!
The fleets of both sides fired artillery shells back and forth on the sea.
At a distance of six kilometers, the artillery fire from both sides was not very accurate, and the low hit rate of the Peruvian-Bolivian fleet and the low destructive power of the shells put the Peruvian-Bolivian coalition fleet at a disadvantage from the beginning.
However, Cheng Bichen, the fleet commander, did not order the main guns to fire back. As for the first few minutes, both the Shanxi and the Linhai only used their secondary guns to fire back. So in the first few minutes, the firepower of the Imperial Navy was obviously weaker than that of the Peruvian-Bolivian coalition. However, thanks to the Imperial Navy's rapid-fire guns, its strength was not inferior to that of the Peruvian-Bolivian coalition.
In the first few minutes, shells continued to fall on the warships of the Federal Fleet, exploding balls of flames on the deck, and flying shrapnel took the lives of gunners and sailors from time to time.
This is naval warfare!
It is bloody in itself.
That's how it is!
At 9:53, on the bridge of the Shanxi, the artillery officer An Weimin, who had been waiting, shouted.
"Fire!"
When the order to open fire was given, the two sides were only 4,000 meters apart. Immediately, all four 305mm main guns of the "Taiyuan" fired at the "Peru". Then the "Linhai" also began to fire, and its four 254mm main guns roared.
Compared with the secondary guns, the main guns' bombardment was earth-shattering.
The target of the bombardment was the Federation flagship "Peru". In an instant, the 8,300-ton warship was completely covered by artillery fire. In just the first round of salvos, a 305mm shell accurately hit the "Peru". The high-explosive bomb weighing nearly 400 kilograms directly blew a huge ball of flames amidships. The whistling fragments covered the deck like raindrops, and the shock wave of the explosion directly knocked Commander Grau and others on the bridge to the deck.
Due to the limitations of technology, the armor-piercing shells of this era had poor armor-piercing effects and were almost impossible to penetrate ten-inch armor. Therefore, at the beginning of the war, Cheng Bichen, the fleet commander who was previously the deputy chief of naval staff, directly ordered the use of high-explosive shells.
Although high-explosive bombs could not sink the warships, the shells that continued to fall on the warships still caused extremely heavy casualties to the Peruvian warships, and the flames from the exploding shells even ignited the deck.
Three minutes later, the distance between the two sides was close to 3,000 meters, which was already a hand-to-hand fight for the battleships. The power of the sensitive high-explosive bombs used by the Imperial Navy was fully demonstrated on the battleships Peru and Bolivia. Within three minutes of the battle, their deck superstructures were almost flattened by the Imperial Navy, and the chimneys of the "Vags" were all blown away.
Just fifteen minutes after the fleet opened fire, the armored cruiser "Vags" caught fire, followed by the "Peru" and "Independence" one after another. The power of picric acid shells was fully utilized in the naval battle.
But what is even more deadly is the firing rate!
When the distance was reduced to less than three kilometers, the Peruvian-Polish coalition forces discovered a fact that made them despair. Although they had more warships and more artillery, their firepower was far inferior to that of the Imperial Navy.
As the main gun of the Shanxi roared again, the staff officer beside Grau shouted.
"The enemy ship's main guns are firing again, the time is about one minute and twenty seconds!"
Grau screamed in shock.
"how so!"
What was the rate of fire of the Peru's twelve-inch guns?
Two minutes and thirty seconds!
And what does this mean?
The firepower of a Taiyuan is almost equal to the combined power of the Peru and Bolivia.
"How come their guns fire so fast!"
"Their secondary guns are faster..."
Yes, the secondary guns were faster. When the Taiyuan entered the battle zone, its six 120mm rapid-fire guns on the starboard side immediately fired shells at the Peru at a rate of ten rounds per minute. Although the 23-kilogram shells could not penetrate the armor of a battleship, they could blow up buildings on the surface, kill unprotected sailors and gunners, and ignite everything on the deck. The highly sensitive fuse would explode in mid-air even if it hit the rigging, taking more lives.
Victory in a naval battle is often a victory of technology. Although the sailors on the Peruvian-Polish coalition fleet fought tenaciously amid the fierce artillery fire, shouting to their comrades in the flames and operating cannons to fire at the Imperial Navy, the outcome was doomed from the beginning.
"put!"
When Allende pulled the fuse hard, the shell whizzed out and the heavy gun body slid to the rear along the pulley, then slowly slid down the slope. There was blood everywhere around him, and many gunners were either injured or dead.
"Reload, reload..."
No one responded to Allende's shouts anymore, and the gunners all fell down. At this moment, the Marines who rushed out with the shells came to the gun position and began to help him load the shells.
“Hurry up, hurry up…”
The heavy cannon needs to be reset, aimed again, and again...
Three kilometers away, in the armored gun bay of the "Jincheng" protected cruiser, although the shock wave of the explosion above his head continued to shake the armored gun bay, they could still fire safely under the protection of the armor. Gunner Lin Jie was turning the wheel, his eyes on the optical sight, shaking the gun barrel to point at the "Independence", and the moment he aimed at it, he pulled the trigger.
"Bang!"
At the moment when the flames from the muzzle blocked his vision, the loader behind him shouted again while ejecting the shell.
"Reload!"
A 120mm fully loaded shell was loaded into the barrel, and when the bolt was locked, the loader patted his shoulder hard.
"Reloading completed!" Before he even finished shouting "complete", Lin Jie pulled the trigger again. The shell flew out again, and a few seconds later, a ball of fiery red fireworks exploded on the hull of the "Independence"!
When the loader loaded the ammunition again and fired again, Allende had already fallen in a pool of blood on the gun position amidships of the Independence. A piece of flying shrapnel blew off his legs. He looked at the gunpowder bag on the ground in despair, struggling to stuff the gunpowder bag into the gun barrel. At this moment, accompanied by the whistling sound of the shells, he only felt a huge flame rising in front of him, and he was engulfed by the flames. When Allende and his comrades were blown away, the propellant bag weighing more than ten kilograms was also ignited...
(End of this chapter)
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