Chapter 507 Capture 4
The rapid whistle broke the silence of the port of Buenaventura after a night's carnival. This seaport city with a population of only 200,000 immediately fell into chaos.
The warships began to make a fire, and the thick iron anchors were quickly put away under the guidance of the hinges. The dock was full of running Colombian sailors.
For ordinary people living here, this scene seems to be commonplace. Since it became a naval base from here, Americans will attack from time to time, so it is used to the emergency departure of warships. When the United States returns again and again, people here feel sorry that if brother There have been these big guys in Rembia for a long time. Maybe the separatists in Panama did not dare to turn to the United States and shame the whole Colombians.
The chaotic dock scene made Captain Casillas frown slightly, turned his head and looked at the two Royal New China Navy warships next door. Although they were also very busy, each sailor quickly found his place, and even thick smoke had rolled out of the chimney.
Captain Casillas is not surprised by such a scene. As the captain of the Colombian Navy, he studied at the Naval School of the Royal Xinhua Navy in Dalian for two years, and also led the warships to Honolulu and the Xinhua First Fleet to hold joint exercises many times. He has seen this rapid assembly scene.
This is not something that can be made up for by learning and hard work. This kind of emergency assembly must be done through the accumulation of wars, because only the soldiers who have experienced the test of war at this moment can they be calm and reach their positions in the shortest time.
The Colombian navy is too young. Everyone has no experience of war. They lack psychological preparation, and their careless attitude is a common problem for all South American navies, because these sailors have no concept of entering the war in the next moment.
Although the chaos made Captain Casillas's face slightly hot, the Medellin (the former Russian Chesarevich) lined up in the front half an hour later took the lead in buffering out of the seaport. The second departure should be its own flagship Bogota (the former Russian flagship Alexander III), but this The Xinhua cruiser Anhai signaled to leave the port. Out of politeness, Captain Casillas promised to let them go first.
Due to an emergency, 300 Xinhua Marines were temporarily detained, which allowed the Yushan to keep up with the departure speed of the capital ship. As the two warships slowly sailed out of the harbor, the Bogota and another battleship also left the harbor and rushed to the dark spots on the sea in the distance. At this time, they left first. The Medellin has opened a distance, because it takes a preparation time to speed up the steam engine, so the distance between the three ships is getting bigger and bigger.
After entering the Gulf of Panama, Anhai and Qishan were lined up alone and separated from the two-divided Colombian fleet. This scene was not surprising, because no matter which country's fleet encountered war or sudden ** situation when visiting a third country, it would be temporarily avoided.
Looking at the Xinhua and Colombian warships scattered after coming out of the harbor, Mayo sneered and secretly said that the Chinese were nothing more than that. They thought they dared to join the Colombian fleet to block themselves regardless of international practices!
On the Medellin, the captain ordered to continue to approach. The sailors on the deck quickly pulled off their artillery, filled the shells into the barrel, and turned the turret, but everyone was not too nervous, because this kind of thing had happened many times. Maybe one day, maybe a few days, the Americans would leave. Because Colombia is not a country with only gunboats at this time!
Perhaps it is the style of the bullfighters left by Spain, or the unique enthusiasm of South Americans. The Colombian navy is full of provocative movements. In the undulating waves, the muzzle of the Medellin is all aimed at the American battleships in the distance, and it is constantly approaching.
This provocative behavior made Mayo frown. He didn't like to be pointed at by naval guns, especially the naval guns of these Spanish bastards in Central America! So he ordered the messengers to play the flag, "This is the US [***] ship, leave immediately or it will be regarded as hostile."
Being threatened to leave in front of his home is a great shame for any country's navy. The signal sent by Georgia immediately made all the Colombian sailors indignant. What's more, there are two Xinhua warships not far away. If this spreads out, I'm afraid they won't be able to raise their heads for the rest of their lives!
So Captain Medellin immediately ordered to continue to approach!
Captain Casillas seemed to be very satisfied with the action of the Medellin, but when Lin Xiang, the instructor of the First Fleet of the Xinhua Royal Navy in Colombia, saw this scene, he suddenly laughed from the bottom of his heart. While quietly saw that the watch time had come, he immediately put on a nervous look on his face: " Major General Casillas, the Medellin is too far away from us. If the United States suddenly launches an attack, then.
Lin Xiang's words made Captain Casillas frown. He understood that this was a kind reminder, but the Americans have come dozens of times and have never seen a sudden fire, and the two countries are not in a state of war, so he can rest assured: "Lin, thank you for your reminder, but I don't think the Americans will attack. Look at him. Our gunners are all watching. It seems that in order to persuade Lin Xiang, Casillas also handed over the telescope and pointed to the American sailors in the distance.
Lin Xiang also deliberately frowned: "Major General, there are torpedoes in the United States, so I think the Medellin should be left at least 5,000 meters!"
"Five thousand meters?" Casillas thought for a moment. Seeing that the Medellin had crossed this distance, he decided to accept Lin Xiang's advice. Be careful not to make a big mistake, so he immediately asked the flag bearer to send a signal.
In the bridge of Anhai, when the Medellin entered the distance of the former Georgia, Chang Gui had already got in. After borrowing a telescope from an observer, he smiled at Captain Xu Zhenpeng: "Look at the fireworks?"
"These bastards!" Xu Zhenpeng was also a rising star in Beiyang. Hearing the words of the seal head, he grinded his teeth in pain and turned his face away from the proud expression of this bastard.
If that second can be solidified!
Then you will see Chang Gui waving his hand under the deck of the Anhai. The seal on the deck pressed the control launcher button. The flag bearer of the Bogota was struggling to play the flag of "distance". Mayo lit a cigar and stared at the Medellin fiercely. The American gunner had just filled in the first shell, and Medellin The wheel helmsman in the bridge is rolling the steering wheel at a high speed, and the bow has begun to deflect!
But this moment is destined to be included in the world naval mystery of the same level as the Maine incident!
Boom!
A sudden violent explosion, and even many unknown Xinhua sailors stared their eyes wide. The explosion erupted from the rear bridge of the Medellin, which was facing the bow of the USS Georgia. The back of the 12,900-ton ship seemed to be held up by a sea monster, and then hit the water heavily on the water, splashing. There are bigger waves.
The cold steel began to make a sour creak, and the whole warship began to twist and deform!
Major Mayo's cigar fell from his open mouth to the deck. Captain Casillas's smile froze in an instant. Chang Gui and Xu Zhenpeng gave a fierce high-five, while Lin Xiang pinched his palm with his nails, and then put down the telescope and shouted in horror.
"Rorpedo! It's a torpedo!"
"The Americans released the torpedo and must rescue the Medellin!"
Lin Xiang shouted, which made everyone in the bridge of the USS Bogota suddenly come to their senses. In fact, due to the angle problem, the Madeleine on the Bogota and Georgia in the United States completely blocked the line of sight and could not see anything from the direction of the Colombians, so Lin Xiang's shouting was more to cause Preconceived branding!
Because there are no mines in this area, according to the situation just now, coupled with the shouts of the "experienced" Xinhua naval instructor, everyone thinks that it is the destructive power that can be created by torpedoes!
"Damn Americans! They declared war! Open fire!"
Captain Casillas stared at his blood-red eyes. He never thought that the Colombian navy would be hit hard as soon as he met. If the Medellin was lost, the Colombian navy would lose one-third of its combat strength. In addition, Lin Xiang's shouting made him subconsciously launch a torpedo by the United States, so at this time, whether he was If not, he has no third way to go except for firing and escaping.
Losing a main battleship and escaping without firing, then not to mention the captain, including the adjutant of the staff around him will be sent to the military court, so it is equivalent to declaring that he must carry out the conflict to the end!
"Boom, Boom." The remaining two Colombian battleships opened fire, and the fierce fire exploded from the ship, which made Major General Mayo awake a lot. The Madeline was destroyed in front of the Georgia, which means that no matter what he explained, he was pale and powerless!
Finally, he looked at the Medellin, which began to sink like the Maine. Mayo fell into the cold all over his body. Although he was grumpy, although he hated these low-level bastards, he was not a fool!
When the explosion rose underwater, he knew that Colombia had left the United States!
At this moment, he has only one choice.
Attack and completely destroy the last two battleships of the Colombian navy!
At 10 a.m. in Colombia, two Colombian battleships and two American battleships had a fierce exchange of fire in the waters 30 nautical miles away from the port of Buenaventura. Due to the lack of experience of Colombian sailors, they were soon suppressed by Virginia and Georgia. At this time, An was 15,000 meters away. The sea suddenly accelerated, approaching 10,000 meters, launching a rainstorm-like shelling between the two sides of the war!
At 10:40, Anhai sent a telegram to Mayo, asking him to immediately stop attacking the Colombian navy, which is already clearly at a disadvantage, otherwise the Royal Xinhua Navy will automatically regard the United States as attacking its ally!
This telegram made Mayo stamp his feet angrily. Although he dared to eat the Colombian navy, he did not dare to make the decision and start a war with the Xinhua Navy without authorization! So I could only watch the two Colombian battleships quickly escape back to the port of Buenaventura under the protection of Anhai.
At 11 o'clock sharp, the quick support ship Hanshan rushed into the front of Virginia and Georgia, regardless of their own danger and began to rescue the soldiers who fell into the water on the Medellin. At that time, a Colombian military reporter on the retreating Bogota took this picture, when the picture rushed in bravely. After the photos of the enemy's rescue of the Colombian sailors under the gunpoint were reprinted by all newspapers under the media rendering, so that all the officers and soldiers of the Poshan were even awarded the Colombian Warrior Medal by the Colombian Political Axe.
At 2 p.m. sharp, when the Pishan returned to the port of Buena-Naventura with the only 73 rescued Colombian sailors and nearly 100 remains, as well as a piece of American torpedo said to have been salvaged by the Colombian sailors, the telegraph station of Buenaventura was instantly crowded!
On April 29, 1913, Li Mo, who was taking four wives to the Mariana Islands in the name of inspection, received a short telegram with a triple encryption with only ten words.
"Colombia is in our hands!"
(to be continued)