Putting down his hands covering his ears, Captain Absolon, the bridge gun officer, looked at the two huge quadruple turrets in front of him with awe, the pride of the French Navy.

"Close-up, one-thousand-five, left-sided." The captain picked up the binoculars and stared at the black shadow of the ship on the sea in the distance, the other party had turned off all the deck lights, but the bright moonlight still exposed the obvious silhouette on the sea.

A series of huge columns of bright white water with an orange glow at the bottom rose into the air, followed by a faint thunderous roar.

"Full speed, fifteen degrees to the left side, order the destroyer detachment to move at full speed and take out the two British destroyers that stood in the way. The Marseillaise, the Glory, and the Moncalm hastened and inserted themselves into their right flank, the Algeria followed closely with the flagship, and we pushed them in the direction of the coast, and this despicable group of British robbers had to pay the price. "Fleet Commander Jean. Morality. Admiral Laporte stood on the bridge of the command of the Richelieu and roared angrily.

This noble old-fashioned French naval officer was an out-and-out anti-British from his youth, and he had always hated the British for decades of using various means to oppress and weaken the French navy. This time, he finally caught up, and for a while new and old hatreds gathered in his heart, and the old guy was determined to make a break with the British here.

The battleship Richelieu is the end of the history of the development of French battleships, and it is also the pinnacle of the development of French battleships, which integrates the technology of French decades of building large battleships, embodies the most cutting-edge technical essence and tactical concepts of the French Navy, and is undoubtedly listed as the most dangerous potential enemy by the British Navy as soon as it is launched.

The imaginary enemy designed by the French was the Italians, and in order to deal with the cutting-edge Litorio-class battleships of their unruly Italian neighbors, the French launched a new battleship program. The overall design continues the Strasbourg-class battle cruiser, with all the main gun turrets placed in the bow. This allowed to maintain the maximum density of firepower while reducing the length of the armor belt in key areas, which not only saved tonnage, but also reduced the cost, when France's national strength was already seriously depleted and could not afford more construction costs.

However, the Richelieu still lived up to the name of the most powerful battleship in France, and the name of the most famous cardinal in French history.

The eight MLE1935 380mm guns were of excellent performance, and the figures were only a fraction of that of the Italian naval guns of the same caliber, but far better than their German and British counterparts. And the Italian cannon was obtained by sacrificing the life of the barrel and increasing the amount of ammunition fired. It belongs to the unique seven-wound boxing method, which is stronger and which is weak, and can only be seen by the benevolent.

This behemoth with a full load and displacement of 48,000 tons has a sharp sword, a strong armor belt, a thickness of 330 mm of main armor, an 18 mm layer of lining armor and a 50 mm dome armor inside, and the protection is very strong. The vigorous power of 150,000 makes this 248-meter-long giant ship easily run to 30 knots, and the top speed can reach 32 knots, which is already the speed of an ordinary cruiser. The Richelieu was deservedly classified as a high-speed battleship, leaving far behind the pile of conventional battleships of 27/28 knots.

The only flaw in this ship is that it is too new, and as mentioned earlier, the salvo she has just fired at the British fleet. It was the first salvo of all the main guns after she was launched, and this battle was also her first battle.

The battleship Richelieu, whose home port was Saint-Nazaire, was home to France's most advanced naval base and shipyard. and the largest dry dock on the Atlantic coast, which can repair and build Titanic-class supertankers or huge battleships like the Richelieu.

When the second phase of the French campaign was launched, it was delayed by more than 20 days compared to history. The Richelieu has finally completed all the outfitting work, and has gathered enough fuel and ammunition for final commissioning and inspection.

The French Navy, like the Army, believed that there was a problem within the Germans, and that the situation of the war would change, at least to ensure that it was firmly anchored in the current stalemate, that there would be no further changes in the battle line, and that there might be a chance to regain lost ground. Therefore, the French Navy decided not to be in a hurry to evacuate the two battleships of Saint-Nazaire for the time being, and ordered the battleships to stop where they were and wait and see what happened.

Because the engineering of these two battleships has reached a critical stage, the Richelieu only needs to adjust the loading and fire control systems to be put into service immediately, while the other allows the . The construction and outfitting of the Barr is also 95% complete, and it is only necessary to install and debug the main engine and place the main gun turret before entering the finishing process. If you leave the home port, the other mooring ports will either lack the appropriate equipment or spare parts, and the spare parts, ordnance, ammunition and supplies of the two ships will be stored in warehouses in Saint-Nazaire and the surrounding area, and all this work will be brought to a standstill when leaving the home port.

In view of the French government's misjudgment, the French navy also blindly felt that the possibility of the occupation of Saint-Nazaire no longer existed, Dar Lang decided to keep these two ships in the home port, speed up the construction and commissioning as much as possible, and send a group of naval officers and sailors from various fleets to Saint-Nazaire to start training while commissioning, and strive to let these two powerful battleships join the naval sequence as soon as possible.

But just as the Richelieu had finished its final commissioning, something unexpected happened. The Germans suddenly launched a full-scale assault on the Weygand Line, and the French were again taken by surprise, and the front-line troops were almost crushed at the touch of a button.

Less than a day after the start of the war, thousands of disarmoured and embarrassed army troops poured into the city of Saint-Nazaire. The port area is full of soldiers wearing brown coats and carrying all kinds of burdens, with sad faces and empty hands.

The remnants of the army kicked and punched each other, jostling for a chance to board the transport ships that had evacuated the port. Even a small motorized transport boat was crowded with a platoon of soldiers. A fishing boat overloaded and sank directly on the side of the pier due to the overload, and the army soldiers who fell into the water were dragged to the bottom by their heavy military coats before they had time to struggle a few times in the water. There were dozens of bodies of poor people who had drowned before floating on the yellow-brown foaming water by the dock, but no one on the dock would glance at them, and everyone was using all means to escape.

Army soldiers quickly set their sights on the Richelieu, a massive warship that stood out from the berths of the Navy Pier. The army routs stormed the docks of the naval base, but were immediately stopped by the Marines guarding the warship, and the two sides were at first excitedly pushing each other. Then they began to use their fists to start a group fight, and the weak Marines were quickly defeated, and when the supporting Navy sailors arrived with weapons and led by naval officers, they directly shot and knocked over several vicious Army routs, and regained control of the situation.

Several army officers who had been watching from behind hurriedly crowded to the front at this time and started negotiations with the navy, and this group of army officers generally had a high rank, and there were even two generals among them.

After a barrage of orders, threats, inducements, and begs by the army officers, the order of the French naval command arrived.

Given that the Germans were already on the outskirts of Saint-Nazaire, the naval base could be occupied at any moment. The naval command ordered the battleship Richelieu to immediately evacuate the harbor and sail to Bordeaux with all the government personnel and their families of the city of Saint-Nazaire, the personnel of the naval base, as well as important documents and supplies from the shipyard and headquarters. In addition, a portion of Army officers in the port of Saint-Nazaire may be evacuated with soldiers, as appropriate.

As a result, the battleship Richelieu became a huge refugee ship, carrying the officers and men of the base headquarters, the logistics personnel, the engineers of the shipyard and their families, and the five thousand army officers and men and a bunch of Saint-Nazaire officials, policemen, and gentry, full of more than 8,000 people, even the main gun turrets were erected with bunks and tents, and the towering bridge was even slower to climb the soldiers. From afar, it looks like a monkey mountain in a zoo.

When the giant ship cautiously sailed into the only deep-water berth in the port of Bordeaux two days later, it was so desolate and embarrassed that it startled the jaws of the French admirals who had come to greet them, and what was drying their clothes on the barrels. Diapers have already been hung on this machine gun.

As for the Jean-Bal, it never reached the port of Bordeaux, and the battleship, including the commander of the naval base, only shook his head and said nothing. It is said that the battleship is almost complete, but the personnel on board have not been in place, and now only part of the students of the naval academy are training on it.

The rest of the battleship's systems have been largely installed. It's just that there was a serious problem with the main engine, so it was towed back to the dock, and the engineers of the shipyard have been working overtime to repair it, and the shipyard has prepared two tugboats before, and if it is really not enough to drag it out, if it is too late to retreat, the ship will be towed outside the port and scuttled.

It stands to reason that this battleship should have set off a long time ago, and if it hadn't appeared now, then it would have to think about the worst.

Eventually, the Germans published a report on the capture of Bordeaux, which did not mention the capture of the French battleships, and the French naval command felt some relief at the same time, and everyone secretly expressed their sincere respect and admiration for the brave engineers.

The Richelieu had been in Bordeaux for less than a week, and as the German front was advancing rapidly, Bordeaux was in some danger. Because the port of Bordeaux is deep inland, the draft is too shallow, there is only an eleven-meter-deep channel, which can barely meet the draft of the Richelieu, but this is not a military port after all, and it is difficult to replenish fuel and ammunition.

Originally, Darlan wanted to send the Richelieu to the Dakar base, which was the closest naval base to the west coast of France, but Dakar sent a report that German submarines were often seen outside the harbor, and asked the home fleet to send some anti-submarine ships, otherwise the two existing light cruisers would not dare to leave the port.

In view of this, Darlan felt that the battleship Richelieu should not go over to join in the fun, and the hot battleship that had just come out of the oven, and not let the German submarine hit the target, and the French Navy would really become a joke.

Dar Lang changed his doctrine and ordered the Richelieu to sail from Bordeaux directly to Gibraltar, sail into the Mediterranean, and sail directly to Toulon after filling up the port of Ceuta with fuel. The Richelieu was eventually officially commissioned in Toulon, joining the French High Seas Fleet sequence.

In the port of Toulon, the Richelieu completed the final part of the commissioning, and added the original missing anti-aircraft firepower, replaced the improvised 37mm single-barreled gun with a 40-mm double-barreled machine gun, and more experienced soldiers replaced the original reserve personnel. Morality. Admiral Lapolde personally sent his flag to the Richelieu.

By the beginning of August, the situation had taken a striking turn. A large number of spare parts and ordnance supplies urgently needed by the French Navy were sent to the port of Toulon, including shells for the Richelieu's much-needed main and secondary guns and a large amount of propellants.

What is even more surprising is that several large trailers actually dragged the barrels of two 380-mm guns. Looking at the numbers on these gun barrels, Captain Mazen of the Richelieu couldn't help but secretly gasp, this is obviously the barrel stored in the Naval Artillery Bureau in Gaffle City, which is prepared for the Richelieu-class No. 3 ship Clemenceau, Gavle has been occupied by the Germans, how did you get these gun barrels on it, is it possible......

Mazen didn't think any further, only knowing that his battleship had a spare barrel. That's enough. With spare parts and ammunition, then you can carry out the main gun shooting training, before worrying about both ammunition supply and barrel loss, the result is not a single live firing, just training simulated firing, although the results are very good, but it is really hard to say whether it will work on the battlefield, after all, the shooting technology still depends on the real ammunition fed.

As recently as August 15, Darlang sent an order. Since the situation had been stabilized and the government was in dire need of funds, the High Seas Fleet was ordered to immediately send a powerful detachment to the port of Morskebiel. Escort two Brittany-class battleships and the Ebertin back to Toulon with five thousand chests of gold withdrawn from the mainland.

Let. Morality. Admiral Laporte immediately gave the order to dispatch with gusto, this time aboard his new flagship, the Richelieu, and lead the new heavy cruiser Algeria and three light cruisers and four Jaguar-class destroyers. By the way, a naval formation combat exercise will be conducted, and after arriving at the port of Mirskbil, it will conduct live-fire training at sea along the battle line with two Brittany-class ships. For the Richelieu, this will be her first live-fire training.

After the fleet was rereplenished, on the afternoon of August 16, it formed a column and sailed out of the port of Toulon, and then while doing formation training, it quickly advanced towards the other side of Africa. After 28 hours of continuous sailing, the fleet approached the Bay of Mirskbiel.

With the goal in sight, the French naval officers and men, tired but still in high spirits, were talking about how to enjoy the exotic scenery when they arrived at Port Oran. Because there are many new recruits in the fleet, who have never left mainland France before, everyone is looking forward to the destination of this trip.

It was at this moment that Richelieu's telegraph room received an alarming message.

"The port of Mirskbiel alerted the fleet to a surprise attack by the British Navy, and the British used torpedo planes to launch air strikes on the battleships in the harbor, and the warning specifically noted that the enemy was using British Swordfish torpedo planes, and there should be a British aircraft carrier formation nearby."

The British Navy often sent Swordfish torpedo planes over the heads of the French fleet, which every French sailor knew and recognized when it turned to dust.

When the commander of the French Navy's High Seas Fleet received the report, he was immediately furious and threw away the coffee cup in his hand. The whole fleet immediately increased its combat speed and accelerated towards Mirskbir.

Since it was getting late, and the enemy was attacking with aircraft, the British aircraft carriers could fly at any position, so Admiral Lapard did not expect to be able to find the British fleet at all, he only wanted to get to Mirskbiel as soon as possible and check the damage, which was five thousand boxes of gold, and two valuable battleships.

Just when Laporte was standing in the bridge and secretly depressed, the destroyer in front suddenly sent a message that a fleet was found moving in the sea ahead, and the other party had turned on its navigation lights, and there should be three or four ships, judging from the course and position, it might be the British fleet that attacked Mirskbiel.

Labold's eyes suddenly froze, and he immediately ordered the whole fleet to line up in an assault formation, turn off all navigation lights, and move at full speed in the direction of the suspicious fleet.

Then the scene above happened, the hapless British H Fleet ran headlong into the murderous French detachment, and the battleship and aircraft carrier close battle broke out in the Mediterranean Sea under the cover of night. (To be continued, please search, the novel is better and updated faster!)