Australian Storm 1876

  Chapter 261 Group Fight

  The reinforcement fleet arrived at Banda Aceh from Europe. After completing the supply of coal water and fresh vegetables and fruits, it was already late at night.

  Due to strict urging from the Governor’s Office of the East Indies and the Royal Task Force, this small task force did not make more repairs in Banda Aceh, and set sail in the early morning of May 15 and sailed into the Strait of Malacca.

  The Strait of Malacca is 1,080 kilometers in length. Based on the long-distance ferry speed of the reinforcement fleet of 10 knots, it will take two and a half days to leave the Strait of Malacca and enter the Western Pacific.

  On the way, the British cruiser "Stubborn Stone" was always by his side.

  It is like an African vulture hovering in the sky, keenly aware of the smell of war smoke, and extracting all the nutrients that can help improve the naval steam armor strategy. This is the focus of the Royal Navy's particular focus.

  Neither the British nor the Dutch realized that the Queensland United Fleet, which had briefly disappeared in the Surabaya Strait, was rushing all the way at a high speed of 18 knots, and the direction was the southeast entrance of the Strait of Malacca...that is, the waters near Singapore.

  The European reinforcement fleet arrived at Banda Aceh Port at 9.20 in the morning, and the Queensland United Fleet in the Surabaya Strait received an expedited secret report at 12:45 noon. The time only passed 3 hours and 25 minutes.

  It was late at night after the European reinforcement fleet completed its coal supply. The fleet set off at about 5:00 in the morning of the next day and sailed all the way towards Batavia.

  From 12:45 noon to 5:00 a.m. on the second day, this gave the Queensland United Fleet a full 16 hours of precious time, rushing 520 kilometers at a high speed of 18 knots, and winning precious fighters for intercepting enemy fleets in the waters near Singapore.

  From the Surabaya Strait to the waters near Malacca and Singapore, the whole journey is about 2,300 kilometers, and it takes 72 hours at a high speed of 18 knots, and there can be no path deviation in the middle.

   Therefore, time is a fighter, fleeting.

  At around 10 am on May 17, the waters near Singapore

  The Queensland United Fleet arrived in the waters after the long-distance raid. The commander-in-chief of the fleet, He Fang, finally breathed a long sigh of relief. He ordered the six Type 1 warships headed by the Haiyan to advance to the port and carry out coal replenishment operations.

  The combined fleet of four Type II ships, including albatross, flamingos, pelicans, and herons, led the other six Type I ships to wander on the nearby sea, waiting for the opponent's fleet to be captured.

The Port of Singapore is an important node port for the European shipping lines of the Australian shipping company in the 19th century. Large ocean freighters will stop here for supplies, unload some of the transshipment materials, and use the vacant space to ship goods from other companies to Europe. The Normandy Trading Company is here There is a large warehouse area specially built for the transfer of goods. Huitong Bank also has a bank branch here to provide thoughtful banking and financial services.

  Therefore, Red River Valley has its own independent terminal in Singapore, which supplies supplies to ocean freighters and ships.

  Not long after

Exciting good news came from the secret observation post in Singapore. It was confirmed that the Dutch reinforcement fleet left Banda Aceh Port at about 5:00 am on May 15th. Based on its average speed of 10 knots, it is expected to be around 5 pm today. Passing through the waters near Malacca, it is now ten o'clock in the morning, which is enough time for seven hours.

  After receiving accurate information, the commander-in-chief of the fleet ordered the Flamingo, and the second Pelican immediately entered the port to complete the replenishment. The remaining ships were still patrolling the sea, vigilantly to prevent any accidents from happening.

  Any freighter flying the Dutch flag is not allowed to enter the Strait of Malacca to prevent it from whistling to the Dutch reinforcement fleet to let the cooked duck fly.

  It's four o'clock in the afternoon

  Albatross, the Second Heron led the ships that had completed the second round of replenishment out of the port. All 16 steam ironclad warships formed a geese battle search formation and entered the Strait of Malacca at a high speed of 15 knots.

  Only more than 40 minutes later, the two fleets faced each other head-on.

On the sparkling sea, one after another tall steel triangular masts emerged on the sea level, the thick chimneys spewed thick black smoke, and the sun shone cold on the tall steel ships. Queensland United Fleet 16 The ships lined up in an orderly geese-shaped formation, leaping through the waves and killing them with indomitable power.

The Dutch side, led by the 2650-ton steamship "Ihostein", accompanied by two 1470-ton light cruisers "Fury" and "Courage", the Dutch reinforcement fleet suddenly encountered the enemy, and the siren sounded. Throughout the entire ship, and the formation was disbanded for the first time.

   The two German flag-flighted ordnance ships slowed down and left the fleet, and the two Dutch-flagged coal transport ships also slowed down and moved away from the fleet. They can choose to surrender after encountering an attack.

The "Ihostein" took the lead, followed by the light cruisers "Furious" and "Courage" in a "one" formation. The tall chimneys emitted black smoke and were obviously thicker, and they were accelerating at full speed. .

  The enemy is currently blocked in a narrow strait. The northeast strait, which is about 50 kilometers wide, has little room for maneuvering, and the Dutch reinforcement fleet can only bite the bullet and rush over, and there is no other way.

  The British cruiser "Stubborn Stone", which was sailing all the way, turned silently, and distanced itself from the Dutch reinforcement fleet to prevent accidental attack by naval guns in battle.

  The Royal Navy of the British Empire left a deep impression on the Queensland Fleet. The so-called Queensland Coast Guard ships that have experienced two **** battles showed extremely aggressiveness and showed sharp fangs.

  And no matter how keenly it catches fleeting fighters?

  Simply looking at the spirit of the fleet's officers and soldiers, we can see that this growing navy is brave and heroic, without the staleness of the boss empire, showing the danger that the emerging maritime power can't hide.

The fleets of both sides are quickly approaching, and the Queensland fleet is also speeding up with all its strength. In the high-speed hurricane, it has evolved into a double "one" formation. With 16 ships against three, it is bullying the opponent's fleet with a small number and taking care of the formation on its left side. The formation on the right can do its best to output artillery fire to the enemy heavy blows.

  This is to clarify how much to bully, and to prepare for group fights.

  When the distance between the two sides was close to within five nautical miles, the Queensland Fleet’s 239mm main gun took the lead and fired a round of test fires.

   More than 20 heavy artillery shells splashed high water jets on the water surface. The nearest one was only 700 yards away from the enemy ship, which was a certain threat.

  The counterattack of the Dutch fleet followed. Several large-caliber artillery shells landed near the right side of the queue that was rushing over menacingly. The nearest ship was more than 300 yards away, showing that the Dutch officers and soldiers were more skilled and had better shooting accuracy.

  But that’s all

As the fleets of both sides continue to accelerate face-to-face and the distance is rapidly shortening, the Dutch fleet speeds up to the level of 13 knots, and the Queensland army on the opposite side generally speeds up to a high speed of 20 knots or more. It draws a snowy white track on the sea, and the battle is rapidly trending. In white-hot.

  After several rounds of test firing of the main gun, the Quinlan Fleet fired a near-vector in the 5th round, and the distance between the two sides was also reduced to within 2.8 nautical miles. At this time, the long-held Miss 95 artillery began to erupt.

  The overwhelming 95mm caliber shells enveloped the entire sea area, stirring the quiet sea surface like a hot pot of boiling oil.

The dense rain of bullets obscured the sky and dimmed the sun. In just ten minutes, more than 80 "Miss Australia" fired tens of thousands of cannonballs, washing the Dutch pocket fleet countless times with steel rain and iron bullets. Very simply raised the white flag.

  When the continuous sound of Miss Australia’s cannons ceased, the sea breeze dissipated the thick smoke of gunpowder, showing what a miserable scene before people’s eyes.

The waist gunboat of the steamship "Ihostein" was blown up from front to back, the front and rear masts were burning, the bridge had been completely blown down, the commanders were all killed, and the sailors who could not resist seeing them lifted up. white flag.

  Further followed by more than 20 shells in the body, the hull was scorched to black, and there were shocking craters everywhere. The entire hull was sinking slowly, and there was no rescue.

  "Courage" was a little better, barely able to float on the water, only a few sailors were able to stand up in the ruins of stumps and arms, and were completely blown up.

  The Queensland fleet, equipped with Miss Australia’s quick cannons, was fierce. It only took ten minutes to kill the opponent, at the cost of consuming a lot of ammunition.

  Presumably, Lord Queensland should be heartbroken again. The prodigal gadgets of the United Fleet have produced tens of thousands of shells at once. This is all wasted money!

  After a blast, I don’t know how many barrels need to be replaced, which is another big sum of money.

  The navy is really not an expensive toy that the poor can play with. Even if it is a wealthy Queensland Earl, his scalp should be numb when he sees the bill.

The combined fleet can’t manage this. They happily sent two ships to accept the surrender and place the wounded prisoners. The three warships together had less than a hundred survivors, most of them engine room officers and soldiers. Almost all the first-line commanding officers of the Royal Netherlands Navy Dead.

  More than 20 minutes later

   "Furious" was tilted due to excessive water intake, and finally overturned with a "bang", blasted high sprays on the sea, and then quickly sank into the strait.

  "Courage" has been checked to be of no rescue value at all. After the captives surrendered, the Puffin fired two steam torpedoes close by, exploded it from it, and quickly sank in the Strait of Malacca.

  The superstructure of the gunship of the "Ihostein" steamship was almost completely destroyed. It could only be towed by a freighter dispatched by the joint fleet and sent to the Port of Singapore for emergency repairs, and could not return until it had the ability to sail independently.

  The combined fleet left two ships, the Puffin and Haiyan, to accompany the steamship "Ihostein" into the port for repairs, and then return to Jayapura Port one step later.

The main force of the joint fleet escorted two Dutch coal ships, and the two German munitions first returned to the port of Samarinda. The current war has not ended. The joint fleet must keep a close watch on the Royal Dutch task force hiding in the port of Surabaya. Fleet, prevent him from sneaking out and making waves.

  (End of this chapter)