The Angela followed closely behind, spraying the first round of flames to the southeast.
These gunners are undoubtedly the elite of the empire. They are not only well-trained, but also highly skilled. In the first round of shooting, the cannonballs were evenly scattered around the ice ship.
For a time, many water pillars rose into the sky, and a forest of sea water seemed to have been erected on the ocean.
The ice ship did not slow down at all and continued to approach the fleet after passing through the mist.
Captain Flynn was the first to discover a serious problem.
That is that the other party is indeed a bit ridiculously fast.
Based on his experience, he estimated that the enemy's speed was about fifteen or six knots, which was undoubtedly an astonishing figure - even if the Imperial warship's full speed with half sail and downwind would not exceed ten knots, the average speed was usually between three and three knots. Between four quarters. He has never tried the top speed with full sail on a windy day. First, it is unnecessary, and second, too high a speed will damage the hull structure. But the opponent has no such concerns at all. The slender and smooth hull is prepared for high speed at first glance. At the same time, the mast and canvas are omitted from the upper structure, which makes the center of gravity sink further. Even in windy conditions, the Invincible is absolutely Can't outrun the opponent.
The high speed brings extremely strong dexterity, and the opponent's hull looks smaller than a pirate ship, so the artillery hit becomes a big problem.
If the Jinxia people intend to engage in a battle formation with the Imperial fleet, then Feilin is confident that he can win with his first-class gunners, but once the opponent has no intention of stopping, the hit rate will have to be left to chance. For example, after the first round of shooting, the gunner should fine-tune the muzzle pitch angle according to the impact point. However, during this time, the ice ship had already passed the impact point area and closed to a new distance. The gunner could only adjust the gun again based on intuition. Aim.
"The thirty-two pounder gun on the bottom floor is replaced with shotgun shells. Wait until the target is within a hundred yards before firing!" Felin shouted towards the microphone.
"What do they want to do?" Tural put down his observation glass - now he could clearly see the speeding ice ships with the naked eye. Only now did he realize that these ships not only lacked sails, but also lacked gun ports and decks. The head shows a smooth spindle shape, and the arc-shaped ice surface extends from the head to the stern. The whole has an indescribable simple beauty.
Feilin suddenly thought of a possibility and couldn't help but frowned, "Isn't the boat filled with kerosene and explosives?"
"Hmm... It seems like the method that mainlanders would use." The Lord mused, "But in this way, they are destined to be disappointed."
Of the two mages accompanying the flagship, one specializes in energy shaping and the other specializes in protection. The latter's flame restriction field can greatly weaken the effects of burning and high-heat airflow impact caused by explosions. If the spell is applied to the ice On the ship, the other party's explosion will only shatter you into pieces.
At this time, the fastest-loading twelve-pounder had fired its third round of bombardment, and with the gunner's unremitting attempts, good luck finally came -
In this round of free fire, at least four shells landed on the ice ship!
Tural saw with his own eyes an iron ball hitting the enemy ship's face.
However, the scene of the ice ship breaking up did not appear. The shells were directly bounced and rolled into the sea water.
how come
That's a real twelve-pound cannon!
Within this distance, even the oak boards on the Invincible's own sides could not block the direct hit of this gun.
Shouldn't something like ice cubes break into pieces
Other hitting shells seemed to have no effect. Not to mention making a hole in the opponent's ship, they only left a shallow white mark at most.
Tural suddenly had a bad feeling.
He quickly ordered to the captain, "Quickly replace the thirty-two-pounder cannon with conventional shells! This thing is harder than imagined!"
This is indeed the case. Zooming in to a distance of a hundred yards, the twenty-four-pounder gun on the middle deck also scored a few hits, but all of them bounced away. The enemy ship's spindle-shaped head seemed to have been exerted with magical power. In general, it is obviously made of ice, but it has extremely strong protective capabilities!
Only the heavy projectiles fired by the 32-pound cannon can create a crack in the ice ship. However, the closer the opponent is, the more frequently the firing angle is adjusted. In this time, there is no time to fire several times, let alone a lucky hit. .
This also means that they don’t need to fill it with kerosene and explosives at all. The strong head alone can make a big hole in the Invincible—
Use the most original collision method!
The distance of a hundred yards was only a blink of an eye, and the mage had already set up a restraining force field, but it was meaningless against the high-speed ice ship. The Invincible was finally fully positioned at this moment, its firepower density reached its highest level, and the roar of artillery fire was endless, like a storm of flames and thick smoke!
The rumble of cannons that symbolized victory in the past was now a struggle being forced into a desperate situation.
The straightened hull is equivalent to exposing the entire side to the opponent.
"Watch for impact!"
The lookout sounded a lung-splitting warning.
Then a loud noise covered up all the noise!
The Invincible shook violently, and the towering mainmast made a heart-breaking cracking sound, as if it would break at any time. Under the impact, everyone on the deck fell to the ground - except Tural.
He stepped over the captain who was beaten to pieces, strode to the side of the ship and leaned down to look down. He saw that the front half of an ice ship had penetrated into the Invincible ship, and at the same time, the surrounding seawater was also rapidly freezing. , in just a few breaths, a layer of white ice crystals had formed at the place where it was hit.
…
Many people ignore common sense, that is, "ice" is actually a very solid substance.
Even among the living dead themselves, few people realize this.
In the eyes of most people, ice is clean and transparent, fragile and easily damaged. It will break after being picked up from the ground and thrown away. Therefore, when Xia Fan proposed this strategy, the Jinxia executives present at the meeting showed incredulous looks.
Only Xia Fan knew how convenient ice itself was as a construction material—especially with the help of the living dead. The hardness of ice has a very close relationship with temperature. At minus ten degrees, its Mohs hardness is around two to three, equivalent to fluorite or copper; at minus fifty degrees, the hardness of ice can reach six. level, it has surpassed iron and is equivalent to steel, not to mention the wood used in the main body of the sailing battleship.
The disadvantage of high hardness is low toughness. Fragility is actually a problem caused by extremely low deformation ability, but this can be solved through technical means. For example, during crystallization, "skeletons" are placed in advance to improve toughness. These skeletons are usually flexible materials, whether they are vines produced in Shuzhou or common local bamboo chips, which can have an excellent strengthening effect - this is also consistent with The idea of embedding steel bars in concrete to make reinforced concrete have both strength and toughness is exactly the same.
At the same time, the density of ice is low and the weight of the same volume is relatively light, which allows the hull to be more than ten centimeters thick. Coupled with the concept of sloped armor, an ice ship with almost no vertical surface facing the enemy is basically immune to spherical shells.
The biggest advantage of using ice to build ships is not that it is indestructible, but that it is extremely feasible in engineering. If we make temporary iron and steel, forge the keel, and wait until the ship comes out, it will be several months later. The hull of the ice ship was only a matter of Qian Yan and others' thoughts - in one night, Qian Yan was able to condense several hulls, and even had the time to test which type of ship was more suitable for high-speed travel.
No matter how good an idea is, it is useless if it cannot be implemented into practice. Ice ships are precisely the easiest option for Jinxia City to piece together a navy with the current technology.
Even if it's just a one-time thing.