Chapter 635

Major general Julian Luc is the supreme commander of the Royal French Navy's fleet in Guadeloupe. He commands a fleet composed of two class II windsurfing battleships with 90 guns, five class III windsurfing battleships with 74 guns and eight class IV cruisers with 50 guns.

Guadeloupe is undoubtedly very important for France, so both Louis XV and Louis XVI, who just came to power a few years ago, paid great attention to the security of Guadeloupe. Even seven main windsurfing battleships were deployed here.

You know, after the end of the seven-year war, even though France has been desperately building the main ships, the number of class III and above windsurfing battleships owned by the Royal French navy is only more than 480, and the number of main ships owned by the Guadeloupe fleet accounts for more than one seventh of the whole Royal Navy!

When Julian Luc was named the supreme commander of the Guadeloupe fleet by Louis XVI, he was honored and vowed to be loyal to the great Louis XVI.

Especially after coming to Guadeloupe, the major general Luc is very beautiful for a while.

But in the past two years, Luc felt extremely depressed. He was even reprimanded by Emperor Louis XVI.

The fundamental reason for his absence was that the sub fleet he had sent north to harass the British suddenly disappeared the summer before last.

Brigadier General Henry Antoine is the most effective subordinate of major general Luc. According to the order issued by the Royal Navy Command the year before last, he asked the Guadeloupe fleet to send some warships disguised as pirates to attack the British and give some help to the army. So Luc entrusted the task to brigadier general Henry Antoine.

Luc knew very well that he became the fleet commander of Guadeloupe not because of his mastery of naval warfare, but because he had a good family background. But Antoine is not the same. His rank of brigadier general is a real battle.

On the sea war, Luc thinks that he is far inferior to Antoine.

Therefore, Luc thought that he was quite sure that Antoine would carry out this task in the future.

As a result, Antoine disappeared as soon as he left. Although it takes several months for the navy to go out to sea, it can't be that it's not seen for more than half a year.

If we start from Brest, the largest port in France, and cross the Atlantic Ocean to Guadeloupe Island, then with the speed of less than 10 knots, the voyage of more than 7000 kilometers will take more than two months or even three months.

New France was ceded to the British after the seven-year war, and France lost its landing point in the new North American continent. Otherwise, it would take only one and a half months to reach the new North American continent by the shorter route of the North Atlantic.

But it's all a long voyage, and it's normal to take a few months. But brigadier general Antoine led the three main ships to the north to harass the British. The voyage was not far. It would not take three months to go back and forth from New France to Guadeloupe.

But there must be a big problem if there are no dead people in the past half year.

But in this era, it is almost impossible to connect with the fleet fighting in the open sea. So even if major general Luc had been on tenterhooks for more than half a year, he was helpless.

It was not until Luc saw a letter from the army that he knew the whereabouts of the sub fleet.

The sub fleet of the Royal dove, the glory of Versailles and the Knights of the kings was sunk by a group of damned natives.

When Luc saw the news, he didn't believe it at all. Is God joking? It's a fleet composed of two class II ships and two class III ships. With the combat effectiveness of this fleet, it's very difficult to keep Antoine unless the British send out a fleet with more than ten main ships.

This is not Luc's random guess, but in this era, the French naval ships of the same level are really more powerful than the British naval ships!

In fact, it is an indisputable fact that the British Shipbuilding Industry stood still in the first half of the 18th century. From George I's accession to the throne in 1714 to the outbreak of the Austrian war of succession to the throne in 1744, the customization of the Royal Navy warships remained unchanged for 30 years. In particular, the 1719 custom made by the British Admiralty had only slight changes in more than 20 years, so the British warships were quickly overtaken by the new warships of France and Spain.

The root cause of this situation is not backward technology, but conservative and short-sighted British parliamentary politics. Both the naval Council and the ordnance Council are not interested in technological innovation, because the penny pinching British Parliament has never been willing to spend money on it. British politicians are only satisfied with the paper superiority of military strength. As long as the Royal Navy has enough battleships with more than 70 guns, it will be all right. No one cares about the size and performance of battleships and the caliber of naval guns.

While the British navy was still in its infancy, the French were trying to develop their own navy, building more warships than one.

Especially in the first naval battle of Cape fenister, which broke out in May 1747, a French three-stage sail battleship with 74 guns, invincible, in order to cover the retreat of the main force of the fleet, singled out six British battleships, and only when most of the officers and men on the ship died or were injured did it lower its flag and surrender.

Admiral George Anson, commander of the British Royal Navy, deeply admired the strong fighting power of the invincible. He not only personally went on board to surrender, but also instructed the naval Council to send experts to inspect the warship carefully. The results stunned and unbelievable the top of the Admiralty.

Although the invincible is only a class III ship, its length is 52 meters, width is 15 meters, draft is 6.5 meters, and displacement is nearly 1800 tons! It was equipped with 28 36 pound guns, 30 18 pound guns and 16 8 pound guns.

Invincible, no matter in tonnage or firepower, surpasses the second class windsail battleship with 90 British guns!

What worries the British most is that the invincible represents the customization of the French Navy's main warship, and all the indicators of the same class of British 70 gun class III battleship are out of reach.

This is a very terrible thing, so the British Admiralty immediately launched a political movement to catch up with France, mobilized the pressure of public opinion and forced parliament to fund the construction of new warships.

Especially when admiral George Anson became the Chief Secretary of the Navy, he immediately changed the personnel of the naval Council, promoted Slade as the chief constructor, and began to imitate the French new battleships on a large scale.

What happened in Britain, the French, as their mortal enemies, are very clear. Major general Luc also knew these things, but the time for the British to build new warships was only more than ten years, and there were not many new warships. That's why Major General Luc was so sure that it was difficult for the British fleet to keep Antoine.

But he really did not expect that Antoine's fleet was not left behind by the British, but was sunk by a group of native Indians!

It's incredible

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