The three warships in the fierce battle all noticed the actions of the British, but because the British still held the American flag when they retreated, the French on the "Free Trade" still regarded them as Americans.

"When did Americans sell their teammates so well?" Zola had some contacts with Americans before. In his impression, although Americans were a little vulgar, they were relatively honest, and they all had thick eyebrows and big eyes. No matter how they looked, they didn't look like people who were good at doing this.

However, the British accelerated and ran away no matter what they thought. As soon as they left, the entire battle situation immediately changed fundamentally. The French fleet in the port began to leave the port, and the French immediately had one more patrol ship and three small gunboats. Even if the number of ships was counted, the French began to gain the upper hand.

The "American", which was approaching the "Free Trade", naturally discovered this change. Colonel Matthews, who was in charge of the command, immediately realized that they had lost the battle. Judging from the current situation, even if the French reinforcements were not considered, it would be difficult for his two ships to beat the French steamship. In addition, the French reinforcements, it would be difficult to win or escape.

But even so, the USS. United States must first approach and open fire on the enemy ships so as to save the Congress from a situation where he was beaten and could not fight back.

The distance between the two sides is getting closer and closer, and the "US" has approached more than 200 meters from the port side of the "Free Trade".

The nine cannons on the port side of the Free Trade have never had the opportunity to fire. Now that the enemy ships are approaching, they are naturally firing at the USS.

At a distance of more than 200 meters, the rifled gun still achieved good results. Nine rounds of shells successfully hit two, and one of them hit the bowspice of the "USA" very accurately.

This shell achieved an almost devastating effect. The bowsprit is a place where the spinnakers are hung. In addition to providing most of the power to sail against the wind, it is also essential for various controls of the sailboat. Now, after being shot, the thick bowsprit broke into two pieces with a click.

The broken bowsprit fell directly into the sea. A large number of cables were wrapped around the mast, which were tied with sails and connected to other masts. It suddenly fell into the sea while the ship was sailing at high speed. The cables tied to it were stretched straight to pull the other masts on the ship to the right, and the bow of the ship immediately turned tilted.

"Hurry, cut off the cable!" Matthews ordered quickly.

The Americans performed quite well. Several sailors waved their axes and quickly cut off the ropes with just a few axes, avoiding a bigger crisis. (For example, the main mast was pulled off, etc.) But after losing the bowsprit, the speed of the "USA" dropped significantly and became difficult to control.

"Send a signal to the 'Congress' to retreat." Faced with the current situation, Matthews issued a new order in disgrace:

"Now, let's fight desperately, drag the enemy down and cover the retreat of the 'Parliament'."

Matthews' order was sent out with a signal flag. However, the "Parliament" was already very badly beaten by the "Free Trade" at this time. Moreover, because the speed was obviously slower than the French, it was still a big question whether the "Parliament" could escape.

But in fact, the Free Trade also faces a problem, that is, its shells are limited.

The "Free Trade" uses rear-mounted rifled steel cannons. The shells used in this type of artillery are different from ordinary shells, and the technical content is much higher. The large iron balls used in other artillery can be built everywhere, but the shells used in rifled cannons are not produced in the Americas. They all rely on the shells brought by the ship. One less of these shells is used. The "Free Trade" must leave enough shells to ensure its safety when returning.

During this long voyage, the Navy prepared the mission for the Free Trade to verify the ship's long voyage capabilities, and did not consider that so many battles would occur. Moreover, they felt that as long as the speed was fast enough, the Free Trade would not be very dangerous, so they even deliberately brought a little less ammunition to load more things that were more helpful to the long voyage experiment.

So at this time, the Americans were complaining, but the French were also anxious about their ammunition. Now the ammunition stock of the "Free Trade" has reached the dangerous line.

On the other hand, in the absence of high-explosion bombs, it is almost impossible to sink a large ship like the USS. USS. or the USS. Congress in the absence of high-explosion bombs. Even if the requirements are reduced to the loss of combat effectiveness of the enemy ship, it requires a lot of shells. Even if the remaining shells of the "Free Trade" are not necessarily enough to achieve the second goal. Therefore, now the "Free Trade" faces a choice, which one is left among the two US cruise ships.

Captain Zola quickly made a decision, abandoning the "President Congress" and fighting the "President America" ​​with all his might, leaving it as far as possible. This was not only because the navigational ability of the "President America" ​​was damaged to a certain extent, but also because capturing a ship named "President America" ​​sounded more exciting than capturing a ship named "President Congress".

In a sense, it is a bit stupid to name warships such as consumables that are easily lost in war or even in peace. Because if such ships are lost for some reason, it will be a huge blow to the morale of the entire country.

For example, in later World War II, Sandezi initially named a ship used for dying and adventure as "Germany". Then when the war started, he suddenly found that it would take not long for this guy to go out to work, and the news would be published in the newspaper: "Germany sinking" or "Royal Navy sinking Germany". You said it was so unlucky. If you don't go out to work, wouldn't the ship be built in vain? In the end, Sandezi had to change the name of the ship first and then let her go out to work, thus successfully turning the "Germany sinking" into the "Luzov sinking".

However, Sandezi's ally, Xiaobanji, also named the battleship "Puwaiting Dock" with its own nation's name. As a result, when it was about to use it, he was worried that the sign of loss of this thing would be too bad. As a result, this guy was really pushing dock most of the time.

So when the Congress tried to distance himself from the battle, the Free Trade did not catch up, but turned directly to the "American". Because he was very confident in his defense, the Free Trade was too lazy to even t-position, and directly aimed his ship's side at the "American"'s side. Of course, this would give the "American" more shooting opportunities, but as a target, the projection area of ​​the "American"'s side direction was much larger than the bow direction, and the movement directions of both sides were consistent, so the hit rate of shooting such a target would be much higher. Considering that the "Free Trade" has a shortage of shells, launching an attack from this direction can obviously use each shell more efficiently.

When the Free Trade Turned its main target to the "American", the "American" immediately fell into trouble. Taking advantage of its maneuverability, the "Free Trade" has always maintained a distance of about 50 meters from the "American". At this distance, the artillery on the "Free Trade" can guarantee a very high hit rate, while the cannons on the "American" cannot hit the "Free Trade" suspended steel armor at all.

In addition, the amazing fire rate of the cannons on the "Free Trade" compared to the artillery of this era allows them to fire at least three to four cannons during the time when the other party fires. Therefore, although there are only 9 cannons on one side of the "Free Trade", the number of shells fired per unit time has exceeded the "American" in perfect condition. So after several rounds of volleys, the "American"'s gun cabin is in a mess, and it can be said that it is blood flowing.

The "USA" has tried to lean on it more than once and hit the "Free Trade", but the "USA" that lost the bowsprit is quite clumsy in steering, while the "Free Trade" which uses steam power is already more flexible than her. Such a move will naturally not have any results.

Soon, there were only two or three guns on the port side of the "USA" and their shooting frequency dropped significantly, obviously, there were probably casualties in the gun group of the remaining guns, which reduced the firing speed.

Generally, at this time, the opposite side should hang a flag indicating surrender.

"It's time for them to surrender, too." Captain Zola sighed at the "USA" not far away, "They have tried their best, and surrendering now is not a loss of honor."

At this time, a long triangular red flag was raised on the mast of the "American".

"They raised the St. George's flag." Zola sighed, "Yes, this ship is the 'American', and she must fight to the end anyway. God bless us, we do not have a warship called 'France'."

"St. George's flag?" Victor on the side was obviously not very familiar with these things of the Navy, so he asked, "I remember that the St. George's flag shouldn't be the red cross flag in England with a white background?"

"That's the flag of England," Zola explained, "but here there is another St. George's flag that represents the courage and despair of the warships. Well, it's the one on that side. That flag means: fight to the end of blood and never surrender."

:.:
Chapter completed!