Chapter 290: The first battle won (Part 2)

"What? The French Strait Fleet is coming to a large-scale attack!" After hearing the news, Nelson jumped out of his chair in shock. It seems that it was not April 1, right? Nelson rang blankly and then broke out in a cold sweat. "Why did the French fleet choose to attack at this time? Do they know that our main force is going to handle the local fleet? Who leaked the news?" Nelson roared at an angry lion.

"It's too late to say this now. Let's think about how to deal with the French fleet that is about to arrive." Longteidsk urged. To investigate the reasons, at least you have to wait until you have overcome this difficulty.

"How many warships are there in Portsmouth Harbor now?" Nelson quickly calmed down.

"There are only 35 British-class warships and 10 Honor-class warships in the port now." Longtedsk replied. Now there are extremely few warships in Portsmouth. Now he even regrets why he sent out the main force of the fleet in the morning. Otherwise, even if he is not an opponent of the French Straits Fleet, he will at least have the power to fight. Unlike now, he has no chance of turning the tables.

Nelson's face is very bad now, and he is also thinking about what to do. Fight, then his current strength is not enough to put people in between. But he has to fight. They have already reached the doorstep, how can they avoid it?

"Give orders quickly! We have less time now." Longteidsk urged.

"Old guy, what would you think if we fought the French fleet to the death?" Nelson asked.

Longtedsk was stunned and then replied: "Is this more than anything? We must have been destroyed. In addition, it may be difficult to protect the Portsmouth military port." Longtedsk answered honestly. Portsmouth military port is the largest military port in the UK. If the French have the opportunity to destroy this military port, I believe they are very happy to do this.

Nelson nodded, and he thought so. Instead of doing this, it would be better to retain a certain strength to seek revenge in the future. "Old guy, I am going to let the fleet retreat to Brighton and let them join the main force of the fleet and the local fleet there. In that case, the strength of the navy will be preserved." Nelson made up his mind and said.

"What? You mean to give up Portsmouth? Oh my God! If you do, you will definitely go to the military court." Longtedsk said in shock.

"But there is no better way than this now. I believe you can understand it too. There is no port left, we can rebuild it. Now that we have the opportunity to save the fleet, we don't need to let the fleet lose in vain." Nelson persuaded.

"I admit you are right, but if we fight to the death with the French fleet, even if the entire army is destroyed, I don't think we will bear too much responsibility. But if we escape at the last minute, our careers will be completely ruined, and we will even go to the military court." Longteidsk also persuaded.

"Did you kill tens of thousands of soldiers for our official position?" Nelson stared at Longteidsk angrily.

Seeing that Nelson had made up his mind, Long Teedsk had to sigh helplessly and chose to compromise. He knew that once Nelson decided to do that, he would have no way to change it.

With the issuance of Nelson's order, Portsmouth Port was in anger. The news of the French fleet's large-scale invasion made the soldiers very panic, and Nelson's retreat order made them extremely angry. They were the dignified British Empire Royal Navy, how could they escape when facing the enemy? Although the enemy was very powerful, Nelson's order still made everyone very confused. If Nelson had not had the prestige accumulated enough, there would have been even a possibility of a mutiny. The military's duty was to obey the order. After receiving the order, the British and ** ships in Portsmouth Port were busy. After replenishing various supplies, they began to leave their home port. However, it was already 10:30 now.

When the last battleship sailed out of Portsmouth Port, Nelson and Longteidsk finally let go of their hearts. After looking at the navigation clock, it was 11 o'clock in the remaining 10 minutes. Without any stop, Nelson ordered the ships to advance at full speed and target Port Brighton.

Just as the Nelson fleet disappeared into the sky, dozens of black smoke appeared in the south of Portsmouth. Thrilling intelligence sounded throughout the military port. Although the fleet left, the battle was not over. The coastal defense forces guarding Portsmouth would continue to defend the military port with their fortress cannons.

"Hehe, where did the British fleet go?" Looking at the empty port, Admiral Castelli, the commander of the French Strait Fleet, angrily punched the table. At this time, the British shore defense cannons opened fire, but due to the range, these cannons could not reach the French fleet at all. Seeing the provocation of the British shore defense fleet, Castelli's anger was stimulated again: "Leave 5 'Bonapart' class warships and 10 'Iberian' class warships to teach those arrogant British men a lesson and destroy Portsmouth for me."

Five Bonaparte-class warships and 10 Iberian-class warships left the fleet and launched a fierce artillery battle with the British coastal defense artillery. With the advantage of range, the French fleet suppressed the British coastal defense artillery position tightly, and it was only a matter of time before the final victory was achieved.

Castelli continued to issue an order: "Order the fleet to search in the northeast, and contact General Broca to let the Mediterranean fleet pay attention to searching the southwest waters."

Countless Iberia-class warships were searching northeast, while Castelli was waiting anxiously. After 20 minutes, news finally came. A British fleet with more than 40 warships was running northeast, about 7 or 8 nautical miles away from Portsmouth.

Castelli was immediately excited and immediately ordered the fleet to pursue it. At the same time, he urgently contacted the Mediterranean Fleet and informed them of the news of the discovery of the British Fleet. As for why the huge British Strait Fleet now has only more than 40 warships, he did not go into delving into it. Now the only thing he thought was to kill the fleet as soon as possible.

"Marson, the French fleet is catching up." An hour after Nelson's fleet left Portsmouth, he found traces of the French Strait fleet.

"No matter them, the ships increase their horsepower and sail to the northeast. As long as they can gather the main force of the fleet, we will be safe." Nelson ordered. He knew that the speed of the French fleet was much ahead of the British fleet, and now it was at least an hour and a half away from Brighton. Moreover, he was not sure whether the main force of the British Navy had reached Brighton. Therefore, his fleet could only continue to escape to the northeast, and the farther the better.

Half an hour later, the distance between the two sides was only 10 kilometers. The range of the 240mm naval gun on the "Dreadnought" class warship had reached a terrifying 12 kilometers, but under this situation, the hit rate was scary, so Castelli did not waste the shells, but excitedly ordered the fleet to speed up and catch up.

"The Honor leads the Rhone, the Thorne and the Loire to encircle me from the right." Castelli ordered a "Defaultless" class warship and three "Former "Defaultless" class warships to encircle the Nelson fleet, hoping to intercept them.

Looking at the approaching French fleet, Nelson's heart became colder and colder. After a long time, he ordered: "The 10 British-class warships and 5 "Honor"-class warships in the rear team turned the bow and dragged the French fleet. Other warships accelerated their sailing." Seeing that in order to avoid the destruction of the entire army, Nelson planned to abandon the car and report to the commander. After receiving the order, the 15 warships in the second half of the Nelson fleet turned the bow and rushed towards the French fleet. A few minutes later, the explosion sounded. Nelson also turned around quietly and wiped his eyes.

The British fleet's "suicide" charge disrupted Castelli's plan, and he had to clean up all the British warships that blocked the road. It took Castelli nearly half an hour to destroy these warships, and during this period, Nelson's fleet had already run away. All 15 British warships were sunk, and the French fleet only paid the price of several warships being injured. Because he was afraid that the British fleet would have ambushed in front, Castelli did not dare to continue chasing. If he was surrounded by the British fleet, it would not be a good deal. After all, he did not know where the main force of the British Straits fleet was hidden. Although he felt very sorry, Castelli still issued an order to return to Portsmouth. Nelson and his fleet also saved the order by chance.

On the way home, Castelli also informed the Mediterranean Fleet of the battle situation just now. They asked them to pay close attention to guard against sneak attacks from the main British Navy hidden in the dark. At the same time, they hoped that they would send some warships to join in the work of destroying Portsmouth. Although they could not severely damage the British Navy, it would be a great military achievement to destroy the Portsmouth Military Port, the largest naval base in Britain.

After 30 hours of destruction by the French Navy, the once prosperous Portsmouth became a ruin. Especially the military port, it was completely destroyed. If the British Navy wanted to repair it, it would be impossible for it to take a year or two.
Chapter completed!