Napoleon II Reborn - Chapter 567

On board the ‘Washington’, Paret felt his whole body tremble and almost fell. Fortunately, a staff officer next to him supported him, otherwise he would have fallen to his head and bled.

“Report damage!” Paret asked, gripping the handrail. His complexion is a little ugly. This was the opponent’s third round of volley, and it had already hit.

“General, the rear main gun was destroyed, and the loss was heavy! In addition, the ‘New Hampshire’ was also severely damaged, and the watertight cabin was pierced through the starboard midship. They are trying to plug the leak!” Two minutes later, an officer Reported to Paret. [bsp;”General, General Aldrich is calling!” The signal soldier reported.

“What did you say?” Paret asked without finishing the telegram.

“General Aldrich, let’s leave here quickly and join the Canadian fleet. In this way, we may have the possibility to escape.” The officer said. Under the attack of such a powerful French fleet, it is impossible to defeat the French fleet, even if it is about to reach the two Canadian fleets.

“Hey! Order the cruisers and destroyers to open a hole for the fleet, and retreat to the north, hoping to join the Canadian fleet in time!” Paret said with a sigh. It’s completely gone from before.

The French fleet scattered a large number of cruisers and destroyers around, with a very obvious intention to always surround the US fleet, at least to prevent the capital ships of the US fleet from escaping. Fortunately, the US fleet still has enough destroyers and cruisers, otherwise, they really have nothing to do.

According to the original plan, Canada will be able to arrive tomorrow. But under the urging of Davis, the Canadian fleet had to maintain the maximum speed at the expense of the life of the boiler, shortening the arrival time to this afternoon. Now the US fleet is also sailing north. If the two fleets want to sail, it is estimated that they will not meet until at least three o’clock in the afternoon. And it’s only 10 am now. In terms of the terrifying strike capability of the French fleet, can they survive the last few hours? The difficulty is not ordinary.

“Boom!” The Brilliant Fleet ignored the actions of the American fleet at all. They kept a distance of 12,000 meters, and then kept throwing shells at the American fleet. The U.S. fleet also fought back vigorously, but it seemed so feeble.

At 10:30, the Brilliant Fleet launched its seventh salvo, and the ‘New Hampshire’ was hit again. This time, two shells hit him directly. The previous leak had just been blocked, but the influx of sea water caused the blade of the ‘New Hampshire’ to tilt slightly. This time, both shells hit his bow directly. One tore a big hole again near the waterline. The other one directly penetrated the armor of the front deck, and hit the ammunition magazine of the main gun on the front deck. The devastating explosion produced by the martyrdom explosion directly destroyed the ‘New Hampshire’. The entire capital of the ship was lifted high, and then slammed into the sea. In the end, a large amount of sea water poured into it, and the stern of the ship was raised high. In less than 5 minutes, this huge warship of tens of thousands of tons sank into the sea.

“General, the ‘New Hampshire’ has sunk! General Archibald failed to escape.” A staff officer reported to Paret with a pale face.

“I see, order the battleships behind to make up for it, and continue to go north!” Paret’s face was ashen. The “New Hampshire” is the flagship of the 10th Fleet and the last capital ship of the 10th Fleet. His sinking represented that the 10th Fleet was almost destroyed.

After the ‘New Hampshire’ was sunk, the Brilliant Fleet quickly changed targets. The USS ‘Boston’, which had just accelerated to replace the vacant seat of the USS ‘New Hampshire’, became the next target of the Brilliant Fleet.

“Very good, one ship has finally been sunk, but this speed is too slow!” Darcy said a little dissatisfied on the bridge of the ‘Glory’. But there was a smile on his face.

“Great, the ‘New Hampshire’ was sunk, and the Americans only have 10 capital ships left. At this rate, it won’t be long before all the American capital ships will be sent into the sea!” Kirkbride and the others were quite excited.

“Boom! Boom!” A dense rain of bullets fell around the “Washington”, and the splashed water column drenched the entire battleship. The whole battleship is like walking through the wind làng. I don’t know if it’s luck or God’s blessing, since the last time the ‘Washington’ was hit on the stern, the French brilliant fleet’s consecutive rounds of salvos have not hit him, not even a single near miss. This made Paret feel a little weird, but at the same time very happy. Perhaps God is really on America’s side.

However, by 10:40, the Washington’s luck seemed to have run out. During the 13th salvo of the Brilliant Fleet, a shell fired by the “Majestic” hit the stern of the “Washington” again, and even the entire battleship lost its ability to turn. At the same time, a big hole was directly torn open near the waterline at the stern of the ship. Sea water poured into it violently, and the bow of the warship began to tilt upwards slowly.

“General, the stern of the ship has been severely damaged. We can’t plug the leak. Please transfer immediately.” The captain of the USS Washington, a young major general, reported anxiously to Paret.

Palette nodded, and together with the fleet’s staff officers, boarded the traffic boat and left the Washington. He knew that if he stayed, it would only be a luàn. However, when the traffic boat was lowered, his eyes were moist.

After some rescues, the captain of the ‘Washington’ ordered the ship to be abandoned. They couldn’t plug the leak, and could only let the battleship sink into the sea bit by bit. Fortunately, the sinking speed of the battleship was relatively slow, and most of the sailors on the battleship had evacuated. Those killed in battle were only those who were killed on the spot.

After leaving the ‘Washington’, Paret directly boarded the ‘Atlanta’, using this place as his new flagship.

“Very good, there are 9 ships left. Keep up the good work!” Darcy’s expression was no longer so serious. At this rate, the capital ship of the US fleet will soon be wiped out.

“Hahaha, that’s great, another ship was sunk.” On the side of the French fleet, cheers rang out.

“Damn it, fight back! Fire!” Paret was very aggrieved. Up to now, he has lost two battleships, but even a piece of their skin was knocked off. The sailors were all wet.

“Boom!” It seemed that Paret’s complaint had worked. Somehow, the ‘Atlanta’ got lucky, and hit the bridge of the ‘Glory’ with a single shot.

But something surprising happened. The armor-piercing projectile fired by the ‘Atlanta’ did not penetrate the bridge of the ‘Glory’, but was bounced off instead. There was only a dent not much bigger than a fist left on the bridge armor of the ‘Glorious’. The bounced shells exploded near the waterline of the ‘Glory’, but failed to tear apart the hull of the ‘Glory’.

“You son of a bitch! Can you actually bounce off armor-piercing bullets?” Paret threw away the binoculars angrily. At the same time, not only the US Navy, but also the French Navy were also shocked.

The armor of the “Brilliant” class battleship, especially the armor on the turret, bridge and near the waterline, has been specially thickened and reinforced to withstand the bombardment of 305mm naval guns. The ability to resist blows is quite strong. If one wanted to destroy a ‘Glorious’ class battleship, one had to attack with torpedoes or hit more than a dozen shells. Otherwise, don’t even think about sinking him. The Americans haven’t invented the torpedo yet, so it is naturally impossible to sink the ‘Glorious’ class warship. As for the artillery shells, at a distance of 12,000 meters, it is God’s blessing that the Americans can hit one. It is almost impossible to hit more than a dozen shells.

This time, the U.S. Navy was completely desperate. It’s hard to hit, not to mention, it may not be able to penetrate if it hits. What is this! You can only be beaten at all.

The U.S. fleet had no choice but to counterattack while speeding up to escape to the north, hoping to get the support of the Canadian fleet, and then use its numerical advantage to escape from the poisonous hands of the French navy.

“Boom! Boom!” The French brilliant fleet fired shells one after another, hitting the American fleet fiercely. One American capital ship after another was severely damaged or sunk.

After the USS ‘Washington’ was sunk by the USS ‘Boston’~www.mtlnovel.com~ This battleship was directly hit by six or seven shells, and finally broke into several pieces. Immediately after the ‘Boston’ was sunk, the ‘Botelan’ was sunk. In addition, the ‘Atlanta’ was also severely damaged, so Paret had to replace the flagship again. The ‘Charlotte’ became the new flagship.

By 12 o’clock, there were only 6 battleships left in the U.S. Navy. And there are still 3 hours before the Canadian fleet meets. And based on the current comparison of the strengths of the two sides, even if the Canadian fleet is merged, it cannot defeat such a fierce French navy. The Canadian fleet can only be sunk.

“Immediately, send a report to the Admiralty to report our current situation. At the same time, send a report to the Canadian Fleet to let them return quickly!” Paret ordered. In this situation, the arrival of the Canadian fleet is meaningless.

“Order all the ships to break through and return to the country on their own!” After gathering together, there is only one life to be sunk. Therefore, Paret decisively ordered the ships to disperse and flee for their lives.

It’s just that the French Navy has already targeted the capital ship of the US fleet. The American fleet fled for their lives in scattered ways, and the French fleet rushed forward immediately. A large number of destroyers also surrounded and carried out lightning strikes. The Japanese battle lasted until the afternoon, and the remaining 6 capital ships of the US fleet, except for the surrender and capture of the “New Jersey”, the remaining 5 ships were all sunk.