Vol 2 Chapter 524: , Night Attack (2)

Latest website: The firepower of the colonial cruiser is actually quite weak, with only a 75mm gun at the bow and stern. For confidentiality. Under normal circumstances, this gun is not even used to retreat technology, but fortunately the mission performed this time is relatively important, considering that in case there is a chance to perform the task of covering the ground, the three colonial cruisers in this operation are all equipped On the tube retreat 75 guns. This has doubled their firepower efficiency several times, but even so, because they cannot move and the warship itself is not armored, the French must ensure that they can succeed at the first blow, otherwise the British only need to cut into the direction of the bow and rely on it. With the side firepower of their twenty guns, they still have an overwhelming advantage.
In particular, the gun positions of colonial cruisers are not protected by a turret. There is only a shield, and this shield can barely block rifle bullets (if it’s too close, it’s not reliable), most of it cannot stop British warships. Grape bomb. Fortunately, at this time, the British should have not had time to discover themselves. Captain Edmundo felt that the first one or two shells would be decisive.
Edmundo was born as a gunner. Before he became a captain, he was a gunner for a long time. So this time, he simply threw off his hat and went to the bow to operate the gun himself.
Saldanha Bay is in the westerly zone, and to the west is the vast Atlantic Ocean. Because of the influence of the westerly belt, westerly winds blow here all year round. But on the other hand, every night, the temperature of the air on the land drops faster than that of the ocean, which makes the air pressure on the land significantly higher than the air pressure on the ocean, so from the microclimate, the air should flow from land to ocean. . The result of the competition between the general climate and the microclimate is that the Saldanha Bay is calm at night, like a large lake.
Such sea conditions are of course very suitable for longer-range shelling. If it weren't for the lack of light at night and the gun mirrors could not be used, and the sighting could only be done with the naked eye, Captain Edmundo would be able to hit the enemy ship first. But now, whether the first serve can hit or not is still a matter of luck and faith.
If the first serve fails to hit, then the back shot is very important. So Captain Edmundo chose a semi-armor-piercing burning tracer specially prepared for night combat. After this projectile is fired, it can drag out a long band of light, clearly showing the trajectory of the projectile. This of course will expose oneself, but considering that the sound of the gun and the muzzle flame have inevitably exposed oneself, plus a light band, it is actually nothing.
After the shells were loaded, Captain Edmundo looked at the enemy ship again, but unfortunately the direction of the enemy ship's navigation was not very good. He only had the first gun to use. Otherwise, using the bow gun and the stern gun to fire together, the confidence will be greater.
Captain Edmundo adjusted his aim again, then prayed to God again, then closed one eye and waved his hand.
With a loud noise, a long strip of light flew straight out and shot at the British sailing frigate "Lucky".
"Lucky" was obviously not lucky enough at this moment, this shell hit it. But relatively speaking, in misfortune, he is lucky. The shell didn't hit any key points, it just hit a small debris warehouse in the bow of the ship. The shells of course ignited these debris, but the fire was not particularly large, and for the time being, it would not immediately have much impact on the combat effectiveness of the warship.
In contrast, if the shell goes a little further back and enters the gun bay, the semi-armor piercing incendiary with solidified fuel will not only burn up quickly (the gun bay is more spacious, with better ventilation and more air), And it can quickly produce a lot of toxic smoke-that is really terrible.
The shelling made the cruiser "Tradewind" revealed in the dark, but although the British spotted him, it took some time to take aim.
"Quick, quick reload!" The eye that Captain Edmundo opened was affected by the muzzle flame and the tracer of the shell, and almost nothing was visible. He quickly opened the one that could still see something. Eyes, shouted loudly.
A soldier pulled the handle and a bullet case made of brass fell on the deck with a bang. Another soldier who had been prepared swiftly stuffed the cannonball in his hand into the barrel and closed the bolt.
Captain Edmundo gently shook the handle with his right hand to fine-tune the muzzle, then closed the still-visible eye again and waved his hand.
A soldier yanked the firing rope, and another shell flew toward the "Lucky".
This shell hit the gun bay of "Lucky" and exploded in the gun bay, throwing dozens of fires all over the gun bay. One of the flames fell into the opened powder keg, and the fire ignited immediately.
"Well, it's done!" Edmundo shouted, "Where is the other boat?"
Just as Edmundo was yelling with joy, there was also a flash of fire on the "Lucky" side-when the British entered the bay, every cannon had been loaded. Now they also reacted and launched a counterattack.
There are 20 guns on the side of "Lucky", because they don't know the protection level of French colonial cruisers, so these guns use spherical shells with the strongest armor-piercing ability for them. Because the gun bay was on fire and the fire was still expanding, the British counterattack was relatively hasty, and the sequence of the salvos was not neat enough. Of course, the shooting rate was not comparable to Edmundo's gun. However, because the distance between the two sides was only about 300 meters, and the British fired enough shells, many shells still hit the "Trade Wind".
Although the thin shell of the "Tradewind" is made of metal, its defensive capability is actually not as good as the British sail frigate, so these iron easily penetrated the "Tradewind" hull and gave The crew who was preparing to light the boiler was not small.
However, the British artillery shells are too backward, and the after-effect of killing is completely incomparable to the French tracer armour-piercing incendiary. So although the French only hit two shells from the British, and the British hit more than a dozen shells from the French warship, the damage caused by the French shells was significantly greater in terms of damage. Now the fire on the "Lucky" has clearly expanded. Flames emerged from several cannon windows, illuminating the ship all at once.
The rumble of cannons also alarmed other ships. The passenger and cargo mixed carrier "Atlantic Transporter" reacted first. The "Atlantic Transporter" is a steam-powered ship. Of course she has turned off by this time. It is definitely too late to re-ignite the fire. However, new steam-powered ships often have one thing that old-fashioned sailing does not have-arc searchlights.
If the steam engine is not started, the small generators on the ship will naturally not run, but there are batteries on the ship, which can still support the searchlights for a while.
Captain Aguero is a retired French naval officer. He is now the captain of the "Europa Shipping Union". His ship is now employed by the government of the Republic of the Netherlands and flies the flag of the Netherlands. (This flag and The French flag is a bit like) When the gun sounded, he immediately realized what had happened. So he immediately rang the alarm bell, aroused all the crew, and gave them the order to abandon the ship.
The order was sudden, and it seemed to have been issued earlier. However, the crew did not intend to question the captain's orders, anyway, they were not far from the coast and could swim through them. Moreover, abandon the ship early to be safe. Isn't it?
The sailors put down the dinghy, a little impatient, and jumped off with a bucket or something. But Captain Aguero came to the searchlight himself.
The searchlight came on, and the white lamppost pierced the darkness like a sharp sword. Aguero knew where the ships on his side were anchored. He carefully operated the searchlights to avoid the light beams from the ships on his side and swept across the dark sea in order to hide the other ship in the dark. Find out the British warship in China.
The beam of light swept across, and a battleship suddenly emerged from the darkness. This is another British warship, the sail frigate "Miracle". At this time, she was about to go around from another direction, and then gave the "Tradewind" a big surprise with a side cannon at very close range.
But a beam of light illuminates her, and her plan is frustrated. And because of the high brightness of the searchlights, the British soldiers on the "Miracle" could not see what ship the "Atlantic Transporter" had lit the searchlights. But even if you think about it with your heel, you can understand that it must be a French warship that can make such an action at this time!
The British knew very well that the semi-armor piercing incendiary bombs equipped on French warships were almost the nemesis of wooden warships. The arson effect of this weapon was originally comparable to the original red-hot iron ball~EbookFREE.me~ Once it gets one or two shots, if luck is not good enough, the entire warship may be accounted for here. So "Miracle" immediately made a sharp turn, not only to get rid of the beam of searchlight, but also to aim the side of the "Atlantic Transporter", although under the strong light, they could not see " The outline of the "Atlantic Transporter" cannot even be accurately positioned. But they still fired violently at their estimated location as quickly as possible.
Like "Lucky", "Miracle" uses solid shells, and because they can't see the "enemy ship" at all, the hit rate is lower than that of the "Lucky" round.
But the "Miracle" had better luck. Although it only hit a few shells, one shell hit the coal bunker and ignited the coal.
If there are crew members on the ship, this small fire can be completely extinguished. The coal does not burn quickly. Of course, once it does burn, it will be difficult to put out the fire. However, in order to reduce the casualties of the crew, Captain Aguero drove them all off the ship, so damage to the pipe was impossible. However, the flames in the coal bunker were not enough to destroy the ship.
Just as the "Miracle" fired frantically on the "Atlantic Transporter", two other French colonial cruisers also began to point their muzzles at the "Miracle".