Chapter 174 Beirut Naval Battle (Part 1)

Eastern Mediterranean.

A fleet was drifting alone on the sea, and the Union flag hanging high proved their identity.

They are the British Near East Advance Fleet, consisting of three battleships and five frigates.

The three capital ships are the third-class battleship "Birmingham", the third-class battleship "Wangshe", and the third-class battleship "Newport".

Among them, the "Wangshi" and the "Newport" are typical 74-ship configurations, and the "Birmingham" is a super-level three battleship with a three-layer gun deck and 80 guns and a displacement of up to 2,100 tons. The flagship of this fleet.

Vice Admiral Helmut, dining in his flagship "Birmingham". He was the only one at the table, but there were fourteen dishes on the table.

You know, generally speaking, the so-called French meal only has thirteen courses. The British felt that the number thirteen was unlucky and wanted to appear more powerful than the French, so the British navy's meal consisted of fourteen courses.

In fact, what the British don't know is that the number fourteen also means unknown in the East.

The supplies of the British Navy can be said to be the most complete among the navies of this era. In particular, the diet of officers was more luxurious, and their bad habits were also learned by the Japanese navy later.

But on the bumpy sea, even the delicious food was not in the mood at the moment. The wine Lieutenant General Helmut had just drank was already a bit drunk after shaking with the waves a few times. He proudly said to the chef next to him. .

"Do you know what we're going to do?"

"Go to war, general." The chef didn't know what the lieutenant general meant, but he knew it was best not to offend this drunkard.

"No, we are just traveling. The Egyptian fleet is a joke. I was also present in the naval battle in 1827. I was on the "Easter". Do you know how many ships we sunk? "?" Helmut raised two fingers.

"Two ships?" The chef has been at sea for many years. Although he has never participated in a serious naval battle, he knows that the British Navy must win every battle and there are not many chances to sink the opponent.

Helmut shook his head.

"Three ships?" the chef asked tentatively, which annoyed Helmut.

"Twenty ships! Those Egyptians are just as stupid as you! We can sink their warships every time we fire a cannon. When they find out that our cannons are powerful, they feel like they are fighting a treasonous war with us. What do you think the result will be?"

"Did we win?"

"No no no!"

"Then we lost?" The head chef was a little confused.

"They were sunk by us before they even got close. There happened to be a group of sharks, and they smelled blood, so they had no choice but to fight with the sharks. Haha!"

Lieutenant General Helmut laughed so hard that he almost shed tears, but the chef really didn't know where the laughter was, but he didn't want to offend this drunkard, so he could only laugh awkwardly along with him.

Fortunately, at this time, the fog cleared.

A messenger ran in and shouted, "Captain! A large number of enemy ships have been discovered!"

Fighting always makes people's blood boil. The drunkenness on Helmut's face disappeared completely. He grabbed the captain's hat on the table and put it on his head. He took another big gulp of rum and walked out the door.

"Mr. Nelson, please help me." Rum is also known as "Nelson's Blood" in the British Royal Navy.

Nelson is as famous as Napoleon, the god of war on the sea, and is known as "Napoleon of the sea." Unlike other people in this book who call themselves Napoleon, he is not self-proclaimed, and there is no derogatory meaning. He is definitely not the kind of person who everyone calls "Napoleon" after Napoleon's death. Napoleon's clown.

The sea breeze blew by, the fog dissipated, and Helmut seemed to be back in Navarino. The Egyptian fleet was still in the port, seemingly trying to compete with the British Royal Navy with the advantage of its forts.

Helmut observed with a telescope that there were almost hundreds of Egyptian gunboats, large and small, plus brigs and three-masted sailing ships, and about thirty coastal defense guns.

However, there was a contemptuous smile on Helmut's lips. How many mediocre people in the British Royal Navy could be considered squadron commanders?

Helmut saw the weakness of the Egyptians at just one glance. Those ships basically used 3-4 pound guns. Those shore defense guns looked mighty and domineering, but he knew the Egyptians' skill in forging cannons. The cannons weighed nearly 10,000 kilograms and had a caliber between 10 and 12 pounds.

For a battleship with this kind of powerful artillery, it's basically a scrape.

Taking his "Birmingham" as an example, it has a displacement of 2,200 tons. The bottom gun deck is equipped with 32 32-pound cannons, the middle gun deck is equipped with 24 24-pound cannons, and the upper gun deck is equipped with 20 16-pound long-barreled guns.

The bow and stern are each equipped with two 32-pound carron cannons to deal with approaching small ships.

The "Birmingham" can dump half a ton of shells at a time, which is almost equal to the total firepower of the opponent.

What is even more frightening is that the British artillery uses solid drilling and boring technology, which is not comparable to the Egyptian cannons.

"Soldier, go back to your post. Signal the signal and ask Major General John to line them up in a horizontal line, 1,200 meters away, and prepare to meet the enemy."

Although the Egyptian Navy had long known that the British Navy was coming to bombard Beirut, they were still shocked when the British Navy actually appeared.

Because of the heavy fog, when the Egyptian navy discovered the British fleet, the distance between the two sides was only two kilometers.

This also resulted in many people still eating on the shore or preparing supplies.

"The enemy ship is attacking!! The enemy ship is attacking!!"

A soldier sounded the alarm, and then the whole Beirut port sounded the alarm.

However, they still missed the best opportunity. Before the Egyptian navy boarded the ship, the British had already formed a battle formation.

As the gun deck was opened layer by layer, the black muzzles of the guns were exposed.

Then, with General Helmut's order of "free fire", countless black projectiles flew towards the artillery and the helpless Egyptian sailboats.

One by one, the blooming shells exploded in the Beirut port. Because the Egyptians were in a hurry to prepare for the war, the scattered shrapnel immediately caused a large area of ​​casualties. But compared with the shrapnel, the fire caused by the combustibles inside could cause more chaos.

The Egyptian artillery was Helmut's main target. After all, he felt that the small sailboats of the Egyptians posed no threat to his battleships.

And his mission was just to deter bombardment. It was not within his responsibility to capture Beirut. Of course, if these Egyptians wanted to die, he didn't mind sending them off.

After the British Navy poured out four rounds of artillery fire, the Egyptian counterattack finally began. The artillery cooperated with the large mast ship to fire at the British Navy one kilometer away, but it only caused a wave of spray, and very few of them could hit the British ships. Even if they did, it would be as Helmut estimated, completely ineffective.

Just as Helmut proudly ordered to continue free shooting, a large Egyptian fleet was passing through the fog, and the main force of the Egyptians was about to arrive at the battlefield.