Crossfire

The Free Trade was already slower than the Constitution. Its deliberate turn further reduced its speed. The Constitution skillfully cut in, smoothly entering the Free Trade's six o'clock position, and then directly pursued it.

The two sides quickly closed the distance to within shell range. The United States first used their bow guns to fire chain shot at the Free Trade, attempting to damage her sails.

When Zola saw the United States warships cutting into his six o'clock position, he knew that battle was inevitable. He first ordered non-combat personnel to leave the deck immediately. Then a group of sailors dragged Victor, who was eager to watch the spectacle, off the deck.

Then the Free Trade began to turn again. Like other warships of this era, the Free Trade did not have cannons mounted at the stern. Therefore, the Free Trade needed to turn to disrupt the enemy's firing and force the enemy to the front, so as to create a situation of broadside gunfire.

Of course, the Constitution could also maintain its six o'clock position with the Free Trade by constantly turning. However, this constant turning would interfere with their own firing, drastically reducing their firing efficiency. If this situation continued, the battle would last for a whole day.

The Free Trade was a steamship, and its steam engines were being started and pressurized. Although the process was slow, it shouldn't have been this slow. Once the Free Trade's steam engines were running, the entire battle could be completely reversed.

The Constitution is currently faster than the Free Trade, so the best course of action for her is to take advantage of her speed, catch up, seize the lead, and launch several more attacks on the Free Trade. She needs to defeat the Free Trade before its steam engine advantage comes into play.

During its engagements with Britain steamships, the Equality employed a hit-and-run tactic, specifically targeting the enemy ships from their sterns, where they lacked cannons. However, the Equality's ability to execute this tactic in that battle was contingent upon a significant speed difference between the two sides.

Because unless the speed difference between the two ships is very large, trying to gain this position would easily result in giving up the T-shaped lead to someone else. The speed difference between the "Constitution" and the "Free Trade" is not that large, so the "Constitution" can only try to pass in front of the "Free Trade" to form a T-shaped lead.

As a "super cruiser," the Constitution had twenty-three guns on one side, including ten 12-pounder guns on the upper gun deck and thirteen 24-pounder guns on the lower gun deck. With such fierce firepower, Captain Hull believed that a salvo from the bow would surely deal a heavy blow to the enemy.

The "Constitution" chased after the Free Trade " from its starboard side, attempting to overtake it by about 100 meters to its starboard side, and then suddenly turn left to cut into the " Free Trade's" course, delivering a devastating salvo to the France from its port side.

Of course, passing within 100 meters of the Free Trade's starboard side was a slightly risky maneuver. At that distance, enemy ships could easily fire their broadside guns at the Constitution. However, this was precisely one of Captain Hull's objectives. With the sea rough and the ships rocking, the cannons were also rocking. In naval battles, cannonballs flying everywhere was a characteristic of this era. When the distance between two warships exceeded 70 or 80 meters, the hit rate of cannonballs became pitifully low. Therefore, many times, the gun battles between two warships would go from a distance of 200 or 300 meters down to 20 or 30 meters. Close-quarters gunfire followed by boarding action was common.

If the France opened fire at a distance of 100 meters, some shells might hit the Constitution, but Captain Hull believed that his warship should be able to withstand enemy fire at that distance.

Although the Constitution was considered a frigate, its defensive capabilities were on par with battleships. In its original history, during the Second War, in a two-on-one battle against Britain frigate, the Constitution was hit by over a hundred shells, but not a single shell penetrated its Constitution.

Furthermore, steamships have fewer gun emplacements, making their salvos less threatening. If the France opened fire at a range of 100 meters, Hull believed the damage they could inflict on the "Constitution" would be very limited. Moreover, gun reloading was extremely slow. If the France salvo failed to achieve significant results, it would mean the ship was essentially unarmed for a considerable period. At that point, the "Constitution" could simply turn and close the distance, unleashing a devastating salvo at point-blank range, leaving the France reeling.

The Constitution appeared at a distance of more than 100 meters on the starboard side. All the gun ports on the starboard side of the Free Trade were open, and all nine cannons were ready to fire.

The steel-framed guns of the Free Trade fired shells with a muzzle velocity far exceeding that of ordinary cannons, resulting in a longer effective range and less sway. Furthermore, the Free Trade itself was large enough, and to maximize its range and reduce sway, it was equipped with a large anti-roll fin. This made the Free Trade's sway amplitude smaller and its sway period longer than comparable ships. All these measures made the Free Trade's long-range firing accuracy significantly superior to other warships of its time.

Of course, no measure is without its drawbacks. The larger anti-slip fins made the Free Trade's turning ability relatively weaker. When sailing under steam power, this weakness in turning was not significant due to the power advantage provided by the steam engine and propeller (its ability to sail independently of wind direction naturally gave it a maneuverability unmatched by sailboats). However, when the steam engine was turned off and sailing was solely reliant on the sails, the Free Trade's turning was indeed somewhat sluggish. This was a major reason why the Constitution was able to quickly take what it considered its advantageous position.

The order to fire had been given, and the nine cannons on the starboard side fired in succession.

Although the gunners on the "Free Trade" were not yet fully familiar with their new cannon, they were all experienced veterans. The phrase "not yet fully familiar" meant they couldn't yet fully utilize the cannon's capabilities. For example, according to the original specifications, the cannon should have a fairly high hit rate at a distance of 400 meters under normal sea conditions. However, the gunners were not yet able to achieve that.

However, they can still maintain a fairly high accuracy rate at a distance of 100 meters.

In the first salvo, seven out of nine shells hit their targets.

When Captain Hull saw the Free Trade open its gun ports, he felt a sense of relief. He knew that steam warships could only carry a limited number of cannons for various reasons, but for such a large ship to have only nine cannons on one side was far more small than Hull had expected.

"If I had known, why bother with the T? I could have just gone straight for it and attacked!" Captain Hull even had this thought pop into his head.

But then a flash of light appeared, and immediately afterward, Hull felt a tremor beneath his feet.

"These guys are really accurate! Looks like I underestimated them."

Following that first shot, several other cannons on the "Free Trade" fired in succession, and the deck beneath Hull's feet began to shake violently.

"Their accuracy is quite high!" Hull thought, while shouting down, "Report the losses!"

Hull expected to hear a reply like, "It's alright! It didn't penetrate!"

But there was no immediate response from below. After a while, a voice came through. "The ship's planks have been breached; casualties are heavy..."

Armor-piercing shells fired from the 110mm rifled guns of the "Free Trade" easily penetrated the more than 70-centimeter-thick oak planks of the "Constitution," transferring enormous energy to the planks in the process. After the shells passed through the oak planks, inside the gun compartment, the planks exploded, sending splinters and debris flying everywhere, piercing the bodies of nearby gunners like knives...

Some shells, having pierced the thick hull, struck the other side of the hull almost without slowing down, then flew out, creating a hole in that side of the hull.

Another shell, after passing through the ship's deck, lost its stability, turned sideways, slammed into the opposite deck, then shattered into several pieces and bounced back, knocking down several more people.

But the most deadly thing was this cannonball, which, after penetrating the ship's planks, directly hit a 24-pound bronze cannon placed on the other side of the planks.

The cannonball shattered upon impact with the bronze cannon, and the scattered fragments killed many gunners nearby. The cannon itself was thrown back by the blast, snapping the iron chain that held it in place. The broken chain swept across like a whip, cleaving a gunner who couldn't dodge in two at the waist.

The leaping bronze cannon crashed into another bronze cannon, knocking it to the ground and crushing two gunners to death.

After a round of shelling, the lower gun emplacements of the Constitution were in complete disarray, as if a tornado had just swept through the area.

After getting a general idea of the losses, Captain Hull realized he had underestimated the France; their firing accuracy and the power of their cannons far exceeded his expectations. However, he still decisively issued the order:

"Full speed to left! Get close, blast them flat in the face!"