Fox of France

The Liberty left Port-au-Prince with the newly restored Constitution, and they circled the Cape de France first, but there they did not see any American warships - apparently they had moved from Toussaint Louvertou I got a warning from Er, and I have already evacuated first.

The "Free Trade" took the "Constitution" around Cape de France, and then headed west.

As early as more than a week ago, the Americans in Santo Domingo already knew about the capture of the "Constitution". It just took time to pass the news from Santo Domingo back to the United States. At that time, Florida was still in the hands of the Spaniards, but it took time to pass the news back to the United States. According to the calculations of Victor and Zola, the Americans probably only just got the news. In this era, if the U.S. Navy is placed in Europe, it is a weak chicken. The entire navy has only six main warships. Although these six frigates are all so-called "super frigates".

But in the Americas, this naval force is quite impressive. These six super frigates can walk sideways on the sea as long as they don't encounter battleships, and even if they encounter battleships, they can run as hard as they can with oil on their feet. And the naval powers of this era are all in Europe, everyone is staring at me, I am staring at you, restraining each other, resulting in good things like battleships basically being kept as housekeepers, so in various colonies, European powers The squadron is actually not too strong.

For example, in the original history, in the war launched by the United Kingdom to arm drug trafficking, it used almost the strongest fleet stationed in India outside the mainland, but this fleet only had three tier-three battleships with seventy-four guns . Compared with the size of the British home fleet of hundreds of third-tier battleships in the Battle of Trafalgar, I don't know where it is.

Instead of winning an unprecedented victory at Trafalgar, it was impossible for the British to send more than a dozen battleships to North America at one time and launch the second US-British war.

In the Americas, the flagships of the squadrons of various countries are often only served by fifth-tier ships (frigates), and other ships are often less than 1,000 tons in displacement, and sixth-tier ships with only more than 20 cannons are not even considered ranks. The top-rigged gunboat.

It is precisely because the squadrons of these countries are so weak here that pirates in the Caribbean have always been rampant. It was even so rampant at one point that the United States had to pay them protection fees. The original goal of the United States in establishing a navy was actually not to pay protection fees to these pirates.

In another time and space, the U.S. Navy, which collects protection fees all over the world in later generations, started from such six "super frigates". And what's interesting is that the navy of a certain country that collected protection fees all over the world during this period had only six decent surface ships left by then.

Victor reckons that the Americans will not be reconciled after knowing the news. They must try to gather their strength to fight over and snatch the "Constitution" back.

The "Constitution" actually suffered limited damage, but due to lack of manpower, it lost its combat effectiveness in a short period of time. But the sailing ability is still very good. Once in New Orleans, the French were able to quickly recruit sailors and restore the Constitution to combat. Therefore, the Americans will definitely find a way to stop and defeat the "Constitution" before it reaches New Orleans, so as to recapture the "Constitution" and regain its military advantage in the Caribbean Sea.

In fact, the Americans reacted much faster than Victor and the others imagined. Because news about the "Free Trade" and the "Constitution" were not sent back by ships, but by carrier pigeons. Instead, it took the Americans a lot of time to gather the warships.

It was not until the news that the "Free Trade" and "Constitution" had left Santo Domingo that the Americans gathered three warships: the super frigate "USS America", the super frigate "Congress" and soon The French warship "Breeze" captured by the "Constitution" before, but at this time, this small gunboat with only 16 guns had been renamed "Lafayette".

Considering that the "Constitution" in the hands of the French has not been fully repaired, and the French have not been able to recruit many sailors in Santo Domingo, it can basically be considered that although the "Constitution" is capable of sailing, it is not Not capable of combat. Therefore, this lineup of the US Navy should already have the upper hand in the battle against the French.

"Use two boats to entangle the steamship, and then the remaining one catches up with the 'Constitution', and the 'Constitution' can be recaptured." Matthew, the captain of the "USS" and the commander of this operation Colonel Si told the other combatants.

But this is just theory, and in practice, they still have a big problem to solve. That is how to find those two French warships as quickly as possible.

There is no radio today, and once the Navy's warships are out at sea, if they spread out, it is almost impossible to communicate with each other. If gathered together, the sea area that can be controlled will be much smaller. The possibility of the enemy bypassing interception from other directions also increases.

Of course, because they can easily determine where the French are going, (where else can they go except New Orleans?), so they can just block outside the port of New Orleans and wait on the sidelines.

But the French also have a squadron in New Orleans, although this fleet is not strong, only an ordinary sixth-tier ship and three small gunboats. But if there was a fight with the French steamships near New Orleans, the addition of that fleet would be a decisive force.

So from this point of view, the interception point must be set far from New Orleans. But if it is too far from New Orleans, it may miss the interception target.

Just when the Americans were distressed by this, an unexpected ally appeared suddenly-a British fleet came to the door.

Neither of the British colonies in the Caribbean, Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, was particularly prosperous. At least not prosperous compared to Santo Domingo. But Jamaica can provide a special commodity - black slaves shipped from Africa. So here is also a relatively important trade node.

The British have a small squadron here, consisting of only two frigates and three brigantines. In addition, they are said to have contacts with pirates in the Caribbean.

The envoy sent by Lieutenant Colonel Wayne, the commander of the British squadron, directly found the Americans and told them that the British were willing to join hands with the Americans to deal with the French. Of course, if the French steamship could be sunk or captured, this The steamships are to be owned by England.

If the French steam frigate could be captured, it would certainly be the most valuable prize. But both the British and the Americans actually knew that the chances of capturing the ship in battle were slim. In addition, the most exciting thing about this ship is the various black technologies on it, but with the current level of science in the United States, most of them can't understand or use these things when they get them.

It's like in later generations, when Da Mao's family holds a brick exhibition, rabbits and white elephants all go to join in. Da Mao stipulates: White elephants can look at and touch the things here casually, and rabbits are not allowed to look at or touch randomly! why? A white elephant sees in vain, and touches in vain. But if you let the rabbit look at it and touch it, it will really become pregnant.

Since it is useless for the Americans to get this thing, Colonel Matthews agreed. So a temporary alliance emerged.

Soon after, a combined fleet of four frigates and four gunboats appeared off the coast of New Orleans.

Because the British fleet had never fought with the American fleet before, they were not mixed together, but each maintained an independent formation. However, the British fleet hung the American flag on the mast at this time .

According to the division of labor between the two parties, the Americans were responsible for intercepting and attacking the incoming French steam frigate and recapturing the "Constitution"; while the British were responsible for containing the French squadron in the port of New Orleans.

"Shouldn't the British take the opportunity to bombard New Orleans? And it's under our flag." Thomas, the first mate of the "USA", said to Colonel Matthews.

“Maybe the British are going to do that,” Matthews said. “They’re hoping now that we’re going to turn our backs on France, and ideally declare war. That’s a good thing for them no matter what happens.”

"Then we..." Thomas said.

"We can't let the French gain a firm foothold on the American continent. Moreover, do the French really have the strength to suppress the whole of Europe and fight us at the same time? So our conflicts are conflicts, wars and so on, and it shouldn't be the case. And We really need their cooperation at this time."

While they were talking, the call of the lookout post suddenly sounded in their ears: "The target is found! At nine o'clock, the target is found!"

The two quickly raised their heads and looked in the direction of nine o'clock, only to see a thick black smoke column rising slowly from below the sea level.

"French steam battleship!" The two immediately made a judgment.

As far as they know, the French steam warships also have sails, and they usually rely on sails instead of steam engines. At this time, the thick smoke shows one thing, that is, the French are ready to fight preparation.

At the same time, on the "Free Trade", the atmosphere was not tense, the steam engine had already started, and New Orleans was not far away. In fact, starting the steam engine was more just for insurance. The "Free Trade" didn't know at this time that there was a fleet waiting for it in front.