March 6th, late at night.
The moonlight was dim, the starlight was thin, and a strong south wind was blowing from the sea. Under the influence of iron chains and anchors, the six Floating Gun Platform at the entrance of the bay remained stable.
Lighthouses were built on the east and west sides of the bay entrance, with precious grease burning at the top to provide a certain range of lighting for the defenders.
The soldiers on guard wrapped their cloaks tightly and huddled in a corner inside the lighthouse. The white breath they exhaled was quickly blown away by the sea breeze.
"There's only half an hour until the changing of the guard."
The soldier muttered silently in his heart, everything in his field of vision was normal, quiet and boring, and it was so cold that people couldn't sleep.
To the south, in the area outside the bay, some small black figures are sailing quietly, targeting several Galleys in the middle of the first line of defense.
These were thirty improvised fire attack boats with a very shallow draft. The hulls were deliberately painted black. The boats were filled with a large amount of firewood, with additional sulfur and resin added.
The front of the fire attack boat is equipped with two sharp iron spikes, which are used to nail the hull of the enemy ship to ensure that the fire spreads to the enemy ship.
Each fire attack boat was equipped with two people. One person was steering the ship at the stern, and the second mate was squatting next to the brazier in the middle of the ship. The top of the brazier was covered with an iron plate and there were many charcoal fires burning inside.
The sea breeze blew by, and the fire attack fleet remained silent, with only the faint ripple sound of the bows breaking through the water. "Venice people?" Fifty steps away, a Galley soldier spotted these fire attack boats, raised his musket and fired at the water.
Bang!
The sound of gunfire alerted more crew members, some picked up their muskets and fired, and some panicked and pointed their guns at the approaching fire attack boat.
Seeing this, the helmsman let out a hoarse roar. "We are exposed, hurry up and light the fire!"
The deputy opened the lid of the brazier, took out a pot of distilled spirits from his pocket, and sprinkled it on top of the brazier. A blue flame burst out silently.
"This wine is strong enough." The deputy overturned the brazier without hesitation, throwing the burning coals onto the dry wood pile, and the flames instantly engulfed the entire fire attack boat.
At this moment, the task of the fire attack crew has been completed. These people no longer hesitated, jumped into the cold water one after another, and swam hard to the responding ship a hundred steps behind...
The incident happened in a hurry, and the Galley on the first line of defense had no time to defend. The gunner opened fire in a hurry, and the shells landed near the fire attack boat, causing it to shake a little with the splashing waves.
Under the influence of the wind, a fire attack boat swayed to the north and ran into the small Galley ahead.
The night officer shouted loudly, "Get the water pump quickly."
Not long after, a group of crew members came to the side of the ship carrying a manual water pump.
Four strong crew members stood on both sides of the pump, grabbed the handle of the pump, and turned it up and down with all their strength. The pump body made a "crunching" sound, like the heavy breathing of a dying beast. Then, a stream of cold, salty seawater gushes out of the spout and wets the nearby ship's deck. The sailors quickly moved the nozzle to the side of the ship and sprinkled seawater onto the burning hull.
The sea water met the fire, making a subtle sizzling sound, and a large ball of hot white steam rose into the sky.
"It's so hot!" A crew member screamed, covering his cheek burned by the steam. He staggered back, knocking over his companion behind him, and the water column of the water pump swayed and deviated from the fire area.
The crew members around him took over their posts, but the fire continued to spread, and the ignited sail ropes broke off one by one. The officer rang the bell desperately on the stern of the ship, notifying everyone to abandon the ship and escape for their lives.
Thump~
More than thirty people jumped into the sea one after another and swam desperately to Floating Gun Platform in the north. The firelight reflected the nearby sea red, and the sound of mast collapse was heard behind them.
After a long time, a loud noise was heard from the Galley behind it. Its gunpowder magazine exploded, and a bright orange-red firework exploded on the sea surface, with sawdust flying and illuminating a large ship shadow in the south.
Venice's main battleship has arrived.
As the Galley in the middle of the sea sank one after another, the iron chain between them sank into the sea, and a gap of thousands of steps appeared in the first line of defense. The Venice people tried to attack the second line of defense through this gap and break into the interior of the bay.
At this time, the crews of No. 3 and No. 4 turrets were ready, and the side gun doors were opened one after another, revealing the black muzzles, aiming at the huge black figures that were gradually approaching.
"Fire!" The next moment, a continuous roar erupted from the sea, the muzzle fire flashed on and off in the darkness, and the iron bullets screamed and hit the Venice battleship.
After enduring multiple rounds of shelling, more than a dozen Venice Double-Deck Warship arrived at the sea surface 200 steps away. They slowly turned, aimed their broadsides at No. 3 and 4 Floating Gun Platform, and poured out more than 200 shells at once.
Entering the confrontation stage, the defensive advantage of Floating Gun Platform was fully demonstrated. Even if the Venice artillery hit the same area multiple times in a row, it still failed to break the hull.
"Fuck, this Turtle-shell Ship is too hard."
Marcello stood on the side, ignoring the screaming shells, and concentrated on observing the two large strange ships. Even if they were besieged by multiple ships, they still fought back tenaciously, like a heavily armored and scarred knight.
What is advantageous to Venice is that the sea is about four miles (six kilometers) wide, and the Venice warship stays in the middle area. The coastal defense batteries on both sides have insufficient range, so they can only stay inside the fortress to watch the battle.
Some defenders ran out of the coastal defense fortress and hurriedly lit nearby beacons in an attempt to notify Volos Port on the north side of the bay.
The officers held telescopes and anxiously stared at the continuous flames blooming on the sea surface, praying that those Floating Gun Platform could last a little longer.
In the expectant eyes of both parties, No. 3 and No. 4 Floating Gun Platform continued to fight back.
Overall, the defenders used fifty-six artillery pieces. The number of Venetian Fleet artillery pieces was five times that of the former, giving them an absolute numerical advantage.
However, the two Floating Gun Platforms persisted for half an hour, but the Venice battleships could no longer hold on. The three Double-Deck Warships successively withdrew from the battlefield, allowing new battleships to come to take the place.
Someone suggested using fire attack boats, but was opposed by Marcello: "Fire attack boats are only suitable for sneak attacks at night. Now the enemy is already prepared and can fire heavy shot shells from a long distance. The enemy ship has twenty-eight large-caliber heavy guns, and each salvo fires more than two hundred heavy shot shells."
The killing range of heavy shotshells exceeds 200 steps, and they can kill people on board a boat from a long distance, or they can penetrate the thin bottom of the boat, causing seawater to flow into the cabin, causing the fire attack boat to take in water and sink."
(Note: In the 18th century, the British Navy's Eighteen-Pounder Cannon fired nine heavy-duty grape bullets each time. The projectile weight was 1.5 to 1.8 pounds, and the maximum range was 300 meters.)
Another half hour later, Floating Gun Platform was still sticking to his post, buying time for the warship Volos that was anchored in the port.
Venice has withdrawn a total of six Double-Deck Warships. They suffered varying degrees of damage: damaged hulls and broken masts.
The damage to the remaining battleships was relatively minor, but the crews had experienced a hard battle and their physical fitness and morale had seriously declined, making them unfit to cope with the upcoming decisive battle.
It is now two o'clock in the morning. Marcello speculates that the enemy fleet has left the port and is forming a formation inside the bay.
Nowadays, Venice has lost its first-mover advantage, and the so-called raid has turned into a strong attack. Next, Venice needs to defeat the enemy's main battleship head-on, and also deal with numerous auxiliary ships.
"The firepower of small and medium-sized ships is weak, but they can load Army and swarm them forward to initiate a boarding battle. Our winning rate is less than 40%."
Marcello struggled for a long time and announced to evacuate the bay, ending this night attack that would hurt both sides.