I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 794 Hotham's Countermeasures
The staff officer brought Hotham a tally of the fleet's losses.

The groans of injured sailors could still be faintly heard outside the officers' cabin, even though the officers had repeatedly and sternly ordered them to remain quiet.

Hotham threw the damage report aside in annoyance.

He didn't need to look at it at all, because he had personally participated in the whole day's fighting and was familiar with the losses.

The French fleet launched a total of five attacks, damaging one third-level ship and two fourth-level ships.

Well, the damaged third-level ship was the "Tisius" he was on.

Although only two barrel-sized holes were broken on the bow deck, which had almost no impact on the combat, the French artillery shells caused 16 sailors to be killed or injured.

The situation of the two fourth-level ships was similar. Neither of the ships was seriously damaged - the loss of the stern sail of the "Thickfin Shark" was the most serious - but many sailors were killed or injured, which would have a great impact on morale.

Of course, he automatically ignored the losses of the cruiser fleet that had initially harassed the French fleet but was counterattacked.

Those boats were nothing to him.

Hotham and senior officers met until two in the morning, but still failed to discuss any effective countermeasures. They only sent two ships to contact Lord Hood's main fleet.

The next day.

A similar scene to yesterday happened again.

The flexible French steam warships kept rushing up to "tear" the huge British battleships, then quickly turned around to avoid them, organized their formations and rushed up again...

They continued to harass us like this until the sun set, then they blew their whistles and sailed away.

However, after yesterday's practice, the French sailors had clearly mastered the tactics more proficiently, allowing them to launch a total of six attacks and damage four British warships.

In the conference room of the "Tisius", Hotham was going crazy.

They knew that they could sink the French boats with just one salvo, but they couldn't touch them and could only take the beating.

Especially the "Thickfin Shark". Today, because of its slow movement, it was once again attacked by the French. A large part of the starboard rear was blown off, and several cannons fell into the sea from the breach.

"General, I think my ship has to return to Gibraltar for repairs." The captain of the "Roughfin Shark" whispered, "I'm worried that the superstructure at the stern will collapse..."

Hotham frowned and shook his head. "The French are probably resupplying at a port on the north side of Corsica. If the Roughfin Shark leaves the fleet and is discovered by them, it will be very dangerous."

Lieutenant Colonel Smith said angrily: "General, we should seek to take the initiative to attack. As long as we can find an opportunity, we can annihilate those French cruisers!"

"That's exactly what the French expect." Colonel Harriet, who was sitting opposite him, immediately objected. "As long as we chase those ships emitting black smoke, the French transport fleet will immediately sail out of Marseille and deliver supplies to Genoa."

Someone whispered, "And we can't catch up..."

Lieutenant Colonel Smith said loudly: "We can't stay here forever. The French cruiser will come tomorrow."

The others all nodded subconsciously, "Yes, we can't continue to passively take the beating."

"We must think of a way!"

"Transport fleet?" Hotham repeated these two words, and suddenly raised his hand to signal everyone to be quiet, saying, "We will leave here tomorrow morning."

"General, the port of Genoa..."

Hotham smiled and said, “We are heading towards Marseilles, so that we can intercept the French transport ships en route.

"After that, we kept maneuvering in the waters between Marseille and Genoa to avoid harassment from French cruisers."

In an era without airplanes and radar, it was very difficult to find an erratically maneuvering fleet on the sea.

If the French wanted to find the Genoese squadron, they had to disperse a large number of warships. It would take several days for them to find the trace of the British fleet and then gather the warships to organize an attack.

Hotham is well aware that time is on his side.

Even if Lord Hood did not lead the main fleet back, the battle in Genoa Port would end in a dozen days.

All I have to do is try to hold out for ten days.

But Hotham himself did not notice that he had unknowingly been only thinking about how to delay time instead of defeating the French fleet.

You know, he has 9 battleships, while the other side only has a group of cruisers or even frigates...

The next morning, when the French steam battleship fleet arrived at the south side of Genoa Harbor, they found that the British fleet was gone.

Commodore Di Ciajela immediately dispatched frigates to search the area within 20 nautical miles and confirmed that the British had left.

Standing on the foredeck of the Tunisia, he exhaled: "It seems that the British are more impatient than I thought."

He signaled to the staff officer beside him: "Contact Marseille immediately and tell them that the blockade in Genoa has been lifted."

"Yes, General."

The steam frigate "Cape Parrot" ran at full speed and delivered the good news to Marseille in just one day.

The first batch of three transport ships, which had been prepared long ago, immediately left the port and set sail for Genoa.

However, the transport ship encountered British galleys the day after entering the waters of the Cote d'Azur.

Soon, Hotham's Genoese squadron appeared on the eastern channel like a monster.

The transport ships turned around and fled in a hurry, but because they were loaded with too much cargo, their speed was very slow. In the end, only one ship successfully returned to Marseille, and the other two were captured by the British fleet.

On the "Tunisia", Brigadier General Di Chayela's face turned pale.

He didn't expect that although the British left the port of Genoa, they were still patrolling in the waters of the Cote d'Azur.

At the speed of the transport ship, it would be difficult to find a gap to slip through.

Nearby, the captain of the Cape Parrot suggested: "General, should we go to Marseilles for escort?"

Before Brigadier General Diqieyela could say anything, he shook his head.

Our steam battleships are only good at harassment, but cannot be used for escort at all.

The British battleships could easily withstand the attacks of these small boats and sink all the transport ships - for the third-level ships, sinking the transport ships was just a matter of a few rounds of salvos.

Brigadier General Diqiayela held the railing on the deck tightly. In ten days at most, General Dimobin's logistical supplies would be exhausted.

Although he repelled the British fleet, he did not expect the British to use shameless delaying tactics.

At this moment, a timid voice appeared behind him: "General, um... maybe I can find a way to get supplies for the Genoa Games..."

Di Qiayela turned around and saw a non-commissioned officer in his 20s.

He tried to recall, and said, "Henry Demville? Are you the senior sailor in charge of the main sail?"

"It's me." Demville bowed nervously, "I'm honored that you remember my name."

(End of this chapter)