To say that there is a real opportunity to send warships to Britain recently. Last year, the British also took the "Queen Elizabeth," which had just been in service for less than a month, to France for a friendly visit, and of course they also took the opportunity to demonstrate in order to show that the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland did not want to be provoked.

At that time, Napoleon once commented: "The English are like a pufferfish, trying to puff themselves up so that they can look terrible." ”

Now, the French used a return visit as an excuse to send a warship back to England. Of course, because of Napoleon's stinginess, the warship sent was naturally inconspicuous - just an armored cruiser.

If the visit of only one armored cruiser was used as a return visit to the battleship "Queen Elizabeth", which had already shown contempt from above and made the British dissatisfied, the armored cruiser itself was even more a slap in the face of the British.

The French sent the armored cruiser "Vicintoli", and this ship was the same French cruiser that had rammed the British cruiser Berkshire not long ago. After this attack, the French not only refused to apologize to Britain for this barbaric act, but instead issued a commendation to all the officers and men of the "Vicintoli" and awarded them a collective second-class meritorious service. A flag of honor was also issued to the cruiser "Vicintoli" with a picture of a knight holding a shield up and ramming the enemy.

Of course, if that's all there is to it, that's fine. It's nothing more than the French themselves being shameless in their own homes. But the French also sailed the ship to Britain for a "goodwill visit," much like in another space, where Austria-Hungary launched military exercises on the border with Serbia as an imaginary enemy, and then had the crown prince wander the streets of Sarajevo, which were full of Serbs.

And what is even more hateful is that the French warship actually hung up the flag of honor in the harbor of Portsmouth.

Such an impertinent approach, of course, made the British angry.

The British newspapers denounced the French for their rudeness, and the locals even launched demonstrations against the French. However, something unexpected happened then. That is, at about twelve o'clock in the evening of the same day, there was an explosion on the cruiser "Vicintoli", and the ship sank quickly, but fortunately, most of the soldiers lived in some special place on the shore, and there were not many people on board, so although the clothes sank, there were no casualties.

At first, when they learned the news, the British were still a little gloating. They speculated one after another whether the French had always been careless and did not do a good job in the maintenance and management of the warship, which caused the explosion of the ammunition depot itself. Others even said more specifically, that is, the coal in the coal bunker of the French spontaneously combusted, and then the French military discipline was not good, and the soldiers were not on the ship, but they all went ashore to find the girl, so that no one found out that the coal bunker was on fire. Then the fire spread to the ammunition depot, so there was a boom, and the ship sank.

Of course, this statement is completely unreasonable, because if it was really the rumble of the ammunition depot, the "Vicintoli" would definitely sink as fast as possible, and it would not give anyone who was still on board any time to escape.

It was good that the ship sank on the berth of the military port of the British. The water depth is limited, which is also easy to explore. The French Navy are good at diving and can even dive directly to the location where the ship sank to check the situation. According to them, there was a large opening on the right side of the bottom of the ship.

This is also normal, if it wasn't for a big hole blown out, how could the ship sink so quickly? However, another situation is very problematic, that is, the steel plate at the breach is bent inward.

Normally, if the explosion had occurred inside the ship, then the steel plates at the breach would have certainly been bent from the inside out. And now that such a situation has appeared, it can only explain one point - the French warship was sunk by explosives outside!

The French immediately seized on the issue, first accusing the British of being responsible. The British demanded that the murderer be handed over within a time limit, and the French public opinion machine also set in, claiming that Portsmouth was a military port and heavily guarded, and that ordinary people could send bombs into it? This must have been done by someone from the British government.

In this regard, the British government, of course, said that this is completely outrageous. The British ambassador to France also held a special press conference to refute the rumors. He stated that there was no need for the British to do such a thing.

"If it were a warship like the 'Imperator' that would have had a decisive effect on the strength of the French navy, that would have been fine. The use of such means to blow up an armored cruiser like the 'Vicintoli' had a rather small impact on the strength of the French Navy. In that case, we British people are not stupid, how can we do this? ”

However, when the reporters returned, the headline of their report was this:

"The British ambassador said: It's a pity that it was not "Anbrado" and "Caesar" who were sunk by the bombing! - The Sun

"Britain's malice towards France has reached the point of undisguised formality" – Scientific Pravda

……

When the state's propaganda machine is in full swing, it doesn't really matter what the truth is. Immediately afterwards, the French government presented an ultimatum to the British government, asking Britain to agree to the French Ministry of Public Security to send personnel to Britain to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the incident. The British government must unconditionally cooperate with the investigators sent by the French Ministry of Public Security.

It is obviously impossible for the British to agree to such a request, not to mention that Portsmouth is a military port with a large number of military secrets in it. Let the people from the French Ministry of Public Security investigate, doesn't that mean that the underwear has been ripped off? How can that work! Moreover, even if secrecy is not considered, it is a blatant violation of the UK's judicial sovereignty. Besides, what conclusions will the French draw? That would certainly be a negative conclusion for the British. At that time, the French came to the conclusion that this matter was organized by the British royal family, and could they still extradite the king or crown prince to the French?

Of course, the British refusal did not disappoint Napoleon, because such a request was made in order to make the British refuse. So immediately after the British officially rejected the unreasonable demands of France, Napoleon made a speech at the State Department, asking the State Department to allow him to declare war on the British.

This rubber stamp of the State Department, of course, immediately approved Napoleon's motion. Napoleon's speech caused tsunami applause in the State Department many times, and almost every time he finished speaking, the three-handed members of the State Department (Napoleon came to meet everyone, hurried up to shake hands; Napoleon asked everyone to vote, and hurriedly raised his hand; Napoleon gave a speech and hurriedly clapped his hands. They will applaud and cheer.

With the authorization of the State Council, Napoleon first declared war on Britain on behalf of the French Republic.

Immediately afterwards, Napoleon, in the name of the Roman Emperor, declared that, in accordance with the Treaty of Friendship and Mutual Assistance between the French Republic and the Roman Empire signed between the Roman Empire and the French Republic, when any of the contracting parties was invaded by a foreign enemy, the other party to the treaty was obliged to take all necessary means, including the dispatch of armed forces, to help the allies resist the aggression.

Now, France's mobile homeland, the warships of France, have been attacked by the British for no apparent reason. This is the invasion of France by the British. Therefore, according to the Treaty of Amity and Mutual Assistance between the French Republic and the Roman Empire, the Roman Empire followed France in declaring war on Great Britain.

The news of the French declaration of war on Great Britain did not come as unexpected to the British, because just two days earlier, the capital ships of the French Navy had left their ports and their whereabouts were unknown.

The whole of Britain was on alert, and the strength of the British navy could no longer keep up with the French at this time, but it was not impossible to fight with the cover of the home ports and batteries. It's just that now the "Queen Elizabeth" has not returned, so the British fleet cannot go to sea for the time being to fight the French fleet. But for defense, it can still withstand for a while, and when Nelson's fleet returns, Britain can find an opportunity to have a decisive battle with the French navy.

However, the French fleet, which was quickly assembled, did not pounce directly on the British mainland, but went westward around Britain and sailed into the rough Atlantic.

In the Atlantic, Nelson's fleet was still slowly sailing at six knots. They didn't have a radio, so they didn't know that at this time, England and France had declared war on each other.

At a little further distance, a French cruiser was far behind.

After discovering the boat, Nelson wasn't too nervous at first. The French have their roots, and their intentions are very obvious. They feared that their fleet would suddenly kill them, so they followed behind, and once they did so, they could take advantage of their speed advantage and rush back to report to the Americans.

Of course, it is completely normal for Nelson to make such conjectures because he did not know that the French had radio technology.

On the side of the French fleet, Admiral Treville kept receiving messages from the French cruiser "Portuguese Moon", and clearly grasped the information of the British Navy.

Marshal Tréville, with the help of his staff officers, quickly worked out the route of the march. to ensure that the fleet could appear in front of the British fleet at the most opportune time.

Relying on the superiority of intelligence, Marshal Trever constantly adjusted the speed and course of the voyage. Now the two fleets were rapidly closing in on each other, but Admiral Tréville knew when and where he would encounter the British fleet; As for Nelson, he didn't even know that France had declared war on England.

According to Marshal Treville's arrangement, the two sides were to meet in the early hours of the morning. This is a very good point in time. While the two sides were still rapidly approaching, no one could see the plume of smoke coming from the chimney because of the cover of night, and as the sun rose, the distance between the two sides made a battle inevitable.

And the location of both fleets would also be especially advantageous to the French. The fleet of the French was to the east, while the fleet of the British was to the west. So that when the sun rises, the British will be disturbed by the sunlight coming from the east.

To be honest, everything was executed according to the plan of this Trevel Marshal very well, except for one thing - the weather. Originally, it was planned that the early morning sun would be a big help to cover the French army's battle, but on the last night before the two sides met, the weather suddenly changed and the sky became overcast.

This makes it impossible to count on the sun the next morning. However, considering that the French fleet was much stronger than the one in Nelson's hands, the Admiral Tréville decided to continue to advance as originally planned and prepare for tomorrow's decisive battle.

Because the weather is gloomy, even in the morning, the visibility is not always good. So Marshal Treyville also ordered the fleet to be slightly reduced in speed.

Around seven o'clock the next morning, a large fleet appeared in Nelson's sight.

Nelson raised his binoculars and looked at the French fleet approaching him. His face was solemn, for he had already recognized the lineup that the French Navy had put in.

"That's the battleship Imperator, and the battleship Caesar. And then there were the supercruisers 'Silk Road' and 'Enterprise'. The entire French Navy, almost all of them are here! ”

If the "Queen Elizabeth" had not been damaged before, Nelson would still have a little confidence in defeating such an enemy, but at this time, his most important capital ship could not sail at high speed because of damage, which really made him not nervous.

The two sides continued to approach, and the French army initially blocked the front of the French army in a horizontal line, but at this time they began to turn, trying to seize the T position,

At this time, Nelson also knew that the situation was not good, and he quickly gave the order, and the fleet began to turn to avoid being occupied by enemy ships.

The distance between the two sides was getting closer and closer, and at a distance of five kilometers, the "Imperator" and "Caesar" of the French fleet were the first to fire at the British.

The shot did not hit, but the French quickly fired a salvo. The salvo still failed to hit any targets. But in the middle of these two rounds of shelling, the time spent was really much less.

Both the "Imperator" and the "Caesar" used tube-retreat cannons, which made their firing rate naturally much faster than that of the British, who were still using the cannons. Although these two salvos did not yield any results, Nelson's face was still very unpleasant.

"Hurry up, rush forward, we must pin down the French battleships, or they will soon wipe out our other ships." Nelson ordered.

The "Queen Elizabeth" had a big hole, and the patch was not ready. But their power system was not damaged, so at this time, Nelson's warship was still able to force itself to throw more than ten knots of speed.