Although he expressed his respect for the "USA" that had been fighting continuously, Zola would not be lenient. However, at this time, the French squadron that rushed from the Port of New Orleans had approached. In particular, the patrol ship "Dada Nian" had followed.

The "Dada Nian" is a standard patrol ship with 40 guns. Under normal circumstances, it is definitely not a match for the "American". But the situation is different now. At least in the port side, the "American" has only two guns. Moreover, due to the loss of the bowsprit, its speed has also dropped significantly. Therefore, even when facing the "Dada Nian", the current "American" still cannot be beaten and cannot be run away.

On the other side, the Constitution is also trying hard to avoid the pursuit of the American small gunboat. If enough sailors are recruited in the port of Santo Domingo, the Constitution can really crush the "Lafayette" gunboat like a crushing an ant.

However, considering the complex situation of "San Domingo", both Captain Zola and Victor were worried that a group of Americans would be recruited here, and then the recruited Americans and those who were still imprisoned should work together inside and outside... Isn't that a problem? So the "Constitution" did not even recruit a sailor in Santo Domingo. It just divided some sailors on the "Free Trade" to go over to fight the ship.

The consequence of doing this is that although there are dozens of cannons on the "Constitution", there is not even a single gunner.

But even so, it is still not easy for the "Lafayette" to deal with the "Constitution" in the hands of the French. First of all, the "Constitution" is too fast. Although the "Lafayette" specially removed some cannons for this purpose, reduced the weight and increased the speed, it is not easy to catch up with the "Constitution". Especially when the "Constitution" is thinking about escaping.

The pursuit between sailboats with a small speed difference in speed sometimes lasts for a long time, even as in a certain movie, from low latitudes to near the polar regions. Now the pursuit between the "Lafayette" and the "Constitution" seems to have such a feeling. So until this time, the two ships were still wandering around the sea.

However, in this process, the "Lafayette" was also constantly attacking the "Constitution" with its cannons on the ship.

The cannon on the "Lafayette" is only 12 pounds, and it cannot hit the hull of the "Constitution". The Americans are very clear about this point. After all, this ship was built by them. But the 12-pound cannon still has one function, that is, it can be used to destroy the "Constitution" sail equipment and reduce the speed of the "Constitution".

Moreover, compared to the hull, sails are a much larger target, and it is naturally much easier to hit it. But because the sails are large, it is not easy to destroy them. The shells, even chain bombs, cannonballs can only tear a small hole in the huge sail, which will have very limited damage to the entire sail. If the sailboat's speed is significantly reduced, it must hit it many times. This obviously takes time.

So until now, the Constitution still did not slow down significantly. At this time, on the other side, the overall situation was decided on the battlefield. The Congress turned in, the Americans was hung with the St. George's flag, and the terrifying steam warship also rushed towards this side.

Major Muric, the captain of the "Lafayette", immediately made this judgment: "This operation has failed, and the biggest problem now is how to escape."

So he immediately ordered: "Retreat at full speed!"

However, it is not easy to escape under the pursuit of the Free Trade. Because the Free Trade is much faster than her. But we can't stop running because of this. Moreover, Major Muric, the captain of the "Lafayette", knew that his ship had an advantage, that is, the water was shallower and she could go to some places, but the French "Free Trade" could not go. There was a sea area nearby, but it was hard to say whether she had time to escape before being caught up by the "Free Trade".

However, in fact, the "Free Trade" did not necessarily have to catch up and eliminate it. There were very few shells on the "Free Trade" and had reached the cordon of inventory, so it was no longer worth consuming for such a small boat. In fact, the "Free Trade" came after it just to relieve the "Constitution".

When the Free Trade escorted the Constitution back, the battle on the sea was at its last moment. At this time, all the artillery on the USS America was destroyed, and the D'Artagnan began to use chain bullets to continuously attack the USS America's sailing equipment. Obviously, they wanted to further reduce the USS America's navigation ability and then jumped over to capture the ship.

Under such circumstances, Captain Thomas issued an order to abandon the ship. The damaged sailors jumped into the sea with wooden barrels and other floating things, while Colonel Thomas himself walked into the cabin with a torch. Soon after, the ship began to burn.

At first, the French thought about whether they could come up to put out the fire quickly, but the fire spread very quickly. Obviously, when the "Dada Nian" was busy destroying the sailing tools of the ship, the sailors on the ship had already dumped gunpowder and other fire-induced objects everywhere.

Such a ship really burned, and even if it was placed in later generations, it might not be able to save it. At this time, everyone could only watch her burn.

Looking at the USS America engulfed by the flames, Captain Zola said to Victor: "Mr. Treville, we failed to capture the enemy ship this time... It's a pity that it's a good ship."

"What a pity, it's such a good boat."

Victor also sighed, but he immediately said: "But this ship was already behind as soon as it was put into service. The sea is now the world of steam warships."

"Fortunately, now we are the only ones in the world that are truly available to steam warships." Captain Zola said.

Just as Captain Zola said this, a new ship was undergoing a secret test in Fasslain Bay west of Glasgow, Scotland. It was a steamboat, but unlike ordinary steamboats, it did not have a paddle wheel.

The ship is not big. Judging from the shape of the ship, it is obviously modified from the steam frigates that were hung by French steamers off the coast of Ireland. It has no paddle wheels, no masts and sails. Anyway, this is an experimental ship, and there is also a sail warship next to it, so even if the machine fails, a boat will tow it back.

Now in the evening sea breeze, the ship began to accelerate, and the "Marvel" patrol ship that escorted it gradually could not keep up with its speed and slowly landed behind.

"General, the speed of the experimental ship is at least 15 knots. It seems that this is the secret that the French steamboat can run as fast as possible." The second deputy Jack Oberry said to the person standing beside him, wearing a general's uniform, holding a telescope and carefully observing the experimental ship.

"You're right, Jack. The propeller is indeed a good design. It makes the biggest weakness of the steamboat disappear in an instant. With this technology, the steamboat can really become a real warship." The general sighed when he said this.

"General, why are you sighing? Haven't we succeeded?" Jack Oberry asked.

"Yes, we succeeded. But Jack, the era of sails is gone." The general stretched out his hand and patted the young Jack Oberry on the shoulder. "New ships mean new ways of combat. Some things we have been studying for the rest of our lives may have drifted with the black smoke coming out of this ship. Fortunately, you are still young and have time to learn new things."

"General, you are not old, you are not yet fifty. And since you can learn various skills of sailing warships and fleet combat in the past, you will definitely be able to develop the most suitable tactics for new warships. Don't you think this task is full of challenges?"

"Ah, Jack, you're right. I shouldn't have the idea of ​​being lazy." The general laughed, "Well, you must study hard too. When my Victory is changed to a steam warship in the future, and if you perform well, I will let you come to Victory..."

At this time, the steamboat in front turned around and began to return. The sea area in this area is relatively remote, with few ships coming and going. However, it is already dark now, and it is time to return.

But neither Jack nor the "general" noticed that on the coast there, a man was hiding behind a large reef, looking at this place with a telescope...

So, a few days later, the three brothers had another dispute in the Bonaparte family.

"All the current signs indicate that Joseph, your confidentiality work is not done well, and you have spies. They have stolen the secrets of the propeller," Lucien said.

"Lucion, this is not necessarily because someone leaked the secret here." Joseph retorted, "because the propeller is so simple that anyone can discover this secret by just a glance. So I think the secret may be leaked from the production process. But you are staring at me and checking the people here, which will seriously interfere with our work."

"Joseph, of course we will check the production process, but will there be no problem here? It will not be harmful if you check it." Lucien said.

"Yes, Joseph, what can't be investigated? As long as you don't wrongly accuse people," Napoleon also said.

"Okay, you can check it, but it cannot interfere with the normal work of the research department, and you cannot even let them know that there is such an investigation." Joseph made a little concession, "In addition, I would like to emphasize again that propellers are very, very simple, and can be easily seen, even simpler than mines. We must never make the mistakes made by the British on mines!"
Chapter completed!