As expected, the French fleet in the harbor was defeated due to its inability to move and the level of gunnery inferior to that of the British.

The British fleet returned with great success, but due to the sneak attack on the port of Liverpool, Sir Forbes had no choice but to return to the Portsmouth military port with the fleet.

Having just finished a victorious campaign, the British officers and men generally had a sense of pride, which made them somewhat slack.

"A battle has just ended, and we're not safe at all. Now we are like blind people, ignorant of the situation around us. Sensing a hint of danger, Sir Forbes' chief of staff ordered: "All ships are on guard against encountering French reinforcements." ”

Sir Forbes, however, was a little complacent and communicated with the chief of staff: "We are now less than 400 nautical miles from the Strait of Gibraltar, and we will soon be able to join the rest of Gibraltar's H Fleet. ”

Unfortunately, as soon as Forbes finished speaking, more than a dozen shells fell on the line of the British fleet, and one of the shells happened to explode in the bow of a cruiser, damaging a 40-mm rapid-fire naval gun, killing two Royal Navy soldiers on the spot......

In the distance, above the foredeck of the Count Garfort, on the unprotected bridge, the commander of the Italian fleet, Lefehr, looked at the British fleet with great interest with a telescope.

Although the more than ten cannons just now did not hit the captain's room or the like, it was not a loss, at least one shell did not hit the sea, which was a small advantage of the British.

You know, Leifell has always been skeptical about the shooting skills of the Italian naval soldiers, but at a distance of less than 20 kilometers, it is a bit too much to miss in the face of the British fleet, which has always maintained a directional movement.

After all, the distance of a typical naval battle is only 25 km, and if it can hit 5% in actual combat at this distance, it is already the best navy in the world.

Leffel of other countries does not know, but the British Royal Navy, which is the imaginary enemy of the navies of various countries, is almost this kind of elite navy with a 5% hit rate.

As for the German Navy, which was an ally of Italy, Leffel also knew a little. German battleships, at a distance of 23km, were supposed to have a hit rate of about 3%.

It has to be said that the strength of the British navy was still superior, although they responded to the battle in a hurry, Sir Forbes immediately ordered the ships to adjust their course to the right and left, lined up the whole fleet and rushed to the rear of the Italian army's ships to find the dead spots of its large-caliber naval guns.

Since the Italian navy launched a sneak attack from the rear, they had a certain first-mover advantage when aiming.

In addition, the Italian Navy dispatched a large number of ships this time, including the battleships Veneto and Litorio, the battleships Count Cavor and the battleships Giulio Caesar, 3 heavy cruisers of the "Zara" class, 4 light cruisers of the "Giusano" class, and 12 destroyers of various types, and the firepower data far exceeds the Forbes British fleet, which has just experienced a naval battle.

Forbes's British fleet, when the French fleet of Darlan fought, although the number of battleships was also 2 to 4, only half of the French giant warships supported. But this gap, after all, is still very bad and common in naval warfare, and it belongs to the scope of a war.

But now, Forbes' fleet, although defeating Darlan's fleet, has won a complete victory. But it was inevitable that there was a loss of 1 battleship, 2 destroyers, and there were also a lot of minor battle losses on each ship.

Lefeel's fleet was not only well-maintained and undamaged, but also had four times the number of battleships in the Forbes fleet.

Similarly, the Italian fleet had about twice as many cruisers and destroyers as the British fleet.

The Italian Navy, which will be said to have spent a lot of money, vowed to annihilate the fleet of the British Royal Navy that attacked Oran in one fell swoop.

So, the British fleet was clearly faced with a terrible situation.

Leffel's Italian fleet sailed from the east at a speed of no less than 30 knots, causing the British Royal Navy, which had been neglected to defend itself, to suffer a surprise attack. Although the British officers and men were somewhat moved by the low accuracy rate of the Italian navy, it was not a way to continue to be beaten like this.

Immediately, the British battleships, with their superb piloting, made a close vertical turn, reversed the position of their main guns, and aimed them at the location of the Italian fleet.

In order to seize the advantageous position, the warships of the British fleet almost used their maximum speed and power to make tactical movements, and the Grand Fleet also changed from a column to a horizontal formation.

In this way, they had a formation advantage over the Italian navy, which was very important for the British fleet, which had just experienced the Battle of Oran, and they now did not have an advantage in terms of weapons, personnel, and combat effectiveness, so it was particularly important to seize the advantage of the terrain.

The British Empire is worthy of being a colonial empire that made its fortune on the Navy, and its navy quickly raised the density of its artillery by a notch by relying on just one change of formation.

Compared with the menacing Italian fleet, the British fleet showed more of a kind of composure and accumulation.

It turned out that the Italian battle cruisers, although the quality was quite acceptable, could not occupy a theoretical advantage in front of the British fleet.

Although the Italian battleships had obvious deficiencies in endurance compared with the British and German battleships, they were all outstanding in the same period.

In addition, this battle was a surprise battle launched by the Italian Navy in advance, and the shortcomings of weak endurance will not be visible for a while.

If the Italian Navy is positioned as a Mediterranean navy, they are actually quite qualified.

After all, the Italian peninsula itself is equivalent to an unsinkable aircraft carrier and supply ship. With this giant aircraft carrier supply ship, there is no need for the Italian Navy to demand too high endurance.

On the contrary, the Italians, the caliber of the main guns of the battleship, looked very seriously!

In order to compete for hegemony in the Mediterranean, the Italian Navy equipped its battleships with 381 mm guns, which were not inferior to the British Navy in terms of firepower.

Unlike the Italian Army, their navy has the highest proportion of military spending and the most educated soldiers.

Compared with the army, the Italian navy is much higher in combat effectiveness.

This is the same reason that Germany will strengthen the combat capability of the army in the future and take the lead in popularizing education.

Militaries with a higher level of education generally perform higher. Of course, Li Yunlong's regiment, which used Italian artillery, had to be a different story.......

Faith bonuses aside, it is indeed easier for a highly educated army to control high-tech equipment and thus improve combat effectiveness.