Fox of France

The battle was over, and Admiral Bruys, dejected, had done worse, yes, worse than Admiral Treville, whom he had been attacking.

In the Battle of the North Atlantic, Admiral Treville did lose his flagship, the Inberado. But in this battle, he also lost the latest battleship "Trajan". Moreover, although Marshal Treville lost the "Imberado", it did not lose many sailors, and for him, the "Trajan" lost nearly one-third of the sailors!

What's more, Marshal Treville basically wiped out the enemy's fleet, and he had no more losses except the "Inberado", but he let the enemy's battleship "Cressy" escape , allowing at least two enemy armored cruisers to escape. What's worse, he actually lost another super cruiser and two armored cruisers when he pursued them.

If he succeeded in capturing the "Poitiers", then he would have something to say when he went back. After all, this was the first time in history that a steam-powered battleship was captured. But... the damned British opened the sea valve and the ship sank.

In short, in the eyes of Admiral Brues, the marshal's scepter has already flapped its wings and flew away, and he himself must have become the representative of "a fool who can't seize even the best opportunity".

But Admiral Brues didn't know that the situation was not as bad as he thought, because, because the British battleship "Cressy" did not escape back, it had just sunk not long ago.

The "Cressy" did not suffer any fatal damage, and she also sailed strictly in accordance with the safe course, and was about to leave the minefield. There was also a faint explosion sound from behind them, maybe the French had hit a mine. In short, the French did not catch up. Lord George Kirkburn, the commander of the British fleet, was also thinking about how he should go back and explain the problem at this time.

Because of the quick retreat, Lord George Kirkburn did not see the "Poitiers" sinking. He only saw the "Poitiers" crashing towards the enemy at last, but he did not know the result. But he also knew that no matter whether it hit or not, the "Poitiers" probably wouldn't be able to come back, and the "Hope", which had been covering them all along, probably wouldn't be able to come back either. After all, there are so many warships fighting around... Besides, even if they come back, what's the use? Strategically, he has failed. He failed to break through the French blockade, and the fleet suffered heavy losses, making it impossible to launch similar operations in the future. Of course, in theory, the "Cressy" still has a chance to be repaired. If the "Poitiers" also comes back, there is also a chance to be repaired, but the UK has no time or resources to repair them now. Maybe……

Just thinking about it, someone suddenly shouted: "Commander, Hope is back."

"The 'Hope' is back? What about the 'Poitiers'?" Lord George Kirkburn hurriedly asked, and at the same time grabbed the telescope from a staff officer standing nearby, and looked over there.

The lonely figure of the armored cruiser "Hope" can be seen through the telescope-apparently, the "Poitiers" failed to return.

"Hope" was in good condition, and its speed was obviously faster, and it soon caught up. Lord George Kirkburn noticed that the "Hope" came from the side of the minefield, and he figured out the reason in a flash, and he couldn't help sighing: "The "Hope" is really lucky. The luck of the ship can’t compare to her. She must have brought the French into the minefield just now, and there seemed to be a faint sound of explosion just now, probably the French hit a mine. I don’t know what the result will be.”

Speaking of this, Lord George Kirkburn sighed, no matter what the result is, it is irrelevant to the overall situation. Even if the entire French squadron is sunk in the minefield, it will not change the overall situation, let alone the "Poitiers" and did not come back.

At this time, the "Hope" had already reported the following situation with a semaphore.

"Commander, we have sunk 'Trajan'. In addition, the French 'Hermes' has another armored cruiser hit by a mine!" A staff officer reported excitedly, obviously this news made him very happy .

But Lord George Kirkburn was not at all happy.

"That's all right, but . . . it's no use at all . . . " said Lord George Kirkburn.

Everyone knew what Lord George Kirkburn meant, so the lively atmosphere just now disappeared, and everyone was speechless.

But at this moment, there was an explosion suddenly.

The huge explosion almost threw the entire ship up, and the people on board fell to the ground in the shock. When everyone got up, they found that the warship began to tilt rapidly.

"Damn it, is it a mine? Aren't we on a safe course?" cried Lord George Kirkburn from the deck.

"Commander, Commander, are you all right?" Several people hurriedly helped Lord George Kirkburn up.

The speed of the ship's tilting was so fast that the naked eye could see it.

"How is the situation?" asked Lord George Kirkburn.

"Thunder struck and entered the water. The amount of water inflow is very large. I don't know how big the gap is. But, Commander, the warship can't be saved. You'd better leave as soon as possible."

The warship is dying, and it can't stand it anymore. In fact, Lord George Kirkburn himself knows this situation well. The ship had been beaten badly by the French before, and now... and the speed of the ship's tilt also means that the water intake is terrible, and it is basically impossible to save the ship.

"Commander, please leave immediately, I am going to issue an order to abandon the ship." The captain also said the same.

By this time the ship was heavily listed. Lord George Kirkburn and the others hurried into the lifeboat. When they got to the side of the lifeboat, the boat was already tilted to the point where walking on the deck was careless and they would fall over.

As soon as the lifeboat was put on the sea, everyone worked together to row it away from the rapidly tilting "Cressy" - once such a large ship sank, it would form a big vortex on the sea surface, and the surrounding Everything is brought to the bottom of the sea.

The lifeboats were still being lowered, but more sailors had already jumped off with whatever they wanted—the ship was tilting too fast, and it must be too late to wait to get on the lifeboats.

As soon as the sailors entered the water, they swam desperately to the distance, trying to stay as far away from the sinking warship as possible. Some lifeboats also pulled the sailors over as much as possible until they couldn't hold them at all.

In the distance, the armored cruiser "Hope" also sped up to rescue the sailors. She stopped about a kilometer away from "Cressy", lowered all the lifeboats, and went to rescue the sailors.

Lord George Kirkburn They were also sent to the "Hope". When Lord George Kirkburn stepped onto the deck of the "Hope", he could just see the stern of the "Cressy" turned up high, revealing two gleaming brass propellers.

The bow of the "Cressy" continued to sink, the stern continued to rise, and finally stood obliquely on the sea at a forty-five degree angle. At the same time, a high-pitched and sharp sound similar to the whistle of a train came to everyone's ears - this is the air enclosed in the hull, which is emitted at high speed from the gaps in the ship under the pressure of sea water sound.

In this sound, there are various crackling and creaking sounds. This is the sound of the hull structure being bent and crushed by its own weight. Immediately afterwards, there was a loud noise, and the "Cressy" broke apart from the middle, and the rear half of the ship hit the sea hard, splashing huge waves. Even the "Hope" swayed.

As the waves splashed down, there was only a huge vortex left on the sea surface, and there was nothing else.

The armored cruiser "Hope" took a while to rescue the sailors who fell into the water, and then returned to the port in Liverpool with the armored cruiser "Fierce". On the way back, the steam engine of the Ferocious broke down and exploded, killing more than forty people. In the end, the "Hope" dragged him back.

After this battle, in the entire British mainland fleet, only the "Hope" was left with combat effectiveness. However, the entire British navy did not have the power to challenge France's sea power again.

Of course, this is not the end of the story of "Hope". After the war, the British government awarded the Hope to the Americans as part of the reparations. So this British warship that participated in the "North Sea Strait War" became the flagship of the US Navy fleet.

As soon as the ship arrived in the United States, it encountered a war caused by the division of several northern states. "Hope", well, at that time it had been renamed "July 4th". Well, the "Fourth of July" was ordered to lead the federal fleet to blockade New York, the port of the rebellious "Confederate States of America" ​​in the north. This was his first combat mission with the United States Fleet. Then the fleet encountered a hurricane off the coast of New York. The "Fourth of July" was unscathed, but all other ships were sunk. Of course, the "Fourth of July" once again rescued a large number of people who fell into the water.

Also because of this hurricane, the naval blockade of the United States of America in the south against the Confederate States of America in the north completely failed. In the end, the United States finally split into two countries. To commemorate the hurricane, the Confederate States of America in the north even established a second Thanksgiving Day to express their gratitude to the hurricane. Of course, this is all for later.

One interesting thing about the "Battle of the Beihai Strait" is that this battle is a lose-lose battle. It is said that in France, when Napoleon was in power and heard about the process and results of the battle, he was so angry that he broke the pencil in his hand on the floor into two pieces. He said sadly that in order to support the navy, he even cut the army's budget, so that the army was still using old-fashioned recoil guns.

"I gave 65% of the entire military budget to the navy. In the history of France, this has never happened before. I allocated the best steel to them. You tell me, the iron mines in Lorraine The quality of the smelted steel was not good enough, so I went to Sweden to buy high-priced iron ore to make steel for them. Joseph, the steel used by the army is all steel smelted from the iron ore in Lorraine. The soldiers in the army told me, The steel in Lorraine is awesome. But what about the Navy? The table knives they use are all made from better Swedish iron ore, and the result?

I gave them the most training fees and the best warships. As a result, they learned to eat on the warships with high-end knives and forks made from Swedish iron ore! These guys, if Robespierre is still there, they will all have to feed the guillotine! "

"Okay, Napoleon, don't make it look like we really lost." Joseph said.

"Well, Joseph, I know what you mean, strategically speaking, we did not lose." Napoleon said, "Our blockade of Britain is like a big prison, and this action of the British is like a prison escape. In the end, they failed to escape from prison, and we were still locked in prison, and the social situation in Britain can't last long. After this battle, they are finished. I understand this. But, Joseph, think about it , we can all foresee the prisoner's escape, and the jailer is ready, and then, although the prisoner failed to escape, they beat the guard with a bruise, not only a bruise, but a bloody head Flow. Such a favorable situation, such an overwhelming force, but finally produced such a ridiculous result, these idiots in the navy are really... so mad! I want to arrest all the guys in the navy and line them up Shot one by one, one by one!"

"Come on, Napoleon, you know, we even have to reward them and publicize this decisive victory." Joseph sneered. To be honest, the navy's formation like this also exceeded Joseph's expectations.

Napoleon froze for a moment, then shook his head and said, "You're right, politically speaking, we really have to do this. Even, for the sake of bloody political needs, I have to give this fool, fool, Bryes The scum on the guillotine has the rank of marshal in recognition of his contribution! Damn bastard! Get him to retire immediately after getting the marshal's scepter! Thinking that he still needs to get the marshal's pension, I'm... damn scum Scum, scum!"

In the UK, the situation is similar, if not worse. For example, after Napoleon learned the result, he still had the strength to throw a pencil and scold others, but King George III couldn't even get angry. After learning the bad news, His Majesty the King burst out laughing.

"Your Majesty, why do you..." Prime Minister Robert Jenkinson, Earl of Liverpool, was taken aback.

It's just that His Majesty the King didn't say anything like "I laugh at Napoleon for being scheming, Joseph for being courageous", he completely ignored the Earl of Liverpool, and just kept laughing until his face was distorted and his mouth and eyes were crooked. —King George III is insane again!