You're All Bugs

There's one thing Britain has that the United States of this era can't match: Britain science and technology. If it weren't for Joseph, Britain at this time would absolutely have been qualified to tell other countries, "Fools, Britain's technology is the best in the world." Of course, because of a certain overpowered individual, even the Britain themselves are a little embarrassed to say that their technology is the best in the world now, but compared to the United States, it's still far superior, almost like the difference between civilized people and barbarians.

Generally speaking, when the France release a new toy, the Britain can quickly produce one that looks France, but costs more and performs worse. Other countries, on the other hand, can only say, "France daddy is so advanced! Britain products are all knockoffs, they break down easily! We all want to buy the good stuff from France daddy!"

Although Britain knock-offs are of poor quality and break easily, sometimes, when their France counterparts mark something as not for sale, the Britain can still outdo other countries with their knock-offs.

For example, the Britain hit the Constitution with a shell at that moment.

Back in North Africa, the France used white phosphorus incendiary bombs to reduce Barbary Pirates cities to ashes, an event that immediately caught the attention of the Britain. Later, based on accounts from Barbary Pirates who had witnessed being burned, they deduced the secret of this remarkable weapon— the France incendiary bombs used white phosphorus.

After conducting relevant research, the Britain completed their own white phosphorus incendiary bomb, and even made some innovations based on the France design.

The Britain noticed that white phosphorus produces large amounts of smoke when burned. Adding other substances to it increases the toxicity of the smoke, making it extremely lethal in confined spaces. Warships, being such confined spaces, were a prime example. Therefore, the Britain developed a semi-armor-piercing shell filled with modified white phosphorus. Upon firing and hitting its target, the slender shell fragmented and broke apart. During this process, the shell became very hot, and the burning white phosphorus was ejected into the ship's hold. This modified white phosphorus not only caused fires, but the toxic fumes it produced were also enough to quickly suffocate the crew who inhaled them.

Today, such an armor-piercing incendiary shell has penetrated the hull of the Constitution. Just as the Britain had intended when they designed it, the slender shell shattered upon penetrating the thick hull plating of the Constitution. The broken shell fragments flew wildly through the hull, killing several gunners and scattering burning white phosphorus throughout the hull.

The white phosphorus ignited rapidly, and some of the embers unfortunately fell into the gunpowder barrels used to fire the shells, causing a deflagration. The flames shot up instantly.

Compared to the incandescent bombs used to set fires on warships before—those red-hot iron balls— the Britain armor-piercing incendiary bombs were far more efficient at starting fires. In the blink of an eye, the fires were out of control.

General Kade was also on the Constitution. When the Constitution was hit by a shell, he was startled but not too worried. What did being hit by a shell matter? In that era, it was almost impossible to sink a ship with a shell; at most, a shell would only cause some casualties.

But soon he realized something was wrong in the cabin. White smoke began to billow from the gun ports, and then flames started to emerge from them.

"How... how could this be?" General Kade felt his mind was completely blank—if their last encounter with this ship was a tragedy, then this time, when they encountered it again, the tragedy turned into a horror story—who had ever seen a ship burst into flames after just one shot?

At that moment, Captain Johnson rushed over in a panic. "Commander, you must leave immediately!"

"What happened?" General Kade asked.

"The enemy used a new type of incendiary shell..." Johnson said, coughing as he spoke. "Cough... cough... this thing ignited the gunpowder, and... and the smoke was too thick and poisonous. Many of the young men who went to put out the fire... instantly... some of them were knocked unconscious by the smoke... Commander, the fire is out of control now, we must abandon ship!"

By this time, the fire had become increasingly intense, with flames even reaching the first deck. Many soldiers, without waiting for orders, grabbed wooden barrels and other items and jumped into the sea. The steam engine also stopped, indicating that the fire had spread to the engine room.

"Immediately order the fleet to break out." General Kane realized how vulnerable his warships were to the Britain's new incendiary shells. The enemy only needed one shell to set a warship ablaze—it wasn't that we were incompetent, but that the enemy's technology was too advanced. This battle was simply unwinnable! Compared to the Britain warships, the United States fleet was as fragile as insects.

The order was given by flag signal. General Kane and the captain pushed the lifeboats into the sea and boarded them. The Britain ignored them and went straight to chase the United States warships that had broken formation and were fleeing for their lives. Kane and his men then pulled the sailors who had jumped into the sea earlier onto the lifeboats.

This area is at a high latitude and is affected by the Labrador Current, so the water temperature is quite low. Even in summer, it is around ten degrees Celsius, but at this time, the water temperature may only be two or three degrees Celsius. If a person is immersed in such water for even a little while, they will freeze to death.

General Kane and some others managed to rescue some of the sailors who had fallen into the water, and then rowed the lifeboats southwest toward the Nova Scotia Peninsula, which is Canada territory.

The remaining four American warships scattered and fled. The HMS Indomitable managed to catch only one, and it only managed to hit its opponent once before setting the supercruiser ablaze. The United States were forced to abandon ship. This time, having lost the positions of the other United States warships, the Britain stopped, captured the United States, and returned to the St. Lawrence Estuary.

A few days later, the fleeing United States warships returned to their respective ports in the United States, bringing back news of their disastrous defeat at sea.

As the saying goes, misfortunes never come singly. Not only did the United States suffer losses at sea, but United States also suffered defeats on the land battlefield.