On the bridge of the British Mediterranean Fleet's aircraft carrier Radiance, General Cunningham looked at the sea in the distance, and pressed his hand on the chart table, because of the tension slightly harder. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

He could not be nervous, and now the Mediterranean Fleet is carrying out one of the most difficult tasks in history.

"The fleet is sailing at a speed of 15 knots, and no anomalies have been found on the sea!" An officer walked over and reported the latest news to Cunningham, who was nervously watching the battleship in the distance.

In order to conceal this combat mission, Cunningham's main forces left Port Said in batches, and they assembled on the nearby sea before starting this secret mission.

"There's Crete ahead...... The escort fighters of the Air Force are already in place. Seeing that the commander of his fleet did not speak, the British officer spoke again.

Several British fighter jets appeared in the sky, which gave a nervous Cunningham a lot of confidence.

Crete is still under the control of Greece and the British, which guarantees at least half the chance that the mission will succeed.

Once upon a time, the mighty Mediterranean Fleet of the British Navy had no rivals in its own territory, and the Italian Navy was still a weak, fundamentally incapable enemy.

And just a few months ago, the weak Italian fleet was being flanked by the mighty British fleet and facing pressure from the French navy, a British ally.

At that time, Gibraltar had the powerful Royal Navy H Fleet, which was covered by fleets on both flanks of the French mainland and in African ports.

The British Mediterranean Fleet stationed in Alexandria also had an overwhelming advantage over the Italian fleet at that time, and there was a Malta nail in the middle to protect the safety of the Mediterranean route!

As a result, after only three months, the French fleet was no longer an ally of the British fleet, and the strategic pattern of Gibraltar and Alexandria flanking Italy was about to cease to exist.

Everything began to change beyond recognition, and it was a shame that the mighty British maritime power had degenerated enough to sneak out to sea.

"Let the fleet keep course, speed up to 17 knots, we must rush to the designated sea area within the specified time, and the plan cannot allow the slightest confusion." Cunningham retracted his thoughts and gave his orders.

"Keep course! Speed up to 17 knots! The officer on the bridge repeated the order loudly with his hands behind his back.

"Sir, there's a convoy of convoys behind us...... Will the speed increase make it difficult for the transport ship that follows behind? The officer, who stood behind Cunningham, asked his concerns.

Cunningham shook his head and squeezed out a smile, not knowing whether he was comforting himself or his men.

"We were not given the task of escorting, they followed us, and we did not have the responsibility to escort. Ignore these transports, if they are willing to follow, they will. He shook his head and spoke.

Giving up their own merchant ships and transport ships that followed behind can be said to be a rather humiliating thing that the British Navy has done since it became famous.

Moreover, the Mediterranean Fleet did not face a strong enemy, and they were still sailing in a relatively safe sea area.

"Your Excellency, should we signal the transport fleet behind us to tell them that we are going to speed up?" The officer asked a little depressedly, looking at Cunningham with hope in his eyes.

Cunningham thought about it, but finally relented, nodded and agreed, "Okay, I agree to send the signal, but I must keep the radio silent, understand?" ”

"Yes, Your Excellency!" Hearing that his general finally agreed to send a signal to the convoy following behind, the officer's expression became much more relaxed.

"Light signal! The main force of the fleet is speeding up! Send the order to the cabin, immediately accelerate by 2 knots, and maintain the speed of 17 knots! On one of the destroyers on the periphery, the captain saw the light signal from the light cruiser in the distance, and commanded.

Soon, he saw another set of light signals, and asked him to use the light signals to relay the acceleration message to the transport fleet that followed.

"Let the transport fleet speed up as soon as possible? Isn't this a joke, so many transport ships can't reach the standard of a battleship fleet, right? Lowering the binoculars, the captain of the destroyer looked at the first mate beside him with a frown.

The first mate was also confused, but he still opened his mouth to persuade him: "There is no escort mission this time, so we really don't need to accommodate the speed of the transport fleet behind." ”

"Combat Mission...... Alas...... Send a message. The captain sighed, gave his order, and then stood there and closed his mouth.

He and the first mate around him knew that after such an acceleration order was passed on, many transport ships would be left behind, and he didn't know how many ships would be sunk here by Axis submarines cruising in the Mediterranean.

In the distance, in the convoy of transports following the Mediterranean Fleet, a large transport ship was sailing slowly laden with oil produced in Iraq.

On the bridge of this transport ship, the captain lowered the telescope in his hand with wide eyes, and only after a long time did he mutter: "What are you kidding, if you want to make my ship go to 17 knots, don't they have brains?" ”

The maximum speed of this transport ship loaded with oil is only 17 knots, but this is already the limit speed, and it is impossible to maintain it for a long time.

Unlike warships, transport ships often accommodate their own transportation capabilities, rather than one-sidedly pursuing speed.

Maybe when the formation is formed, the speed of 19 knots or even 20 knots can be driven out of the battleship fleet, but if you want the transport fleet to reach the speed of 20 knots, it is really difficult.

No matter how many times he scolded the fleet speeding up in front of him in his heart, this captain still did not have the ability to make the fleet commander in front change his mind. So all he can do is speed up, or keep the same speed and stop following.

In the end, the captain decided to try and follow up on the performance of his own ship, and if it didn't work, he would make a plan: "Quick! By transmitting the light signal to the ships behind, the ship accelerates to 17 knots, keeping the distance between the ship in front and the ship in front of it! ”

After all, above the sea, following behind a fleet, there is still a guarantee of safety. If you go alone, you can easily be attacked.

The fleet of merchant transport ships that followed behind scolded but was helpless after seeing the light signal.

Many ships cannot reach this standard because of the maximum speed, or the ships in formation cannot drive so fast at all, so they can only choose to fall behind.

After a few minutes, the level was opened, and some of the merchant ships were following behind the Mediterranean fleet, while the other part had been noticeably thrown some distance away.

"Sir! Message from the Air Force. "On the USS Tejlis, Cunningham didn't know how many times he had been scolded, and he seemed to have sneezed countless times along the way. As he sneezed, the liaison officer approached and reported the message.

"What's the content?" Cunningham was waiting for this message, so when he heard the call, he immediately asked.

"There is only one word in the message - Wednesday." The officer in charge of liaison gave an operation code that he didn't even know what it represented, because this time the operation was classified at a high level.

"I see." Cunningham knew that his air cover had left, and that the waters near him were now dangerous, for his fleet had moved away from Crete and into the range of the Italian and Maltese air forces.

"Order the planes on standby on deck to take off and scout the nearby seas! Radio silence continues, perimeter alert destroyers remain vigilant! Cunningham, who was once again nervous, kept giving orders to fight, and the time to test him was only now really beginning.

"Gentlemen! Now I'm announcing my battle plan for this time! "Cunningham, who has already come here, has only now really said the content of this battle to assemble and go to sea.

He looked at the officers beside him, and announced in a heavy voice with his hands behind his back: "I order, the "Smooth Road Plan" has officially begun, and the fleet has adjusted its course and reversed course!" ”

"Heading south...... Speed 19 knots! The sailors standing in front of the steering wheel repeated the command to turn loudly, and the Mediterranean Fleet, having abandoned the convoy of transports that followed, changed its intended course.

The transport fleet that followed the entire fleet finally gave up, as the transport fleet knew that the fleet was not here to escort them this time, and it was obvious that they had a more important mission.

So they have lost their cover, and now they have to rely on themselves, but they don't know that in fact, the Mediterranean Fleet chose to act with them to hide itself by borrowing a convoy.

And this arrangement did deceive an Italian submarine on the route, and after seeing the fleet, its first reaction was to report the location of this transport fleet, but it did not find the British aircraft carriers mixed in the fleet.

"Now, let's go to Libya and see what the Germans are up to!" Cunningham finally stated the target of this operation: "Before leaving the field, we must always leave some unforgettable memories for the enemy, so as to prove our existence!" ”

"The fleet to the south! Full rudder! With one order after another, the Mediterranean Fleet departed from its original course and, like a tiger descending from the mountains, rushed to Benghazi, directly south of their course.

It is Italy's second-largest port city in Libya and an important supply base for the construction of Libya's oil fields by an Axis power.