Chapter 984: Mine

Although the British New Mediterranean Fleet was ambushed at this time, its combat power was still overwhelming.

The few small boats that were blown up actually did not have much impact on the combat power of this huge fleet.

However, in a panic, Edward Hobart Seymour Sr. issued the order he thought was the safest and most reliable.

If it were just those few artillery batteries, there would be no need to retreat, but mines brought too much uncertainty.

Although mines were not common in naval operations at this time, they could achieve very amazing results every time.

Whether it was the American War of Independence, the Greek War of Independence, or the Russo-Turkish War, mines played an important role.

At this time, the mines were mainly floating mines. As the name suggests, floating mines mainly rely on "waves". These mines will explode when they collide with ships, bridges, reefs and other things.

The combat effectiveness of this type of mine is usually very short, only a few days or even hours, but it is powerful enough.

One mine can destroy a light frigate of hundreds of tons, and even large battleships cannot withstand multiple explosions of mines.

However, its disadvantages are also very significant. Because there is no modern automatic locking device, the floating mines at this time mainly rely on luck and quantity to blow up ships.

Of course, if it is in the open sea, thousands of floating mines may not be able to blow up enemy ships.

It is still easy for experienced captains to avoid these floating mines without automatic navigation and temporary drive devices.

However, at this time, the small bay is filled with a huge number of ships, and it is difficult for those floating mines not to blow up anything.

What is more terrifying is the uncertainty it brings. Those warships that were hit and sunk by floating mines are like reefs in such a narrow bay.

They may cause more warships to run aground at any time, which will cause a series of more chaotic chain reactions.

The Austrian artillerymen who had been hiding near the artillery for a long time rushed to the artillery almost immediately and fired their already loaded artillery.

The latest ship killer (high-explosive bomb) flew out of the gun barrel and landed on the British warship. With huge explosions, wood chips flew everywhere, and large pieces of deck debris even nailed people to the wall.

However, the British navy was not to be underestimated. Their gun ports had been opened long ago, and the gunners were aiming at the turrets.

The close-range shooting of more than a dozen battleships destroyed the turrets on both sides in an instant, but the chaos of the British army did not stop.

Seymour's fleet was too large, especially those huge sailing battleships, which were not easy to turn around.

Those paddle-wheel warships were relatively easy to turn around, but because they were out of step with other warships, the whole scene became more chaotic.

What was even more terrifying was that the fleet in the rear was not clear about the situation, and some small boats kept turning around and escaping frantically, resulting in frequent accidents at the mouth of the bay, and the entire bay was like a large car accident scene.

On the other side, the Austrian army on the dock was frantically throwing drifting mines into the sea, and barrels filled with gunpowder were compressing the space of the British fleet.

But the British navy was not easy to mess with. Every salvo from more than a dozen battleships in the bay could destroy large areas of buildings.

The warehouses storing drifting mines and the carriages loaded with drifting mines near the dock were covered by artillery fire one after another, resulting in a series of huge explosions.

The dock was filled with smoke, and the fire spread rapidly. The Austrian army on the shore was also in chaos. Their continuous bombardment and fire interrupted the command.

Some people wanted to put out the fire, some were rescuing supplies, some were still throwing drifting mines into the sea, some were looking for pre-hidden artillery to prepare for counterattack, and some were scared and ran around and shouted on the dock.

But the British fleet commander Seymour still frowned. He thought that with his strong troops and firepower, any conspiracy would be just a ridiculous struggle.

Those artillery batteries posed no threat to his powerful fleet. Even if there were hidden firepower points, the fleet only needed to pay a very small price to win.

However, he was defeated by those small wooden barrels and could only let the victory that was within his reach slip away.

Compared with those approaching wooden barrels, the chaos at the mouth of the bay was more deadly at this time. Several small warships had been hit and sunk.

These sunken small warships made the already narrow bay even narrower. At this time, Commander Seymour regretted letting the main fleet enter the fjord.

If only some light ships were sent to lead the way, then retreating at this time would be very easy.

But it is impossible for light ships to smash the artillery on both sides and turn the dock into a sea of ​​fire. But whether it is a light ship leading the way or the main force, he cannot take this port.

In the final analysis, Seymour did not expect the Austrians to use mines, and in such a large number.

The mine clearance methods of this era are still very hardcore. From the East to the West, whether facing the underwater Dragon King Cannon or the beer barrel, the method of clearing is to directly hit it with a ship.

However, the Austrian side does not seem to want to give Seymour any chance. At this time, there are at least thousands of floating mines on the sea.

Although the price of gunpowder has been reduced again and again through industrial production after the Industrial Revolution, using thousands of floating mines at a time still seems very arrogant.

There are usually 50 to 100 kilograms of black powder in a floating mine, and the price of a barrel of black powder is about 40 pounds.

A barrel of black powder is about 286.2 kilograms, and the price of 100 kilograms of black powder is about 13.97 pounds.

At this time, the price of an old-fashioned flintlock rifle was only 1-2 pounds, and the price of a new muzzle-loading smoothbore percussion rifle was only 8-10 pounds (the price of a rifled rifle was about 1.5-2 times that of a smoothbore rifle).

In other words, as soon as they met, the Austrians had thrown away the equipment of thousands of people.

Of course, the results were also very impressive. The value of the ships lost by the British army at this time could at least arm tens of thousands of troops.

Old Edward Hobart Seymour was thinking in his heart that if the Austrians played this trick in every port, he would lose a lot.

But thinking carefully, it was unlikely, because this time he was careless. If he did not rush into the bay rashly, but chose to take steady steps, even if the Austrians dropped more drifting mines into the sea, he would have no problem as long as he left.

When the drifting mines drifted away with the ocean current, the Austrians on the island would be lambs to be slaughtered.

Just as he was calculating how many ships he would have to lose to pass the bay, the warship sailing in the center of the channel suddenly exploded.

There was no time to think about it. Explosions came one after another. At least three small and medium-sized warships were seriously damaged and about to sink. A battleship was also seriously damaged, but it barely rushed out of the bay.

"What's going on?"

Old Edward Hobart Seymour roared angrily, because he did not find any drifting mines at sea, but his ship could not explode for no reason.

The British sailors who fell into the water quickly gave the answer, and a British captain who fell into the water shouted.

"Underwater! These drifting mines came from the water!"

At this time, old Edward Hobart Seymour noticed that there were several strange small boats at the mouth of the bay, and there were some people dressed as fishermen on the shore who kept chopping the cables with knives and axes.

"Damn it! Kill them!"

As soon as the British warships approached, those people dressed as fishermen immediately fled in all directions.

The loss statistics have been released. Including the three frigates that just sank, the British army has lost 12 light gunboats, five transport ships, four frigates, two cruisers, and a third-class battleship that was seriously damaged in this battle.