Fox of France

It should be said that there is really an opportunity to send warships to the UK recently. Last year, the British made a friendly visit to France with the "Queen Elizabeth", which had just been in service for less than a month. Of course, they also took the opportunity to demonstrate to show that the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland is not easy to mess with mean.

At that time, Napoleon once commented: "The British are like a puffer fish, trying to puff themselves up, so as to look scary."

Now, the French used the return visit as an excuse to send a warship to visit Britain. Of course, because of Napoleon's stinginess, the warship he sent was naturally not very conspicuous-it was just an armored cruiser.

If the visit of only one armored cruiser is used as a return visit to the battleship "Queen Elizabeth", it has already shown contempt from above and made the British dissatisfied, but the armored cruiser sent itself is even more against the British. Face.

The French sent the armored cruiser "Vercintoli", and this ship was the French cruiser that rammed the British cruiser Berkshire not long ago. After this collision, the French not only refused to apologize to the British for this barbaric act, but instead issued an order to reward all the officers and soldiers of the "Vercintoli" and awarded them a collective second-class merit. A banner of honor was also sent to the cruiser "Vercintoli" with a picture of a knight with a high shield ramming the enemy.

Of course, if it's just that, it's fine. It is nothing more than the shamelessness of the French themselves in their own homes. But the French also drove this ship to the UK for a "friendly visit". It's like Serbs wandering the streets of Sarajevo.

What's even more hateful is that the French warship actually hung out the flag of honor in Portsmouth Harbour.

Such a rude approach, of course, made the British angry.

British newspapers denounced the rudeness of the French, and the locals even launched demonstrations against the French. However, something unexpected happened immediately afterwards. That was at about twelve o'clock that night, the cruiser "Vercintoli" exploded, and the ship sank quickly. Fortunately, most of the soldiers lived in some special places on the shore. There were not many people, so although the wearer sank, there were no casualties.

When they first heard the news, the British were a little gloating. They all speculated whether it was because the French had always been lax and did not do a good job in maintaining and managing the warship, which caused the ammunition depot to explode. Some people even made it more specific, that is, the coal in the coal bunker of the French spontaneously ignited, and then the French had bad military discipline, and the soldiers were not on the ship, but all went ashore to find girls, so that the coal bunker caught fire No one found out. Then the fire spread to the ammunition depot, and with a bang, the ship sank.

Of course, this kind of argument is completely unreasonable, because if there was really a bang from the ammunition depot, then the "Vercintoli" would definitely sink very quickly, and there would be no time for those still on board to escape.

Fortunately, the ship sank on the berth of the British naval port. The depth of water in that place is limited, and it is also convenient for investigation. The people of the French Navy are good at diving, and they can even dive directly to the sinking position of the ship to check the situation. According to them, there was a large gash on the right side of the bottom of the boat.

This is also normal. If a big hole hadn't been blown out, how could the ship sink so quickly? However, another situation is very problematic, that is, the steel plates at the breach are all bent inward.

Under normal circumstances, if the explosion occurred inside the ship, the steel plate at the breach must be bent from the inside out. But now that such a situation occurs, it can only explain one thing-the French warship was sunk by the explosives outside!

The French immediately seized on this issue and made a fuss about it, first accusing the British of being responsible. They demanded that the British hand over the murderer within a time limit, and the French public opinion machine was also activated. They claimed that Portsmouth was a military port and was heavily guarded. How could ordinary people send bombs into it? It must have been done by someone from the British government.

In this regard, the British government of course stated that this is completely shameless slander. The British ambassador to France also held a press conference to refute the rumors. He said there was no need for the British to do such a thing.

"If the sinking is a warship like the 'Imberado' that will directly have a decisive impact on the strength of the French Navy, then that's fine. Only by using this method to blow up a ship like the 'Vercintoli' An armored cruiser like the No. 1 has very little impact on the strength of the French navy. In this case, we British are not stupid, how could we do this?"

However, when the reporters went back, their headlines read:

"British ambassador said: It's a pity that it was not "Imperator" and "Caesar" that were sunk! - The Sun

"Britain's malice towards France has reached the point of no concealment" - Scientific Pravda

...

When the country's propaganda machine is activated, it doesn't really matter what the truth is. Immediately afterwards, the French government submitted an ultimatum to the British government, demanding that the British agree to send personnel from the French Ministry of Public Security to conduct a comprehensive investigation of the incident in the UK. The British government must unconditionally cooperate with investigators sent by the French Ministry of Public Security.

It is obviously impossible for the British to agree to such a request, let alone Portsmouth is a military port, and there are a lot of military secrets in it. Let people from the French Ministry of Public Security come to investigate. Doesn't that mean that the underwear has been ripped off? How can that work! In addition, even if the issue of confidentiality is not considered, this is an open violation of British judicial sovereignty. Besides, what conclusions would the French draw? That must be a conclusion that is not conducive to the United Kingdom. At that time, the French concluded through "investigation" that this incident was organized by the British royal family. Could it be possible to extradite the king or the crown prince to the French?

Of course, Britain's refusal did not disappoint Napoleon, because such a request was made to make the British refuse. So after the British formally rejected France's unreasonable demands, Napoleon immediately delivered a speech at the State Council, asking the State Council to allow him to declare war on Britain.

The rubber stamp of the State Department, of course, immediately approved Napoleon's motion. Napoleon's speeches aroused applause like a tsunami in the State Council many times. Almost every time he finished a sentence, the three-handed members of the State Council (Napoleon came to meet with everyone, hurried up to shake hands; Napoleon asked everyone to vote, quickly raised their hands ; Napoleon made a speech, clap your hands quickly.) We will applaud and cheer.

After obtaining the authorization of the State Council, Napoleon first declared war on Britain on behalf of the French Republic.

Immediately afterwards, Napoleon announced in the name of the emperor of the Roman Empire that according to the "French Republic-Roman Empire Treaty of Friendship and Mutual Assistance" signed between the Roman Empire and the French Republic, when any of the contracting parties was invaded by foreign enemies, the other party to the treaty, Obliged to take all necessary means, including sending armed forces, to help allies resist aggression.

Today, the mobile land of France-French warships, have been attacked by the British for no reason. This is France was invaded by Britain. Therefore, according to the "French Republic-Roman Empire Treaty of Friendship and Mutual Assistance", the Roman Empire followed France and declared war on Britain.

The news of the French declaring war on Britain did not surprise the British, because just two days ago, the main ships of the French Navy left their ports and their destinations were unknown.

The whole of Britain has raised its vigilance. The strength of the British navy can no longer keep up with the French at this time, but it is not impossible to fight with the cover of local ports and forts. It's just that the "Queen Elizabeth" has not returned yet, so the British fleet is temporarily unable to go to sea to fight the French fleet. But for defense, it can still withstand a period of time. When Nelson's fleet returns, Britain can find an opportunity to have a decisive battle with the French navy.

However, the quickly assembled French fleet did not rush directly to the British mainland, but bypassed the UK westward and sailed into the rough Atlantic Ocean.

In the Atlantic, Nelson's fleet was still sailing slowly at a speed of six knots. They didn't have a radio, so they knew that at this time, they didn't know that Britain and France had declared war on each other.

At a further distance, a French cruiser was following far behind.

After spotting the boat, Nelson wasn't too nervous at first. The French follow them, and their intentions are very obvious. They were worried that their fleet would suddenly turn back, so they followed behind. Once they did so, they could take advantage of their speed and rush back to report to the Americans.

Of course, it is completely normal for Nelson to make such a guess because he did not know that the French had radio technology.

On the side of the French fleet, Admiral Treville continued to receive messages from the French cruiser "Portugal", and clearly grasped the information of the British Navy.

Admiral Treville, with the help of his staff, quickly worked out the route of march. To ensure that the fleet can appear in front of the British fleet at the most suitable time.

Relying on the advantage of intelligence, Admiral Treville constantly adjusted the speed and route. Now the two fleets are rapidly approaching each other, but Admiral Treville knows when and where he will encounter the British fleet; as for Nelson, he doesn't even know that France has declared war on Britain.

According to the arrangement of Admiral Treville, the two sides will meet in the early morning. This is a very good time. When the two sides were still approaching rapidly, because of the cover of night, no one could see the smoke column from the chimney, and as the sun rose, the distance between the two sides made the battle inevitable.

Moreover, the position of the two fleets will be particularly beneficial to the French. The French fleet is to the east, and the English fleet is to the west. In this way, when the sun rises, the British people's sight will be disturbed by the sunlight coming from the east.

To be honest, everything went well according to Admiral Treville's plan, except for one thing - the weather. It was originally planned that the early morning sunshine would be a great help to cover the French army's operations, but on the last night before the encounter between the two sides, the weather suddenly changed and the sky became overcast.

This makes it impossible to count on the sun early the next morning. However, considering that the French fleet is much stronger than the one in Nelson's hands, Admiral Treville decided to continue advancing as planned and prepare for tomorrow's decisive battle.

Because of the gloomy weather, visibility may not be good even in the morning. So Admiral Treville also ordered the fleet to reduce its speed slightly.

Around seven o'clock the next morning, a large fleet appeared in Nelson's sight.

Nelson raised his binoculars and looked at the French fleet approaching him. His face was serious, because he had already recognized the lineup that the French Navy had put in.

"That's the battleship 'Imberado', and the battleship 'Caesar'. Then there are the super cruisers 'Silk Road' and 'Enterprise'. Almost the entire French navy is here!"

If the "Queen Elizabeth" had not been damaged before, Nelson still had a little bit of confidence in defeating such an enemy, but at this time, his most important capital ship was unable to sail at high speed due to damage. He couldn't help being nervous.

The two sides continued to approach, and the French army blocked in front of the French army in a horizontal line at first, but at this time they began to turn around, trying to seize the T position,

At this time, Nelson also knew that the situation was not good, and he quickly ordered that the fleet also began to turn to avoid being occupied by the enemy ship.

The distance between the two sides was getting closer and closer. At a distance of five kilometers, the "Imberado" and "Caesar" in the French fleet first fired at the British army.

This round of shooting did not score a hit, but the French quickly fired a round of salvo. The volley still failed to hit any targets. But between the two rounds of bombardment, the time spent was really much less.

Both the "Imberado" and "Caesar" used retreating cannons, which made their firing speed naturally much faster than that of the British who were still using retreating cannons. Although the two rounds of volleys did not achieve any results, Nelson's face was still very ugly.

"Accelerate, rush up, we must contain the French battleships, otherwise, they will soon wipe out our other ships." Nelson ordered.

Although the "Queen Elizabeth" had a big hole, and the patch was not done well. But their power system was not damaged, so at this time, Nelson's warship was still able to force itself to throw a speed of more than ten knots.