Pressurized and strong ventilation, which is the method of extracting the last trace of power from the steam engine, can easily cause the boiler to overheat, lose the life of the boiler, and in more serious cases, boiler explosions may occur. But today, the Queen Elizabeth no longer needs any boiler life. Even if all goes well and it manages to sink the "Imperator", she herself will definitely be doomed. In this case, the boiler life or something is meaningless.

As for the boiler explosion or something, the distance between the two sides is only a little more than a kilometer now, and the probability of such a thing happening is not high, at least, it is lower than the probability of a shell hitting the ammunition depot.

But the acceleration of the warship is not like the acceleration of a liter motorcycle, the throttle is twisted, and then in the blink of an eye, the speed is over a hundred. The acceleration of a warship or something is quite slow, so slow that a lot of times if you don't pay attention, you won't even feel it at all.

But the French artillery reacted much faster. The 150 guns on the "Imperator", the 150 guns on the "Caesar", and the 100 guns on the other cruisers all fired at the "Queen Elizabeth". A 150 shell hit the port side and pierced the armor and exploded in the freshwater compartment inside - fortunately, there were no casualties. Another 150 shell hit and exploded near the waterline on the port side, tearing a hole there and allowing sea water to pour in. However, the opening is not big, so no one cares about it for the time being - two-thirds of the casualties have been lost, and this small problem can no longer be managed.

But it's close, and it doesn't matter if it's in the water anymore - as long as the ship hasn't sunk by the time it hits it.

As for the shells of 100 guns, there were even more hits, which did not have any possibility of penetrating the armor of the "Queen Elizabeth", but they completely washed the entire superstructure of the "Queen Elizabeth". In fact, if we take into account the effect of that near-miss, in today's battle, at least so far, it was not the 150-mm guns of the French battleships that caused the most damage to the "Queen Elizabeth", but the 100-mm guns of the French armored cruisers.

"Order, immediately fill the various ammunition compartments. All soldiers, be ready to abandon ship. Seeing the enemy ship getting closer and closer, and more shells constantly hitting the warship, Nelson gave another order.

Filling the ammunition compartment with water meant that after the warship's large and small guns had finished firing the shells that had been moved to the turret, there were no more shells to fire. But this order also ensured that before the "Queen Elizabeth" collided with the enemy ship, even if a French shell penetrated the ammunition compartment, the entire ammunition compartment would not explode, and the whole battleship would be blown away by one guy.

In fact, the order was very timely, because only two minutes after the order was given, a shell from the "Imperador" pierced the armor of the ammunition depot of the front main gun - the two sides were now very close, making the armor that was previously impossible to penetrate become easily penetrable. If it had not been for the pre-flooding of the ammunition compartment, this shell would most likely have killed the "Queen Elizabeth".

On board the "Imperator", Admiral Treville had already read the British thoughts, and he knew that the British were trying to attack him by ramming. At this time, he had two options, one was to keep the current course unchanged, which was most conducive to the artillery strike on the enemy. Then use the advantage of firepower to destroy the enemy with artillery fire before they can charge up. Or he can also make the warship turn and turn in the same direction as the enemy ship. In this way, he can only attack the enemy with his tail gun, but this will increase the time it will take for the enemy to catch up with him, and when the enemy does, he will only be able to ram the stern of the "Imperador" with the bow. Although it doesn't sound good to say that the chrysanthemum was blown up, but from that angle, the chance of being able to sink the warship is much smaller. It has even become basically impossible.

If at this time, it was Napoleon who made the decision, then he would definitely not hesitate to choose option one, don't be cowardly, just do it! Let's see if you hit me to death, or if I hammer you to death first, the west wind blows, the war drums beat, who is afraid of whom in this world?

If at this time, the person who made the decision was Joseph, then he would definitely not hesitate to choose option two, turn quickly, and save his life first, anyway, even if his ass is pushed by someone, he will not be able to die. Now that it's a must-win situation, there's no need to take any chances. In addition, if it was Joseph, he would definitely not allow himself to appear on the battlefield.

But the Admiral of Trevil was neither Napoleon nor Joseph. So, well, at first he was determined to take the Napoleonic plan, but as more shells hit the enemy ship, but instead of exploding and sinking, the enemy ship increased in speed and got closer and closer, and the Admiral Trevil hesitated again. He felt so short a distance. It was already difficult to prevent the enemy ship from colliding with him by artillery fire, so he ordered the battleship to turn. This order is considered in the summary after this battle as an important reason for the heavy losses suffered by the "Imperator" and finally had to abandon the ship.

Marshal Tréville and Captain Morau underestimated the loss of the ship's steering ability after losing the bow, so when the British "Queen Elizabeth" approached a distance of no more than 400 meters, the "Imperator" began to clumsily turn and evade.

It's just that the speed of the "Imperatorado" turned slowly was really beyond everyone's expectations. It took a long time to turn forty-five degrees, and then the "Queen Elizabeth" slammed into it headlong with a raging flame.

If the "Imperador" had already completed its turn, it would have damaged a few cabins behind it at most, and there would have been no big deal except that the propeller had been finished and someone needed to drag it away. Go back and overhaul it, maybe it will still work.

If there is no steering at all and is hit by the "Queen Elizabeth", the damage must be serious, and the series of cabins in the center must be finished, but the middle compartment will be damaged. Most of them will not sink, as long as there is no problem with the keel, drag it back to repair it. At least it can be sold to the Turks on the back hand.

However, when such a 45-degree angle is hit, the situation is completely different. The bow of the Queen Elizabeth rowed along the port side of the Imperador, cutting almost all the watertight compartments on the left side.

The turbulent sea water suddenly poured into the cabin, even if the good damage management personnel of "Imperator" were relatively neat, but in the face of such a situation, there was still no way at all. To avoid the sinking of the battleship. The French could only urgently lock the doors of all the watertight compartments on the port side, and as many as one hundred and ten sailors were drowned because of this action alone.

Because of the rapid flooding on the port side, the Imperado began to tilt rapidly to the left, and rescuers had to fill some of the compartments on the starboard side with water to find balance in order to avoid the boat being buckled. But there are too many damaged compartments on the port side, and if the balance is really restored, then the "Imperator" will directly become a submarine.

Fortunately, when the Navy designed this warship, because of Joseph's insistence, it used relatively small compartments, and not only divided multiple compartments horizontally, but also vertically. This design gives the "Imperador" very good resistance to sinking. So after such a move, the "Imperator" actually floated on the surface of the water reluctantly and did not sink. It's just that the ship rolled to almost thirty degrees, and people couldn't stand on the deck anymore, and as for the steam engine and everything, it was naturally shut down.

Of course, the "Queen Elizabeth" is not much better. She had already gotten in a lot of water. The bow of her ship was also smashed, and the sea water rushed in from here, and the "Queen Elizabeth" had a large compartment design, and the damage control personnel suffered heavy losses, and there was no control of the situation, so her bow sank first, and the stern was raised high, and the copper propeller, the red painted bottom, and the barnacles attached to the bottom of the ship were exposed. Some of the sailors jumped into the sea with all kinds of floating objects in their arms, and swam with all their strength into the distance. They all knew that the ship was about to sink, and if they couldn't swim a little farther before the ship sank, they would be pulled to the bottom by the whirlpool that formed when the ship sank.

Because there is also a large amount of seawater in the aft compartment, which is pressed downward, making the keel of the "Queen Elizabeth" rattle. At the same time, seawater poured into the chamber, and oppressive air gushed out from various cracks, making a whistle-like whistling sound, which was moving. Eventually, the keel of the Queen Elizabeth could no longer bear the pressure, and with a loud bang broke in two, and the stern slammed into the water, splashing huge waves, and then the warship, which was broken in two, quickly sank to the bottom of the sea, leaving only a large whirlpool on the surface. Many of the soldiers who jumped into the sea to escape had not had time to swim far, but they were also caught by the whirlpool when the ship sank, and then sank to the bottom of the sea.

According to post-war statistics, only six of the more than 600 officers and men on board the "Queen Elizabeth" were rescued in the end. Others, including the commander of the fleet, Admiral Nelson, sank with the ship.

The battle that followed was completely one-sided. Although the French battleship "Imperator" had lost its combat effectiveness, the second detachment was already in place, and under the blow of the French fleet's crossfire, any British warship that remained on the battlefield today was seriously damaged, and when the "Queen Elizabeth" attacked the "Imperator", there were already three British cruisers slowly sinking.

And when the "Queen Elizabeth" sank, the French diverted the firepower that was originally pressed on the "Queen Elizabeth", so the situation of these remaining British warships was even more difficult. Although it is true that the British Navy is very worthy of the Z-shaped flag raised by Admiral Nelson, and is very worthy of the order that "England requires everyone to do their duty". But the situation of the war does not depend on the people. Just over half an hour later, all the British warships were either sinking or sinking. The French had stopped shooting and sent boats to salvage the British soldiers who had fallen overboard.

And on the other side, the Admiral Trever had already taken a small boat and transferred to the battleship "Caesar". Most of the crew also left the battleship "Imperator". Except, of course, those sailors who were enclosed in watertight compartments and were still hitting the deck with wrenches and the like.

The French cruiser "Lyon" approached the battleship "Anbrado" and, dragging it with a cable, tried to tow it back to France. The keel of the ship was not broken, and it was towed back for repairs, and maybe it could be sold to the Turks for money.

However, in the evening, the wind began to pick up on the sea, and the waves became higher and higher. The condition of the "Imperator" deteriorated rapidly, and the roll soon increased to about 40 degrees, and continued to expand, until at about eight o'clock in the evening the whole ship was reversed at once, and then began to sink gradually.

By order of Admiral Tréville, the "Lyons" untied the cable that dragged the "Imperator". At 9:15 p.m. that night, under the watchful eyes of the entire fleet, the "Imperator" sank into the icy North Atlantic.

By this time, the results of the entire campaign were completely out. The British lost the battleship "Queen Elizabeth", as well as two supercruisers and six armored cruisers, and only the supercruiser "Yorkshire" managed to break through. As a result, the British Navy has now lost all of its new battleships, except for another warship of the same class as the Queen Elizabeth, which has only been half-built on the slipway. She now has only four supercruisers and ten armored cruisers left. Although this figure is still good compared to other countries, it is impossible for them to compete with the French for sea supremacy with these forces alone. Today's British navy, presumably only under the cover of coastal artillery and mines, can act as a coastal defense force to prevent a possible landing war launched by the French.

On the side of the French, they lost the battleship "Imperator", and the other warships were also damaged to varying degrees. But there are only two armored cruisers that need to be overhauled, and it is estimated that they will lose their combat effectiveness in three to six months. It can be said that this French fleet still basically maintains its combat effectiveness. This is really a nightmare result for the British.