As soon as the second bombardment had passed, the third round came, and now the Italians did not bother to come out to put out the fire, and they all hid under what they thought were safe.

The unfortunate Italian Rear Admiral Georgif Messer, while directing the firefighting, was unfortunately affected by the second round of bombardment. But he was also lucky, just scratched a little skin, and then passed away happily.

The Italians, who did not have a supreme commander on the spot, naturally would not have made a move.

Of course, Taranto can't have only one commander, Georgif Messe, in fact, there are still many generals in the Taranto Navy at this time, but it's a pity that everyone is unwilling to come out and take responsibility!

To make herculean efforts to save a critical situation? This is based on the premise of being able to succeed, now that the naval warships, shipyards, material reserve warehouses, and batteries have been patronized by the Bulgarian Air Force, the planes in the sky cannot be shot down, and the damaged belongings cannot be restored, what can they do?

The waiting time was long, originally the bombing of the Bulgarian Air Force was only three or four hours from the first round to the end of the third round, but for the Italians below, this is already like a year!

After the successful completion of the bombing mission, the Bulgarian Air Force happily returned home, leaving the scene in a mess, the raging fire was still burning, the scarred warship continued to sink, and everyone knew that Taranto was finished!

After a morning of bombardment, more than 200 tons of bombs were bombed indiscriminately, and on average, three or four kilograms of bombs were taken from every square meter of this port.

More than two hours had passed since the bombing, and the Italians were finally sure that it was safe before they came out of their bunkers, and by this time the fire had spread from the port to the city, and they had to come out to extinguish the fire!

The Italian naval officers, who were pretending to be ostriches, also came out to clean up the mess, organizing firefighting, counting losses, and reporting to the Roman government.

Will it end so easily? Apparently this is impossible, and the Bulgarian Navy also set off from Kofu Island as early as the time of the Air Force sortie.

Even the rest of the French fleet was dispatched, and although the French did not think that the Bulgarian air raids would have much effect, they acted in the hope of what happened.

For the sake of secrecy, Ferdinand informed the French only an hour before the start of the operation, so now the French fleet was just leaving.

Receiving the news of the success of the air raid, the commander of the French fleet, Darlan, immediately ordered all the battlecruisers in the fleet to take the lead and implement the plan of closing the door and fighting the dogs together with the Bulgarian Navy.

In this era, there was no satellite surveillance, even if the warship was finished, it would take time to sink, apparently the Air Force did not have time to wait for the Italian warship to sink, the only thing that was certain was that all the battleships of the Italians were patronized.

This is enough, at least it is certain that the Italian Navy has lost its vitality, after all, it is a bomb of several hundred kilograms, even if it falls from the sky, it can smash the deck out of a hole!

After the air raid, the Bulgarian Navy was not far from Taranto, with five dreadnoughts plus four shore defense battleships and a bunch of cruisers, destroyers, etc., the entire fleet totaled more than 120 warships.

The operation was commanded by Bulgarian Rear Admiral Pert Ivanov, who was also the captain of the flagship the Great.

The Great was only added to the service of the Bulgarian Navy at the beginning of 1915, and there is no doubt that this is a super dreadnought, the specific parameters are as follows:

Displacement: 28950 tons / Full load displacement: 32520 tons

Dimensions: Length 196 m / Width 27.3 m

Draft: 9.1 m

Power: 24 boilers

The main engine power is 75000 horsepower, 4 axles

Speed: 25 knots

Endurance: 4,600 nm / 12.5 knots

Armament: 8 twin 15-inch/42 x caliber main guns, 12 6-inch/45 x caliber secondary guns, 2 76 mm guns, 4 4-inch anti-aircraft guns, and eight 40-mm anti-aircraft guns

Armor: 13 inches on the side armor belt, 2.5-5 inches on the main deck, 13 inches for turret (front), 5 inches (top), 10 inches for gun mounts, 11 inches for the conning tower. The total weight of the armor is 8100 tons.

Crew: 1015 people

This is already the full strength of the Bulgarian Navy, and if it suffers a heavy loss, the First World War can be declared, and the Bulgarian Navy will only be able to play soy sauce!

Barely a big gamble, if this time can successfully kill the Italian Navy, then the Bulgarian Navy will have a qualitative breakthrough, and Bulgaria will become a naval power!

Otherwise, Ferdinand could abandon the navy and honestly develop the army and air force!

The Italians, unaware of the approaching danger, were busy organizing men to extinguish the fire and repair the warship.

After all, many seriously injured warships must be rescued immediately, otherwise they are likely to turn from serious injuries to death.

Watching the warships continue to sink, at this time, the heart of the commander of the Italian Navy, Count Abruzzi, also sank to the bottom, and he knew that the Italian Navy had suffered a lot of losses this time.

Although the specific losses have not yet been counted, at a glance, more than double-digit warships are now gone, and more importantly, two dreadnoughts have also disappeared from his sight!

The Italian Navy paid the price in blood for their thin-skinned armor, and the two dreadnoughts, Dante Aligli and Count Cavour, sank neatly.

No way, who called dreadnoughts the focus of the Bulgarian Air Force?

An ominous premonition arose in the mind of Count Abruch, could it be that the Bulgarian Air Force was going to come and bomb?

He was in the navy, and he didn't know that the planes of this era had to be overhauled after a bombing before they could continue to fight.

"Now I order, all warships that can go to sea set sail and go to Palermo!" Count Abruzzi said solemnly

"Yes!" When a young officer had finished speaking, he went down to give the order.

Everyone knows that the port of Taranto is no longer suitable for the Italian Navy, and who knows when the Bulgarian planes will come again and continue to drop bombs on their heads?

……

It was too late for the Italians to start their move! By the time the Italian Navy left the port, the Bulgarian Navy had already come to block the door.

There's no way, Cofu Island is not far from Taranto, and it's not a joke!

It was useless for the Italians to react quickly, and they were subjected to air strikes from early in the morning and did not end until noon.

Even though Count Abruzzi gave the order in the shortest possible time, after the Italian navy was organized, the warships were inspected, and some supplies were replenished in a panic, the time was still in the evening.

And at this moment the Bulgarian Navy was already waiting outside, and under the cover of night, even if the two sides were only twenty or thirty nautical miles apart, the Italians still did not know that the enemy was under their noses.

"Applying for the general, this is our preliminary statistical loss." In the evening, an officer handed over a list of losses to the Count of Abruch

Of course, this is limited to statistics on the losses of naval warships and the losses of officers and men on active duty in the Navy.

Two dreadnoughts, five cruisers, and a dozen old warships were sunk, including an old battleship. The remaining large warships were all damaged, and less than half of them were capable of leaving the port, including one dreadnought, which was heavily damaged and unable to leave the port!

There have been 2,846 casualties among officers and men on active duty in the Navy, and 876 have been determined.

Having received reports of casualties, the mood of Count Abruzzi was even worse, which meant that the main forces of the Italian Navy had already lost a third of them at the beginning of the war!

"Can't wait any longer!" If there is another bombardment, the main force of the Italian Navy will be completely finished! Count Abruci knows that even if he leaves now, he will only be able to keep the warships on the fourth floor or so of the port of Taranto, and those who remain will have to resign themselves to fate!

But he had to go, and the port of Taranto brought together more than eighty percent of the main forces of the Italian Navy, including the fleet withdrawn from Tripoli.

If you stay, you may be wiped out, and if you run away now, you can at least save more than half of the main force of the kingdom! He has no illusions about the air defense of Italy!

Whether it is anti-aircraft artillery or anti-aircraft machine guns, it is impossible to develop them in a day or two and equip them into service!

In a hurry, Count Abruzzi decided to set off overnight with the fleet, anyway, it was all off the coast of Italy, everyone was familiar with the road conditions, and there was nothing to worry about.

Otherwise, if the Bulgarian Air Force comes again tomorrow, the Italian Navy will really be finished!

Of course, Ferdinand did not know about the loss of the Italians, otherwise he would not have asked the French for help.

After all, it is very valuable for Bulgaria to take out the main force of the Italian Navy on its own, and it is very beneficial to the distribution of interests after the war!

History has no ifs! Unable to find out what the Italians were doing, the Bulgarian navy stayed twenty nautical miles away from the port of Taranto for safety, waiting for the arrival of the French navy.

In the dark of night, the two fleets collided like this, and by the time the enemy was discovered, the distance between the two sides was only six or seven nautical miles.

"General enemy attack!"

Pert Ivanov was taken aback, he thought it was the Italians who had discovered their presence and were ready to strike first.

But soon he calmed down, if the Italians had discovered them in advance, they should have started during the day, night battles were not so easy to fight!

To a large extent, it depends on the luck of both sides, and even if the Italians have a stronger navy, there is a good chance that they will lose both.

Then it is very likely that the Italians want to escape, after all, they have just been bombed during the day, if they don't run now, stay and wait to continue to be bombed?

Judging the initial purpose of the enemy, Major General Pert Ivanov also determined that the Italians must have suffered heavy losses, otherwise they would not have been in such a hurry to run away!

"Order the fleet to prepare for battle!" Pelt-Ivanov calmly ordered

……

Since the Bulgarian Navy has discovered the Italians, naturally the Italians will also discover them, but Count Abruzzi has not yet been able to determine who the enemy on the opposite side is and how big it is!

This is another life-and-death choice for Count Abrucci, if it is the main fleet of the Entente outside, then the Italian navy, which is now half-crippled, does not even have the strength to fight a war, and directly ordering a dispersed breakout is the best choice!

……