Chapter 161 Horsetail Sea Battle 2

Hu Chuyuan knew that he was not an expert in naval warfare, so he could only be regarded as a little rough understanding.

Therefore, he decided to believe Ye Zuqi and immediately said to Ye Zuqi, "Oy, go!"

Ye Zukui immediately fired a signal gun from the horsetail fort and launched a general attack. This change also shocked the Fujian Marine Division, but they did not hesitate. The fleet on the northern line of the southern line changed its formation at the same time and rushed to the mouth of the Wulong River to attack the French fleet.

Deng Shichang, who was hidden in the Wulong River, also marched up and led more than 20 torpedo boats out of Xintun Bay. At first, he followed the Weikang and Zhenkang ships. When the two sides were not 700 or 800 meters away, they suddenly accelerated and rushed to the group of French ironclads led by three Saint-Nazer-class at a speed of 16 knots. Go.

In the back, the Northern Fleet covered twelve torpedo boats, mixed with six patrol boats, and rushed in at the risk of death.

This is almost equivalent to death. The patrol boat can't play a role at all. It just gives full play to its rapid advantage and shares the firepower for the torpedo boat. But at this moment, no one can control so much. After all, the Fujian navy can't compare with the French expeditionary fleet. The only advantage is a large number of torpedo boats.

Fujian sailors have a total of 42 torpedo boats, with a large tonnage of less than 100 tons, and a small one of only 30 tons. All of them are powered by diesel engines, which are extremely fast in a short time to make up for the short range of fish lasers and slow firing.

After the patrol boats with a drainage tonnage of 300 tons were mixed in, the French machine gunfire was inevitably scattered. In addition, a large number of gunboats rushed out to cover the firepower. Soon more than a dozen torpedo boats rushed into the French fleet and fired a number of torpedoes.

The torpedo boat training of the Fujian Marine Division has always been personally supervised by Brigadier John Fisher of the British Navy. The combat effectiveness is maintained very well, and there are a variety of on-the-spot tactical changes. Three or four small boats are hedged left and right to improve the hit rate.

In fact, this horsetail naval battle is also the first large-scale appearance of torpedo tactics.

In just a few minutes, three French ironclads, including one of the Saint-Nasser-class, Fujian sailors' torpedo boats were also heavily damaged.

After a charge, Deng Shichang and Jiang Chaoying changed the bow and continued to envelge the two wings. Taking this opportunity, the fort continued to issue a round of artillery to cover the tactical transformation of the torpedo boat according to Ye Zukui's order.

At this time, the battlefields on both sides have become extremely narrow. This is the choice of the French themselves, and it is also a double-edged sword. They can squeeze the flexible advantages of the cruisers with the advantages of ironclad ships, relying on the hard iron armor to support, but also give the torpedo boats a lot of room to play.

The firepower of both sides in dense space is very fierce. Each round of cavalry has more than 100 shells. The Fujian naval division lacks large ships, and there are still as many as 17 gunboats left. With the land-based forts, the firepower is still not inferior to the French fleet.

The problem is that the ships of the Fujian Marine Division are not resistant to fighting, while the French fleet is much more resistant to fighting. The three ironclads of the Saint-Nazaire-class class have more than a hundred bullets in total, but only one was stranded by torpedoes.

In such an intensive bombardment, the Fujian sailors lost two cruisers and one gunboat in a row, while the French only lost the flagship Volta. The captain of the Saint-Nazel, a brigadier general of the French Navy, immediately took over the command and ordered the whole ship to retreat from the narrow battle zone.

The goddess of luck, or Guanyin's mother, suddenly took care of the Fujian sailor.

The first-class ironclad ship Baya actually ran aground at the mouth of Xinzhou, which is the alluvial port of the Wulong River, and there may be a river sand.

This sudden change temporarily paused the French army and was in a dilemma. At this time, the torpedo boat of the Fujian Navy completed the enveloping of the two wings and concentrated on launching an attack on the remaining two ships of the Saint-Nazer class.

It's just a change in an instant, as if it was just a flick of a finger.

The thunder is just like thunder.

With a loud bang, the new flagship Saint-Nazel was hit by two torpedoes in a row, two large holes appeared on the port side, and the hull began to tilt. Almost at the same time, Jiang Chaoying's torpedo boat was sunk by a La Galisannia-class second-class ironclad ship, but the other two torpedo boats caught the gap and hit the ironclad ship.

The French army has been unable to withdraw smoothly, and there are only 16 torpedo boats left in the Fujian Marine Division. After Jiang Chaoying's torpedo boats were bombed, all the torpedo boats were under the command of Deng Shichang.

Both sides suffered heavy losses, which was expected by the Fujian sailors, but not in the expectations of the French.

The southern fleet of the Fujian Marine Division was basically exhausted, leaving only Weikang and Zhenkang. Guangwu, Yangwu, Chaowu and other cruisers were sunk. The northern fleet relied on a certain iron armor advantage. Although four defense ships were stranded one after another, they could still play the role of a fixed-point turret, and many small gunboats sank.

The situation of the French army is not much better. One of the three Saint-Zenard-class ironclads sank and one stranded. Two Baya-class first-class ironclads were heavily damaged one, two Lagalisannia-class second-class ironclads sank one, the Truan-class second-class ironclads were hit hard, and one of the four Peruze-class cruisers sank and two were severely damaged. The remaining one also lost its speed advantage, the Limas-class cruiser Volta was hit hard, and the torpedo boats and gunboats were lost.

The French army sent two troop carriers to land at Mawei Port under the cover of two gunboats. About 2,000 French troops were intercepted and severely damaged by Ye Boyu's naval division.

The French army obviously wanted to retreat, but at this time, Lv Han's Luoyuan Bay Squadron had arrived at the mouth of the Minjiang River. Three Weijiang-class defense ships and eight new gunboats with a displacement of 425 tons were lined up vertically, followed by eleven torpedo boats and six patrol boats.

These ships are indeed not comparable to the giant ships of the French, but in terms of deterrence, they are not much worse than the French.

The key is that the French themselves are too rampant. The French Minister of the Navy underestimated the will to fight of the Fujian Marine Division. He thought that the Fujian Marine Division, like the Huai Army, was equipped and had no combat power, so he actually ordered the French expeditionary fleet to enter the mouth of the Min River to attack, trying to occupy Fuzhou, destroy the Fuzhou Shipyard, and make Fuzhou a stable port. The port and supply station are conducive to the fleet's north attack on Shanghai and Tianjin.

He thought it was China in 1860.

The facts are completely different from what he thinks. In such a narrow area, the power of the torpedo boat troops of the Fujian navy can be released to the extreme, and the most elite force of the Fujian navy is precisely the torpedo boat troops trained by John Fischer.

Unlike the Fujian Marine Division and the Huai Army, they wanted to protect their hometown. Coupled with Hu Chuyuan's reward and guarantee of 4 million taels of silver, everyone vowed to kill the enemy, which was completely different from the later Beiyang Navy torpedo boat troops.

When the fleet of the Fujian Marine Division hidden in Luoyuan Bay appeared, the French army's will to fight completely collapsed in an instant.

There were some British, American and Italian warships docked in Yangyu Bay. They were all observing the naval battle. When they saw the arrival of the Luoyuan Bay Squadron, they also understood that the French army was defeated.

If the two sides still have the last effort, then when more than 20 new ships enter the battlefield, the French army will have no way out, and the whole Minjiang Esmouth is completely blocked.

Hu Chuyuan did not give up. The artillery battalion of the Marine Army had been transferred from the Niuwan Mountain Camp to the Tashan Wharf, shooting just a kilometer away from the French army.

There are not many. More than 60 Kerup's 120mm guns can barely attack the French army, but it is also enough to make the French army completely collapse.

In August 1870, the French claimed that their new rifles would determine the whole process of the Franco-Prussian War and completely disintegrate Prussia, but they ushered in their own collapse.

After Napoleon, the French have staged this kind of comedy tragedy more than once.

The whole naval battle lasted for an hour and seven minutes. At 10:34, the first gun was fired from the horsetail fort. At 11:41, the last El Porte of the Saint-Nazaire class hung the white flag of surrender, and the naval battle officially stopped.

The Fujian Marine Division lost 27 large and small warships, ran aground or seriously injured 11 boats, sank 3 main French warships, severely damaged 7, sank 14 French gunboats and torpedo boats, and the rest of the French ships were captured.

Considering that the Fujian Marine Division still has a small half of its combat effectiveness, and all the French troops have been captured or sunk, the victory of the Fujian Marine Division is still very brilliant.

Victory means joy, which is also mixed with blood and tears.

The soldiers of the Fujian Marine Division have begun to salvage ships and dead bodies, and rescue the soldiers who fell into the water. Lv Han's Luoyuan Bay Fleet is still intact and is responsible for receiving French warships and escorting French prisoners.

Hu Chuyuan stood in the horsetail turret, holding a perhaps meaningless steel knife in his hand, and stared at all this coldly. He was both excited and painful.

Only those who have experienced war can understand what war brings to mankind.

Jiang Chaoying, who swore in front of him an hour ago, and hundreds of sailor soldiers and torpedo boats left, leaving only the bodies floating on the river.

Hu Chuyuan looked up at the sky and looked at the rolling black smoke spreading in the sky. He thought, perhaps, countless heroes were laughing, howling and echoing in the sky.

The Battle of Mawei is over, and the turning point of the Sino-French War has finally arrived.

He thought that after five years of preparation, he finally achieved a change worthy of permanent commemoration.

Due to the complex Sino-Japanese relationship at this stage, we did not dare to send ships to watch the battle, but the news will eventually spread to Tokyo, and they will understand what the war means.

Perhaps, some people will say that the Fujian navy is invincible, that is, relying on those rigid forts and a group of torpedo boats who are not afraid of death, the level of the fleet itself is still the world's third-rate.

But it doesn't matter.

As long as you win.

There is at least one war in the history of the Chinese navy.

The horsetail naval battle, which cost nearly 20 million taels of silver to win... is meaningful after all.

(to be continued)