The British fleet began to seize the T-shaped position, and the French naturally did not want to be outdone and also began to accelerate. However, the French miscalculated and they had more than ten armed merchant ships, which made something happen. The so-called armed merchant ships are naturally the merchant ships after arming. Merchant ships and warships are different. Warships pursue high defense and high attacks, while also having both speed and flexibility. Merchant ships mainly pursue huge cargo capacity. Only when the cargo capacity is large, you will not lose money when you run a long-distance caravan.

The reason why there are armed merchant ships in the fleets of both sides is mainly used to transport army forces and various materials tributed to the local area by the colonies. Every time, these armed merchant ships are loaded with goods and then the fleet is followed by the guards. Where the warships are limited, they are used to install artillery or armor. The biggest waste is that, then, why not just use merchant ships? That is because pirates are still very rampant in this era.

Some of them really can't survive. They gathered ships and summoned some outlaws to do business to fight for life at sea. These pirates are easy to deal with, and they are not as good as regular navies in terms of combat qualities or combat power of warships. The movie "Pirates of the Caribbean" is not a documentary movie. If they do not have their own magical abilities, pirate ships can beat warships, then hehe. For such pirates, if they are armed by merchant ships and install more than a dozen cannons, they can ensure safety, and even without the need for escort of warships.

However, what I am afraid of is the regular naval forces disguised as pirates. The British have done this kind of thing themselves, allowing elite navy to wear pirates and attack their opponents. At this time, various contradictions in Europe were also very clear. If the merchant ships were armed, even if the enemy ships broke through the defense of the escort fleet, they would not have no power of resistance at all. However, merchant ships were merchant ships after all, and in terms of flexibility, they were not as good as warships.

Not to mention small frigates, even huge cruisers, their speed and flexibility are a little higher than theirs. Unless the merchant ship itself is very small, it is possible to surpass them. Naturally, the French armed merchant ships are almost as large as the cruiser, so this speed has dragged down the entire fleet. The British didn't care at all. They only had five armed merchant ships, so there was no problem not allowing them to join the T-type battleship, and the firepower would not be much weaker anyway.

But the French had fifty warships and armed merchant ships occupied fifteen, which was annoyed. If they were not taken, the entire fleet would have fallen behind. But now they would not be able to seize the British fleet. The commander of the French fleet, Falls, was also a big deal, so he simply did not seize the T-position and directly told the fleet not to slow down and turn alive. Under the leadership of St. Louis, he rushed into the British ship array. At this time, the British personnel completed forty percent of the T-type battleship.

Kamal knew what they were going to do when he saw this. The French were a typical desperate mentality. If they could not complete the T-array, they would not let the British complete it. Instead of waiting for the British to complete the T-array and then pressing them to fight, it would be better to rush together and turn into a big melee. This is not good for sail warships. They rely too much on sea breeze, and they are not as flexible as steam iron armors. If they are steam iron armors, the T-array will have already formed combat power at this time.

Of course, Kamal was not afraid of Falls' move. At worst, he brought out Linman's team of seasick private troops and allowed them to fight to seize the ship. Both sides had five battleships, so they were naturally kings and generals. The Boston at Kamal's feet naturally faced the French St. Louis. In terms of battleships, the British could not take advantage of it for the time being, and even had to fall into a disadvantage. However, the fleet had experience. First, armed merchant ships cooperated with frigates to defeat the enemy frigates and armed merchant ships, and then helped their own cruisers destroy enemy cruisers.

Finally, the fleet besieged the enemy's battleships together. The frigate's firepower may not be as good as the armed merchant ships, but its speed and flexibility are far superior, and its defense may still be the same. When Kamal commanded the Boston, the entire fleet changed, and they all cooperated with their comrades for a long time, so they naturally knew Kamal's plan. Boston and St. Louis rushed forward. Before the artillery on both sides were exposed, the rotating cannons on the side of the ship had changed direction and tilted the shells towards the sails of the other side.

The small cannons are mainly used to do this. Although they can't smash the solid wood on the hull, there is no problem with the cloth sail. As long as the sail is broken, it cannot borrow the power of the wind, and with the huge tonnage of the battleship, the waves cannot keep it moving forward smoothly. However, this is a very probabilistic thing. Even if the sail is large, the gunners can't guarantee their accuracy as they keep shaking the hull. However, many shells hit their respective decks, hitting some unlucky sailors.

The British frigate suddenly stepped forward and stopped the fast-moving French frigate and began to start shooting with a vivid sound. Even if the French were a little stronger in artillery manufacturing, they were not much stronger. Both sides fired at each other, but no one made any contribution. They were about to hit, so they turned to the right and slowly passed by. Kamal had already gone into the artillery cabin, suppressing the gunners and preventing them from firing in advance.

"Take it slowly, take it slowly, don't worry, lift the torch a little."

Similarly, Falls had the same idea. However, he didn't dare to go down by himself. If he was killed by a shell, it would be fun. Therefore, the commander in the cannon cabin was his adjutant. The adjutant was a bit powerful, but his identity was there and it did not have much incentive effect on the gunners. On the Boston, because Kamal was in charge of command, the gunners were very morale. In order to prevent himself from being bombarded by the British, the French gunner fired in advance.

Three seconds after igniting the fuse, the adjutant issued the order to fire the gun. Three seconds ahead of time, which means that many shells did not hit the Boston gun window. Fortunately, the heavy artillery could smash the Boston wooden boards, and even many of them were shot in. However, because they were shot from the side, neither the British artillery nor the powder gunners were hit, and the Boston combat power was damaged not much. Three seconds later, Kamal ordered the gunners to shoot.

Such suppression has brought about a good battle. Suddenly, seven gun windows on the St. Louis were shot by heavy guns, causing a burst of smoke. When the smoke dissipated, there were no more cannons inside. Kamal held his hand tightly, breathing a long breath, soothing his nervousness. He was also worried about his safety, but for the ambitious, the future was more important than the safety of the present. As long as there was a chance, it was worth a gamble. Fortunately, he won the bet.

"Come on, get ready and continue shooting. This time you don't have to endure it. Once you have loaded it, start fire immediately and shoot freely!!!"

The two battleships have been slowing down long ago. After all, the battleships are not cruisers and frigates. It is impossible to turn around in a melee. They can only stop in one position and use powerful artillery fire to eliminate the enemy. If there is no generation difference in weapons, or if one party does not have a number of artillery artillery far exceeds the other party, the battle between the two battleships will not end in a short period of time. At this time, their respective cruisers have already begun to exchange fire.

The British asked frigates and armed merchant ships to go from the outside, and the French also knew their shortcomings and asked armed merchant ships to move onto cruisers as much as possible. The British had no choice but to let the frigates follow the cruisers and try to drive their armed merchant ships and cruisers glasses. Ijik and his team were two nautical miles away from the battlefield, using the 21st century military high-power telescope given by Xiao Lin to observe the battle. The specific details cannot be seen, and they can probably still be seen clearly.

As he looked at it, Ijik was a little disdainful, as if the two sides did not have many powerful commands. The British Navy has been doing the same trick for so many years. Although he had a lot of tricks, Ijik no longer believed in this trick. The French have grown a lot, but they are just as good as the British. On the contrary, he felt that the tactics in the "New Era Naval Training Manual" given to him by Xiao Lin were more advanced and more in line with the future naval battles.

He didn't know that it was summarized by white British and French people a hundred years later. Xiao Lin just found these information and then asked someone to sort it out. Judging from the current trend, Yanhuang Trading Company is indeed about to start innovations in naval soldiers and warships. The company already has experience in producing post-loading artillery. The new products of the Type 21 mountain cannon and the Flash Snake One-type rapid-fire cannon have performed well and can be delivered to the army. This means that the company can start the development of warship cannons.

At the beginning, the warship guns were actually not much different from land warship guns. However, the former was fixed on a rotating turret on the ship, and the other was a baffle and load-bearing wheel. With the rear-loading guns, the number of artillery on the warships would be greatly reduced, freeing up more space to install armor and carry ammunition. Naturally, new tactical ideas are needed to guide them. Not to mention these, both sides were still in a stalemate in the battle between Britain and France.

The casualties of the French were gradually increasing, but no warship dared to retreat. If they retreated, there would be no chance of victory. The 30,000 troops waiting for them could only be gradually eroded by the British. The French would eventually be unable to escape the result of being driven out of the North American colonies. This was even more miserable than in history. At least in history, these colonies were exchanged for a lot of money and materials. Now, it depends on who on both sides could not stand it first. Ijik was also waiting for the opportunity to take advantage of the situation and seize some suitable warships.
Chapter completed!