Fox of France

It is said that some boring guys in later generations once made such comments on the Internet about the generals of the powerful France-Roman Empire. It is generally believed that His Majesty Napoleon and Deputy Commander Joseph are peerless military geniuses. Although there are still disputes about whether Napoleon can break through the defense of Deputy Commander Joseph, at least the level of these two famous generals is unanimously recognized. The only thing they regret is that the two empires did not fall in love and kill each other, and "bow each other on the battlefield".

As for the other generals in the army, basically everyone still recognizes their level, although occasionally someone will say something like "As for the battle of Murat, I will also fight, but I just waved the imperial flag and lowered my head. Once you close it, just be reckless, what's the problem?" Strange words like this. But those who say this will most likely be met back straight away: "Marshal Murat, that's someone who goes up recklessly and can cut down at least one platoon with one knife; "

But the Navy is really different. When someone criticizes some guys in the army for their lack of brains, at least some people say "you say he can't do it, you can do it"; but when everyone mentions France, the Roman admiral, if someone says the admiral of the navy When the level is not high, no one really speaks out that sentence. Because as long as someone says this, there will definitely be a series of follow-up posts, and the content of these posts is basically the following sentence: "Isn't it just beating a child? Help me up, I think I can really hit ten more .”

France - Rome's navy is unprecedentedly powerful, but it is an army without any famous generals or any legends. It has made great achievements in battle, but the reason why it can win is entirely because France-Rome has the most steel mills and shipyards in the world. It is said that after the final defeat of the British, Lord George Kirkburn, the original commander of the British Navy, went to the French Naval Academy to serve as a tactical instructor. Come on, Lin Sheng, the steel mill is great."

And he also wrote in his memoirs: "When I saw the huge blast furnace of the Lorraine Iron and Steel Company, the towering chimneys, and the molten steel rushing out of the open hearth like a river, I understood that our Failure is really inevitable. Later, I visited the French shipyard, and after learning about the production capacity of the French shipyard, I was even more convinced of this view. Today's war, in the final analysis, is already The war of industrial capabilities is the war of engineers and industrial workers, not of knights and generals... In war, we have done well enough, even our luck has been good enough. But None of this is enough for a baby to beat a fully armed adult."

Indeed, in the Battle of the Beihai Strait, the luck of the British Navy was indeed very good. If the French were more cautious, if the French just adopted the simplest method, everyone lined up and then faced the bombing method to carry out this naval battle, the British would actually have no chance at all.

"Our warships have fallen behind in terms of both design concepts and specific technologies. If the two sides engage in battle at a normal distance and in the most common way, and we don't focus on the enemy In addition to our battleships, that is, if we give priority to attacking the enemy's supercruisers and cruisers. Then this battle can barely be regarded as evenly matched in terms of tonnage. The final result may be that all our warships are destroyed, and the French battleships A superficial wound at most." (The Memoirs of Lord George Kirkburn)

Indeed, the British Navy performed well in the "Battle of the North Sea Channel". Their mineboats took advantage of the negligence of the French and hit the battleship "Trajan" in one fell swoop.

Following the huge explosion, the side of the "Trajan" battleship was blasted open a gap more than five meters wide, and sea water poured in at once.

It is almost impossible to block such a big opening on the battlefield. But fortunately, the design of the battleship "Trajan" is really excellent. The boat is designed with multiple watertight compartments. This opening spanned two watertight compartments, but the entire ship was divided into fourteen watertight compartments. As long as no more than six subdivisions are flooded, the ship will not sink.

"The second and third compartments on the right side are flooded! It cannot be blocked!" The news of the damage spread to the conning tower, and Admiral Brues felt his heart was broken.

"Immediately order the relevant cabin personnel to evacuate immediately, and prepare to seal the cabin." Although his heart was about to break, Admiral Brues made a quick decision.

The sea water came in very quickly, and the sailors couldn't escape the sea water at all. Only the sailors closest to the watertight door had time to run out, and just after a dozen of them ran out, the sound of sea water rushing in could be clearly heard.

"Close the watertight door!"

"Wait, there's more..."

"Close the watertight door!"

So the watertight door was closed, and a total of 128 sailors were locked in this confined space that was constantly being filled with seawater. It is said that after the watertight door was closed, some people heard the sound of knocking through the thick watertight door.

Later, the question of whether the "Trajan" closed the watertight door too quickly has always been a wound of the French Navy. Almost every discussion about this matter will lead to fierce debate. Many people believed that if the action of closing the watertight door was slower, more sailors should be rescued; of course, some people believed that if the action was slower, the entire battleship would have been lost.

This incident was later brought to the French Academy of Sciences. In the end, Academician Gauss came to the conclusion that the watertight door can be closed with a delay of 45 seconds through model restoration and rigorous calculation. But this conclusion did not quell the controversy. Some people believed that if there were 45 seconds, many more people could be escaped, but some people believed that even if this extra time was spent, few people could be escaped. Moreover, at the scene, it is impossible for the commander to perform model restoration and rigorous calculation, and can only judge by experience. Therefore, the decision they made cannot be regarded as a mistake.

In addition to the loss of personnel, "Trajan" also lost half of its power because it was submerged in sea water. In addition, as the two watertight compartments filled with water, the warship began to tilt to the right, and the tilt quickly reached fifteen degrees. Coupled with the shaking of the hull itself, this caused a huge obstacle to the rotation of the main gun. The three main guns of the "Trajan" were temporarily unusable.

"Evacuate the personnel from the third and fourth compartments on the left, and prepare to fill the third and fourth compartments with water." After a little thought, Admiral Brues made such a decision.

Injecting water into the corresponding watertight compartment on the left side can restore the balance of the warship, so that the warship can recover its combat effectiveness. Of course, doing so will cause the warship to enter more water and have less reserve buoyancy. If there is any problem of water entering, the entire warship will be in danger.

It took about half an hour from the retreat of the personnel to the restoration of balance by water injection and the recovery of the main gun's combat effectiveness. During these half an hour, the situation has not changed much. The "Cressy" still has no combat effectiveness. The British tried to use it to hit "Trajan", but although the power of "Trajan" was damaged, But "Cressy" also lost power. Everyone can't run fast. It is actually not easy for a turtle to hit another turtle.

On the other side, the French fleet is still working hard to clean the deck of the battleship "Poitiers". The "Caesar" lost half of its firepower, but the remaining firepower of other warships is still very dense. At the same time as the battleship confrontation, the armored cruisers of the French army gained a clear advantage in the confrontation with the armored cruisers of the British army. The armor of the French armored cruisers with key defenses was enough to withstand the British artillery at a normal distance. , but their cannons can easily penetrate the British armored cruisers, coupled with the advantage of the high rate of fire brought by the retreating guns, the French armored cruisers quickly gained the upper hand in the duel with the British armored cruisers .

Because the cruiser's artillery has a higher rate of fire and its anti-strike capability is weaker, the battle between armored cruisers is more intense than the battle between battleships, and the winner is determined earlier. There are a total of six armored cruisers on the French side, and there are a little more cruisers on the British side, with a total of ten cruisers.

But all six French cruisers were armored cruisers, while five of the ten British cruisers were so-called unprotected cruisers. And although it seems that there are more British cruisers and more artillery, the French six armored cruisers are almost twice that of the British in terms of the weight of shells that can be fired per unit of time.

Moreover, the British used two armored cruisers to pretend to be battleships to deceive the French. Although the French were successfully fooled, it also made the two armored cruisers have to face the terrible firepower of the battleships for a period of time. "" armored cruiser sank first. Although the other "Hope" has not been shot, it is also separated by the battleships of both sides, and cannot effectively support the battle between the cruisers behind.

So the battle between the cruisers of the two sides is not five British armored cruisers plus five unprotected cruisers against the French six armored cruisers, but the British use three armored cruisers and five unprotected cruisers against six French armored cruisers. The advantage in quantity is limited, and it is even at a disadvantage in terms of displacement.

In addition, the French were blocked at the entrance of the passage. Although the British battleships were not hit too much before they completed their turn due to the influence of the heavy fog, when the fog cleared, the cruisers had not had time to complete their turn. , As a result, the following unarmed cruisers were first attacked by French cruisers.

The unprotected cruiser "Longbow" was first hit by four 100mm artillery shells, one of which hit the boiler of the steam engine, causing the "Longbow" to lose all power and became a dead target. Five minutes later, another shell hit the "Longbow"'s ammunition depot, and the unprotected cruiser "Longbow" exploded and sank.

After the "Longbow" was paralyzed, it blocked the channel of the three cruisers behind, and these three cruisers had to bypass the "Longbow" and advance. As a result, the unprotected cruiser "Moline" unfortunately hit a mine and sank, and it sank even faster than the "Longbow". And until the sinking, she failed to fire even a single shot at the French.

The other two unprotected cruisers were not much better. Although they were not sunk on the spot like the "Longbow", they were hit more than once during the turn. The full combat power came to fight the French.

After entering the line of battle, the distance between the two sides continued to narrow, and both sides continued to have shells hitting their opponents. At this time, the better defense of the French armored cruisers was fully revealed. The British managed to hit one or two shots of the French warship, either failing to penetrate or passing through.

On the contrary, as long as the French shells fall on the British cruiser, they can always form an effective strike. The two sides fired at each other for about half an hour, and the British cruiser was completely crushed.

The armored cruiser "Revenge" was concentrated in the powder magazine by a 100mm gun, and then exploded and sank; the armored cruiser "Sharp" was hit by more than ten shells, and the whole ship ignited a fire. The fire was uncontrollable, so the captain was forced to order to abandon the armored cruiser "Ferocious" was in the best situation, its superstructure and turret were damaged, and it lost its combat effectiveness, but because of this, the French ignored him and directly transferred their firepower to attack other warships. up.

As for the remaining three unprotected cruisers, the situation is naturally not getting better. Now one of these three ships has sunk, and the remaining two are also burning.

On the French side, although the six armored cruisers received one or two shots, the combat capabilities of all the cruisers are very good. So after the British cruiser had completely lost its combat effectiveness, these six cruisers joined the siege of the battleship "Poitiers".

Even if the 100mm gun is at zero distance, it is impossible to penetrate the armor of the "Poitiers", so the French simply use high-explosive bombs or incendiary bombs to attack the "Poitiers".

Six armored cruisers, plus two super cruisers, and the battleship Caesar, which had lost half of its firepower, began to besiege the "Poitiers". Or it can be put another way, that is, the battleship "Poitiers" is now singled out the group of warships of the French fleet.

Cannonballs like raindrops kept falling next to the "Poitiers", and the sea area around the "Poitiers" seemed to be boiling, and there were water columns from the shells everywhere. And the superstructure of the "Poitiers" was almost completely beaten into a hornet's nest, so that when the French raised their binoculars to observe carefully, they almost had intensive phobia.

Although "Poitiers" is still resisting, all the sights and sights of the warship are almost completely destroyed, so their shooting is almost entirely dependent on blindness. The hit, basically can only rely on faith. However, Uncle Hei’s AK is fully automatic and has a high rate of fire. It's not easy anymore.