Chapter 231: , Hunter and prey

From the surviving crew members, the British had already learned some features about their target "Orca".
"'Orca' is a warship the size of a frigate. It has two masts and a bowsprit. The crew unanimously claimed that no paddle wheels were found on the'Orca'. But its speed and chimney all show that this It is a steam ship. According to what we have learned, this ship has a gun deck with a total of sixteen guns, which means that there are eight cannons on each side. According to the seafarers’ inference, these guns should be 12 pounds. Cannon. In this way, their side firepower is equivalent to four times that of our steam frigate.
However, also according to the information provided by the rescued seamen, the enemy ship never fired from the direction of the bow while pursuing them. In addition, based on the arrangement of the sails on the bowsprit of the "orcas" drawn by the survivors, we have made this judgment that the enemy ship may not have a bow gun installed. In addition, the survivors did not find that they were equipped with tail guns. If you can make good use of it, this will be the obvious weakness of the enemy ship.
In this operation, we used a total of 3 Tier 3 battleships, 18 steam frigates, and 6 cruisers. Every six steam frigates and a third-tier battleship are grouped together. In this way, any group of warships must be far stronger than their opponents in terms of overall firepower. Each of our warships will be responsible for a sea area. In addition, twenty flying shear ships will also participate in the operation. They will play the role of bait and take on the important task of delivering messages.
For this reason, we have prepared fireworks bombs for transmitting messages specially for all our ships, which can be launched to a height of about 500 feet. In the daytime, we launch a firework bomb that produces reddish-brown smoke in the air. At night, the sparkle of the firework bomb can be found farther away.
In addition, the three third-tier battleships are also equipped with hot air balloons. They can rise to a height of thousands of feet and search vast seas. Although these Tier 3 battleships cannot catch up with the'Orca' in terms of speed, they can provide us with a huge view.
In addition, more than a week ago, our cruiser also encountered the'orcas' in the waters near France. At that time, it did not use steam power to sail, but relied entirely on sails, and its speed was not fast. The chimney started to smoke after the cruiser of our army was discovered.
This means that most of the time, the ‘Orca’ is cruising at a low speed. Therefore, the squadrons, including Tier 3 battleships, can keep up with their speed. In addition, the steam power system of the "Orca" may not be able to operate for a long time and with high load. Our cruisers will cruise in this area as a single ship. Their task is to force enemy ships to use steam power frequently to reduce the reliability of their equipment..."
At the preparatory meeting for "Operation Whaling Ship", the deputy chief of General Hood, Major Carter, introduced the relevant situation to the commanders of the participating troops.
After Major Carter introduced the situation, General Hood began to assign combat tasks.
Only a few nautical miles outside the port of Le Havre, the "Equality" cruiser encountered the first British ship he encountered after this voyage, the "Breeze" cruiser.
The "Breeze" is a sail cruiser with thirty-five cannons. In terms of firepower alone, it is far more than "equal". Therefore, the "Equality" immediately ignited the boiler and pressurized, using steam power, and turned to the direction of the wind, and quickly moved away from the "Breeze". While chasing, the "Breeze" released carrier pigeons to convey the news of the discovery of the "Orca" to Britain.
So the entire British coast became tense. The three hunting teams were notified soon, set sail and left the port, and began to prepare to intercept and kill the "orcas".
Major Maarten also began to feel that the situation seemed a little wrong, because he had encountered British cruisers several times along the way.
Of course, the British cruiser was not enough to cause much threat to his ship. Just let the chimney smoke, "Equality" can quickly get rid of any British cruiser. But the trouble is that the "Equality" is missing a mast after all. If it were to light the boiler, it would not be able to run the British. The use of steam power will consume coal and cause certain loss of machinery.
Of course, this loss does not seem to be much, and the "Equality" still has enough materials to support it to complete its mission. But an encounter the next night caused him to almost capsize the boat in the gutter. At that time, the sea was foggy, and a British cruiser and "Equality" approached a very dangerous distance. If it hadn't been for the watchman on the "Equality" to spot the target first, the "Equality" might have been bullied by the British cruiser.
Obviously, the number of British ships in this sea area has greatly increased. But this inspired Marten's fighting spirit.
"Anyway, there is no ship in the world that can catch up with the Equality. What should we worry about."
Two days later, observing the kite found a British flying shear boat. So Marten ordered the boiler to be pressurized and sailed towards the British flying shear ship.
Only this time, Marten encountered more troubles in his actions. The British are now more alert than the last time. After seeing the billowing black smoke from the Equality, the British flying shears immediately accelerated. , And also constantly fired firework bombs into the air, seeming to ask for help from other British ships.
Marten knew that as long as he turned around at this time, the British ships that came around and tried to hunt him would all fail. But considering the overwhelming advantage of his warship in terms of speed, Marten felt that after seeing the British ships, he still had time to decide whether to fight or move in.
So he continued to chase the past.
The wind on the sea was not strong at this time. Although the British flying shears had been accelerating as much as possible, its speed never exceeded ten knots. The Equality has reached a speed of about eleven knots, and Marten estimates that he will be able to catch up with the British ship by two or three o'clock in the afternoon.
The British flying shears fled all the way, firing fireworks bombs into the sky all the way. Marten remained unmoved and continued to chase. By about one o'clock in the afternoon, the distance between the two parties was very close. But at this time, in front of the British flying shear ship, several plumes of smoke had appeared-obviously, this should be the British steamship.
Marten also had some knowledge of the British steamship, and even after the captured British steamship was restored, he had gone on board several times to experience it. He knew that if he increased the pressure of the boiler to the maximum allowable pressure, the Equality could be almost three knots faster than those British ships. So these few plumes of smoke didn't frighten Marten-anyway, it didn't work, the sea was so big, and if they turned in, none of them could catch up with him.
So Marten ordered without hesitation: "Continue to pursue."
"Captain, do you want to increase the power?" First Mate Edgar asked.
The speed of "Equality" is now just eleven knots, and "Equality" can actually run safely to a speed close to 15 knots. If they continue to accelerate, they would have caught up with the British flying shears.
"No," Marten shook his head. "Unless we can kill all the sailors on that boat, I don't want to expose our top speed. We want to give the British an illusion that they think we are the fastest The degree is actually comparable to them..."
After chasing for a while, at about two o'clock, the "Equality" caught up with the flying shear ship. At this time, the six smoke pillars in the distance were getting closer and closer. With a telescope, you could clearly see The British steamship under the plume of smoke, and the paddle wheels spinning on both sides of the steamship.
"Before they catch up, we can sink the ship." Major Marton put down the telescope in his hand and gave the order to fire with a sneer.
This time, "Equality" did not choose to destroy the opponent's sails with chain bombs and then force the enemy to surrender. Instead, they first seized the upper wind and then used grape bombs to shoot the deck of the British flying shears. In particular, the two flamethrowers mounted on the bow and stern positions of the ship were hit hard.
The so-called grape bombs are actually very similar to the army’s shotguns, except that the single projectiles of the grape bombs are larger. A salvo ~EbookFREE.me~ shoots fewer projectiles than the army's shotguns, but larger projectiles It also ensures a longer range and power.
After a few rounds of shooting, there was no one on the deck of the British flying shears. The two flamethrowers at the bow and stern were also destroyed. So "Equality" continued to approach the past, and then set the ship ablaze with a flamethrower. The British rushed out of the cabin and jumped into the sea. When many people jumped into the sea, their bodies were still burning with flames.
The "Equality" ignored these British sailors, pulled away from the burning British flying shears, and then began to turn, seemingly preparing to get rid of the British steam frigates.
At this time, the British steam frigate had already approached a lot. As for the Equality, when it first attacked the British flying shears, it reduced its speed, and at this time it began to turn again. This naturally further reduces the speed. When the "Equality" completed its turn, the British steam frigate had caught up a lot.
"Equality" began to accelerate.
"Accelerate slowly, and the maximum speed should not exceed eleven knots. Make them feel that as long as they work hard, they can catch up with us before sunset. Haha, they really think they are hunters, do we prey?"