Chapter 2020： Great Battle between Britain and France (1)

"The Rise of the European Emperor (

What happened in France? It turned out that it was a weak French navy. It overturned the powerful English navy and completed a very beautiful classic naval battle in which the weak defeated the strong. The battleship used by the French was precisely the galley hired from Italy before, also called the Calais.

The prototype of the Calais ship was used by the Venetian Navy. Only the bow of the ship was equipped with a lizard cannon capable of firing a 50-pound stone ball with a weight of seven or eight thousand pounds. The 50-pound shells fired by this lizard cannon is definitely a powerful blow in this era. The powerful kinetic energy of 50-pound shells is far from comparable to that of 6-pound and 12-pound shells.

In particular, the current Englishman’s warship is the Kirk sailing ship with a relatively thin hull. Hit by a 50-pound stone, the thin-skinned Kirk sailboat was really too much to bear. Of course, because of the French Calais, the English were forced to develop the thick-skinned Galen, which reversed the decline. But before that, the English were crushed by the French Calais for decades.

Of course, Calais also has its shortcomings. For example, you cannot go to sea on a windy day. Because, after all, Calais ships are galleys, and the ability of sails to use wind cannot catch up with pure sails. In windy weather, even if the oars are matched with sails on the Calais, there is no advantage in terms of mobility in front of pure English sailing ships.

Therefore, the Calais can only play in the weather with no wind or very little wind, and maintain the tactical advantage of the Kirk sailing ship in England. But windless or light winds are rare in England. Therefore, even though the French relied on the Calais to suppress England for decades, they did not have many battle days in a year, so they could not completely suppress England. . Otherwise, England would have been annihilated by France.

This naval battle took place at the end of September, when the weather really started to turn cold, and it was also the moment when the autumn harvest was approaching. Of course, because of the use of phosphate fertilizers, the autumn harvest in Beihai has been advanced to mid-to-late September, and there is no need to wait until October or even November.

In the English Channel, the wind tends to weaken in summer, and then the wind is not strong in late spring and early autumn. Originally, the French planned to do it in the summer. However, when the French Calais fleet was first built, François I did not use all the hired Italian crew, but a large number of French sailors. But these newly joined French native sailors were not familiar with Calais, so they had to train for several months before they could skillfully cooperate with the Italian captains and sailors on board.

Then, in September, the training of the French navy was basically completed. However, the wind in the English Channel gradually increased in September, and it is also necessary to wait for a windless or light day suitable for battle. In this way, the French Calais fleet waited for more than ten days, until the end of September, found a breezy weather, smoothly left the home port of Brest, headed north into the English Channel, looking for a fighter...

Before the 6 Calais left the port of Brest, in the backyard of an Italian shop in the port of Brest, two pigeons quickly took off and flew north...

Obviously, this Italian businessman was an English spy, collecting intelligence for England. Originally, the French intended to remove this "nail". However, the commander of the Calais Fleet, Pregent Pedoth, disagreed, and strongly recommended that the English spy be retained.

Why? Because the French fleet of Calais wanted to go to sea to find the English fleet, it was too difficult. Looking for the enemy fleet in the vast sea, it was not found for a few days. The Calais ship is very dependent on the weather. Once the wind becomes stronger, it must return to its home port to avoid being bitten by the English fleet.

Therefore, the French can't afford to wait, can't find it. Time is the biggest enemy of the Calais. Therefore, Pregent Bidouth thought in the opposite direction-since it is difficult for us to find the English fleet, why not let the English come to us?

The English were very wary of the French in developing the navy. They were eager to destroy every French warship. Therefore, the English bought an Italian businessman who was stationed in Brest in order to monitor the French warships in the Bay of Brest. Once the French warship goes to sea, the merchant will use carrier pigeons to quickly transmit information to England. Then, the English will definitely send a fleet to encircle and suppress these French ships.

Now, at the suggestion of Pregent Bedoth, forts have been built on both sides of the exit outside Brest Bay. Moreover, they are all heavy artillery over 12 pounds. Artillery of this caliber may not be able to affect the warships of the North Sea country that have thickened the hull, but it is no problem to deal with the thin-skinned English Kirk sailing ship. Moreover, the French put the artillery on the top of the mountain, allowing the artillery to reach farther, and almost blocked the entire bay.

Therefore, the English fleet now dare not directly enter the Brest Bay to attack the French warships, and can only wait for the French warships to come out by themselves.

Once received a letter from the spy from Brest, the English would definitely be tempted to send warships to intercept and kill the French warships. At the moment, the English have not suffered a loss, so confident that they will not be afraid of these Calais ships in France.

Therefore, on the morning of September 25th, seeing the weak wind and weather masters (at that time, the professional fleet would be composed of experts who knew how to predict the weather, and even many captains were very good at observing and predicting the weather). So, Pregent Bidduth took 6 Calais ships and left the port of Brest with great fanfare, and went north along the coast, aiming directly at the port of Plymouth in the north.

Plymouth is a very important military port in England and the most important military port on the west side of the English Channel. And because the fleet of the arch-enemy French is generally hidden in Brest, south of Plymouth, the English even temporarily moved the naval headquarters here in order to facilitate the suppression of the French navy. The current commander-in-chief of the English Navy, Edward Howard, is currently stationed in Plymouth Harbor, ready to bring warships to attack the French warships and even merchant ships.

Edward Howard was overjoyed when he received the news from carrier pigeons that "6 French galleys left their home port and headed north". He believes that the opportunity to eradicate French maritime power has come. Considering that the opponent had only 6 ships, Edward Howard simply brought 12 warships into the attack.

It is worth mentioning that these 12 warships of more than 200 tons are not owned by the English court, but are civilian ships of Plymouth Harbour temporarily requisitioned.

The sailors who fought on the ship were all sailors on the original merchant ships. Of course, it is not only the original sailors of merchant ships, but also some powerful sailors from other merchant ships to replace the old and weaker and new apprentices on the ship to enhance combat effectiveness.

The 12 search ship carried a total of 1,500 experienced English sailors. Although these sailors usually serve merchant ships, those who dare to go on the sea in this era are not good at doing things. In particular, when there is no shipping business, many English merchant ships sometimes act as pirates and rob French coastal fishing boats, causing headaches for the French. Because of this, the ability of these English sailors to jump ship to gang is quite good. In particular, they have also been screened to eliminate those with poor combat effectiveness.

Edward Howard was full of ambition, looking at a large number of shirtless and even blind English rough guys on the battleship, confident.

Although the French knights are strong on land and have high martial arts, in the sea, the Englishmen are better. Among other things, those French knights, mostly on board a warship that swayed from side to side, would become seasick and turn into soft-footed shrimp. What kind of combat effectiveness can a person with an unstable bottom plate have on the deck?

Moreover, if the plate armor is put on, the protection is super strong, but the mobility is also sacrificed. In the face of this uncut iron can, the English sailors also have a way to deal with it-kick down the sea...

Since the knife can't cut, then don't cut it, just fly and kick Cantona...cough cough, it's a play, it's just a simple kick...

The French who wore plate armor, although amazing in protection, were not flexible enough. As long as they block their swords, and then take the opportunity to kick them, the French knights who are already on the boat can easily be kicked into the sea.

And what is the concept of falling into the sea wearing plate armor? That is bound to sink straight down... It's useless to swim, unless you can save the heavy steel plate armor for the first time. However, after falling into the sea, it sank straight down, and it was too late to take it off. It sinks below, but there is a chance to take it off. But there is a problem-if a person sinks below 20 meters, the human body will not be able to withstand the strong pressure of the sea. It is very dangerous if you don't wear a special diving suit. This effect is the same as that of Shen Jiang being tied to a stone, or even stronger. After all, the sinking of the Shenjiang River is generally less than ten or twenty meters (except the Yangtze River), and the Huangpu River is only more than 17 meters deep. It does not exceed the limit of human beings, and there is a small chance that it will escape from the plate armor. The average depth of the English Channel is 60 meters, and the sinking to the bottom is directly crushed to death by water pressure, and there is no time to react.

And this, UU reading is the experience drawn from a century of entanglement between Britain and France. Because it is very dangerous to wear plate armor to fight naval battles, unless it is an aristocratic commander who does not draw swords and hacks people and is protected by guards, ordinary sailors will not wear plate armor. At most, wear a waterproof leather armor to resist some sword damage. Of course, there are also light-weight chain armors, which are effective in protecting sailor's scimitar cuts, but generally only protect the vital parts.

Since French sailors cannot wear plate armor, the advantage must be on the side of the English sailors who are experienced in naval warfare. Even if the French learned how to train sailors' sea balance ability by swinging, so what? Compared with the English sailors who are used to fighting at sea, the French have too little experience...

With this self-confident thought, Edward Howard took 12 English warships and sailed in the direction of the intelligence reminder brought by the carrier pigeons, preparing to intercept the 6 search French warships, and intends to wipe them out, not to France. Opportunity for the rise of the human navy again.

It is very difficult to find an enemy ship in the vast sea. In particular, the English have not used the telescope at this time. Therefore, Edward Howard can only send a group of sailors with the best eyesight to climb to the top of the mast, set up a pergola, and look south, hoping to find a French ship.

The French did not disappoint the English, or that Pregent Bidouth took the initiative to let England discover his fleet. Therefore, the French lit a fire on the roof of the ship. Moreover, it was a damp firewood that was lit. Suddenly, thick smoke rose, very conspicuous at sea...

"Smoke, I see heavy smoke!" On Edward Howard's flagship, the English sailor who was climbing on the top of the mast to observe suddenly yelled for warning.

"Are you coming?" Edward Howard was lifted up, as if he had seen military merit beckoning to him...