In the turquoise sea, a huge fleet is sailing. This fleet has more than 60 warships, large and small, six of which are particularly conspicuous, and their tall and mighty image looks like battleships at a glance.

That's right, this was the French fleet under the command of Darlan, and after the fleet left Algiers, he led the fleet slowly along the coast of Algeria at a speed of 14 knots, towards Tunisia.

It was not a quiet journey, and the Italians showed great enthusiasm for their arrival, and if it weren't for the efforts of the French Air Force, the warships he was carrying along the way would have been damaged.

Looking at the figure of the Italian fighter plane that was driven away, Darlan sighed heartily. "It seems that without the cover of aircraft carriers, the air defense of the fleet in the future will become a big problem."

True, now Darlan still believes that in battle the battleship will act as the main force. In fact, his concept is still the mainstream in the world's navies, even after the Romanian raid on Alexandria, the status of the aircraft carrier has not reached the position of carrying the core of the battlefield.

The most important thing is that aircraft carriers are indispensable warships for the fleet, which can provide air protection and reconnaissance convenience for the fleet.

As for Alexandria, there was only a special case, when the warships were completely at a standstill, defeated by a surprise assault. In the face of a fully deployed fleet, those aircraft on the aircraft carrier are still less threatening to the fleet than the battleships.

Such a view is still firmly in the mainstream of the world's navies. Of course, if there are many naval battles dominated by aircraft carriers, then this will speed up people's understanding, but at present, the use of aircraft carriers by various countries is still in the stage of understanding and not understanding, and Eder is not willing to let other countries speed up this understanding.

Although Italian aircraft were harassing, the results achieved were limited. On the one hand, France has the cover of the air force, and on the other hand, the Italian air force has limited combat capabilities at sea.

Despite these harassing methods, Darlan and Compionni's eyes were firmly fixed on each other, and they both knew that if they wanted to fight it out, they could only rely on the battleship in their hands to speak.

……

After two days of sailing, Darlan was already approaching the waters near Cape Tunis, and at this time the sudden increase in Italian fighters and even fighter protection made the French fighters feel very difficult, and from time to time Italian planes broke through the blockade and entered the skies over the fleet.

However, fortunately, the French fleet was in an anti-aircraft formation, and there were fewer planes entering the sky, so the fleet maintained a complete formation.

After driving the incoming fighters away, Darlang frowned. "How far is General Cunningham from us now?"

"The latest reports show that they are about a hundred nautical miles behind us."

That's the distance of more than three hours, but based on the experience of the last Battle of Jutland, more than three hours is too much, which can determine the outcome of the naval battle.

"Let General Cunningham pick up the pace, and it's best to keep the distance between us about 50 nautical miles."

"Yes, Your Excellency."

With the distance to allies out of the way, the next step is to find out where your opponent is. From this point on, the French fleet under the command of Darlan was at an absolute disadvantage, since he was constantly under the surveillance of the Italian Air Force, and the location of his opponent was not yet known to him.

For such an unfavorable situation, Darlan also has its own solution. That is to use the outstanding heavy cruisers of the French fleet to form an exploration formation to explore the sea area.

He believed that even if the heavy patrol could not find the Italian fleet, they would send it to the door themselves. Because the heavy cruiser formation owned by France is the second strongest in Europe, second only to the heavy cruisers built by Germany for the breaking of diplomatic relations in the ocean.

In particular, the Algeria class, the last class of heavy cruisers in France, in order to deal with the German Admiral Hipper, is equipped with 55 times the 203 caliber main gun, and its armor fire protection is also extreme, the only drawback is the speed, only 31 knots, which is almost equal to many new battleships.

But now Darlan intends to use his heavy cruisers, which are a line stronger than the French, as bait to lure the Italian fleet to arrive.

"Give Rear Admiral Laborde an order to lead the 1st and 2nd Cruiser Formations to search for the enemy. However, it must be remembered that it is not possible to leave the fleet at a distance of 40 nautical miles. ”

"Yes, Your Excellency, Commander."

With Darlan's order, the forward formation, consisting of 7 heavy cruisers, 1 light cruiser, and more than 10 destroyers, began to leave the fleet, and the warships of his own formation began to speed up and search ahead.

This is also Darlan's last resort, if there is a way, he will not let the heavy cruiser be used as bait. As for its only aircraft carrier, the Bayarn, there are only 40 carrier-based aircraft on it, and Darlang is reluctant to consume this carrier-based aircraft in vain, so this aircraft carrier is firmly protected in the rear of the fleet. Wait for the convergence with the British fleet to strengthen the aircraft carrier force in its hands.

The division of the French fleet was soon made known by Italy, which had air superiority.

Located 150 nautical miles north of Tunisian waters, close to the islands of Sardinia and Sicily, it is both a threat to Tunisian waters and under the protection of its own air force. So there was no better place to wait for the arrival of the French fleet, and the Italian fleet, with its wide variety of warships, waited quietly here, the arrival of the French.

Of course, blindly waiting, but it is impossible, and it requires flexible adaptation.

And at this point, Admiral Campioni, who was the commander of the Italian fleet, thought that he was doing a good job. So when the news of the division of the national fleet appeared in his hand, he couldn't help but laugh.

That's right, it's the kind of expression that is suddenly unexpected. He thought that he had also received a surprise, 7 heavy cruisers, plus a light cruiser and more than a dozen destroyers, how could there be 100,000 tons of warships. And such a great gift, given by the commander of the French fleet, he felt that if he did not accept it, his conscience would be disturbed.

So he held up the telegram and jokingly said to the other officers. "Are we going to have Christmas?"

Laughter immediately erupted from the command cabin.

Someone even spoke. "Your Excellency, is this the day that Mr. Darlan has not remembered Christmas?"

"Probably right, do we need to warn him?"

Seeing his subordinates shaking their heads, Campioni also felt that he didn't need it.

This is a free result, and there is no reason not to eat it. Since Darlan made a stun move, then he had a reason to deal a heavy blow to him.

Thinking of this, Campioni gave the order with a tense face. "Immediately give the order, rush to the predetermined sea area, we will first eat the French detachment, and then directly strike at its own fleet."

With the orders of Campione, the Italian fleet was dispatched, and they pounced on the French heavy cruiser formation, which was searching for itself.

And this also kicked off the naval battle of Cape Tunis.