1850 American Gold Tycoon

"The Dutch are gaining the upper hand."

shouted a crew member on the Audacity.

This was Liang Yao's first serious naval battle.

He had no relevant combat experience in naval warfare before, and his understanding of the Dutch's maritime strength and combat habits was still limited to the intelligence he collected.

Liang Yao didn't know whether his crew preferred to fight upwind or downwind.

But he knew one thing, that is, he could not let the Dutch grab their favorite position and let the Dutch fight in the wind direction they were better at.

"Get the upper hand with the Dutch!"

Liang Yao issued an order to gain the upper hand with the Dutch.

Liang Yao's four battleships and 11 Loach-class ships are all steam ships. His fleet has a relatively high steamization rate, and the wind direction has relatively little impact on them.

But there are still 16 clippers and the Guangdong Navy. The pirates' pirate ships are sailboats, and these ships still rely heavily on the wind direction to fight.

Liang Yao's purpose is simple. Except for the four main warships in his own fleet, the rest of the ships are amateur navy.

The training level is relatively low and the degree of running-in is not satisfactory.

Liang Yao's biggest advantage lies in the technical advantage of the ship. To put it bluntly, it is the advantage of the naval gun.

Liang Yao hopes that his fleet can maintain the simplest one-line formation, use the advantages of naval guns to shoot at the opponent, and engage in line battles at sea. Don't use those fancy tactics.

Dutch sailors are very good at sailing. They skillfully manipulate the sails to maximize the wind's advantage.

Liang Yao's fleet lined up in a row. Although they were supported by steamships, they could only barely keep up with the Dutch ships and compete with them for the upper hand.

Obviously, the sailing skills of the merchant crewmen recruited by Liang Yao could not be compared with the skilled sailors of the Dutch.

Seeing that the Dutch exposed themselves to the shooting range of Liang Yao's fleet in order to maneuver to an effective position.

At this time, the Dutch's bow was facing the side of Liang Yao's fleet, which was an excellent opening window for Liang Yao's fleet.

"Fire!" Liang Yao gave the order to fire without hesitation.

The naval guns on the Bold are pre-loaded with solid rounds.

After receiving Liang Yao's order, the two 127mm (5-inch) main guns on the bow and stern of the Bold and the three 76mm (3-inch) secondary guns on one side were aimed at the maneuvering ship. The fourth-level sailing battleship with one deck poured out the preloaded solid bombs.

Accompanied by the sound of cannons that reached the ears one after another, five solid shells broke through the air and flew towards the enemy ship.

Except for one secondary gun, which was fired because the gunner was too nervous, the remaining two main guns and two secondary guns all hit the fourth-level ship.

For a moment, sawdust flew everywhere from the fourth-level ship that was hit.

"The enemy is opening fire on our Agamemnon! General! Please give the order!"

Officers aboard the Dutch flagship Rotterdam asked Krusen for orders.

"The planned location for the planned maneuver."

Cruson just replied calmly.

He had confidence in his crew, and he believed that not only the Agamemnon but other battleships could withstand two or three rounds of enemy bombardment.

As long as they withstand two or three rounds of artillery fire from the opponent, they can maneuver to a position downwind, and use the advantage of the wind to directly impact the opponent's formation and scatter the opponent's formation.

Through the competition for the upper wind direction, Cruson has keenly noticed that the quality of the other party's crew is not as good as his own.

As long as he breaks up the opponent's formation, he is sure to take advantage of the higher quality of his crew to defeat the opponent one by one.

The Dutch East India Fleet's financial resources were not strong, so Cruson and Liang Yao had no intention of shooting at each other at sea, competing for consumption.

Their families cannot afford such consumption.

After the Bold opened fire, the other ships also opened fire on the maneuvering Dutch warships.

It's just that Liang Yao's fleet is mostly made up of small boats. The boats are basically equipped with 6-pound guns. Because the guns are small, even if the solid bullets hit the target, the damage to the ship's hull will be very limited.

Only the naval guns on the four main warships caused considerable damage to the opponent's ships.

The Roland commanded by Sven used only two rounds of bombardment to penetrate a double-deck fifth-level sailing battleship below the waterline.

Sea water quickly poured into the fifth-class sailing warship. The Dutch crew on board were busy draining water and blocking the water inlet. The 700-ton fifth-class sailing warship was paralyzed in place and temporarily lost its combat effectiveness.

This is already the biggest result achieved by Liang Yao's fleet in the first two rounds of bombardment.

Holland's composure and endurance made Liang Yao uneasy. Liang Yao's fleet had completed at least two rounds of bombardment.

The Dutch seem to be very calm and have not yet started to fire back.

"Change explosive bombs! Wash their decks!"

Seeing that the damage caused by the small-caliber solid bullets to the enemy ship's hull was very limited, and the hits on the opponent's ship were like scratches, Liang Yao ordered to replace them with explosive bombs, and instead focused on killing the opponent's effective forces.

The performance of the crew of Liang Yao's fleet surprised Krusheng.

Cruson originally thought that his own ships would need to withstand two or three rounds of volleys from the opponent.

Unexpectedly, the opponent has already begun the sixth round of bombardment.

what is happening?

The opponent's rigging crew, helmsman and gunner were obviously not on the same level.

The skills of the rigging operator and helmsman were very poor, and even boats of the same level could barely keep up with his maneuvers.

The opponent's gunner's reloading speed is astonishing, and his shooting accuracy is also very high.

This was the first time Crusheng encountered this situation.

The rate of fire of the opponent's naval gun was so fast that it was outrageous.

After withstanding seven rounds of bombardment by Liang Yao's fleet, the East Indies Fleet finally seized a downwind position and took advantage of the wind to attack Liang Yao's fleet, trying to break up Liang Yao's fleet's formation.

"After all, they were once a maritime power, and the Dutch sailors have such high tactical literacy!"

Freemont, who was watching the battle with Liang Yao on the Bold, couldn't help but sigh.

Being able to complete maneuvers in a coordinated and orderly manner under the bombardment of one's own artillery fire and seize a favorable position shows the quality of the Dutch crew.

Fremont subconsciously compared these Dutch sailors with those of the American Navy, wondering whether the American Navy could perform as well as the Dutch under such circumstances.

The answer Fremont came to is no. The crews of the American Navy did not have as high a level of tactical literacy as the Dutch crews.

Gaining downwind status through maneuvering at the upwind position, and then using the maneuvering advantage to break up the enemy fleet's formation, this is a common trick used by the Dutch Navy in the Anglo-Dutch War.

Although Liang Yao saw the Dutch's tricks, he was helpless against the Dutch's oncoming attack.

After all, the fleet organized by Liang Yao was not a professional navy. Except for the quality of the crew on the four main warships, the quality of the crew on the other ships, especially the clipper ships, was average.

At least the quality of the crew is lower than the other party's.

Seeing the Dutch ships rushing up from the side, the clipper ships, as well as the small sampans of the Guangdong navy and pirates subconsciously moved out of the way to avoid the collision of the Dutch ships.

Soon, the Dutch ships and aircraft disrupted the formation of Liang Yao's fleet.

Liang Yao's plan to use the technical advantages of his own naval guns to maintain the simplest one-line formation, connected end to end, and exchange fire with the ships of the Dutch East India Fleet came to nothing.

Liang Yao's sea power is no better than the well-trained land power. Once the formation is broken up, they can only fight independently.

With his level of sea power training and adjustment, and with the rudimentary communication methods of the world, it was impossible to reassemble the formation in battle.