Chapter 882: Chapter 790 The Battle of Genoa
Nelson continued: “In fact, the current position of the Toulon Fleet is extrely disadvantageous.
“Once the supplies in Genoa are depleted, they will be forced to engage us in a decisive battle.
“By then, we can choose the battlefield at our leisure and position our formation in advance.
“And if they are defeated—which is almost inevitable—they will have no choice but to flee south into Bizerte Port.
“We can then conveniently blockade the port, leaving the French with no warships available along their southeastern coast.
“Our land forces could even seize Port of Toulon.”
“I completely agree with your assessnt.” Lord Hood nodded, then turned to the staff officer: “Order the fleet to expand toward Sardinia, to prevent the French from slipping past us on the flank.”
…
Southwest of the diterranean Sea.
Sicily Sea Area.
68 wind-powered battleships advanced slowly across the water, their enormous hulls casting a shadow over the sea, yet their grandeur lacked a triumphant aura.
Instead, they appeared sowhat desolate.
This was the main force of the French Toulon Fleet.
They were capable of defeating the naval forces of any country in the world—except for England.
And unfortunately, the enemy they were maneuvering against in the diterranean at this mont was indeed the British Fleet.
The largest ship in the fleet, vast and monuntal like a city at sea, was the flagship of the Toulon Fleet, “Oriental.”
This was one of the few heavy battleships produced by the French Navy in recent years, originally nad “Prince.” However, Joseph was not very fond of this colossal ship that had been sunk in Egypt in history, so it was ultimately renad as “Oriental.”
The “Oriental’s” dinsions, armant, hull thickness, and other key specifications exceeded those of England’s “Victory” and were on par with Spain’s “Holy Trinity,” making it one of the most powerful battleships in the world.
Although the “Holy Trinity” had slightly more cannons than the “Oriental,” it was inferior in terms of hull structure and maneuverability. In actual combat capacity, it might even be slightly weaker than the “Oriental.”
At this mont, inside the spacious command conference room of the “Oriental,” the commander-in-chief of the Toulon Fleet, Bluais, was looking at the nautical charts with a solemn expression, continuously asuring latitudes and longitudes while marking specific positions.
Beside him, the fleet’s chief staff officer, Brigadier General Antony Gandom, glanced out of the porthole and let out a faint sigh: “It’s really frustrating. I suppose the British must be laughing at us sowhere.”
Bluais didn’t even lift his head: “Being used as bait is certainly displeasing, General Gandom—you’ll have to get used to it.
“As for laughing, I believe there will co a day when you can laugh at the British.”
Indeed, no one would have guessed that the main force of the French Toulon Fleet was rely serving as bait.
Their goal was to lure the British diterranean Fleet away from Genoa and to avoid engagent at all costs.
The actual main force of this operation was the recently assembled “diterranean Rapid Task Force.”
This task force was ard entirely with steam-powered warships, consisting of 25 escort ships and 8 fifth-level cruisers, commanded by Brigadier General Branci Di Ciara.
Their mission was to break the British blockade of Genoa.
Currently stationed off Genoa’s outer waters was Hossem’s formidable task force.
Typically, just the third- and fourth-level ships in Hossem’s fleet would suffice to annihilate the “Rapid Task Force,” but Di Ciara had to defeat them—or at the very least, drive them off.
Bluais finally straightened his back, pointing at the nautical chart with a pencil and saying to Gandom: “Next, we will head toward Sicily. Lord Hood will surely think that we are planning to bypass Sardinia and approach Genoa from the east.”
Gandom revealed a rare smile: “Then we’ll change course westward. Perhaps we’ll even have the chance to rendezvous with the Spanish Fleet.”
Bluais nodded: “I hope General Di Ciara can successfully complete his mission.”
Dozens of nautical miles away, after sailing northward for a short distance to intercept the Toulon Fleet, the British diterranean Fleet angrily pursued the latter westward toward the coast of Spain.
…
25 nautical miles south of Genoa Port.
Aboard the British third-class battleship “Thesus,” Major General Hossem personally supervised the arrangent of patrol routes for the escort ships, ensuring that nothing could go wrong, before letting out a long yawn.
The French Toulon Fleet’s main force was far off in the Sicily Sea Area, and the Spanish Fleet was unlikely to launch an assault on Genoa—even if the Spaniards had gone mad, Louis’s task force was keeping them under watch, and Hossem’s side could receive early warnings.
Nonetheless, Hossem’s mood was not very good.
Being unable to participate in the battle to crush the Toulon Fleet ant that his path to future promotions would lag behind his colleagues.
He stepped out of the cabin onto the foredeck, gazing at the distant sea: “Lord, at least let the French send so transport ships over.”
If he could capture a large number of personnel and material, perhaps he could at least make up for so of the lost military achievents.
It seed that his casual prayer had truly been heard by Jesus, as a rapidly approaching oar and sail ship signaled continuously with flag codes from afar.
Before anyone else could relay the ssage, Hossem was practically the first to see the signal himself—instantly overjoyed, he turned around and ordered the signal officer: “Quick, have all ships ready for battle! A French fleet is approaching!”
He then walked to the forward command room and instructed the staff: “Once we have detailed intelligence on the number of enemy ships, report to imdiately.”
Usually, the patrol ships that first detected the enemy would return imdiately to alert the fleet. Subsequently, another ship would scout the enemy fleet’s precise numbers, types, and other details before providing a detailed report.
However, this ti, Hossem never received detailed information on the enemy fleet.
This was because his scout oar and sail ship couldn’t match the speed of the French “Rapid Task Force,” which had long slipped out of sight.
An hour later, Hossem finally learned the specific number of enemy ships—by seeing them with his own eyes. By now, the French fleet had surged to within 3 nautical miles of him.
Hossem lowered his telescope, revealing a disdainful smirk.
The French had only sent 8 cruisers, accompanied by over 20 escort ships.
This was practically suicide. On his side, there were 4 third-class ships and 5 fourth-class ships—just these vessels alone would suffice to crush the French’s smaller ships.
Hossem was aware of the French steam warships’ capabilities; British comrce ships and escort vessels had suffered significant losses to them before.
However, the British Navy had quickly devised counterasures: utilizing their powerful firepower and sturdy hulls to form an unshakable battle line.
French ships only had the advantage of speed. Once they entered the range of the battleships’ artillery, they were almost instantly blown apart.
Following a series of commands issued by the flagship “Thesus” via flag signals, more than ten British warships swiftly ford a straight battle line and calmly took up the windward position.
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