The reason for the dispute between the two was that a British reconnaissance plane was shot down by a fighter on guard outside the fleet. It's just that before it was shot down, radio waves had been detected. That is, their location has already been discovered.

Faced with this situation, Vice Admiral Midrafael, as the commander of the fleet, demanded to leave as soon as the carrier-based aircraft returned. And Major General Fernandez, who is the chief of staff, has a different opinion on this. He believes that at present, the British army in Egypt should not have many planes capable of attacking the fleet, and as long as the fleet is ready for anti-submarine warfare, it should release another wave of planes to bomb Alexandria more thoroughly.

Faced with Major General Fernandez's idea of trying to maximize the results of the battle, Midrafael did not agree at all, and only saw him retort.

"Your Excellency, as a hunter, we cannot only focus on the prey in front of us and forget about the possible dangers behind us. Although I also knew that any further wave of air strikes would completely paralyze Alexandria, it would put us in danger. ”

"Your Excellency, Commander, our air raids have now wiped out the elite of the British army in Egypt. Combined with the telegram we received a moment ago, the British army had already dispatched gladiators and Hawker fighters to intercept our air attack group, which is enough to explain the problem. ”

In the face of Fernandez's rebuttal, Midrafael strongly disagreed. "Your Excellency, what you think is the best, but the war cannot be done according to your own ideal. Moreover, the British fighters encountered by the air raid group in Alexandria were only the first interceptions.

And have you thought about it, now that our position is exposed, then it is very likely that the British will no longer intercept our air attack aircraft group in Alexandria, and can completely take the action of letting us attack and organize warplanes to attack our fleet. And at this time, how should we allocate troops? ”

Yes, Midrafael may not have heard of the allusion to the horse race, but the truth is clear. Compared with the British Mediterranean Fleet, which is basically an old ship, Romania is a new ship. Not to mention that he can't afford to change it, even if he touches Midrafael, he feels distressed.

And this fleet is basically the entire strength of the Romanian Navy, there was an accident, which made Midrafael explain.

However, in the face of this statement of Commander Midrafael, Fernandez could not speak. Although he consciously believed that the British army did not have much air power, he only needed to work hard to completely destroy Alexandria. It's just that this is just self-consciousness, but self-consciousness cannot be used as a reason to say, let alone the full strength of the Romanian Navy in this fleet.

So he could only speak in a negotiable tone. "We can wait for the group to return, and then reduce the scale of the third air strike, how about 150 sorties, which can reduce the time we are stranded."

Midrafael was furious when he heard the words of his chief of staff.

"My chief of staff, it's past 12 o'clock when the group comes back, how late do you plan to come back after the next air raid, it will take at least more than 2 hours, and this is not counting the supply time for returning. If you add it, it will take at least 3-4 points to finish. Keep the fleet in a position known to the enemy, 4-5 hours, do you know the danger? ”

Seeing that the commander completely rejected his proposal, Fernandez wanted to fight for it one last time.

"But ......"

I saw that Midrafael stretched out his hand to stop it, and the chief of staff wanted to continue. I saw him say categorically. "No, but. Now I give the order, in the capacity of the commander of the fleet: when the fleet returns, I will set off immediately. We entered the Sea of Love from the west of Crete and returned to the port of Thessaloniki according to the predetermined plan. ”

Faced with Midrafael's order to retreat, Fernandez did not argue anymore. I saw him walk out of the command room and come outside.

Standing on the command tower of the Kurmis, this sea area is full of Romanian warships, from the mighty battleships on the inner layer to the destroyers on the outermost layer of the fleet, they are all closely protecting the five aircraft carriers in the most core area.

Fernández felt that after this war, the pattern of naval warfare would change. Aircraft carriers will also be upgraded from a subsidiary status to a status equal to that of battleships.

"Maybe when I go back, I should report to the top and urgently increase the construction plan of the aircraft carrier."

Fernandez smoked a cigarette as he thought in his head.

Of course, the time it takes to wait for the construction of a regular aircraft carrier is not short at all, it will take at least two years. Of course, before that, perhaps a few more escort aircraft carriers should be rebuilt.

He looked at the Buck and Giarscu, which were obviously different from the three fleet aircraft carriers, and thought to himself that he needed to see which other fast cruise ships in Romania were suitable for retrofit. It's long and fast, and it's suitable for transformation, these requirements are really a headache, maybe you have to wait until you go back, find someone to help.

That's right, now Fernandez is already thinking about what's next. Now that Commander Midrafael had already made his decision, he didn't continue to dwell on it. Moreover, through telegrams, I learned that the results of these two air raids were basically achieved, although there are still some regrets. For example, in his third air raid plan, in addition to continuing to strike at warships in the harbor, it also needs to further strike at facilities in the harbor.

It didn't take long for the returning fleet to appear in front of everyone.

The five aircraft carriers began to be hectic and hectic in their reception, but compared to the last time, the ground crews were much more relaxed, because they no longer needed to refuel and reload their fighters.

It's just that the bloodstained people who are lifted from the fighter plane from time to time are also showing their danger. The crews of carrier-based aircraft are more dangerous than others.

Therefore, although the time of the return flight is more concentrated, the reception work is carried out very quickly. All they had to do was direct the planes to park and put them in the hangar one by one with lifts. Of course, the last to land must be the HF201 fighter, this aircraft has been in the air for a long time, and it is also a fighter, of course, it needs to be left for the last reception.

And after receiving it, many of them were not put in the hangar, but remained on the deck. This is also a move to deal with possible dangers.

It's just that it takes a little more hard to fly from the morning to the current pilot.

After the returning fleet was recovered, Midrafael glanced at the casualty report and gave the order. "Now let's start the return flight."

Following his order, the fleet, which had been here for a short time, immediately accelerated its departure.

As for the victim of this air raid, Admiral Cunningham of the Mediterranean Fleet, also received the news of the departure of the Romanian fleet an hour and a half later.

Of course, it is also the credit of the British Air Force to know so quickly. Although the British Air Force does not know about it, retaliation must be done, even if it is not strong enough. Therefore, when the British group of planes divided into several units and pounced on the position of the Romanian fleet on the telegram, the fleet was not seen.

As he continued to search in all directions, he was nowhere to be seen. It's not that I didn't see it, but the news of nearly a hundred fighters over the fleet at that time made these big herring and swordfish dare not go over to find death. Of course, there is also a reason that the position of the Romanian fleet is already outside their combat radius.