Struggle in Russia

Kornilov and Nakhimov's lack of confidence could not dispel Li Xiao's plan. From the very beginning, he knew that a single tactic could not help the British and French fleets.

After all, their advantages are too great, not to mention the two together, the British Royal Navy is enough to beat the half-baked navy of Russia.

However, just because you can't fight in strength doesn't mean you can't fight at all. In this new era of rapidly changing technology, the impact of new weapons and new tactics on the old naval power is quite huge.

For example, in the past, if you wanted to develop a navy, you would first have to go all over the world to find wood. There is no way to build a ship without the right profiles. Even a big dog like the Royal Navy, who is not short of technology or money, is full of tears when looking for wood.

Especially with the right trees being cut down, it has been difficult for the Royal Navy to build large battleships in recent years.

But as the technology develops, and with the massive use of steel in shipbuilding, this will soon become less of a problem. As long as you have money, technology, and mines, you can build whatever you want, and no one else can stop it.

Li Xiao's advantage lies in this aspect. As a traveler, he certainly knows the advantages of steel, so when other powers are still looking for wood to make keels all over the world, he has already started experimenting with steel as keels to build iron-framed and wooden-hulled ships.

Although Wallachia could not mass-produce steel, nor could it make a long enough steel keel, the problem of building a small boat was not particularly big.

More than half of his Danube fleet has steel keels, and some even have wrought iron hulls.

So don't look down on his fleet, but the technical content is really not low. And these ships are steam powered, and according to his requirements, the maximum speed must be no less than 13 knots.

Why so fast? The main reason is the requirements of maritime harassment tactics. The current speed of steam-powered warships in Britain and France is generally around 10 knots, and even most of them can only maintain a speed of eight or nine knots.

As long as the speed is fast enough to meet the British and French steamships, even if they can't beat them, they can always run away.

It can be said that the Danube Fleet has been crooked from the very beginning, and it has some characteristics of the early days of the earth and the air. Anyway, it is not a confrontation, and what is done is a business of robbery.

Of course, wanting to do this kind of business is not so easy. Especially in the face of the mighty British-French combined fleet, these two navies are too powerful. Placing the main force in the bathtub of the Black Sea is equivalent to two Tyrannosaurus rex jumping into the bathtub and holding the sea slowly. Slowly, the Danube fleet, as weak as ants, could not get out of the Danube at all, and was blocked in the inland river and could not move.

This requires the Black Sea Fleet to help draw the attention of the British and French fleets so that the Danube Fleet can go to sea smoothly. As long as you go out, the sea is wide and the fish leaps into the sky and the birds fly.

Therefore, Li Xiao had to ask Kornilov and Nakhimov to help him in this matter, but these two obviously did not believe that ants could kill elephants, and had no confidence in the Danube fleet.

"Even if you can go out to sea, what can you do?" Nakhimov asked a little dejectedly, "Those boats of yours are no match for the British and French fleets at all!"

Li Xiao was a little speechless. He just said that the mission of the Danube Fleet was to harass the supply line. Why did Nakhimov still want to confront the other side?

But this is also normal. The thinking of Russian admirals in this year is generally learned from the British Royal Navy. After all, the French Navy in the Napoleon era also played the maritime harassment war, but the result proved to be unsuccessful, and the harm to the United Kingdom was really not great. .

Naturally, the Nakhimovs believed that Li Xiao's harassment war was nothing more than a replica of the French navy back then and would not be of any use.

To put it another way, the reasons for the failure of the French back then were very complicated. The problems of organization and implementation, and their own morale and sailing skills were not as good as the British were also the key reasons. In many cases, the French ships are more sturdy, but when they encounter the Royal Navy who dares to fight with bayonets, they will be counseled in minutes. This led to the harassment tactics having little effect.

However, Li Xiao felt that it was because the French were too greedy, and the French ships could not make a big difference with the Royal Navy. Everyone started from the same starting line, so it was naturally indistinguishable.

But his Danube fleet is completely different, it is a raid fleet specially built according to sea harassment tactics. Specifically optimized for performance in this regard.

Perhaps these ships have very weak firepower, at most they can bully British and French merchant ships, and even the weakest ships in the British and French fleets will be hanged and beaten. But we can't beat but we can run!

The Danube Fleet is not only fast and flexible, but also has low endurance. Enough to ensure that the British and French fleets can only eat ashes behind.

"In that case, isn't the Danube Fleet only able to deal with merchant ships?" Kornilov asked thoughtfully.

Li Xiao shook his head and said, "No, it can also be used as a reconnaissance ship and a mine-laying ship. As long as it can rush out of the mouth of the Danube and enter the sea, there are many things that can be done!"

Kornilov touched his chin and said, "You can try it, but even if you break through the blockade and enter the Black Sea, how will you supply it in the future? As far as I know, steam ships need to replenish coal and boiler water, not to mention even if Is it necessary to replenish ammunition for attacking merchant ships?"

"This is not a big problem," Li Xiao replied with a smile: "The Azov Sea is still under the control of the Black Sea Fleet, we can go to Kerch to supply supplies~www.readwn.com~ I believe you will not help this. Are you busy?"

Kornilov and Nakhimov were taken aback: "How much endurance is there?"

Yes, they always looked down on the 100-ton boats of the Danube Fleet, thinking that they were at most around the mouth of the Danube, but now someone says that his fleet can reach Kerch.

Of course, even if you drive directly from the mouth of the Danube to Kerch, it is not far. The main problem is that someone also said that the main task of the Danube Fleet is to harass, and the harassment can be run everywhere, so the endurance cannot just look at the straight line. Voyage.

In this way, the endurance of the Danube Fleet is still good, and it is indeed enough to complete the harassment operation.

And Kornilov also remembered that someone said that the main task of the Danube Fleet was mine-laying. Since discovering the beauty of sea mines, Kornilov and Nakhimov have tried more than once to send mine-laying ships to lay mines on the main waterways of Britain and France, but because the control of the sea changed hands, these small ships could not escape the interception of British and French ships. The buns beat the dogs, but there is no return.

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