Chapter 297: A crushing defeat

Obviously, after three years of naval career, even a pig can max out all naval skills with the help of the panel.

Besides, Lawrence is still a great man.

Lack of experience does not mean he is stupid.

A little thought about the suicide attacks of these ships can guess their purpose.

The only possibility of paying a heavy price is to save more ships.

Obviously, the main force of the opponent has entered the inland river.

The naval battle seems to be over in a few words, but in fact, it has been more than half a day since the two sides discovered each other and the end of the naval battle.

The colony is not far from the coastline, which means that the other party may have received the news and may rush out at any time.

Although he is confident in his fleet, why choose the difficult mode when he can easily defeat the enemy?

Even if some people do not understand, the commander's order is the driving force for moving forward.

The huge fleet accelerated forward, and the injured ships saved themselves on the spot.

The two patrol ships that ran away even tried to attract the attention of the fleet again.

But just like the reason why they chose suicide attacks instead of harassment before, if the other party ignores you, the so-called harassment is the same as nothing.

Just as the fleet of the Garnad Navy Command was about to arrive at the estuary, the Empire's lookout could already see the white sails emerging from the inland river.

Under coal-fired power, temporarily increasing the amount of coal can squeeze out a speed beyond the limit.

The speed of the steam ironclad ship is well deserved to be ranked first, and it is even out of touch with the entire fleet.

The adjutant next to him kept reminding that it is a very dangerous behavior to leave the formation in a naval battle.

However, Lawrence's face was resolute, and the benefits of all fleet captains being selected from the squire knights were revealed.

None of these knights with extremely strong wills are cowards.

What status, life and death, all retreated to the second line at this time.

First, it was the Northland Knight, and then the Garnad Navy Commander.

Lawrence was not lacking in blood, how could he retreat at this time.

"Speed up and block them."

He gave a cold order, regardless of the fact that he was also on the Empire.

He believed in the ironclad ship under his feet and dared to take risks.

Everything is a grand undertaking, how can it not be dangerous?

I made a promise with the Duke that the two-headed dragon flag would never set, just like it just happened.

Lawrence looked down on himself for backing down at this time.

The adjutant was not afraid of death, but as an adjutant, he had to give a final reminder according to the regulations: "Commander, I must warn you that leaving the fleet during wartime is a dangerous act that violates naval regulations. Even if you are the commander and have the power to issue this order, I will record it."

"Stop talking nonsense, follow me to the command cabin." Lawrence pulled the other party and was about to blast him. Standing on the tower was simply courting death.

The adjutant put away the notebook he carried with him and smiled: "It's just right. I haven't felt the atmosphere of battle for a long time."

Do you think he reminded me because he was afraid?

There is no madman born from the Northland Knights who is afraid of war.

Their glory comes from war, so they are naturally happy to hear about war.

Governor Karen in the south has always wanted to ask if the Northland Knights can run on the sea. The answer is of course yes.

There are no war horses, but there are ironclad ships.

The Northland Knights were transferred to the Ocean Knights, and they could also make a shocking sound.

As the two sides approached quickly, they had already discovered each other.

For a black monster like the Empire that was emitting black smoke, the United Kingdom's fleet did not have extra time to consider.

"Fire."

It was the time of impact, and each ship could only fire a few guns on the deck.

Moreover, the inland river was narrow, and there were only a few ships that could fire at the same time.

In addition, the high-speed movement made the accuracy even worse.

Lawrence saw the splashing water in the command cabin and still gave orders calmly.

"Full left rudder, fire."

The Empire turned sideways directly, with twenty muffled guns on one side.

The entire hull vibrated, and even drifted more than ten meters on the water.

The shells flew towards the estuary with extremely high initial velocity.

The naval battle... began.

Both sides were confident of winning, and they directly launched a cannon battle.

Sporadic shells fell on the Empire, and the explosions made pieces concave and black.

However, the casualties were not great. The shells of this era were seriously insufficient to damage ironclad ships.

On the contrary, the incendiary bombs carried by the Empire were quite powerful and knocked over a warship in a few strokes.

The most important thing was that it was across the estuary, blocking the passage for the United Kingdom fleet to leave.

It had a certain momentum of one man blocking the pass and ten thousand men unable to pass.

If you want to leave, you must go through several rounds of artillery baptism.

On the opposite side, General Amanda had already discovered that the black big guy on the opposite side seemed to be an ironclad ship.

At that time, there was no concept of ironclad ships in the United Kingdom.

Some people proposed to cover the ribs of the warship with iron armor, but that was just a whimsical idea.

Covering with iron armor would sacrifice precious speed, and the iron armor on the two ribs might not necessarily bring more defense than expected.

Coupled with the opposition of the naval conservatives, the current plan is still a plan.

As a veteran of the navy, Amanda has some understanding of ironclad ships.

But this does not include the pure ironclad ships on the opposite side.

"What propels this giant?"

Sail? You must be kidding.

But no matter how absurd the reality is, the ironclad ship is right in front of us.

Unfortunately, this time it is the enemy that is technologically advanced.

General Amanda already has an ominous premonition.

"Open fire, all of you, I want to see if the ironclad ship is really unsinkable."

The so-called ironclad ship is not absolutely invincible.

A good tiger cannot stand up to a pack of wolves, and he doesn't believe that he can't beat the other side.

Unfortunately, he forgot that the Empire is not fighting alone.

At the estuary, it was not easy for the United Kingdom's warships to squeeze out a few ships, and they barely turned sideways to fire, and a large number of fleets were still squeezing out from the inland river.

After several rounds of shelling, the Empire encountered more and more bombardment.

However, the subsequent ships also arrived, and sailing warships arrived one after another. At this time, it was no longer possible to consider any formation.

Just turn sideways to fire, everyone shoots freely, and what they are fighting for is time.

General Amanda's premonition was right. With the arrival of reinforcements, the United Kingdom fleet began to be sunk one after another.

The entire fleet was blocked at the estuary, with a dilemma.

He knew that even if they fought head-on, they probably wouldn't have much chance of winning, but it definitely wouldn't be so difficult.

Some surviving sailors had already started to go ashore, and some ships had lowered their lifeboats.

Amanda gritted her teeth and insisted, forcing the entire fleet to bombard each other madly.

But morale has its limits.

When the losses exceeded half, some people finally ran away.

Those who went ashore in lifeboats were considered conscientious.

Some even raised the white flag and surrendered.

A crushing defeat.

In the evenly matched stage, it seems that the strength is equal, but in fact it is just waiting for the other side to lose its temper first.