Chapter 285: , The leak case

Although he paid tribute to the constantly fighting USS, Zola would not be soft. But at this time, the French squadron coming from the Port of New Orleans was approaching. Especially the frigate "D'Artagnan" has already followed.
"D'Artagnan" is a standard frigate with 40 guns. Under normal circumstances, it is definitely not an opponent of "US". But the situation is different now, at least on the port side, the USS has only two guns. And because of the loss of the bowsprit, her speed has also dropped significantly, so even when facing the D'Artagnan, the current "U.S." cannot be beaten. I can't run away.
On the other side, the "Constitution" is also trying to avoid the pursuit of the American gunboat. If enough sailors are recruited in the port of Santo Domingo, the "Constitution" can really crush the "Lafayette" gunboat like an ant.
However, considering the complicated situation in "Santo Domingo", both Captain Zola and Victor are worried about whether a group of Americans will be recruited here, and then these recruited Yankees and the Americans who are still being held. The inside should meet outside... Isn’t that troublesome? So "Constitution" did not even recruit a single sailor in Santo Domingo. It just split the sailors on the "Free Trade" into some boats.
The consequence of this is that although there are dozens of cannons on the USS Constitution, there is not even a single gunner.
But even so, it is still not easy for the "Lafayette" to deal with the "Constitution" in the hands of the French. First of all, the "Constitution" was too fast. Although the "Lafayette" had to dismantle some cannons for this purpose, and reduced its weight, thereby increasing its speed, it was not easy to catch up with the "Constitution". Especially when the "Constitution" was thinking of running away.
The chase between two days of small speed difference between sailing boats sometimes lasts for a long time, even as in a movie, chasing from low latitudes to near the polar regions. Now the chase between "Lafayette" and "Constitution" seems to have this feeling. So until this time, the two ships were still going in circles at sea.
However, in this process, the "Lafayette" is also constantly using the ship's artillery to attack the "Constitution".
The cannon on the "Lafayette" is only 12 pounds, and it can't touch the hull of the "Constitution". The Americans are very clear about this. After all, they built this ship. But the 12-pounder gun still has a function, that is, it can be used to destroy the sails of the USS Constitution and reduce the speed of the USS Constitution.
And compared to the hull, the sail is a much larger target, and it is naturally much easier to hit it. But because the sails are very large, it is not easy to destroy them. Cannonballs, even chain bullets, can only tear a small hole in the huge sail, and the damage to the entire sail is quite limited. To make the speed of the sailboat drop significantly, it must hit multiple times. And this obviously takes time.
So until now, the "Constitution" has not shown any significant slowdown. At this time, on the other side, the overall situation on the battlefield was already set. The "Congress" turned in, the "U.S." was flying the flag of St. George, and the terrible steamship also rushed over here.
The captain of the "Lafayette", Major Muric, immediately made this judgment: "This operation has failed. The biggest problem now is how to escape."
So he immediately ordered: "Retreat at full speed!"
However, it is not easy to escape under the pursuit of "Free Trade". Because the "Free Trade Number" is much faster than her. But I can’t stop running because of this, and the captain of the "Lafayette", Major Murić, knew that his ship had another advantage, that is, the draft was shallower. In some places, she could go, but France People's "free trade number" cannot go. There happened to be such a sea area nearby, but before she was overtaken by the "Free Trade", it was hard to say where she would escape.
But in fact, "Free Trade" does not have to catch up and destroy her. The number of shells on the "Free Trade" is already scarce, and it has reached the warning line of inventory, and it is not worth consuming for such a small boat. In fact, the "Free Trade" came after it only to relieve the "Constitution".
When the "Free Trade" escorted the "Constitution" back, the battle on the sea had reached its final moment. At this time, all the artillery on the USS was destroyed, and the D'Artagnan began to use chain bullets to hit the sails of USS US. Obviously, they wanted to lower the USS further. Sailing ability, and then jump to help capture the ship.
Under such circumstances, Captain Thomas gave an order to abandon the ship. The damaged sailors jumped into the sea holding wooden barrels and other floating objects, and Colonel Thomas himself entered the cabin with a torch, and soon after, the ship was burning.
At first, the French wondered if they could come up to fight the fire, but the fire spread very quickly. Obviously, while the "D'Artagnan" was busy destroying the sails of this ship, the sailors on the ship had already dumped gunpowder and other firelighters everywhere.
Such a ship really burns up, and even if it is placed in later lives, it may not be saved. At this time, everyone can only watch her burn.
Looking at the "American" engulfed in flames, Captain Zola said to Victor: "Mr. Treville, we failed to capture the enemy ship this time... It's a pity, it's a good ship."
"It's a pity, it's a good boat."
Victor also sighed, but he immediately said again: "However, as soon as this ship was put into service, it has already fallen behind. Now the sea is already the world of steam warships."
"Fortunately, now only us in the world have a really usable steam battleship." Captain Zola said.
Just as Captain Zola said this, a new ship was undergoing a secret test in Fathline Bay west of Glasgow, Scotland. This is a steam boat, but unlike ordinary steam boats, it has no paddle wheels.
This ship is not very big. Judging from the type of ship, it is obviously modified from the steam frigates that were lifted by the French steamers off the coast of Ireland. It has no paddle wheels, no masts and sails. Anyway, this is an experimental ship, accompanied by a sailing warship, so even if the machine fails, there will be ships towing it back.
Now in the evening sea breeze, the ship began to accelerate, and the frigate "Surprise" escorting it has gradually been unable to keep up with its speed, and slowly fell behind.
"General, the speed of the experimental ship is at least 15 knots. It seems that this is the secret that the French steamboat can run as fast." The second officer Jack Aubrey stood beside him, wearing a general. Said the person in uniform, who was observing the experimental ship with a telescope.
"You're right, Jack. The propeller is indeed a good design. It makes the biggest weakness of the steam ship disappear all at once. With this technology, the steam ship can really become a real warship." The general said this, but sighed.
"General, why are you sighing? Haven't we already succeeded?" Jack Aubrey asked.
"Yes, we succeeded. But Jack, the age of sailing is gone." The general stretched out his hand and patted the shoulder of the young Jack Aubrey, "New ships mean new operations. Way. Some things that we have been studying all our lives may have drifted away with the black smoke coming out of this boat. Fortunately, you are still young and you still have time to learn new things."
"General, you are not old, you are not yet fifty. And since you can learn the various skills of sailing warships and fleet warfare in the past, then you will definitely be able to research the most suitable tactics for new warships. You are not Do you think this task is full of challenges?"
"Ah, Jack, you are right. I shouldn't have thoughts of being lazy." The general laughed. "Well, you have to study hard. In the future, my Victory will be changed to a steam battleship, and you If you perform well, I will send you to the Victory..."
At this time the steamboat in front turned a corner and started to return. The waters in this area are relatively remote, with few ships passing by. But now the sky is getting dark, and it's time to return.
It's just that neither Jack nor the "general" noticed. On the shore over there, a man was hiding behind a large rock, looking far away with a telescope...
So, a few days later, in the Bonaparte family, the three brothers quarreled again.
"All the current signs show ~EbookFREE.me~Joseph, your confidentiality work has not been done well, and spies have emerged from your side. They stole the secrets of the propeller." Lucien said.
"Lucien, this is not necessarily due to someone leaking a secret here." Joseph retorted, "Because the propeller is so simple in design that anyone can discover the secret by just looking at it. So I think this secret It’s more likely to leak out from the production link. But you are staring at me. We have to check the people here. This will seriously interfere with our work."
"Joseph, of course we will check in the production link, but will there be no problems with you? There is no harm in checking it," Lucien said.
"Yes, Joseph, what can't be checked? As long as you don't wrong people." Napoleon also said.
"Well, the investigation can be checked, but it should not interfere with the normal work of the research department, or even let them know that there is such an investigation." Joseph made a little concession, "In addition, I emphasize once again that the propeller is very, very It's simple, you can see it at a glance, even simpler than mines. We must not commit the British mistakes on mines!"
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