The salute roared, the white waves flew, and the majestic Veneto slowly passed through the cascading columns, carrying the Italian military and political leaders to review all the main combat ships of the navy.

As far as the eye can see, the ships of the same type on the sea seem to be carved out of a mold, full of standardized and neat beauty. All 8 heavy cruisers were armed with 9 203mm L53 main guns and 16 100mm L47 secondary guns, with only minor differences in the superstructure; The 12 light cruisers also had the same ship type and main gun layout, but the hull size was one size smaller, and the firepower was reduced to nine 152 mm L53 and 12 100 mm L47.

Different from the same category of products of the United States and Japan and other countries, the Italian cruiser is both offensive and defensive, coupled with the good endurance potential brought by the Italian ship in pursuit of high-speed cruise, they can be called the world's first-class ideal treaty warship!

Even with the destroyers, the Italy of this world has shown itself to be better than the same period in history. In order to counter the more than 30 large destroyers of France, Italy, which did not sign the London Naval Agreement, successively built 24 ships of the same class with a standard displacement of 2,400 tons. They are all armed with six 135mm L45 guns and have complete bridge fire control equipment, which at this time looks like pocket cruisers on the sea. In addition, more than 30 other medium-sized destroyers were solemnly lined up at the far end, and they saw flags like weaving and naval guns like forests, and their momentum was so magnificent and mighty that it seemed that no force could match it.

"Jonas, how does this naval fleet compare to your country?" Mussolini, who had been chatting and laughing with everyone around him, suddenly turned around and asked Fang Yan with a proud face. Fang Yan looked slightly stunned, glanced at the government dignitaries next to Mussolini who were looking forward to it, and then replied: "Your country's fleet is more numerical than the German Navy, and it is fully capable of controlling the entire Mediterranean Sea and threatening Gibraltar and Suez. As long as Italy engages in this war, a new order around the Mediterranean will be formed by the cannon fire of this fleet. ”

Mussolini's eyes lit up, and there was a look of surprise and surprise in his eyes. In addition to raising the morale of the people and deterring Britain and France, Italy's other intention was to show its muscles to the German allies: Mussolini never regarded Italy as Germany's little brother, and even when Germany had won unprecedented victories in Poland and Northern Europe, Mussolini was still unconvinced, and always felt that he could achieve these achievements by himself.

At this time, seeing the unprecedented majestic lineup of his own navy, Mussolini, who was boiling in excitement, couldn't help but proudly say to Fang Yan: Look, my imperial navy is well-equipped, huge ships like clouds, vast military appearance, profound and majestic, I don't know how high it is higher than your country's hastily built and top-heavy alternative fleet. If your country wants to win this war once and for all, you must ask for the help of the Imperial Navy, so don't think that Italy's power is insignificant, as the top power in Europe, she is on the same level as your country.

However, Fang Yan, who was on the edge, showed a very flexible wrist. He did not go into the sensitive topic of strength, but only spoke frankly about the difference in the obvious area of the number of lineups between the two sides, which did not mean that although the German battleships were few, they were not inferior at all. At the same time, in order to avoid damaging the face of his master, Fang Yan added that the Italian fleet was enough to cross the Mediterranean, which not only answered Mussolini's question from another angle, but also inspired Mussolini and the dignitaries around him to participate in the war. You must know that in the current Italian government, most people do not advocate entering the war in the near future, even Mussolini himself is hesitating, and Fang Yan's answer is to prompt them to make a decision.

"Oh, General Brom, you can't associate Italy with war." Mussolini suddenly put on a stern face, and even changed his name for Fang Yan, and said, "The Italian people love peace incomparably, and this fleet is built today to protect the prosperity and stability of the Apennines." No matter what happens, the Italian Navy is a solid shield to defend the peace of our country......"

The muscles on Fang Yan's face twitched, and then he sneered in his heart and ignored his posture again. At present, everyone in Italy can say that he loves peace, but Mussolini is the least qualified: from 1935 to the present, Mussolini has dragged Italy to carry out three protracted foreign military operations, coupled with the German-Italian steel alliance signed last year, so that the clouds of war have never dissipated over the Apennine Peninsula.

However, Fang Yan also knew that most of what Mussolini said was for the military and political dignitaries around him. After all, the vast majority of people in the current Roman hierarchy did not approve of Italy's involvement in the European war, and only Mussolini, who was overjoyed, always wanted to do something around the Mediterranean in order to satisfy his lust for power and vanity. Thinking of this, Fang Yan felt that Mussolini was not so hateful again. Had it not been for his insatiable ambitions for expansion, how could Germany have been able to secure such a fleet in southern Europe as a reinforcement?

As time passed, the warships on review were sideways by the Veneto one after another. Although it was only a brief eye contact, Fang Yan still found several flaws in the Italian fleet from a majestic formation. First of all, not a single ship of the Italian Navy, including the flagship Veneto, is equipped with radar, which will inevitably lead to them falling far behind their opponents in the process of information acquisition, and there is a high probability that they will be hit hard

。 The Battle of Cape Matapan in history was a great loss for the Italian Navy without radar: the British fleet of three battleships took advantage of the cover of night and sneaked to a very close range of only 3 kilometers from the Italian ships before launching a fatal blow. In just five minutes, two Italian cruisers and two destroyers were caught in flames, and their heavy losses made the Italian fleet dare not enter the eastern Mediterranean zone in the future.

In addition, Italian warships had obvious problems with air defense. Not to mention that the number of their anti-aircraft guns is completely unable to meet the needs of fierce naval and air battles, and there is a problem of disconnection in fire control equipment alone. Fang Yan found that all the 37mm twin-mounted anti-aircraft guns on the Italian ship did not have a formal fire control system, but were equipped with simple optical sights like the 20mm machine guns. This is clearly a very perfunctory and irresponsible performance.

For a warship under the threat of aircraft, the 37 mm caliber anti-aircraft gun is her best self-defense weapon. Because the effective range of such anti-aircraft guns can exceed 5 kilometers, and at the same time has a high rate of fire that cannot be matched by larger caliber guns; Whether it is against high-altitude bombers or low-altitude torpedo aircraft, it can be more effective than 20mm guns with an effective range of only 1500~2000 meters.

A very simple example, if a ship only uses 20 mm anti-aircraft guns to defend itself, then the opponent's aircraft group only needs to walk around 3 kilometers away and drop bombs and mines, and the ship can play to death without injury. And if the warship is full of 37-mm anti-aircraft guns, no attack aircraft will dare to rush forward; As long as the latter comes forward to drop the bomb, he must first face the baptism of death of the Iron Storm.

It is precisely because the 37-mm anti-aircraft gun is the most effective weapon of a warship against attack aircraft, so its supporting fire control facilities are extremely important. In the face of targets flying at high speed in three-dimensional space thousands of meters away, the traditional direct aiming method cannot meet the accuracy requirements in any case, and special fire control devices must be designed to improve hitting. Fang Yan was not satisfied with the performance of such equipment in service with the German Navy, and asked to upgrade it as soon as possible after the Norwegian naval battle; I didn't expect the Italians to even have a problem with it!

"The Italian Navy's operational thinking is really still stuck in the era of big ships and huge guns......," Fang Yan secretly shook his head and sighed. The fleet has such a disregard for even the critical anti-aircraft artillery fire control, and its daily training in the air defense project can be imagined. Fang Yan could even boldly infer that the entire Italian Navy was a layman in the face of naval and air battles in the new era; The generals only knew that planes could blow up and sink warships, but they were confused about all the details.

With the current situation of the Italian fleet, it may not be difficult to control the Mediterranean under the cover of shore-based air forces. But if the boat is pulled out to the Atlantic Ocean to open a film with the Americans, it will inevitably be hoisted and teased by the US Navy Airlines, and finally end up hating under the beating of countless sea eagles.

After a few minutes of thinking, Fang Yan rerealized the heavy responsibility and pressure he had borne when he went south to Italy this time. If you want to turn the fleet in front of you into a reliable reinforcement for the German Navy, the task you have to do is not ordinarily easy. As the parade drew to a close, Fang Yan had already planned his future actions in his mind: taking advantage of Mussolini's enthusiasm for the navy, he wanted to put the Italian fleet on the right track of transformation.

In Fang Yan's plan, the first thing to do was to get Balbo, the commander of the Italian Air Force, to hand over control of the HNNA. As long as sea-based aviation is under the jurisdiction of the Air Force for one day, there will be no prerequisites for the transformation of the Italian Navy from a plane to a three-dimensional one day. However, Fang Yan soon found that it was almost impossible to start with the goal he had set. Balbo had a close relationship with Mussolini, much like Goering and Hitler in the historical plane. And Fang Yan was just an external adviser to the major general, and he had no influence in Italy; Trying to criticize Balbo, a veteran of the fascist party, and make him obediently obey his orders is tantamount to a fool's dream.

"Looks like I'm going to have to visit that uncle." After pondering for a long time, Fang Yan finally made a decision. Although Fang Yan didn't want to see the little Ziano with his eyes on the top of his head, he could only try it now with the help of his strength. And for little Ziano, Fang Yan's arrival also gave him a rare opportunity. There is a clear possibility of cooperation between the two sides.