13th March 1657
"Your Excellency, two enemy warships have been found," an Ottoman sailor called out.
Nazaruddin Hyder Khan immediately climbed up to the viewing platform and squinted his eyes as he looked at the horizon, where he saw two Venetian warships sailing towards the entrance of the Adriatic Sea.
"So it’s really only two!" There was a hint of relief in his mind.
Getting down from the platform, he could hear the sneers and jokes from his men.
"Pfff, I said that whoever informed us that there were nearly a dozen enemy warships in the fleet should be hanged instead of being put into prison. That is too much benevolence from His Majesty."
"Yeah, look at these two ships sailing into the Adriatic Sea like they own it."
"I can’t wait to get aboard those ships. I heard that a lot of goods are being brought back from the subcontinent. Maybe we could make a little money this time without much effort."
Hearing the words of his subordinates, Nazaruddin couldn’t help but wrinkle his brow in displeasure. "Shut up all of you. You haven’t even won the battle, and you’re already celebrating. Aren’t you ashamed?"
The men on the bridge immediately fell silent, and the noise quickly subsided. The only sound was the waves hitting the wall of the ship, loud and clear.
"Good. Now this is what I expect: full speed ahead. Let’s catch these Venetians before they enter the Adriatic Sea. Although we are not afraid of these two ships if we cannot deal with them quickly enough, the Venetian cities on the Adriatic coast will act swiftly, and our lives will be in danger."
The sailors, aware of the dangers, did not slack off and immediately raised the sails. The northern winds swiftly pushed them forward towards the Adriatic Sea, away from the small island they had been taking cover on.
---
"Brother, what do you think we should do? Should we follow the two ships going towards the Adriatic Sea or follow the fleet going towards the Greek islands?" Marcus Aquilaus asked in doubt and confusion.
Felix was not too sure about what to do either, since he had never encountered such a situation. To be honest, the brothers were not very old, both of them only in their late 20s, So they lacked experience.
"Mr. Aaron, what do you reckon? Which fleet should we follow?" Felix asked
Aaron Heartthorn thought for a while. Like everyone, he watched the Venetian ships split up and did not have much clue about what was happening. But his intuition told him that things were not so simple, so in order to be safe, he made a decision.
"Sir, I would suggest it should be safer to follow the larger fleet because although the Greek islands are very near to the Ottoman-controlled regions, with the eight Venetian battleships and a good defensive formation, even the Ottomans would not be able to break through this line of defence quickly.
Also, if an attack does indeed happen, we on the outskirts will not be affected much, and we will have the opportunity to escape quickly."
"On the other hand, if we follow the two ships going towards the Adriatic Sea, the threat to our ship increases monumentally. So," taking a deep breath, Aaron said with sincerity, "I suggest picking the larger fleet."
Felix thought for a while and considered the situation as explained by Mr. Aaron. After much thought, he couldn’t come to a better decision, so he resolutely ordered his merchant ship to sail towards the Greek islands.
Unsurprisingly enough, other merchant vessels also chose to follow the larger fleet. This included John Brown, the Irish merchant, who followed along slowly in his small 500-tonne merchant ship. This decision was not due to complicated reasoning but simply common sense: there is strength in numbers, and no country would dare to attack so many merchant vessels from so many different countries.
Not even the Ottoman Empire, one of the hegemon in Europe could provoke so many countries at once.
---
Nazaruddin Hyder Khan, noting the enemy drawing nearer, had a lingering feeling of unease in his heart as he felt that what met his eye was not all there was to be seen. He felt like he was missing a crucial link somewhere, but no matter how hard he tried, he could not find out where this uneasy emotion came from.
"Your Excellency, they noticed us and sent a warning shot," reported the officer, which brought Nazaruddin out of his stupor. "Now is not the time to think about this. Let’s see after the battle.
Even if there is some conspiracy by the Venetians, it is undeniable that there are only two warships in front of us, so it should be fairly easy to break them apart." he thought to himself, forcefully suppressing his unease.
---
Martinez Luca and Roberto Luigi, the two captains of the new San Marco class battleships travelling at the mouth of the Adriatic Sea, were immediately informed of the appearance of the Ottoman warships.
"Finally, the fish has caught the bait," Martinez, Looking through the telescope, said to himself with a smile on his face.
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"2 kilometers, 1.8 kilometers, 1.4 kilometers, 900 meters, 800 meters..."
As the Ottoman ships got closer and closer, the Venetian captains Martinez and Roberto did not hesitate. They immediately gave the orders: "Fire!"
"Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom."
A volley of cannon shots was fired from this side of the battleship.
The San Marco-class battleship had a total of five cannons on the stern of the ship. Originally, according to the design of the Pune-class battleship, there were only three cannon ports at the stern, but after the ship was widened and optimized for the Mediterranean Sea, its firepower was increased.
Nazaruddin, looking at the cannonballs whirling towards his direction like meteors from the sky, was not worried. He didn’t even show any emotional fluctuation on his face.
"Line abreast," he ordered.
Soon, the Ottoman ships started to spread out side by side while maintaining a distance to minimize the risk of being hit by enemy cannons and to allow the ships to manoeuvre independently.
At the same time, the cannonballs fired from the Venetian vessels did not manage to hit their targets, as they were still too far from the enemy’s range.
---
Martinez and Roberto, observing the swift reaction of the enemy, knew they were up against experienced veterans. They did not dare to slack off and immediately ordered:
"Double broadside now!"
Immediately, the two Venetian battleships, which were sailing ahead in a line ahead formation (Straight line) that maximized defence, changed their formation and took an offensive stance.
The momentum of the San Marco-class battleships slowed down, and the two ships took sharp turns to the left and right respectively, fully exposing their broadsides filled with cannons ready to be fired at any moment.
This formation, while not ideal for defence, was the best for offence. It resembled a barbarian berserker fighting tactic where you exchanged the life of the enemy for your own.
---
Looking at the changes on the battlefield, Nazaruddin couldn’t help but frown as his uneasiness deepened. "Why would these Venetians put on a strong offensive front when they could be doing their best to Sacrifice a battleship as a stalling tactic and bring reinforcements? Something is not right," he thought.
However unfortunately, even if he wanted to retreat and carefully observe the situation, he was too engaged in the battle to retreat now.
Each San Marco-class battleship had nearly 30 cannons, all of calibers 15 kilograms and above. There was even one giant 30-kilogram caliber cannon on the battleship commanded by Roberto. Although the Ottomans outnumbered the Venetian ships, comparing the firepower, there was no clear advantage.
"Ahhh!"
Screams were heard on the Ottoman battleship as occasional exploding cannonballs destabilized the ship, causing panic among the sailors.
Nazaruddin became more and more certain of his suspicion because, although the enemy put up a front of being willing to die with the enemy, they were actually slowly retreating towards the Adriatic Sea, little by little. But the question was, if they were retreating, then why were they still engaging in battle?
It didn’t make sense. It was almost as if his fleet moved 50 meters forward, the Venetian fleet would move 30 meters backward. Instead of retreating back to their cities at full speed, they continued to maintain the distance. It was almost as if the Ottoman and Venetian fleets were in parallel lanes that could never meet.
Nazaruddin was getting impatient. "I don’t have time for this. Damn it, what do these Venetians think? Why are they playing games like this? It is obvious that their ships are a little faster than ours. Why can’t they just run?" Then it hit him: the actions of the Venetians were almost as if they were stalling for time.
"Could it be the news from the spy was true?" A horrific thought suddenly crossed his mind, making his body cold.
"Hard about! Hard about!"
He roared at the top of his lungs. The sailors were confused as to why His Excellency suddenly gave an order to turn around the warships, but believing in the captain, they complied. Unfortunately, it was still too late.
A fleet of battleships, nearly eight in number, had already appeared on the horizon, hugging close to the Adriatic coast.
"Oh Allah, no!" Nazaruddin cried out as the worst-case scenario unfolded.
The sailors on board, seeing the silhouettes of nearly twenty large ships, lost their voices in an instant. Fortunately, Nazaruddin’s voice brought them back to reality.
"Form a covering formation. Head towards the Ionian Sea."
The sailors’ hearts dropped as they realized what this meant; they immediately knew that most of them would not survive.
"Don’t worry. If I make it out alive, I will ensure that your families are well taken care of and receive their due compensation."
Hearing this, the sailors gritted their teeth and followed the orders.