The Naval Battle of Genoa · Three
In truth, Sailing Warships sometimes used this kind of arcing formation to attack as well.
But sailboats adjusted their angles slowly. Once they had formed an arc, if they wanted to maneuver in a line abreast again, they had to spend a great deal of time dressing the formation.
So unless their side had already seized an absolute advantage, Sailing Warships basically fought in line of battle.
The nimble, flexible Steamships had no such concern—as long as the sailors handled their ships skillfully, they could complete a formation change in just a few minutes, so they could freely use the optimal method of attack to fire.
This was also why Burn felt the French warships' firepower was far too ferocious.
Under the close-range harassment of the French warships, ships such as the Four-Wheeled Carriage endured a full seven or eight minutes of cannon fire, yet still failed to circle out of the enemy's firing range.
Hotham finally could no longer sit still.
Though losing a few Cruisers and Frigates was not much, those little French ships were ganging up on his ships right under his nose. This was naked, undisguised humiliation!
Suppressing his anger, he said to the Orderly Officer, "Raise the signal. The line of battle will move east and prepare to launch an attack on the enemy fleet."
On the distant sea, the United Kingdom Cruiser White Coral seemed to have been hit in her powder magazine and began to blaze with raging flames. Sailors wailed as they leaped into the sea, forming a ring of raindrop-like ripples around the ship.
The Four-Wheeled Carriage and the Quartz Sand were badly damaged and had already begun to list. The other ships had also suffered injuries of varying severity, drifting where they were,