Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Chapter 519 The Glorious Battle of the Gulf of Finland (Part 031)

The battle at sea was not one-sided because the Swedish Navy was moving too slowly. When the "Centaur" and "Ruthless" broke through the blockade of the Russian frigates, the "Grace" and "Warrior" turned to deal with the subsequent Swedish Navy battleships.

At this point in the battle, each side chose their opponent and fought each other, but this choice was mainly unilaterally made by Russia against the Swedish navy.

After the "Grace" and "Warrior" attacked from the front and severely damaged the bow of the "Gustav IV", they circled around and encountered a single column of Type 64 battleships of the Swedish Navy.

Although the single column formation was mentioned to mean a big fight, the Swedish Navy's deployment of this formation was clearly intended to get beaten unilaterally.

However, the opponent chosen by the "Grace" was the "Vladislav" which was captured by the Swedish Navy. In fact, the Swedish army had more ships seized by the Baltic Fleet, but this third-level ship was already a pillar in the weaker Swedish Navy.

If the British are excluded, these Russian warships have advantages at every level. The "Vladislav" is an early Russian battleship, a product of the last Russo-Swedish War. This kind of warship is already outdated in performance even for the Russian Navy.

However, for the entire battlefield, the Russian Navy really has to give priority to destroying these Type 70 and 74 battleships. After defeating these battleships, even if the British make trouble at the end of the team, the outcome of the battle has already been determined.

However, the Swedes still put up some resistance, and even struggled to use the two battleships "Vladislav" and "Honor" to attack the "Grace".

However, considering that the combined artillery of these two warships barely exceeds that of their opponents, it is natural that they will be beaten here.

Even Kron was not in a hurry, but Solovyov was getting a little anxious watching on the deck.

"You're so close, why don't you open fire?"

"Count, your army is still fighting with bayonets. Although I may be hit by a few shells at first, they will be almost wiped out by a volley."

Solovyov felt relieved after hearing this. Besides, letting Kron take command was better than Khanikov's behavior of running away without fighting, right?
As the "Grace" kept getting closer and closer without even firing a single shot, the Swedes became a little panicked. They first fired some chain bullets and grapeshot in an attempt to kill people, but considering the structure of the "Grace", the damage to the Marines and crew on the deck might have been even greater.

The loss of the rigging means breaking the sails.

Kron also sneered at this style of fighting, and did not forget to mock: "It's really weaker than the French, but the French are brave warriors who will not surrender until everyone is injured and the ship starts to sink. If the Swedes still use this style of fighting, they will continue to be beaten."

"Come closer now, Robert."

"Don't worry, shooting at 30 yards closer will be more effective!"

Compared to when he was a captain on a frigate, this was obviously a more dangerous approach, as he was always chasing after the enemy and attacking them.

As for when getting closer, the pre-loaded solid bullets will be able to exert their power.

"Count, just remember that grapeshot is not always useful on a ship. Solid bullets are more powerful!"

"Of course. If the wood fragments break apart, they can cause casualties!"

"You understand very well! It's a pity that you are not a marine, especially since you have such a loud voice!"

Solovyov suddenly shuddered. It seemed that Corporal Morishita had learned all the tricks from the British. No wonder he "wanted to drive a warship with such a low voice". The master also had a problem!
As they got closer, Kron ordered the port side guns to fire in succession instead of firing at once.

After all, he still cherishes his warships, and this kind of continuous shooting rather than general salvos, if the shells are reloaded in the next round, it will be free firing.

If it was a salvo, fortunately we are not in the era of multi-turret relics yet, it would still cause great damage to the warship.

Kron's wife has returned to her parents' home with her children. If he were asked to command a warship here, he would probably take better care of him than his own daughter.

In this case, it is natural to allow free firing of solid bullets without limit. This is also more conducive to the gunners to perform well. They can reload quickly, fire a second round of salvos, and cause greater damage.

What's more, after the "Honor" on the other side approached, their artillery fire could not cause any damage to the huge "Grace".

As for Samuel Hood Jr., after breaking out of the Russian frigate formation, he could only attack the warships at the rear of the Russian battle line while observing the situation on the Swedish naval fleet's side.

"Sir, it looks like our friendly forces are in big trouble!"

"Something must have gone wrong with these damn ships! But if we get rid of these Russian third-class ships, they will chase us and join the battle, and the situation will only get worse."

"What should I do?"

"We should attack the rear of the Russian army first and disrupt their formation. We can run away, and if our friendly forces can hold on, we can also find a way to lead them out. Bill, we have to think about ourselves too. We can't be heroes on the battlefield. The first thing is to avoid being eliminated, and then strike the enemy."

Samuel Hood Jr.'s experience was paid for with the death of his brother, a sword wound to the thigh, and a broken arm. Although the Royal Navy has always been more ferocious, they also have to consider their own safety when they are at a disadvantage.

For someone like him, who is not only willing to sacrifice his own life but also plans to pull out his friendly forces, he is considered to have a relatively high moral character.

In contrast, Nelson's moral integrity was not that high. He attacked the neutral army, slept with his friend's wife and had a threesome in public without restraint. He and Lady Hamilton found an opportunity to hang an Italian colleague who was favored by his old boss because he was supported by the Naples Republicans as the naval commander.
What is even more difficult to imagine is that his illegitimate daughter Horatia Nelson later grew up to be a lady, which was very different from her adulterous parents.

But Little Hood still gave priority to dealing with the Russian warships in front of him, but the captain of the "Frochevod", Rudnev, was not a pushover. Since you, the British, dare to come, I dare to fight. When the artillery fire of both sides intertwined, the battle was still very fierce. The two British warships also relied on their own "illegal modifications" to obtain stronger firepower than the same-class ships. Therefore, when two against one, the firepower was absolutely superior.

The Russian battleships in front were too late to support the "Floshevod" at the rear, but Rudnev calmly fought back, and even though he was injured by flying sawdust and grapeshot, he still insisted on fighting at his command position.

By the way, the captain of the armored cruiser "Varyag" that was ambushed in Incheon during the Russo-Japanese War was also named Rudnev, as if this surname means being particularly unlucky, always taking the hardest jobs, suffering the worst beatings, and still performing very tenaciously.

Hood and Martin also noticed that even though their shells kept hitting the Russian ships and various shells caused huge casualties to the opponent, the Russians were still resisting desperately, and the two British ships were also hit by some shells one after another. Under such circumstances, it would probably be difficult to quickly eliminate the opponent.

You have to know that for a battleship in the sailing age, the effective ammunition on a gun position is only dozens of rounds. If a cannon in a nearby gun position is damaged but the gunpowder barrels and shells are intact, you can still fire a batch of ammunition over there. If the other side does not fire, you can still replenish it.

However, if the gunners and sailors were lost, it would be a big trouble.

Seeing that the trouble on his side was getting bigger and bigger, Little Hood began to consider retreating, and at the same time he glanced at the Swedes.

"What the hell! Looks like we can consider turning around!"

"Sir, why do you say that?"

"Look over there, Bill, what are our outstanding allies doing now?"

William Webb used a telescope to look at the place where the Swedish navy and the main force of the Russian army were fighting, and saw a one-sided massacre.

After two salvos from the "Grace", which caused more than a hundred casualties to the "Vladislav", the battleship was forced to lower its flag and surrender even though it was not leaking, most of its gun positions were still intact, and only some of its sails were damaged.

As for the "Honor" that came to support, it was hit continuously by the firepower from the other side of the "Grace", which caused a large-scale fire.

For a warship filled with gunpowder and various flammable materials, if something like this happened, one should either prepare to abandon ship or consider one's own affairs. As for the explosion of this warship, it happened after most of the crew had abandoned ship, and there were still many people who jumped into the sea to survive.

As for the scale of the explosion, considering that the Swedish Navy's warships are not very large, it can only be said that it caused a certain impact. The "Brave" behind this battleship barely passed the area where the "Honor" was located and continued to move forward to engage in battle, but it was also hit by a round of salvos from the "Warrior" behind the "Grace".

In this situation, the rigging of the "Brave" was severely damaged, and the captain of the "Warrior" only used solid bullets to attack, causing the waterline of the Swedish battleship to be hit several times, and a large amount of water began to take in.

As for whether the ship would tilt to one side and sink, it was not a problem for the "Warrior". After the "Grace" squeezed through, a huge gap had been opened in the single-column formation of the Swedish Navy.

"See? Now they can only be attacked at will by us. The entire line has been broken. Even you, Count, can command this fleet to defeat the enemy, as long as you don't run away and dare to command the battle from your position."

"The Swedes at sea are really hard to beat"

While Solovyov was complaining like this, the battles between several battleships had already been decided.

At first, Kron and Solovyov saw 11 battleships. They did not expect that there were two Type 2 battleships in poor condition at the end of the Swedish army. After this series of fierce battles, two of the 64 battleships of the Swedish Navy had been sunk, one had surrendered, and two had turned around and fled.

Among the remaining six battleships, the flagship "Gustav IV" had lost its combat effectiveness, and even its mast had been broken. Only a few guns could still fire. If there had not been an admiral on board, it would have learned from some advanced experience long ago.

As for the other ships, they encountered Russian battleships that were stronger than themselves. The firepower of the "Flora" following behind the battle line was very close to theirs, and it was obvious that the battle was about to be over.

At this time, the "Grace" and "Warrior", which had already made a detour, cut off the Swedes' retreat, while the front line led by the "Gabriel" and "Bold" also made an arc towards the Swedish Navy's warships.

The Swedish frigates and the battleships at the rear of the fleet have already run away. Now is the time for the final attack. The "Frosheward" is still being surrounded and beaten by the British!

Kronor also planned to deal with his old colleague one last time, and even sent out flag signals, demanding the Swedes to surrender.

However, they still dared to fight back with cannons, and hit the "Bold", causing some damage.

In this case, Kron was no longer polite and sent out the signal for all ships to launch a final general attack.

The remaining few Swedish battleships, which were still capable of fighting, had their rigging broken one after another, and their sterns were also hit by salvos from Russian warships.

Even a level VI ship like the "Tragedy" that had been interfering with the British ships on the periphery came to join in the fun, and Bellingshausen even forced one of the "Vasa" battleships to stop.

Considering that the battleship was sandwiched between two Russian Type 74 battleships on both sides, the surrender was not surprising.

In this way, the results of the battle were very brilliant. In about an hour and a half, the main force of the Swedish Navy had been almost eliminated, and only two battleships and all the frigates fled towards Gotland Island.

Now it is the two battleships of Major General Samuel Hood Jr. and Colonel Martin that have to face the attack of all the warships of the Russian Navy. This is not an easy task. You must know that among the 9 battleships of the Russian Navy, the losses of the other 8 are not heavy. Even the "Grace" only lost a few guns, and its combat effectiveness was not actually affected too much.

In this naval battle in the Gulf of Finland, it is now the turn of the Russian fleet to finally deal with the two British warships.

There is no way, who made today's Swedes such vulnerable teammates?

(End of this chapter)