Chapter 468: , Naval battle (1)

During the turn, the distance between the two sides approached about four kilometers, and the British finally began to fire back at the French. However, the result of the British bombardment was the same as that of the French—the shells didn’t know where they flew, and none of them hit anyway. The nearest shot was one or two hundred meters away from the target.
This is actually a very normal thing, because the naval guns of this era have no stabilizers and are greatly affected by the ship's swing. The North Atlantic is also famous for its high winds. So at this distance, it's really normal to miss the target.
The distance between the two sides continued to narrow. The number of French warships is larger, and they have the upper hand in terms of speed.
In fact, there is not much difference in the level of steam engines between Britain and France. If there is any difference, it is that French steel is cheaper. Therefore, when using steel, it is even more careless, so it may be in performance. The stability is slightly better.
However, because of the difference between ship type and propeller manufacturing, even if the steam engines used are of the same performance, French ships are generally faster than British ships. Because of this gap, British ships are almost completely unable to compete with French ships in the civil steamship market, except for domestic and own colonies.
In addition, the British "Queen Elizabeth" had to control its speed due to damage, so the speed of the entire formation was reduced a lot.
Fortunately, the British have long noticed that the French have an advantage in changing their speed. So when designing and building these ships, they simply abandoned the excessive pursuit of speed, and paid more attention to the stability and flexibility of the ships. .
A more stable ship can improve the accuracy of shelling, and a more flexible steering can make it difficult for opponents to occupy their T head. In addition, abandoning certain speed requirements also facilitates the increase of armor. Therefore, the British warships of this era, in terms of style, are quite similar to the warships of a certain country in another time and space-they are all heavy armored artillery iron turtles.
Of course, this is just a helpless approach. Because of this approach, you may not suffer a loss in a specific battle with equal or even weaker forces, but you have paid a strategic price, that is, the initiative on the battlefield. That is to say, the initiative of whether to accept the battle and whether to end the battle is handed over.
This choice is actually quite unfavorable for a country like the United Kingdom, which is colonized all over the world. If possible, the British, or the generals of the Royal Navy such as Nelson, would prefer to have an egg that can swing around with a hammer, and would not want such a group of iron turtles.
However, there is no choice. The strategic situation is not for them to choose. If they only have a group of eggs that can wield a sledgehammer, then when the French drove a group of tortoises wielding a sledgehammer to land on the beach, they would be in trouble again. What's more, if everyone makes eggs, French eggs might roll faster.
The British felt that relying on thick armor and large-caliber artillery, they could run faster against the French, but the armor was thinner, especially the warships with significantly smaller cannon calibers. Although they were a bit disadvantaged in strategy, they were tactical. There are advantages. However, as soon as the war was fought, the British found that a major problem had arisen in their original prediction.
The performance of the British generals is divided into six aspects, namely the speed, maneuverability, and maintenance that belong to the navigational capabilities, and the firepower, protection and damage management that belong to the combat performance.
The British felt that French warships should be better than British warships in terms of speed and maintainability, while British warships had obvious advantages in vitality, protection and maneuverability. As for the damage management, it may not be too much difference, so the British feel that although the choice of war or no war is in the hands of the French, but for the fleet decisive battle, as long as the two sides are equal, the British should still have a slight advantage.
But judging from the tentative shelling at the beginning, the British had definitely been wrong about the French warships. For example, firepower. Although it seems that the guns of the British battleships are much larger than those of the French, look at the French. With the amazing rate of fire of his artillery, Nelson felt that the British did not have any firepower advantage.
As for defense, theoretically the armor of British warships is thicker. However, considering the level of smelting, whether the defense of British warships is really better than that of the French is actually hard to say.
What's more terrible is that the number of both sides on the battlefield today is not equal. In General Nelson’s squadron, there is only one new battleship and three so-called super cruisers (compared to the French similar warships, the British super cruisers are smaller, and they have speeds comparable to those of the French super cruisers. , But only the level of a general armored cruiser in defense. Of course, the British super cruiser is cheaper in terms of cost.), and six armored cruisers.
But in the French, they don't have to worry about the British landing on their own coast. Therefore, they can send much more warships in this operation. Therefore, the French army has a clear advantage in terms of numbers. Today, Marshal Treville’s fleet consists of two battleships, two super cruisers, and as many as fifteen armored cruisers. Except for battleships and super cruisers, the number of armored cruisers is more than double the British army.
In order to effectively play the advantage of quantity, Marshal Treville divided his fleet into two detachments. The first squad consisted of the "Inbrador", "Caesar" battleship, and six armored cruisers. Their task was to suppress the British battleship "Queen Elizabeth" and three other super cruisers. The second squadron consisted of the Super Cruisers "National Wealth" and "Eternal Peace", as well as nine other cruisers. Their mission was to attack and destroy the British cruisers first, and then focus fire on the British capital ships.
After seeing the lineup of the French fleet, General Nelson understood that this battle might not have any good results. The opponent's advantage is too obvious. Nelson felt that if he were the commander of the French fleet, most of the British fleet would not be able to escape.
So while the two sides were still using the artillery shells to slowly pinpoint their heads, Nelson gave a breakout order to the supercruiser "Yorkshire" in the fleet's best condition.
There are two considerations for this order. The first is to let the country quickly know about the battlefield battles taking place here. The prospects of this battle are quite bleak, and if the domestic ignorance of the situation of this war will lead to more dangers. Therefore, some ships must break out of the siege and bring news of the battle back to the country.
Secondly, in the French army, only their super cruisers can catch up with British super cruisers. In contrast, the French super cruisers have an advantage in firepower and defense. However, the speed of the two sides is actually similar. After all, the British have sacrificed protection and firepower. And super cruisers are crispy in nature. The armor of the French super cruiser is designed with artillery that can withstand ordinary armored cruisers, so although the armor of the French super cruiser is slightly better, it cannot stop the cannon of the British super cruiser. Of course, the British had to reduce the number of cannons in order to obtain the power of the artillery to penetrate the French super cruiser. Therefore, the superior firepower of the French super cruisers means that they have more cannons, not that they are more powerful.
So in the current situation, if the French use a super cruiser to chase the British super cruiser, then in the battle between the two sides, the French may have a certain advantage, but it does not necessarily guarantee victory, in case it does not Be careful, it is not impossible to be killed by the British. But if two super cruisers are sent to catch up, the pressure on this side can be reduced a lot.
After giving the order to break the siege, Nelson ordered the "Z" flag to be hung on the mast of the "Queen Elizabeth", and at the same time issued instructions to the other ships of the fleet through the flag: "The United Kingdom requires all soldiers to perform their duties."
One or two ships may be able to escape, but the entire fleet is absolutely impossible to escape. Therefore, their only way is to persist in fighting and work hard to cause greater damage to the enemy.
"Even if we are all sunk by the French, we must at least let the French fleet lose the ability to continue fighting in a short time. In order to buy more time for the United Kingdom."
The French didn't care about the "Yorkshire" that escaped from the team. Instead, they continued to use the first squadron to oppress the British fleet to turn, while the second squadron began to bypass the British fleet.
Nelson noticed his opponent's move to divide the fleet into two. He understood what the opponent meant. He first used two battleships to drag his main force, and then used other battleships to sweep his armored cruisers first, taking advantage of their numbers. Get rid of those armored cruisers quickly, and then focus on the "Queen Elizabeth".
Nelson knew that because of the huge gap in military strength, he was actually unable to crack the opponent's move. If Nelson splits the warships that he has few ships in his hands, he will be in the arms of the French. So Nelson decided, regardless of the Frenchman's combined attack, he would directly use all his strength to rush towards the Frenchman's first team.
Nelson knew that this move was actually expected by the French. He even knew that in the French plan, the first squadron with two "Inbrador-class" battleships was like a cutting board, while the second squadron, which was faster and had more ships, was the hammer. If one's own fleet is caught between these two detachments, it will be very dangerous.
But Nelson chose to hit him directly. Because the cooperation of hammer and anvil takes time. Nelson knew that because of the disparity in power, there was no possibility of victory in this battle. Therefore, the goal of this battle was not to win, but to make the French pay the highest possible price. It would be better to make their fleet within a certain period of time. Lose combat effectiveness. So he decided to take a risk and take a gamble, betting that he can cause enough damage to the Frenchman's anvil before the Frenchman's hammer falls on his back.
The French's first squadron was still pressing the British fleet to turn in a circle, so that after a few more turns, the second squadron would be able to insert with the advantage of the T head, and fought the British with fierce artillery. If the British fleet does not follow the turn, they will face the first T-head shelling.
But at this time, the "Cambridgeshire" at the forefront of the British army seemed to have turned counterclockwise, suddenly turned to the right again, and then rammed straight toward the first team.
This is equivalent to sending yourself to the T-head position of the enemy. But because the distance between the two sides has been very close before, as long as you bite the bullet and get one or two rounds of shelling, the British fleet will have the opportunity to directly insert into the formation of the French first detachment, so that the positions of the two sides will change from T. Becomes X.
Of course, during this process, the "Cambridgeshire" supercruiser, as the first capital ship, will definitely be attacked by the French army, but her actions can cover the "Elizabeth" behind. When she was sunk, the "Queen Elizabeth" was very close to the enemy. She is very defensive, and although her cannon does not fire at a high rate, it is surprisingly powerful. As long as it can effectively hit even one or two rounds, it is enough to cause huge damage to the French warship. Even if it is not enough to sink them, it will allow them to stay in the shipyard for a period of time.
Of course, if the "Queen Elizabeth" rushed up like this, at such a close distance, she would only be beaten even worse if she was shelled by the first team. I am afraid that the entire long-story building will be beaten by the French. UU read www.uukanshu.com, but these damages will not make the "Queen Elizabeth" lose its combat effectiveness, her engine can still roar, and her cannon can still roar. It's just that her cannon fire rate is too slow, much slower than the French.
"The main gun is ready to fire, and it is not allowed to fire unless we order it." Nelson gave this order again. Since it is difficult to hit a long-range fire, it is better to rush to the same distance as the bayonet and use the main gun against the armor of others to fire.
The steering of the British warship was much more flexible than the French, so when the British made a sharp turn and hit it directly, the French did not have time to turn and avoid it. However, Marshal Trewell felt that he did not need to turn to avoidance. He fully understood the meaning of Nelson's move. If he were in Nelson's position, he would also take this approach, because this is the most likely way to cause more damage to the French in today's situation.
But Nelson did so, which meant that the "Elizabeth" would bear the gunfire of the T head. Marshal Trewell felt that he could fight against it.
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