Playing Navy, the Americans Are Still Just Little Brothers

While the United States were gleefully intercepting Britain ships, the Britain North American Squadron, which they had failed to capture, was also gleefully intercepting United States vessels. They sailed south along the United States coast, first seizing three United States merchant ships and a returning Whaler off the coast of Boston. The Britain had no nearby usable ports, so they couldn't possibly control these merchant ships and sail them back to Canada, since the United States fleet was certainly there.

As for sailing directly back to Britain, that was impossible, because the fresh water and other supplies on these ships simply couldn't support such a long ocean voyage. So the Britain could only board the ships, move the supplies that their fleet could use, and then burn the merchant ships. As for the sailors, they were given a small sampan and told to row to United States themselves. Anyway, the coast wasn't far away, and they could reach the shore in a day or two.

They then continued south, burning six merchant ships bound for New York in one fell swoop near the New York. They then seized two United States merchant ships bound for Philadelphia at Delaware and the river mouth, and also destroyed more than ten fishing boats. Meanwhile, news of the British Navy fleet attacking United States ships at sea began to spread in the United States via France wire telegraph.

Most of the ships that originally planned to leave United States for Europe dared not leave port, but those returning to United States from Europe were unaware of this and had no way of being notified. So, in the following week, the Britain burned more than a dozen merchant ships to the ground. In terms of tonnage gained in the commerce raiding, the Britain fleet clearly had the upper hand.

Because there was no radio, news of the Britain rampage along the United States coast couldn't be directly transmitted to the United States fleet, which was still waiting in the Cabot Strait. The United States fleet crew thought the Britain North American Squadron had taken refuge in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

The United States then dispatched another fast ship to the Cabot Strait, where they located the United States fleet. Only then did the United States sailors realize that the Britain fleet had also engaged in commerce raiding. The United States losses were even greater than the Britain losses in the Cabot Strait.

Because the Britain had released almost all of the sailors, the United States had a fairly clear understanding of the composition of this Britain squadron.

"Three steam-sail hybrid battleships and two steam-sail hybrid cruisers. That means the main warships of the Britain North American Squadron are there." This assessment was made by General Kade United States fleet commander, based on the information he had gathered.

He knew he couldn't allow this Britain squadron to continue wreaking havoc off the United States coast; otherwise, all the Britain merchant ships he captured would be useless. But sending the entire fleet south wasn't necessarily a good idea either. This would not only abandon the blockade of Canada but also slow down the reaction time—because none of the other ships could outrun the "Free Trade" and "Common Market."

Therefore, General Kade made this decision: he led several other ships to continue intercepting Britain merchant ships in the area, while ordering the two fastest and most powerful France ships in the formation to immediately return and drive away or destroy the Britain fleet.

So the "Free Trade" and "Common Market" left the formation and headed south.

News of the United States' declaration of war against Britain had by then reached Europe. The Britain immediately planned to send a powerful fleet to teach the United States a lesson. "Heh, if we can't beat the France, surely we can beat you?"

However, along with this news came another: the France claimed that the Britain fleet had attacked a France merchant ship. The France Foreign Minister summoned the Britain ambassador to lodge a strong protest. The Britain ambassador, however, stated that he was unaware of the matter and highly doubted the veracity of the France report.

However, the veracity of the news is actually unimportant; it's just an excuse anyway. The France can come up with a ton of excuses easily, just like a certain country in later times could readily produce a huge amount of laundry detergent.

Paris then took to the streets in protest, demanding that the Consulate take concrete action to protect the safety of France waterways. Napoleon immediately ordered the army to be on high alert, suspended the year's demobilization, and announced that the French Navy and army would conduct a large-scale amphibious and anti-landing exercise in Calais.

Calais is located on the eastern shore of the Strait of Dover, only a few dozen kilometers from the Britain coast. If the Britain France n't paying close attention during their military exercises in this location, what if a navigational error occurred during the exercises, and the France fleet landed in the wrong direction, landing in Britain instead?

Therefore, the Britain could only curse the France for being wicked since ancient times, cancel their large-scale military support plan for Canada, and order the British Navy and Army to be on high alert, ready to resist a possible France invasion.

However, despite the France assistance, the United States Navy's performance was not good enough.

First, the two supercruisers heading south did not immediately spot the Britain fleet. The Britain calculated the time and estimated that the two supercruisers hired by the United States might have already headed south, so they left the United States coast and began searching for and intercepting United States merchant ships further away from the coastline.

This Britain approach certainly reduced their own interception efficiency significantly, but it also made it much more difficult for the United States to locate them. The Free Trade and Common Market sailed along the United States coastline without finding a trace of the Britain fleet.

However, on the other side, the United States warships still remaining in the Cabot Strait were in great danger.

The Britain supercruiser Indomitable was only dispatched to Britain after news reached them that the United States had leased two supercruisers from France. Therefore, this ship was not in the North Britain North American Squadron's inventory at all, and the United States were completely unaware of its existence.

Now, the France supercruiser had sailed south, and the Cabot Strait was not wide; the Britain on both sides of the strait could easily see the entire United States fleet through their telescopes. They quickly concluded that the two France ships had already left.

So that morning, while the United States fleet crews were idly waiting and watching for whales, their observation posts noticed a column of smoke in the distance to their east.

The United States were initially a little nervous about the plume of smoke, as it likely indicated that the Britain North American Squadron had circled back. Without the presence of the Free Trade and Common Market, the United States fleet was no match for the Britain North American Squadron.

However, the United States did not panic because their speed was faster than that of the Britain North American Squadron, and if the situation became unfavorable, they had the initiative to withdraw from the battle.

Moreover, in other sea areas, ships emitting black smoke are mostly steam-powered vessels, likely warships. But in this sea area, there is another type of ship emitting black smoke: Whaler.

Whaler of this era did not have cold storage. In order to obtain more profits on each voyage, after they could no longer hunt whales, they would cut off the whale blubber directly on the ship and melt it into whale oil. As for the other parts of the whale, except for the baleen, most of them were simply thrown into the sea.

To extract whale oil (otherwise the blubber would spoil), these ships had large boilers with fires burning to render the oil. Therefore, the plumes of smoke seen in this area weren't necessarily from a steamship; they could very well be from a Whaler returning home. At that time, the United States Navy was unaware of the kind of adversary they were about to face.