The Fox of France - Chapter 533 (Patreon)

Chapter 533: Prison Break

Lord George Cockburn's fleet reached the Campbelltown Passage around ten o'clock, by which time the fog had gradually started to disperse. Due to incidents encountered on the route, Lord George Cockburn believed that the French must already be aware of his movements. They might have already formed up at the exit, ready to exploit the T-head advantage to disadvantage his fleet.

However, this was part of the plan, and Lord George Cockburn didn't feel that his decision to head north was mistaken. According to the intelligence they had received, the French had more and stronger warships stationed near the Strait of Saint George. Moreover, although they could receive support from the coastal batteries at the strait's exit, making it easier to deploy the fleet, the many ports nearby meant that the French had too many fast warships. Even if they managed to break through, it would be hard to shake off the French pursuit. The British fleet was not advantaged in speed, at least not under normal sea conditions.

But in the north, the situation was different. The fleet there should be weaker, and if they could break through to the Tenish Channel, the French would completely lose track of them. Once they made a big detour to the exit of the Tenish Channel, the British fleet would have long vanished into the vast ocean.

Additionally, compared to the south, the North Sea had fierce winds and high waves, creating poor sea conditions. The French warships, in pursuit of high speeds, had compromised their seaworthiness, so in the rough North Sea, the French fleet was probably not as fast as the British—or at least that was the British estimation. Of course, the French might not agree, believing that the French Academy of Sciences' years of research in hull design was not in vain.

Nevertheless, once they entered the Tenish Channel, the French could no longer track them, at least for the moment.

The challenge now was how to safely break out of the Campbelltown Passage.

The Campbelltown Passage was twenty kilometers wide, and the British had laid minefields here. Of course, the British had left a passage, but its width was not enough for the entire fleet to deploy in formation. If there were enemies at the exit, they would have to make a daring turn in front of them, facing their firepower.

Before this operation, the Royal Navy had conducted at least fifty simulation drills on naval charts, all of which demonstrated one thing: if intercepted by a fleet of equal strength in the Campbelltown Passage under normal circumstances, the chances of successfully breaking through and retaining significant combat capability were very low. Unless the enemy made a mistake, annihilation was almost the only outcome.

However, this referred to normal circumstances, and today's conditions were not quite normal due to the fog. If they were not discovered while passing through Belfast waters, they could sneak out of the Campbelltown Passage under the cover of the fog and then dash along the Tenish Channel with the protection of the high tide, making it difficult for the French to block them.

Of course, today's conditions were not ideal, but even in the dissipating fog, bearing the brunt of enemy artillery and executing a turn in front of the enemy was not completely impossible. After all, in fog, both the British and the French would have a very low hit rate with their cannons. Unless the French brought their ships very close, a special preparation by the British might come into play.

By this time, the British mine-sweeping flotilla stationed in Campbelltown had already come forward. The fog had not yet cleared, but at a distance of three to four hundred meters, it was already possible to discern the outlines of the ships. Additionally, with red collision-avoidance lights, both sides could detect each other from even further distances.

The two sides communicated with each other using light signals. From these signals, Lord George Cockburn knew that the mine-sweeping flotilla had already spotted the French fleet outside the exit. However, due to the fog, the composition of the French fleet was still unclear. Lord George Cockburn knew his fleet could not retreat and thus gave the order to advance. Because of the fog, he could not raise a blood-red pennant to inspire morale, but the high-pitched loudspeakers invented by the French proved to be useful.

Thus, Lord George Cockburn made a brief pre-battle speech through the loudspeakers to the entire fleet.

In his speech, Lord George Cockburn told his sailors that the French fleet was waiting outside the channel, hoping to continue to blockade them within the Irish Sea. The United Kingdom was already beginning to suffocate under the blockade, and their families were starving.

"For England, and more importantly, to provide our families with bread, we have no way back. If we can break through, the blockade around Britain will be broken, and the noose around our families' necks will be loosened. So we cannot retreat.

The fate of the kingdom hangs

 in this battle, my lads, fight bravely for our country's honor."

After delivering the speech, Lord George Cockburn gave the order to proceed.

The British mine-sweepers then led the way, guiding the British fleet through the minefield.

The fleet, with several mine-sweepers at the forefront followed by two fast cruisers, had made preparations for the common occurrence of heavy fog in this season. The sole purpose of the long masts installed on these two cruisers, tilting forward and backward, was to hang collision-avoidance lights for use in heavy fog.

Navigating through the minefield in heavy fog without collision-avoidance lights was absolutely out of the question, and having them made it easier for the enemy to spot them. However, from a greater distance, enemy ships could only judge targets based on the hanging height and spacing of the collision-avoidance lights. Battlecruisers, being taller and longer than cruisers under normal circumstances, hung their collision-avoidance lights higher and at greater intervals. The modifications on these two cruisers were meant to mislead the French into concentrating their firepower on them, thereby buying time for the battlecruisers following them to complete their turn.

Following the two disguised cruisers were the battlecruisers "Crecy" and "Poitiers". Unlike the cruisers, they deliberately lowered the hanging height of their collision-avoidance lights and moved the lights normally positioned at the bow to the middle of the ship.

Moreover, the two cruisers at the front were in a normal single-column formation, but the fleet following them had switched to a double-column formation. This undoubtedly increased the risk when crossing the minefield, but it also compressed the formation, making it easier to turn after leaving the strait. Additionally, it made it easier for the enemy to misjudge the size of their fleet and also to cover some special-purpose military ships, such as the ones flanking the "Crecy" and "Poitiers" battlecruisers, each accompanied by two small military ships of about four to five hundred tons. These ships were very special, as they didn't have a single large cannon. Instead, they had a long pole extending forward from the bow.

As the fleet moved forward, the fog continued to dissipate.

Around ten-thirty, the fleet had nearly reached the strait's exit, and much of the fog had cleared. By then, the French could see the British collision-avoidance lights from two kilometers away.

Taking advantage of smuggling opportunities, the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Truth had gathered a lot of data about new British warships, so based on the condition of the British collision-avoidance lights, the French could barely perform target recognition and distance estimation.

"The first few ships are mine-sweepers, judging by the proportions, the two ships behind them must be the 'Crecy' and 'Poitiers' battlecruisers. Behind them are two armored cruisers, followed by a super cruiser, and the targets further back still need to be observed. The distance to the enemy battlecruisers is about 2.5 kilometers," the chief of staff, Kopa, said to Admiral Brueys aboard the bridge of the battleship "Turenne."

"As planned, concentrate firepower on the enemy battlecruisers," Admiral Brueys ordered.

At ten-forty, the "Turenne" battleship's 203 mm cannons opened fire, initiating this naval battle. The "Caesar" battleship, following closely behind, fired its 150 mm cannons at the British, followed by the "Hermes" and "Artemis" super cruisers' 150 mm cannons, then the armored cruisers' 100 mm cannons.

The fog did indeed cause some interference in ranging, and misidentification of targets further reduced the hit rate of the shells, but the volleys from dozens of warships and hundreds of shells still managed to hit one or two. The "Resolution" armored cruiser was the first to be hit by a 100 mm shell. The shell struck its side. If it had been a battlecruiser, a 100 mm shell could not have penetrated its armor at that location. However, it was not a battlecruiser but an armored cruiser. Underestimating the penetrating power of the French cannons, the British armored cruiser's armor could not withstand a 100 mm semi-armor-piercing shell at such close range.

If it had been nighttime instead of foggy, the impact of the 100 mm shell on the armor, whether penetrated or not, would have created different sparks, and the sparks from each caliber of shell hitting the enemy's armor would also be different. An experienced lookout could tell at a glance if their 100 mm cannon had penetrated the enemy's armor, thus revealing the ship's identity.

But since it was foggy, the sparks from the armor penetration were not visible from this side. Therefore,

 all the French warships continued to concentrate their firepower on those two "battlecruisers."

One of the problems brought about by the fog was that at this distance, the French could not see if they had hit the enemy or observe where the shells landed, so they could not adjust their fire and had to rely on stereoscopic rangefinders to read the distance to the lights and shoot blindly.

Soon, the "Resolution" was hit again, and this time, its luck was very bad. The 100 mm semi-armor-piercing shell that hit it earlier had penetrated the armor, but its charge was quite small, hardly more than a hand grenade, so the damage was actually very limited. But this time, it was hit by a 203 mm shell fired from the "Turenne" battleship. The shell easily penetrated her armor from the port side, then exploded after passing through several layers of internal structure and hitting the armor on the starboard side. The explosion tore a one-meter hole in the starboard side below the waterline, and a large amount of seawater rushed in.

Then a few more shells fell, and the "Resolution" began to list, noticeably slowing down. To not block the ships behind her, the "Resolution" began to turn to clear a path for the following ships.

But at that moment, the "Resolution" had not yet exited the minefield, so this maneuver was very risky.

Perhaps because too many men on the "Resolution" had forgotten to pray sincerely to God when they got up that morning, the ship was particularly unlucky. Just one minute after turning, she hit a mine. The explosive charge and power of a mine are incomparable to a shell, and so the armored cruiser was directly blown in two and sank into the sea in less than a minute. She became the first warship to sink today.

Even through the dense fog, the French noticed the huge explosion from the mine and the disappearance of the enemy "battlecruiser." All the French were encouraged by this great victory, believing that a great triumph was ahead.

The French continued to concentrate their firepower on the other "battlecruiser." Perhaps because the "Resolution" had been so unlucky, God now sought balance, so the other "battlecruiser," the "Hope," did not get hit by a single shell. Although the French fired six or seven volleys at her, she remained unscathed, as if a good luck charm from a later era had possessed her. By then, the British had exited the minefield and began to turn under French fire. Since they had exited the minefield, they also turned off the collision lights.

But by this time, the fog had dissipated even more, and as the two fleets drew closer, they could already faintly see each other's outlines. It was only then that the French realized that the ships they had been firing at did not seem to be "battlecruisers," and the two ships they had mistaken for armored cruisers were actually the real battlecruisers.

By then, the British battlecruisers had completed their ranging using observations of the French warships' muzzle flashes, and their 305 mm cannons were ready to fire at the French.

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