Chapter 877: The Destruction of the British Mediterranean Fleet

Friedrich's latest flagship, the Prinz Eugen, was one thousand tons heavier than the previous Venetia, almost four times heavier than an ordinary sailing battleship.

Moreover, all the guns used were the latest large-caliber steel guns, and the shells were also the latest ship-killing high-explosive bombs.

The result was that a round of shelling sent a severely injured British warship to the bottom of the sea, and most of the other British warships that fell behind also suffered the same fate.

In fact, the British did not fight back, but there was a huge gap between the old sailing warships and the new ironclad ships. The former's counterattack was very weak and could only barely knock off the anti-corrosion paint on the side strings of the latter.

The bait that Edward Klinston threw to Friedrich did not delay at all, which made him very angry.

"Damn! What is that?! How can it be so fast! Faster than a paddle wheel battleship!"

"Captain, that should also be a steam battleship, you see there is a chimney on it!"

"Idiot! Do you have a pig brain? How can a steam battleship not have a paddle wheel!"

Being scolded by his superior, the first mate Cole was also speechless, but the black smoke must be emitted by the steam engine, as for why there is no paddle wheel, he did not know.

"I don't know, sir! But those guys are at least twice as fast as us, and we will definitely be finished if we continue like this!"

Edward Klinston was so angry that he almost bit his pipe to pieces. He was determined to meet the Austrian navy in person.

He didn't believe that it was real steel, because iron is denser than wood, and iron ships can't be faster than wooden ships. This is common sense! The Austrian Navy's ships are so fast, it must be because the wood is painted black!

"Order all ships to form a horizontal formation and meet!"

Edward Klinston gave a decisive order, and the messenger immediately sent a flag signal.

It can be said that the British Navy at this time deserves the title of the world's first navy, and it can temporarily change its formation even when escaping.

However, the Austrian naval fleet chose to stagger with them, just when the British fleet was confused. Edward Klinston discovered an amazing fact, that is, the Austrians had seized the T head.

The Austrian Navy built by Friedrich himself was equally good and even better, and had more advanced equipment.

There was no suspense in the whole naval battle. The Austrian Navy did not lose any warships and wiped out the remaining British Mediterranean Fleet.

Earlier, Friedrich also annihilated the British squadron that was preparing to blockade the Adriatic Sea.

The commander of the squadron even wanted to deal with the Austrian Navy at an absolute disadvantage, and the result was naturally buried in the sea with the glory of fighting the enemy.

The British army entrenched in Durres was attacked by the Austrian Army. Commodore Wesley could only flee to Crete with the remnants, and was attacked by the Austrian Marines after landing.

Commodore Wesley was killed in the battle, and Commodore Bronson, who took over the command, surrendered to the Austrian army, and all ten battleships were captured.

So far, the British Mediterranean Fleet was completely destroyed, but the only headline in the newspaper was that Marshal Barqueve Reynaud, commander-in-chief of the French Grand Orient Fleet, won a decisive victory in the Western Mediterranean at the cost of his flagship and the remaining eight battleships, successfully breaking the British blockade and undefeated myth.

In fact, the reason why the Austrian Navy did not support Venice before was because the main force of the navy was not in Trieste at all, and the British blockaded a non-existent navy.

Friedrich's main force had secretly gone to Tripoli and secret ports in Greece in batches before the war.

Fifteen thousand marines stayed on Crete for nearly a month, and everything was waiting for today's closing.

Including the two British paddle-wheel warships that accidentally ran aground, they were actually all Franz's credit.

As for joining forces with the French, that was impossible. After all, Austria could not recognize the French Republican government, let alone cooperate with it.

But it was different for Count Chambord. It was in the interests of both countries to cooperate with the Bourbon family to resist the British.

Although Count Chambord was not the King of France at this time, he did not want the British to plunder French colonies.

On the Greek side, not to mention the cousin relationship between Franz and Otto I, the temptation of Crete alone made the entire Greek government unable to control themselves.

As for the French Provisional Government, they were eager for someone to help them solve the urgent problem at hand.

The French Provisional Government, Louis Philippe of the Orleans Dynasty, and Henry V of the Bourbon Dynasty (Count Chambord) simultaneously awarded him the highest honor of the navy.

The Austrian Navy broke through the blockade and raided Crete only occupied a very small space.

The news reached London. Because it was April Fool's Day, no one believed the news and thought it was just a bad joke.

After all, the British Royal Navy had never failed to deal with the French. As for Austria, it was a country with only inland patrols. They had to rely on the requisition of armed merchant ships from Venice to fight.

The British First Lord of the Admiralty, Earl Auckland, even claimed: "If the Austrians and French can defeat his navy, then he will go to the cowshed and eat shit for a day."

In fact, it was not just him, John Russell, Palmerston, Viscount Stratford, Home Secretary George Grey, Chancellor of the Exchequer Charles Wood, and even Prince Albert and Queen Victoria.

No one believed this unreliable news, they just thought the French and Austrians were too humorous.

Vienna announced the news of the naval victory, but no one believed it either.

In fact, a bigger storm was brewing in Vienna at this time. Two temporary members of the Regency Council, Count Lekonin and Baron Kiel, did a stupid thing.

They first made public the contents of the Hungarians' twelve treaties, and then chose to negotiate with them.

This greatly aroused the dissatisfaction of nationalists. People were extremely disappointed with the government and they were eager for a strong man to come to power.

Then the pro-British and liberal factions joined forces to make trouble. They used the rebellions in Bohemia and Hungary, as well as the external British and Italian coalition forces to put pressure on the government.

Solomon Rothschild suddenly became the leader of the liberals again, and he threw aside the honorary citizen medal awarded to him by the government.

"NO Constitution, No money!" (No constitution, no money!)

Solomon's move immediately triggered a chain reaction. Almost all the bankers in Vienna said that if the Austrian government could not promulgate a constitution that met their wishes, then the Austrian government would not be able to borrow a penny.

The privileged nobles who had not been cleaned up before also took this opportunity to make trouble. They opened the armory of the Vienna City Defense Army and deliberately distributed weapons to civilians.

These people were naturally not afraid because they had their own weapons, but those who did not have guns were miserable. A large number of barricades began to appear in Vienna, and violence continued to escalate, and it once again entered a state of anarchy.