Chapter 495: Asymmetrical Battle

A gust of cold wind blew by, and McCain couldn't help shivering. This made him realize now that he was wearing nothing at all. Under the strange eyes of the guards, McCain fled back into the room. He quickly put on his clothes, and rushed to the fortress with the guards. He had long felt that there was a problem with the silence of the French fleet, er, but he did not expect that the French fleet would choose to attack at night. Have the French mastered the technique of shooting at night and hitting the target accurately? But then McCain dismissed the idea. If the French really mastered this technology, I am afraid they would not have been silent for so long. Under this kind of attack, I am afraid that the US and Canadian navies will not be able to withstand the attack of the French army at all.

After almost 20 minutes, McCain finally ran to the fort, out of breath. Indeed, the fortress is about two kilometers away from the city of Sao Paulo. With McCain's relatively bloated figure, it was indeed difficult for him to finish the run in 20 minutes.

Before McCain arrived, George and Ewan had already arrived one step earlier. Under their command, the fort slowly stabilized, and everyone performed their duties to counterattack the French warships. However, in this pitch-black night, they couldn't see anything at all, and could only fire based on their senses. This directly caused that from the beginning of the counterattack to the present, they did not even hit a single French warship. On the contrary, because the fire came out of the fire, the French warship was able to adjust the shooting target again, and the hit rate also increased a lot.

"Damn it! Fire on those French battleships that are firing!" McCain roared. As soon as he finished speaking, a 305mm shell hit the main fortress where he was. Although the main fort was the strongest of all the forts, it still shook under the explosion of the 305mm shells. McCain was so frightened that he fell to the ground at once.

In fact, it's not that the gunners didn't aim at the French battleships that were firing, but that the French battleships have been sailing all the time, constantly changing their positions. In addition, the direct distance between the French battleships is also relatively large, and the US military's fortress guns have to be adjusted. Very slow, making it difficult for them to hit French ships.

Fierce artillery battles continued, but it was clear that the French warships had an overwhelming advantage over the American fortress. Under the heavy bombardment of the French fleet, the small batteries of the American fortress were destroyed one after another. At 3 o'clock in the morning, after 3 hours of heavy shelling, only half of the American fortresses remained, but the rest were all large and medium-sized fortresses. The current results of the US military are still zero.

Half an hour of high-intensity combat made the soldiers on both sides extremely exhausted. Especially the gunners of the French fleet, many of them were exhausted and completely exhausted, and they were all supported by a belief.

At this time, perhaps because of being too tired, the "Metz" of the French fleet was very unlucky to be hit. A 155mm shell hit its front deck, blowing a large hole in the deck. The flying shrapnel killed more than a dozen French soldiers fighting on the deck. What was even more unlucky was that the front deck of the 'Mace' immediately burst into flames after being hit. Seeing this situation, the sailors on the 'Metz' immediately started fighting the fire. It is hoped that the fire can be extinguished in the shortest possible time.

However, it was too late. The raging fire was so conspicuous on the sea at night.

"Haha." McCain immediately burst out laughing, "All the cannons were aimed at the hit warship, and it was impossible to kill him." After being passively beaten for so long, the U.S. military finally had a chance to fight back. Under his order, all the forts of the US military aimed their guns at the 'Metz'. All of a sudden, a large number of shells smashed towards the 'Metz'.

"Damn it." Kirkbride cursed when the 'Mace' was shot. In this case, the fate of the "Mace" is almost doomed. However, Kirkbride still did not give up and was ready to struggle. "So the heavy cruisers, battleships, and battlecruisers immediately launched the most violent attack on the American fortress. Be sure to contain them and buy time for the 'Mace'." Kirkbride ordered.

Under Kirkbride's order, the French warship immediately launched a fierce attack on the American fortress, and the attack was much stronger than before. A large number of shells slammed on the US military fortress, bringing up a lot of smoke, dust and gravel. Sometimes it can also bring up many people's limbs.

However, despite this, the defeat of the 'Metz' still cannot be saved. The US military fortress launched three salvos on the 'Mace'. In the first volley, the 'Mace' dodged safely, but in the second volley, they were not so lucky. A 240mm shell successfully hit the stern of the 'Mace'. As a result, before the fire on the bow of the 'Metz' was extinguished, the stern of the ship was burning fiercely. And what followed was the third salvo of the US fortress. This salvo made the 'Metz' completely lose the chance of escape. First, two 155mm artillery shells hit the bridge of the "Metz" almost simultaneously, killing all the captain and related commanders in the bridge. Immediately afterwards, a 280mm shell hit the middle of the 'Mace'. This shell directly killed the 'Metz'. After the Metz was hit, it was instantly broken in two in a violent explosion. Both the bow and the stern are raised high. It sank to the bottom of the ocean in less than two minutes. Only a huge whirlpool was left on the sea surface. As for the hundreds of officers and soldiers on the 'Metz', fewer than a hundred were able to escape the death vortex by chance. The others were taken by the vortex to the icy bottom, and they basically lost their chance of survival.

"Send two destroyers to rescue those soldiers who fell into the water." Kirkbride ordered coldly.

The two destroyers began to rush to the place where the 'Mace' was silent. But in order not to expose the target, they did not dare to turn on the searchlights to find those soldiers, and at the same time they had to avoid the shells that might be on their heads at any time. Had to put down a lot of life rafts, looking for surviving soldiers in the weak light. This greatly delayed the progress of the rescue, so that in the end, only less than 50 people were successfully rescued, and the others disappeared.

The silence of the 'Metz' greatly stimulated both the US military and the French army. Because the U.S. military saw the hope of repelling the French army, they fired even harder, as if they were taking stimulants. The French army was very angry because of the silence of the "Metz", which was the first large warship sunk by the French Navy since its reconstruction. The gunners worked hard to carry the shells, mechanically loaded, aimed and fired. This monotonous process has been repeated until I am so tired that I don't stop.

The sinking of the 'Metz' directly led to the escalation of the battle between the two sides. However, the situation on the entire battlefield is still very favorable to the French army. The luck of the US military seemed to end like this. After the sinking of the "Metz", they never hit the French warship again. Instead, under the heavy shelling of the French army, they suffered heavy losses. Several medium-sized turrets were destroyed.

By 4 o'clock in the morning, there were only 12 turrets left in the US military, of which 5 large turrets were more or less damaged, and only 7 medium sized turrets were left. And the same injuries were not light, and the small ones were all destroyed. In general, it was the French fleet that took advantage.

"General, we can't go on like this. Compared with the French army, our losses are really too great." After reading the loss report, George couldn't help but said.

"General, it will be dawn in less than two hours. Although our hit rate will increase by then, the French fleet's hit rate will definitely increase greatly. This is very unfavorable to us." You En also said. This battle can be said to have destroyed all their confidence. Originally, they expected to use the strong fortress to keep the French fleet out of St. Paul. However, what they didn't expect was that half of their fortress was destroyed in just one night.

McCain looked gloomy and frowned. He also felt that the current situation was very unfavorable to the US military. On the battlefield, the French fleet has an overwhelming advantage. I am afraid that after dawn, the US military will no longer be able to withstand the French attack. UU reading www.uukanshu.com

"General, I have a proposal that may change the situation on the battlefield." You En said.

"Oh? Tell me and listen." McCain was a little surprised. He didn't expect Eun to put forward suggestions for improvement.

"After such a night of high-intensity fighting, I think it's not just our soldiers who are very tired. I'm afraid the French army is also the same. So I think it is unlikely that the French army will continue to attack us after dawn ’” Eun said.

Both McCain and George nodded. The French army is not fighting with iron, after such a night of high-intensity fighting, it must be exhausted.

"However, our navy basically did not participate in the battle. We can take advantage of that opportunity and order the navy to launch a fierce attack on the French fleet. I think it will be difficult for the exhausted French fleet to resist the attack of our fleet. Although our The number of warships will be weak, but it is still possible to completely repel the French army." You En said.

McCain was lost in thought. It has to be said that although Eun's proposal is a bit risky, it is the only way they can recover their disadvantage now.