Under Severa's order, the Spanish fleet once again repeated the tactical process from half an hour ago. The two sides staggered past. Then, the Spanish fleet turned from the rear of the American fleet to keep in the same direction as the American fleet. It opened a side battle line and engaged.

There is no flashy collision. In this case, what the two sides are competing for is the performance of the battleship and the quality of the soldiers.

To be honest, the quality of Spanish soldiers is not high at all compared to that of the U.S. Navy. Even before that, because there was no hope of victory and the fatigue caused by long sea voyages, the actual performance of Spanish naval officers and soldiers was not as good as

U.S. Navy. But the situation is constantly changing. For example, now, the performance of the Spanish Navy is much stronger than that of the enemy opposite.

The Spanish fleet can keep the distance between the two sides at about 3km. At this distance, the hit rate of the 10-inch and 6-inch guns is pretty good. At the same time, for the US Navy, which uses the old 12-inch guns, this distance is a bit farther.

In the order of battle, the Spanish attacked the Saint with all its strength. The Madrid used its two main gun turrets to assist the Spanish, while the Spanish used its tail turret to attack the Saint.

The turrets cooperated with the Princess Maria to attack the Terror, which was less than 4,000 tons, while the Oquendo dealt with the Texas, which had been half disabled. Relatively speaking, the Terror in the middle of the queue was under the greatest pressure.

The 4,000-ton shallow-water heavy gunship was actually attacked by nine 10-inch turret guns! And this link was the first to collapse in the battle line!

The warships on both sides kept spitting fire of destruction, and shells, smoke and flames dominated the ocean. The rumbling sound of gunfire could be heard even several kilometers away. Many Americans ignored the dissuasion of the authorities and boarded the

Looking at the battle waters from a high place, three American warships were passing through the hail of bullets, while the four Spanish naval warships were like lions teasing their prey, attacking the U.S. fleet that was unable to resist in a step-by-step manner.

"Oh my god, the Terror has been hit!" an American boatman exclaimed. A huge fireball hit the bridge of the Air Force. The flames after the explosion of the shell spread rapidly, almost destroying the Terror.

The small bridge was completely covered. Accompanied by crackling sounds and constant hits,

With the 12-pound high-explosive bomb, the wooden parts of the bridge of the Terror quickly turned to ashes, and the steel brackets also softened and bent in the flames! Under the heavy pressure, they made a tooth-breaking creaking sound. But even in this case

, the Terror still accurately hit the side string of the Princess Maria with a 10-inch shell!

"We've been shot!" The shaking of the hull made the crew of the Princess Maria panic. But after a period of moderate shaking, the entire battleship returned to normal, with the steam engine running. The mechanical ammunition supply facility fired a round

Sending artillery shells into the turret, no imagination

There was no influx of flames or poisonous smoke. "We seem to be fine?" a Spanish sailor said with a skeptical tone. "The American shells will definitely not be able to penetrate our protection! We are invincible!" A moment later

A burst of cheers spread throughout the battleship.

"How about the Princess Maria?" Severa asked.

"Nothing. The American shell hit the middle deck of the Princess Maria, but was bounced off and exploded in the water." Scheer said calmly, but there was unspeakable excitement in his tone.

The inevitable blow had no effect, which greatly disappointed the Americans. They cursed the black-hearted arms dealers, the Navy Department, and Congress. While they continued to fight hard, it must be said that the U.S. Navy's fighting will was

Compare

The Spaniards were much stronger. But faced with the repeated attacks from as many as nine 10-inch cannons, the fate of this 4,000-ton warship was doomed! The 10-inch cannon shells and 6-inch cannon shells hit the small ship one after another.

blowing,

The front main gun of this battleship had been destroyed, and the rear main gun could not aim and fire due to the smoke. Ten minutes later, the Terror finally began to break away from the battle line and dragged its broken body towards the shoal. And Maria

The Princess did not pursue it. After all, the ship was almost burned to ashes by the fire and had lost the value of repair. Instead, it chose to attack the Texas, which was at the end of the queue. Less than an hour after the battle started

In that time, the U.S. fleet lost its second battleship.

During this period of firefighting, the Americans did not gain nothing. The 4-inch rapid fire cannons still caused a little trouble for the Spanish. All four battleships were hit by several shells and lit several fire points, but they were quickly extinguished.

What really caused trouble was a 12-inch shell from the Texas. This shell hit the middle turret of the Oquendo. Although it was blocked by the thick hardened armor, the huge explosion still knocked out one of the turrets.

fire

The hydraulic transmission equipment of the gun was damaged, causing the gun to be unable to operate. In addition, a 12-inch high-explosive shell from the Saint swept a 12-pound rapid-fire gun emplacement of the Madrid. The small gun and several gunners were

Directly smashed into pieces. But this is already the last struggle. The outcome of the two American warships has been decided. If they continue to resist, there will be only death. In half an hour at most, these two warships will also be destroyed.

"Mr. Admiral, two more miscellaneous fish have come up to die." Just when Severa was thinking about annihilating the American fleet, Scheer pointed at the two torpedo boats that were speeding towards the fleet and said.

In the distance, two torpedo boats tb2 and tb3 rushed towards the neatly lined up Spanish fleet at a high speed of 24 knots. In order to avoid the dense shells, the two torpedo boats took an S-shaped evasive route. But even so, they were still far away from the fleet.

There are 1.5km

When approaching, tb3 was still hit by a 6-inch shell. The 45kg high-explosive shell easily tore open the bridge of tb3, and then exploded in the cabin! The huge explosion force tore apart the entire cabin and the entire bridge.

Instantly turned into a burning iron

box, and a subsequent 6-inch shell directly disemboweled the unlucky torpedo boat. The shell penetrated the side and exploded. The flying shrapnel cut off the power of the torpedo boat, and then the powerless warship fired at a captured torpedo boat.

Like a hound with a broken spine

On the sea, another torpedo boat numbered tb2 also failed to successfully launch a torpedo. In the final stage of the impact, a 12-pound shell hit one of the torpedo launch tubes, causing a high-explosive bitter taste.

The acid charge ignited the torpedo.

"With a violent explosion, and in the blink of an eye, the entire torpedo boat was completely blown into pieces. Some fragments were thrown at least more than 100 feet in the air, and then scattered on the sea. This was the U.S. Navy during the war.

The first battleship in which all crew members were killed. The huge explosion was so violent that both sides were shocked, and even the roar of the artillery was temporarily stopped." Afterwards, a gunner on the Terror wrote in the battle diary

wrote this.

When the torpedo boat's desperate attack failed to achieve any results, the last glimmer of hope for the U.S. fleet also disappeared. Two 14,000-ton battleships attacked a 6,000-ton coastal defense ship, and two 10,000-ton armored cruisers attacked.

A 6,000-ton ironclad ship that has been damaged. Even if you think about it with your knees, you know what the outcome will be!

Eighty minutes after the battle, the USS Texas finally could not withstand the attack of an enemy ship with a total tonnage that was more than three times its own. The head and tail were basically beaten to a sieve by rapid fire cannons, and all the artillery on the fighting side were destroyed.

It was destroyed and a large amount of sea water poured in from the side line.

The already insufficient freeboard was further reduced, and the flames and thick smoke on the bridge less than 5 feet from the waterline had turned the battleship into a purgatory. From time to time, American officers and soldiers covered in fire jumped into the water.

, as the seawater flows through the damaged cabin and enters the machine

room, the already overwhelmed boiler finally shut down. The large amount of steam pouring out from the breach was like the last breath of a dying man. Then the entire battleship slowly tilted to the left, and finally capsized quickly and sank to the bottom of the ship.

Upside down on the sea, surrounded by

The struggling U.S. Navy personnel, their dying struggles, hysterical shouts and calls for help were mixed together. The tragedy at the doorstep shocked all Americans who saw it. Some of them made the sign of the cross, while others closed their eyes.

.I can’t bear to see everything in front of me.

The deadline for facing the last Saint was almost reached. The Saint struggled to move closer to the shoal in order to give the crew a chance to survive. At this time, Severa decided to give up the attack on the Saint.

. Instead, he commanded the fleet to rush towards the Newport News Shipyard. In Severa's eyes, defeating this garrison fleet was just an appetizer. He needed to leave the precious ammunition to Newport News.

Two giant ships being outfitted in the shipyard.

While the garrison fleet at Hamilton Port was fighting hard, the Americans did not forget to strengthen the defenses in the port area. Although there were no forts and artillery there. Taking advantage of this precious time, the small boats coming from Hamilton Port quickly deployed a small number of defenses on the main channel.

Mines. Under the command of the officers, the personnel on the shore arranged smoke canisters to cover the two giant ships that were being outfitted.

Faced with this situation, the Spanish fleet did not dare to get too close to the target. After all, its fleet did not bring a minesweeper. If it collided with one, the gain would outweigh the loss. It just raised the artillery elevation and fired at the shipyard in the distance. If

If the battle between the fleets can be called a battle, then now it is pure massacre. The shells cut through the air in curves that heralded destruction, and the harsh sound produced by cutting through the air fell to the building several kilometers away.

battleships and nearby factories.

Cannonballs exploded around the target, and the violent explosions sent everyone in Newport into panic. The two giant ships under construction silently endured the bombardment of the giant cannons. They were not finished yet.

.There is no armor plate and no artillery. It is like two targets. The first one to be directly hit was the Kentucky, and a 10-inch shell directly hit it.

It hit the gun ring of the Kentucky. After a loud noise, nearly half of the prototype gun ring was blown away. What was even more deadly was that the flames spread through the flammable materials in the cabin toward the interior of the hull. Then Chilshaji

The power compartment in the middle of the hull was also hit by a 227kg high-explosive bomb. The pipelines and power systems being installed inside were blown to pieces.

Although due to the thick smoke and distance, there were not many direct hits from the shells. But for these two unfinished ships, which had no armor protection and no damage control, such a blow was already quite fatal. The materials in the hull,

The flammable materials became ruins for these two ships.

The accomplice of the battleship. A large amount of air poured in from the gun mounts and other holes to allow the flames inside the hull to obtain enough oxygen. In the scorching flames, the two battleships that were supposed to be completed in 1900 completely turned into one.

Pile of scrap metal. The U.S. Navy is crying at this moment.
Chapter completed!