Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology - Chapter 1155

Capítulo 1155: WW1: Cape Town (2)

It was the season of autumn in Cape Town. The temperature hovered at a pleasant twenty degrees Celsius, making it a perfect day for a leisurely stroll. Stepping into Cape Town during this season often reminded people of Europe itself. In fact, it was precisely this familiar climate, combined with its excellent natural harbour, that had made the region one of the earliest and most heavily colonised by the Europeans.

‘It’s a pity such a day will be filled with bloodshed,’ Vijay muttered inwardly as he stood on the deck of a Ramachandra Class battleship. He looked toward the rising sun in the cloudless sky, felt the fresh sea breeze wash over his skin, and took in the serene calm of the sea.

‘Well, unfortunately, it cannot be helped. What has to be done has to be done.’

The fleet was only a few hours away from reaching Cape Town, so Vijay attended a briefing. Vijay entered the meeting room, catching everyone’s attention, but as he sat down at the corner and motioned for the meeting to continue, the Vice Admiral Yashvardhan Keshav Pandapani, who was doing the briefing, resumed.

“A new intelligence has been received, according to which the British and the Dutch are trying to form a coalition with the other European powers who have some presence in Cape Town.”

“Although the strength of other European powers, other than the British and the Dutch, is not too high, neither in the navy nor in the army, adding together they are still a considerable amount.” His expression turned sombre as he stressed, ” So, taking the worst possibility into account, we will be fighting against a coalition of all European nations.”

He turned toward the board, which displayed various illustrations of battleships. “When it comes to the types of warships our enemy operates, they are highly diverse, ranging from battleships and other heavy units to frigates and logistics vessels. Their classes are equally varied. The Sovereign Class of the British and the Wilhelm Class of the Dutch, for instance, are both formidable battleships in their own right.”

He paused briefly before continuing. “In fact, if we take the official figures publicly reported by the enemy themselves at face value, none of the European nations, including the Dutch and the British, appear to possess any naval strength. However, Bharatiya External Pragya has uncovered a very different story. A significant number of their so-called merchant ships are, in truth, repurposed warships, deliberately disguised so they can operate close to the Bharatiya Mahasamudra without arousing our suspicion.”

“Under these circumstances, the strength of the coalition is actually not that bad. The British alone command over one hundred and twenty warships, the French around thirty-four, the Spanish roughly thirty-five, and the Portuguese about thirteen. The Italians contribute close to seventy two vessels, the Austrians around sixteen, and Slavic Byzantium approximately fourteen. Finally, the Dutch, who nominally control Cape Town and its surrounding waters, possess the largest fleet of all, numbering around one hundred and forty warships.”

Sitting in the corner, Vijay sank into deep thought. The British and the Dutch were meant to go to war over South Africa, but that conflict was not due in another 100 years. Yet Vijay no longer believed it would happen at all, especially with the rise of the Bharatiya Empire, whose very existence had forged an unlikely coalition, something that should have been nearly impossible.

Vijay had already concluded that there would be no Boer War, nor any British-Dutch conflict over Cape Town. What happened after that, however, was beyond his control. With that realisation, he turned his thoughts away from uncertain futures and focused instead on the reality unfolding before him.

With Johannesburg not yet founded and its gold reserves still undiscovered, the Dutch and the English saw no reason to fight tooth and nail over a harbour whose benefits could be shared instead.

It was precisely because those mines had not been discovered that Vijay had refrained from laying his hands on Cape Town until now. Although the Bharatiya Empire had moved away from an absolute one-to-one gold-backed currency and adopted fractionalisation, who would ever say no to having more gold?

Time quickly passed, and the fleet was only a few km away from the Port City of Cape Town.

Admiral Thomas Herbert was standing on a sovereign-class battleship and setting up a formation when suddenly a blond-headed young man came running to him, ” The Bharatiya fleet has reached the vicinity of the port, sir. In a few minutes, they should appear on the horizon.”

Herbert’s expression changed, then he looked towards Cornelius Tromp, the admiral of the Dutch forces. “We should prepare for battle.”

“Indeed!” Cornelius nodded with a sombre expression.

“Assume a three-point defensive formation.”

Soon, the orders of the admiral were passed throughout the coalition fleet.

“Left rudder, left rudder, do it quick, do it quick!”

The captains of various ships ordered the sailors in a hurry, their faces looking gloomy and terrified.

Vijay looked through the telescope at the vast fleet gathered near the land on the far edge of the horizon. When he lowered it, a sneer crept across his face. ‘No formation is going to save you,’ he said to himself.

He knew that people around the world did not realise that a metal battleship was not just a little better than the older warships, but an entire level above them. It belonged to a completely different dimension altogether.

When the British introduced the dreadnought during the First World War, it made every other battleship in the world obsolete. Although eventually the Germans ended up making more dreadnoughts in a short span of time than the British, the point is that the ship was so great that ships were classified into eras by calling them the pre-dreadnought era and the post-dreadnought era.

The Ramachandra class battleship of the Bharatiya Empire is no different. It’s a marvel of engineering, which has made every other wooden battleship in the world obsolete. It is a phenomenon, a bug, an overpowered piece of equipment that is only supposed to appear in the 19th century, at least 150 years in the future.

But Vijay didn’t blame the Europeans for not understanding the difference. After all, the Ramachandra class had never been truly put into actual use, so he thought he would graciously show them its might.

“Yashvardhan, detach two Ramachandra Class battleships to hold position. The remaining ten are to be divided into two task units and execute a crisscross attack run, conducting high-speed drive-by engagements.”

“The rest of the battleships and accompanying warships will advance from the rear, providing sustained suppressive fire and covering fire in support of the forward elements.”

Yashvardhan, receiving the orders of his majesty the emperor, did not hesitate and passed the orders.

Admirals Thomas Herbert and Cornelius Tromp, observing the actions of the Bharatiya fleet on the horizon, looked at each other with confused expressions. What were the Bharatiyas doing? Were they going to let their battleships come into direct fire?

“What an absurd tactic,” Cornelius couldn’t help but exclaim.

“Indeed,” Thomas nodded, ” No matter how superior a battleship is in its defence, can it still withstand being the primary target for all the ships in the fleet?”

Cornelius nodded, and then he thought about something, “Are they using the rushing tactics they supposedly used during the battle in the Mediterranean Sea?”

Thomas was left in thought, but shook his head, ” It’s very unlikely. I’m sure even the Bharatiyas know that the only reason their strategy succeeded is that they had a strategic advantage to begin with, and our European fleet was in open waters.”

“Not to mention, at any single point, only a dozen or so cannonballs were shot towards the Bharatiya fleet, and even then, around 50% of them missed.”

He said so, and then he looked confused, ” But now the roles are actually reversed. We have the strategic advantage, with all our warships planted in optimal positions, being able to pinpoint the enemy and fire.”

Cornelius had read the battle transcript as well, so remembering the details, he nodded in realisation, but then he looked towards the sea, confused, not understanding what the Bharatiyas were doing.

Thomas looked towards Cornelius and ordered, ” At any rate, this is advantageous to us, so let’s capitalise on it.”

“Relay my order to aim at the Bharatiya fleet on both sides and fire at will.”

Cornelius swiftly passed the intelligence through the manual wire telegram.

Through the vibrations of wires hanging between ships, the orders were quickly passed, and soon all the batteries were armed and loaded, with the artillerymen eagerly waiting for the coordinates, while the spotters calculated the positions the ships would reach at the time of firing and the elevation quickly in their minds.

On the other side, a similar scene could be seen. The first and second batteries, composed of four 10-inch Thrishule MK I rifled muzzle-loading naval guns and eight 152 mm, 6-inch Vajra MK2 rifled breach loading guns, were all loaded up and ready to rain down hellfire at a moment’s notice.

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