Because the battle broke out early, the main fleet of the Italian Navy simply could not reach the scene in the expected time. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

According to the information given by Li Le, the French fleet could only hold out for a short 30 minutes, and if the reinforcement time exceeded this number, then the French fleet would be finished.

But now it seems that, in any case, the Italian fleet will not be able to reach the battlefield in 30 minutes, and flank the British fleet with the French fleet.

It's like splitting the enemy into two ways, and as a result, because the time of the flanking attack is divided into sequences, the enemy has every chance to break through.

If the French fleet did not contribute anything, then the British fleet, unscathed, could turn around and fight the Italian fleet again.

The Royal Navy, which has the aircraft carrier Ark Royal and has an absolute superiority in training, may stage a battle that will rewrite the situation in the Mediterranean.

The end result was that the Italian navy suffered heavy losses, the French fleet was almost destroyed, the British were victorious, and the Führer's plan was completely ruined.

At that time, even if oil fields were discovered in Libya, Italy and Germany could only look at the Mediterranean and sigh in despair, and they would not be able to get oil back to the European continent.

"It seems that the fleet of the Italians is lost." On his own bridge, the commander of the British H fleet, Admiral Somerville, said with a smile to his deputy.

His carrier-based aircraft had already taken off and swooped down on the ports of the French Navy, and with the constant shelling of his superior forces, the French fleet would soon be destroyed.

When he slaughtered the French fleet, even if the Italians arrived, it could only be regarded as a sheep in the mouth of the tiger and sent to the door.

He even had a hunch that he might be able to become the new hero of the British Navy in this battle. Although the other party doesn't know why, he has mastered the "Catapult Project", but the H fleet has the strength to completely annihilate the enemy!

"Maybe the Italians just happened to leave the port, after all, this time the attack plan was a little difficult for even our own people to figure out after reading the plan, and the enemy was even more unlikely to guess it." The officer next to Somerville complimented.

The present situation was very favorable to the British navy, and the French returned fire with little trouble for the moving British fleet, but the British shelling became more and more accurate, and the hapless Brittany was hit again......

The combat effectiveness of the two sides is simply not on the same level, and the French fleet is again in a state of fixed anchorage and blockage in the port.

How much gap there is in between, only the parties know. General Soule has already made up his mind that he would rather perish here than teach the British a lesson!

However, his return fire was not accurate, and the slow cruising of the British battleship on the surface of the sea made the French battleship billowing with smoke.

In actual combat, various factors have made the battlefield situation ever-changing, which is not something that Li Le can know in advance.

He thought that his prophetic skills could win a thousand miles, but he forgot that he really couldn't influence the changes caused by different decisions on the battlefield.

Looking at the smoking battleship Brittany, the French were really enraged, they could not beat the Germans on the frontal battlefield, they were already ashamed and indignant, and now they were stabbed in the back by the British, of course, they were immediately angry.

Unfortunately, although the battleship Brittany had 10 main guns, it was a pity that it was an old battleship with a main gun caliber of only 340 mm.

Similarly, the battlecruiser Dunkirk was armed with 8 330 mm guns - the French battleships were really bad in caliber, and the three battleships parked in the harbor actually used two different calibers.

Compared with the British Navy's 381 mm caliber main guns, the French seem to be inferior in the caliber of the guns they are equipped with.

"I really don't understand, why are they holding ......" Somerville shook his head and sighed after hearing the report that his fleet had hit the battleship Brittany.

He looked at the sea in the distance with regret and sighed: "Didn't they already surrender once, is it more difficult to surrender us than to surrender to the Germans?" ”

After saying his feelings, the experienced British admiral once again ordered the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal to take off reconnaissance planes to reconnoiter the nearby waters.

He was not carried away by the victory, and the vanishing Italian fleet hung over him like a shadow.

Before the French fleet could be completely defeated, he had to be wary of the Italian fleet, and although he was not afraid of his opponents, he had to know where they were.

The admiral's greatest concern was the way the Italian fleet would approach and counterattack - it would be quite troublesome if the opponent flanked the British fleet in the course of the engagement.

"Scout the fleet in all directions! If the Italian fleet is really coming at us, then they must be around here! For some reason, a bad premonition made Somerville a little nervous.

When Churchill gave him the battle order, the words still lingered in his ears: to prevent the French fleet from falling into the hands of the Germans by all necessary means!

"Keep shelling! Let the reconnaissance planes that have corrected their shooting confirm the results as soon as possible, hit the fire and attack the Brittany, and be sure to completely annihilate the French fleet! Again, he emphasized his command, apparently having lost his innate composure.

……

The British fleet managed to maintain a relatively smooth formation, and the French shelling allowed them to maneuver in a serpentine manner, but not very violently.

They were on the move, so the French counter-fire did not hit the moving British warships very well.

Therefore, these British battleships did not carry out too fierce serpentine maneuvers, but tried to give the guns on the battleship a stable chance to fire as much as possible.

Cruising on a British destroyer on the outskirts of the fleet, the lookout on the mast was looking with interest at the slender and rather beautiful battlecruiser Hood in the distance.

On this battleship, which represents the pride of the Royal Navy, eight heavy guns of 381 mm caliber are pouring ammunition on the French battleships in the harbor in a very regular rhythm.

"Boom!" The sound of the huge cannon fire was deafening, and one had to sigh at the grandeur of the war machine built by man.

"It's beautiful! When will I be able to serve on a battleship? The soldier raised his chin and said loudly to his companions.

"Wait! You have to be promoted to serve on the cruiser, and then you will see the opportunity, and it will be several years at the earliest before you have the opportunity to be transferred to the battleship......" said the soldier beside him with a disdainful expression on his face.

At this time, the sea was rubbing against the rolling waves of the tail of the Hood, and a faint white line caught the attention of the lookout sentinel.

He picked up the telescope hanging on his chest and looked closely at the very unnatural white line: "Hey, man, what's that?" ”

His companion standing beside him also picked up his binoculars and looked in the direction he was pointing with his fingers, and looked at them with a frown.

This glance made him break out in a cold sweat, the white line was more like the track of a torpedo - and it was a torpedo that almost hit the battlecruiser USS Hood!

"My God! It's a torpedo! Fast! Report to the Captain! There are enemy submarines! There are enemy submarines nearby! Damn it! He shouted loudly, turning back to grab the walkie-talkie connected to the bridge.

Ever since the battleship HMS Royal Oak was sunk by a German submarine in the harbor, the German Navy's submarine forces have been a nightmare for the British Royal Navy.

This ghostly force is elusive, and compared to the traditional fleet, the giant-like British Royal Navy has nowhere to go, and there is a resentment up and down.

It's a pity that this resentment has not yet reached the time of 43 years, and it is still a good day for German submarines, so the British lookout sentry saw the torpedo track, and was so frightened that even his face changed.

"Boom!" Just as he grabbed the walkie-talkie, the Resolve in the distance suddenly exploded violently, and in an instant, thick smoke rolled out.

"German submarines! Here German submarines are firing torpedoes! The destroyer lookout, who had grabbed the walkie-talkie, shouted loudly to the captain of his battleship.

His shouts frightened the captain, who had been distracted by the explosion of the battleship Resolve, before he realized how tricky things were.

"What?" The captain grabbed the phone and asked in disbelief.

Then the captain realized the crisis, and quickly turned back to his communications officer on the battleship and shouted, "Quick! Contact the flagship! Contact the flagship! ”

The flagship of the British was the battleship Warrior, and Somerville was watching the battleship Resolve burning and exploding in the distance, and smoke billowing up.

He had thought that his opponent had given up the victory, but in an instant, his fleet seemed to have suffered more serious losses than the French fleet.

"The French hit the Resolve?" This question was still in his mind, after all, a battleship suddenly exploded during the battle, and he could only temporarily speculate that the other party had hit his own battleship with a counterattack.

"Let all the battleships speed up and maneuver in a serpentine way in a wide area...... The fleet turned, and after 10 minutes continued to maintain the shelling of the harbor! Instinctively, he gave the order to evade and keep his fleet moving.

"Sir! Sir! News came from the destroyers on the periphery that they had seen the torpedo track! There are submarines of the Germans nearby! The communications officer shouted out the message he had just received, causing chaos on the bridge.

Somerville was even more shocked, and he quickly changed his battle order: "My God! Stop the fleet from turning, change to a serpentine maneuver, and guard the nearby seas! Dodge torpedo attacks! ”