Fox of France

From the surviving crew, the British had previously learned something about their target "orca".

"The Orca is a warship the size of a frigate, with two masts and a bowsprit. The crew unanimously declared that the Orca had no paddle wheels. But its speed and funnel indicated that the It is a steam ship. According to what we have learned, this ship has a gun deck with a total of sixteen guns, that is, eight cannons on each side. According to the deduction of the sailors, these guns should be 12 pounds Cannon. In this way, their broadside firepower is equivalent to four times that of our steam frigates.

However, also according to the information provided by the rescued sailors, when the enemy ship pursued them, it never opened fire from the direction of the bow. In addition, based on the arrangement of the sails on the bowsprit of the "Orca" drawn by the survivors, we made such a judgment that the enemy ship may not have installed bow guns. In addition, the survivors did not find that they were equipped with tail guns. If properly exploited, this would be an obvious weakness of the enemy ship.

In this operation, our side used a total of 3 third-tier battleships, 18 steam frigates, and 6 cruisers. Every six steam frigates and one third-tier battleship are organized into a group. In this way, any group of warships is far stronger than the opponent in terms of overall firepower. Each group of our warships will be responsible for a sea area. Another twenty clipper ships will also take part in the battle. They will act as bait and carry the weight of the message.

To this end, we have specially prepared message shells for all our ships, which can be launched to an altitude of about 500 feet. During the day, we launch a shell that produces a reddish-brown smoke in the air, and at night, the flash of the shell can be seen from farther away.

In addition, the three third-tier battleships are all equipped with hot air balloons. They can rise to a height of thousands of feet and search the vast sea area. Although these third-tier battleships cannot catch up with the 'orca' in terms of speed, they can provide us with a huge field of vision.

In addition, more than a week ago, the cruiser of our army also encountered the "orca" in the waters near France. At that time, it did not use steam power to sail, but completely relied on sails, and the speed was not fast. Their The chimney began 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 squadron, including the third-tier battleship, can keep up with their speed. In addition, the steam power system of the 'Orca' may not be able to operate at high load for a long time. Our cruisers will cruise in this area as a single ship, and their task is to force the enemy ships to frequently use steam power to reduce the reliability of their equipment..."

At the preparatory meeting for "Operation Whaler", Major Carter, the adjutant of General Hood, is briefing the commanders of the participating troops on the relevant situation.

After Major Carter introduced the situation, General Hood began to assign combat tasks.

And just a few nautical miles outside the port of Le Havre, the frigate "Equality" encountered the first British warship he encountered after this voyage-the cruiser "Breeze".

The "Breeze" is a sail cruiser with thirty-five cannons, and in terms of firepower alone, it exceeds "Equality" by a lot. Therefore, the "Equality" immediately ignited and pressurized the boiler, used steam power, and turned to the direction against the wind, and quickly distanced itself from the "Breeze". While the "Breeze" was chasing, it released carrier pigeons to convey the news of the discovery of the "Orca" to the UK.

As a result, the entire British coast became tense. The three hunting teams were quickly notified, and set sail to leave the port, and began to prepare for the interception and killing of the "orca".

Major Maarten also began to feel that something was wrong, because he had encountered British cruisers several times along the way.

Of course, the British cruisers were not enough to pose any great threat to his ship. As long as the chimneys are smoked, the "Equality" can quickly get rid of any of the British cruisers. But the trouble is that the "Equality" lacks a mast after all. If the boiler is lit, it will not be able to outrun the British at all. The use of steam power will consume coal and cause certain losses to the machine.

Of course, this loss does not seem to be much, and the "Equality" still has enough supplies to support it in completing its mission. But an encounter the next night made him almost capsize in the gutter. At that time, the sea was foggy, so that a British cruiser and the "Equality" approached a very dangerous distance. If the lookout on the "Equality" hadn't discovered the target first, the "Equality" might have been bullied by the British cruiser.

Obviously, in this sea area, the number of British warships has greatly increased. But this instead inspired Marten's fighting spirit.

"Anyway, there is no ship in the world that can catch up to the 'Equality', so why should we worry?"

Two days later, Kite Watchers spotted an English clipper ship. Maarten ordered the boilers to be fired and pressurized, and headed for the English clipper.

Only this time, Maarten's operation encountered more troubles. The British are now more vigilant than last time. After seeing the billowing black smoke from the "Equality", the British clipper immediately accelerated. , and constantly fired fireworks into the air, as if they were asking for help from other British warships.

Maarten knew that as long as he turned around at this time, all the British warships that surrounded him trying to hunt him would fail. But considering the overwhelming speed advantage of his own warship, Maarten felt that it was still too late to decide whether to fight or turn in after seeing the British warship.

So he continued to chase after it.

At this time, the wind on the sea was not strong. Although the British clipper was accelerating as much as possible, its speed still could not exceed ten knots. The speed of the "Equality" had reached about eleven knots, and Maarten estimated that he would be able to catch up with the British ship by two or three o'clock in the afternoon at the most.

The British clipper ship fled, firing fireworks into the sky. Unmoved, Maarten continued to chase. At about one o'clock in the afternoon, the distance between the two sides was already very close. But at this time, several smoke columns appeared in front of the British clipper ship—obviously, this should be a British steam ship.

Maarten also had some knowledge of British steamships, and he even went up to experience the captured British steamship several times after it was repaired. He knew that if he raised the pressure of the boilers to the maximum allowable pressure, the Equality could outrun the British ships by almost three knots. So these columns of smoke didn't scare Maarten—anyway, it was impossible, the sea was so big, and if they turned in, none of them could catch up to him.

So Maarten ordered without hesitation: "Continue to pursue."

"Captain, do you want to increase the power?" Edgar, the first officer, asked.

Now the speed of "Equality" is only eleven knots, and "Equality" can actually run safely to a speed close to fifteen knots. If they continued to accelerate, they would have caught up with the British clipper ship long ago.

"No," Maarten shook his head, "unless we can kill all the sailors on that ship, otherwise, I don't want to reveal our top speed. We want to give the British the illusion that our fastest The speed is actually comparable to them..."

After chasing for a while, at about two o'clock, the "Equality" caught up with the clipper ship. At this time, the six smoke columns in the distance were getting closer and closer, and they could be clearly seen with a telescope. The English steamer under the smoke column, and the paddle wheels whirling on both sides of the steamer.

"Before they catch up, we can sink this ship." Major Maarten put down the binoculars in his hand, and gave the order to fire with a sneer.

This time, the "Equality" did not choose to use chain bombs to destroy the opponent's sails first, and then force the enemy to surrender. Instead, it first seized the windward direction, and then used grape bullets to straf the deck of the British clipper ship. Especially focus on the two flamethrowers mounted on the bow and stern.

The so-called grape bullets are actually very similar to the army’s use of shotguns, except that the individual projectiles of the grape bullets are larger, and the number of projectiles fired in a salvo is less than that of the army’s shotguns, but the larger projectiles also ensure a longer distance. range and power.

After a few rounds of firing, the deck of the British clipper was deserted. The two flamethrowers at the bow and stern were also destroyed. So the "Equality" continued to approach the past, and then set the ship on fire with a flamethrower. The British rushed out of the cabin and jumped into the sea with a plop. Many people still have burning flames on their bodies when they jump into the sea.

The "Equality" ignored the British sailors, pulled away from the burning British clipper ship, and then began to turn, as if it was about to get rid of the British steam frigates.

At this time, the British steam frigate was much closer. As for the "Equality", when it had just attacked the British clipper ship, 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 already caught up a lot.

"Equal" 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. Hehe, do they really think they are hunters and we are prey?"