Prison Break Operation (3)

Lord George Kirkburn's fleet arrived at Campbeltown Channel around ten o'clock. By then, the fog had begun to dissipate. Because of what had happened on the way, Lord George Kirkburn believed that the France should now know about his operation. They might already be arrayed at the exit, waiting for his fleet to rush out so they could take advantage of his T-shaped formation.

However, this was all part of the plan, and Lord George Kirkburn didn't think his decision to head north was a mistake. According to their intelligence, the France had deployed more and stronger warships near the St George's Channel. Furthermore, while they could receive support from the fortifications at the strait's exit, making it easier to deploy their fleet, there were too many ports and too many fast France warships nearby; even if they managed to break through, it would be difficult to shake off France pursuit. The Britain fleet was not at a speed advantage, at least not in calm seas.

However, the situation was different in the north. The fleet there was likely weaker, and if they could break through and enter the Taynish Waterway, the France fleet would completely lose track of them. By the time they made a large detour and reached the exit of the Taynish Waterway, the Britain fleet would have long since disappeared into the vast ocean.

Furthermore, compared to the south, the North Sea is characterized by strong winds and high waves, with extremely poor sea conditions. France warships, in pursuit of high speed, made certain compromises in seaworthiness. Therefore, in the rough seas of the North Sea, the France fleet was often slower than the Britain fleet—at least that's the Britain's assessment. Of course, the France might not agree; they also believed that the French Academy of Sciences' years of research and development in ship design had not been in vain.

Regardless, once they entered the Taynish Waterway, at least for the time being, the France would be unable to continue tracking them.

However, the current issue is how to safely exit Campbeltown Channel.

Campbeltown Channel was 20 kilometers wide, British Army laid minefields there. Of course, the Britain left the passage, but its width was insufficient for the entire fleet to deploy in formation. If there were enemies at the exit, he would have to make a sharp turn in front of them, under their fire.

Prior to this operation, Britain Royal Navy conducted at least fifty simulations on nautical charts. These simulations all demonstrated that, under normal circumstances, the possibility of successfully breaking through the encirclement and maintaining considerable combat effectiveness if intercepted by a fleet of comparable strength in Campbeltown Channel was extremely small. Unless the opponent made a mistake, total annihilation was almost the only outcome.

However, this refers to normal circumstances. Today's situation is not particularly normal because there is still heavy fog. If they are not detected while passing through the Belfast Waters, they can use the fog as cover to find their way out of the Campbeltown Channel, and then, under the protection of high tide, speed towards the Taynish Waterway. It will not be easy for the France to stop them.

Of course, the situation today isn't ideal, but under the cover of dense fog, even a dissipating fog, it's not entirely impossible to withstand enemy artillery fire and complete a turn in front of the enemy. After all, in dense fog, the hit rate of artillery fire would be very low for both the Britain and the France. Unless the France close the distance between the two sides very closely, but in that case, something the Britain had specially prepared might come in handy.

At this moment, the British Army minesweeper force stationed at Campbeltown had already arrived to meet them. The fog had not yet lifted, but the enemy's outline could already be seen at a distance of three or four hundred meters. With the addition of the red anti-collision lights, both sides could spot each other from a greater distance.

The two sides communicated using light signals, from which Lord George Kirkburn knew that the minesweepers had spotted the France fleet outside the exit. Of course, due to the heavy fog, the composition of the France fleet was still unclear. Knowing that his fleet could not retreat, Lord George Kirkburn gave the order to advance. Because of the fog, he could not raise the blood-red pennants to boost morale, but the loudspeakers invented by the France came in handy.

Lord George Kirkburn then delivered a brief pre-battle address to the entire fleet via loudspeaker.

In his speech, Lord George Kirkburn told the soldiers that the France fleet was waiting outside the passage, hoping to keep them blockaded in the Irish Sea. The Britain were now suffocating under the Noose of the blockade, and their families were already starving.

"For England, and more importantly, for our families to have bread to eat, we have no way out now. If we can break through, the blockade of Britain will be broken, and the Noose around our families' necks will be loosened. So we cannot back down."

The rise and fall of the kingdom hinges on this battle; you must all fight bravely to repay the nation's kindness."

After delivering his speech, Lord George Kirkburn gave the order to advance.

Then the Britain minesweepers took the lead, guiding the British Army fleet through the minefield.

The British Army fleet was led by several minesweepers, followed by two fast cruisers. Because dense fog was very common at sea during this season, the Britain had made preparations in advance. One such preparation was the installation of long masts that extended forward and backward on the two cruisers. The sole purpose of these masts was to mount anti-collision lights for use in fog.

Navigating a minefield in dense fog without headlights is absolutely essential, and wearing them also makes the enemy more easily spotted. However, at greater distances, enemy ships rely primarily on observing the height and spacing of the headlights to identify targets. Battleships are taller and longer than cruisers, so under normal circumstances, their headlights are positioned higher and spaced further apart. These two cruisers underwent this modification to mislead France warships, causing them to concentrate their fire on them, thus giving the battleships following behind time to turn.

Behind the two cruisers posing as battleships were the battleships HMS Cressy and HMS Poitiers. Unlike the cruisers in front, they deliberately lowered the height of their crash lights and moved the crash lights, which should have been mounted at the bow, to the middle of the ship.

Furthermore, while the two cruisers at the front were in a normal single-file formation, the fleet following behind them changed to a double-file formation. This undoubtedly increased the danger of navigating the minefield. However, it compressed the formation, making it easier to turn immediately after leaving the strait. In addition, it made it easier for the enemy to misjudge the size of the fleet and provided cover for some special-purpose warships. For example, on each side of the battleships "Cressy" and "Poitiers," there were two small warships of only about four or five hundred tons. These warships were very special; they didn't even have a single cannon on them. They only had a long pole extending forward from the bow.

The fleet sailed forward, and the sea fog continued to dissipate.

Around 10:30, the fleet had approached the exit of the strait, and the sea fog had dissipated considerably. At this point, the France could see the Britain crash lights from two kilometers away.

Taking advantage of the smuggling opportunity, both the Ministry of Police and the Ministry of Truth obtained a lot of information about the new Britain warships. Therefore, based on the condition of the anti-collision lights on the British Army warships, the France were also able to barely identify targets and judge distances.

"The first few ships are minesweepers. Judging by the proportions, the two ships behind should be the battleships 'Cressy' and 'Poitiers.' Following that are two armored cruisers, then a supercruiser, and the targets beyond that are still under observation. We are about 2.5 kilometers away from the enemy battleships," Chief of Staff Copa said to Brueys on the bridge of the battleship "Trajan."

"According to the plan, concentrate firepower to attack the enemy battleships," Brueys ordered.

At 10:40 AM, the 203mm guns of the battleship Trajan opened fire, thus beginning the naval battle. Following Trajan, the 150mm guns of the battleship Caesar also began firing on the British Army, followed by the 150mm guns of the super cruisers Hermes and Artemis, and then the 100mm guns of the armored cruisers.

The fog did indeed interfere with rangefinding, and the misidentification of targets further reduced the hit rate. However, with dozens of warships firing salvos and hundreds of shells falling, one or two shells still managed to hit their targets. The foremost armored cruiser, HMS Resolution, was the first to be hit by a 100mm shell. The shell landed on its side. If it were truly a battleship, a 100mm shell would have had no chance of penetrating its armor at that location. However, it was not a battleship, but an armored cruiser. Due to an underestimation of the armor-piercing capabilities of the France guns, the armor of the Britain armored cruiser at such close range was insufficient to withstand the semi-armor-piercing shells from the France 100mm guns.

If it had been nighttime instead of fog, this 100mm shell would likely have immediately exposed the Britain's guise as a battleship. The flashes from a shell hitting armor differ depending on whether it penetrates or not, and the flashes from shells of different calibers are also different. An experienced lookout could tell at a glance that the enemy ship's armor had been penetrated by my 100mm gun, and then the ship's identity would naturally be revealed.

However, since it was foggy, the sparks from the armor penetration were not visible from here. Therefore, all the France warships concentrated their firepower and opened fire fiercely on the two "battleships".

One problem with the fog was that at this distance, the France couldn't see whether they had hit the enemy or observe the impact point of the shells, making it impossible to make corrections. They could only rely on the coincidence rangefinder to judge the distance to the fog lights and then fire blindly.

Soon, the Resolution was hit again. This time, her luck ran out. The 100mm semi-armor-piercing shell that hit her earlier, while penetrating the armor, had a very small explosive charge, barely more than a hand grenade, so the damage was actually quite limited. But this time, she was hit by a 203mm shell fired from the battleship Trajan. This shell easily penetrated her armor on the port side, and after passing through layers of internal structure, it struck the starboard armor plating and exploded. The explosion tore a one-meter-sized hole in the underwater section of the starboard side, and a large amount of seawater rushed in.

Several more shells then fell, and the Resolution began to list, its speed noticeably decreasing. In order not to block the warships behind it, the Resolution began to turn, clearing the way for them.

However, at this time, the "Resolution" had not yet left the minefield, so her action was extremely dangerous.

Perhaps it was because too many men on the Resolution forgot to offer a sincere prayer to God when they woke up today, so the ship was particularly unlucky. Just a minute after turning, it struck a mine. The explosive charge and power of a mine far surpassed that of a cannonball, and the armored cruiser was blasted in two, sinking into the sea in less than a minute. It became the first warship to sink that day.

Even through the thick fog, the France noticed the deafening explosion of the mines and the disappearance of the enemy's "battleship." All the France were inspired by this great achievement, and they believed that a great victory was on their way.

The France continued to concentrate their fire on the other battleship, but perhaps because HMS Resolution had been so unlucky, God was now trying to balance things out, as Hope remained completely unscathed. Despite six or seven salvos from the France, she remained untouched, as if she were some kind of auspicious creature from later times. At this point, the Britain had sailed out of the minefield and began to turn under France fire. Having exited the minefield, they also turned off their ramshackles.

However, by this time, the fog had dissipated more, and as the two fleets drew closer, they could see each other's faint outlines. It was only then that the France realized that what they had been focusing their fire on was not a single "battleship," but rather the two ships they had mistaken for armored cruisers that were actually battleships.

Meanwhile, the Britain battleships had already completed their rangefinding by observing the muzzle flashes of the France warships, and their 305mm guns were ready to fire at the France.