Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796

Chapter 520 032 The Glorious Battle of the Gulf of Finland (Part 2)

Since the Swedes were surrendering, Krona was determined to have the frigates under the leadership of the Flora monitor these Swedish warships. Anyway, most of them had lost their ability to sail due to the fierce Russian artillery fire. With the weather in the Baltic Sea, it was unlikely that they would all be sunk as soon as they came up.

After all, that kind of wind was not common after a naval battle.

The main confrontation parties now became the two battleships of the Royal Navy and the eight battleships and eight frigates of the Baltic Fleet.

Although it sounds a bit strange, this is a very obvious situation. To be honest, the positions of the two British warships were not good. After the "Grace" turned, it happened to face the retreat routes of the "Centaur" and the "Ruthless".

Little Hood could not count on the main force of the Royal Navy to join here. The formation headed by the "Victory" would not be able to reach this waters until tomorrow at the earliest, and then there would be joint patrols and maritime blockades.

Then, the Swedish Navy pulled a fight, and the Russians seemed to have passed it quickly in one hour and twenty-two minutes, which was even enough for the Russian large battleships to have an opening warm-up.

Samuel Hood Jr. was facing an embarrassing situation. If he hadn't been seeking a fight all the way and chasing the Russian frigates here, he wouldn't have joined such an unlucky battle group. Although there was a fusion order between the two armies, to be honest, they did execute Sir Sumares's order.

If there were telegraphs in this era, it wouldn't be so embarrassing. Of course, it would be useless. The Royal Navy has always performed poorly in signal science.

Now, for the two British battleships, they can only find a way to escape. If the Russians chase them, they will try to lead them in the direction of Sumares.

This kind of fishing is probably a tradition of the Royal Navy, but Kron is also from the Royal Navy. As a frigate captain, he will not fall for this kind of fishing.

"We either destroy these two British ships now, or we don't pursue them. However, we will definitely have to fight them on this route, and we may even have to use the Marines."

"If you want to use the Marines, Robert, you should leave it to me! Although I haven't jumped on the board, I am too familiar with commanding infantry."

By the way, Solovyov patted the holster on his waist, which contained two six-shot revolvers. In addition, he also carried a breech-loading paper shell rifle on his back.

"I believe you for this, but you have to be careful. You are just sent to monitor, and there are only Marines on this ship."

"Then you have to be able to jump on the board! What do you say?"

"Okay!"

Kron then conveyed the order to cut off the retreat of the two British ships with four larger battleships. The four battleships turned to form an angle, and the remaining eight frigates fully supported the "Froshevod".

After a hard battle, Rudnev found that the British had escaped, but he had no ability to chase them. They had not surrendered for such a long time, and they had persisted until all the masts were broken and the artillery on one side was almost lost. For a Type 74 battleship that was already outdated, this was not easy.

Now all he could do was wait for the two frigates to come over for cover, and then he would plug the holes made by the British on his ship at this time.

And Hood's troubles had just begun. When the "Grace" began to approach, he realized something.

"Damn, we can still meet a "Trinity" in the Baltic Sea. We didn't catch up with Trafalgar, but we will become a target here!"

Well, the "Centaur" was delayed halfway and finally failed to catch up with the Battle of Trafalgar.

As for the "Ruthless", you can tell from the shape of this ship that it is a French ship and a trophy of the Royal Navy in Trafalgar.

This needs to be thanked to the legendary coward at sea, Admiral Villeneuve, the master of escape. Even in Kron's eyes, even Solovyov, who can't fight a naval battle, only knows how to fire and board, and is an army general who supervises the battle team, knows that fighting at sea is about wind direction, T-head and turning, as well as navigation technology and battlefield coordination, not some master of running away.

Now the British want to run, and they also need to fight a battle.

In the favorable wind and stalemate situation, the Royal Navy always performs well, but when encountering adversity, some bad things may happen.

When Nelson was sniped by the French, it was because the sailors on the deck of the "Victory" were beaten by the musketeers brought by the French on the warship and fled with their heads in their hands, forcing Nelson to come out in person to boost morale, and then it was the familiar plot, and people died and drank to their heart's content.

In this desperate situation, the British sailors naturally have problems.

After all, since the time of Peter the Great, the Russian Navy has always been learning from the British, even the Royal Navy's trick of capturing men and searching for sailors.

But at this time, an abstract and strange problem will arise, that is, if the British sailors are killed by their superiors, they may surrender, and even if there are more legendary commanders on board, they can dig a big hole in adversity.

Now, Hood discovered this situation, but he didn't have a good solution. He could only hold on like this. At least when the naval guns didn't come, he could still hold on. In addition, the sailors on the "Centaur" still had some sense of shame, and the fleet commander and the captain on it wouldn't be too angry.

As for the "Ruthless", it's not certain.

After all, this ship, the captured men on it, are not like the "Centaur" who have been running in for a long time. If they encounter any adverse situation, something will inevitably happen.

Especially when the three ships "Grace", "Warrior" and "Gabriel" came together, the "Gabriel" was still a copy of the "Victory". Captain Martin felt a headache when he looked at the enemy and friendly forces copied by the Russians. As for when he gave the order, he also encountered his own sailors who were not in time, so he sent them to the muzzle of the "Gabriel".

The Gabriel naturally accepted the opponent who came to its door with a smile. Since there were only two British ships left on the battlefield, there was no need to consider anything else. They concentrated all the shells and gunners on one side and fired fiercely. By the way, they could also create an explosive reload and so on. In this way, they fired at the Ruthless with a very high rate of fire.

Martin was dumbfounded on the deck, and then he was injured by the debris, so he was carried down by the adjutant and the secretary.

After that, the sailors on the Ruthless thought that the commander was dead, and soon lost their combat effectiveness. When the officers were injured one after another, they gave up resistance and chose to surrender.

Solovyov, who didn't know why, thought he was on a French warship after seeing it, and he was somewhat accustomed to this habit.

In fact, it was not the case, because the sailors of the Royal Navy did choose to surrender when their commanders suffered heavy casualties. In contrast, although the army was whipped on a daily basis, they would not be so scared when fighting. Even if the commander was killed, they could still fight for a while.

As for the Russians, although they also learned the Royal Navy's method of conscripting men, the Russians are not afraid of death, which means that their technical level is relatively poor.

Even now, the "Frosheward" has to run aground nearby, waiting for the frigate to tow it. Some sailors are still swimming actively, either choosing to go ashore or to replenish friendly warships. This kind of initiative should not be seen in the navy of other countries.

Even if this warship was defeated by the British today, or even captured, there may really be sailors who jumped off the ship and found ways to go ashore.

Now for the "Centaur", the situation is even worse. Although the ship can still maintain its combat effectiveness, the opponent that a warship has to fight against is far stronger than them. Even if it is taken out separately, there are still four warships that are stronger than itself.

However, Samuel Hood Jr. still wants to struggle to the death, jump out of the route of the "Grace" and run away, but Kron will not give him this opportunity.

Even Kron's final choice was to take the initiative to stop the Centaur, just like he did on the Mercury and Venus, and even prepared to fire a salvo at close range and send the Marines to board the Centaur.

And what was even more disadvantageous to the Centaur was that the speed of the Speedy was indeed as its name indicated, and it was now advancing at full sail.

This made Hood regret it. The frigate was once very close to the Centaur, and he should have fired a salvo at that time, otherwise it would not have been so embarrassing.

The Speedy was indeed cutting into the Centaur's route now. In addition, the Tragedy Goddess had just dared to take the initiative to force a Swedish battleship to surrender, which also boosted the morale of the frigate.

These captains of the Russian Navy were no less reckless than the British, and with Kron being a Scotsman, the Centaur was in a very bad situation now.

You know, now the Russians have raised the D flag again, which means "pay attention to avoid", but it is obvious that they are ready to use the tactics of ramming and boarding at the risk of their lives.

In this way, the "Centaur" really can't run away today. After avoiding the collision of the "Fast", this battleship can only bite the bullet to fight against the "Grace" and the "Warrior".

First, hundreds of naval guns fired together, and soon the "Centaur" was severely damaged. The damage to the stern was particularly huge. Kron ordered that only solid bullets should be used throughout the naval battle, and the effect was particularly obvious.

Hood himself knew very well that he couldn't run away today, and now he also saw that the Russians were even preparing to organize sailors and marines to board and fight, so he couldn't run away this time.

If he was ready to fight, he, a cripple with one arm missing, would naturally not be of much use.

When the Russian battleships had compressed his battleship into a very small space for movement, Samuel Hood Jr. finally chose to surrender.

But surrendering like this was not shameful, after all, this was the only ship left on the sea that could still fight. Even if the "Ruthless" had not had all its officers sent to the infirmary, it would still be unable to escape.

As for the current state of the "Centaur", it was not flooded, but the casualties on board were not small, and the Russian army needed to allocate some sailors to take over the ship.

By the way, the Russian Navy also conscripted men, so these British sailors did not have to return to Britain for the time being.

Either wait for the exchange of prisoners between the two sides to be sent back to Britain, or do odd jobs in Hanko Port or that port. Although the Russians have always been in a tight financial situation, they still pay their salaries.

But Solovyov still needs to continue to be embarrassed for a while. After all, Russian sailors, like the veterans of the army, are still mostly illiterate.

"Sir, look at this one-armed guy. Have we caught Nelson?"

Then, the word spread among the sailors that we caught Nelson.

"No, I know the Prince of Wales of the United Kingdom. The British crown prince is a friend of Nelson. Nelson died in a naval battle three years ago and should be in the coffin now."

Then, he began to ask questions in an accent that Hood was quite familiar with.

"General, who are you?"

"I am Rear Admiral Samuel Hood, commander of the Royal Navy Squadron, and this warship is the Royal Navy's 'Centaur' battleship."

"What's your last name? I think you should say it again."

"Rear Admiral Samuel Hood, commander of the Royal Navy Squadron."

"Who is Admiral Samuel Hood to you?"

"My uncle."

Well. It seems that this is still a big fish, but some sailors who heard "Hood" were even more excited, especially since little Samuel Hood happened to use the same name as the admiral.

"Don't make a fuss, brothers. This Hood is not the Hood they imagined. The admiral is too old to go to sea. Now he is either in the botanical garden or in the zoo."

"Master, what are you talking about?"

"That's it. You will have a chance to know later."

By the way, Solovyov also asked Hood.

"General, is there anything wrong with the ammunition depot of your ship?"

"Why do you ask? When we lowered the flag, the ammunition on board was fine."

"I'm just a little worried. Two hours ago, I saw a Swedish warship blown to pieces, but the force should not be as strong as the 'Vostok'."

It was very abrupt for an army to appear here, but Hood was treated well for surrendering now, after all, he was still a rear admiral.

But for the main force of the Royal Navy, they arrived at the scene too late.

Kroner stopped when he saw the good, and after checking the battlefield environment, he towed the captured warships to Hanko Port. Even if the Royal Navy squatted at the door and marched armed, it could not change the glorious victory of the Russian Navy in the Battle of the Gulf of Finland.