Chapter 81: Jutland's sea battle (middle)
At about ten o'clock in the morning, the Danish fleet and the Hamburg fleet met on a narrow road 30 kilometers northwest of Esbjerg, a western port of Jutland.
In fact, after seeing that the other party had 120 warships, if it was normal, the Hamburg fleet of only 90 warships had already been withdrawn. However, the commander-in-chief of the Hamburg fleet, Rolf, knew that to their west, there were 40 East Frisian warships ready to respond. Moreover, the Quartet has long made plans to defeat the main force of the Danish navy in this battle. Therefore, despite his confusion, Rolf still gritted his teeth and gave the order to face the battle.
Seeing that the opponent did not escape, the Danish fleet commander Alkinson was also a little surprised:
"The hamburgers did not escape? Are they confident that they can defeat our powerful Danish fleet?" Alkinson was surprised. However, he didn't care if the Hamburg fleet ran away. It was best not to escape. Alkinson planned to solve his opponent in the first battle. So he ordered loudly:
"The archer and the catapult are ready, launch the rocket near the rear archer! In addition, the claw hook team should pay attention to catch the enemy ship, everyone should board the enemy ship, destroy the enemy! Front row of warships, close to the enemy!"
The Danish fleet is still using the traditional naval battle mode of the Middle Ages, that is, it is close to using bows and arrows and catapults to attack the enemy. Once the two ships are connected, use claw hooks to catch the enemy ship. Then, it was the jetty that cut the boat ...
Of course, the Danes have no semaphore. Alkinson ’s orders are all the loudest sailors on the ship, shouting one after another ...
Do this, in fact, no problem. It's just that they don't know that this method of shouting is effective under the environment of pure cold weapons. But the cannon sounded ...
Rolf, the commander of the Hamburg Fleet, saw the Danish fleet approaching and hurriedly ordered;
"All the battleships in the front row, do a good job of defense! The fire extinguishing team lay the water well, don't let the opponent's rocket ignite the ship! The spear team, be sure to stop the enemy sailors from jumping the ship!" Then, the commander of the flag spoke to the command.
The task of the Hamburg Fleet is to entangle the Danish Fleet instead of attacking. Moreover, their strength is indeed not as good as Denmark. Especially experienced sailors are not as many as Denmark.
Like the Danish fleet, the Hamburg fleet is currently in the medieval naval battle mode. Use bows, catapults, and sailor scimitars to fight. Of course, as a defender, the Hamburgers joined the Spears. This arm was suggested by Marin.
In the ancient battle of port, the two ships were not completely close together. Often, the attacking party will use the claw hook to hook the attacked ship, and then the sailors will climb the claw hook to the enemy ship like a pirate. During the climbing process, the sailors often bit the sailor's scimitar on their mouths or carry it on their backs. Once jumping into the enemy ship along the claw hook, he will pick up the sailor's scimitar from his mouth or back, and slash the opponent.
However, before climbing from the claw to the enemy ship, the sailors could not free their hands to fight during the climb. At this time, if you pierce the opponent with a spear, the opponent's sailors will not be able to fight back and can only dodge.
Therefore, at the suggestion of Marin, the Hamburg fleet prepared more than a dozen spears on each ship, specifically used to pierce the enemy soldiers who were climbing towards their own ships ...
As the fleets of both sides got closer and closer, the sailors of the Hamburg fleet, holding hands with weapons, began to sweat gradually ...
"Captain, can you say we can beat the Danes?" A young burger sailor asked nervously the captain on the side.
"Don't doubt, soldier, don't forget, we still have reinforcements!" The captain replied solemnly. But in fact, the captain had no idea. After all, the East Frisian Fleet has never had a brilliant record, nor can he be sure whether the East Frisian Fleet can successfully complete the pinch mission. However, on the surface, he must remain calm and give confidence to his sailors. Otherwise, there is no need to fight this battle.
When the front-line battleships of the two sides were only about 200 meters apart, Alkinson ordered loudly;
"Bow and arrow team, prepare, rocket launch!"
Then, as the loud-speaking sailors of the Danish warships relayed, on the front row of the Danish warships, the archers put their arrows with grease on their torches and ignited them, then faced the predecessors of the Hamburg fleet Start projecting ...
The arrow at the front of the fire flew into the air like a raindrop, and then dived to send a warship in front of the Hamburg fleet ...
Of course, because the distance is too far, not all arrows can shoot 200 meters away. In the first round of rocket salvos, only a small number of arrows hit Hamburg's ship.
However, the Hamburg fleet is not completely unprepared. At this time, many of the Hamburg sailors on the deck hid to avoid being shot by the other party's bow and arrow. Most of those who stayed on the deck were hiding behind the shelter. The archers on the Hamburg ship chose to lurk for a while and waited for the commander to order.
Although not many enemies were shot, the Danish bow and arrow rockets, like raindrops, frequently flew towards Hamburg's front row of warships.
"Captain, the ship is on fire!" Shouted a sailor who stayed on the deck to avoid the arrow rain on a Hamburg battleship.
"Don't panic, let the fire brigade carry a bucket to extinguish the fire!" The captain commanded loudly.
Then, several sailors immediately ran to the place where the little oak barrel king filled with sea water was ignited, and began to water the fire parts ...
Although the rocket's head was dipped in grease, because of the small amount, the flames that were on fire under the erosion of seawater were quickly extinguished ...
At this time, some of the sailors on the Danish warship had adjusted the trebuchet. After the adjustment, the Danish commander ordered loudly:
"Catapult, prepare, release!"
So, a lot of stones began to roar and flew towards the Hamburg ship ...
In fact, this knowledge of the Danish tentative attacks. Because, in naval battles, the main ammunition of trebuchets is not stones, but fireballs ...
After all, in the era of sailing, most ships were made of wood. If the fireball can be run on the enemy ship, it is very likely to ignite the enemy ship.
Therefore, in the naval warfare, the munitions are mainly stones wrapped in greased linen. The linen cloth outside the stone was covered with grease, much more grease than the bow and arrow head. If it hits the enemy ship, it is difficult to extinguish, it is difficult to extinguish.
Therefore, before throwing stones, it was just that Danish trebuchets were shooting. Although, the largest range of trebuchet can reach three or four hundred meters. However, in a real naval battle, the trebuchet will still hit the fireball at a distance of hundreds of meters or even tens of meters. Because, at this distance, it is easier to aim. Far away, it is difficult to hit the fireball with the enemy ship.
At a distance of about 50 meters, the Danish warships stopped in the front row and stopped moving forward. Then, the Danish trebuchet continued its school shooting. Finally, after many rounds, the veteran trebuchet players of the Danish fleet found their direction ...
After seeing the Danish catapults start throwing fireballs one after another, Hamburger Naval Commander Rolf on the flagship changed his face:
"Hurry, order the front row of warships, get up quickly, don't stop there and let the opponent aim with the fireball. In addition, let the fire fighting team prepare the sand!"
The fireball thrown by the trebuchet is different from the rocket. The rocket has less grease and it is difficult to form a fire. As long as some water is poured, the grease on the rocket's head will be wiped out.
But the big fireball thrown by the trebuchet is different. This kind of fireball has a lot of grease. If you hit the boat a little, it is easy to quickly set fire. Moreover, when there is enough grease, watering may make it easier to make the fire more prosperous. Therefore, generally, this kind of fireball is extinguished with sand.
Originally, Rolf was waiting for the Danes to engage in side-to-side battles. Unexpectedly, the Danish fleet's catapult players were well-trained and dare to concentrate on throwing fireballs at 50 meters. It would be a big problem if you let the opponent aim at his own warship so leisurely.
So, Rolf had to order the front-row warship to lean on. Once approached, the opponent's trebuchet loses its effect. After all, the catapult is an arc projectile, too close, but it is not easy to attack.
Seeing the Hamburg fleet take the initiative to move forward, the Danish fleet commander Alkinson did not care:
"Hum, whether it is long-range or close combat, the Danish fleet will fully suppress the Hamburgers!" Alkinson said confidently.
After the current platoons approached each other, the catapult lost its function. But the Hamburg Fleet did not really dock with the Danish warship, but began to shoot rockets against the Danish warship at a close distance ...
"Archer, ignite the rocket, and shoot the Danish Puppy's ship!" On the Hamburg ship, the captains shouted and commanded the archers under his command, casting rockets against the Danish ship,
Of course, the Danes did not show any weakness, and also used rockets to fight back ...
At such a short distance, casualties finally began to increase ...
"Ah, I hit the arrow!" The sailors kept screaming. But in this cruel battlefield, no one has time to ignore them. If possible, the injured person ran to the ship building to find someone to help bandage.
In this era, there was no doctor on board. The wounded sailors are often bandaged by the idlers such as the cooks on board. Only those main battleships, there will be a few professional doctors ~ www.wuxiaspot.com ~ Normally from the warships recruited, there are no doctors.
At such a short distance, the archers stopped firing, but started a burst. Therefore, casualties are also increasing. Moreover, there are more and more fire spots on the ship. The fire brigade was too busy to make a mess at this time:
"Fire brigade, go to the bow to extinguish the fire!"
"Fire brigade, the left side of the ship building is on fire!"
"Fire brigade ..."
Uh ...
In the case of shooting arrows at each other, the casualties on both sides are not much different. The Danish fleet has no advantage. So, the commander of the Danish fleet, Alkinson, ordered:
"Let's go up, take the side battle! Hurry!"
So, the big voices on the Danish warships began to shout relay ...
The commanded Danish warships rushed forward one after another, and the claw hookers also began to spin the claw hook, ready to hook the Hamburg ship.
When the two sides were very close, claw hooks flew from the Danish ship and hooked towards the Hamburg ship. And the Danish sailors who carried the sailor scimitar are also eager to try ...
"Come off those claw hooks, don't let the Danish pups come up!" The commanders of the Hamburg fleet ordered one after another.
The Hamburgers also know that there are more experienced sailors in the Danish fleet than themselves. Therefore, it is the best choice not to let the other's sailors jump the boat. Because, when it comes to chopping off a jetty, this side is certainly not an opponent of the Danes. Moreover, their task is to drag the Danish fleet, not really die hard ...
All the captains of the Hamburg Fleet knew that this time, the main attackers were the warships of the East Frisian Fleet. The Hamburg Fleet is actually just bait. Of course, once the East Frisian Fleet begins to attack the Danish Fleet, the Hamburg Fleet must also assist and drag the enemy to death ...