In the afternoon, after learning that the third wave of air raids by the air forces stationed in Sardinia had been canceled due to the sudden heavy rain, Vice Admiral Bio Kelli, who had just led a battleship formation to the sea west of Sardinia, had no intention of taking a lunch break, and he summoned his staff officers and arranged for them to speculate and calculate the next line of movement of the enemy ships. It was clear that the untimely rain had done the adversary a great favor, and if the third wave had been carried out, the two enemy cruisers, which had been damaged to varying degrees, would have retreated, if not from heavy damage, and now they would not only have had a chance to breathe, but would have been able to continue their march towards Sardinia, shelling under the cover of rain and night, and then calmly withdrawing. Nowadays, although the Italian air force has a practical airborne radar, it is only enough for warning and detection, and it is not enough to guide fighters to carry out accurate attacks at night, and the coastal defense forts on the west coast of Sardinia are not like those high-value coastal defense fortresses on the east coast of the Apennine Peninsula, and they are still equipped with old-fashioned artillery made at the end of the last century or the beginning of this century, and their power, range and accuracy are not satisfactory, let alone deterring enemy cruisers, whether they can protect themselves is still very questionable, as for the Italian naval forces deployed in Sardinia, They had been beaten by the enemy only two days earlier, and even if the officers and men fought bravely with great courage, they could not withstand the new British Navy ships equipped with advanced gun-sighting radars......

Such a pessimistic conclusion made Lieutenant General Biangkelly restless. If the enemy cruiser formation succeeds in attacking Sardinia at night, although he does not have to bear direct responsibility, he will not be able to stay out of the matter, even if he is not held accountable during the war, people will study the history of the war after the war, and now on this nightmare night, the fleet of Biankeli with two Emanuele II-class battleships is actually off the coast of Sardinia, it has enough combat power and enough time to deal with it, but in the end it does nothing, how much damage will this cause to its own reputation?

It is true that the two Emanuele II-class battleships were products of the era of giant ships and cannons, and gradually relegated to a secondary role in the eyes of the world in the modern mode of warfare in which aircraft carriers and carrier-based aircraft dominated naval warfare, but they were not as good as they were, and they had an overwhelming advantage over the two cruisers of the new United Kingdom Navy in all aspects. Therefore, Bio Kelly and his staff officers set up a new battle plan, that is, to set up an ambush in the southwest sea of Sardinia with the "Emanuele II" and "Umberto I", and if the two enemy ships dared to come, they would be annihilated at any cost, and if the enemy ships did not arrive, then the "Aquila" could also come to rendezvous at dawn, and then take the next step according to the change of the situation of the battle.

Out of concern for the secrecy of the Italian Navy's radio communication system, Biankelli did not elaborate on his operational plan and reasons in his report to the Italian Navy Command, but only applied for permission for "vigilant patrols" and asked the command to remind the 6 Air Force units stationed in Sardinia on their behalf that the current unidentified targets should confirm the identity of friend or foe before making a move.

The total tonnage of the 12 ships under the command of Vice Admiral Billangelli accounted for one-fifth of the total tonnage of the Italian Navy, and the cost of construction and maintenance accounted for a quarter of that of the Italian Navy.

With the permission of the naval command, Bironkelly decided to give it a go, and he ordered his battle plan to be transmitted to the accompanying ships by light code, and strictly ordered all cruisers and destroyers to obey orders during combat operations, and not to make arbitrary claims, let alone retreat without authorization.

During their march to the predetermined ambush area southwest of Sardinia, Biankelli, in the name of the commander of the task force, sent a telegram to the naval combat command in Sardinia, requesting that they not radio the position of their fleet in order to avoid being intercepted by enemy interception. In Sardinia, some of the 6-base radar stations belonged to the command of the navy, and some belonged to the air force, and when the fleet of the Biankelli fleet passed through the waters south of Sardinia, the report of the naval radar station was transmitted to the operational command and did not continue to be transmitted, although the report of the air force radar station was delivered to the air force command, but it was put aside by the staff officers on duty, so the generals of the Italian general staff did not know that such an important fleet had "without authorization" left its original combat position and sailed to the operational sea full of unknown dangers......

As Vice Admiral Billankelly had predicted, the heavy cruisers "Farr" and "Melton" of the new United Kingdom Navy did not turn back halfway because of some damage. In the pouring rain, they lowered the course to a slight point so that the crew could carry out maintenance work. After more than three hours of hard work by the divers, the rupture of the wall of the "Farr" caused by the near misses of the bomb was repaired urgently, and the warship was thus restored to a relatively ideal navigation state. As night fell, the rain subsided slightly, and the two ships re-lifted and sailed all the way to Sardinia.

Sardinia is located next to the French island of Corsica and is the second largest island in the Western Mediterranean after Sicily. Despite its long history and unique history and culture, Sardinia has always been based on agriculture, animal husbandry and mining, and is a relatively economically backward region in Italy, with a sparse population, a less important strategic location than Sicily, and military facilities and military deployments that are much inferior to Sicily, but there are still two military ports, several dual-use ports, four 6-base radar stations, an air force aviation base, and two naval aviation bases, all of which are within reach of naval guns. And most of them can attack without going around to the east of Sardinia.

Shortly after nightfall, the Biankelli fleet was the first to arrive in the south-western waters of Sardinia, and the entire fleet was carefully concealed between the islands of San Peter and San Antioco in order to avoid enemy radar detection, and the ships maintained communication only by light codes. In Bionkelly's view, the net has been laid, and now it is only for the enemy to throw himself into the net. But this waited, and it was midnight, just as the officers were speculating that the two enemy cruisers had returned with wounds, the 6-base radar station in Cabo Cachia, in the north-west of Sardinia, suddenly reported the enemy's situation, saying that the traces of unidentified ships had been detected at a distance of about 6o kilometers 9 degrees south of Ca's Cacha.

Upon receiving the enemy's situation, the staff officers under the command of Billang Kelly calculated the possible attack and retreat routes of the enemy ships as quickly as possible. In terms of absolute sailing, although the enemy's two cruisers were faster than the battleships, cruisers and destroyers, they did not have a significant advantage, knowing that the Emanuele II-class battleships, which condensed the essence of the Italian shipbuilding industry, could maintain a voyage of 3o knots for a long time, and the light and heavy cruisers and various destroyers accompanying them were all masters of the race. As long as you deploy properly, you have a great chance to catch your opponent and beat them up!

After sitting for most of the night, finally waiting for the opponent, Vice Admiral Biankelly couldn't help but secretly get excited, and he ordered all ships to cancel their shifts, and all men were on standby to overhaul the engines and prepare for the next high assault. Thereafter, the Cape Cacha radar station reported the movements of the enemy ships every five minutes, and the two enemy ships appeared to have been targeting military targets in north-western Sardinia, near the French island of Corsica, and the two sides were not immune to the fact that the situation was clearly more favourable to the new British Navy, which had better fire control radar technology.

Cape Cacha radar station, Torres military port, Asinara Island radio observation station, Alientu barracks...... Biankelli repeatedly counted the military installations in northern Sardinia, but with the exception of the 6-base radar station at Cape Cacha, the rest were routine military deployments that were insignificant to the progress of the battle, and if the enemy cruisers' shelling targets tonight were only these facilities, then their current action was either to attack the morale of the Italian army, or to test the deployment of the Italian army on the western front.

Thinking of the second possibility, Lieutenant General Bironkelly couldn't help but hesitate. After the Battle of the Strait of Otranto, the two Emanuele II-class battleships and the heavy aircraft carrier Aquila became undoubtedly the last trump cards of the Italian Navy, and the top brass entrusted them to themselves in the hope of using their experience and wisdom to play their role. If we look at the overall situation, the enemy's two cruisers are just small fish and shrimp, and the big fish that can really change the tide of the battle are the enemy's aircraft carriers with advanced design and well-equipped, and even if they sink one, the result will be greater than sinking three or four cruisers. From this point of view, it seems that there is a need for timely adjustment of his plan......

The intricacies of the battle, the timing of victory or defeat, Biankelly had a lot of thoughts and a sharp increase in pressure, so he lit a cigarette and walked to the bridge porch to breathe. On the undulating sea, one after another Italian battleships are quietly waiting for the order to attack, especially these two Emanuele II-class battleships with excellent firepower, navigation and protection, they are destined to be born in a big scene In terms of tonnage and combat power, the Emanuele II-class battleships cannot compete with the German Tirpitz-class, German-class, Germania-class and Brandenburg-class, and compared with the remaining South Dakota class of the US Navy and the Kaga-class of the Japanese Navy, it is also a grade worse. However, in the case that the Germans had no intention of getting involved in the Mediterranean and the United States and Japan could not get close to the Mediterranean, they were sufficient to ensure Italy's naval supremacy in the Mediterranean region, so that the Italian Navy could devote its limited military expenses to the construction of large aircraft carriers and the development of various new equipment. Therefore, after the Emanuele-class battleships were completed and put into service, Italy's radar technology has made great progress in just a few years, dozens of 6-base radar stations have sprung up on various bases, headlands, and islands in Italy, shipborne radar and airborne radar have been put into practical use, and artillery sighting radar technology is also catching up with first-class powers. It has repeatedly defeated the arms companies of Germany and the New United Kingdom through price wars and other means, and has become a major arms supplier to Syria, Turkey, Brazil and other countries......

End of chapter