The Fox of France

Chapter 283: The Battle (1)

Chapter 283: The Battle (1)

The thick plumes of smoke made the Americans and the British spot the "Liberty Trade" first. After all, as long as the steam engine was fired up, this feature was hard to conceal. Especially when warships still used coal as boiler fuel, it was even more noticeable.

In later years, as the steam engines on warships gradually transitioned to burning heavy oil, the smoke produced during full combustion was much less, and it dissipated easily in the air. A bit farther away, you could barely see anything. (Of course, when a turbine engine just started, no matter which country's ship it was, it would produce billowing black smoke for a while.)

But burning coal was a different story, especially when it was bituminous coal. It naturally produced thick smoke. As for why smokeless coal wasn't used, well, most of Europe's coal mines had relatively low coalification levels, and smokeless coal was quite rare. Furthermore, the boiler design of this era had many impractical aspects, and many times, it couldn't achieve complete fuel combustion. The result was that when the "Liberty Trade" set sail, it belched thick smoke into the air, making it as visible as an aircraft carrier from a later age. Even from the International Space Station, they might have been able to spot it through a telescope.

The dense smoke allowed the Americans and the British to achieve early detection, but in this era, early detection didn't necessarily bring an advantage in combat. At most, it allowed the Americans and the British to form up first.

After about half an hour, the "Liberty Trade" finally appeared in the sight of the American and British joint fleet. Of course, by this time, the "Liberty Trade" had also noticed the fleet that blocked its way, flying the American flag.

Just as the Americans had anticipated, the "Constitution" was at this time just a hollow shell with sailing capability but no combat power due to a lack of sailors. Although it still had dozens of cannons on board, there wasn't a single gunner to man them, so, for now, those cannons were essentially decorations.

Apart from lacking gunners, this ship also lacked soldiers. The entire ship only had enough sailors to handle the rigging, nothing more. So, if the enemy really approached, and a few soldiers boarded, the ship had only one path to take, immediate surrender.

Therefore, in this battle, the "Constitution" was not an asset but a burden.

So, upon spotting the intercepting fleet, the "Constitution" immediately changed course, attempting to exit the battlefield. Meanwhile, the "Liberty Trade" accelerated, charging toward the enemy fleet to cover the "Constitution's" escape.

In the authentic American fleet, there were two "super frigates" just like the "Constitution," and one double-masted gunboat.

All three of these ships had good speed, even though the smaller double-masted gunboat theoretically had a slightly slower speed than the "Constitution." However, when it came to executing interception missions, the Americans had taken measures to increase this ship's speed. For example, they removed most of the cannons from the ship to reduce its weight. Anyway, this ship's combat capabilities were not dependable, and now they could only hope that the intelligence they had received from the black sailors about the "Constitution" not having any gunners on board was accurate.

According to the pre-battle plan, the British were responsible for keeping the French fleet within New Orleans Harbor. Then the two American super frigates were to detain the French steamships while the smaller gunboat had a chance to catch up to the "Constitution" and reclaim it.

However, the Americans soon discovered that their plan might have some issues. The first problem was that the steamship was simply too fast.

The wind wasn't strong that day, so even the "United States" and the "Congress," the two super frigates, could only reach speeds of 8-9 knots. Although these two ships were rated with a maximum speed of 13 knots, reaching that top speed required favorable conditions. So, that maximum speed number was mainly for show, and most of the time, they couldn't achieve such speeds.

But the "Liberty Trade" was different; it could reach a maximum speed of 14 knots, and in most situations, it genuinely could reach that speed.

The "Liberty Trade" first headed straight toward the leading "United States." If both sides maintained their course, they could pass each other.

The "United States" began to veer to the left towards the "Liberty Trade," attempting to secure the "T position" (a tactical advantage). However, just as it seemed like it was about to successfully secure the "T position," the "Liberty Trade" suddenly veered right. The ship's design, along with its large rudder, should have made it less agile when turning. In fact, under sail, it was indeed the case. However, at this moment, it was under full steam power. Abundant power allowed it to disregard the speed loss caused by maneuvering, making its agility during the turn far superior to sailing warships.

The result of these two turns was that the two ships passed each other in parallel. They were only about 200 meters apart when they crossed paths. In naval combat, generally speaking, such a distance and a crossing angle meant that the window for firing was quite limited. Firing under these circumstances mostly meant not hitting anything. But during this crossing, the "Liberty Trade" managed to unleash a broadside volley.

Only one of the nine cannonballs hit its mark. However, this single projectile easily pierced through the "United States," a ship known for its formidable hull. This armor-piercing shell created a rain of blood in the "United States'" gun deck, as five or six gunners were struck by the shrapnel, meeting their maker instantly.

As there was no certainty of hitting the enemy under these conditions, the "United States" refrained from firing back.

The "Congress," which was originally following the "United States," naturally didn't get an opportunity to open fire either.

After passing the "United States" in a parallel course following the encounter with the "Liberty Trade," the "Liberty Trade" continued with a wide turn, leaving behind a trail on the sea like a pancake.

This kind of maneuver was almost unimaginable for sailboats with limited power and significant wind direction restrictions. So when Captain Will, commanding the "Congress," saw the Liberty Trade's big turn following the United States, he exclaimed in astonishment, "Good Lord, she can turn like that!"

After completing the turn, the "Liberty Trade" occupied the 7 o'clock position relative to the two American warships and then accelerated to close the gap.

Seeing the pancake-like turn made by the "Liberty Trade," both Colonel Matthews and Captain Will abandoned their hopes of vying for the "T position" through speed and maneuverability. Instead, they focused on not letting the "Liberty Trade" easily take their "T position."

The Americans then adjusted their formation, changing from a line ahead to a line abreast, almost parallel formation.

Line abreast was inconvenient, as it caused mutual interference in terms of maneuvering and observation among the friendly ships. However, it had an advantage: when an enemy ship attempted to cross the bow of the first friendly ship and take the "T position," it would inadvertently put itself in the T position of the second friendly ship.

But the "Liberty Trade" had no intention of playing a game of maneuvering with the Americans. Considering that the American artillery was incapable of posing a real threat to it, sailing parallel to them to sustain continuous fire was the most efficient combat approach.

So the "Liberty Trade" approached the trailing "Congress" from the starboard side and fired a broadside volley at a range of one hundred meters.

As the two ships were heading almost parallel, this volley was highly effective. Out of the nine projectiles fired, seven struck their targets. All seven shells penetrated the "Congress's" side plates, and in the face of the new rear-loading steel cannons, the once proud sturdy hull of the American super frigate proved as fragile as an eggshell.

The "Congress" immediately returned fire. Although its cannons were less accurate than those on the "Liberty Trade," they had more guns, so in terms of the number of projectiles hitting the target, they had the upper hand.

However, regardless of whether the shots were fired from the 24-pounders or the 18-pounders, every single one of them was deflected by the steel-plated "Liberty Trade." Not a single shot managed to penetrate the ship's hull.

"Quick, load the cannons! Let's get closer, and this time, we must give them a spectacle!" Colonel Will shouted. Since their large-caliber cannons couldn't penetrate the enemy's hull at a range of one hundred meters, they decided to close the distance further and try again.

"I can't believe their hull is still made of steel," he muttered. But closing in wasn't easy because when you moved, so did the other side. The "Congress" began to turn to the starboard side, and the "Liberty Trade" also began to turn to the right, actively maintaining distance from the "Congress." Simultaneously, it unleashed another broadside volley.

Leveraging the advantage of their rear-loading cannons in terms of firing rate, the "Liberty Trade" fired three consecutive broadsides, while the "Congress" could barely launch a single ineffective counterattack. Furthermore, their firepower density had visibly decreased in this counterattack. The previous volleys from the "Liberty Trade" had inflicted significant casualties among the "Congress's" gunners, leaving many of the cannons unmanned.

At this point, the "United States," realizing something was amiss, began to approach the "Liberty Trade" from the left. If the "Liberty Trade" didn't abandon its attack on the "Congress," it would find itself caught in a crossfire between the "United States" and the "Congress."

In the distance, British Commander Colonel Vein observed the battle through his spyglass. After watching several rounds of exchange between the two sides, he shifted the direction of his spyglass and issued the order, "Full sail, increase speed, let's head back."