Kornilov and Nakhimov's lack of confidence did not stop Li Xiao's plan. From the beginning, he knew that relying on a single tactic alone would not be able to defeat the British and French fleets.
After all, their advantages are too great. Not to mention the two companies working together, the British Royal Navy alone is enough to beat the half-hearted Russian navy.
But not being able to compete in terms of strength does not mean that there is no chance of fighting at all. In this new era of rapidly changing technology, new weapons and new tactics have a huge impact on the old naval powers.
For example, if you want to build a navy in the past, you first have to look for wood all over the world. Without suitable profiles, there is no way to build a ship. Even a big dog like the Royal Navy, which has neither technology nor money, is looking for wood.
It was also full of tears.
Especially as suitable trees have been cut down in pieces, it has been difficult for the Royal Navy to build large-scale battleships in recent years.
But with the development of technology and the large-scale application of steel in shipbuilding, all this will soon become less of a big problem. As long as you have money, technology and mines, you can build whatever you want, and there is nothing anyone else can do to stop it.
Li Xiao's advantage lies in this aspect. As a time traveler, he certainly knows the advantages of steel, so while other great powers are still looking for wood to build keels around the world, he has already begun experimenting with using steel as keels to build iron-framed wooden hull ships.
Although Wallachia is unable to mass-produce steel on a large scale, let alone make steel keels long enough, building small boats is not a particularly big problem.
More than half of the ships in his Danube fleet have steel keels, and some even have wrought iron hulls.
Therefore, although his fleet may be small, its technical content is indeed not low. Moreover, these ships are steam-powered, and according to his requirements, the maximum speed must be no less than 13 knots.
Why is it so fast? The main reason is the requirements of maritime harassment tactics. Currently, the speed of British and French steam-powered warships is generally around 10 knots, and most of them can actually only maintain a speed of eighty or nine knots.
As long as you are fast enough, you can always outrun the British and French steamships even if you cannot defeat them.
It can be said that the Danube Fleet was crooked from the beginning, a bit like the characteristics of the Turkish Communist Party in the past. It did not engage in head-to-head confrontation, and it was just a business of robbing families.
Of course, it is not that easy to do this kind of business. Especially when facing the powerful British and French combined fleets, these two navies are so powerful that putting their main force in the bathtub of the Black Sea is equivalent to fighting from both sides.
Wang Long jumped into the bathtub and slowly stretched the sea area, so that the Danube Fleet, as weak as ants, could not get out of the Danube River at all, and was blocked in the inland river, unable to move.
This requires the Black Sea Fleet to help attract the attention of the British and French fleets, so that the Danube Fleet can go to sea smoothly. As long as it goes out, the sea will be vast, and the fish will jump in the sky and the birds will fly.
Therefore, Li Xiao had to ask Kornilov and Nakhimov for help no matter what, but these two obviously did not believe that ants could kill an elephant and had no confidence in the Danube Fleet.
"Even if you can go to sea, what can you do?" Nakhimov asked with some frustration, "Your small boats are no match for the British and French fleets!"
Li Xiao was a little speechless. Just now he clearly said that the mission of the Danube Fleet was to raid the supply lines. Why did Nakhimov still want to confront the opponent head-on?
But this is normal. In this era, the thinking of Russian naval generals is generally to learn from the British Royal Navy. After all, the French Navy during the Napoleonic era also engaged in maritime harassment warfare, but the results proved to be unsuccessful, and the harm to Britain was really not great.
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Naturally, the Nakhimovs believed that Li Xiao's harassment campaign was nothing more than a replica of the French Navy and would be useless.
One thing to say is that the reasons for the failure of the French back then were very complicated. There were problems in organization and implementation, and the key reasons were that our own morale and navigation technology were not as good as those of the British. Many times it was clear that the French ships were stronger, but they encountered people who dared to risk their lives with bayonets.
The Royal Navy became intimidated within minutes. This resulted in the harassment tactics having little effect.
However, Li Xiao felt that this was because the French were too good at it, and the French ships were evenly matched with the Royal Navy. Since everyone started from the same starting line, it was naturally difficult to distinguish them.
But his Danube Fleet was completely different. It was a raiding fleet specially built according to maritime harassment tactics. Its performance in this area was specially optimized.
Maybe the firepower of these ships is very weak. At most, they can bully British and French merchant ships. Even the weakest ships of the British and French fleets will be beaten. But we can't defeat them, but we can outrun them!
The Danube Fleet is not only fast, flexible in turning, and has high endurance. It is enough to ensure that the British and French fleets can only eat dust behind them.
"In that case, doesn't the Danube Fleet have 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 minelayer. As long as it can break out of the Danube River mouth and enter the sea, it can do a lot!"
Kornilov touched his chin and said: "You can give it a try, but even if you break through the blockade and enter the Black Sea, how will you replenish it in the future? As far as I know, steam ships need to replenish coal and boiler water, not to mention even if
Do you need to replenish ammunition when attacking merchant ships?"
"This is not a big problem," Li Xiao replied with a smile: "The Sea of Azov is still under the control of the Black Sea Fleet. We can go to Kerch to resupply. I believe you won't help us with this little help, right?"
Kornilov and Nakhimov were surprised: "How long is the battery life?"
Yes, they have always looked down upon the 100-ton boats of the Danube Fleet, thinking that they could only wander around the mouth of the Danube, but now someone said that his fleet could reach Kerch.
Of course, even if you drive directly from the mouth of the Danube to Kerch, it's not that far. The main problem is that someone also said that the main task of the Danube fleet is to harass, and the harasser has to run around, so the endurance cannot only be measured in a straight line.
The voyage is over.
Calculating it 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 someone who said that the main task of the Danube Fleet was to mine mines. Since discovering the beauty of mines, Kornilov and Nakhimov have tried to send minelayers to the main waterways of Britain and France more than once.
Mines were mined, but because the sea control changed hands, these small boats could not escape the interception and killing by British and French ships. They were often beaten by meat buns and never came back.
If the Danube Fleet can help the Black Sea Fleet mine mines, this will really help!