St. John's is a city in the northern part of the Avalon Peninsula in southeast Newfoundland, Canada. The capital, largest city and important port of Newfoundland. Facing the Atlantic Ocean, St. Johns is the easternmost city in North America. Since the 17th century, Britain and France have fought fiercely for the colony here. St. Johns is located at the hub of the North Atlantic sea route. In the 16th century, it was a port of call for European fishing boats. After the Liverpool government fled to Canada, St. Johns was built as one of the two major naval bases of the Canadian Navy.
After narrowly avoiding the Canadian Navy's patrol fleet, the French expeditionary fleet arrived in the waters 100 nautical miles northeast of St. Johns on the night of May 23.
"Your Excellency, Marshal, this is St. John's. It is also the target of our attack this time. According to the information we have received, there are now two 'Glorious' class warships of the Canadian Navy, 8 'Canada' class warships and 14 'King' warships moored there. class ships. The remaining 1 'Glory' class, 2 'Canada' class ships and 6 'King' class ships are at Halifsk Naval Station, Nova Scotia." Transferred from the Channel Fleet said a major general staff officer named Bennett.
"In other words, the Canadian fleet in St. Johns is no longer our opponent?" Wasser said. The French expeditionary fleet led by him has 1 "Dreadnought" class warship, two "Pre-Dreadnought" class warships, 10 "Bonaparte" class warships and 18 "Iberia" class warships. No matter from which aspect, the French expeditionary fleet has an absolute advantage.
"Uh!" Although Bennett thought so too, he underestimated the opponent, but it is a taboo for the navy, so he said: "In addition to the Canadian fleet, we also need to pay attention to the coastal fortifications of St. Johns. As the gateway to eastern Canada, Canada has invested a lot of energy in the construction of St. Johns."
"Really?" Wasser said lightly. He obviously didn't take Bennett's reminder to heart.
At 7:00 am on May 24, the French expeditionary fleet set sail for St. Johns. At two o'clock in the afternoon, the French expeditionary fleet arrived in St. John's waters. This season is the fishing season, and there are a large number of fishing boats working on the sea. When the French expeditionary fleet appeared in the sky, the fishermen cheered, thinking that their own fleet had returned in victory. But when the French expeditionary fleet approached, they discovered that the French flag was flying on the battleship, and the cheers suddenly turned into exclamations. The fishermen drove their fishing boats to St. Johns like frightened birds. It was as if there were demons following them. In fact, they didn't have to do this. For these civilians, unless they took the initiative to attack the French army, the French army would not embarrass them. Gein Liverpool's government has always promoted France as a demon crawling out of hell, which made the Canadian people misunderstand France and the French team.
Garrisoning St. John's was a Canadian admiral named Dennis, one of the senior officers of the Canadian Navy. As soon as the French expeditionary fleet appeared, he got the news immediately. Although he was very surprised why the French fleet suddenly appeared here and they didn't get any news in advance, but the current time did not allow him to think about it at all, so he had to order the communications team to send a report to Ottawa on the one hand, and the fleet on the other hand Set sail and prepare for battle.
Seeing St. Johns flustered, Wasser was very satisfied, which proved that their raid was completely successful. "All ships line up in battle formation, ready to fight." Wasser ordered. Under his command, the French expeditionary fleet lined up in battle formation and approached St. Johns. The gun cover of the naval gun was also taken off, revealing the ferocious muzzle, pointing obliquely at St. Johns.
Under the order of Dennis, the Canadian fleet also sailed out of the naval port, preparing for the battle. At the same time, all coastal defense artillery positions were also activated. In St. Johns, in addition to a powerful naval fleet, there are two regiments of marines and one regiment of coastal defense artillery. There are 14 large and small artillery positions, evenly distributed around the St. Johns Naval Port. .
"General, it seems that the enemy is very powerful. I really don't know why they suddenly appeared here." Lieutenant General Victor, the chief of staff of the fleet, said timidly after seeing the size of the French fleet.
"Don't worry about those problems now, it's reasonable to think about how to repel the French attack." In fact, he was also drumming in his heart. From the perspective of the number of warships, the Canadian fleet is 7 ships less than the French fleet, but if we look at the combat effectiveness On the one hand, the combat effectiveness of the French fleet is at least two to three times.
"The disparity in strength between the two sides is too great. If we meet head-on, we will suffer." Victor said.
Dennis nodded, thought for a while and said: "Order the ships not to stay away from the coast, and try to fight the French fleet with the assistance of coastal defense artillery."
Victor nodded, and then issued Dennis' orders to the ships.
Slowly, the two sides entered the range of each other one after another, and the fierce firecracker battle immediately started. The warships on both sides kept avoiding shells and smashing shells at each other. Battleships were constantly being hit, and then ignited raging fires. Some battleships hit by large-caliber shells were even torn to pieces in an instant. The wreckage of warships and sailors waiting to be rescued are scattered everywhere on the sea.
It turned out that Wellington was using this time to have a good communication with his beautiful female secretary, but when it was getting intense, the door was pushed open. The two entangled bodies separated quickly.
"Colonel Barron, you'd better give me a reasonable explanation, or you'll just wait to clean the toilets of the entire Ministry of Defense." After putting on his trousers, Wellington angrily yelled at his imprudent adjutant, Colonel Barron. road.
"I'm so sorry, Your Excellency the Marshal." Barron's forehead was covered with cold sweat. He knew that Wellington's good deed had been shattered, and Wellington would definitely not let him go easily. "That's right, Your Excellency the Marshal. Just received a telegram from St. Johns, they claimed that a huge French fleet appeared in the waters of St. Johns and launched a fierce attack on St. Johns. Now, General Dennis is leading the The fleet stationed in St. John's resisted, but the French fleet is too powerful, and General Dennis hopes that you will immediately send a fleet to support them." Barron said tremblingly.
"What?" Wellington was stunned when he heard the news. He naturally would not think that Barron would deliberately fabricate news of the French invasion in order to escape his punishment. Now, he didn't care about punishing Barron. "Damn. What are the fleets in the Mid-Atlantic region doing? Why did the French fleet arrive here silently?" Wellington cursed. He knew that the matter was serious. This time it will be miserable.
"I ordered that the fleet stationed in Halifax immediately go north to support, and at the same time urgently contact the United States to inform them of the news. In addition, prepare the car immediately, I am going to the palace." Just flustered, and then, Wellington calmed down. Having experienced many storms and waves, he naturally wouldn't lose his mind because of this.
After arriving at the palace, Wellington had an audience with King William IV directly. Because of his current status, he did not need to be passed on.
It was also his luck that William IV was discussing something with Liverpool in the conference room at the moment, and he was very surprised to see him come in in such a hurry.
"Marshal Wellington, what are you doing in such a hurry? Could it be that the French called?" William IV joked.
"Eh?" Wellington was taken aback for a moment, and then asked in surprise, "Your Majesty, how do you know?"
This time, William IV and Liverpool were surprised. Judging by Wellington's expression, it doesn't look like he's joking. Liverpool asked: "Did the French really call?"
Only then did Wellington realize that William IV was joking with him just now. They didn't know about the French fleet attacking St. Johns, but unfortunately, William IV's joke came true. "Your Majesty, Your Excellency Prime Minister, at two o'clock this afternoon, a huge French fleet appeared in the waters of St. Johns, UU reading www.uukanshu.com and launched an attack on St. Johns half an hour later. At present, Dennis The general is leading the fleet to resist. However, the French fleet is too powerful, the Dennis fleet is completely unable to resist, and urgently needs our support." Wellington said dejectedly.
"How is it possible? Didn't the French navy just annihilate a fleet by us? Now the French navy should confront us in the central Atlantic region. How could it suddenly appear in St. John's?" Liverpool said with a look of disbelief.
"I don't know. But it's absolutely true," Wellington said.
"Then what should we do? Reinforcements, yes, General Dennis needs reinforcements, we should send reinforcements to St. Johns immediately!" William IV said somewhat without his own opinion.
"Reinforcements? How can we have reinforcements? Only Halifax still has a few warships, and we have ordered them to go to St. John's for support. However, it will not be of much use." Wellington replied.
"Damn it. Is it too late to order our fleet deployed in the Mid-Atlantic region to come back?" Liverpool asked.
Wellington shook his head.