Chapter 789: Circling the Mediterranean
Chapter 790: Circling the Mediterranean
Dimobin frowned suddenly.
Before he invaded Genova, a group of reckless young people burned down the grain warehouse, which caused him to fail to obtain any food supplements from the city.
According to the order of His Royal Highness, he will stay in Genova for two months. And there are more than 20 days of food that hasn't landed yet.
In the past month, under the onslaught of 50,000 enemy troops, his troops have suffered very serious casualties. If there is another shortage of rations, the soldiers will probably collapse immediately. . . . . .
There was another tremor on the ground, and Juno pushed the door in and said anxiously: "Commander, the enemy has launched a large-scale attack from the north!"
Dimobin hurriedly grabbed his hat and buttoned it on his head, took his 60-year-old legs and rushed to the front line on the north side. After running a few steps, he turned back and shouted to the staff officer: "If there is a ship docked in the port, report to me immediately!"
"Yes, General!"
Juno helped Dimobin bring the horses, and said with some frustration: "There are British warships outside the port, and it is impossible for our ships to come in. . . . . ."
"What we have to do now is to repel the damn Austrians and hold this place!"
As he said, he waved his whip and ran forward in the dust to a high ground that was easy to observe.
He took the binoculars handed by the squire, but first subconsciously looked at the port behind him, thinking in his heart: "God bless, let me see the transport ship sooner." . . . . ."
......
Ten days ago.
In the northeast of the Mediterranean Sea, the Ligurian Sea near Genova.
In the officer's room of the Victory, the flagship of the British Mediterranean Fleet, Lord Hood was bored looking through a yellowed nautical history, and from time to time he picked up a teacup and took a sip.
The hatch was knocked on, and Major General Colin Wood's voice came from outside: "My Lord Commander, the "Old Silver Coin" has just returned to report that there has been a movement in the French fleet in the port of Toulon."
A brilliance suddenly appeared in Lord Hood's eyes, he got up and put on his coat, and said loudly: "Summon all the captains and senior officers to the conference room."
"Yes, General!"
20 minutes later, in the conference room of the Victory, Hood pointed to the waterway between Toulon and Genoese on the map: "Colonel Nelson, I order you to command the frigate fleet and closely monitor this waterway. Never miss a French ship."
"Yes, General!"
It stands to reason that the frigate formation is definitely not the responsibility of an officer of Nelson's level-usually a lieutenant colonel is enough to command seven or eight frigates-but the core of this raid on the French fleet is to find their whereabouts. Hood must not lose, so Nelson was sent to personally supervise.
Hood looked at the staff officer on the side again: "Immediately get in touch with General Hotham's sub-fleet and let him be ready for battle at any time.
"He will hold off the main force of the Toulon fleet for at least half a day."
At this time, Hotham was commanding a sub-fleet of four third-class ships, five fourth-class ships, five fifth-class warships, and 16 frigates to carry out blockade missions in the waterways outside the port of Genova.
Although this sub-fleet is far inferior to the French Toulon Fleet, which is the size of the Mediterranean Fleet, Lord Hood believes that with Hotham's command ability and the skilled ship-handling skills of British sailors, it is enough to hold the French for six or seven hours.
And his main fleet is hidden 60 nautical miles southeast of Genova.
Here you can get supplies from the ports of Tuscany at any time, and you can rush to Genova to participate in the war within half a day.
As long as the Toulon fleet dares to show up, he will definitely be able to annihilate it all this time!
The French may have a premonition that going to Genova is risky, but Hood knew that even if they took the risk, they had to go to Genova.
Because nearly 30,000 French troops are surrounded there, if logistics supplies cannot be obtained from the sea, then this army will only surrender or starve to death.
It just so happened that Hood had decided to cancel the blockade of Toulon and lead the French fleet out of port so that they could be eliminated, and then he encountered the opportunity of the siege of Genova.
The current battle in Genova has been going on for nearly a month, and the French finally can't sit still!
Soon, as Hood's order was conveyed, all the warships of the British Mediterranean Fleet were gearing up and entered a state of combat readiness.
After more than half a day, a British paddle steamer quickly drove to the side of the Victory, and the second mate sent the latest information to the conference room.
"The French fleet is heading southwest? "Lord Hood looked at the officer of the frigate with a puzzled expression on his face, "Have you really seen it clearly?""
"Yes, General! "The second mate stood at attention and said, "The Long-toothed Shark is still following them." There are a total of 16 main battleships, 20 secondary warships, and a large number of frigates."
Hood frowned suddenly.
On this scale, it is definitely the main force of the Toulon fleet, but they did not even go to Genova.
There is no mistake, one song, one shot, one content, one look at it one by one!
Major General Colin Wood on the side thought: "General, the French may want to meet with the Spanish fleet and then go to Genova together?"
Hood nodded slightly: "This is the only possibility."
He looked at the real-time location map of the fleet on the wall and ordered to the staff officer: "Let Colonel Louis's sub-fleet immediately go to Valencia Bay to search. If you find any traces of the French, try to interfere with them and report to me immediately."
Louis commanded an escort sub-fleet.
Since French frigates had attacked British merchant ships everywhere before, the size of this escort fleet was not small, with two third-class battleships.
At present, this sub-fleet is on the west side of the Barbary Sea, only a short half-day voyage from the Gulf of Valencia.
Hood then looked at the officers in front of him again, and said loudly: "Order all warships to anchor immediately, let's go to Valencia.
"If the French and Western fleets really converge, we can save some trouble. Annihilate them together this time!"
He has sufficient confidence to say this, because even if the French and Spanish fleets are added together, they are only 80% of the size of Britain. And Hood still has part of the Dutch fleet in his hands.
20 minutes later, hundreds of warships of the British Mediterranean Fleet sailed towards the west side of the Mediterranean Sea.
Noon the next day.
Just as Hood was contentedly discussing with several senior officers how to defeat the French and Spanish fleets at the smallest cost, the frigate "Long-toothed Shark" sent the latest developments of the Toulon fleet.
In the commander's cabin of the "Victory", the captain of the frigate stood upright and said: "General, the French are turning south on the east side of the Gulf of Leon. They should be very close to the north side of the Barbary Sea by now."
Hood only felt a surge of anger, and said in a deep voice: "What the hell do the French want to do? Are you going to North Africa on vacation?"
Nelson, who had just arrived, read the report of the "Long-toothed Shark"-since the Toulon fleet did not go to Genova, his patrol mission was cancelled-and said to Lord Hood: "General, no matter what the French think, as long as we always stay on their north side, we can stop them from going.The waterway of Genova."
(End of this chapter)
CRITICAL ERROR: CHAPTER 792 NOT TRANSLATED - ORIGINAL TEXT RETAINED
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