Chapter 445: Interception

“We sailed east in the South China Sea. The Feiyun led the way as the lead navigator, followed by the flagship Nongchao, with the coal tender Haifeng in the middle, and my command, the Daishuang, at the rear. The ships formed a single file column. My gunboat was the rear ship. Shortly after leaving port and turning east, the flagship ordered us to sail on a zigzag course against the wind to conserve fuel. This greatly reduced our speed, but it was pre-planned to save fuel for the search and combat phase, and we had enough time. Along the way, at 8 a.m. every morning, the four ships communicated with each other and with the Lingao main station by radio. We conducted several at-sea coaling operations, which were fraught with danger. Before reaching the Balintang Channel, we made several sudden course changes, presumably because the Feiyun’s radar had detected passing ships. But we didn’t see any ships directly, only some small islands of the Babuyan Islands in the Balintang Channel. We passed through the Balintang Channel, rounded Luzon Island from the north, and the dark blue Philippine Sea unfolded before us.” - Memoirs of Lü Yang (Internal Distribution), Volume 1

Under the guidance of the Feiyun’s radar, the formation maintained a distance of about 20 nautical miles from Luzon Island and began to turn south. The wind was mainly a southeasterly of less than force four, making sailing quite difficult. Fortunately, they had plenty of time. On July 3rd, the formation rounded Catanduanes Island from the east. On the distant horizon, the “world’s most perfect cone” of Mayon Volcano on Luzon Island stood to the west, and there seemed to be traces of volcanic ash in the wisps of cirrus clouds in the blue sky. Continuing south, they reached the designated interception point the next day.

“We’ve reached the San Bernardino Strait. But there are coral reefs everywhere along the coast here. It’s safer for us to stay farther from the shore.”

“Let’s deploy in search formation tomorrow morning. Today, we’ll go ashore to scout Samar Island first.”

The formation dropped anchor not far from Samar Island. Lin Chuanqing, being cautious, ordered the formation to enter a bay on the other side of a small island to wait. Although the Feiyun’s weather radar showed all clear, typhoons could form and develop very quickly. For a steamship, it would be difficult to avoid one if encountered.

A small boat was lowered from the large ship, and the special forces team went ashore for a day of investigation. They found no Spanish strongholds, only some local fishing villages from a distance. But there were many mosquitoes, which was daunting. Before sunset, the special forces team withdrew to the ship. Legazpi, at the foot of Mayon Volcano, would not be founded for another few years, and the transmigrators were too lazy to scout it for now.

The sailors caught some fresh seafood on the shore, so the elders had a simple barbecue party on the Feiyun.

“This is where the ‘kill-stealing king’ Nowaki was torn to pieces, right? The timid Kurita and the stupid bull Halsey. It would have been great to have a BB gun battle here.”

“How about we support a few countries here in the future, specifically for a naval arms race of ironclads? Steam, iron armor, and heavy guns, lined up in a line of battle, bombarding each other. How magnificent!”

“And we’ll watch from an airship in the sky? That’s very ‘Celestial Dragon’-like. I’m afraid that’s not possible even by the time we die.”

The elders chatted and laughed on the deck of the Feiyun, drinking Qian Shuiting’s private stash of California wine.

“The technological level of battleships is very high. I wonder if we can reach that level…”

“I personally like the bizarre ironclads of the late 19th century—the fat hulls, short, thick cannons, strange masts… so much industrial beauty. In contrast, after the dreadnoughts, they were all cast from the same mold, which is a bit boring.”

On the morning of July 15th, the formation deployed in search formation and sailed east. The 854-mod was at the northernmost end, where Luzon Island was barely visible, while the Feiyun was at the southernmost end. The ships were spaced 5 nautical miles apart, forming a 15-nautical-mile-long northwest-southeast search line. The radio sent a simple message to Lingao: “Formation has deployed for search at the designated interception point.”

Upon receiving the report, Chen Haiyang said to Fu Sansi, “The voyage has been so smooth, better than expected. It’s good that the first long-distance sea voyage went so smoothly.”

“It’s not easy to have avoided other people all the way. It would be great if the mission could be completed just as smoothly.”

The interception point was indeed not a busy shipping lane. For several days, no merchant ships passed by. Even if some signals appeared on the radar, they were just small local fishing boats. Although someone suggested “killing one person every five steps, leaving no one behind for a thousand miles,” the leaders all thought it was too troublesome and meaningless.

“What do these poor Malay devils have? It’s not even worth the coal and bullets we’d use,” Lin Chuanqing said, stroking his beard.

In the early morning of July 18th, the radar on the Feiyun detected a signal 25 nautical miles to the east, moving slowly westward. The Feiyun immediately sent a telegram to assemble the entire formation. The distance was still far. When it came to combat, the walkie-talkie would be more real-time.

The ships began to increase their boiler power to the maximum and rendezvoused first. Half an hour later, the ships were within walkie-talkie range. Zhou Weisen impatiently grabbed the walkie-talkie and requested the Nongchao to lower a small boat to pick him up. The Feiyun was too unique in this time-space, with a low freeboard, making it unsuitable for combat. It could only serve as a monitor from a distance.

After the ships rendezvoused, the Nongchao led the way, with the Daishuang at the rear, in a single file column, heading towards the silver ship. Only Zhou Weisen, with a few men, remained on the Feiyun and the Haifeng, continuing to monitor the position of each ship with the radar. At the same time, the Feiyun sent a telegram to Lingao: “Suspicious target detected. Fleet engaging. Wind southeast, light breeze, waves one meter high.”

More than an hour later, the target finally appeared in the telescopes of the eager commanders on the bridge of the Nongchao. As if rising from under the water, three masts gradually grew taller from the horizon, followed by the mizzenmast, bowsprit, and the high forecastle and sterncastle of the Spanish galleon. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. After traveling so far, they had finally caught it!

This thing was really big. Lin Chuanqing estimated its displacement to be over 1000 tons. Only such a large ship could undertake the important task of transporting royal funds from New Spain across the Pacific to Manila. From its draft, it was fully loaded.

He noticed the Castilian royal flag flying from the mast. That’s right, this was a royal galleon, the Manila galleon they had been searching for.

“Raise the flag! Prepare for battle!” Lin Chuanqing excitedly gave the order, which was immediately transmitted to the Daishuang via walkie-talkie. Both ships simultaneously hoisted the “prepare for battle” signal flag.

“Fleet, attention! Using the flagship as a reference, turn right in succession!”

“All fleet, attention! Turn left simultaneously!”

After completing the command, the two ships deployed in a line abreast and continued to close in on the Spanish galleon head-on.

“Even if this ship originally had 80 durability, it probably has at most 60 left now. That saves us a round of high-explosive shells,” Lü Yang muttered to himself. In his telescope, the ship’s condition was a bit miserable. The rigging was damaged in several places—it seemed to have encountered a storm. This also explained why it was sailing alone, rather than in formation with another galleon. It had clearly spotted the approaching fleet and sensed the danger. It was attempting to turn left against the wind, clearly knowing that it couldn’t escape even with the wind, but the turn was very slow and laborious.

“Looks like its rudder is broken. You can’t run now. Just wait to have your T crossed.”

Next, the fleet turned right again into a column and sailed east, continuing to cut towards the galleon’s bow. When the distance closed to an estimated 2000 meters, Lin Chuanqing ordered, “Distance 2000 meters, load high-explosive shells, all guns fire one salvo.”

The 130mm guns mounted on the open platforms fired almost simultaneously, but all the shells fell short and were scattered all over the place. Everyone on the bridge couldn’t help but shake their heads.

“This fire control system is a piece of crap. It would make Old Fei die of anger,” Zhou Weisen cursed.

“It’s good that we didn’t hit,” Lin Chuanqing shook his head. “If we had a lucky shot and hit the magazine directly, we would have come for nothing.”

Zhou Weisen broke out in a cold sweat at the thought. It felt like trying to hit a mouse in a china shop.

“Close in on the enemy!” Lin Chuanqing issued the next command. At this point, they could only learn from Nelson. Fortunately, the Spanish had an even shorter range and were even less accurate.

“Distance 1000 meters, load high-explosive shells! All fleet, fire!” This time, the accuracy was much better. The galleon was immediately enveloped in a group of water columns. And because of the slow turn and the long distance, the Spanish broadside guns were completely unable to fire, making it a one-sided fight.

“All ships, fire for effect! Load high-explosive shells, be careful not to hit the waterline!” Lin Chuanqing noticed that some of the shells had a very low trajectory and hurriedly added. The formation continued to sail east, crossing the galleon’s bow. Water columns rose near the galleon from time to time, but the hits were not very clear. Even through the telescopes, the commanders could only mutter, “A little smoke, one hit?” However, one lucky shot had a very obvious effect that everyone saw. The mainmast suddenly trembled, then fell backwards with its rigging, crashing onto the deck and then dangling over the starboard side.

“Damn, this is bad. The ship is crippled, but it’s probably wrecked,” Zhou Weisen couldn’t help but curse under his breath. “Which gunner aimed so well to take out the mast.”

After crossing the bow, the formation turned left and sailed on a reciprocal course with the galleon, continuing to fire. The two sides were broadside to each other. The enemy’s gun decks began to take hits, while the fire it returned was no threat at all. After one salvo, a flash of fire suddenly erupted from a gun position, followed by thick smoke.

“Damn, it looks like the Spanish gunpowder has caught fire.”