The Fox of France - Chapter 535 (Patreon)

Chapter 535: Prison Break

The battleship "Crecy" now had lost half of its firepower and could only rely on the B turret at the stern for a stubborn resistance. However, with the firepower density reduced by half, the probability of hitting the target naturally decreased as well. On the other hand, damage to the power plant also reduced the ship's mobility. A warship, having lost half its firepower, couldn't fight effectively; and with reduced mobility, it couldn't escape either. It can be said, barring any accidents, the loss of "Crecy" was now a certainty.

"Continue closing in, concentrate firepower, finish it quickly, and then we will go support the 'Caesar,'" commanded Admiral Brueys.

Admiral Brueys' decision wasn't wrong, because just as the "Trajan" was punishing the "Crecy", a crisis occurred with the "Caesar".

Before this, the "Caesar" was almost pressing down on the "Poitiers" in combat. The "Poitiers" was battered and smoking all over. However, neither the 150mm shells from the "Caesar" nor the 127mm shells from the supporting super-cruiser could deliver a decisive blow to the "Poitiers".

It was the "Poitiers" that, after enduring a barrage of hits, managed to land a heavy blow, striking the "Caesar" with a punch that really hit its mark.

This was a 305mm shell fired from the B turret of the "Poitiers" during the fifth salvo. By then, the deck of the "Poitiers" had been washed over and over by various shells, and all the rangefinders had been destroyed. Its two turrets were now operating merely based on estimated figures.

And this random guess actually scored a hit.

The 305mm shell easily penetrated the armor of the "Caesar", exploding in the power compartment. The massive power of the 305mm shell instantly wiped out nearly half of the "Caesar's" power.

The French, in order to ensure accuracy, had just cautiously moved out of the minefield, and hadn't had the chance to increase speed. So at this time, the speed of both fleets was actually not high, not exceeding ten knots. The French fleet was slightly faster, at about 9 knots, while the British were a bit slower, around 8 knots. Losing half its power did not immediately cause the "Caesar" to lag behind the fleet, but over time, it certainly would pose a problem.

"Trajan" began to close the distance with the "Crecy" to achieve a higher hit rate. In the process, they scored another hit, breaking one of the "Crecy's" smokestacks.

However, the "Crecy's" counterattack also scored a hit. This time they hit a defenseless area near the stern, and the shell went straight through from one side to the other, causing little damage to the "Trajan". Because they had closed the distance somewhat, the "Trajan" scored another hit.

This hit targeted the "Crecy's" secondary gun ammunition magazine. The magazine for the secondary guns did not have the robust protection of the primary gun magazine. Therefore, it was ignited directly.

However, the British had taken some safety measures, so the secondary gun magazine was compartmentalized, with each secondary gun having a small magazine, which meant that an explosion there would not likely sink the entire ship. Plus, this secondary gun had already used up a lot of ammunition, further reducing the danger.

But the explosion of the secondary gun magazine triggered a fire and also cut off the power supply to the B turret.

The B turret, along with the two 305mm guns on it, could also be manually operated, but in such circumstances, they were as slow as the rotation of the Earth itself. This essentially rendered the turret useless. The British obviously rushed to troubleshoot and make emergency repairs, but at least for the time being, the turret was inoperable.

However, the French did not realize that the British B turret was temporarily out of action, because the issue with the B turret was not apparent from the outside. Therefore, the French did not dare to approach too closely. However, the British knew that it wouldn't take long for the French to realize something was wrong with the B turret because if the B turret remained silent for a long time under the current circumstances, even a fool could tell something was amiss. By then, the French would definitely press in close, leading to a quick and decisive end to the battle.

But the British's shell hoist was not affected, so the B turret could still fire, though it could no longer aim. That meant the two big guns of the B turret were now mostly for show. Considering the generally low hit rate of naval guns in sea battles, even if seven or eight salvoes were

 fired without hitting anything, it could just be chalked up to bad luck.

So even though they knew that the B turret's big guns were highly unlikely to hit any target under these circumstances, the British continued to fire at a set rhythm. Even if they hit nothing, at least they could intimidate the French.

This tactic actually worked, as after subsequent firings from the B turret that did not score a single hit, it did indeed serve to deter the French from closing in further. Plus, the fact that the B turret was now ineffective actually had an advantage—it meant that "Crecy" could completely disregard the need to use its firepower when maneuvering. This meant that "Crecy" could more freely dodge French shells without breaking the battle line.

But the situation of "Crecy" being on the receiving end didn't change, and after dodging five salvoes from "Trajan", she was hit again.

Fortunately, this hit wasn't in a particularly critical area, although the shell caused over a dozen casualties, but the damage to the "Crecy" was still limited. After all, battleships are generally very robust vessels, and it's not easy to destroy one with shells alone. If a battleship could clear all potential fire hazards and explosives, and then let another battleship bombard it with shells, it's likely that the attacking battleship would run out of ammunition before it could send the target to the seabed.

After holding on for another six or seven rounds, the French gradually realized that something was off with the "Crecy".

"Captain, look at the enemy's B turret, those two guns are clearly not aimed at us. I suspect their aiming and rotation system is malfunctioning," a combat staff officer first noticed the irregularity and reported to Colonel Alston.

Colonel Alston raised his binoculars and took a closer look, then said, "Indeed, they don't seem to be aimed very accurately. Let's accelerate and further change our relative position to see their reaction."

This naturally exposed the issues with the British B turret. From their firing pattern, it was clear their rotation and aiming systems were definitely malfunctioning.

Colonel Alston immediately relayed this information to Admiral Brueys in the command tower.

"Are you sure?" Admiral Brueys asked.

"Yes, I'm sure, though they're definitely trying to make repairs..." Colonel Alston still left himself an out with his statement.

"So, if we don't take advantage of this moment, we might lose the opportunity for victory," Admiral Brueys' focus was obviously different from Colonel Alston's, "Then what are we waiting for? Quickly close in from a safer angle, the closer the better, and completely destroy the enemy ship!"

"The enemy ship suddenly accelerated to our forward port side, clearly they noticed the issue with our B turret," reported the combat staff officer Bill to Lord George Cockburn.

"I see," in the bridge, Lord George Cockburn put down his binoculars, "They are closing in on us, our secondary guns pose no threat to them. However, their approach actually gives us an opportunity..."

"Trajan" closed the distance to less than a thousand meters from "Crecy". At this range, her six 203mm guns achieved a very high hit rate. "Trajan" fired six continuous salvoes at "Crecy". Each salvo achieved nearly a fifty percent hit rate, smashing a total of seventeen shells onto the "Crecy".

"Crecy" burst into flames, and the fire seemed to be out of control. Therefore, Admiral Brueys ordered a continued approach to enable precise firing on the British B turret and completely destroy the enemy ship's combat capabilities. He knew that sinking the enemy ship would take time, but if they could quickly destroy its combat capabilities, they could then leave this ship behind and together with the "Caesar", surround and annihilate the "Poitiers" behind. This was the most reasonable way to conduct the operation.

"Trajan" continued to close in on "Crecy", simultaneously unleashing a barrage of firepower. Finally, a shell hit the B turret.

"There, success! Now the enemy ship across has become completely harmless," Admiral Brueys boasted proudly, "Now let's shift our target and attack the 'Poitiers'!"

"Trajan" began to slow down, to get closer to the somewhat further "Poitiers". At the same time, her six 203mm main guns also turned towards "Poitiers".

Just then, "Poitiers" had just scored a hit, its 305mm shell striking "Caesar's" B turret, completely destroying the turret. And because the B turret was in the process of being loaded, the fire doors leading to the ammunition magazine were open, allowing the explosion's flames to travel downwards, nearly igniting the magazine. But in order to extinguish the flames in the ammunition magazine, the French had to flood the forward

 main gun's magazine. Fortunately, the A turret did not share an ammunition magazine with the B turret, so "Caesar" still retained half its firepower. But this incident caused the previously aggressive "Caesar" to become much more cautious, even proactively distancing itself for self-protection.

As "Caesar" withdrew, the other two super-cruisers naturally followed suit. They were less resilient than "Caesar" and naturally needed to keep a greater distance. After all, the British cannons had a low initial velocity, and with an increased distance, the hit rate was pitiful.

Just when "Poitiers" had breathed a sigh of relief for having repelled the enemy ships, six 203mm shells came whistling in.

Of course, this salvo did not hit, and even missed by a wide margin, but this round of firing had a tremendous impact on the morale of the British. Because this meant that the French had achieved a comprehensive victory in the duel of the new-generation battleships, and were now able to support other ships. The French victory was now almost unshakeable.

But just then, the lookout on "Trajan" suddenly exclaimed: "Enemy ships spotted, on the starboard side, six hundred meters!"

To the starboard side of "Trajan" was the burning "Crecy", which had lost all its main guns and most of its secondary guns.

But suddenly, from behind the burning "Crecy", two small boats emerged. Each boat had a long pole at the bow, with a large trigger mine at the top. This was the British's secret weapon—the spar torpedo boat.

The spar torpedo boats were wooden structures with no armor and no other weapons, but they were equipped with a steam engine disproportionate to their displacement, giving them a high speed of up to 22 knots. More importantly, due to their small tonnage and powerful engines, they could accelerate very quickly.

Of course, these boats also had a very obvious disadvantage—they had virtually no resilience to damage. Even the 75mm secondary guns of "Trajan", if they scored a hit, could destroy one instantly.

In a normal engagement with sufficient distance between the opposing sides, boats like these wouldn't be enough even if there were many of them. But now, with the "Crecy's" hull providing cover, the French were unaware of their presence, so when they appeared, they were already very close to "Trajan".

The French reacted quite quickly. At that time, the 75mm secondary guns of "Trajan" were still firing at "Crecy", so the barrels didn't have to turn much, just a little adjustment was needed to fire at the emerging spar torpedo boats.

But the appearance of these boats was so sudden, and the distance was so close, that although the French reacted not slowly, they only managed to hit one spar torpedo boat. The other spar torpedo boat had already rushed to "Trajan's" side, entering a blind spot for gun fire.

The long pole at the front of the spar torpedo boat began to lower. With the mine at the front sinking into the water, the spar at the front of the boat could move. When about to strike the target, the operator would lower the spar, allowing the mine at the top to submerge into the water to attack the underwater part of the enemy ship.

Of course, if the attack was successful, the result would certainly be that the enemy ship was blown open below the waterline, water rushing in; and the spar torpedo boat itself? Naturally, it would be destroyed in the close-range explosion. Thus, the spar torpedo boats were effectively the earliest kamikaze.

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