Jailbreak Operation (5)

The battleship HMS Cressy has now lost half of its firepower and can only fight back stubbornly with the help of its stern B turret. However, with its firepower density reduced by half, the probability of a hit naturally decreases as well. On the other hand, the damaged engine room has also reduced the ship's power. A warship that has lost half of its firepower is already outmatched; and then it loses its power, meaning it can't escape either. It can be said that, barring any unforeseen circumstances, the loss of the Cressy is already a foregone conclusion.

"Continue to approach, concentrate fire, take him out as soon as possible, then we'll go support 'Caesar'," Brueys issued the order.

Brueys' decision cannot be considered wrong, because just as Trajan was beating Cressy, Caesar was facing a crisis.

Before this, "Caesar" and his crew had been almost completely dominating "Poitiers." "Poitiers" was battered and bruised, with smoke billowing everywhere. However, neither "Caesar's" 150mm shells nor the 127mm shells from the supercruiser that was helping him could deliver a real, decisive blow to "Poitiers."

Poitiers, however, after enduring a flurry of punches and kicks while clutching his head, managed to land a powerful punch that actually hit the Caesar.

This is a shell fired from the B turret of the Poitiers during the fifth salvo. Before this, the deck of the Poitiers had been bombarded by various shells time and time again, and all the rangefinders had been destroyed. Its two turrets were now fighting based on their own estimated numbers.

But it's no wonder they guessed correctly; they actually managed to pick one.

The 305mm shell easily penetrated the armor of the "Caesar" and exploded in the engine compartment. The 305mm shell was extremely powerful, instantly destroying nearly half of the "Caesar's " power.

To ensure firing accuracy, the France were trying to keep up, while the Britain had just cautiously moved out of the minefield and hadn't had time to increase their speed. Therefore, neither side was moving very fast; neither formation exceeded ten knots. The France formation was slightly faster, at around nine knots, while the Britain were slower, at around eight knots. Losing half their power hadn't yet caused the "Caesar" to fall behind the formation, but this would definitely cause problems in the long run.

Trajan began to close the distance with Cressy in an attempt to increase their accuracy. In the process, they landed another hit, breaking one of Cressy's chimneys.

However, Cressy's counterattack also hit its mark. This time, they hit an undefended area near the stern, and the shells passed directly from one side to the other without causing much damage to Trajan. Because the distance was closer, Trajan was hit again.

The hit occurred in the secondary gun ammunition magazine of the "Cressy." Unlike the Cressy gun magazine, the secondary gun magazine was not well protected and was therefore directly ignited.

However, the Britain did take some precautions regarding safety. For instance, the secondary gun ammunition magazines were separate, with each secondary gun corresponding to a small magazine. Therefore, an explosion in a secondary gun ammunition magazine was unlikely to send the entire ship overboard. In addition, this secondary gun had already fired a considerable amount of ammunition beforehand, further reducing your chances of survival.

However, the explosion of the secondary gun ammunition magazine caused a fire and cut off the power supply to turret B.

Turret B, along with its two 305mm guns, could be rotated entirely by hand, but under these conditions, its rotation speed was comparable to the Earth's rotation. As a result, the turret was practically rendered unusable. The Britain, of course, rushed to troubleshoot the problem and carry out emergency repairs, but at least for the time being, the turret was unusable.

However, the France didn't realize that the Britain B turret was temporarily unusable because its problem differed from the A turret's; it wasn't outwardly apparent. Therefore, the France dared not approach too closely. The Britain, however, knew that the B turret's malfunction couldn't be concealed for long. If, in the current situation, the B turret remained inactive for an extended period, even a fool would notice something was wrong. At that point, the France would surely close in, unleashing a devastating attack, and the battle would be over.

However, the Britain ammunition hoists were not affected, so the B turret could still fire, just without the ability to aim. In other words, the two cannons in the B turret were now primarily for intimidation. But considering that the hit rate of cannons in naval battles is generally low, even if seven or eight salvos failed to hit a single shot, well, that could only be considered bad luck.

So even though they knew that under such circumstances, the two cannons at Battery B had no chance of hitting anything, the Britain still fired at a fixed pace. Although they missed everything, at least they could intimidate the France.

This tactic actually worked. Although none of the subsequent shots from turret B hit their mark, it did deter the France from approaching further. Moreover, the fact that turret B was essentially ineffective offered no advantage; the advantage was that when controlling the ship, the need for firepower could be completely disregarded. In other words, the Cressy could evade France shells more freely without disrupting the battle line.

However, Cressy's situation of being attacked unilaterally did not change. After dodging five volleys of fire from Trajan, she was hit again.

Fortunately, the shell didn't hit any particularly critical area. Although it caused over ten casualties, the damage to the Cressy was limited. After all, battleships are generally very sturdy warships, and destroying them with just cannon fire is not easy. If one battleship cleared away everything that could cause a fire or explosion, and then another battleship bombarded it with its cannons, even if that battleship used up all its ammunition, it might not be able to send the Cressy to the bottom of the sea.

After holding out for another six or seven rounds, the France gradually realized that something seemed wrong with the battleship "Cressy".

"Captain, look at the enemy ship's B turret. The aiming of those two guns is clearly wrong; they're not aimed at us at all. I suspect there's something wrong with their aiming and steering system." A operations staff officer was the first to notice something amiss with the Britain and reported it to Captain Alston.

Colonel Alston raised his binoculars and observed carefully before saying, "It doesn't seem very accurate. Let's accelerate and further change our relative position to them, and see how they react."

This naturally exposed the problem with the Britain B turret. Judging from their firing patterns, their rotation and aiming systems were definitely malfunctioning.

Captain Alston immediately informed Admiral Brueys, who was in the conning tower.

"Are you sure?" Admiral Brueys asked.

"Yes, I'm sure, of course they're definitely working on repairs..." Colonel Alston left himself an out.

"In other words, if we don't seize this opportunity immediately, we might let victory slip away." Brueys's focus was clearly different from Captain Alston's. "Then what are we waiting for? Quickly approach from a safe angle, the closer the better, and completely destroy the enemy ship!"

"The enemy ship suddenly accelerated and came to our flank and front; clearly they've noticed the problem with our B turret," the Britain operations officer, Bill, reported to Lord George Kirkburn.

"I see them." On the bridge, Lord George Kirkburn lowered his binoculars. "They're closing in on us. Our secondary guns pose no threat to them. However, their approach actually presents an opportunity for us..."

Trajan closed in to within a kilometer of Cressy, at a distance where her six 203mm guns had a very high hit rate. Trajan fired six salvos at Cressy from this distance, each salvo achieving nearly 50% hit rate, landing a total of seventeen shells on the Cressy.

The HMS Cressy was engulfed in flames, and the fire seemed to be out of control. Brueys ordered a continued advance to precisely target the Britain B turret and completely destroy the enemy ship's fighting capability. He knew that sinking this enemy ship would take time; if they could quickly destroy its fighting capability, they could abandon it and join forces with the Caesar and others to encircle and destroy the Poitiers behind it. This was the most rational course of action.

Trajan continued to approach Cressy, unleashing Cressy barrage of fire. Finally, a shell struck the B turret.

"Alright, success! The enemy ship opposite us is now a completely harmless eunuch," Brueys said triumphantly. "Now let's shift our target and attack the 'Poitiers'!"

Trajan began to slow down in order to get closer to the Poitiers, which were further behind. At the same time, her six 203mm main guns turned toward the Poitiers.

At this moment, the Poitiers had just received a hit; one of its 305mm shells struck the B turret of the Caesar, completely destroying it. Because the B turret was currently loading ammunition, the fire door leading to the ammunition magazine was open, and the flames from the explosion traveled down the passage, nearly igniting the magazine itself. However, to extinguish the flames in the magazine, the France had to flood the forward main gun magazine. Fortunately, the A turret did not share an ammunition magazine with the B turret, so the Caesar managed to retain about half of its firepower. This incident, however, also made the previously high-flying Caesar much more cautious, even actively creating distance for self-protection.

As the "Caesar" retreated, the other two supercruisers naturally followed suit. Their survivability was inferior to the "Caesar," so they needed to keep their distance. After all, the Britain guns had low muzzle velocity, and at greater range, their accuracy was questionable.

Just as the Poitiers breathed a sigh of relief after forcing the enemy ships back, six 203mm shells came hurtling down with a whoosh.

Of course, this salvo missed its target, even veering quite far off course. However, it was a huge boost to the morale of the British Army. It meant that the France had achieved a complete victory in the one-on-one duel with their new battleships and could now support their other warships. The France victory was practically insurmountable.

But at that moment, the lookout on the Trajan cried out in alarm, "British Army warship spotted, 600 meters to starboard!"

On the starboard side of the Trajan was the Cressy, which had lost all its main guns and most of its secondary guns and was burning fiercely.

But suddenly two small boats emerged from behind the burning Cressy. Each boat had a long pole protruding from its bow, with a large trigger mine at the top. These were the Britain secret weapon – the pole mineboat.

The torpedo boat was made of wood, without any armor or other weapons, and was equipped with a steam engine that was quite large for its displacement, so it was quite fast, reaching a top speed of 22 knots. More importantly, because of its small tonnage and high horsepower, it could accelerate very quickly.

Of course, the disadvantages of this type of ship are also very obvious, namely that they have virtually no ability to withstand attacks. Even Trajan's 75mm secondary guns could destroy it with a single hit.

In a normal battle, with sufficient distance between the two sides, no matter how many ships like these came, they wouldn't be enough to kill them. But now, the hull of the Cressy provided cover for them, and the France were completely unaware of their presence, so when they appeared, they were already very close to the Trajan.

The France reaction was actually quite quick. At that moment, the 75mm secondary guns on the Trajan were still firing at the Cressy. So their gun barrels hadn't turned much, and with just a slight turn, they could have opened fire on the two torpedo boats that had charged out.

However, the appearance of the two ships was too sudden, and the distance was too close. So although the France reaction was not slow, they only managed to hit one torpedo boat. The other torpedo boat had already rushed to the side of the Trajan and entered the blind spot of the guns.

The long pole at the front of the torpedo boat begins to lower downwards, carrying the mines at its tip as it begins to sink into the water. The long pole at the front of the torpedo boat is movable. When it is about to hit the target, the operator will lower the long pole downwards so that the mine at the top is submerged in the water to attack the underwater part of the enemy ship.

Of course, if the attack succeeded, the enemy ship would be blasted open underwater, with seawater rushing in; and the torpedo boat itself? It would be blown to pieces in this close-range explosion. Therefore, the torpedo boat was actually the earliest form of kamikaze.