The route from the European continent to the Caribbean is a very busy one, and a large number of ships sail on this route every day, some ships bring all sorts of things that are superfluous in Europe, such as industrial goods and the poor of freedom, to the Americas, and things like sugar, coffee, cotton, etc., from the Americas; Others sailed from Africa, laden with black slaves, across the oceans, and arrived here; The slaves were exchanged for money and sugar, coffee, cotton, and other American products, and went to Europe; Then exchange these for money and weapons, travel to Africa, and sell them to African chiefs so that they can start wars and capture more black slaves.

Therefore, it is already a common thing to encounter some ships on this route, especially when they are already very close to the Caribbean.

It's just that ships at sea tend to keep their distance from each other, especially in the Caribbean. Because on the sea, legitimate merchants and pirates are often just two sides of the same coin. When a legitimate merchant discovers a ship that is obviously weaker and easier to deceive, and can be snatched up, he will not hesitate to transform himself into a pirate. And when he found another ship that was clearly stronger than himself, of course he would run away as soon as possible, lest they become pirates.

Therefore, most ships, as long as they see each other's sails, if there is no malicious intent, will run away.

The "Free Trade" is a large ship of more than 2,000 tons, which is already at the level of a battleship, and it can go sideways in the Caribbean. Not to mention those amateur pirates, even those professional pirates, the ships used are just ordinary armed merchant ships, even the famous "Queen Anne's Revenge" is no exception. (The one on the plane of reality, of course.) ）

Therefore, in the past, whenever the "Free Trade" encountered other ships and the two sides approached the distance where they could see each other with a telescope, the other side would take a picture of the "Free Trade" and automatically avoid it. This time, however, the boat spotted by the outpost was different, and instead of avoiding it, she approached it directly.

"U.S. ship! At 11 o'clock, the U.S. ship was spotted! The observation post at the top of the mast shouted again.

Although France did not declare war with the United States, anything messy could happen in this sea area, so Captain Zola immediately issued an order "Ship combat readiness!" Steam engine fire! ”

It takes quite a long time for the steam engine to work from a fire, but fortunately, the "Free Trade" itself has four sails, plus accurate calculations, coupled with the low-resistance ship type made by repeated tests in the pool, so that its speed when only using sails is not slow, although it is not as slow as a normal sail cruiser, but it is not too slow.

At the beginning of the design, one of the requirements of the "Free Trade" was that it must be able to run faster than the British battleships on sails alone, even in the event of a steam power failure. So what if the British cruisers caught up? It's simple, just start fighting.

The "Free Trade" is not only the size of a second-class battleship, but also has the level of battleship-level protection. Regular battleships, with oak planks on both sides of the board up to about a meter thick, were enough to withstand close shelling from smaller caliber guns.

Such planks were quite expensive, and the "Free Trade" did not use such planks. Instead, a galvanized steel plate was used to strengthen the defense. This not only reduces the cost, but also saves weight. According to the results of the tests, even the battleship's 32-pounder gun, as long as it did not hit repeatedly and caused the external steel plate to fall off, it was not enough to pose a fatal threat to the "Free Trade".

On the contrary, the shells fired from the 110 mm rifled guns on the "Free Trade" can penetrate the plank of any enemy ship with great confidence, even the "Victory". Therefore, the British corvettes caught up, as long as they were careful not to be hit by them, then it was useless for them to catch up.

In short, those who may be able to beat the "free trade number" cannot catch up with the "free trade number"; Those who can catch up with the "free trade" can't beat the "free trade". Or to put it more clearly, the "Free Trade" is essentially a warship that is mainly used to cut off free trade routes.

The USS Free Trade began to turn and prepare to distance itself from the approaching U.S. warships. But the shift also takes time. In the process, the distance between the two sides continued to approach, and through the telescope, it was already possible to clearly see the part of the sail.

"This is the super-cruiser of the Americans." Captain Zola said.

"Super cruisers? What kind of warship is this? How does it compare with ours? "Victor didn't know much about warships.

"A warship with very American characteristics." Captain Zola explained, "It is actually very similar to our ship, the displacement is the same as that of a second-class battleship, the level of defense is the same, and the guns used are also of the battleship class, but the number is reduced by half, and a certain amount of self-sustaining power is sacrificed in exchange for the speed of the cruiser." Of course, they still have more artillery than us. As for fighting with us...... Hehe...... We crush them like an ant. ”

Indeed, the US Navy's "super cruisers" are indeed very strong, and if there is no "free trade" in the world, these "super cruisers" of the US military can indeed be said to be that anyone who can catch up with them will not be able to beat them, and anyone who can beat them will not be able to catch up with them.

In the original history, in the second war between the United States and Britain not long after, in the face of the overwhelming superiority of the British fleet, the performance of these "super cruisers" of the US military was quite outstanding, although it was not enough to shake the British superiority at sea, but they did not suffer losses in the battle, and even took advantage of a lot. In particular, the cruiser "Constitution", known as the "old ironclad", was particularly prominent in bullying the British corvettes. Although they were not able to prevent the British from landing and burning the White House.

But in the face of the "Free Trade", the Americans' super-cruisers are really not super-capable. In terms of speed, when the "Free Trade" did not use steam power, the American corvettes were faster; But once the steam power of the "Free Trade" came into play, the "Free Trade" could easily catch up with any foreign ship.

As for firepower, taking into account the rate of fire advantage brought by the rear-loading gun, as well as the power advantage brought by the steel cannon, although the number of cannons of the "Free Trade" is smaller, the firepower is actually much stronger.

But the Americans who are approaching today are ignorant of either of these things. Of course, although the Americans have not had particularly good relations with the French recently, and although the two sides have not declared war, there have been several mutual attacks between warships. However, this was the first time that the Americans had encountered a French ship of about the same size as themselves in this sea area. (The French had basically just ordinary frigates in this area.) ）

The Americans were worried that the French had transferred the battleships here, and if this was the case, it would obviously have had some effect on the situation in the region. So the Americans decided to catch up and find out.

The chimney of the "Free Trade" began to smoke.

Aboard the U.S. cruiser USS Constitution, Captain Isaac Hull was holding a telescope to look at the "suspected French battleship" ahead, noticing that his opponent was turning around, as if to avoid a direct encounter with him.

"This shouldn't be a battleship." Isaac Hull thought, "The French know very well that we don't have battleships, and a battleship doesn't need to actively distance itself from us." ”

"Chase it and take a look." Isaac Hull ordered.

After chasing for a while, Isaac Hull noticed smoke rising from the French warship. The weather was quite nice on this day, so Isaac Hull didn't mistake the smoke for an enemy ship fire. Because he clearly saw the chimney in the telescope.

"It's a French steam warship." Isaac Hull immediately made such a judgment.

There are many legends about the steam battleships of the French army. Isaac Hull had heard of some as well. He knew that the French steam warships were incredibly fast, supposedly faster than any of the cruisers. He had also heard that this kind of boat did not need to rely on sails, which made her amazingly nimble. However, he had also heard descriptions of the weakness of the ships, as the steam engines and coal and freshwater tanks took up too much space, making the number of cannons on the ships very small. More often than not, he can only rely on grabbing to fight. And he also knew that it would take quite a long time for the steam engine to start.

Isaac Hull is now faced with a choice between turning around and leaving or continuing to chase away.

In fact, in this area, French warships and American warships have not fought once or twice, and just a few days ago, the cruiser "Constitution" had captured a French brig frigate. (Just because there was no radio, the Free Trade and Paris didn't know it was like this.) In fact, in the original history, in the Caribbean, the U.S. Navy and the French Navy fought friction for three whole years, but everyone continued to trade while fighting, and even talked about territorial sales at the same time, and never declared war. Continuing to catch up will definitely provoke a fight. If you can't catch up with the enemy ship before the enemy ship's steam engine is activated and damage the enemy ship, the battle will be extremely difficult once the enemy ship's steam power is activated.

If it turns around and leaves, for now, the Constitution will still have time to escape. Because it was clear that the French ship was a little slower than the "Constitution" at the moment, and they had turned on their own initiative, and it seemed that they did not intend to clash with themselves.

Zola's decision to retreat was partly due to the fact that his sailors had not yet finished training for the new artillery, which made him less sure that he would leave the Americans in battle; On the other hand, it was also because the mission he received when he set off was only a sea trial, and it did not include the content of fighting the Americans. But his move encouraged the Americans and made Isaac Hull determined to pursue him.

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