The Fox of France - Chapter 538 (Patreon)

Chapter 538: A Lose-Lose Situation

The battle ended, and Admiral Bruix hung his head in defeat, his performance worse than that of Admiral Treveil, whom he had relentlessly attacked—indeed, significantly worse.

During the North Atlantic naval battle, it's true that Admiral Treveil lost his flagship, the "Empress." However, he also lost the newest battleship, the "Toulon." Furthermore, although Admiral Treveil did lose the "Empress," he did not lose many sailors, whereas Admiral Bruix lost nearly a third of his crew on the "Toulon!"

Moreover, Admiral Treveil had essentially annihilated the enemy's fleet and, apart from the "Empress," he had no further losses. However, Bruix allowed the enemy's battleship "Crecy" to escape, along with at least two armored cruisers. Worse still, during the pursuit, he lost another supercruiser and two armored cruisers.

Had he successfully captured the "Poitiers," at least he would have had something to boast about, as capturing a steam-powered battleship was a historical first. But damn the British for scuttling the ship by opening the sea cocks—the ship sank.

In Admiral Bruix's view, the marshal’s baton had flown far away, and he had certainly become the epitome of an "idiot who can't seize a good opportunity."

However, Admiral Bruix didn't know that things weren't as bad as he imagined because the British battleship "Crecy" didn't make it back—it had recently sunk.

The "Crecy" wasn't critically damaged and was strictly navigating along safe routes, soon to leave the minefield. Faint explosions were heard from behind them—perhaps the French had hit a mine. Anyway, the French couldn't catch up. At this time, British Fleet Commander Lord George Cockburn was also contemplating how to explain the situation back home.

Due to the rapid retreat, Lord Cockburn didn't witness the sinking of the "Poitiers"; he last saw it ramming into the enemy, but he didn't know the outcome. He also knew that, hit or not, the "Poitiers" was likely not coming back, nor the "Hope" that was covering them. After all, surrounded by so many warships... Anyway, even if they had come back, what use would they be? Strategically, he had already failed. He hadn't broken through the French blockade, and the fleet had suffered heavy losses, making similar future actions impossible. In theory, the "Crecy" could still be repaired, if the "Poitiers" also returned, but Britain no longer had the time or resources for such repairs. Maybe…

Just then, someone shouted, "Commander, the 'Hope' has returned."

"The 'Hope' has returned? What about the 'Poitiers'?" Lord Cockburn quickly asked, snatching a telescope from a staff officer's hand and looking in that direction.

Through the telescope, he could see the lone figure of the armored cruiser "Hope"—clearly, the "Poitiers" had not made it back.

The "Hope" was in good condition and noticeably faster, quickly catching up. Lord Cockburn realized the reason as he saw the "Hope" coming from the direction of the minefield and couldn't help but exclaim, "The 'Hope' really is lucky, all the luck of our entire fleet combined doesn't compare to hers. She must have led the French into the minefield. There seemed to be explosions there just now, I wonder what happened."

With that, Lord Cockburn sighed. No matter the outcome, it didn't change the big picture; even if the entire French squadron sank in the minefield, it wouldn't alter the overall situation, especially since the "Poitiers" hadn't returned.

At that moment, the "Hope" signaled the situation behind with flags.

"Commander, we've sunk the 'Toulon,' and the French 'Hermes' and another armored cruiser hit mines!" a staff officer excitedly reported, obviously pleased with the news.

However, Lord Cockburn couldn't feel happy at all.

"That's fine, but... it's actually of no use..." Lord Cockburn said.

Everyone understood what Lord Cockburn meant, and the previously lively atmosphere suddenly vanished, leaving everyone speechless.

But just then, an explosion occurred.

The massive explosion nearly threw the entire ship into the air, and everyone on board fell down during the shaking. When everyone got up, they realized the warship was quickly tilting.

"Damn, did we hit a mine? Weren't we on a safe course?" Lord Cockburn shouted while lying on the deck.

"Commander, commander, are you alright?" Several people quickly helped Lord Cockburn up.

The ship was tilting so rapidly it was visibly apparent.

"How are things?" Lord Cockburn asked.

"We hit a

 mine and are taking on water, a lot of it. It's unclear how big the breach is, but, commander, the warship can't be saved. You better leave quickly."

The ship was done for, couldn't withstand any longer; Lord Cockburn knew this too. The ship had already been badly damaged by the French earlier, and now... Moreover, the rate of tilting also indicated a terrifyingly large amount of incoming water, making saving the ship practically impossible.

"Commander, please leave immediately, I'm about to give the order to abandon ship," the captain said.

By then, the ship was severely tilted. Lord Cockburn and his men hurriedly got into a lifeboat, and as they reached the lifeboat, the ship was tilted so much that one could easily fall while walking on the deck.

The lifeboat had just been lowered into the sea, and everyone started rowing away from the rapidly tilting "Crecy"—such a large ship, once sunk, would create a significant whirlpool, dragging everything nearby down to the seabed.

Lifeboats continued to be lowered, but many sailors had already jumped into the water, grabbing whatever they could—waiting for a lifeboat was definitely too slow.

As soon as the sailors hit the water, they swam desperately away, trying to distance themselves from the sinking warship. Some lifeboats also tried to pull as many sailors as they could until they were completely full.

In the distance, the armored cruiser "Hope" also sped over to rescue the sailors. She stopped about a thousand meters from the "Crecy," dropped all her lifeboats, and went to rescue the sailors.

Lord Cockburn and his men were also brought aboard the "Hope." When Lord Cockburn stepped onto the deck of the "Hope," he could just see the stern of the "Crecy" rising high, revealing its two shiny brass propellers.

The bow of the "Crecy" continued to sink, and its stern kept rising, eventually standing at a 45-degree angle in the sea. Simultaneously, a high-pitched, sharp sound akin to a train whistle pierced everyone's ears—this was the sound of air trapped in the hull being forcefully expelled through the ship's crevices under the pressure of seawater.

Amid this sound, various cracking and creaking noises could be heard, the sound of the ship's structure being bent and crushed under its own weight. Then, with a loud bang, the "Crecy" broke in half, and the rear half of the ship harshly smashed into the sea, creating a huge splash. Even the "Hope" rocked from the impact.

As the spray settled, the sea was left with just a huge whirlpool, and nothing else.

The "Hope" spent some time rescuing the fallen sailors and then returned to the port in Liverpool with the armored cruiser "Ferocious." On the way back, the "Ferocious'" steam engine malfunctioned and exploded, killing over forty people. In the end, it was the "Hope" that towed it back.

After this battle, the entire British homeland fleet was left with just the "Hope" still capable of combat. However, the entire British navy no longer had the strength to challenge French maritime supremacy.

Of course, this was not the end of the "Hope's" story. After the war, the British government compensated the Americans with the "Hope" as part of the reparations. Thus, this warship, which had participated in the "North Sea Strait Battle," became the flagship of the American navy.

As soon as the ship arrived in America, it encountered a war triggered by several northern states' secession. The "Hope," now renamed "July Fourth," was ordered to lead the federal fleet to blockade the secessionist "Confederate States of America's" port in New York. This was its first combat mission in the American fleet. Then, the fleet encountered a hurricane off the coast of New York; the "July Fourth" remained unscathed, but all other ships sank. Of course, the "July Fourth" once again rescued a large number of survivors.

Because of this hurricane, the southern Confederate States of America's sea blockade against the northern Confederate States completely failed, eventually leading to America splitting into two countries. To commemorate the hurricane, the northern Confederate States even established a second Thanksgiving Day to express gratitude to the storm. But that's a story for another time.

An interesting aspect of the "North Sea Strait Battle" is that it was a lose-lose battle. It is said that in France, when Napoleon, the ruler, heard about the battle's process and outcome, he was so angry that he broke the pencil in his hand on the floor. He sorrowfully stated that to support the navy, he even cut the army's budget, leaving the army still using outdated retractable cannons.

"The entire military budget, I gave six and a half percent to the navy, which is unprecedented in French

 history. I gave them the best steel. You tell me the steel from the Lorraine iron mines isn't good enough, so I go to Sweden to buy expensive iron ore to make steel for them. Joseph, the army's steel comes from steel made from the Lorraine iron mines, and the army's soldiers tell me how wonderful Lorraine steel is. But the navy? Even their dining knives are made from better Swedish iron ore. And the result?

I gave them the most training funds, the best warships, and what do they learn? They learn to dine on the warships with advanced cutlery made from Swedish iron ore! These guys, if Robespierre were still around, they'd all be feeding the guillotine!"

"Come on, Napoleon, don't act like we really lost," Joseph said.

"Hmm, Joseph, I understand your point, strategically, we indeed didn't lose," Napoleon said. "Our blockade of Britain is like a big prison, and the British action was like an escape attempt. In the end, their escape was not successful, and they were still locked up in prison. And British society can't hold up much longer after this battle, I understand that. But Joseph, think about it, we could foresee the prisoners' escape attempt and had the guards prepared. But then, although the prisoners couldn't escape, they beat the guards black and blue, no, not just black and blue, they were bloodied. Such an advantageous situation, such overwhelming force, yet they produced such a ridiculous result. The navy, these idiots, are really... really infuriating! I want to line up those navy guys and shoot them one by one!"

"Let it go, Napoleon, you know, we even have to reward them, heavily promote this decisive victory," Joseph said coldly. Honestly, even Joseph hadn't expected the navy to perform so poorly.

Napoleon paused, then shook his head, "You're right, politically, we indeed must do so. Even because of the damn political needs, I still have to give Bruix this fool, this idiot, who deserves to be on the guillotine, a marshal's rank to recognize his contribution! Damn fool! Get him retired immediately after receiving the marshal's baton! Just thinking about him receiving a marshal's pension makes me... Damn trash, trash!"

In Britain, the situation was much the same, if not worse. For example, while Napoleon had the energy to throw pencils and curse, King George III simply couldn't even get angry. Upon hearing the bad news, His Majesty just burst out laughing.

"Your Majesty, why..." Prime Minister Earl of Liverpool Robert Jenkinson was startled.

But His Majesty didn't make statements like "I laugh at Napoleon's lack of strategy, Joseph's lack of courage"; he completely ignored the Earl of Liverpool, just kept laughing, his face twisted, his mouth and eyes crooked—King George III's mental illness had flared up again!

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