The Rise of the European Emperor

Just when the anti-Danish coalition was progressing smoothly on land, the fleet of the anti-Danish coalition was not idle on the sea. According to the previously agreed strategy, Lübeck is temporarily conservative, while the Hamburg fleet and the East Frisian fleet will lure the Danish fleet into a decisive battle.

The specific method is that the Hamburg Fleet set off from the port of Hamburg with great fanfare, making a gesture of going to reinforce Lübeck. Moreover, in order to allow the Danes to accurately obtain the whereabouts of the Hamburg Fleet, the Hamburg Fleet deliberately moved northward slowly against the west coast of Denmark to lure the Danish fleet to intercept.

At the same time, 40 warships of the counties of East Friesland will be cruising the sea more than 30 kilometers away from the Hamburg Fleet. Once the Hamburg Fleet and the Danish Interceptor Fleet were found to be engaged, they immediately circled to the side of the Danish Fleet and cut off their retreat. Of course, the East Frisian Fleet will not immediately enter the battle, but will wait for the two fleets to form a pot of porridge, and when the Danish fleet cannot easily evacuate, then rush out, attack the side of the Danish fleet, and intercept any escaping Danish warships. ferry.

Although it is said that beyond 20 kilometers, the telescope can hardly see the ships in the distance. More than 30 kilometers, it is almost impossible to see the opposite mast. But Marin thought of a way to let the Hamburg warship set up a beacon on the top of the ship building to report to the East Frisian fleet.

Even because of the curved surface of the Earth, the telescope cannot see the Hamburg fleet 30 kilometers away. But as long as the beacon fire wolf smoke is lit, the wolf smoke goes straight to the sky, and it can still be seen with a telescope in the distance.

To this end, the Hamburg Parliament specially acquired a batch of wolf dung, and the fuel with a particularly large amount of smoke when it is concentrated, used to signal. After testing, the excavation effect is good.

Moreover, whether it is Hamburg or Lübeck's fleet, they have been instructed by the Marin semaphore. Now, the command of the fleet in Hamburg is very convenient, and the herald can stand on the bow and wave the flag. Even if you think about the sound of guns, you can accurately deliver orders on the battlefield.

In fact, the semaphore technique also needs to be combined with a telescope to have the greatest effect. Because, in the case of hundreds of ships, the semaphore on the first ship and the people on the last ship must be invisible to the naked eye. Without binoculars, the warships in Hamburg and Lübeck could only rely on semaphore relays to convey naval battle orders. But in any case, the coalition fleet that uses the semaphore is much stronger than the Danish navy that does not know the semaphore. In particular, Marin's fleet, each warship is equipped with binoculars, and the semaphore is very convenient to communicate.

...

The information that the Hamburg fleet sailed with great fanfare along the west coast of Denmark was reported to the fleet intercepted by Denmark. As a confidant of Admiral Thomasson, commander of the Danish fleet commander of 120 warships Alkinson is not incompetent. At the age of 40, he is also an experienced naval commander. This time, Thomason sent him to lead the 120 Danish warships in order to completely destroy the Hamburg fleet. As long as the Hamburg Fleet is defeated and Lübeck is alone, it will be easy to deal with. And, in any case, 120 ships against 90 ships is still very advantageous.

Although it is said that whether it is the navy of Denmark or Hamburg, the strategy of "holding soldiers in the people" is popular. In wartime, large merchant ships and sharp sailors are drawn from merchant ships to join the navy and participate in battles.

However, Denmark and Hamburg are different. Denmark controls the vast Kalmar Union, stretching from Denmark to Norway and even to the Faroe Islands and Iceland. In order to control these territories, Denmark has long retained the scale of 50 warships, often cruising the waters under its control and cleaning up pirates.

As a small force with only one main city and one secondary port (Cux Harbor), Hamburg did not retain a standing fleet although there were many merchant ships. Only in times of war would large ships and shrewd sailors be drawn from the merchant ships to fight.

Therefore, in terms of combat readiness, the combat readiness level of the Hamburg Navy is not comparable to that of the Danish Navy. More carefully, the Hamburg admirals are mostly part-timers.

The Danish Navy has 50 ships with 5,000 full-time personnel.

This time around the Hamburg Fleet, the Danes dispatched 3,000 people from the 5,000 full-time sailors to join the war. The more than 9,000 sailors in Hamburg were mostly drawn from the merchant marine. No more than 500 people are experienced in real naval battles. Even, these 500 people were invited by Hamburg from the pirates...

Therefore, whether it is in terms of the number of warships or the quality of sailors, Denmark is the best in Hamburg. It's just that no one has considered the fleet of the Counties of East Friesland.

Because Europeans are also very conservative in this era. They value tradition very much, and no one pays attention to such a traditional naval weakling in East Frisian Counties. What's more, the last time the Danes besieged the port of Emden, they didn't see a warship sent by the counties of East Friesland to fight. Therefore, it is normal for European countries to ignore the maritime power of the counties of East Friesland. At this time, only Spain, which sold 17 large and small Clark sailboats to Marin, knew that Marin still had some strength in his hands...

Although Alkinson vaguely felt that something was wrong with Hamburg's approach, out of confidence in the combat effectiveness of the Danish navy, he decisively led a huge fleet of 120 warships, bypassing the northern tip of the Jutland peninsula, along the Jutland peninsula. Down the west coast, intercepting 90 warships in Hamburg...

A few days later, on the day Marin crossed the Elbe with his army, the Danish interceptor fleet and the Hamburg fleet finally met on the sea 30 kilometers northwest of Esbjerg, a port on the west coast of Jutland...

"Quick, light the beacon!" Commander-in-chief of the Hamburg Fleet Rolfe ordered loudly. After hearing the order, the semaphore soldiers on the side immediately climbed to the top of the ship building and began to wave the two flags in their hands vigorously to convey Rolfe's order.

Afterwards, the tops of several taller ships in the Hamburg fleet soon lit up beacon smoke. Because of the addition of wolf dung and wet firewood that emits a lot of smoke, the smoke is very strong, and it goes straight to the sky...

And on the sea 30 kilometers west of the Hamburg Fleet, Vihari, Adjutant of the East Frisian Navy Commander Kidd, who had been observing with a telescope on the top of the flagship Hoffmann 1 building, soon observed the wolf smoke, and then he shouted:

"Lord Kidd, the Hamburgers are lighting the beacon! The Hamburgers are lighting the beacon!"

Kidd was taking a nap in the captain's room at this time. It was February, and the sea was windy and cold. Therefore, he gave the adjutant the burden of standing on the roof of the ship building and observing. As for himself, he hid in the captain's room for shelter. But after hearing Vihari's shout, Kidd immediately rushed out and ordered loudly:

"Semaphore soldiers, let all captains come out and wait for orders!"

At this time, most captains stay in the captain's room to take shelter from the wind. But now the war is about to start, and these guys are naturally going to come out to command.

The semaphore soldiers waved their flags vigorously, and then the captain's adjutants who were in charge of the observation began to call their captains out one after another.

When the captains came out neatly dressed, Kidd ordered again;

"Tell them that all the warships will start sailing north for an hour, and then eastward to outflank the Danish fleet!"

After the semaphore soldiers heard the order, they immediately started waving the flag vigorously and passing the order...

At this time, the Danish fleet and the Hamburg fleet had just met each other, and they had not really fought. Therefore, Kidd ordered the fleet to go north first and then east.

Because, if the 40 East Frisian warships went early and were discovered by the Danish fleet, the opponent would most likely choose to fight their own 40 ships instead of the Hamburg fleet. After all, persimmons must be picked softly.

Although, the East Frisian fleet has a lot of artillery and advanced tactical thinking. However, those navy officers are not confident enough... After all, there is no precedent for the use of artillery to defeat the traditional navy. Therefore, the naval officers and men under Marin's command were not very confident. If it was discovered by the Danish Navy early, causing the Danish Navy to rush to the East Frisian Navy first, it would easily collapse due to the unconfidence of the soldiers.

Therefore, these young soldiers who have not experienced naval battles, it is best to wait until the Danish fleet and the Hamburg fleet are in a pot of porridge, and then suddenly appear and attack the Danish side.

Moreover, in order to scare the Danes, Marin also instructed Kidd to use the banner of Lübeck when he entered the battlefield. This is because, according to common sense, Lübeck's fleet should be blocked by the remaining Danish fleet. If the Danish fleet that attacked the Hamburg Fleet found 40 Lübeck warships behind it, one might guess—the fleet guarding the Oresund was defeated? Otherwise, how could Lübeck's fleet appear behind us?

In this way, once the Danish sailors suspect that the defending fleet may be defeated, they will lose confidence, and the morale of the Danish navy will be easily shaken and collapsed. At that time, it will be easier for the East Frisian fleet and the Hamburg fleet to defeat the Danish fleet...