Chapter 440: , Single you 1 group

The plume of smoke was getting closer, and it was clear that there was only one plume of smoke.
"The British North American Squadron has six ships. If it were them, we should be able to count to six smoke plumes. But now there is only one, and this must be a returning whaling ship." The Americans made such a reasonable and reasonable inference, and advanced The fleet is spread out in order to chase and intercept. Although whaling ships generally do not have steam-assisted power, they will not run fast.
The plume of smoke was getting closer and closer, and in the telescope of General Cade, the ship finally emerged from the horizon.
"Damn it! This is...this is the ‘Free Trade Number’! Damn it, how could she be here!"
General Cade had participated in the two-on-one battle with the "Free Trade" in the past. He is very familiar with this super cruiser, which is considered a "nightmare ship" for Americans, so even the distance between the two parties It was still far away, but General Cade recognized this battleship that had appeared in his nightmare more than once at a glance.
"'Free Trade'?'Free Trade' is back? What about'Common Market'?" a young officer standing next to General Cade asked strangely. At the same time he noticed that General Cade's hands were shaking slightly.
"It's not our'Free Trade', it's the British, it's the British's Indomitable!" General Cade stabilized his mind, and then said in as calm a voice as possible, "Order, and the fleet will gather immediately. , Get ready for battle!"
The American fleet, including three super cruisers and three ordinary cruisers, began to regroup, accelerate, and prepare for battle.
General Cade felt that although the performance of the warships on his side was indeed far inferior to the British "Indomitable", after all, there were a lot more, so it was not without the power of a battle.
After being ravaged by the French "Free Trade", the U.S. Navy has been studying a problem, and that is how to confront the "Free Trade". When the French put up the "Free Trade" for sale, the Americans were the first to jump out and raise the placard, wanting to buy back the warship that made them sleep nightmares at night. However, the British were killed in the middle of the road and took away the princess in the eyes of the US Navy at a higher price. Therefore, the British are not good things! My father told me the three principles of life: Believe in God, pay taxes according to the law, and it makes sense to hate the British.
After the British bought the "Free Trade", the US Navy continued to concentrate on studying how to deal with the "Free Trade" issue.
From the technical details disclosed by the French when they sold the "Free Trade", the Americans found that none of the US Navy's existing naval guns could penetrate the "Free Trade" defense. How to do? Of course, it is time to order some guns that can penetrate the armor of the "Free Trade" from the French. Therefore, although the Americans failed to buy the "Free Trade Number" back at that time, they brought the money to buy the "Free Trade Number", but they never brought it back to the United States. Instead, they all became expensive French long-barreled cannons.
This rear-mounted, retired long-barreled cannon has a barrel of thirty times the calibre astonishing in this era. (So ​​the high price of this thing is really not all pitfalls, because the longer the barrel, the more difficult it is to drill.) The muzzle velocity of the fired shell is as high as 600 meters per second, so it can be easily at a distance of 500 meters. Break through the draped iron armor on the outside of the first version of "Free Trade". In this era, the distance of 500 meters is already a long distance for naval gun bombardment at sea.
Of course, the British also equipped their newly bought "Indomitable" with the same cannon. This is of course one of the reasons why the Americans did not put iron armor on their super cruisers: anyway, they could not stop the French guns if they were mounted on iron armor within the normal killing range. So, it's better to just run naked, at least it can run faster.
With the guns capable of penetrating the armor of the Indomitable, the Americans are still very confident in this battle.
The two sides began to approach each other, and the six warships of the US fleet lined up in two columns to meet them. If both sides maintain their current course, the "Indomitable" will pass directly between the two American columns. If it were before, such an approach could not be considered. At that time, the American artillery could not penetrate the armor of the Indomitable. Just prevent the Americans from playing bumper boats.
But now, the situation is a bit different. American naval guns can also penetrate the armor of the Indomitable. So if the Unyielding chooses this approach, it can certainly gain a good firepower advantage because it can fire on both sides, but it will also suffer heavy losses due to shelling on both sides. Therefore, the British first began to turn.
The British know that he has some advantages over the American fleet:
First of all, their warships have a higher speed, which makes them more likely to have the upper hand in the game of grabbing T, and the training level of their sailors is higher.
Secondly, the British modified the "Indomitable". They cancelled the original method of arranging artillery on both sides of the gun deck. Instead, they installed two gun mounts on the front and rear decks of the ship. ~www.mtlnovel .com~A cannon that can rotate at a large angle.
After the British turned, the Americans also turned to avoid being snatched by the T head. Then it will soon become the fleet of both sides drawing circles on the sea. The British are trying hard to grab the American's bow position, while the Americans are constantly turning and trying to keep both sides On the opposite side.
"Indomitable" has a slight advantage in speed, but the American ships are more flexible in steering, so it is not easy for the British to grab the American T position.
After a few turns, the distance between the two sides began to narrow. However, due to the angle problem, the American side guns could not aim at the Inflexible but the tail gun of the Inflexible could be turned and turned towards the Americans. Fire bombardment. Although the British only had two tail guns, and everyone was in high-speed maneuvers, the accuracy of the bombardment was not high. The first few shots were missed.
But being beaten unilaterally but unable to fight back is the most detrimental to morale. And these few shots failed to hit, but it does not mean that future ones will not hit. And at this distance, once hit, the damage to the US warship is definitely not light.
Sure enough, after six unsuccessful shots, a shell finally hit the top "Constitution".