Chapter 793 Hotham's Countermeasures

Chapter 794 Hotham’s Countermeasures

The staff officer sent Hotham statistics on the fleet's losses.

The groans of the injured sailors could still be faintly heard outside the officer's cabin, even though the officer had repeatedly ordered them sternly to keep quiet.

Hotham tossed the damage report aside in annoyance.

He didn't even need to look, because he had been personally involved in the whole day's battle and knew the damage clearly.

The French fleet launched a total of 5 attacks, damaging 1 third-level ship and 2 fourth-level ships.

Well, the injured third-level ship was the "Tisius" on which he was aboard.

Although only two wine barrel-sized holes were broken on the upper deck of the bow, which had little impact on the battle, the French shells caused 16 sailor casualties.

The situation of the two fourth-level ships was similar. The damage to the ships was not serious - the loss of the stern sail of the "Roughfin Shark" was the most serious - but there were many casualties among the sailors, which would seriously affect morale.

Of course, he had automatically ignored the losses of the cruiser formation that initially actively harassed the French fleet but was beaten back.

Those boats were nothing to him.

Hotham and senior officers held a meeting until two in the morning, but still did not discuss any effective countermeasures. They only sent two ships to contact Lord Hood's main fleet.

The next day.

A scene similar to yesterday happened again.

The flexible French steam battleships kept rushing up to "bite" the huge British battleships, then quickly turned around to avoid them, organized their formations, and rushed forward again...

They continued to harass them repeatedly until the sun set, and then they drove away with their sirens.

However, after yesterday's practice, the French sailors were obviously more proficient in tactics, which allowed them to launch a total of 6 attacks and damage 4 British warships.

In the conference room of the Theseus, Hotham was going crazy.

It was obvious that he could sink the French boat with one volley, but he could not touch them and could only be beaten in frustration.

Especially the Roughfin Shark. Today, due to its slow movement, it was once again attacked by the French. A large piece of the rear starboard side was blasted, and several cannons fell into the sea from the breach.

"General, I think my ship has to return to Gibraltar for repairs." The captain of the "Roughfin Shark" whispered, "I'm worried that the superstructure of the stern of the ship will not be able to hold up and collapse..."

Hotham frowned and shook his head: "The French are probably supplying supplies at a port on the north side of Corsica. If the 'Roughfin Shark' is discovered by them after leaving the formation, it will be very dangerous."

Lieutenant Colonel Smith on the side said angrily: "General, we should seek to take the initiative to attack. As long as we can find an opportunity, we can annihilate those French cruisers!"

"That's exactly what the French expect." Colonel Harriet opposite him immediately objected, "As long as we chase those black smoke-emitting ships, the French transport fleet will immediately sail out of Marseille Port and send supplies to Genoa. ”

Someone whispered: "And we can't catch up..."

Lieutenant Colonel Smith said loudly: "Then we can't stay here forever. The French cruiser will come tomorrow."

Several others nodded subconsciously, "Yes, we can't continue to be beaten passively."

"We have to think of something!"

"Transport fleet?" Hotham repeated these two words, suddenly raised his hand to signal everyone to be quiet, and said, "We will leave here early tomorrow morning."

"General, but the port of Genoa..."

Hotham smiled: "We are heading towards Marseille so that we can intercept the French transport ship on the way.

"Afterwards, we maintained maneuvers in the waters between Marseille and Genoa to avoid harassment by French cruisers."

In an era without aircraft and radar, it was very difficult to find an irregularly maneuvering fleet on the sea.

If the French want to find the Genoese squadron, they must disperse a large number of battleships.

Several days would pass until they discovered the traces of the British fleet and gathered their warships to organize the attack.

Hotham is clear that time is on his side.

Even if Lord Hood does not return with the main fleet, the battle in Genoa Port will end in more than ten days.

Just try to delay it for ten days.

It's just that Hotham himself didn't notice. Unknowingly, he was only thinking about how to delay time instead of defeating the French fleet.

You know, he has nine battleships in his hands, while the opponent is just a group of cruisers or even frigates...

Early the next morning, when the French steam battleship formation arrived at the south side of Genoa Harbor, they found that the British fleet was missing.

Commodore Di Chayela immediately dispersed the frigates to search the nearby 20 nautical mile area to confirm that the British had left.

He stood on the front deck of the "Tunisia" and couldn't help but exhale: "It seems that the British are more impatient than I thought."

He signaled to the staff on the side: "Contact Marseille immediately and tell them that the blockade in Genoa has been lifted."

There is no mistake, every song is released and the content is read one by one!

"Yes, General."

The steam frigate "Cape Parrot" was at full steam and delivered the good news to Marseilles in just one day.

The first batch of three transport ships, which had been prepared for a long time, immediately left the port and set sail for Genoa.

However, the day after the transport ship entered the waters of the Côte d'Azur, it encountered a British galley.

Soon, Hotham's Genoa squadron appeared on the eastern channel like a monster.

The transport ships hurriedly turned around to escape, but because they were loaded with too much cargo, the speed of these ships was very slow. In the end, only one ship successfully returned to Marseille, and the other two were captured by the British fleet.

On the "Tunisia", Commodore Di Chayela's face was livid.

He didn't expect that although the British left the port of Genoa, they were still patrolling in the waters of the Cote d'Azur.

With the speed of the transport ships, it would be difficult to find a gap to slip through.

The captain of the "Cape Parrot" next to him suggested: "General, should we go to Marseille for escort?"

Before Commodore Di Chayela could say anything, he shook his head first.

Our steam warships are only good at harassment, but they can't be used for escort at all.

The British battleships can completely withstand the attacks of these small boats and sink all the transport ships-for the third-level ships, sinking the transport ships is just a matter of a few rounds of salvos.

Commodore Di Chiayela held the railing on the deck tightly. In ten days at most, General Dimobin's logistical supplies would be exhausted.

Although he repelled the British fleet, he did not expect the British to use shameless delaying tactics.

At this moment, a timid voice appeared behind him: "General, um, I may have a way to supply the Genoa Games..."

Di Chiayela turned his head and saw a 20-year-old non-commissioned officer.

He tried to recall and said: "Henry Demville? Are you the senior sailor in charge of the main sail?"

"It's me." Demville bowed nervously, "I'm honored that you remember my name."