Chapter 494: Breaking the Turtle Shell
Excited Vitry immediately shared this idea with Kirkbride. Kirkbride fell into deep thought immediately. Keenly found that Vitry's suggestion may be a very important breakthrough.
In his opinion, Vitry's proposal is indeed very bold, even a gamble. It is true that when attacking in the dark, the hit rate of the US military will drop greatly, but the hit rate of the French navy will certainly not be much better. In addition, attacking at night, the French navy also has a lot of difficulties to overcome. For example, there are so many warships at sea, and they cannot be seen at night. What if they collide with each other while avoiding shells?
"Vitry, your idea is very good. But before we implement it, there are still a lot of problems to be solved." Kirkbride said. Then he said what he had just thought about.
After hearing this, Vitry frowned. Only then did he realize that there were so many loopholes in his thinking. It seems that his experience is not rich enough.
In fact, Kirkbride was very satisfied with Vitry. Vitry was a very young general, barely thirty years old now. In the navy, he is definitely the youngest major general. Therefore, Kirkbride often cultivates him intentionally, hoping that Vitry can succeed him in the future.
Immediately afterwards, the two discussed the issues that had been exposed. After discussion, the question of whether it is necessary or not has basically been resolved. As a way to avoid collisions between warships in the dark, Kirkbride adopted the method of dividing the waterway. According to the range of various warships, the coast to their current position is divided into parts. Among them, the one closest to the coast is the acquisition area for light cruisers and destroyers. They will implement a blackout and will not attack the US military fortress, but will wait there for the US 7th Fleet. If the U.S. 7th Fleet risked their lives to leave port, they would use their torpedoes to drive the U.S. 7th Fleet back. The middle area is the acquisition area for heavy cruisers. This time the number of heavy cruisers led by Kirkbride reached 12, and except for 2 that remained in El Salvador, the other 10 were brought. They will be the main force for attacking small American fortresses. The outermost area is the active air force of battlecruisers and battleships. Although there was only one battlecruiser, the flagship 'Poseidon', there were only two battleships, 'Tuileries' and 'Elysee'. However, their powerful firepower is enough to make them the absolute main force in the attack.
In addition, in order to improve the hit rate, before launching an attack, the US military fort should also be calibrated for shooting elements, so that it can shoot according to the pre-calibrated elements, thereby improving the hit rate.
"How long will it take for these to be ready?" asked Kirkbride.
"It won't be fixed until tomorrow at least. It's obviously impossible to attack tonight," Vitry said.
"Alright then. Go get ready. Let the soldiers of the battleships take a good rest and try to smash all the American tortoise shells tomorrow night." Kirkbride said firmly. Although there has never been such a crazy action in the history of the French navy, Kirkbride believes that he will be able to succeed.
Vitry went down at once to prepare to go. It is foreseeable that tomorrow night will definitely be a fierce battle. If he wanted to win and reduce casualties as much as possible, then his preparations had to be done well.
Next, the French warship was just moored on the sea and mountains, and had no intention of attacking at all. This makes McCain and others feel very fortunate and regretful. Fortunately, the longer the time drags on, the better it will be for the US military. Unfortunately, the French navy is still guarding the estuary, and the US fleet is still trapped in the military port and has become an existing fleet. If you leave port rashly, you will definitely be besieged by the French fleet.
"General, something is wrong. Why didn't the French attack? Don't they have a lot of time?" George asked very puzzled.
"Isn't this good? If it can continue like this, it's too late for me to welcome it." Before McCain could answer, You En said.
"Hmph! It's not that simple. The French must be preparing for something. It's just the calm before the storm," McCain said.
"Now we have no other way but to strengthen our defenses. Avoid letting the French seize loopholes," McCain said.
Time passed quickly. By the afternoon of October 7, preparations for the French fleet had been completed. During this day, all the forts of the US military were marked in detail. All the battleships of the French Navy have also been assigned combat positions, and an experiment was also conducted on the sea chart. Of course, the result of completing these huge tasks in one day was that Vitry was completely exhausted.
Soon it was evening. When night fell, under Kirkbride's order, all the battleships began to actively prepare, and began to slowly change positions. All arranged according to the places previously assigned by Vitry. At the same time, the gunners are also making final preparations. A large number of shells were moved out of the ammunition depot and stacked directly next to the turret so that they could be reloaded quickly when the battle started. All kinds of work are going on in an orderly manner, and everything is waiting for the last moment.
The time soon reached 10 pm. At this time, Kirkbride had already set the time to attack. In order to stimulate the soldiers, at 9 o'clock, Kirkbride specially asked each ship to have a dinner together. At this dinner, not only was there a lot of bread, butter and meat, but each soldier was also given a little vegetable and foie gras. Vegetables are undoubtedly very attractive to these soldiers who have lived at sea for a long time. It's just a pity that there is no mellow wine provided. But Kirkbride promised them that after St. Paul was captured, every soldier would be given a bottle of wine. This made the soldiers very excited and their morale soared.
When the hour hand reached ten, Kirkbride gave the order to attack. Taking advantage of the darkness, the French fleet slowly approached the coast. In order not to expose the target, all ships practice blackout. There are only two faint waves on the sea, and the visibility is very low. This is very conducive to the actions of the French fleet.
It takes about an hour and a half to get closer to the coast. Because they are now sailing forward slowly at a speed of 6 kilometers per hour in order not to expose the target. After one and a half hours, the fleet will arrive at the firing position.
After one and a half hours, the French fleet finally arrived at the attack area. In order not to collide with other warships, all warships have fixed channels. During the attack, they can only move forward or backward, thus forming a fan shape with the US military fortress as the fulcrum.
Immediately afterwards, all the battleships were slammed horizontally and entered the final stage of preparation. During this process, the U.S. military found nothing at all. As a result, the French fleet can reach the predetermined area very easily.
At 12 o'clock. Kirkbride finally gave the order to shoot. The 10 heavy cruisers, 1 battlecruiser and two battleships of the French fleet immediately launched a fierce bombardment on the American fortress. A large number of shells hit the American fortress, and the surrounding area of the American fortress was full of flames. And these flames exposed all the American fortresses, allowing the French warships to quickly make appropriate corrections to the bombardment targets. Greatly improved the hit rate.
The sudden attack caught the U.S. military by surprise. The violent explosion shook everyone. With McCain, George and Ewan all back in Sao Paulo, they didn't think France would attack that night. Therefore, the US military fortress was in a panic, and it was impossible to prevent effective defense.
The French fleet seized this opportunity and launched a fierce attack on the American fortress. Several small fortresses were destroyed in the attack of the French fleet. This made the French fleet begin to target those large and medium-sized fortresses.
McCain was still in bed when the French attacked ~www.mtlnovel.com~. George is really good at being a man. Considering McCain's age, he only sent two women to him. However, these two women are the two most beautiful among the 10,000 women left behind. This made McCain very satisfied. When there is no military affairs to deal with, basically all energy is spent on these two women. When the explosion remembered, he rolled him from the bed to the bed in shock. Upon hearing the explosion, McCain immediately realized that something was wrong and rushed out without even putting on his clothes.
"Guard, what happened?" McCain asked. At this moment, he didn't notice at all that he had "leaked out".
The guards were stunned by McCain's appearance. But then he realized that McCain was still waiting for his answer, and quickly lowered his head and said, "General, the French fleet attacked our fortress in the dark. Our losses are very heavy now."
"Damn it," McCain cursed. At this moment, McCain saw George and Ewan rushing over, and quickly ordered them both: "You two go to the fort immediately. The French are attacking, and I will go there immediately."
Both George and Ewan were taken aback because it was the first time they saw McCain naked, but then they pretended not to see anything and ran towards the fortress.