Black Ship

The sweep and counter-sweep operations in Ireland have entered their most critical and difficult phase. In order to sustain the Irish Independence Army and leave the Britain with a bleeding wound, the France government has increased the freight rates for transport ships bound for Ireland by fifty percent.

As a later mentor once said, "Capital becomes bold when there is a suitable profit. With a 10% profit, it will be used everywhere; with a 20% profit, it becomes active; with a 50% profit, it will take risks; with a 100% profit, it will dare to trample on all human laws; with a 300% profit, it will dare to commit any crime, even risking the gallows."

A single trip to Ireland is already quite profitable, and with the increase in freight costs, while it hasn't reached the point where people would "dare to commit any crime, or even risk being hanged," it has certainly reached the point where people are willing to "take the risk." Therefore, recently, more people have been ordering clipper ships from shipyards in the Military-Industrial Complex, and the number of clipper ships going to Ireland for the adventure is rapidly increasing.

However, the Britain had already taken precautions. A month earlier, the Duke of Norfolk had written to the Britain Prime Minister, pointing out potential problems and offering suggestions:

"A large fleet of clipper ships is lingering in the ocean near Ireland, waiting for the storm to arrive. Once the wind picks up at sea, they will pounce on Ireland like sharks smelling blood. As far as I know, the France are increasing their number of clipper ships, and soon, when their numbers are large enough, they will even be able to break through our interception by directly saturating our interception capabilities."

On the other hand, the Royal Navy had far too few steamships, and another weakness of these ships was now becoming increasingly apparent: their low serviceability. This problem had become even more pronounced after a period of intensive use. The commander of the Irish Sea 1st Flotilla reported to me, "Our ships are either under repair or waiting for repair." The entire 1st Flotilla had five steam frigates, but only one was currently at sea.

The lack of standardization in the manufacture of steam-powered frigates also made maintenance more complex. The five steam-powered frigates in the First Coastal Defense Detachment used five different types of steam engines, and almost no other parts, including paddle wheels and transmission systems, were the same. This meant that each ship required its own unique maintenance, and when two ships broke down, we couldn't simply assemble all the usable parts from one ship to ensure a quick repair—I truly don't understand how such a foolish thing could have happened! Why couldn't we use the same standards to produce identical steam-powered frigates?

I suggest that the Royal Navy should procure more steam-powered frigates and adopt a completely uniform construction standard for them. Even if it means slightly reducing performance, the maintainability of these warships must be guaranteed. We shouldn't let these warships become Yamato monsters."

The Britain knew that losing Ireland would be a devastating blow to Britain. So while the France accelerated the production of clipper ships, the Britain also began to speed up the production of steam-powered frigates in various shipyards.

In shipbuilding capabilities, the Britain had a considerable advantage over the France. However, this refers to the production of ordinary ships. Steamships, due to the installation of a series of machines, are significantly different from other ships in terms of production. In contrast, clipper ships are less different from traditional ships. Therefore, France shipyards could produce clipper ships much faster than the Britain could produce steamships.

Moreover, although the number of Britain steamships was constantly increasing, the problem of low serviceability remained largely unresolved. It must be said that the Duke of Norfolk's idea of interchangeable parts was brilliant, but it was also ahead of its time, at least beyond the capabilities of Britain at that time. Keep in mind that in another timeline, at least until the 1980s, the latest fighter jets produced by a certain major Eastern power still couldn't achieve interchangeable parts.

Therefore, although the Britain were sinking or capturing more and more clipper ships, the Ireland were actually receiving more supplies.

Of course, the Britain didn't come away empty-handed. From one of the captured clipper ships, Britain seized two intact flamethrowers. This gave Britain another option: to immediately copy the France flamethrowers, install them on the copied clipper ships, and finally, relying on their superior production capacity, defeat the original with the copy.

But all of this would take time, and the Ireland, having regained their supplies, began to intensify their counterattacks, launching another flanking maneuver and capturing another supply depot.

In their base areas, British Army losses increased significantly due to logistical difficulties and the ineffectiveness of their "security forces." Their efficiency in sabotaging the base areas also declined sharply due to the "security forces'" passive resistance. Why did the "security forces" become so passive, even when carrying out simple tasks like "sabotaging potato fields"?

According to the Britain, it's because. "The Ireland are all lazy; they'll take any opportunity to be lazy, and even if there isn't one, they'll create one to be lazy."

But if you ask Captain Jarvis the same question, Jarvis 'll tell you there's a real reason for it. It's mainly because the Ireland are so wicked; whoever wreaks the most damage to the crops gets targeted first, and they're ruthless and brutal. And our security forces are just too stupid; every time they go to ask the British Army for help, they either arrive too late or foolishly lead the British Army into stepping on rebel landmines.

Therefore, in order to protect the Britain soldiers, it was naturally better not to ruin the crops. So, the "police force" was useless at everything, and even when it came to ruining crops, they were no match for donkeys.

Since the "security forces" were unreliable, the British Army tried to sabotage the crops themselves. Then they discovered they were caught in a vicious cycle. If they concentrated a large force together to do this, the efficiency would be so low that it would be less than that of a donkey; but if they dispersed, they would always be attacked by the rebels. In these attacks, the regular British Army also suffered heavy losses.

Thus, even the Duke of Norfolk, who had been clamoring for "persistence," had to admit that continuing the sweeps in non-police areas was no longer of much use. So he issued a new order, declaring that the campaign against the rebels had achieved a phased success and that it was time to return victorious.

The Duke of Norfolk was right; his actions did indeed inflict considerable losses on the base and deplete the Independence Army' resources. If the Britain could effectively prevent the Ireland from receiving sufficient supplies before the potato harvest season, the Irish Independence Army would struggle to recover within two or three months of the potatoes ripening. At that point, a large-scale Britain sweep could potentially create a major famine in the Irish Independence Army's base.

Of course, all of this depends on two main factors. First, whether the Britain can more effectively cut off France supplies to Ireland, and second, whether the Society of United Irishmen can achieve self-sufficiency in production as quickly as possible. After all, weapons and ammunition might be obtained through overseas aid, but relying on overseas transport to solve the food problem is almost impossible. If overseas transport could truly solve the food problem, then either Britain would have collapsed, or its base would have shrunk to almost nothing.

In the days that followed, a new phenomenon emerged at sea: clipper ships departing from France were once again attacked by Britain clipper ships. This time, "Greek Fire" also broke out on the Britain clipper ships. Due to the suddenness of the attack and the lack of survivors, the attacks initially went unnoticed; all that was noticed was that far fewer ships were able to return to port.

This situation naturally alerted the crew. Soon after, someone finally brought back definite news: the Britain also had Greek Fire.

The news came from a Denmark captain Oleg, who, on his return journey from Ireland, rescued an Italy sailor who was clinging to a plank of wood adrift at sea. The Italy sailor told everyone that his ship had been attacked by Britain clipper ships disguised as France vessels. The Britain first set their ship ablaze with Greek Fire, and then opened fire on the sailors who jumped overboard to escape. He had survived the Britain shooting by hiding under a large plank of wood.

Soon after, the situation worsened. The Britain had more and more clipper ships, and they even began intercepting and attacking ships heading to Ireland in convoys. Both sides suffered considerable losses in this series of battles, but the British, with their superior shipbuilding capabilities, closer proximity to their bases, lighter and faster ships, and easier access to the wind (wind greatly affects the range of flamethrowers, allowing the side with the windward position to attack from a greater distance), gradually gained the upper hand.

Because of the outstanding performance of the knock-off clipper ships, the Britain converted their expensive and difficult-to-maintain steamships into ordinary cargo ships, while continuing to increase their orders for the knock-off clipper ships.

"In a month at most, we will be able to keep every France clipper ship out of the waters near Ireland. And once we cut off this supply line, we can quickly quell the Ireland rebellion," Prime Minister Addington declared confidently in the face of questioning from the House of Commons.

On the very day the Prime Minister made this promise to the members of the House of Commons, a strange warship, long and entirely painted black, was launched at the Toulon shipyard.