A Double Loss

The battle was over, Brueys was crestfallen. His performance was even worse than that of Grand Admiral Treville, whom he had been attacking all along—yes, indeed much worse.

In the Battle of the North Atlantic, Admiral Treville did indeed lose his flagship, the Imperado. However, he also lost the newest battleship, the Trajan, in the same battle. Moreover, while Admiral Treville lost the Imperator, he did not lose many sailors, whereas he lost nearly a third of his crew on the Trajan!

Moreover, Field Marshal Treville had essentially annihilated the enemy fleet, and apart from the Imperator, he had suffered no further losses. However, he allowed the enemy battleship HMS Cressy to escape, as well as at least two enemy armored cruisers. Even more critically, during the pursuit, he actually lost another super cruiser and two armored cruisers.

If he had successfully captured the Poitiers, he would at least have something to say when he returned, since it would have been the first time in history that a steam-powered battleship had been captured. However... the damned Britain opened the sea valves, and the ship sank.

In short, in Brueys's view, the marshal's scepter had already flown away, and he himself had certainly become the representative of "a fool who couldn't seize even the best opportunities."

However, Admiral Brueys was unaware that the situation was not as bad as he imagined, because the Britain battleship HMS Cressy had not escaped; it had just sunk not long ago.

The Cressy had not suffered any fatal damage, and she had been strictly following the safe course, and was about to leave the minefield. Faint explosions could still be heard from behind them; perhaps the France had struck a mine. In any case, the France had not been able to catch up. At this moment, Lord George Kirkburn, commander of the Britain fleet, was also pondering how he would return and explain himself.

Because of the swift retreat, Lord George Kirkburn did not witness the sinking of the Poitiers. He only saw the Poitiers ram into the enemy, but he didn't know the outcome. However, he knew that regardless of whether they rammed or not, the Poitiers were unlikely to return, as was the Hope, which had been covering them. After all, so many warships were surrounding them... Besides, even if they did return, what use would it be? Strategically, he had failed. He had failed to break through the France blockade, and the fleet had suffered heavy losses, making it impossible to launch a similar operation again. Of course, theoretically, the Cressy could still be repaired, and if the Poitiers also returned, there was a chance for repairs, but Britain now had neither the time nor the resources to repair them. Perhaps...

Just then, someone shouted, "Commander, the Hope is back!"

"The Hope is back? What about the Poitiers?" Lord George Kirkburn asked hastily, snatching a telescope from a staff officer standing nearby and peering in that direction.

The lone silhouette of the armored cruiser "Hope" can be seen through the telescope—clearly, the "Poitiers" did not return.

The Hope was in good condition and significantly faster, quickly closing the distance. Lord George Kirkburn noticed that the Hope had come from the minefield. He quickly realized the reason and exclaimed, "The Hope is incredibly lucky! All the other ships in our fleet combined can't match her luck. She must have led the France into the minefield. There seemed to be a faint explosion over there; the France probably triggered a mine. I wonder what happened."

At this point, Lord George Kirkburn sighed. Whatever the outcome, it was irrelevant to the overall situation. Even if the entire France squadron sank in the minefield, it wouldn't change the overall picture, especially since the Poitiers hadn't returned.

At this point, the Hope had already reported the situation behind them using flag signals.

"Commander, we sank the Trajan! In addition, the France Hermes and another armored cruiser struck a mine!" a staff officer reported excitedly, clearly pleased with the news.

However, Lord George Kirkburn was far from happy.

"That's good, but... it's really not very useful..." said Lord George Kirkburn.

Everyone understood what Lord George Kirkburn meant, and the slightly lively atmosphere vanished instantly, leaving everyone speechless.

But at that moment, an explosion suddenly occurred.

The massive explosion nearly lifted the entire ship into the air, and the people on board were thrown to the ground by the shockwave. When they got up, they found that the warship was beginning to list rapidly.

"Damn it, did we hit a mine? Aren't we in a safe passage?" Lord George Kirkburn shouted, lying on the deck.

"Commander, Commander, are you alright?" Several men quickly helped Lord George Kirkburn up.

The ship tilted so fast it was visible to the naked eye.

"How is the situation?" Lord George Kirkburn asked.

"The ship has been flooded after hitting a mine, and the volume of water is huge. We don't know how large the breach is, but, Commander, the warship cannot be saved. You'd better leave immediately."

Lord George Kirkburn himself knew that the warship was in dire straits and couldn't hold on any longer. The ship had already been badly damaged by the France, and now... Moreover, the rate at which the ship was listing meant that it was taking on a terrifying amount of water, making it virtually impossible to save.

"Commander, please leave immediately. I need to issue the order to abandon ship," the captain said.

By this time, the ship was listing severely. Lord George Kirkburn and his men quickly boarded the lifeboats, but when they reached them, the ship was listing so much that walking on the deck would have meant falling over.

As soon as the lifeboat was placed on the sea, everyone worked together to row it away from the rapidly listing Cressy —such a large ship, once it sank, would create a considerable whirlpool on the sea surface, carrying everything around it to the bottom.

Lifeboats were still being lowered, but more sailors were already grabbing whatever they could find and jumping out—the ship was tilting too fast, and there was no way they could wait to get on a lifeboat.

As soon as the sailors entered the water, they swam frantically to get as far away from the sinking warship as possible. Lifeboats also pulled sailors over as many as they could until they were completely full.

In the distance, the armored cruiser Hope also sped towards the scene to rescue the sailors. She stopped about a kilometer away from the Cressy and launched all the lifeboats to help the sailors.

Lord George Kirkburn and his entourage were also taken aboard the Hope. When Lord George Kirkburn stepped onto the deck of the Hope, he could see the stern of the Cressy raised high, revealing two gleaming brass propellers.

The bow of the "Cressy" continued to sink, while the stern continued to rise, finally standing at a 45-degree angle on the sea surface. At the same time, a high-pitched and sharp sound, similar to a train whistle, entered everyone's ears—this was the sound of air trapped inside the hull being forced out at high speed from the gaps in the ship under the pressure of the seawater.

Interspersed among the sounds were various crackling and creaking noises, the sounds of the ship's structure being bent and crushed by its own weight. Then came a deafening crash as the "Cressy" broke in two, its stern hull slamming violently into the sea, sending up huge waves. Even the Hope " rocked violently.

As the waves splashed down, only a huge whirlpool remained on the surface of the sea; nothing else existed.

The armored cruiser Hope spent some time rescuing the sailors who had fallen into the water, and then returned to the port of Liverpool with the armored cruiser HMS Fierce. On the way back, the steam engine of Fierce malfunctioned and exploded, killing more than forty people. In the end, Hope towed it back.

After this battle, only Hope remained combat-ready in the entire Britain Home Fleet. However, the British Navy no longer had the strength to challenge France naval power.

Of course, this was not the end of the Hope's story. After the war, the Britain government gave the Hope to the United States as part of the reparations. Thus, this Britain warship, which had participated in the Battle of the North Sea Strait, became the flagship of the United States Navy fleet.

The ship had barely arrived in the United States when it encountered the war sparked by the secession of several northern states. The "Hope," by then renamed the "Fourth of July," was tasked with leading the Union Fleet to blockade New York, the port of the rebellious American Confederacy of America. This was its first combat mission with the United States. Fleet. The fleet then encountered a hurricane off New York; the "Fourth of July" emerged unscathed, but all the other ships sank. Of course, the "Fourth of July" once again rescued a large number of people who had fallen into the water.

This hurricane also caused the America United States of America's naval blockade of the American Confederacy of America to completely fail, ultimately leading to the split of the United States into two countries. To commemorate this hurricane, the American Confederacy of America even established a second Thanksgiving Day to express gratitude for the hurricane. But that's another story.

One interesting point about the Battle of the North Sea Strait is that it was a lose-lose situation for both sides. It is said that in France, when Napoleon heard about the course and outcome of the battle, he was so angry that he smashed his pencil on the floor in two. He lamented that, in order to support the navy, he had even cut the army's budget, leaving the army still using outdated recoilless guns.

"I allocated 65% of the entire military budget to the navy, something never before done in France history. I gave them the best steel. You told me the steel from Lorraine wasn't good enough? I bought expensive iron ore from Sweden and smelted it for them. Joseph, the army uses steel from Lorraine, and the soldiers all tell me how wonderful it is. But what about the navy? Their kitchen knives are made from even better Lorraine iron ore, and what's the result? "Sweden

I gave them the most training money and the best warships, and what did they learn? To eat with high-class knives and forks made from Sweden iron ore on a warship! If Robespierre were still alive, these guys would all be on the guillotine!

"Alright, Napoleon, don't make it sound like we've really lost," Joseph said.

"Yes, Joseph, I know what you mean. Strategically speaking, we haven't lost," Napoleon said. "Our blockade of Britain was like a giant prison, and the Britain operation was like a prison break. In the end, their breakout failed, and they were still imprisoned by us. Moreover, Britain society can't hold out much longer; after this battle, they're finished. I understand all that. But, Joseph, think about it. We could foresee the prisoners' breakout and even prepared the guards. And then what? The prisoners didn't escape, but they beat the guards black and blue—not just black and blue, but bloody. Such a favorable situation, such overwhelming power, yet they ended up with such a ridiculous result. Those idiots in the navy, they're really... they're infuriating! I'm going to arrest all those guys in the navy, line them up, and shoot them one by one!"

"Come on, Napoleon, you know we're even going to reward them and publicize this decisive victory," Joseph sneered. To be honest, the navy's performance was beyond Joseph's expectations.

Napoleon paused for a moment, then shook his head and said, "You're right. Politically speaking, we really have to. Even more so, for the sake of this damned political necessity, I have to give Brueys fool, that idiot, that scum who deserves to be guillotine, the rank of marshal, to recognize his contributions! Damn bastard! Once he gets the marshal's baton, he'll be retired immediately! Just thinking about him receiving a marshal's pension makes me... Damn scum, scum!"

In Britain, the situation was similar, or even worse. For example, Napoleon, upon learning the results, still had the energy to throw a pencil and curse, but King George III didn't even get angry; upon hearing the bad news, His Majesty simply burst into laughter.

"Your Majesty, why are you...?" Prime Minister Robert Jenkinson, Earl of Liverpool, was taken aback.

However, His Majesty the King did not say anything like "I laugh at Napoleon's lack of strategy and Joseph's lack of courage." He completely ignored the Earl of Liverpool and just kept laughing until his face was contorted and his mouth and eyes were crooked—King George III's mental illness had relapsed!