Hunters and Prey

From the surviving crew members, the Britain had already learned some characteristics of their target, the Orca.

"The 'Orca' was a warship the size of a frigate, with two masts and a bow mast. The crew unanimously claimed that they did not see any paddle wheels on the 'Orca.' However, its speed and funnels indicated that it was a steamship. According to our understanding, the ship had a gun deck with a total of sixteen cannons, that is, eight cannons on each side. Based on the sailors' deduction, these cannons should have been 12-pounders. Thus, their broadside firepower was equivalent to four times that of our steam frigates."

However, based on information provided by the rescued sailors, the enemy ship never fired from the bow during their pursuit. Furthermore, based on the survivors' drawings of the Orca's sail arrangement on the bow mast, we concluded that the enemy ship likely did not have bow guns. Additionally, the survivors did not find any stern guns. If used strategically, this would be a significant weakness of the enemy ship.

Our operation involves a total of 3 third-tier battleships, 18 steam frigates, and 6 cruisers. Each group consists of six steam frigates and one third-tier battleship. This ensures that any group of ships will possess significantly superior overall firepower compared to the enemy. Each group will be responsible for a specific sea area. Additionally, twenty clipper ships will participate in the operation. They will act as decoys and bear the crucial responsibility of relaying messages.

For this purpose, we prepared special firework shells for all our ships to transmit messages. These shells could be launched to a height of about 500 feet. During the day, we launched a type of firework shell that produced reddish-brown smoke in the air, and at night, the flashes of the firework shells could be detected from a greater distance.

In addition, all three third-tier battleships were equipped with hot air balloons. They could ascend to altitudes of thousands of feet and search vast areas of the sea. Although these third-tier battleships could not match the speed of the 'Orca', they could provide us with a huge field of vision.

In addition, a little over a week ago, our cruisers also encountered Orca in the waters near France. At that time, it did not use steam power to sail, but relied entirely on sails, and its speed was not fast. Its smokestacks only started to emit smoke after it spotted our cruisers.

This means that most of the time, the 'Orca' cruises at low speed. Therefore, the squadron, including the Tier III battleships, can keep up with their speed. In addition, the 'Orca's' steam propulsion system may not be able to operate at high load for extended periods. Our cruisers will cruise in this area in single-ship formations, their mission being to force enemy ships to frequently use steam propulsion, thereby reducing the reliability of their equipment..."

At the preparatory meeting for Operation Whaling Ship, Major Carter, adjutant to General Hood, the commander-in-chief, briefed the commanders of the participating forces on the relevant situation.

After Major Carter finished explaining the situation, General Hood began assigning combat tasks.

Just a few nautical miles off the Le Havre, the frigate Equality encountered its first Britain warship since setting sail—the Breeze.

Breeze was a sailing cruiser with thirty-five cannons, far surpassing HMS Equality in firepower. Therefore, Equality immediately ignited its boilers and pressurized them, using steam power, and turned against the wind, quickly putting distance between itself and Breeze. While pursuing, HMS Breeze released carrier pigeons to relay news of the sighting of the Orca to Britain.

The entire Britain coast was on high alert. Three hunting teams were quickly notified and set sail to prepare for the interception and killing of the Orca.

Major Malteng also began to feel that something was amiss, because he had encountered Britain cruisers several times along the way.

Of course, the Britain cruisers posed little threat to his ship. As long as the smokestacks were up, the Equality could quickly outrun any of the Britain cruisers. But the problem was that the Equality was missing a mast, and if the boilers were lit, it simply couldn't outrun the Britain. And using steam power would consume coal and cause some wear and tear on the machinery.

Of course, this loss didn't seem like much, and the Equality still had enough supplies to support its mission. However, an encounter the following night almost caused it to capsize. Fog had rolled in, and a Britain cruiser had come within a very dangerous distance of the Equality. If the lookout on the Equality hadn't spotted the target first, the Equality might have been ambushed by the Britain cruiser.

Clearly, the number of Britain warships in this area had increased significantly. But this only fueled Malteng's fighting spirit.

"Anyway, no ship in the world can catch up with the 'Equality' these days, so what do we have to worry about?"

Two days later, while observing the kites, they spotted a Britain clipper ship. Malteng then ordered the boilers to be lit and pressurized, and they headed towards the Britain clipper ship.

This time, however, Malteng's operation encountered more trouble. The Britain were much more vigilant than before. Upon seeing the billowing black smoke from the "Equality," the Britain clipper ship immediately accelerated and continuously fired fireworks into the air, seemingly trying to call for help from other Britain warships.

Malteng knew that if he simply turned around, the Britain warships that were trying to hunt him would all miss. However, considering the overwhelming speed advantage of his own warships, Malteng felt that he could still decide whether to fight or retreat after he saw the Britain warships.

So he continued his pursuit.

At this time, the wind at sea was not strong. Although the Britain clipper ship was accelerating as much as possible, its speed never exceeded ten knots. The Equality, on the other hand, was already at about eleven knots. Malteng estimated that he would catch up with the Britain ship by two or three o'clock in the afternoon at the latest.

The Britain clipper ship fled, firing fireworks into the sky as it went. Malteng remained unmoved and continued the pursuit. By around one o'clock in the afternoon, the two ships were very close. But at this point, several plumes of smoke appeared ahead of the Britain clipper ship—clearly, it must be a Britain steamship.

Malteng had some knowledge of Britain steamships; he had even boarded and sailed a few times aboard the captured Britain steamship after it was repaired. He knew that if he increased the boiler pressure to the maximum permissible pressure, the "Equality" could outrun those Britain ships by almost three knots. So those plumes of smoke didn't scare Malteng —after all, if all else failed, the sea was so vast that if he turned around, none of them could catch him.

Therefore, Malteng gave the order without hesitation, "Continue the pursuit."

"Captain, should we increase the power output further?" First Officer Edgar asked.

The Equality was only going eleven knots at the moment, but it could actually safely go close to fifteen Equality. If it had continued to accelerate, it would have caught up with the Britain clipper long ago.

"No need," Malteng shook his head. "Unless we can kill all the sailors on that ship, I don't want to reveal our top speed. We need to give the Britain the illusion that our top speed is actually comparable to theirs..."

After chasing for a while, around 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. With a telescope, the Britain steamship below the smoke columns and the paddle wheels spinning on both sides of the steamship could be clearly seen.

"We can sink this ship before they catch up." Major Malteng put down his binoculars and gave the order to fire with a cold smile.

This time, the Equality did not choose to destroy the enemy's sails with chain shot first and then force the enemy to surrender. Instead, it first seized the windward position and then strafed the deck of the Britain clipper ship with grapeshot. It focused its attack on the two flamethrowers mounted at the bow and stern.

The so-called grapeshot is actually very similar to the shotgun shells used by the army, except that the individual grapeshot projectiles are larger. A volley of grapeshot fires fewer projectiles than the army's shotgun shells, but the larger projectiles also ensure a longer range and greater power.

After several rounds of firing, the deck of the Britain clipper ship was deserted. The two flamethrowers at the bow and stern were also destroyed. The Equality then continued to approach and set the ship ablaze with its flamethrowers. The Britain soldiers rushed out of the cabins and jumped into the sea. Many of them were still engulfed in flames when they jumped in.

The Equality ignored the Britain sailors, distanced itself from the burning Britain clipper ship, and began to turn, seemingly preparing to shake off the Britain steam frigates.

By this time, the Britain steam frigates had closed in considerably. The HMS Equal, having reduced its speed during the attack on the Britain clipper ships, was now turning, further reducing its speed. By the time the Equality completed its turn, the Britain steam frigates had caught up considerably.

The "Equality" began to accelerate.

"Accelerate slowly, don't exceed eleven knots. Let them think that with a little effort, they can catch up with us before sunset. Heh, do they really think they're the hunters and we're the prey?"