At 11 o'clock in the morning, the Galleass battleship began to paddle, superimposing the power of the oars and the sail, and the ship's speed suddenly increased.
Soon, these fifteen battleships broke away from the battle line, protruded forward in a wedge-shaped formation, and rushed directly towards the battle line of the Eastern Roman Empire fleet.
Their intention was very clear, to use the Galley's advantage of not being restricted by wind direction to entangle the battleships at the front of the battle line and disrupt the enemy's column.
After receiving the semaphore from the flagship, the first rapid detachment of the Eastern Roman Empire hoisted its sails, and ten Cruisers rushed into battle to intercept the assault group of Venice.
The sea breeze roared, and the distance between the forwards of the two armies was rapidly shortening.
Four hundred steps, three hundred steps later, Galleass's bow gun opened fire first. A dull roar rolled against the sea. A nine-pound iron bullet hit the side of Scala. Sawdust splashed like a rainstorm. The two gunners covered their wounds and howled loudly.
Felix did not give the order to fight back, he was still waiting for the order from the squadron flagship.
Two hundred steps away, the enemy warship Galleass opened fire again, and Scala lost three more crew members.
Up to this moment, the squadron flagship at the front of the formation had not fired back. After getting closer to a certain distance again, the squadron flagship finally opened fire. All eleven naval guns fired chain rounds. The hemispherical projectiles fixed by the iron chains rotated and tore the air, targeting the sail ropes and long oars of Galley.
Nine Cruisers, including Scala, opened fire one after another. The masts of the three Galleasss at the front were broken, and the huge Latin sails collapsed, knocking down the oarsmen and officers on the deck.
"Keep loading the chain rounds!"
Felix followed the order of the squadron's flagship and asked the crew to give up loading more lethal solid bullets and shotgun shells, and focus on destroying the masts and oars of the enemy assault group, disrupting their assault rhythm. This approach worked.
Ten Eastern Roman Empire Cruiser passed by fifteen enemy Galleass warships.
After these rounds of shooting, the Eastern Roman Empire warship suffered more casualties, but destroyed the masts and oars of many enemy ships, preventing them from attacking the Battleship formation of the Eastern Roman Empire.
Not only that, the wind and waves in early winter seriously affected these low-freeboard Galley. The waves overflowed the deck again and again, knocking the rowers down on their seats and further slowing down their boat speed.
Taking advantage of the precious time gained by Cruiser, Battleship, the vanguard of the Eastern Roman Empire, slowly adjusted its formation. The leading detachment flagship opened its gun doors, and Twelve-Pounder Cannon on the open deck and Eighteen-Pounder Cannon on the lower deck opened fire. White gunpowder smoke instantly engulfed the ship.
The Double-Deck Warship behind the detachment's flagship opened fire one after another. The side plates of the Galleass were like paper in front of the heavy artillery. One Galley was directly penetrated by the gunpowder magazine and exploded into a ball of fire on the sea. The debris flew dozens of steps high.
The Galleass assault group fired back with bow guns. The shells hit Battleship's thick Oak side plates, only making some dents but failing to penetrate.
There was a huge disparity in firepower between the two sides. The first assault group was defeated, and the surviving Galley fled backward. Eastern Roman Empire Battleship did not pursue them. They had only one goal: to defeat Venice Battleship.
At 11:30, the Battleship columns from both sides approached each other.
There are twenty-six ships of the Eastern Roman Empire and Double-Deck Warship, forming a single column six kilometers long on the sea, traveling from north to south.
Venice's Double-Deck Warship was slightly smaller, with only twenty ships. They were also in a single column, heading straight towards the approaching enemy. The warships at the front began to exchange fire, followed by the second and third ships... The two long fire dragons spread out almost against the sea surface, and the muzzle flashes were pale and dazzling in the dark sky.
The wind howled, nearly a thousand artillery pieces fired at each other, the entire sea area seemed to be being hammered by giant hammers, the air was trembling, and the sea surface was boiling.
During this period, the warships of both sides always maintained a column, like two groups of musketeers shooting at each other. Even if casualties gradually accumulated, they still had to maintain the formation with difficulty.
As the flagship of the Eastern Roman Empire, Nesos was attacked by the enemy. Dozens of iron bullets hit the side of the Oak ship, sawdust flew everywhere, more than twenty people were injured, and the ship's hull vibrated violently.
During the interval between shelling, the officer on the lower level ran to the stern deck and reported to Fabius, "Admiral, there are casualties at gun positions No. 3 and 9, but the side plates are intact and there is no leakage in the bottom tank."
"Got it."
During the shooting phase, the only thing Fabius could do was to stay on the stern deck until the enemy's battle line wavered.
At noon, the wind direction on the sea surface turned to the northwest, and the waves became more and more violent.
Venice Two warships have withdrawn from the battle. One has taken in too much water and is slowly tilting and sinking. The other warship has three broken masts and is floating quietly on the sea, like a dying whale.
The situation was critical, Soranzo sent people to hoist a flag and ordered the remaining twenty-three Galleass warships to launch an assault, targeting the middle and rear sections of the enemy's battle line.
In the biting sea breeze, these low-freeboard Galley undulated with the sea surface, and the cold waves continued to beat against the side of the ship, soaking the oarsmen's clothes and hair. "Keep paddling, Venice needs us!"
The officer was right, nearly half of the crew were Venice people. If they lose this war, the entire maritime empire is destined to collapse, and the life they are familiar with will also disappear.
The remaining half of the crew are foreigners. Venice The navy disperses personnel from the same hometown to reduce the risk of mutiny.
Even if the foreign sailors were afraid, it was difficult for them to contact their fellow villagers to cause trouble together. They could only stay at their posts and row the oars with all their strength.
After the enemy ship entered the shooting range, the artillery on the bow of Galleass aimed at the stern of Double-Deck Warship and opened fire.
Whether it is Double-Deck Warship or Cruiser, the stern of this type of three-masted sailboat is destined to be the weak point and has the weakest protection.
Assuming that a shell penetrates the stern of the ship, there is a certain probability of hitting the gun crew members from the stern to the bow of the ship, and the killing efficiency is the highest.
However, those Eastern Roman Empire Cruiser appeared again, standing between the Galleass battleships and our own heavy battleships.
Felix controlled Scala and accurately hit the middle of a Galley. The crew of the Eastern Roman Empire fired muskets from above and threw Iron Bomb to clear the remaining enemies on the deck.
At this time, Venice Cruiser also gathered together to cover the remaining Galleass to launch an assault. More than sixty warships were entangled together, and the nearby sea area fell into complete chaos.
The warships of both sides were scattered on the sea, making it difficult to concentrate firepower to bombard the enemy, and the hit rate was greatly reduced. The Galleass warship relied on its oar advantage to turn with difficulty in a narrow range.
Some Galleass tried to attack the stern of the Heavy Double-Deck Warship, and the crews of some battleships threw rope hooks, planning to seize the enemy's Double-Deck Warship in a boarding battle... After being harassed by numerous enemy ships, the eight battleships in the second half of the Eastern Roman Empire battle line gradually lost touch with the front. They could only disband their formation to deal with the imminent threat.