Napoleon II Reborn - Chapter 543

“Retreat! Now I am acting as the commander of the fleet.” The US 7th Fleet does not have a chief of staff. All power is in the hands of McCain. So that after he died, no one came to command the entire fleet.

Commodore Schroeder, the captain of the “Pious”, is relatively old in the entire fleet. Moreover, this time he stood up to resist McCain’s crazy decision. Therefore, he stood up to act as the commander of the fleet. No one raised any objections, and he was quite convinced by everyone.

Under Schroeder’s order, the U.S. 7th Fleet dragged the broken fleet and began to retreat slowly. In this way of fighting, they lost miserably. Of the four capital ships, two were sunk, one was severely damaged, and only one was intact. Of the six “South Carolina-class” warships, three were sunk and one was severely damaged. Of the 10 “Washington” class light cruisers, 4 were also lost. Twenty “Franklin” class warships suffered even more losses. Twelve of them were sunk, and three more were severely damaged. In order to hold back the French destroyer formation, they paid a very heavy price. When they were tangled with the French destroyers, the eight “Light Cavalry” class destroyers of the French South Atlantic Fleet attacked them fiercely, and suffered heavy losses. In the end, the order given by McCain could not be completed, resulting in the sinking of the “Faith” and “Apostle” by the French destroyer formation. [bsp; Judging from the overall battle situation, the US 7th Fleet suffered heavy losses. Almost seventy percent of its combat effectiveness was lost. Moreover, it is only 5 p.m., two hours before dark, and the French South Atlantic Fleet obviously will not allow them to retreat calmly. It is still unknown how many warships can escape.

“General! The Americans are going to flee!” the captain of the ‘Garon’ said loudly.

“Of course, after receiving such a heavy blow, it’s no wonder they didn’t escape!” Bennett’s face was already covered with a triumphant smile. Obviously, the South Atlantic Fleet won this battle. At a small cost, the US 7th Fleet was severely damaged.

Now, the French South Atlantic Fleet only paid for the “Vienne” which was damaged, but still has combat effectiveness. In addition, a “Heavy Cavalry” class cruiser was sunk, and two were damaged, but still had more than half of its combat effectiveness. . The “Light Cavalry” class light cruisers were all intact. Of the fifteen “Bayonet” class destroyers, three were sunk and two were seriously injured. Of the fifteen ‘Dolphin’ class destroyers, two were sunk and two were severely damaged. The entire fleet has preserved more than 80% of its combat effectiveness.

“General, what should we do now? Do you want to pursue it?” the captain of the “Garon” asked, but the expression of seeking war flashed in his eyes, which fully expressed his intention.

Bennett looked up at the sky, it was only after 5 o’clock, and South America was in the spring season at the moment, and it would not get dark until after 7 o’clock at least. Therefore, they still have a lot of time to attack the US 7th Fleet.

“Leave a few ‘light cavalry’ class light cruisers for search and rescue, and other warships, go all out to hunt down the US 7th Fleet until dark!” Bennett issued an order to continue the attack.

On the sea, because many warships were sunk, there are many soldiers from both sides who need to be rescued. For these people, the war is over. Therefore, they should be rescued. The few ‘light cavalry’ class light cruisers left behind will do their best to search and rescue, and their own soldiers will be uniformly assigned to the ships that need to be replenished after being rescued. The soldiers of the US 7th Fleet need to be detained until the end of the war.

The U.S. 7th Fleet fled south frantically. They are in Sao Paulo, and they still need a base to rest. However, at this time, the French South Atlantic Fleet has already started a frantic pursuit. It may not be easy for them to escape.

At this time, the bombardment from both sides was not very intense. Therefore, the U.S. 7th Fleet escaped wholeheartedly. All the boilers were operated at the maximum output power, and they didn’t care that doing so would greatly reduce the practical life of the boilers. . The most important thing is to escape with a life first.

“Order the destroyer formation to focus on attacking the ‘Piety’ and the ‘Saint’, and don’t let them escape!” Bennett issued the order again. These two capital ships pose the greatest threat to the French fleet, and it would be best if they could be sunk in one fell swoop. Even if they cannot be sunk, they must be severely damaged as much as possible. making them unable to participate in future campaigns. Besides, there are no large shipyards in South America, so if you want to make repairs, you have to go back to the United States. At that time, I am afraid that the outcome of the war has already been established.

Under Bennett’s order, a fleet of destroyers drove towards the Piety and the Saint with full horsepower. In terms of speed, capital ships obviously cannot be compared with destroyers. At this moment, the most powerful ‘Piety’ and ‘Saint’ undoubtedly dragged the entire fleet back. Except for the two warships with damaged power, their speed became the slowest in the entire fleet.

Schroeder was very helpless, and issued an order to order the rest of the warships to protect the “Piety” and the “Saint”. There is no way, the “Piety” and the “Saint” are the hopes of the 7th Fleet. As long as they are there, the 7th Fleet still has the strength to threaten the US fleet. Without them, the 7th Fleet would be dead in name only.

The other warships of the 7th Fleet were all surrounded by the “Piety” and the “Saint”, and while heading south, they launched a fierce bombardment of the destroyer formation of the French South Atlantic Fleet cruising around. As a result, the destroyer formation of the French South Atlantic Fleet could not find a favorable opportunity to attack the “Piety” and the “Saint” for a while.

Two ‘Dolphin’ class destroyers wanted to break into the defensive circle formed by American warships, but they were directly beaten up by the escorting American warships. One was sunk immediately, and the other was shot and caught fire, so they had to withdraw from the battle.

Fortunately, then the capital ships and heavy cruisers of the South Atlantic Fleet arrived and launched a fierce bombardment of the 7th Fleet, severely suppressing their arrogance. At the same time, it also created an opportunity for the destroyer formation to break through the lightning strike.

The destroyers launched the most ferocious assault, and then quickly escaped after releasing torpedoes. It’s just that, because the “Devotion” and the “Saint” are well protected, some destroyers even stepped up to block torpedoes for them. At the same time, it was difficult for the French destroyer formation to launch a group attack, and the results were very small.

Time passed by like this. The sun also slowly sank to the surface of the sea. Although it finally launched a fierce attack on the US 7th Fleet for more than an hour. But the effect achieved was not great, only sank a few heavy cruisers, light cruisers and destroyers, the “Pious” and the “Saint”, only suffered a few shells, and did not suffer too many casualties.

As the night was approaching, the destroyer formation of the South Atlantic Fleet finally seized an opportunity to assemble 6 ‘Bayonet’ class destroyers and launched an attack on the ‘Saint’.

Their assault was hit by the 7th Fleet of the United States. During the assault, three destroyers were shot and quit the battle, but the other three destroyers rushed to only 3 kilometers away from the “Saint” where 6 torpedoes were released,

The “Saint” made an emergency evasion, avoiding 5 of the torpedoes, and finally hit the stern of the ship by a torpedo, and was pierced through a large hole near the waterline. This caused the speed of the “Saint” to drop by 5 knots.

But at this time, it was completely dark. The French South Atlantic Fleet lost the opportunity to wipe out the US 7th Fleet. Of course, they can always follow the U.S. 7th Fleet and wait until dawn the next day before launching an attack. At that time, the U.S. 7th Fleet, which had suffered heavy losses, was bound to die. However, time did not allow them to do so. In the north, there is still a large-scale naval battle waiting for them. If there is no chance to see the decisive battle in the north because of the broken ships of the US 7th Fleet, no one will agree.

After dark, Bennett gave the order to return. Anyway, there are not many warships left in the US 7th Fleet. Both the “Devotion” and the “Saint” were severely hit respectively, and in this place in South America, there is no dock for repairs at all. As a result, they have lost the strength to threaten the French fleet ~www.mtlnovel.com~ After an afternoon of intense naval battles, the French South Atlantic Fleet finally ended with a complete victory. The U.S. 7th Fleet, in the end, did not have many warships left, and it has existed in name only. The French South Atlantic Fleet still retains more than half of its combat effectiveness, enough to participate in the fierce battles that follow.

“Send a report to the headquarters that we have severely damaged the U.S. 7th Fleet. The entire 7th Fleet has survived in name only. Moreover, the fleet’s combat effectiveness is basically intact. At this moment, the fleet has already moved north and is preparing to cooperate with the Channel Fleet to encircle and wipe out the U.S. fleet going south.” Bennett said. He gave the order with a smile on his face. The entire bridge of the ‘Jalong’ was filled with joy. For the French South Atlantic Fleet, this naval battle was the first large-scale battle since their creation. But they undoubtedly handed in an extremely excellent answer sheet.

Unlike the beaming French South Atlantic Fleet, the US 7th Fleet is completely lifeless. There are only a few broken ships left in the entire fleet that left St. Paul, and even the commander of the fleet committed suicide. It can be said that they were completely defeated in this battle.

“Send the results of the battle to the Ministry of the Navy. And report our current situation to the Ministry of the Navy in detail.” Schroeder finally ordered. Future battles will basically have nothing to do with the US 7th Fleet. They have lost their strength and will no longer participate in battles.