Prison Break Operation (7)

As French Army armored cruisers joined the siege of the Poitiers, the Poitiers' situation worsened. Although the shells failed to penetrate the Poitiers' armor, they caused a severe fire. This fire posed a significant threat to the Poitiers; if left unchecked, it would certainly be destroyed. However, extinguishing the fire required venturing into unsafe areas outside the armored defenses. Consequently, damage control personnel were continuously killed and wounded by shells from the France armored cruisers.

This situation resulted in severe crew losses for the Poitiers. On the other hand, even though the damage control personnel braved gunfire to try to extinguish the fire, the fire was still not under effective control.

Lord George Kirkburn later wrote in his memoirs, "It must be admitted that, apart from the gap in basic knowledge and technology, Britain warships were far behind the France in terms of design philosophy. I am not trying to shift the blame for the defeat onto our designers; in fact, they did a very good job. However, in terms of design philosophy, the France warships were indeed far superior to ours."

For example, the France emphasis on defensive design meant that France warships, despite being roughly the same size as or even slightly smaller than ours, had far superior armor protection.

Furthermore, the France warships were far more prepared for fire prevention than we were. Later, as an instructor at the French Navy Academy, I boarded one of their armored cruisers, which they used for training sailors. This armored cruiser, which served as a training ship, had participated in the Battle of the North Sea Strait, a nightmare for me and many Britain, and by the time I boarded it, it had been replaced by more advanced warships. But for me, this ship still held many intriguing secrets.

One of the secrets was the fire prevention of France warships. During the Battle of the North Sea Strait, one of the most impressive aspects of France warships was their fire prevention. Many of our ships were lost due to uncontrolled fires, such as the battleship 'Poitiers'. Many of our cruisers also suffered severe fires after being hit by the French Army artillery fire. Their losses were, in fact, inextricably linked to fire.

France warships also caught fire under our bombardment, but the fires were small and quickly extinguished. Clearly, they had a significant technological advantage over us in fire prevention and firefighting. I was aware of some of these advantages, but others I would only understand by going aboard the ships.

Once aboard, I examined the ship closely and discovered that France warships contained far fewer flammable materials than Britain ones. For example, there was almost no wood on France ships; their tables and chairs were mostly made of iron. This was certainly less comfortable, but it reduced the risk of fire. In our country, perhaps out of nostalgia for the age of sail, although we had switched to steel warships, we always tried to retain as much of that era's character as possible. For instance, we preferred wooden tables and chairs, and even our cabins had many wooden decorations—things you wouldn't see on France warships.

In addition, France warships carried very few textiles, while we, for aesthetic reasons, even covered our walls with wallpaper, which later became a fire hazard. The materials used to paste them, in particular, produced large amounts of toxic smoke in a fire.

In addition, the France minimized the placement of critical pipelines in non-protected areas. This made them less affected by fires, and they also equipped their warships with more fire hoses and extinguishers than ours. This made their warships much more resilient in the face of fires than ours..."

The fire spread through various pipes into the interior of the Poitiers, which had not been penetrated by shells. Many systems were forced to shut down or were damaged by the fire. In fact, even if the France suddenly withdrew for some reason, the Poitiers might not have been able to return safely.

By this time, the Trajan had regained its balance and began shifting its firepower towards the Poitiers. The situation became increasingly unfavorable for the Britain, to the point that the Britain fleet could be said to have fallen into despair.

"This battle is lost. Even if not a single shell falls on our ships again, even if a miracle were to happen and the France fleet suddenly retreats, like the Mongols who had crossed the Danube and suddenly withdrew, we still cannot advance to break the blockade of Britain. Now, we should not let our naval soldiers sacrifice themselves meaninglessly any longer."

Faced with this situation, Lord George Kirkburn made this decision. Because of this decision, upon his return, he was made a scapegoat by the Britain government for the defeat and was sent to a military court on charges of "cowardice" and "incompetent command."

Lord George Kirkburn denied all these accusations. However, he was still sentenced to prison. Later, after a new peace agreement was reached between Britain and France, he was handed over to the France as a war criminal...

After Lord George Kirkburn gave the order to retreat, the remaining Britain warships began to turn and attempt to escape back to the Irish Sea. With a great victory of annihilating the enemy forces within reach, the France were naturally unwilling to let the Britain fleet go so easily.

At this point in the Britain fleet, HMS Cressy's main guns were completely destroyed and its propulsion was also somewhat damaged; HMS Poitiers' secondary guns and sights were completely destroyed, but its propulsion and main guns were still intact. In addition, the armored cruiser Hope had not hit a single shot and was in full combat readiness. Thus, these two warships took on the responsibility of covering the retreat of the other warships.

The armored cruiser Hope, at top speed, cut between the Cressy and Trajan, relentlessly attacking Trajan with its guns. Although its firepower was unlikely to cause much damage to Trajan, Hope, darting around like a fly, still caused considerable disruption to Trajan.

The secondary guns of the Trajan fired fiercely at the Hope, but because the Hope was very fast and kept making erratic turns, naturally not a single shell hit it. (Of course, the Hope, which was also firing continuously at high speed, also missed everything.) The Hope even made occasional attempts to ram the Trajan, forcing the Trajan to constantly adjust its course to avoid it—after all, the Trajan already had four watertight compartments flooded, and if one or two more were breached, it would be truly devastating.

The other cruisers then shifted their targets and opened fire on the Hope. Shells rained down around the Hope, and often the water jets seemed to completely engulf the armored cruiser. But in the next instant, the ship would emerge from the water jets, completely unharmed except for being splashed with water!

The French Army cruisers' shift of fire gave the Poitiers a much-needed respite. Although the Poitiers appeared to be badly damaged, their propulsion and main guns were actually not seriously damaged. The fire was their greatest danger, but with the French Army shifting their fire, the damage control personnel on the Poitiers were finally able to fight the fire undisturbed. Although the fire was already very large and difficult to extinguish or even reduce, it was at least somewhat under control.

Moreover, Captain Valentin, the captain of the Poitiers, now has time to make a serious assessment of the current situation.

The most powerful enemy ship, Trajan, is clearly in trouble. Its power is severely compromised, making it incredibly slow. In contrast, the Poitiers' power is still intact, meaning the Poitiers are faster than Trajan.

The image of Lord Nelson leading the Queen Elizabeth to ram the Imperator immediately came to Captain Valentin's mind.

However, Colonel Valentin also knew that the Trajan's firepower was unlike that of the Caesar or any other France ship; its cannons could actually penetrate its armor. And the closer they got, the greater the chance of being hit. If a shell hit the ammunition magazine, the Poitiers would be sent flying on the spot.

Therefore, Valentin first issued this order, "Fill the main gun magazines with water. Pressurize the steam engines and Trajan!"

Then, the Poitiers, engulfed in flames, began to accelerate, billowing thick smoke, and rammed into the Trajan.

Admiral Brueys and the other officers aboard the Trajan were completely captivated by the Hope; they had never seen a ship so incredibly lucky. If this were in later times, someone would surely be shouting, "Honey, come see God!" or "Internet cafe manager, someone's cheating! Aren't you going to do anything about it?"

However, Brueys's thoughts differed from those of later generations. A rather blasphemous idea popped into his head. "My God, thirteen strafing shots, and not a single shell hit! Could the captain of this ship be your second son, Jesus's younger brother?"

Because everyone's attention was drawn to the ship, the Poitiers didn't come to everyone's attention until they were quite close and moving at a considerable speed. Trajan then did his best to turn and evade the Poitiers, while the other warships began to shift their fire to attack Poitiers.

However, due to the panic, Trajan's first salvo missed its target, and although the salvo from the other cruisers managed to hit one or two targets, it had little effect on Poitiers.

As the Poitiers drew ever closer, the gunners on Trajan displayed a remarkably high level of training, hitting the Poitiers' main gun turret directly in the third volley and successfully penetrating it. However, this penetration was of little significance, because the Poitiers had already flooded its ammunition magazines when it launched this attack, rendering its main guns unusable to begin with.

In the fourth and fifth salvos, Trajan was hit twice more, but the distance between the two ships continued to shrink. Now Trajan could only pray that in the next salvo, one or more shells would destroy Poitiers' steam engine; otherwise...

However, God was not on the France side. Although the France continued to get hit and penetrated, including a shell that hit the Poitiers' ammunition magazine, the Poitiers still charged forward under the fire and rammed heavily into the Trajan.

This impact damaged two more watertight compartments of the Trajan, creating a gaping hole almost the same size as the one blasted by the kamikaze attack on the torpedo boat not long ago. Now, six watertight compartments of the Trajan were severely damaged. Because the opening was so large, it was almost impossible to seal, so the Trajan was likely destined for abandonment.

While the two ships were still linked together, the France grabbed various guns and boarded the Poitiers. In the previous battle, the Poitiers had lost almost half of its sailors, and naturally could not withstand the France attack. It seemed that the situation would soon turn into the Britain Poitiers ramming and Trajan, while the sailors on the Trajan would successfully capture the Britain Poitiers.

However, the uncooperative Britain, while raising their hands in surrender, secretly opened the sea valve.

Brueys was transferred to the Caesar. By this time, the Cressy had already entered the passage it had come out of, and even the Hope had turned and fled towards the passage.

The France, naturally unwilling to let them go so easily, especially after suffering such heavy losses, followed closely behind the Britain, intending to catch up and annihilate them. And then...

Then, something even more telling emerged that the captain of the "Hope" must have had some kind of connection with God. After discovering that the France were following them, the "Hope" deliberately left the safe passage and entered a minefield. The France followed and entered the minefield as well. Then, in the place where nothing had happened when the "Hope" had sailed past, an explosion suddenly occurred when French Navy ships passed by.

Within two minutes, the super cruiser Hermes was severely damaged by a mine (and sank an hour later), while the armored cruiser HMS Lorraine sank immediately after hitting a mine.

The remaining ships dared not pursue any further and had no choice but to turn back. During this process, another armored cruiser sank.

This series of attacks led the France to suspect that Britain mines might have developed an IFF (Identification Friend or Foe) system. However, postwar research showed that the Britain did not possess such advanced technology at all. The only reason the Hope cruised through the minefield unscathed was simply because it was incredibly lucky.