While Eder was praying for the impending fleet, martial law was now in full swing in the port of Thessaloniki. In the port area and in areas where the details of the port can be seen from various heights of the city, the military and police are under martial law.

In the port, due to the declaration of war with Britain and France and the blockade, there were no merchant ships in the port, and now only the mighty warships were left in the port. This also makes the port of Thessaloniki a veritable military port.

And now the port of Thessaloniki is home to all the new Romanian warships. From the earliest Mircea-class battleships to the last to be launched, the five mighty battleships lined up to fascinate everyone.

But this operation pig's feet were not them, but three Bormiku-class aircraft carriers on their side. This large fleet aircraft carrier, which can carry 91 carrier-based aircraft, is the protagonist this time, and now they are also docked aside.

Of course, there is no shortage of heavy cruisers in Romania, although it is not as good as other countries, but Romania still has 7 ships, from the earliest Brebista class to the newest Halt class. And these 7 are also not left behind, all in the port.

As for the large number of light cruisers and destroyers in the Romanian Navy, the ports were also piled to the brim.

At the port, Admiral Lomodan, Minister of the Navy, and Admiral Nestaku, Commander of the Fleet, were seeing off the officers and men on the expedition.

"Good work."

"For Romania."

"Good work."

"For the honor of the Navy."

"Hard work"

"For the kingdom."

Lomodan and Nestacu shook hands with the captains of the ships one by one, and at the end of the procession, it was Vice Admiral Midrafael, the commander of the fleet, and Rear Admiral Fernandez, the chief of staff of the fleet.

Needless to say, Lieutenant General Midrafael has always been groomed as a successor. As for Major General Fernández, there is a bit of a sudden outrage.

During World War I, as a fresh out of military school, Fernandez could only serve as a trainee on a warship. And in the first decade after the war, this one was not brilliant.

It's just that in the 30s, this Fernandez began to become a naval aviation faction, constantly announcing that Romania needed aircraft carriers to defend its maritime borders. And Fernandez also happened to seize the opportunity of Romania to promote the aircraft carrier, so it was logical to serve as the captain of the experimental aircraft carrier.

During his tenure as captain, Fernandez not only formulated many management methods for carrier-based aircraft, but also effectively explored ways to use aircraft carriers. This was very important, and Fernandez naturally served as the captain of the aircraft carrier Bormiku, and with the commissioning of the second ship (Seracus) and the third ship (Eugenscu), he further served as the commander of the carrier battle group.

As for this operation, he is mainly responsible for commanding, because he is the person who knows the use of aircraft carriers best, and he is also one of the main persons in charge of the plan formulated, responsible for the aircraft carrier air attack plan.

So Admiral Lomodan walked up to him, patted him on the shoulder and said. "The Romanian people are waiting for your good news on this expedition, and hope that you can return victorious."

In the face of Lomodan's words, Fernandez naturally will not lose everyone's morale. "Rest assured, Your Excellency. In this expedition, we will definitely meet the operational requirements and will not disappoint the Romanian people. ”

After talking to Fernández, the two stood in front of the commander of this time, Lieutenant General Midrafael. Unlike Fernandez, Lomodan only patted the tall lieutenant general on the shoulder.

"Remember to take the fleet out in its entirety, and bring it back in its entirety."

Lieutenant General Midrafael nodded vigorously, "I will." ”

Needless to say, as they knew Midrafael very well, the lieutenant general became more and more sedate. With him as the commander of the fleet, he can add at least one layer of insurance to him.

Because if there is an accident in the fleet this time, then it will destroy the achievements of Romania for twenty years. This is also why in World War I, both Britain and Germany would put the Grand Fleet in the hands of a steady general. He may not be able to help you get a big victory, but at least he won't suffer a costly defeat. And this is also a key point that countries must consider, the construction of the fleet may take more than ten years, but the loss can be completed in an afternoon.

After the send-off, the two admirals gave a deep military salute to the officers and men who were about to set out.

The neatly arranged return salute shows that the officers and men of the Navy are well-trained.

"Time is running out now, so I'm not going to talk nonsense, let's go. I'm watching you sail from behind. ”

After the salute, Lomodan looked at the captains in front of him and returned to their respective warships in the transport boat.

As for the two leading generals, they boarded the flagship battleship Kurmis in a transport boat together.

As the flagship of Romania, the Kurmis was the best of Romanian battleships with a full load of 52,800 tons, equipped with 9 406 mm 45 times the main guns, and a maximum speed of 31.7 knots. Of course, the other battleships were not bad, except for the 380 mm main guns of the Mircha battleship, which was the first to start, the remaining 4 battleships were uniformly equipped with 406 calibers.

Some even joked that Romanian battleships alone were enough to give the British Mediterranean fleet a headache.

And after the two fleet commanders boarded the warship, Midrafael, as the commander of the fleet, looked at the last ray of the sun in the sky and gave the order. "Order all ships to leave the port in turn according to the predetermined order of going to sea."

With Midrafael's order, the destroyers, which served as a cordon for the fleet, left the port first, followed by light cruisers, then heavy cruisers, battleships, aircraft carriers, and then various support ships of the Navy.

And these support vessels will not follow them, because their task is to provide timely repairs to ships that may break down, and they are not qualified to follow at a maximum speed of eighteen or nineteen knots.

What eighteen or nineteen verses are not enough to qualify, so how many verses do you need to follow?

The exact answer must not be less than 28 verses.

Such a high speed basically excludes all non-combat ships.

True, the plans of the Romanian Navy this time did not take into account warships under twenty-eight knots. Because they are about to embark on a 12-hour and 28-knot drag race, and all the warships that fail to complete the task within the specified time are not qualified for the next stage of the mission.

That's right, for how to cross the Aegean Sea without being noticed. The most likely way for the Navy to come up with is to drag race in the middle of the night, at a speed of twenty-eight knots, using the cover of the moonlight to quickly pass through the 600-kilometer Aegean Sea. By daybreak, the Romanian fleet had taken refuge in a reliable location.

For this mission, the Navy overhauled all the warships participating in the operation inside and out, especially the power system is the key to inspection, as long as there is a trace of possible failure and defects, they will all be replaced. And the replacement of parts for these warships alone will be enough for Romania to build another destroyer.

As soon as all the ships had sailed out of port, Midrafael gave the order. "Order the fleet to now set the speed to 28 knots while turning on the lights, keeping an eye on the distance and not colliding accidents."

With Midrafael's order, the ships immediately increased their speed, and the wheel combination maintenance team stared at their respective situations and did not dare to slack off.

And on the surface of the sea, the warship with the lights turned on is like a colorful palace in the sea, galloping all the way to the target.

In fact, there were two other ships, which were also incorporated into the fleet, but due to their speed, they could only set off one step earlier. Those are two escort aircraft carriers converted from high-speed cruise ships, the Bibak and the Gilesku.

The two aircraft carriers reached nearly 30,000 tons, but because they were converted from high-speed cruise ships, they could only carry 47 fighters (not long enough to take off torpedo planes and bombers). And since the speed could only reach 23 knots, two ships were put to sea ahead of schedule, citing the intention to return to the Black Sea.

Why did they find ways to include these two escort aircraft carriers, which is also the reason why there are too few Romanian aircraft carriers. Although these two ships can only carry fighters, two more aircraft carriers will help the plan very much, so the navy can only use camouflage to let the two ships set off in advance.

And under the cover of night, a large number of Romanian warships were racing in the Aegean Sea, and no one came out to take care of them.

(Romanian sea attack, then submarine with frogmen to control civilian boats, and then all the way to the vicinity of Rhodes)