Blocking the Harbor
"Are you crazy? Are you out of your mind? Didn't you see how big that Britain fleet is? See that behemoth? Queen Elizabeth! Even at point-blank range, our cannons might not be able to penetrate her armor. Her armor is incredibly thick. Otherwise, why would the Britain name her 'Old Maid'? That 'Old Maid,' 'Virgin Queen,' has a ton of lovers and countless illegitimate children. Damn it, if we get hit by just one shell, we're done for. Besides, how long can we hold her off? Not even five minutes! I have to take responsibility for this ship and the lives of everyone on board!" Captain Alençon exclaimed, his eyes wide.
"Captain, even if it's only five minutes, many more people will be able to escape," Major Francis said.
Alençon wanted to retort, "They're all United States, what's it to me!" But after thinking about it, he said, "You're right, we can't just do nothing."
He then turned and ordered, "Speed up, raise the Britain flag, prepare the forward main guns, we're going to fire on Savannah... fire warning shots. Signal the Windsor to do the same."
This is the limit of what they can do for United States.
By this time, the Britain lookouts had already spotted the two France cruisers flying the tricolor flag.
"Damn it, we run into France everywhere!" Captain Hardy of the Queen Elizabeth cursed, lowering his binoculars. He knew these two ships were most likely the ones mentioned in the intelligence report, the France subleased to the United States. He desperately wanted to pounce and unleash a barrage of fire, sending these France to shark food. But now that the two ships were flying the France flag, he was less certain about their identity. What if, what if they were different ships, not yet leased to the United States?
Before setting sail, the Britain had already considered what to do if they encountered France warships, or even if they were provoked by France. During the Seven Years' War, this would have been no problem at all. But now, Britain was clearly in a weaker position, because the cabinet demanded that the navy exercise restraint and patience. Unless the France took any substantial hostile action—or, to put it more bluntly, unless the France fired on Britain first— the Britain should not initiate an attack or take any provocative action to avoid complicating the situation.
"France now has a very strong land force in Louisiana. Once they find an excuse and join the war, Canada will certainly not be able to hold on. Even Ireland will be in turmoil. So the navy must exercise restraint, restraint!" This was what Prime Minister Pitt Jr. said to his officers as the fleet set sail.
But then, the actions of the two France ships stunned the Britain as well—they actually raised the St. France 'St. George's Flag. Not the small red triangular flag signifying courage and despair for warships, but the St. George's Flag England! Wasn't this blatant impersonation of the British Navy right in front of the real British Navy? Such a tactic was unheard of!
"The France don't want to fight us. They know perfectly well that two colonial cruisers can't fight us. It's just suicide." General Nelson emerged from the cabin at this moment. "I think they want to send a warning to the United States in Savannah —they'll fly our flag and then fire a shot at Savannah —that's quite a creative idea. The France..."
"General, should we stop them? They're openly impersonating us; theoretically, we could treat them as pirates," Captain Hardy asked.
"No, it's only twenty minutes at most, and that won't change anything. We don't need to make things complicated," Nelson replied.
Just as Nelson had predicted, two France warships flying the St. George's Flag of the British Navy opened fire on Savannah. After firing two shots, they lowered the St. George's Flag and raised the tricolor flag in front of the Britain.
"The France are truly shameless when they can be," Captain Hardy cursed.
"Hardy, to be honest, we're the same. Human history is a history of struggle between shameless fools and shameless villains. And the result of the struggle has always been that the shameless villains have defeated the shameless fools. There isn't a single country that still exists today that isn't a shameless villain," Nelson sighed.
"General, if that's the case, then our competition with France is just a matter of who can be more shameless?"
"Haha, a little, isn't it?" Nelson laughed. "Hopefully, in the end we'll be the ones saying, 'The France are really stupid!' Hahaha."
On the cruiser "Floréal", the soldiers had just lowered the St. George's Flag and raised the tricolor flag.
"Captain, look, the United States gunboats are leaving port!"
Captain Alençon looked towards the harbor and saw two small steamers slowly emerging from the port. These were small gunboats built by the United States for patrolling the harbor area. They had a displacement of no more than 400 tons, a speed of no more than 10 knots, and were equipped with a small 76mm cannon. This cannon was fixed in the open on the foredeck, completely exposed.
Captain Alençon had seen these small gunboats before when the ship was anchored in Savannah. The Savannah port customs service had five or six of them, with usually two of them having their boilers lit and ready to go at any time. But that was useless; such ships were insignificant compared to the large Britain fleet, or even the France colonial cruisers.
By this time, the Floréal had already changed its flag, but Captain Alençon still ordered the ship to accelerate to avoid the two small ships that were leaving port. Although he estimated that as long as the people on those two ships weren't blind and stupid, they should have noticed the forest-like column of smoke appearing in the east, and seen that he had raised the France flag again, and naturally knew that the two shots he had fired off off course earlier were not intended to bombard the city, but rather to warn that the Britain fleet had arrived.
However, considering that they dared to charge out with just two small boats and two cannons, they must be a bunch of complete idiots on board. What if they didn't even understand what was going on and started firing at us? Therefore, Captain Alençon's order was entirely reasonable.
The two heavy gunboats didn't chase after the France; instead, they raised signal flags to express their gratitude. It seemed the gunboats understood the France 'France actions. Then they rushed towards the forest of smoke pillars. Clearly, when these two small gunboats left the harbor, their target was the Britain fleet.
"They're going to their deaths. The Britain could wipe them out in two or three minutes. They won't even have enough time to let the ships in the harbor escape," Captain Alençon said.
Meanwhile, the Britain fleet was drawing ever closer. This little bit of time was utterly useless. Most of the steamships in Savannah harbor were shut down; it would take at least an hour for the boilers to be lit and pressurized before the ships could move. As for the sailing merchant ships, most of their sailors were also not on board. At this point, it would take several hours to find enough sailors to get the ships out and escape. Therefore, the fools rushing in would be completely futile.
What happened next was exactly as Captain Alençon had predicted. Rows of water suddenly began to emerge around the two clumsy gunboats. Immediately afterward, the first gunboat was hit by a cannonball.
The shell destroyed the small gunboat's steam engine, leaving it stranded on the sea. In the next half minute or so, it was hit by five or six more shells, causing the entire boat to list and sink quickly.
The second one was slightly stronger; he managed to fire a shot—of course, it missed everything—before being torn to shreds by Britain firepower.
By this time, both "Huayue" and "Fengyue" had traveled some distance. The two ships began to slow down, preparing to observe the battle. Indeed, in this era, watching a naval battle was a very common occurrence.
"Captain, are we really just going to do nothing?" Major Francis asked.
"No, of course we can't just do nothing," Captain Alençon said. "We have to watch the battle from the sidelines. With foreign warships watching, perhaps they'll tone down some of their actions. Well, my friend, you know, if we rush in and fight the Britain, we won't last any longer than those two gunboats. But if we just stand by and watch, their atrocities might actually be somewhat restrained."
"Sigh, those two United States ships were so... so brave. But they died so tragically," sighed First Mate Copa, who was standing nearby.
"Oh, Copa, you know, I met a Mexico priest in New Orleans. He said something very interesting to me. He said that everyone dies, but the meaning of death varies depending on how it happens. Some deaths are as heavy as the Rocky Mountains; others are as light as a feather. It's the same with warships. All warships die, whether on the battlefield or in a shipyard. But if a warship dies for the people, it is heavier than the Rocky Mountains; if it dies for feudal rulers, for those who exploit and oppress the people, it is lighter than a feather."
"The priest you're talking about isn't some heretic of Revolutionary Theology, is he?" Copa said.
"Ah, who knows? Anyway, Mexico is full of people who believe in Revolutionary Theology these days..."
While they were talking, the Britain fleet had already deployed outside the harbor, blocking the port's exits. Now, no ship was able to leave Savannah harbor.