Chapter 635 (2/2)
The sub fleet of the Royal dove, the glory of Versailles and the Knights of the kings was sunk by a group of damned natives.
When Luc saw the news, he didn't believe it at all. Is God joking? It's a fleet composed of two class II ships and two class III ships. With the combat effectiveness of this fleet, it's very difficult to keep Antoine unless the British send out a fleet with more than ten main ships.
This is not Luc's random guess, but in this era, the French naval ships of the same level are really more powerful than the British naval ships!
In fact, it is an indisputable fact that the British Shipbuilding Industry stood still in the first half of the 18th century. From George I's accession to the throne in 1714 to the outbreak of the Austrian war of succession to the throne in 1744, the customization of the Royal Navy warships remained unchanged for 30 years. In particular, the 1719 custom made by the British Admiralty had only slight changes in more than 20 years, so the British warships were quickly overtaken by the new warships of France and Spain.
The root cause of this situation is not backward technology, but conservative and short-sighted British parliamentary politics. Both the naval Council and the ordnance Council are not interested in technological innovation, because the penny pinching British Parliament has never been willing to spend money on it. British politicians are only satisfied with the paper superiority of military strength. As long as the Royal Navy has enough battleships with more than 70 guns, it will be all right. No one cares about the size and performance of battleships and the caliber of naval guns.
While the British navy was still in its infancy, the French were trying to develop their own navy, building more warships than one.
Especially in the first naval battle of Cape fenister, which broke out in May 1747, a French three-stage sail battleship with 74 guns, invincible, in order to cover the retreat of the main force of the fleet, singled out six British battleships, and only when most of the officers and men on the ship died or were injured did it lower its flag and surrender.
Admiral George Anson, commander of the British Royal Navy, deeply admired the strong fighting power of the invincible. He not only personally went on board to surrender, but also instructed the naval Council to send experts to inspect the warship carefully. The results stunned and unbelievable the top of the Admiralty.
Although the invincible is only a class III ship, its length is 52 meters, width is 15 meters, draft is 6.5 meters, and displacement is nearly 1800 tons! It was equipped with 28 36 pound guns, 30 18 pound guns and 16 8 pound guns.
Invincible, no matter in tonnage or firepower, surpasses the second class windsail battleship with 90 British guns!
What worries the British most is that the invincible represents the customization of the French Navy's main warship, and all the indicators of the same class of British 70 gun class III battleship are out of reach.
This is a very terrible thing, so the British Admiralty immediately launched a political movement to catch up with France, mobilized the pressure of public opinion and forced parliament to fund the construction of new warships.
Especially when admiral George Anson became the Chief Secretary of the Navy, he immediately changed the personnel of the naval Council, promoted Slade as the chief constructor, and began to imitate the French new battleships on a large scale.
What happened in Britain, the French, as their mortal enemies, are very clear. Major general Luc also knew these things, but the time for the British to build new warships was only more than ten years, and there were not many new warships. That's why Major General Luc was so sure that it was difficult for the British fleet to keep Antoine.
But he really did not expect that Antoine's fleet was not left behind by the British, but was sunk by a group of native Indians!
It's incredible
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