Old Ironclad

The sea route from continental Europe to the Caribbean was extremely busy, with numerous ships navigating it daily. Some ships transported surplus goods from Europe, such as manufactured goods and free poor people, to the Americas, while bringing in commodities like sugar, coffee, and cotton from the Americas. Other ships sailed from Africa, laden with enslaved Africans, across the ocean to reach the Caribbean. They then exchanged the slaves for money, sugar, coffee, cotton, and other Americas products, sending them to Europe. From there, they exchanged these goods for more money and weapons, sending them to Africa to sell to Africa chiefs, enabling them to wage wars and capture even more enslaved Africans.

Therefore, encountering other ships along this route, especially when they are very close to the Caribbean, is quite common.

However, ships at sea generally keep their distance from each other, especially in the Caribbean. On the high seas, legitimate merchants and pirates are often just two sides of the same coin. When a legitimate merchant finds a clearly weaker, more vulnerable ship that he can easily rob, he will not hesitate to become a pirate. Conversely, when he finds a clearly stronger ship, he will naturally try to get as far away as possible to avoid becoming a pirate himself.

Therefore, most ships, if they see the sails of another ship and have no malicious intent, will sail away a little further away.

The "Free Trade" was a massive ship of over two thousand tons, a size comparable to a battleship, making it virtually untouchable in the Caribbean. Forget amateur pirates; even professional pirates used only ordinary armed merchant ships, including the infamous "Queen Anne's Revenge" (the one in the real-world version, of course).

Therefore, previously, whenever the Free Trade encountered other ships and they got close enough to see each other through binoculars, the other ships would automatically keep their distance due to the Free Trade's massive size. But this time, the ship spotted by the observation post was completely different; it did not avoid the Free Trade but instead approached directly.

"United States warship! United States warship spotted at 11 o'clock!" the observation post on the masthead shouted again.

Although France had not declared war on the United States, anything could happen in these waters, so Captain Zola immediately gave the order, "All ships on standby! Start the steam engines!"

It takes a considerable amount of time for a steam engine to go from being lit to being operational. Fortunately, the Free Trade had four sails, and with precise calculations and a low-drag hull design developed through repeated trials in the water, its speed when using only sails was not slow. Although it was not as fast as a normal sailing frigate, it was not much slower.

From the outset, one of the requirements for the Free Trade " was that, even if the steam power failed, it must be able to outrun Britain battleships using only its sails. So what if Britain frigates caught up? Simple, just engage them.

The Free Trade " was not only the size of a second-class battleship, but also had battleship-level protection. A regular battleship had oak planks on both sides that were about one meter thick, enough to withstand close-range shelling from smaller caliber guns.

Such planks were quite expensive, so the Free Trade did not use them. Instead, it reinforced its defenses by covering the planks with galvanized steel plates. This not only reduced costs but also saved weight. According to test results, even the 32-pounder guns of battleships, unless repeatedly hit and causing the outer steel plates to detach, were not enough to pose a fatal threat to the Free Trade.

Conversely, the 110mm rifled guns on the Free Trade could reliably penetrate the hull of any enemy ship, even the Victory. Therefore, if Britain frigates caught up, as long as they were careful not to be rammed, their pursuit would be futile.

In short, anything that could potentially defeat the "Free Trade" couldn't catch up with it; anything that could potentially catch up with the "Free Trade" couldn't defeat it. Or to put it more bluntly, the Free Trade "Free Trade was essentially a warship primarily designed to sever free trade routes.

The Free Trade began to turn to create distance from the approaching US warships. However, turning also took time. During this process, the distance between the two sides continued to close, and through binoculars, the area below the sails could be clearly seen.

"This is United States super frigate," Captain Zola said.

"Super frigate? What kind of warship is that? How does it compare to ours?" Victor didn't know much about warships.

"A warship with a very United States flair," Captain Zola explained. "It's actually quite similar to our ships, with a displacement that surpasses the standard of a second-tier battleship, the same level of defense, and battleship-level guns, but with half the number and some sacrifice in endurance to achieve frigate-level speed. Of course, they still have more guns than we do. As for fighting us... heh... we'd crush them like an ant."

Indeed, the United States Navy's "super frigates" are very powerful. If the Free Trade did not exist, these U. S. Navy "super frigates" could be said to be able to defeat anyone who could catch up with them, and defeat anyone who could catch up with them.

In the original history, during the War of 1892, the American "super frigates" performed remarkably well against the overwhelmingly superior Britain fleet. While they weren't enough to shake the British Army naval dominance, they didn't suffer any losses in battle and even gained considerable advantages. The Constitution, in particular, known as the "Old Ironclad," excelled at bullying British Army frigates. Although they couldn't prevent the British Army landing and the burning of the White House...

However, when facing the Free Trade, the United States super frigates are no longer truly super. In terms of speed, the United States frigates are faster when the Free Trade is not using steam power; but once the USS Free Trade's steam power comes into play, it can easily catch up with any foreign warship.

As for firepower, considering the rate of fire advantage of the breech-loading guns and the power advantage of the steel cannons, the Free Trade has fewer cannons but its firepower is actually much stronger.

However, the approaching United States were completely unaware of both of these points. Of course, while relations between the United States and the France hadn't been particularly good recently, and although neither side had declared war, there had been several incidents of naval attacks. But this was the first time the United States had encountered a France warship of similar size in this area. (The French Army in this region consisted mainly of ordinary frigates.)

The United States were very concerned that the France had deployed battleships to this area, which would obviously have a significant impact on the situation there. Therefore, the United States decided to pursue them and find out what was going on.

Smoke began to billow from the chimney of the "Free Trade.

Onboard the United States Constitution, Captain Isaac Hull was observing the "suspected French Army battleship" ahead through his binoculars. He noticed that the adversary was turning, seemingly trying to avoid a direct confrontation.

"This shouldn't be a battleship," Isaac Hull thought. "The France know very well that we don't have battleships, and a battleship doesn't need to keep its distance from us."

"Go after them and see," Isaac Hull ordered.

After chasing for a while, Isaac Hull spotted smoke rising from the France warship. The weather was quite fine that day, so Isaac Hull did not mistake the smoke for an enemy fire, as he could clearly see the smokestacks through his binoculars.

"It's French Army steam warship," Isaac Hull immediately concluded.

There are many legends about the French Army steam warships. Isaac Hull had heard some of them as well. He knew that France steam warships were incredibly fast, supposedly faster than any frigate. He had also heard that these ships didn't rely on sails, which made them remarkably agile. However, he had also heard descriptions of the weaknesses of these warships: because the steam engine, coal bunkers, and freshwater tanks took up too much space, the number of cannons mounted on these ships was very small. He often had to rely on gunboats to fight. And he also knew that the steam engine took a considerable amount of time to start.

Isaac Hull now faces a choice: turn back or continue the chase.

In fact, clashes between the French Army and American warships in this area were not uncommon. Just a few days ago, the Constitution " captured a French Army two-masted frigate. (However, due to the lack of radio, the Free Trade" and Paris were unaware of the situation. In reality, historically, the United States Navy and French Navy engaged in skirmishes in the Caribbean Sea for three years, but continued trading and even territorial negotiations while fighting, without ever declaring war.) Continuing the pursuit would inevitably provoke a battle. If they couldn't catch up with and severely damage the enemy ship before its steam engines were fully operational, the battle would likely become extremely difficult once the enemy's steam propulsion was activated.

If they turn around and leave, it seems the Constitution still has time to escape. It's clear that the other France warship is currently slower than the Constitution, and they've turned away, seemingly not intending to engage in conflict.

Zola made the decision to retreat partly because his sailors had not yet fully trained the new cannons, making him unsure of his ability to capture the United States in battle; and partly because his initial mission was only a trial voyage, which did not include engaging the United States in combat. However, his action encouraged the United States, leading Isaac Hull to resolve to pursue them.