However, the other two colonial cruisers were anchored a little far from the "Miracle", and although the Gulf of Saldania was as calm as a large pond, it was still a noticeable shaking on the surface of the sea after all. There are rumors that the guys at the Academy of Sciences are working on artillery stabilization systems, but only God knows if these rumors are reliable. Because there are also rumors that one of the great tasks of the Ministry of Truth is to spread the truth and falsehood in the market. Many research directions, from a principle point of view, are indeed possible, but if you really invest in research, maybe when you will hit a technical problem, and then what? Naturally, just like the controlled nuclear fusion power generation of later generations, it is forever 50 years away from practicality. It is said that the British were brought to the ditch by the French more than once in the direction of scientific research, spending a lot of money, but making a lot of progress, but almost none of the results that could be used.

Therefore, the rumors about the artillery stabilization system today also sound beautiful, but whether it will be the same big pit where you throw bundles of money into it without hearing a single sound, no one really knows. Anyway, at least for now, neither Britain nor France has any warships that use such things.

As France's almost lowest-end large warship, the colonial cruiser certainly didn't have this thing, so although the range of the ship's guns had long exceeded five kilometers, the distance between the two sides would generally not exceed one kilometer when it came to actual combat.

At this time, the distance between the other two colonial cruisers and the "Miracle" was about seven or eight hundred meters, and at such a distance, the French hit rate was also not high. The two colonial cruisers fired several shots, but they failed to hit. However, the design of the tracer of the cannonballs did show a certain effect, at least the landing point of these cannons is getting closer and closer.

It was only after several shells landed nearby, or flew overhead, that the Miracle spotted two other warships firing at her.

The British did not know the composition of the Combined Fleet, but they could also guess that with such an operation, the French would not have been able to send a main fleet, most likely, a couple of colonial cruisers. But the French would send a couple of colonial cruisers, and the British did not know about it. However, considering that the ship that had been shining its searchlight on them was not shooting at them with its cannons, it was the two boats farther away that were firing at themselves. The British commander on board the "Miracle" Johnson made this judgment:

"Now it's not a battleship staring at us with a searchlight, it's an unarmed transport ship."

So Johnson immediately gave the order to turn the "Miracle" and use the hull of the "Atlantic Transporter" to block the shells from the enemy ships.

Johnson's approach was immediately effective, and the two French colonial cruisers that fired at the "Miracle" were blocked by the "Atlantic Transporter", and the "Atlantic Transporter" itself was unarmed and could not move, and the "Miracle" could have directly pressed against its face and shelled it.

Because the distance between the two sides was reduced to only a few tens of meters, the shelling of the "Miracle" hit almost all of them. The "Atlantic Transporter" ignited the flames. But the searchlights were still staring at the Miracle.

Johnson knew that it would be very difficult to sink a ship with the guns of the Miracle, but if there was a fire on the ship, it would be a different matter. Now that the Atlantic Transporter had caught fire, and it was clear that the fire was out of control, Major Johnson decided to change the target, not to waste shells on the Atlantic Transporter, and more importantly, not to waste time on the Atlantic Transporter.

The warships of the French are already on fire, although it will take some time to restore power, and if too much time is wasted on the "Atlantic transporters", then the situation is difficult to say.

And now, another ship, the "Lucky", was unfortunately hit by the French, and it caught fire. Looking at the fire on the Lucky from afar, Major Johnson knew that he had lost the Lucky. No way, there is a whole era between his fleet and the opponent's fleet. The lethality of the artillery on both sides is really too poor.

And at this time, because the "Miracle" hid behind the "Atlantic Transporter", several cannons of the French could not hit her, so those several cannons were concentrated and fired at the "Lucky". As a result, the "Lucky" unfortunately received several more incendiary bombs, and now it is burning like a torch. However, at this time, the "Lucky" at least played the role of a cannonball magnet, and successfully covered the "Miracle" with its own misfortune.

"Miracle" began to distance itself from the "Atlantic Transporter". And by this time, because the fire burned out the wires, the searchlights of the "Atlantic Transporter" had been extinguished. This also gave the Miracle a chance to hide in the darkness again.

"We're going to get around the enemy warships and attack the transports." Major Johnson ordered.

Previous battles have proven that even if the enemy's steam warships are temporarily out of power, the new artillery and new shells give them the power to kill almost with a single hit. So, even in such a situation, the sail warship is still no match for the steam battleship. The current situation of the Lucky illustrates this point.

However, Major Jossen felt that he did not really need to fight the French warships.

"Their docks aren't finished yet, so the artillery must still be on those transports. Destroy those transports, and you can destroy those cannons. Having done that, our purpose has been achieved. Major Johnson thought.

But where are the other possible transports? There were now two boats burning on the sea, and with these two torches, it seemed, in theory, it should help Major Jossen to find his target. But in fact, because of the stimulation of the firelight, people's pupils are narrowed, and as a result, those places that are already dark even feel darker.

Still, there are traces of where those transport ships were.

Inspired by the "Atlantic transporters", all three battleships of the French also turned on searchlights. And with these searchlights to shake around the sea. However, the searchlights visibly avoid some angles when they flicker. Obviously, they knew what was there that could not be exposed, so, no doubt, the ships, where the pillars of light had deliberately bypassed, not to illuminate.

Jossen carefully controlled the warship, dodging the beams of the searchlight. Rounded the place where the searchlight had been deliberately avoided. Sure enough, a boat was soon discovered.

The "Miracle" quietly approached, but at this time, the ship's searchlight suddenly turned on, and the beam of light suddenly covered the "Miracle". The light was so strong that the sailors on the "Miracle" could hardly open their eyes. At the same time, a burst of gunfire rang out from the ship opposite.

In order to pursue a high hit rate and to inflict heavy damage or even destroy the opponent in the shortest possible time, the distance between the "Miracle" and the target ship was very close, not even less than 50 meters. This distance is already on the distance at which the rifle is capable of shooting accurately. This round of rifle firing instantly knocked down more than a dozen sailors who were busy on the deck.

But the British immediately returned the favor, and twenty cannons fired a salvo at such a close distance. At such a close distance, eighteen of the twenty shells were hit, and the hit rate was so high that it was like a shot execution at close range.

However, even so, solid shells may have good lethality for the people on board, but the lethality for the ship itself is very limited. There are very few examples of sinking enemy ships with solid shells alone. Unless you can directly hit the opponent's powder magazine, it is impossible to sink the enemy ship even if all the shells are exhausted, and every shell hits.

So, in the age of sails, the real purpose of shelling was to kill and wound as many people as possible on the opposing warship, and then capture the enemy ship through broadside battles. But now, the capture of enemy ships is impossible in time. The French warships are already on fire, and in another half an hour at most, the French warships will regain power to a certain extent. In such a short period of time, it was completely impossible to complete the operation to capture the enemy ship. Therefore, the British army had to adopt another approach, that is, to use "blazing bombs" as the main attack weapon, hoping to rely on "blazing bombs" to cause fires and destroy enemy ships through fires.

The so-called "red-hot shell" is actually a solid iron cannonball that is placed in a furnace to burn red, and then fired with a cannon. If these red-hot iron balls knock down the opponent's ship, it is likely to cause a fire.

Of course, this primitive incendiary bomb is not a little worse than the semi-armor-piercing incendiary bombs used by the French and the British themselves in the new warships. The effectiveness of this shell in causing fire was much lower than that of the new incendiary shells. As long as the gap in the damage management personnel on the opponent's transport ship is not particularly large, the fire caused by this shell is not very difficult to control.

On the other hand, such shells are heated before being fired, which takes time. The number of furnaces also limits the number of "blazing bombs" that can be fired per unit of time. And it is also troublesome when reloading, which reduces the rate of fire. But in today's situation, this is still the most feasible option.

Of course, the cannon could not wait for the stove to burn the shells slowly, so the British always hit each salvo, sandwiching a few "red-hot bombs", hoping to rely on it to ignite the opposite transport ship.

The continuous shelling at close range, even if it was a backward thing like a solid shell, still caused a lot of damage to the ship's personnel. If it weren't for the ship's infantry having already gone ashore, the casualties would have been even greater.

Due to the large number of casualties, the damage management capacity of the mixed passenger and cargo ship called "Shepherd Dog" has rapidly decreased. Smoke began to smoke in several places on the ship. If the attack can continue for a while, the fire on this ship will probably not be able to be controlled.

But the lookout post sent a warning, and they found that the chimneys of the three French cruisers over there were all beginning to spark, and the chimneys of the steamships of this era seemed to be sparks at night. Now that these Mars are seen, it means that those French warships will soon regain power. If the attack continues, and when the French warship regains power, it will not be able to run away.

Major Jossen calculated the results of the evening. His fleet lost a sail cruiser in the face of the French fleet, which was significantly superior to him in both numbers and technology; Destroyed a steam carrier, severely damaged a steam carrier (the ship has already burned, it's just that it's hard to say whether the fire will be extinguished. However, Major Johnson felt that even if it could be extinguished, the ship would probably not work), and that it might have severely damaged a French cruiser. As a fleet with only two old sail cruisers, it is almost a miracle to achieve such a result. And such a result will definitely make him a hero of the United Kingdom. However, one of the prerequisites for enjoying the benefits of a hero is that he must be able to get out of the game tonight.

"Stop the attack, full sails, we retreat." After thinking this clearly, Major Johnson immediately gave the order to retreat.

Major Johnson's order was given a little earlier, and judging by the recollections of those who experienced the battle later, he actually had time to fire two more volleys. However, on a dark and chaotic battlefield, Major Johnson could not have commanded with such precision. Therefore, Major Johnson actually had a very good grasp of the timing of the retreat.

The "Miracle" slowly moved away from the battlefield and disappeared into the darkness. During this process, the searchlights of the French transport kept shining on her, and the three French cruisers also fired at her from a long distance, but because of the distance and the limited angle of fire, all the shells they fired missed the target.

At this time, the time was also in the middle of the night, the moon was setting, the sea was getting darker and darker, and the "Miracle" soon disappeared into the darkness.

Both Philippe Treville and Léon Bertier witnessed the naval battle from shore. They were quite impressed by the cunning and decisiveness of the British. Later, when Philip re-educated the younger generations of his family, he mentioned this night more than once. He told them: "When the advantage prevails, the more cautious you are. ”

After daybreak, the French took stock of their losses. After this night, their combined fleet with the Dutch could be renamed the French South Africa Squadron. Because the only ship with the Dutch flag was burned. However, due to the friendship with the Netherlands, the French South Africa Squadron lent another transport ship (the one that was badly damaged) to the Dutch people, well, so the fleet could continue to be called the Combined Fleet.

In addition, there is a small problem, and that is that with the burning and sinking of the Dutch transport ship, the Dutch people cannot find a large Dutch flag that can be hung on the mast of the transport ship. But it was simple, the French gave them their spare flag, and then asked them to change it, and it became the Dutch flag.

In general, the French, in the face of a vile and shameless sneak attack by the British, calmly counterattacked, not only repelling the enemy, but also sinking a British warship. Such a result was achieved under extremely unfavorable circumstances, and it only paid the price of a transport ship, and more importantly, not a single person died on this ship! The French also felt that they had won the battle.

So on this night, the French Navy and the British Navy reached a win-win situation.

However, the loss of materials and personnel is really not small, in this battle, the coalition forces lost 120 people in the battle, and the number of wounded was as high as 219. There were also many serious injuries. Although these seriously injured generally feel that they can be rescued again, given the conditions in this part of South Africa, most of them are hopeless.