Taking on the Whole Lot of You

The plume of smoke was getting closer and closer, and it was very clear that there was only one plume of smoke.

"The Britain North American Squadron has six ships; if it were them, we should be able to count six plumes of smoke. But there's only one now, so it must be Whaler returning home." The United States made this reasonable deduction and dispersed their fleet in advance to intercept it—although Whaler generally don't have steam-assisted propulsion and can't go very fast.

The column of smoke drew ever closer, and finally, through General Kade's binoculars, the ship emerged entirely from the horizon.

"What the hell! This is... this is the 'Free Trade'! What the hell, how could she be here!"

General Kade had participated in the two-on-one battle with the Free Trade " and was very familiar with this supercruiser, which was considered a "nightmare ship" by the United States. So even though the two sides were far apart, General Kade recognized the warship that had appeared in his nightmares more than once at a glance.

"'Free Trade'? 'Free Trade' is back? What about 'Common Market'?" A young officer standing next to General Kade asked curiously. At the same time, he noticed that General Kade's hands were trembling slightly.

"It's not our 'Free Trade,' it's the Britain, the Britain 'Indomitable'!" General Kade steadied himself and said in as calm a voice as possible, "Give the order to have the fleet immediately regroup and prepare for battle!"

The United States fleet, including three supercruisers and three conventional cruisers, began to regroup, accelerate, and prepare for battle.

General Kade felt that although his warships were indeed far inferior to the Britain "Indomitable" in terms of performance, they were far more numerous, so they were not without the ability to fight.

After being ravaged by the France Free Trade,"the United States Navy had been studying how to counter it. When the France put the " Free Trade "Free Trade up for sale, the United States were the first to raise their bids, wanting to buy back this warship that gave them nightmares. However, the Britain intervened, offering a higher price and snatching away the United States Navy's prized possession—so the Britain are no good! My father's three principles for life—faith in God, paying taxes according to the law, and hating the Britain— are indeed quite valid.

After the Britain bought the USS Free Trade, the United States Navy continued to focus on how to deal with it.

From the technical details disclosed by the France when they sold the "Free Trade," the United States discovered that none of the existing guns of the United States Navy could penetrate the "Free Trade's " armor. What to do? Of course, they quickly ordered some naval guns from the France that could penetrate the "Free Trade's " armor. So, although the United States didn't manage to buy the "Free Trade," the money they took to purchase it didn't return to the United States either. Instead, it was all used to buy expensive France long-barreled cannons.

This breech-loading, long-barreled cannon boasted an astonishing barrel thirty times the caliber of its time. (So its high price wasn't entirely a rip-off; the longer the barrel, the more difficult it was to drill.) The fired shells had a muzzle velocity of up to 600 meters per second, easily penetrating the outer armor plating of the first-edition "Free Trade" at a distance of 500 meters. In that era, 500 meters was a considerable distance for naval gunnery.

Of course, the Britain also equipped their newly acquired Indomitable with the same cannons. This was also one of the reasons why the United States didn't armor their supercruisers: anyway, within normal kill range, armor wouldn't stop France guns. So, it was better to just go without armor, at least that way they could go faster.

Because they had naval guns powerful enough to penetrate the armor of the Indomitable, the United States were quite confident about the battle.

The two sides began to close in, and the six United States warships formed two columns to meet them. If both sides maintained their current course, the Indomitable would simply pass between the two United States columns. In the past, this tactic wouldn't have been out of the question, since United States cannons couldn't penetrate the Indomitable's armor. They only needed to guard against the United States recklessly playing bumper boats.

But now, the situation is somewhat different. The United States naval guns can also penetrate the armor of the Indomitable. So, if the Indomitable chooses this approach, it will certainly gain the advantage of effective firepower by firing from both sides, but it will also suffer heavy losses due to being bombarded from both sides. Therefore, the Britain were the first to change course.

The Britain knew that they had the following advantages over the United States fleet:

First, their warships have higher speeds, giving them a better chance to gain the upper hand in the capture-the-trail game, and their sailors are also better trained.

Secondly, the Britain modified the Indomitable, abandoning the original arrangement of guns on both sides of the gun deck and instead installing two large cannons on circular gun mounts on both the fore and aft decks, which could rotate at a wide angle.

After the Britain turned, the United States also began to turn to avoid being overtaken at the bow. Soon, the two fleets were circling each other on the sea, with the Britain trying to seize the bow position from the United States, while the United States kept turning to try to position themselves sideways to each other.

The Indomitable had a slight speed advantage, but the United States ships were more agile in turning, so it wouldn't be easy for United States Britain to take the lead.

After circling several times, the distance between the two sides began to close. However, due to the angle, the United States broadside guns could not aim and fire at the Indomitable, but the Indomitable's stern guns could be angled to fire at the United States. Although the Britain only had two stern guns, and both sides were maneuvering at high speed, the accuracy of the shelling was not high. The first few shots missed.

However, being unilaterally attacked without being able to retaliate is the most demoralizing thing. And just because these few shots missed doesn't mean they won't hit in the future. At this distance, if a hit were to occur, the damage to the American warships would be considerable.

As expected, after six unsuccessful shots, a shell finally hit the "Constitution," which was at the very front of the column.