At 9 a.m. on 10 September, a Fiat 500?topolino sedan drove into the docks of Naples, the largest city in southern Italy, and stopped in front of the office building of the terminal management office.

A tall, lanky man in a plain white suit jumped out of the car, walked into the office building with a brown handbag, and easily found the dispensing office on the first floor.

Seeing the tall and thin man, the director of the dock dispatching office, Peppino's eyes lit up, and he immediately called his subordinates from the office to receive the guests around him, and greeted him himself.

"Dear Mr. Gutierrez, it's a pleasure to meet you." Peppino greeted warmly.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Commissioner." Gutierrez said in Italian with a Spanish accent.

"It's too noisy here, let's talk in another place." Pepino gestured to the noisy crowd in the office, then led Gutierrez into his own private office.

"No need, I'll leave soon, thank you for your kindness." Gutierrez stopped.

As soon as he sat down in the office, Pepino took the initiative to cry out bitterly.

"Mr. Gutierrez, I know your intentions, it's not that I don't want to help, it's that the capacity of the terminal is really tight right now, and I really don't have any spare ships to use."

Gutierrez didn't say a word, just looked at Pepino silently.

"As you know, we're at war with the British, and the Germans are involved, and a large number of ships have been requisitioned by the army to transport military supplies. The existing ships of these ships at the pier, not only to satisfy our army. Also to help the Germans transport people and supplies. I just can't help. I'm sorry. Peppino explained.

Gutierrez's slender fingers tapped lightly on the back of the sofa, and he said slowly: "Mr. Commissioner, a week ago, the Gui ** team and the German ** team just won a major victory on the island of Malta and successfully occupied the island of Malta, the British are finished, where do they need so many merchant ships to transport military supplies."

As I told you, my native Spain, which had just fought a civil war two years ago, is currently undergoing massive reconstruction. Now, no matter how many supplies are brought back, they will be snapped up in an instant, let alone in demand.

The tiles and silk I purchased are now stacked in the warehouse at the docks, and you know exactly how much it will cost to store each day. And every night I go to Spain for a day, I can't get my money back, and I can't make the next purchase without it. ”

"I know, but I really can't spare a cabin." Peppino is still emphasizing the difficulty.

"When I entered the dock, I saw that there were four large merchant ships and one oil tanker loading, and three merchant ships were parked on the shore, and not a single one of so many merchant ships was bound for Spain? None of the big merchant ships can make a little room for me? Even if it's just a little bit? Gutierrez got up and walked to the window, pointing out the window to the merchant ships on the docks.

"Those ships were going to Libya, and there was not a single ship to Spain. The warships of the British patrolled off the coast of Spain day and night. Our merchant ships will be attacked as soon as they get close. ”

"Those ships were bound for Libya? What business is there to do in a place like Libya that produces only barbarians? What a waste. A look of disdain flashed in Gutierrez's eyes.

"Mr. Commissioner, I have always known how to repay my kindness. Anyone who helped me. I must be grateful to him, of course, not just in my heart. Gutierrez stared at Pepino with a playful smile on his face.

"Knowing how to repay kindness is a virtue, and helping others is also a virtue, and I like to help others the most. I know a captain from Spain, he is also a man who likes to help others, he often leaves some spare space in the cargo room of the cabin to help those in need, and his ship will arrive at the dock tomorrow and I can introduce you.

It's just that you know, the captain has a lot of subordinates, and not everyone likes to help others, and he needs some plausible reason to inspire his subordinates to help others. Peppino said.

"I understand, it's up to me to provide the reason, and I'll satisfy Mr. Commissioner." Gutierrez said with a smile.

"His ship will arrive tomorrow at two o'clock in the afternoon, and I wait for your reason until his ship arrives." Peppino said with a smile.

"Don't worry, Mr. Commissioner, my reasons will be there tonight."

After breaking up with Peppino, who seemed to be a longtime friend, Gutierrez walked out of the office building.

His driver stood beside the car with a cigarette in his mouth, rummaging around boredly with a cigarette case in his hand, his eyes occasionally sweeping between the boats on the docks. When the cigarette case is flipped over, there is a slight clicking sound from time to time.

Seeing Gutierrez come out, the driver stepped forward to open the door for him, and exchanged a strange look with Gutierrez the moment he bent down and sat in the car, Gutierrez breathed a sigh of relief, and then got into the car and drove away.

Half an hour later, an electric wave flew out of Naples and flew through the atmosphere into London.

Two hours later, another radio wave flew out of London and instantly penetrated a fleet in the waters northwest of Egypt in the Eastern Mediterranean.

On the bridge of the battleship USS Warweary, the flagship of the Royal Navy's Mediterranean Fleet, Admiral Cunningham, commander of the Mediterranean Fleet, looked at the information that the staff had just sent, and then gave the order: "The target has been determined to exist, let's go." ”

Admiral Cunningham's order was quickly conveyed to every ship of the fleet, and the three fleets, consisting of 3 battleships, 1 aircraft carrier, 5 light cruisers, and 16 destroyers, made a mighty turn to the west and slaughtered the Italian route to Libya.

An hour before the U-turn of the Mediterranean Fleet, a shrill whistle sounded in the port of Naples, and the oil tanker Leonardo and three merchant ships sailed out of the dock one by one, meeting up with the two light cruisers and eight destroyers who had come to escort the escort five nautical miles southwest of the port of Naples, and then regrouped and sailed south surrounded by warships.

That night, the fleet passed through the Strait of Messina, between the northeastern corner of Sicily and mainland Italy, and entered the port of Catania on the east coast of Sicily.

After a short break of an hour, the convoy set off again for the south.

Another hour later, a flotilla of 7 heavy cruisers and 10 destroyers departed from the port of Catania and followed eight nautical miles behind the convoy.

Almost at the same time, the main fleet of the Italian Navy, with two battleships at its core, ambushed in the waters south of Sicily, also quietly approached the convoy under the cover of night.

In the common anticipation of the warring parties, the sky was white, and the light finally came on September 11.

On the islands of Malta, Sicily, and Taranto, as well as in the ports of Benghazi and Tobruk in Libya, more than 40 reconnaissance planes of various types took off one after another to carry out dragnet patrols near the routes of the transport fleets.

With a muffled sound of catapults, fourteen seaplanes rose into the air over the Royal Navy's Mediterranean Fleet one after another, and then fanned out to the northwest, west, and southwest.

At 8:46 a.m., Admiral Cunningham received a telegram from a seaplane that the Italian fleet, numbering twelve, had been spotted 80 nautical miles southwest of the fleet.

Admiral Cunningham immediately received the telegram and gave the order to fight, with Flotilla A, consisting of five cruisers led by Vice Admiral Tovey, as the spearhead, and pounced on the Italian fleet.

Earlier than Fleet A was the carrier-based aircraft of the USS Eagle, and the first wave of seven Swordfish torpedo attack planes flew over the heads of Fleet A and roared southwest.

Forty minutes later, guided by seaplanes, the Swordfish torpedo group finally found its target and launched an attack.

The Italian Navy's convoy also spotted the ill-intentioned British aircraft group, and a piercing battle alarm sounded on the sea.

In the face of dense anti-aircraft artillery, seven Swordfish torpedo planes dropped torpedoes almost close to the sea, and the seven torpedoes pounced on their prey with a white trail like seven great white sharks.

The destroyers and cruisers of the Italian Navy used anti-aircraft guns to dispel enemy aircraft in the air, and at the same time deftly made various evasive maneuvers to dodge menacing torpedoes.

A few minutes later, seven torpedoes passed through the sea between the ships of the Italian convoy, and none of them hit.

Seven Swordfish torpedo planes fled the battlefield with zero results, and the first encounter between the two sides ended in zero casualties.

A second wave of attacks by the Royal Navy followed, and eight Swordfish torpedo planes launched another attack on the Italian fleet, but again in vain.

At 12:34 p.m., the Royal Navy's A fleet arrived at the battlefield and was immediately spotted by the Italian naval warships that were on standby, and the roar of the guns of both sides immediately resounded in the sky

On the island of Malta, Chen Dao and Garland stared at the charts hanging on the wall with their arms crossed in the command room of Lucca airport, excitedly waiting for the order to attack.

"If we are not allowed to attack, it means that the capital ships of the British have not yet appeared, and we must be patient." Chen Dao said.

"I'm patient, but they're not patient, you see." Garland smiled and pointed outside the command room.

Outside the command room, pilots of naval aviation stared at the command room with a desire to fight in their eyes. (To be continued......)