Dominate the Country

Isaac Françon van Piet is a lieutenant colonel in the Dutch navy. The Dutch navy has been declining since 70 or 80 years ago, and has become the weakest among the navies of European countries.

But even if it is the weakest, it does not mean that the Dutch have backward navigation technology and degenerate naval training. The reason why the Dutch have become the weakest is only because of the change in the national policy of the Netherlands and the decline of the Dutch navy.

In terms of quality, the Dutch are still the best in Europe.

Ten days ago, he was very lucky to find a British merchant ship that escaped from the Spanish Capelle with the cruiser Leerdam, and there was another British merchant ship with that British merchant ship at that time. Piet abandoned the damaged Augustus and chased directly to the intact British merchant ship - he did not think that the Augustus could escape, it was already so badly damaged. There was no escape, the Leerdam could completely eat up the intact British merchant ship, and then turn around to eat the injured Augustus.

As a result, the Leerdam caught the fleeing British merchant ship, but when he turned around, the Augustus was gone.

Of course, Pitt knew that the severely damaged Augustus was most likely to go there, and he did command the Leerdam to go south. But he did not find the Augustus along the way, but when he was less than 100 nautical miles away from Cape Town, he chose to avoid risks - he went north from Cape Town to Walvis Bay, and made a lot of money based on the previous capture. Although the price of the same merchant ship in Walvis Bay is far less than that in Amsterdam.

But for the officers and crew of the Leerdam, this is also a big gain.

As a result, only two days after leaving the port, they encountered two Swordfish-class clipper warships of the Chen Han Navy from Cape Town.

However, the result of the naval battle made Pitt very satisfied, except for the damage to some sails and the broken rear mast. His men were only slightly injured, and more importantly, he relied on the darkness and the strong winds and waves to successfully get rid of the two Chinese warships that were in the way. However, Pete did not dare to wander on the sea with the Leerdam anymore. He had to return to Walvis Bay immediately.

The Chinese warships were equipped with hexagonal guns, which were very sharp, but there were fewer of them and the firing rate was relatively slow.

As long as they did not fight with them for a long time and ran away immediately once they were discovered, they could still withstand the attack of the hexagonal guns.

There were also such clipper warships in the Three Kingdoms Combined Fleet, and they were larger than the Chinese warships and equipped with more hexagonal guns. There were also hexagonal guns on the sailing battleships. As long as the combined navy moved a little, the Chinese would be in trouble.

However, since the dawn today, the dark clouds that filled the sky yesterday evening have completely dissipated, and Pete has always had a bad feeling. This bad premonition always forces him to look back involuntarily to the south and southwest, and the shadows of the two Chinese navy warships always appear in his mind again and again.

However, since the battle started yesterday afternoon, he has been fleeing north for at least 12 hours. This is full speed with full sails in strong winds and waves. Now he is only a hundred nautical miles away from Walvis Bay. Do the Chinese have the courage to chase him?

Alas, just a few days ago, he was still happy with the captured British merchant ship, walking on the same route, and happily returned to Walvis Bay. In just a few days, he has become a stray dog ​​and fled.

Pete has a sense of shame in his heart, which makes him extremely annoyed. As a result, Pete's whole body is hot, like a cooked lobster. This extreme sense of shame also temporarily makes him put aside the uneasiness that has always brought fear to his heart.

Until an urgent alarm bell sounded in his ears.

"Report, 5 nautical miles southwest, two small and medium-sized sailboats were found, with a speed of more than 10 knots!" The voice of the lookout on the Leerdan was mixed with great fear. In this era, there was no other ship that could sail at a speed of more than 10 knots except the clipper.

-- Following the ocean current, the speed of the clipper warships with all their strength can definitely exceed 10 knots.

And at this time, there were two clipper ships appearing in the southwest. They were most likely the two Chinese warships they encountered yesterday afternoon.

The lookout on the mainmast exclaimed. Pete was like being drenched in ice water, completely freed from anger, and his face was pale. But Pete was an officer after all, and he still had some pride in his heart. He instantly returned to normal and pulled out the saber at his waist.

"Prepare for battle! Send these shitty Chinese to the bottom of the sea!" Although the two Chinese navy warships really caught up with them, which surprised Peter, he would not give up just like that.

Swordfish 22 and Swordfish 28 chased them all night, adjusted their directions many times, and searched along the sea areas on the left and right of the route, and finally caught the tail of the Dutch. Although there were only a hundred nautical miles from Walvis Bay, the two warships were not afraid at all.

They will run away after the fight! This is a hunting trip on the sea.

After discovering the Leerdam, it pounced on it like a hungry wolf hunting.

Peter looked at the Chinese warships one thousand meters away with vicious eyes. The two Chinese navy warships with fast speed set the distance at 800 meters last time, but now they started to fire at a distance of 1,000 meters.

To be honest, this made Peter very uncomfortable.

When he just joined the Dutch Navy, the distance of naval battles was still within 300 meters.

In naval artillery battles, in order to bring out the power of naval guns, the engagement distance between the two sides is basically no more than 300 yards, and the British Royal Navy usually chooses to open fire within 200 yards.

But when Pitt got the rank of captain in the Dutch Navy, the distance between the warships of both sides was pulled to 500 meters. And now? With the hexagonal gun, the range can be extended to 1,000 meters. But Pitt himself was very disdainful of this.

——This is a cowardly, cowardly choice.

Although he knew very well that the hexagonal gun was not the muzzle-loading smoothbore gun he was familiar with, if the latter's range was pulled 500 meters, the theoretical range was enough, but only God knew whether it could hit. The former's range was much farther than the latter, and the accuracy was much higher.

Of course, this was also because there were only two hexagonal guns on the bow and stern of the ship where he was.

Now many sailing warships have put the hexagonal guns on the bow and stern with a wide field of view. As for whether to install one, two, or even more hexagonal guns, it depends on the size of the specific ship.

After two hours of chasing, Swordfish XXII went around the front of the Leerdam from the side, began to turn against the wind, and sailed against the ocean current. The speed quickly dropped to 5 knots, but it also blocked the way forward for the Leerdam. One hexagonal gun after another was aimed at the Leerdam 1,000 meters away. At this distance, the 75-caliber hexagonal gun can be aimed and fired in a direct manner.

Swordfish XXVIII in the rear fired first, and the muzzle spewed out hot flames, and the roars rolled away like thunder. The alternating firing of the naval guns made the warship hull shake slightly. All the officers and soldiers of the gun crew nervously loaded and fired according to the gun firing manual, and then adjusted the gun firing angle.

Pete's eyes trembled fiercely. As the captain of a cruiser, he was very clear about the power and accuracy of the hexagonal gun. The reason why he was able to escape successfully last time was, first, the credit of the weather, and second, the strong wind and waves on the sea. The Chinese still need to improve their level of sailing boats...

But today, he seems not to be so lucky.

Soon, Swordfish 22 also opened fire.

The two Swordfish-class small clipper ships have small tonnage and few gun positions, but they are really threatening. Because there have been no high peak waves like yesterday evening for a few days, the hexagonal guns can fully exert their accuracy on the seemingly calm sea.

The two Chen Han Navy warships were so "afraid of death" that they fired a large number of shells at the Leerdam at a distance of 1,000 meters. The Leerdam was also fighting back desperately, that is, the two hexagonal guns at the bow and stern.

"Bang!"

On Swordfish XXVIII, the bow gun barrel paused again, a large ball of flame spurted out of the muzzle, and then, under the traction of ropes, the huge force of retreat was unloaded and was easily pushed back to the gun position by two officers and soldiers. Ropes, ropes that shuttled through the eye holes of the gun body and the gun carriage, this is the recoil control device of this era.

Europeans discovered this one or two hundred years ago, but there was no such invention in Chinese history.

The gun crew officers and soldiers on the two warships were frantically performing the same steps of cleaning shells, loading propellant bags, and loading shells. Long columnar shells were fired at the Leerdam.

Half an hour later.

A ball of red and black flames rose on the Leerdam, and a shell seemed to hit some flammable material, causing a fire.

At the same time, the shells that hit the Leerdam also exploded more than one huge hole on both sides of the Leerdam.

There was a cheer on the two Chen Han Navy warships, and the sound could even reach the Leerdam over a distance of 1,000 meters.

Captain Pitt was almost crying at this time. His Leerdam was beaten to pieces and a fire broke out. The sailors were like ants facing a disaster, messing around on the deck, but they were of no practical use.

The enemy's bombardment was still going on mercilessly, and the Leerdam's counterattack was like a candle lit in a strong wind, and the tiny flame could go out at any time. The sails were lowered again because the hull suffered serious damage. This time was different from the previous time. Only part of the sails were damaged and the rear mast was damaged and broken. Now the Leerdam was in big trouble.

A minute later, another shell hit the bow of the Leerdam, breaking the Leerdam's bow spar and sweeping the hexagonal gun on the bow into the sea. Without the ball sail at the bow, the speed of the Leerdam began to drop to less than three knots.

It was over!

After another ten minutes of bombardment, the Leerdam could no longer hear the sound of the counterattack. All of them had collapsed, leaving their gun positions and running away, or retreating into the cabin.

The hexagonal guns on the two Swordfish-class warships continued to fire alternately at a very fast speed, and three more rounds hit the Leerdam within ten minutes. The cylindrical shells instantly penetrated the oak hull and hit the inside of the Leerdam...

At the same time, there was another explosion on the deck of the Leerdam. No one knew what caused it, but the expanding flames and heat waves were like an invisible broom, sweeping the deck from beginning to end like sweeping a large bunk bed, and ignited several gunpowder barrels during the process.

A more crazy explosion than before took place on the Leerdam, and the main mast broke directly, as if it was lifted up by a huge force and thrown off the deck of the ship.

The Leerdam was on fire, with wood fragments flying. Dutch sailors screamed and jumped from the deck into the sea. It was really finished.