Chapter 997: The Burning Kagoshima Bay (Please Subscribe)

Admiral Tasman, commander of the Eight-Nation Allied Fleet, had remained in North Goto Bay among the Goto Islands due to illness, where he was also overseeing the construction of defensive works there. Vice Regional Commander of the Left Zheng Jiangong was directing the landing operations, so on the evening of the eighteenth day of the second month of the tenth year of Hongxing, the two men commanding the main fleet and covering the landings in Kagoshima Bay were Vice Regional Commander of the Right David Jones and Chief of Staff Shen Shiwen.

David Jones had originally been a captain in the Dutch navy, and had later personally experienced the "Japan-Mongol Naval Battle" (an undeclared war fought between a Ming fleet flying Japanese colors and a Spanish fleet flying Mongol colors), accumulating rich experience in naval warfare.

Shen Shiwen, for his part, had originally been a Confucian scholar, a nephew of Shen Tingyang. Before the Jiashen Catastrophe he had been an Imperial Academy student in Nanjing and a classmate of Zheng Sen. After Jiashen he first served on the staff of the Northern Fleet Command, and was later recommended for admission to the Naval Academy, where he studied Western-style naval warfare. Because he came from a southeastern maritime merchant family, he had long been exposed to navigation and Western learning, so he picked things up quickly and graduated with outstanding results.

After graduation, he alternated between postings at the Naval Academy and with the fleet, rising steadily until he became Superintendent of the Naval Academy — in practice, the assistant of Vice Superintendent Tasman. His abilities were of course no match for the great navigator Tasman, but because his background was more suitable, and he was not a foreign devil, he had been made Superintendent. He knew his own limitations, however, and so at the Naval Academy he always played the role of Tasman's assistant.

Because their collaboration had been so pleasant, when Tasman became commander of the Eight-Nation Allied Fleet, he made Shen his fleet chief of staff.

In short, Shen Shiyuan was a thoroughly conventional naval staff officer.

Upon learning that the Spanish fleet was coming in force, he likewise proposed a thoroughly conventional response.

"Vice Regional Commander, we should form a single line ahead, with the eight Flying-class ships as the vanguard, and engage the enemy in close-range gunnery. We should close the distance as much as possible and use explosive shells to destroy the enemy ships."

Seven of the eight Flying-class ships had been fitted with swivel bombardment guns. Because the Flying-class used a low forecastle and low poop design, the ship's center of gravity was low, and because this class of warship was built to the standard design of Dutch fast warships, the hulls were relatively sturdy. The upper decks of the Flying-class could therefore carry more swivel bombardment guns, or guns of greater shot weight.

In the refit at the end of the ninth year of Hongxing, the Ming Navy Department chose the heavier-shot option, installing the newest 24-catty cast-iron short-barreled guns on the deck of the Feixiang (the Ming army's artillery had begun "converting pounds to catties" after the arsenals at Nanjing, Shanghai, Quanzhou, and Guangzhou successively learned to design and develop new types of cannon; in the process, shot weights generally increased). The number was the same as the bombardment guns on the large bird ships: five guns. The layout, however, differed from the bird ships. Because of the obstruction of the headsails, there were no forward-firing bow chasers; instead, the five guns were arranged in sequence along the centerline, all mounted on circular tracks allowing 360-degree rotation.

Because the Feixiang had a low center of gravity and good stability, the accuracy of its swivel bombardment guns was relatively high, and the power of a 24-catty shot also exceeded that of a 24-pound shot.

So the seven Flying-class ships fitted with swivel guns were the trump card of the Ming navy!

"No, that won't do." David Jones disagreed with this deployment. "Right now we are to leeward and the enemy is to windward, so the distance between the two lines is not ours to decide — it is the enemy's to decide."

"But once the two sides have sailed past each other on opposite courses, won't we then be to windward?"

David Jones shook his head and said, "In the Anglo-Dutch War that has just ended, there were several engagements in which two fleets maintained the same course throughout."

"The same course throughout? You mean George Monck's tactics?"

George Monck was a formidable figure under Cromwell, a general of both land and sea. Before the First Anglo-Dutch War he had spent more than twenty years in the army and had been through a hundred battles. When the English Revolution broke out, he was at first a Royalist, but was later captured by the Parliamentary army and thrown into the Tower of London. After two years in prison his thinking was successfully reformed, and upon his release he followed Cromwell as a revolutionary soldier. His greatest transformation, however, was not from Royalist to revolutionary, but from army major-general to fleet commander after the outbreak of the First Anglo-Dutch War — and he also proposed a rather revolutionary naval tactic: the T-tactic.

But the T-tactic could not be executed every time. The enemy was no fool; seeing you seize the T-position, they would inevitably turn to follow, and thus the two fleets would end up sailing the same course across the battlefield.

"Correct!" David Jones said. "And our primary mission is to cover the landing fleet. Although the landing fleet is preparing to dash into inner Kagoshima Bay, in order to use the bombardment guns and the narrow channel of Sakurajima Strait to block the Spanish fleet."

"But we must still prevent the Spanish fleet from entering Sakurajima Strait. We cannot risk the destruction of the troop transports!"

"Then what do we do?" Shen Shiyuan asked.

"We can adopt divisional tactics," David Jones said. "Divide the eight Flying-class ships into four groups, each serving as the lead ship and rear ship of one division, then divide the remaining ships equally into four parts and assign them to the four divisions. We have twenty-seven warships in all, so each division will consist of six or seven warships, fighting independently. After contact, each division will seek opportunities to cut the enemy line apart and bring on a melee. Our ships are more numerous and our firepower is heavier; once a melee begins, our chances of victory are great! At the very least we can prevent the Spanish fleet from breaking into Sakurajima Strait. As long as they cannot break through, the landing fleet will be able to find new landing sites in inner Kagoshima Bay."

A melee is a confused fight, generally favoring the side with superior ship-handling and greater numbers. The main strength of the Eight-Nation Allied Fleet now consisted of the Ming, English, Dutch, and French contingents, all of high quality and all equipped with bombardment guns, so they did not fear a confused fight.

"Our target is the Ming navy's Flying-class!"

Aboard the armed galleon New Spain, Spanish Admiral García was issuing his orders: "Every commander is to follow the flagship as closely as possible, and is to make the Flying-class the primary target of attack. First destroy their sails and masts, then bombard them with incendiary shells. Remember to keep your distance. Under no circumstances are you to close, no boarding actions, and no need to bother with the Ming bird ships!"

"Our mission is one thing only: burn as many of the Ming Flying-class ships as possible!"

This Spanish admiral was no fool. He understood perfectly well that the anti-Spanish coalition in the Western Pacific was centered on the Great Ming Empire! And what supported the Ming Empire's ambition to dominate the Pacific, apart from the wealth of the Ming court, was these few Flying-class ships of the Ming navy.

Although the tonnage of these Flying-class ships was less than that of the New Spain, they were numerous, fast, and heavily armed — enough to stand against ships of the line like the New Spain-class.

If the Spanish navy could destroy them all, then the anti-Spanish alliance in the Pacific would face collapse for lack of a core.

And today's Battle of Kagoshima Bay was, without question, the last chance for Spain's Invincible Armada of the East to reverse an unfavorable situation.

Because the allied fleet had to cover its landing fleet, it could not maneuver at full strength, and with the southeast wind blowing, the Spanish fleet held the advantageous windward position.

At that moment a Spanish naval staff officer entered the flag cabin: "Admiral, the lookouts have sighted the allied main fleet! At least twenty warships, already formed in line ahead, sailing against the wind toward us. The lead ship is a Flying-class."

"Good!" García nodded. "It begins!" Then he rose to his feet and solemnly made the sign of the cross over his chest. "God save the King, God save Spain, God save us."

The officers with him also rose, crossed themselves, and prayed.

Having beseeched the Lord, everything now depended on the skill of the officers and men of the Spanish navy!

At dusk on the eighteenth day of the second month, amid the ever-darkening sky, to the accompaniment of the rumbling cannon fire from distant Sakurajima, the great sea battle that would decide hegemony over the Western Pacific finally began!

Tonight, Kagoshima Bay would become a burning sea!

(End of Chapter)