Chapter 1082 The ‘Rising Star’ Among the Navy

The night was dark, and no other sound could be heard except the roar of the waves on the sea. The silver moonlight shines on the vast sea, adding a touch of brightness to the darkness, but for the vast ocean, this moonlight seems to be too little.

Eleven hill-like warships were moored on the leeward side of a harbor, letting the waves slap against the sides of the ship.

A dim light cannot shine hundreds of meters away, and the light of a wind lantern cannot shine even tens of meters away. In this era when searchlights in the true sense have not yet been invented, the dark night is completely unfamiliar to the naval fleet.

In the original time and space, in 1879 in the Western calendar, the American Edison truly invented the first electric light with practical value. And what about this current time and space? Can the Lighthouse Nation continue to exist 64 years later? That's impossible.

On February 11, 1847, the country of the United States will no longer exist in the world, nor will there be any so-called "Milan Town" in "Ohio." It is more likely that Edison will never appear in this world at all. His father or grandfather may have died on the battlefield in America.

It was dark, and all of the garrison fleet composed of Americans, British and Spanish, except for some people on duty, fell asleep.

This is Estados Island. The southernmost land of South America is still further south of Tierra del Fuego.

The coast here is steep and the climate is cold and rainy, which is not conducive to farming, so it is uninhabited. Europeans built lighthouses and safe havens here.

Their small fleet was deployed on Estados Island, not on the Woolaston Islands where Cape Horn is located, which divides the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The latter has higher waves and rougher conditions than Estados Island.

Outside the bay where eleven European warships are moored, two British cruisers are wandering within twenty nautical miles. There are two other cruise ships further away.

Although they don't think there is any danger coming at the moment - no one can carry out sneak attacks in unfamiliar sea areas and dark nights, there will be no shortage of necessary protective measures.

In the Malvinas Islands, 700 miles northeast of Estados Island, this archipelago, which has not progressed smoothly on the road to colonization, is now home to the main force of the European South Atlantic fleet such as Britain, Spain, Portugal and Switzerland. .

The eastern part of the island was first settled by the French fifty years ago, followed by the British the following year. But just five years later, the British were expelled from the Falklands by the Spanish, and the Spanish also spent money to buy all the property rights of the French settlements. It can be said that after the British were driven away by the Spanish, the entire Falklands came under Spanish rule.

But the Spaniards were not hard-core, and the British soon returned to the Falkland Islands. After they threatened war, the Spaniards relented, and the British quickly restored their outposts on West Falkland Island, but within a few years The British withdrew from the island again for economic reasons. However, the British people left, but they did not give up their claim to the sovereignty of the Falklands.

The number of residents on this island hovers below 500 all year round. If history develops according to the original course of time and space, this situation will continue for the next two decades. But now the Falklands have become the general base of the South Atlantic Fleet - the two branches correspond to the Drake Strait and the Strait of Magellan respectively. The Europeans established a ship repair plant and ten ships on the Falklands in a short period of time. There are multiple material warehouses, not to mention the soldiers here, just the number of workers who have moved here exceeds a thousand.

It's just that Estados Island is long and narrow from east to west. Its distance from north to south does not exceed 30 miles, but the distance from east to west exceeds 100 miles.

When the Europeans sent a fleet to garrison the island, the news was known to the Military Intelligence Agency.

After all, the width of the Delek Strait is close to 2,000 miles and it is extremely vast. If the entire fleet is sent to blockade, the cost will undoubtedly be huge. The Europeans would not waste their military power so unwisely, so they stationed the fleet guarding the Delek Strait on Estados Island. The fleet guarding the Strait of Magellan is deployed in Greco, which is the narrowest area in the entire Strait of Magellan. It is the first narrow waterway used by Europeans. The width of the sea is only 7 miles, and the water depth of the channel generally does not exceed 50 meters. There are There are many shoals and rocks, and the width of some sections is no more than 1 nautical mile. Especially the first narrow channel has strong currents and is the most difficult part of the strait to navigate.

If the Europeans had not been able to deploy shore artillery on the cliffs on both sides of the first narrow waterway, they would not have gathered a large number of warships here, and also spent huge energy and financial resources on building a naval base on the Falklands.

A waterway 25 miles long, a sea less than 7 miles wide, and a waterway less than 4 miles wide, it is really easy for Europeans to block it with their power. It's just that they don't dare to take it lightly. If the Chinese fleet is really allowed to sail to the Gulf of Mexico, they will be in big trouble.

And in a small bay from the western end of Estados Island, the seven Chen Han naval battleships that had been trudging all the way and working hard to build the place were recuperating their strength.

The sailors on the ship were burning the midnight oil, seizing the time to repair the damage to the warship. Although all of them were lucky enough to pass through the Delek Strait, the battleship was still hit by some ice floes, and even two of the watertight compartments of a sailboat were damaged by ice floes.

They do not need to hide their whereabouts. As a vanguard, the biggest task of this fleet is to attract the attention of Europeans. If the Europeans had arranged observation posts at the western end of the island, they would have definitely been discovered by now.

But it was dark now. Cai Qian, the former commander-in-chief of the fleet, was absolutely sure that the Europeans would never set off overnight. Even if they wanted to set sail, they would have to wait until dawn tomorrow.

Even Cai Qian wants to send a sailboat to provoke the Europeans tomorrow.

The bridge of the Liu Yu was brightly lit, and seven or eight people were pointing around a chart.

"Grand Bay, our warships heading north must pass through Grand Bay as quickly as possible."

"It's unlikely that the war will reach Buenos Aires. But San Matías Bay must liven up."

Previously, the fleet served as a target for attracting Europeans. Their mission was not to lead the European fleet to hide and seek on the vast ocean, but to mobilize the European fleet and get them to leave southern Argentina.

There is no sure way to pass through the vast sea area. The fleet can completely tease the Europeans and then split into two parts. One part will go north, and the other part will pretend to be confusing and confuse the Europeans' sight.

"Then let's concentrate our efforts first and sink a few of his warships to let them know how powerful they are..."

"Europeans' ocean-going motor-sail warships have not yet formed combat effectiveness. They still use sail ships now, and we have an advantage in speed. I suggest that we let the motor-sail ships take the lead, then split them into petals, move them away little by little, and then use them on the islands. Ambush due south, let's fight them hard."

"Our motor sailboat has a watertight cabin structure, and its sinking resistance is far superior to that of a Western-style sailboat. The motor sailboat can lead them to the Scotia Sea in the southwest. There are many icebergs there..."

Western ships in this era do not have watertight compartments. The Western world in the original time and space only had the design of watertight compartments after the mid-19th century, because Western sailing ships did not need watertight compartments, and the hulls composed of the latter The design greatly influenced the placement of artillery emplacements.

When Chen Han was designing Western sailing ships in the early days, he deliberately built many experimental ships to integrate the essence of Eastern and Western shipbuilding techniques. However, in the end, it was Chen Ming who took the initiative to remove the watertight compartments from the Western-style sailing warships. It was not until the emergence of motorized sailboats that watertight compartments returned to the world.

As for Western-style sailing ships without watertight compartments, as long as they are hit by an iceberg and have a hole below the waterline, their affairs will be sunk.

Therefore, if the three motor-sailing ships that want to lure the enemy lead the Europeans into the icebergs to the south, even if they can come out, they will be more or less traumatized, just like the Cai Qian fleet that passed through the Delek Strait. Although luckily no warship sank in the wind and waves, the hulls and sails of several warships were also damaged. This will undoubtedly affect the battle in battle!

The night is deep.

On the Egret sailboat, Guan Tianpei opened his eyes and looked straight at the roof of the room within reach.

The battle begins tomorrow!

My biggest wish to apply for the Bamin Shipping School was about to come true. Guan Tianpei was very pleased that he could get a real naval battle before being promoted to the rank of general.

Ever since he entered the army after graduating from the Shipping School, he, who had no real background, had the help of God and became Captain Fubo in just over ten years, just one step away from becoming a general.

Guan Tianpei is now thirty-five years old and has taken the position of extra captain. To be honest, he is not satisfied at all. On the contrary, he is a little ashamed.

Although there are generals in the army who are younger than him, they have actually been on the battlefield and have made military exploits. And what about him? The military rank was promoted to the rank of captain for nothing, and he was still the top "Fu Bo" among the navy's rank lieutenants. Guan Tianpei only felt ashamed. Colonel Fubo, who had excelled in exercises and training, would be a big joke if he became a general.

Guan Tianpei is one of a hundred people willing to fight this battle. He is thirty-five today and has been a captain for two years. Maybe next year, or even in the second half of this year, he will become a general. This is not his delusion, but it is very possible. Guan Tianpei sometimes feels that he is God's illegitimate son, otherwise how could he be so open-minded? In the past ten years, we have gone through a situation that is beyond the reach of 99% of the people in the military. But Guan Tianpei really doesn't want to become an "out of tune" general. It's so embarrassing. He has an extremely hot desire to fight!

This time, he was the deputy commander-in-chief of the advance fleet, and now he is also the commander of three motor sailing ships.

A major turning point in Guan Tianpei's life was that he was transferred to the motor-sailing fleet. Before, his promotion could only be called a rapid one, but after that, his promotion went straight into the sky.

The so-called wind is good for borrowing strength to send me to the blue clouds. In the Chen Han Navy, many people favored the motor-sailing ship in the debate between sails and motor-sailing ships. This was not only because of the straightforward comparison of the data, but also because some people were jealous of the good luck of people like Guan Tianpei. For example, another navy star, Chen Huacheng, is thirty-nine years old and has been a general for three years. Guan Tianpei was originally called Xiao Chen Huacheng!

However, Chen Huacheng is now the commander of the Second Squadron of the Dongyang Fleet. All of his men are motor-sailing ships, and the number is not just three motor-sailing ships, but a full twenty.

Guan Tianpei doesn't think about life or death now. The fear of death is just a ripple that appears occasionally in his dreams. How to improve the combat level of warships, how to repay the favor of knowing and meeting him, how to make his military position worthy of the name, and wash away the shame on his body, these are the things he wants to do most in his heart.

There are many people who can't sleep like Guan Tianpei on the warships in the bay. Even in the Strait of Magellan thousands of miles away, I don't know how many officers and soldiers of the Chen Han Navy are tossing and turning.

…

The Egret Iron Rib Wooden Hull Motor Sailboat is one of the motor sail warships built by the Mawei Shipyard. With a displacement of 2,000 tons, it takes into account the sturdiness of the hull, the stability of the hull, the speed, the maneuverability, etc., which is already the pinnacle of the Mawei Shipyard in Bamin. Although the Mawei Shipyard is not the top one in China at present, it is definitely a first-class shipyard.

The Egret has 550 horsepower and a speed of 8 knots. It can reach a high speed of 10 knots with the wind and the sails open. After changing from a paddle wheel to a propeller, the Egret can still reach a maximum speed of 10 knots, but if it is in a headwind or under pure steam power, the speed is only about 7 knots. In addition, this warship with a displacement of 2,000 tons has only 54 guns and more than 300 crew members.

The captain of the Egret is Guan Tianpei, and the first mate is a young officer named Zhang Bao. As far as Guan Tianpei knows, this person does not have a big background. His ancestors are from Xinhui, Guangdong Province, and they are slightly involved with the Zheng family, which was prominent in the early days of the founding of the country. But as time goes by, the Zheng family has long since gotten out of the army and put more energy into business. The only military children were also withdrawn after the previous canonization. This Zhang Bao must not have a close connection with the Zheng family, otherwise Zhang Bao would have gone to America.

The Egret blew its whistle early in the morning, and the other two motor sailing ships also blew their whistles one after another. As three warships to lure the enemy, they were leaving the bay now to meet the European elite in the sea.

At 6:30 in the morning, the sun rose in the east and shone on the sea. Two thousand naval officers and soldiers were already standing on the bridge decks of four sailing warships in formal attire. From Cai Qian onwards, everyone watched the Egret and other three motor sailing ships slowly accelerate and leave the bay.

Maybe when the sun rises again, many people present today will no longer be in this world, and even this fleet may no longer exist, but this should not scare them.

Raise troops for a thousand days and use them for a moment. Chen Han has trained the navy for more than ten "thousand days", which is more than enough. Now it is time for them to show their skills.

The European squadron located in the middle of Estados Island, with eleven main battleships and four cruisers, had already raised their sails when the sun just rose, and rushed towards the west of the island. As Cai Qian and his team had expected, the Europeans deployed observation posts in the west and middle of the island. They used the size and number of smoke columns during the day and fireworks and lights at night to convey messages. The Europeans had received the news as early as last night, but they could not set sail in the dark.

When the next day came, the moment for the European navy arrived.

But what made them unhappy was that the Europeans stopped in the north of Estados Island, which prevented the Chinese from coming west along the coastline of the island. Although the north of the Drake Passage was relatively windy and rough, it was close to the coastline. In that case, the Chinese would definitely take the 30-kilometer-wide Lemaire Strait between Tierra del Fuego and Estados Island. But Cai Qian's fleet came from the south of the island...