The pillar of smoke was getting closer, and it was clear that there was only one pillar of smoke.

"The British North American fleet has six ships, and if it were them, we should be able to count six columns of smoke. But now there is only one, and it must be a returning whaling ship. The Americans made such a reasonable assumption, and dispersed the fleet in advance in order to encircle and intercept it, although whaling ships generally do not have steam-assisted power and cannot run fast.

The plume of smoke was getting closer and closer, and in General Cade's telescope, the ship finally emerged from the horizon entirely.

"Hell yes! This is...... This is the 'Free Trade Number'! Hell hell, how could she be here! ”

Admiral Cade had participated in the two-on-one battle with the "Free Trade" back then, and was very familiar with this super cruiser, which was supposed to be a "nightmare ship" for the Americans, so even though the distance between the two sides was still far away, General Cade still recognized this battleship at a glance that had appeared more than once in his nightmares.

"'Free Trade Number'?" Is the Free Trade Number back? What about the 'Common Market'? A young officer standing next to General Cade asked curiously. At the same time, he noticed that General Cade's hands were trembling slightly.

"It's not our 'free trade', it's the British, it's the 'unyielding' of the British!" General Cayde steadied his mind, and then said in the calmest voice possible, "Order, the fleet is immediately retracted and ready for battle!" ”

The U.S. fleet, including three supercruisers and three ordinary cruisers, began to regroup, accelerated, and prepared for battle.

General Cade felt that although the warships on his side were indeed far inferior to the British "Indomitable" in terms of performance, after all, there were many more of them, so they were not without the strength to fight.

After being ravaged by the French "Free Trade", the US Navy has been studying a problem, that is, how to confront the "Free Trade". And when the French put the "Free Trade" up for sale, the Americans were the first to jump out and hold up the sign, wanting to buy back the warship that made them sleep nightmares at night. However, the British came out halfway and snatched the princess in the minds of the US Navy at a higher price - so the British are not good! My dad told me the three principles of life - believe in God, pay taxes according to the law, and hate the British for a reason.

After the British bought the "Free Trade," the US Navy continued to concentrate on studying how to deal with the "Free Trade."

From the technical details disclosed by the French when they sold the "Free Trade", the Americans found that none of the existing naval guns of the US Navy could penetrate the defenses of the "Free Trade". What to do? Of course, it was time to quickly order some naval guns from the French that could penetrate the armor of the "Free Trade". Therefore, although the Americans were unable to buy back the "Free Trade Number" at that time, they did not bring back the money they brought to buy the "Free Trade Number" back to the United States. Instead, they all turned into expensive French long-barreled cannons.

This rear-loaded, receded long-barreled cannon had a staggering thirty times the caliber barrel of its time. (So it's really not all about the pitfalls, because the longer the barrel, the more difficult it is to drill.) The muzzle velocity of the shells was as high as 600 meters per second, so it could easily penetrate the draped iron armor on the outside of the first version of the "Free Trade" at a distance of 500 meters. And in this era, a distance of 500 meters is already quite a distance for naval artillery at sea.

Of course, the British also equipped their newly purchased "Indomitable" with the same cannons. This, of course, is one of the reasons why the Americans do not attach iron armor to their supercruisers: anyway, within the normal killing range, the iron armor will not be able to stop the French guns. So, it's better to just run naked, at least so that you can run a little faster.

Because of the naval guns that were enough to penetrate the armor of the "Indomitable", the Americans were still very confident in this battle.

The two sides began to approach each other, and the six warships of the American fleet lined up in two columns to meet them. If both sides had maintained their current course, the Indomitable would have passed directly between the two columns of the Americans. If it had been before, such an approach would not have been impossible to consider, anyway, at that time the American artillery could not penetrate the iron armor of the "Indomitable". It is enough to prevent the Americans from playing bumper boats with their lives.

But now, things are a little different. The Americans' naval guns were also capable of penetrating the iron armor of the Indomitable. Therefore, if it does not choose this approach, it can certainly gain a good advantage in firepower because it can fire on the left and right sides, but it will also suffer heavy losses due to the shelling of both the left and right sides. So, the British began to turn first.

The British knew that he had some advantages over the American fleet:

First of all, their warships have a higher speed, which gives them a better chance of gaining the upper hand in the game of T grabbing, and their sailors are also trained at a higher level.

Secondly, the British modified the "Indomitable" by canceling the original way of arranging guns on both sides of the gun deck, and instead installed two cannons on the front and rear decks of the ship that could be rotated at a large angle on a ring-shaped gun carriage.

After the British turned, the Americans also began to turn to avoid being robbed of the T-head. Then it will soon become that the fleets of both sides draw circles on the sea, and the British are trying to get the bow of the Americans, and the Americans are constantly turning to keep the two sides in opposite positions.

The Indomitable had a slight advantage in speed, but the American boats were more agile in steering, so it was not easy for the British to grab the American T-position.

After a few turns, the distance between the two sides began to close, but because of the angle problem, the Americans' broadside guns could not aim at the "Indomitable", but the tail guns of the "Indomitable" could turn the angle and fire at the Americans. Although the British had only two tail guns, and everyone was maneuvering at high speed, the accuracy of the shelling was not high. The first few shots missed.

However, the failure to fight back after a one-sided beating is the most demoralizing thing. And these cannons failed to hit, but it doesn't mean that the future ones won't hit. And at this distance, once hit, the damage to the US warship is definitely not light.

Sure enough, after six unsuccessful shots, a shell finally hit the "Constitution", which was at the front.