The Fox of France - Chapter 534 (Patreon)

Chapter 534: Prison Break

After realizing a misidentification of their target, the French forces began frantically shifting their firepower, recalculating distances, and re-aiming their targets... Their opponents, by this time, had already made all the necessary preparations.

The "Cressy" battleship's four 305-mm guns were the first to fire. Just as the French aimed to prioritize taking down the British battleships, the British likewise prioritized striking the French battleships.

The "Cressy" battleship targeted the French flagship "Toulon" battleship. This was a modern battleship with a displacement comparable to the "Cressy" and posed the greatest threat to the British fleet.

Four cannon shells flew toward the "Toulon" amid the roar of the big guns.

The British had still not developed smokeless powder, and they continued to use the old brown gunpowder. The maximum expansion speed of the gas from this brown powder is quite low, meaning that the initial velocity of the shells fired by the British cannons was also relatively low. To achieve armor-piercing capabilities, the British had no choice but to opt for larger calibers and heavier shell heads. Hence, although the large calibers of the British cannons seemed daunting and the shell weights were many times heavier than those of the French, due to the low initial velocity, their actual armor-piercing capabilities were far inferior to the "Toulon's" 203-mm guns, and even less than the previous generation "Caesar" battleship's 150-mm guns.

Of course, if a hit was achieved, the 305-mm shells carried much more explosive charge than any French shell, and naturally, their destructive power was also much greater.

The first round of firing, with one of the four shells hitting the "Toulon's" A turret, was a stroke of luck akin to divine intervention. The hit was on such a critical location that when the lookout reported "hit on enemy ship's A turret," Lord George Cockburn was so thrilled he almost jumped with joy.

However, the lookout then reported, "We did not penetrate the armor!"

"Damn! How thick is the French's skin! How is this possible!"

While constructing this battleship, the British had also used various means to gather intelligence about the French Augustus-class battleships. After roughly understanding the dimensions and displacement of the French battleships, they reverse-engineered based on the design of this battleship to understand the thickness of armor the French could equip their battleships with.

According to British research, at this distance, the British 305-mm guns should have easily penetrated the armor of the Augustus-class battleships, but now, at such a close distance, the 305-mm shells were actually deflected by the French armor!

"This is unscientific!" Lord George Cockburn couldn't help exclaiming, "These French, don't they respect science at all? Could it be that even science has sided with Napoleon?"

However, this is indeed very scientific. Science does not side with Napoleon, nor does it side with the British, and certainly not with the 'King of Understanding'.

The error in the British judgment was mainly due to the British using a comprehensive defense concept in their reverse engineering, while the Augustus-class battleships used a focus-defense mode. Focus defense means that only the truly critical parts have thick armor, while areas that are not crucial, even if hit, would not directly affect survivability and combat capability, barely had any armor at all. This allowed the French to stack unusually thick armor on critical parts, and the turret face, where the armor was thickest on the entire battleship, was such a spot. If the British could penetrate here, then Admiral Bruys on the other side would also have to exclaim "this is unscientific".

Despite achieving a hit at such close range, which should have been a morale booster, the foundation of boosted morale is penetrating the opponent's armor. Once it failed to penetrate, it was the French who ended up boosted, while the British morale plummeted.

The French began to return fire. After all, the 203-mm shells were lighter and had a much faster firing rate than the British 305-mm guns. However, the first round of French firing with six 203-mm shells all missed.

By this time, the "Poitiers" battleship following the "Cressy" also launched a round of volleys at the French. However, this round, like the French's, hit nothing.

The French then reallocated their firepower, with the "Toulon" facing off against the "Cressy" alone, while the "Caesar" along with two super cruisers and armored cruisers together faced the "Poitiers". As for the British's armored cruisers behind, because they had not yet completed their turn, they were temporarily unable to join the battle, giving Admiral Bruys the opportunity to inflict greater damage on the British.

The

 "Caesar's" shooting was more efficient than the "Toulon's," which was normal since the "Caesar" had been in service for many years, and the soldiers were more familiar and proficient in its operations.

In the second round of volleys against the "Poitiers" battleship, the "Caesar" achieved a hit; two of its shells hit the "Poitiers." However, this time, it was the French who were frustrated because both shells failed to penetrate the "Poitiers'" armor.

However, the "Poitiers'" first volley also missed, hitting nothing. And with the British battleships' 305-mm cannons having a very slow loading speed, taking about two to three minutes to fire a shot, this time was sufficient for the "Caesar's" 150-mm cannons to fire five volleys.

Thus, the "Caesar's" shells crackled over, and not just from the "Caesar," as the 127-mm cannons from the two super cruisers also came raining down.

The British battleships were still using a comprehensive defense design, but comprehensive defense merely meant a larger defended area, not that armor was everywhere. For example, the upper structure of the warships was virtually unarmored. This wasn't for any reason other than that if these areas were also covered with heavy armor plates, the ship's center of gravity would rise significantly, and just a little bit of wind and waves would cause the ship to sway uncontrollably. If the waves were a bit larger, it might capsize without needing the enemy's attack.

Therefore, even though neither the 150-mm nor 127-mm cannons could effectively penetrate the British battleships' armor, they were still sufficient to help the British "clean the decks."

In the second round of volleys where the "Caesar" achieved a hit, in the subsequent third and fourth rounds of volleys, it achieved hits again. In the third round of volleys, three 150-mm shells fired by the "Caesar" hit their target, one of which struck the bridge, killing the captain who was commanding the battle there and a dozen other officers. Fortunately, the British had a backup vice-captain who quickly took over command.

However, this still caused great trouble for the ship's operation, but then the fourth round of volleys hit a coincident optical rangefinder on the outer platform of the bridge. This three-meter-long rangefinder was blown to pieces, and the officer responsible for using the rangefinder was also killed. Fortunately, there was another identical rangefinder at another location, otherwise, this shot would have had a huge impact on the subsequent battle.

The "Caesar's" fifth round of volleys missed. But the other two super cruisers gained in this round of volleys, hitting four 127-mm shells on the "Poitiers," which all struck the upper structure, one of which ignited some pipes and debris, causing a fire.

After enduring so many hits, the "Poitiers" then fired another round of volleys, with one of the four shells barely hitting the "Caesar," flying over the "Caesar's" head, breaking off half a mast. The loss meant that the "Caesar" could only communicate with other ships via flag signals, not by radio. Fortunately, by this time, the fog had mostly cleared, so the impact on the battle wasn't too severe.

After this shot, the "Poitiers" had to endure about five rounds of 150-mm shells and more than six rounds of 127-mm shells from the French. Although these shells wouldn't cause fatal damage, having the deck washed over and over again was still very painful.

By this time, the "Toulon" had also fired its third round of volleys at the "Cressy," as the largest-tonnage ship in the French fleet, theoretically, the "Toulon" was the most stable shooting platform. It should have the highest hit rate. But due to limited training time, the "Toulon's" first three rounds of volleys had not hit their target, though the third round of volleys did achieve straddle firing, which meant that aiming was no longer a problem, and whether it hit afterward was entirely a matter of luck.

However, the "Cressy's" situation wasn't much better; their training time was even shorter, the first round hit was completely a fluke, and the subsequent round saw all four shells fly off to who knows where.

As a result, the "Caesar" lost a mast, the "Poitiers" lost its captain, while on this side, the "Toulon" and "Cressy," the "Toulon's" A turret lost quite a bit of paint, and the "Cressy" didn't even lose a bit of paint.

However, the "Toulon's" fourth round of volleys finally achieved a hit. A

203-mm shell hit the "Cressy's" hull side.

The penetrating power of the French 203-mm shells far exceeded that of the 150-mm shells, and the armor that had deflected the "Caesar's" 150-mm shells was not nearly as robust against the 203-mm shells.

"Hit on enemy ship's left side, successful penetration!" Admiral Bruys, stationed in the armored command tower, couldn't see the battle outside. But through the broadcasting system, he could understand what was happening outside. The enemy's first round of cannon fire successfully hit, which scared Admiral Bruys' staff. Although this shell hadn't penetrated the armor, everyone knew that the bridge, which had the best view, had no armor at all. Not to mention a 305-mm shell coming over, even if the British's four-inch secondary cannon shells came over, it wouldn't hold up, although the French particularly looked down on the British's four-inch cannons, considering them completely inferior compared to their own 100-mm cannons. Even compared to their own 75-mm cannons, they were completely inferior. But this "trajectory as curved as urine" trash, if it accidentally hit, could still kill people.

So Admiral Bruys was quickly stuffed into the armored command tower by his staff, where the armor was as thick as that of the turrets, a fact that had already been proven, the British shells couldn't penetrate such armor.

As for the staff's actions, Admiral Bruys expressed opposition, stating he was not afraid at all because the British couldn't hit him. However, he said this but still had to enter the armored command tower because he couldn't override his staff.

"Good job! Just don't know how the after-effects of the kill are?" Admiral Bruys asked into the microphone.

"General, we can't tell yet," the lookout responded.

This shell penetrated the armor and then struck the "Cressy's" kitchen. This time was neither the time to prepare morning tea nor afternoon tea, so there were no people in the kitchen, and the shell exploded in the empty kitchen, blasting it to smithereens, and successfully ignited various cooking oils.

However, the British's damage control response was quite swift, and they quickly got the fire under control.

After successfully hitting the enemy ship, the French's luck began to turn for the better. Although the subsequent two rounds of volleys didn't hit again, they all formed straddle firing. And after the "Cressy" fired another ineffective round of volleys, the "Toulon" once again hit the enemy ship, and this time, three of the six shells hit their target.

Two shells fired from the A turret both hit the enemy ship, one of which struck the unarmored upper structure. This semi-armor-piercing shell directly pierced the entire upper structure, then flew out from the other side. Apart from killing two unlucky souls, the damage caused was actually very limited. But the other shell was different; this shell directly hit the "Cressy's" A turret. The shell penetrated the turret's shield and exploded inside the turret, killing all the soldiers inside, and also ignited a 305-mm shell that had just been loaded with a fuse.

If it weren't for the era's British Royal Navy's good habit of keeping all the fire doors from the turret to the ammunition magazine open for high firing speed, otherwise, the complete write-off in one explosion wouldn't just be a mere A turret.

"Cressy" had a front and a rear turret, each equipped with a pair of twin 305-mm guns. Now, in one fell swoop, half of the main gun firepower was lost, which was a fatal loss in combat.

But the "Cressy's" misfortune was not over yet. Two 203-mm shells fired from the "Toulon's" C turret also hit him, one of which struck the upper structure, drilling a hole in the "Cressy's" smokestack. The other shell entered the engine room, destroying a cylinder. The high-temperature steam that sprayed out from this cylinder instantly killed more than a dozen sailors working in the engine room.

Although it was not visible that there was a problem with the enemy ship's engine room, the destruction of the enemy ship's A turret was visible to everyone. So when the news reached Admiral Bruys, he felt that he had already won this battle.

"And it's a more brilliant victory than that of Admiral Treveil. It's not the kind of victory where you kill a thousand enemies and lose eight hundred yourself." Admiral Bruys thought to himself.

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