Engagement (1)

The thick plumes of smoke were the first thing the United States and Britain noticed about the Free Trade, because once the steam engines were running, this feature was hard to conceal, especially when warships were still using coal as boiler fuel.

In later times, as steam engines on warships gradually switched to burning heavy oil, the smoke produced during the complete combustion of heavy oil was much less and dispersed easily into the air. From a distance, it was practically invisible. (Of course, when the steam turbine first started, ships of any country would emit billowing black smoke for a while.)

But burning coal is a different story, especially bituminous coal. Naturally, it produces billowing smoke. As for why anthracite wasn't used, well, the coal mines in Europe generally didn't have a very high degree of coalification, so anthracite was quite scarce. In addition, the boilers of that era had many flawed designs, often failing to achieve complete combustion of the fuel. As a result, the "Free Trade" billowed black smoke when it was running, comparable to the aircraft carriers of later polar bears. You could even see it with a telescope on the International Space Station.

The thick smoke allowed United States and the Britain to easily spot the enemy first. However, in this era, spotting the enemy first did not necessarily lead to the advantage of attacking first; at most, it allowed the United States and the Britain to deploy their formations first.

About half an hour later, the Free Trade " finally came into view of the Combined Fleet. Of course, by this time, the " Free Trade " had also spotted the fleet flying the United States flag blocking its way.

Just as the United States had predicted, the Constitution at this point was merely an empty shell, capable of sailing but utterly incapable of fighting, due to a shortage of sailors. Although it still had dozens of cannons on board, they were essentially useless, at least for the time being, because there were no gunners on board.

Besides lacking gunners, the ship was also short of soldiers; there were only enough sailors to barely operate the sails. So, if the enemy did approach and a few soldiers jumped over, the ship would have no choice but to surrender immediately.

Therefore, in this battle, the Constitution was not an asset, but a liability.

Upon detecting the intercepting fleet, the Constitution immediately began to turn and attempt to withdraw from the battle, while the Free Trade accelerated and charged toward the enemy fleet to cover the Constitution's escape.

The genuine US Navy fleet includes two "super frigates" like the Constitution, and one two-masted gunboat.

All three ships were of decent speed. Although the small two-masted gunboat was theoretically slightly slower than the Constitution, the United States had taken measures to increase its speed when it was tasked with interception. For example, they had removed most of its cannons to reduce its weight. In any case, its combat capability was unreliable; now they could only hope that the intelligence they had obtained from the Black men—that the Constitution currently had no gunners—was reliable.

According to the pre-war plan, the Britain were responsible for holding back the France fleet in New Orleans harbor. Then, the two American supercruisers would hold off the France steamships, giving the lighter-weight gunboat a chance to catch up with the Constitution and recapture it.

But the United States soon discovered that their plan seemed to have some problems. The first problem was that the steamship was simply too fast.

The wind wasn't strong that day, so even the supercruiser America and Congress could only reach a speed of 8-9 knots. Although these two ships were rated for a top speed of 13 knots, achieving that top speed for a sailboat depends on a combination of favorable weather conditions. So, take that top speed figure with a grain of salt; most of the time, they wouldn't actually reach that speed.

But the "Free Trade" is different; it can reach a top speed of 14 knots, and in most situations, it really can reach 14 knots.

The Free Trade initially headed straight towards the America, which was in the lead. If neither vessel changed course, they might pass each other.

The America first began turning port towards the Free Trade, attempting to secure T-position. But just as it was about to successfully take the T-position, the Free Trade suddenly made a sharp right turn as well. The Free Trade's hull shape, along with its large anti-slip fins, should normally make it less maneuverable. Indeed, this was true in sail mode. However, at this moment, it was fully powered by steam, and the abundant power meant it didn't need to worry about the speed loss from turning. Therefore, its maneuverability far exceeded that of a sailing warship.

The result of these two turns was that the two ships passed each other in parallel, at a distance of only about two hundred meters. In naval warfare, at such a distance, especially when passing each other, the firing window is generally very limited. Under such circumstances, firing would most likely result in nothing being hit. However, the "Free Trade" managed to unleash a salvo during this passing phase.

Of the nine shells fired, only one hit its target. But that one shell easily pierced the sturdy plating that the America was so proud of. The armor-piercing shell immediately sent a spray of blood through the gun emplacements of the America, and five or six gunners were struck by the flying shrapnel and died instantly.

Unsure of the possibility of hitting the enemy under such conditions, the America did not return fire.

The Congress, which was originally following behind the America, naturally did not get a chance to fire.

After passing the America, the Free Trade continued to turn at a sharp angle, leaving a wake that stretched out like a large pancake on the sea.

Such a turn is almost unthinkable for a sailboat with limited power and greatly restricted by wind direction. So when Captain Will of the Congress, which was following the America, saw the Free Trade make this large turn, he exclaimed in surprise, "My God, she can turn like that!"

After completing the turn, the Free Trade occupied the stern of the two United States warships at seven points and then accelerated to catch up.

After witnessing the Free Trade's sprawling turn, neither Colonel Matthews nor Will held out hope of securing the T-position on the Free Trade through speed and maneuverability. Instead, they focused on preventing the Free Trade from easily taking their T-position.

So the United States began to adjust their formation, changing the two warships from a front-and-back formation to a nearly parallel line of two warships with the distance between them.

Forming a line is actually quite inconvenient, as both turning and observation are subject to interference from friendly ships. However, it also has an advantage: when an enemy ship attempts to pass through the bow of the first friendly ship and take the T position, it will automatically move itself to the T position of the second friendly ship.

However, the current "Free Trade" has no intention of engaging in any kind of "T-grabbing" game with the United States. Considering that United States firepower poses no real threat to the Free Trade," sailing parallel to them to ensure a sustained output of firepower over a long period is the most efficient combat strategy.

So the Free Trade followed straight up from behind. She first approached the slightly trailing Congress from the starboard side and fired a salvo at the Congress from a distance of 100 meters.

Because both sides were on similar course at this point, the salvo was quite effective, with seven out of the nine shells hitting their targets. All seven shells penetrated the side plates of the Congress, revealing that the United States super frigate's once-proud sturdy hull was as fragile as an eggshell in the face of the brand-new breech-loading rifled steel guns.

The Congress immediately returned fire. Although its cannons were less accurate than the Free Trade, it had more cannons, so it hit its opponent with more shells.

However, without exception, all the shells, whether fired from the 24-pounder or the 18-pounder, were deflected back by the steel-plated Free Trade. Not a single shell managed to penetrate the Free Trade's hull.

"Quick, load the cannons! Let's get closer, this time we'll teach them a lesson!" Will shouted. Since their cannons couldn't penetrate the enemy's deck at a distance of about 100 meters, they decided to try getting a little closer.

"I refuse to believe their ship planks are still made of steel!"

However, getting closer was not easy, because if you move, they move too. The Congress began to turn to starboard, so the Free Trade also began to turn to starboard, continuing to maintain a distance from the Congress. At the same time, another salvo was fired.

Relying on the rate of fire advantage of its breech-loading guns, the Free Trade fired three more salvos, while the Congress managed only one equally fruitless counterattack. Moreover, in this counterattack, their firepower density had clearly decreased— the Free Trade's salvos had inflicted heavy casualties on the Congress's gunners, to the point that many cannons were unable to continue firing due to the lack of gunners.

At this point, realizing something was wrong, the America began to approach the Free Trade from the left. If the Free Trade did not give up its attack on the Congress, it would be caught in a pincer movement between the America and the Congress.

Further away, Britain Commander Lieutenant Vane was intently observing the battle through his binoculars. After watching several rounds of exchange of fire, he pointed to his binoculars and ordered, "Full sails, speed up, we're going back."