Wild North America 1846

After having lunch outside and sitting in two venues in the afternoon, His Majesty was satisfied and then returned to the palace. The journey made Lieutenant General Liu Wu very nervous.

Since His Majesty took the throne, he has been subject to 27 consecutive assassinations or attempted assassinations. Although the Yankees have calmed down a lot now, who knows if they will break the pot and become nervous?

As a security guard for His Majesty, Lieutenant General Liu Wu always walked on thin ice whenever he visited incognito. Because he didn’t know where His Majesty’s interests would end up, he could only disperse most of his Imperial Guard officers and adapt accordingly.

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Fortunately, there was no near miss and everything passed safely.

Today's North American war, which mainly focuses on the fight for the Great Lakes region, does not have a big impact on ordinary residents of the Tang Kingdom.

The war took place outside the country's borders, and the main force involved in the war were recruits from the mainland and the former standing army. They were still far away from ordinary residents, so the experience was not so real.

In China, horses are still running, dancing is still going on, and business is still going on. Although prices have risen slightly, it has not affected the lives of new immigrants at the bottom, and Tang Yuan's purchasing power is still strong.

The market has an adequate supply of chicken, duck, fish, meat, vegetables and fruits. Prices of grain and oil products have increased slightly but are generally stable. People generally have blind trust in the kingdom's military capabilities, and hoarding and panic buying are rarely seen.

The news of victory that continued to come from the front line further boosted people's confidence. The war on the front line became a topic that everyone talked about after dinner. The pride and cohesion that uniquely belonged to the Tang Kingdom quietly grew and spread...

Just when everyone was focusing on the land war, the Tang Kingdom's ocean-going strike fleet, headed by three Qiuyue-class ironclads, quietly left the Port of Los Angeles and headed south, bypassing Cape Storm at the southernmost tip of South America and entering the Atlantic Ocean.

Head north to the Gulf of Mexico to perform combat missions.

At the request of the Confederate States of the United States, the Royal Navy Fleet of the Tang Kingdom made its first expedition to the east coast. This was a major event of great symbolic significance.

The battlefields of the American Civil War were not limited to land. The navies of both sides also fought many times, with each winning and losing.

Beginning of the war

President James Buchanan ordered;

Try to blockade the main ports in the south, prevent the south from shipping agricultural products, exchange industrial products with other countries, and strive to paralyze the economic order in the south.

Although this plan is good, it has a serious flaw, that is, the Northern Federation's navy is not strong enough to complete this task.

The Confederate States has a long coastline, extending from the Chesapeake Bay to the Gulf of Mexico, with a total length of about 5,600 kilometers. The coastline is continuous and winding, with many beaches, islands and ports.

The Northern Federation's navy wanted to blockade the entire territory, but it did not have enough powerful warships. It took the North a long time to finally build a navy that began to take shape.

Beginning of the Civil War

The South did not have a navy, and the Confederate government did not have the necessary funds and arsenals. Britain once provided warships to the South, but later the Temple cabinet changed its tune and supported the North, and stopped supporting the South.

Therefore, the Confederacy mainly relied on private shipping companies for water and land transportation.

There were about twenty private ships owned by the Confederacy. In the early days of the war, good news came frequently, and they were successively converted into battleships. The "Florida" captured more than thirty Northern cargo ships.

The "Alabama" captured more than 60 ships, and was finally sunk by the "Kyle Sage" off the coast of France. The "Shenandoah" rampaged across the Pacific, capturing 40 ships, and achieved numerous achievements.

Fei's achievements.

Although the South won many battles and invented many new technologies, it was still unable to stop the fierce Northern Navy.

The northern navy was already stronger than the southern navy, and it grew rapidly during the war.

In the first two years of the Civil War, the Northern Fleet occupied several southern ports, including Hatteras and Roanoke Island in North Carolina, Port Royal in South Carolina, and Pensacola in Florida, directly threatening the most important southern ports.

Port of New Orleans.

In view of this

The United States of America requested its ally, the Tang Kingdom, to send an armored fleet to attack the Northern Fleet and at the same time remove its threat to southern ports, so as not to completely cut off important trade with Europe.

Located near the mouth of the Mississippi River, New Orleans is the largest city and largest seaport in the South. It has gradually developed into a busy industrial center, producing war supplies for the Confederate Army.

If the Union Army occupied New Orleans, it would be able to control the Mississippi River. Admiral David Farage led a fleet of 17 battleships to arrive off the coast of New Orleans on April 3, 1860, to implement a blockade of the largest port.

To capture New Orleans, it is necessary to break through the other two Confederate castles along the Mississippi River. These two castles are located on the highlands at the mouth of the river, one to the east and one to the west. Their geographical location is very important.

The dark cannons in the castle pointed directly at the mouth of the river. Any warship trying to pass through would inevitably be hit by direct fire, resulting in heavy losses.

Farage bombed the two castles for six days and nights, but the castles were extremely strong and did not suffer major damage. This made the Northern Army's attacking troops anxious.

Since 1860

The Tang Kingdom's brazen participation in the war and its sharp-edged troops fought consecutive victories completely reversed the originally good situation on the Western Front battlefield and became even more unfavorable to the Northern Federation.

in this case

While the James Buchanan government was making every effort to "save Chicago," it also took continuous offensives on the Eastern Front, striving to defeat the Southerners first in order to reduce the pressure on the North American battlefield.

The battles on the Eastern Front were bloody and unprecedented, and the Navy also wanted to completely cut off the port of New Orleans, support the land war, and strangle the United States of America as soon as possible.

Seeing that he could not attack for a long time, Farage decided to take an extremely risky assault. Farage chose a dark night and led seventeen warships in a row, preparing to break through.

The Confederate army noticed the movement and fired at them, sinking one battleship. The other three ships were also severely damaged and could not continue to move forward. However, the remaining 13 ships safely broke through the blockade and broke into the Mississippi River.

When he arrived in New Orleans, Farage discovered that New Orleans was defenseless. Thousands of Confederate soldiers originally stationed there had fled long ago, knowing that they could not withstand the Northern Army's attack. The rest were ordinary people.

Farage captured New Orleans without firing a shot, and the Confederate flag was replaced by the Union flag.

This was a major victory for the Northern Army. It can be seen that the Southern Army's subsequent troops have been exhausted. They don't even have enough troops to guard such an important coastal port city, allowing the Northern Army fleet to easily succeed.

After New Orleans was captured, a new type of naval battle took place along the coast of Hampton Roads, Virginia. It was the world's first battle between ironclad battleships.

The Confederate battleship was the USS Virginia, which was transformed from the captured Union battleship "Morrymac" and was different from any previous battleship.

The "Virginia" is eighty meters long, and the part above the water is made of sixty centimeters thick wood, covered with a ten centimeter thick iron plate.

There are ten windows on both sides of the ship, and there is a cannon behind each window. During a war, the windows are opened to fire, and then closed immediately. Its bow is made of iron and can penetrate the hull of any wooden ship.

body.

The "Virginia" traveled very slowly and was difficult to maneuver. It took almost half an hour to turn around.

Despite this, this iron-clad monster was still invincible and had already destroyed two Union warships. Now it was the Monitor that once again went into battle to face the Union Army.

The Monitor is also an armored ship, but its hull is much smaller than that of the Virginia, and it is only equipped with two artillery pieces. These two artillery pieces are highly maneuverable and can turn quickly and fire in any direction.

April 16, 1860

The "Virginia" and the "Monite" faced off and opened fire at close range. The Confederate shells hit the Monitor's hull and bounced back. The Union sailors cheered because the Virginia

The ship's artillery can't do any damage to them.

But it wasn't long before they discovered to their dismay that their artillery was also unable to penetrate the Virginia.

The sailors in the two battleships were seriously injured by the noise, heat and smoke. The cannons they fired were loud, and the explosions of the enemy artillery were even deafening. Some people's eardrums were shattered, and at least one was hit by the explosion on the hull of the ship.

The shells knocked people unconscious, and everyone knew not to stand next to the cabin wall.

The smoke from the artillery explosion not only filled the ships, but also floated on the water. Sometimes the two ships could not even see each other.

Artillery fire and smoke filled the battlefield. The officers and soldiers of both sides of the battle could only rely on the flash of fire from the artillery to judge the opponent's position, and then poured out artillery fire with all their strength.

The "Virginia" and the "Monite" fought for three full hours, neither of them hit the opponent's vital points. The round solid shells could only leave a conspicuous sunken mark on the opponent's bulletproof iron armor.

But it can't cause more damage.

more than three hours later

The Confederate "Virginia" finally stopped firing artillery. The Confederate Army used up all its shells, almost ran out of fuel, and the hull began to surface.

At this time, the Confederate captain decided to retreat, and the Northern captain was exhausted from fighting and had very little ammunition left, so he did not want to fight and let the other side leave.

Although the Battle of Hampton Roads did not achieve any results, it left a mark in the history of world warships. It was the end of the era of sailing battleships and the beginning of the era of ironclads.

The rivalry between the northern and southern fleets of the United States inadvertently led a new wave of naval fleet development in the world today. Although the whole process was lackluster, it was the first appearance of ironclad battles, which brought a great impact to the world's major navies.

A vivid impression.

First of all, the power of old-fashioned muzzle-loading artillery has lagged behind the development of the times. The backward solid ammunition cannot cause more damage to the enemy and will inevitably be eliminated by the times.

Instead, a new generation of artillery shells represented by Colt trigger fuze explosives, new naval warfare equipment based on Nobel yellow high explosives and Colt breech-loading artillery made their debut.

The development of new technologies in the steam age is surging. When you are eliminated, you will not even say hello, but will only make those who are behind the times taste the bitter consequences.