Engagement (2)
The three warships engaged in fierce fighting noticed the Britain actions, but because the Britain were still flying the United States flag during their retreat, the France on the Free Trade still mistook them for United States.
"When did United States become so good at betraying their teammates?" Zola had some dealings with United States before. In his impression, although United States were a bit crude, they were relatively honest and simple, and they all had thick eyebrows and big eyes. They didn't seem like the kind of people who would do this kind of thing.
However, the Britain didn't care what they thought and simply sped away. As soon as they left, the entire battle situation changed dramatically. The France fleet in the harbor began to leave, and the France immediately gained a frigate and three small gunboats. Even if only the number of ships was considered, the France began to have the upper hand.
The America, which was approaching the Free Trade, naturally noticed this change. Colonel Matthews, who was in command, immediately realized that they had lost the battle. Judging from the current situation, even without considering the France reinforcements, their two ships would hardly be able to defeat the France steamship. With the addition of France reinforcements, not to mention victory, even escape would be difficult.
Even so, the America had to close in and fire on the enemy ship to save the Congress from being unable to retaliate.
The two ships were getting closer and closer, with the America now only about 200 meters from the port side of the Free Trade.
The nine cannons on the port side of the Free Trade, which had not had a chance to fire until now that the enemy ship had approached, naturally opened fire on the America.
At a distance of over 200 meters, the rifled guns achieved good results, with two out of nine shells hitting their targets, and one of them hitting the America's bow mast with exceptional precision.
This shell had an almost devastating effect. The bow mast, where the triangular sail is hoisted, not only provides most of the power for sailing against the wind, but is also essential for the various maneuvers of the sailboat. Now, after being hit by a shell, the sturdy bow mast snapped in two with a crack.
The severed bow mast fell directly into the sea. Numerous cables were still entangled on this mast, which were used to fasten sails and connect to other masts. When it suddenly fell into the sea while the ship was traveling at high speed, the cables attached to it immediately taut, pulling the other masts on the ship to the right, causing the bow to tilt dramatically.
"Quickly, cut the cable!" Matthews ordered hastily.
The United States performed admirably; several sailors, wielding axes, rushed forward and quickly cut the ropes, preventing a greater crisis (such as the mainmast snapping). However, without the bow mast, the America's speed noticeably decreased, and it became more difficult to control.
"Signal the Congress to retreat." Faced with the current situation, Matthews issued a new order with a heavy heart:
"Now, let's fight to the death, hold off the enemy, and cover the retreat of the 'Congress'."
Matthews' orders were sent out using signal flags. However, the Congress had already been badly damaged by the Free Trade. Moreover, because it was significantly slower than the France, whether the Congress could escape was still a big question.
However, the Free Trade also faces a problem: its ammunition is limited.
The Free Trade was equipped with breech-loading rifled steel cannons. These cannons used shells that were far more technologically advanced than ordinary cannon shells. While the large iron balls used by other cannons could be manufactured anywhere, the shells for rifled cannons were nowhere to be produced in the Americas. They had to rely entirely on the ammunition carried on board. Each shell used was one less available. The Free Trade also needed to maintain a sufficient supply of ammunition to ensure its safety on the return voyage.
During this voyage, the Navy's main mission for the "Free Trade" was to verify the ship's long-range capabilities, and they had not anticipated that so many battles would occur. Moreover, they believed that as long as the speed was high enough, the "Free Trade" would not be in much danger, so they even deliberately carried less ammunition to load more of what they considered to be more helpful for the long-range test.
So at this point, while the United States were complaining, the France were also worried about their ammunition reserves. The Free Trade's ammunition stockpile had now reached a dangerous level.
On the other hand, without high-explosive shells, sinking a large ship like the America or the Congress with solid shot alone is virtually impossible. Even reducing the requirement to incapacitating the enemy ship would require a vast amount of ammunition. The Free Trade's remaining ammunition might not even be enough to achieve the second objective. Therefore, the Free Trade now faces a choice: which of the two United States cruisers should be kept?
Captain Zola quickly made a decision: abandon the Congress and focus all his efforts on capturing the America, trying to keep it as far as possible. This was not only because the America's sailing ability had been somewhat damaged, making it seem easier to capture, but also because capturing a ship named "United States" obviously sounded more exciting than capturing a ship named "Congress."
In a sense, naming warships—consumables that are easily lost in war or even in peacetime—after a country or nation is rather foolish. The loss of such ships, for any reason, can have a devastating impact on the morale of the entire nation.
For example, during World War II, the German naval commander initially foolishly named a raiding ship designed for suicidal adventures "Germany." Then, when the war broke out, he suddenly realized that if this ship went out to work, it wouldn't be long before the newspapers reported "Germany Sinks" or "Royal Navy Sinks Germany"—how unlucky! If it didn't go out to work, wouldn't the ship have been built for nothing? In the end, the commander had no choice but to change the ship's name before sending it out to work, thus successfully turning "Germany Sinks" into "Lützow Sinks."
Meanwhile, San-de-zi's ally, Japan, also named its battleship "Yamato") after its own people. However, when it came time to use it, they worried that losing it would be a bad omen, and as a result, the ship really did spend most of its time being Yamato.
So when the Congress attempted to distance itself and withdraw from the battle, the Free Trade did not pursue, but instead turned directly towards the America. Confident in its own defenses, the Free Trade didn't even bother fighting for a T-position, simply aligning its hull directly with the America's. This would certainly give the America more firing opportunities, but as a target, the America's hull-side projection area was much larger than its bow-side, and since both ships were moving in the same direction, the hit rate against such a target would be much higher. Considering the Free Trade's current ammunition shortage, attacking from this direction would obviously make more efficient use of every shell.
Once the Free Trade turned its primary target to the America, the America immediately found itself in trouble. Utilizing its superior maneuverability, the Free Trade maintained a distance of about fifty meters from the America. At this distance, the Free Trade's artillery could guarantee a fairly high hit rate, while the America's cannons were completely unable to penetrate the Free Trade's suspended armor.
In addition, the "Free Trade's " cannons had an astonishingly high rate of fire compared to artillery of that era, allowing them to fire at least three to four shots in the time it took for the enemy to fire one. Therefore, although the "Free Trade" only had nine cannons on one side, the number of shells fired per unit time exceeded that of the America " in its perfect condition. As a result, after several salvos, the gun emplacements of the " America " were a scene of carnage, practically a river of blood.
The America attempted to ram the Free Trade more than once, but without its bow mast America was quite clumsy in turning, while the steam-powered Free Trade was inherently more maneuverable. Such attempts were naturally fruitless.
Soon, only two or three guns on the port side of the America were still firing, and their firing rate had dropped significantly—clearly, there were casualties among the crews of those remaining guns, which reduced their rate of fire.
Usually by this point, the other side should have already raised a flag to indicate their surrender.
"They should surrender now," Captain Zola sighed, gazing at the America in the distance. "They've fought with all their might; surrendering now wouldn't be a disgrace."
At that moment, a long, triangular red flag was raised on the mast of the America.
"They raised the St. George's Flag." Zola sighed. "Yes, this ship is the America,' and she must fight to the end no matter what. God help us, we don't have a warship called the 'France.'"
"The St. George's Flag?" Victor, who was clearly not very familiar with these naval items, asked, "I remember the St. George's Flag is the England flag with a white background and a red cross, isn't it?"
"That's the England flag," Zola explained. "But here in the navy, there's another flag that represents the courage and desperation of warships: the St. George's Flag. Yes, the one over there. That flag means: Fight to the death, never surrender."