Eight Yulin-class frigates, relying on their loaded steam engines to drive propellers, emitted light white smoke while sailing forward in formation.

Although they still had sails hanging, their speed far exceeded the speed brought by the wind force on their course at this time.

Because although they were not sailing against the wind, they were still semi-headwind. Logically speaking, even if the sail could use part of the power of the headwind, the speed would definitely not be that fast.

But...the speed of these eight Yulin-class frigates has reached at least ten knots, which is almost the speed that can only be achieved when the wind is smooth.

This is not normal!

This made the Dutch people on the opposite side puzzled. The course and speed of the Chu boats on the opposite side did not match the wind direction at this time!

Of course they don't know that the steam engines of these eight Yulin-class frigates are already running at full speed, driving the underwater single-shaft propellers to continuously move forward.

They could only see the white smoke that was also incomprehensible to them!

Only a few Dutch people on the shore who had been trading in the mainland ports of the Dachu Empire in the past year or two could tell what the white smoke was: "That's a steam engine... This is their steam warship, but why don't these steam ships

Wheel?"

The Dutch who have been to the Chu Empire in the past year or two, especially those who have been to Guangzhou, will more or less see the steamships sailing on the Pearl River, but all they have seen are the paddle steamers sailing on the Pearl River.

That's all.

Therefore, in their limited knowledge, they believe that steam ships should have huge wheels on both sides of the ship or may not be propelled.

But they didn't know that the Chu Empire's steam ships also used propellers for propulsion.

Steamships have only just developed in the past one or two years. Today, the steam engine propulsion technology in the Chu Empire uses both paddle wheels and propellers.

Civilian ships generally use the paddle wheel propulsion method with more mature technology and lower cost. Anyway, civilian ships do not have to worry about the huge paddle wheel blocking the artillery fire.

However, in the Navy, because huge paddle wheels are easy to be damaged and can also block shooting, in addition to a small number of experimental ships at the beginning using paddle wheels, subsequent batch-built and modified ships generally use underwater propeller propulsion.

, even if it costs more.

Well, with today's smelting technology and processing technology, it is still very difficult to process large propellers for ships, and the cost is also very high.

But the Navy is rich!

A battleship can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to destroy, so getting a propeller is not unacceptable.

The Yulin-class frigates and several modified warships exhibited this time are all propelled by propellers...but there are many types of propellers.

At present, the Ship Administration Department of the Dachu Empire is still continuing to explore the new propulsion method of propellers, so there are all kinds of messy propellers. It is looking for better propeller designs during continuous improvement, testing, and use.

The eight Yulin-class frigates, driven by their propellers, sailed semi-headwind at an astonishing speed, and quickly appeared on the left side that a group of Dutch galleys did not expect.

Before these Dutch galleys could react, the eight Yulin-class frigates had already turned around, aiming at the Dutch galleys with their sides exposed!

Immediately, a large number of 130mm naval guns that had been prepared, whether medium-barreled or short-barreled, opened fire in unison, and they all fired grenade bombs!

The navy of the Dachu Empire, like the army, has a special liking for grenades!

The use of grenades in naval battles can easily destroy the superstructure of enemy ships, destroy their sails and even cause fires, causing a large number of casualties to the enemy.

This attack can quickly disintegrate the enemy's combat effectiveness.

When all the sails are destroyed, for a pure sail warship, it is no different than waiting for death.

In the age of sails, the best way to destroy enemy warships was to directly destroy their sails instead of trying to sink them...

Because it is actually very difficult to sink an opponent by firing solid cannonballs. If they stand still and let you fire a hundred and eighty solid cannonballs, you will only be able to make a few small holes in their hull, and they will follow the ship.

The carpenter repaired it in minutes with wooden planks and hammers.

As for the grenade that penetrates the thick wooden armor and explodes inside the cabin, the current spherical grenade is not that interesting. Although it can penetrate the wooden armor by thickening the shell and increasing the terminal kinetic energy, the amount of charge inside the shell will be very small.

.

For example, the diameter of a 130mm artillery shell is strictly speaking less than 13 centimeters, which is about the same width as your palm. However, this thing is not cylindrical like the later artillery shells, but spherical.

The overall size is actually not that big.

If it is made into a thin-skinned grenade, the amount of powder will not be much. If it is made into an armor-piercing grenade, the amount of powder will only make a sound.

Therefore, the current Yulin-class frigates use grenades to directly bombard the opposite superstructure, trying to severely damage enemy warships by destroying their sails and killing a large number of personnel.

In addition to the Yulin-class frigates, many of the main battleships and cruisers of the Dachu Empire Navy behind them were also carrying out covering bombardment from a relatively long distance. Although the hit rate was very impressive at a distance, they could not hold up hundreds of artillery pieces.

If we cover the shelling together, we can still hit a few hits.

And once the 150mm or even 170mm main guns of battleships and cruisers hit, it will be a fatal blow to these galleys, which are only a few dozen tons.

Soon, a Dutch galley suffered heavy losses due to being hit by multiple cannonballs, and finally stopped on the sea.

There was even a ship that was supposed to be an arsonist. It was directly hit by the Chu army's artillery fire and ignited their arsonist oil, causing them to ignite a fire while they were still on the road.

One Dutch galley after another was concentrated, and many of them were severely damaged and lost their combat effectiveness. Several of them were even sunk.

Under such circumstances, the Dutch finally knew that this raid would only be in vain, so when night fell completely, they left behind many damaged ships that were still burning and were forced to turn around and return.

Port.

The battleship fleet of the Chu Empire's Nanyang Fleet once tried to pursue them closely, using fierce naval gunfire to directly smash the Batavia Port to pieces. However, they were intensively bombarded by the Dutch coastal defense batteries. In order to avoid unnecessary losses, Nanyang

The fleet chose to retreat voluntarily.

This evening naval battle ended with the Dutch losing eight galleys and more than 200 casualties. The Chu army's two Yulin-class frigates were slightly damaged, and eight other soldiers were injured.

After this battle, it was even less possible for the Dutch to attack the port or escape.

Even galleys with excellent maneuverability can't get out of the offshore sea, let alone those large-tonnage Galen-type armed merchant ships. These large-tonnage armed merchant ships are slow to get out of the port. They probably just got out.

They would be beaten to pieces by the main warships of the Nanyang Fleet squatting outside the port.

You know, the Nanyang Fleet has eight third-class battleships, four first-class cruisers, six second-class cruisers and twenty-six frigates outside Batavia Port.

However, although the Dutch East India Company is powerful, it is only a commercial company after all. Although they also have warships, they are not many in number. The total number is only more than forty. There are only a dozen or so deployed in Batavia, and the remaining

The next ones also need to be deployed in colonies in peninsula India and Africa.

After all, the Dutch East India Company had a large territory, and there was more than just one Batavia port.

Even among these more than 40 warships, most of them are actually only a few hundred tons. In the Da Chu Empire Navy, they can only be regarded as small and medium-sized warships. There are actually only a few warships with over a thousand tons.

Most of them are various armed merchant ships, more than 150 in total.

However, in the Dachu Empire's navy, the main force of the Nanyang Fleet dispatched to Batavia Port alone now has eight battleships and four first-class cruisers of more than 1,200 tons.

There are as many as twelve thousand-ton ships.

There are as many as 32 frigates and cruisers ranging from 500 tons to 1,000 tons.

This only counts ocean-going professional warships. It does not include the large number of communication ships, shallow water steamers, gunboats, supply ships, troop carriers, hospital ships, coal ships and other auxiliary ships that came with the fleet. There are also three auxiliary ships.

There are more than ten ships.

There are more than seventy ships in the entire fleet!

With such a powerful naval force blocking the port of Batavia, it's a wonder that the Dutch East India Company's fleet can break out.

The Dutch cannot withstand the firepower coverage of eight battleships alone!

It is worth noting that the Nanyang Fleet here is only part of the main force of the Nanyang Fleet. To be precise, it is the First Task Force of the Nanyang Fleet.

Task fleets, task squadrons, any fleet with the word task force, in the Da Chu Empire Navy, are fleets specially formed for war, and do not belong to the usual administrative fleets.

The usual administrative fleet is composed of the three ocean fleets and local fleets as the main body, and the subordinate units are such-and-such battleship fleet, such-and-such cruiser fleet, and such-and-such frigate fleet.

These are all fixed administrative establishments.

However, the Navy will never use a certain administrative fleet to perform combat missions. After all, you cannot just send a battle fleet or just a cruise fleet to perform combat missions.

When performing combat missions, battleships, cruisers and cruisers are often mixed together with a group of auxiliary warships.

Therefore, the navy only uses some standing combat fleets to carry out daily patrols and training tasks in normal times. For example, the 11th Squadron under the Nanyang Fleet belongs to this type, and operates in the Maldives Strait and the western Bay of Bengal all year round.<

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The same goes for the 12th Squadron, the 13th Squadron, etc.

In addition, there are task forces or other fleets specially formed temporarily for a certain war. This time the First Task Force falls into this category.

Whether it is a standing combat squadron or a temporary task force, these fleet models are all typical combat fleets. They do not have fixed warships under their jurisdiction. They are all dispatched at any time according to combat needs.

The two battleship fleets, two cruiser fleets and multiple frigate fleets under the First Task Force were dispatched in this way.

When this combat mission is over and the First Task Force completes its mission, these warships will be assigned to other combat fleets or rest.

The navy's combat model is very different from that of the army, from the establishment to the organizational structure.

The navy's warships are frequently mobilized based on operational needs, maintenance and repairs, long-distance voyages and other schedules.

A battleship may be fighting against the Dutch in the Nanyang Fleet this year, but by next year the battleship may be serving in the Pacific Fleet and playing house with the daimyo of Fuso.

They will return to the mainland the year after next and be incorporated into the reserve fleet. At the same time, they will receive maintenance or modifications and complete the replacement of old and new sailors on board.

When the maintenance, modification, and personnel replacement are completed and the combat mission can continue, he may be dispatched to the Indian Ocean Fleet for duty.

Even if it is a warship, it is very mobile. It is rarely said that it will be fixed in a certain place or serve in a certain fleet, unlike the army where the establishment is basically fixed.

There is no way, this is because the Chu Empire's naval activity range is very large, from the west coast of North America to the east coast of Africa, it is the activity range of the Chu Empire's navy.

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To be continued...