In the Name of the Queen

Naval warfare is completely different from land warfare.

Naval traditions need hundreds of years of sedimentation to form.

When Bridges stood on the command post and drew his sword, the legendary naval generals who emerged in the long history of Sussex seemed to be possessed by souls.

At this moment, he represented the naval tradition of Sussex.

This is the battle for the Fourth Fleet to restore its dignity. It cannot retreat, let alone fail.

The Royal Navy, fight every enemy!

Full sail, set sail!

Although the enemy has an advantage in the number of warships, and the number of main battleships that can be put on the battle line is nearly doubled, the enemy's flagship Valmy has a displacement of nearly 6,000 tons and is known as an unsinkable sea fortress, but he is not afraid.

Since its launch, the Sovereign has never been defeated.

This is his confidence.

The Royal Navy's invincibility is not only based on bravery and fearlessness, but also on superb naval warfare technology.

He will teach Villeneuve a good lesson today.

The name of this lesson is courage and determination.

The naval guns of this era are basically front-loading solid shells, and their lethality comes from huge impact force.

The naval guns are arranged in the cabins on both sides of the warship according to a precise design, so the firepower output on the side is the highest.

Solid shells hitting the hull will cause irreversible damage.

When the damage accumulates to a certain extent, the warship will capsize and sink.

According to the characteristics of battleships, naval battles of this era always follow a principle to seize the T advantage.

Whoever can turn his fleet sideways and use the broadside to face the enemy can easily win.

This is common sense in naval warfare.

But Bridges has no intention of seizing the T advantage today.

Although he is confident of victory, he will not underestimate the enemy.

The overall strength of the Jinyuan Kingdom fleet is not as good as that of the Sussex Navy, but they have the upper hand in this local sea area.

After carefully observing the wind direction and ocean currents, and combining the number of warships and the quality of sailors on both sides, Bridges quickly calculated the result.

The probability of successfully seizing the T advantage is less than 20%.

Once the T advantage fails, this naval battle will become a one-sided massacre.

Not only would he lose the naval battle and his life, he would also ruin the undefeated reputation of the Royal Navy and be nailed to the pillar of shame forever.

He still has a family, he can't lose, so he must use surprise troops.

Since there is no T advantage, just give up.

Bridges issued an order to the entire army to line up the main battleships in a column, open all the sails, and let the speed reach the limit.

This is an order that violates the principles of naval warfare.

In the age of sails, speed and maneuverability are contradictory.

While achieving extreme speed, it will also be very difficult to adjust the course and fleet formation.

But Bridges didn't plan to adjust the course at all.

He let the fastest third-level battleship Perth take the lead.

This battleship acts as a meat shield and bait, and it is likely to be shot into a sieve by the enemy's salvo.

Perth Captain Green is not a fool, of course he understands.

Green used flag signals to ask if the order was wrong, and Bridges gave an affirmative answer.

"Victory requires everyone's courage and sacrifice. I can't guarantee your safety, but I promise that your merits will not be buried after victory."

The captain of the Perth ship was silent for a moment and responded with a flag signal.

"Yes, General!"

He knew very well that this charge was most likely the end of his military career, but he did not refuse.

Bridges's frankness made his slight resentment disappear.

As a soldier, dying of old age and sickness is the greatest shame.

He can die, but he can't die in vain.

He knows General Bridges and Governor Roland.

As long as he can win, his military exploits will not be buried.

Although he himself cannot enjoy the title he won, he has a family and children.

That's enough.

The Lando family will surely prosper in the future, and future generations will remember his name, Green Lando.

Captain Green turned and looked ahead, tidying up his neat uniform, wearing a straight hat, and smiling at the enemy warships appearing from the horizon.

He has mysophobia, even if he has been at sea for a month and a half, his uniform is still straight and neat.

It's not that he is so diligent, but the orderly doesn't want to be whipped.

Going to the final feast called death, of course you have to dress neatly, like an impeccable gentleman.

He raised his sword and gave the order to speed up.

Full sail, downwind, let the Perth run at the fastest speed since its construction and launching.

12.5 knots.

In an era when the maximum speed is generally only 8-10 knots, this speed is just like Bolt participating in the sports school sports meeting.

The Golden Kite Fleet must seize the T advantage and maintain a strict formation. It must constantly adjust the direction of the sails, and the speed is far from reaching the speed.

The entire fleet keeps the formation and turns, so that their speed is generally around 6 knots.

This speed is already the limit when the large fleet turns, demonstrating the strength of the Golden Kite Fleet.

Their commander Villeneuve stood in the command room of the flagship Valmy, holding up a telescope and observing the sea calmly and steadily.

He saw the Perth coming like a sword.

He was stunned.

Is it the wrong way to open it? Or is it too tired recently?

Villeneuve was a little confused. He put down the telescope, rubbed his eyes vigorously, and after confirming that he was in a normal mental state, he raised the telescope again.

A Sussex battleship was rushing at full speed.

He was not mistaken.

Although he was sure that he was not mistaken, Villeneuve was even more confused.

The enemy's tactics that were completely unconventional disrupted all his plans.

In his script, the Sussex Fourth Fleet was a hateful and respectable enemy, and even if the number of warships was small, it would cause him great trouble.

He not only thought about how to annihilate the Sussex Navy after T-advantage, but also thought about how to change the formation after failing to obtain T-advantage.

He thought of everything, but he didn't expect that the other party would not seize T-advantage.

This feeling of cautiously going down the stairs but stepping into the air was really bad.

After being stunned for several seconds, Villeneuve's face turned red instantly.

He felt greatly insulted by the opponent's completely reckless behavior. This shame must be washed with the enemy's blood.

He suppressed his anger and gave orders to the messenger around him.

"The whole army maintains the formation and continues to seize T-advantage. It is forbidden to fire in advance without my order."

Although he didn't understand why the Sussex people were stupid, he would never stop the enemy from committing suicide.

The rules of naval warfare will not change. T-advantage means you can do whatever you want. This is a bloody lesson learned from hundreds of years of naval warfare history.

Not seizing T-advantage, playing tricks?

In the past, some people had tried to be clever in naval battles, but they were all severely taught a lesson by cannons.

I thought Bridges was a famous admiral of the Sussex Navy, but he turned out to be a fool.

The stupidity of the enemy made Villeneuve feel a little boring.

Victory came too easily, and it was hard for him to enjoy it.

The sea breeze was gentle and the waves were surging.

More than fifty main battleships on both sides were constantly approaching, and more auxiliary battleships began to chase and fight each other on the periphery.

Cruisers and destroyers were not qualified to go to the battle line to fight.

Their mission was to drive away the enemy's small battleships, collect intelligence, and wait for opportunities to launch sneak attacks.

The main battleships ultimately determined the outcome of the war.

The Perth was getting closer and closer to the Golden Kite Fleet.

As the distance approached, the two captains could see each other's expressions through the telescope.

Villeneuve saw Captain Green's face.

He felt something was wrong.

The other captain's expression was very calm, without any negative emotions such as being frustrated, depressed, and self-destructive.

He was as calm as if he was going to a royal dinner.

Villeneuve's anger was ignited.

He couldn't figure it out, what was the enemy's reason?

He tried to calm himself down and not be dominated by negative emotions.

In any case, the number of battleships on both sides was 34:18, and the advantage was on his side.

What's more, the displacement of the enemy's flagship, the Sovereign, was less than half of his flagship, the Valmy.

Add to that the T advantage that he was sure to get, and he didn't know how to lose.

"All warships focus on the Perth and sink her!"

Of course he knew what the Sussex people wanted to do, rushing in to fight a boarding battle.

There are always fools who think their ships are faster than shells, and they must be taught a lesson.

As long as the Perth is blown to pieces, the Sussex people will be shaken. Their generals may have unique ideas, but the soldiers don't care about that. They will only think that the commander is an idiot.

Without confidence, how can the war be fought?

With so many warships firing at the same time, the Perth will definitely sink.

Villeneuve is full of confidence in this.

Just as Villeneuve gave the order, Bridges also calmly observed the battle situation.

He did not stare at the other commander, but at the muzzle of the enemy warship.

After seeing the muzzle of the enemy warship turn and aim at the Perth, he breathed a sigh of relief.

Green, my friend, your sacrifice will never be in vain.

He murmured.

He would insist in front of the governor and award the first merit of this battle to Green and all the sailors of the Perth.

This is what they deserve.

Fortunately, each of their files is very complete, one is placed in the Royal Archives, and the other is placed in the Governor's Mansion in Hansa City, so they will not sacrifice in vain.

Thinking of some young men without families, Bridges fell silent.

The distance between the two fleets was getting closer and closer, and the Perth finally rushed into the range of the Golden Kite Fleet.

"Speed ​​up!"

After Captain Green gave the last order, he straightened his military cap and smiled like an elegant gentleman.

There was a harsh roar and the whistling sound of shells tearing through the air.

He couldn't see how many shells there were, but he knew there would be a lot.

He clenched his sword, pointed the tip of the sword at the Valmy, and his roar was swallowed by the waves, the wind and the sound of the bombardment.

The shells were scattered over a large area, and most of them fell into the water, splashing huge water columns.

The hit rate of naval guns in this era was very low. But after all, it was a volley of hundreds of cannons, so it didn't matter how low the accuracy was.

The Perth's luck was not too bad, only five shells hit.

But Green's luck was very bad, one of the shells hit his body squarely, turning him into a bloody mist.

The first mate took over the command calmly.

He stood on Green's post, picked up Green's sword, and continued to issue orders to move forward.

Villeneuve coldly ordered to speed up the reloading and continue the volley.

The Perth was getting slower and slower, and a few more volleys would send him to the bottom of the sea.

The caliber and firepower of the ship's guns far exceeded the army's cannons, but the side effect was that the reloading speed was much slower.

As the Golden Kite Fleet frantically reloaded, the Perth was getting closer and closer.

This was a charge driven by courage, and it was also a reckless action that led them into the abyss of death.

The second and third rounds of salvos came quickly.

The Golden Kite's reloading speed was much faster than that of ordinary warships.

The Perth's main mast was hit, and its speed was getting slower and slower, almost equivalent to a target ship.

The Golden Kite's hit rate was also getting higher and higher.

The captain, first mate, second mate, and third mate of the Perth were all killed, and the command was lost. More than half of the sailors were killed or wounded.

But they didn't need command at all.

All the sailors watched their comrades fall one by one, and their blood boiled. They had no intention of retreating at all.

They had only one goal, the Golden Kite flagship Valmy.