After daybreak, the new United Kingdom Navy's task force combat fleet, sailing in the waters south of Sardinia, dispatched two waves of carrier-based aircraft to launch two rounds of heavy air strikes on Sardinia, which is located at the southwestern tip of Italy and has a relatively limited military deployment. Under the overall command of the flagship "Fenia" and the on-site dispatch of the airborne early warning aircraft, the carrier-based aircraft group sprayed with the clover logo still maintained a high efficiency, but unlike the completely one-sided battle situation the previous day, they lost a total of 9 fighters and 7 bombers in these two waves of bombing, and only lost 26 fighters in five sorties the day before, successively attacking the Italian fleet and the Maltese garrison. The main reason for this is that the Italian Air Force deployed five squadrons of fighters to Sardinia overnight to enrich the air combat strength here, and the Italian pilots were brave and swore to defend the honor of the Italian Air Force with a rock-solid will.

A strong will can indeed increase combat effectiveness, but it is not enough to change the laws of things themselves. In shooting down the 16 new United Kingdom Navy carrier-based aircraft, the Italian army in Sardinia also lost nearly 100 combat aircraft – including a large number of those that were destroyed on the ground before they could take off. If we look only at the ratio of battle losses in air battles, the naval aviation of the new United Kingdom still has a significant technical and tactical advantage, but the situation seems to be more favorable to the Italians because the Italians fighting at home are able to mobilize the forces of the whole country to quickly reinforce them, and the supply lines of the new United Kingdom to the task force are more than 1,000 kilometers away.

After the opening two axes, the new United Kingdom Navy Task Force Combat Fleet switched from offensive to defensive, and at the same time adjusted its tempo, and all of them sailed quickly to the Spanish coast. At this time, the General Staff of the Italian Army, which had heard that Spain was about to enter the war, hastily issued a pursuit order to the air force units stationed in Sardinia and Sicily, asking them to attack the new British naval fleet with all their might. Because once Spain enters the war, these elite ships will be provided with supply depots and forward bases in the ports on the east coast of Spain, and then operate freely in the western Mediterranean, truly strategically echoing the Austro-Hungarian navy, and Italy will be in a terrible situation.

At about 10 o'clock in the morning, the first wave of Italian fighters to launch an air attack on the new United Kingdom Navy's task force combat fleet since the outbreak of war appeared on the radar screen of the "Fenian" radar room, and the entire fleet sounded the air defense alarm early. In response to this expected situation, Task Force Commander Admiral Gavin Bunier and his staff team remained unhurried. Without waiting for the Italian aircraft group to approach, six elite carrier-based fighter squadrons were ready to go, and nearly 100 IR-44Ts lined up in the air in a shield-shaped array, and launched the wirelessly guided air-to-air rockets one by one, and the Italian air formation was completely broken up without much effort. In less than 10 minutes, the pilots of the navy of the new United Kingdom had achieved the impressive record of shooting down 37 enemy planes and damaging 19 enemy planes, so that nearly half of the pilots of the Italian army who participated in the war were either killed or wounded!

Under the courage of these six carrier-based fighter squadrons, the first wave of Italian air attack aircraft failed to launch a decent attack on the new British fleet in front of them, and the **.79, nicknamed "Sparrowhawk", almost hit the ground, and it simply became a record of enemy pilots, and in the end there were only a few aircraft nicknamed "Kingfishers" The Z.1007 medium bombers broke into the enemy fleet under the desperate cover of fighters, and two of them threw aerial torpedoes at the enemy aircraft carriers from three or four kilometers away, but none of them hit, and the other two tried to get close to the enemy ships to perform a killing move, but were blown down by ship-to-air rockets fired by the enemy ships halfway.

The outstanding performance of his carrier-based fighters allowed Bonier, who was in charge of the "Fenian", to command his fleet leisurely and continue to maintain a neat sailing formation. The Italian bombers that were able to cross the interception line basically approached the fleet in a straggler, and without good tactical coordination, they could not pose an effective threat to the elite fleet that was blocking the tight line. You must know that wirelessly guided ship-to-air rockets and 127-mm twin-mounted guns can prop up a powerful anti-aircraft umbrella over the fleet, and machine guns of various calibers build a solid close shield for the ship.

After the first wave of air raids was thwarted, the Italian military top brass not only did not reflect on the disparity between the two sides, but forced its navy, air and air forces to launch an attack on the new United Kingdom naval fleet at any cost. A little more than an hour later, the Italian Navy and Air Force dispatched all the combat planes that could take off from Sardinia and Sicily, including 93 fighters and 86 bombers, and swooped down on the new British naval fleet, which had already sailed to the southwest of Sardinia!

The incoming Italian fleet was black, and this sight really made the officers and men of the new United Kingdom Navy sweat. In the sky above the fleet, carrier-based fighters quickly assembled in formation, and then stepped forward to meet them without showing weakness; In the fleet, the sailors quickly made all kinds of combat preparations in accordance with the procedures of the usual drills, and the ship-to-air rockets and light and heavy antiaircraft guns were put into a state of readiness one after another.

Not long after, the fighters of both sides rushed into the opponent's array, and a big melee began with the sound of gongs at medium and high altitudes. This time, the number of incoming Italian fighters was really large enough, and the flagship staff officers of the new British Navy fleet and the pilots of the early warning planes in the air tried their best to dispatch them, but it was inevitable that there would be fish that slipped through the net.

As the Italian bombers approached, the "Fenian" sent a firing signal to the accompanying ships, and the ships immediately launched a wave of powerful ship-to-air rockets to intercept them, and only one of the six Italian bombers that first entered the fleet's air defense circle was spared, and the rest were shot down by the rockets. However, thanks to the superiority in numbers and pre-designed tactics, the Italian bomber group was no longer as confused as it had been on previous occasions, and soon several Sparrowhawks and Kingfishers, loaded with 18-inch aerial torpedoes, rushed towards the large new United Kingdom Navy aircraft carrier, while the remaining bombers were looking for an opportunity to attack under the cover of their companions.

In the gap between the loading of rockets in the air, the medium and long-range anti-aircraft guns of each ship opened fire one after another, and the three aircraft carriers lined up in a column opened full air defense fire. Bursts of black smoke drifted away from the side of the battleship with the wind, and after a while, the sea was filled with gray-white smoke, and the line of sight almost returned to the level when the sky first dawned, but this did not affect the intensity of the battle in the slightest.

In the dense rain of bullets, two more Italian "Sparrowhawks" crashed into the sea. This sleek three-engine bomber, with its cabin and wing pylons, could carry a total of 1,250 kg of bombs or torpedoes, and with its power, it would not be difficult to sink a large aircraft carrier like the "Fenian".

In the blink of an eye, sure enough, two "Sparrowhawks" attacked the port side of the "Fenian" at an altitude close to the sea, and they dropped torpedoes about two thousand meters away from the new aircraft carrier of the New United Kingdom. Immediately afterwards, three BA.100 twin-engine bombers also dropped a series of aerial bombs in the form of dive bombing at small angles, and the new British fleet, which had not been invaded before, had to face an unprecedented grim situation.

"Left full rudder!"

In the command room of the "Fenian", the captain of the ship, Colonel Flynn, stared closely at the sea on the port side with a pair of blue eyes. Despite the presence of a higher-ranking commander, it was his duty to command the ship to evade torpedo attacks.

In theory, the Fenia's solid waterline mine-resistant armor and bulkhead design were sufficient to withstand ordinary torpedo attacks, but no commander would let his ship be bombed unless there was no way to avoid it—just to show off the strength of his ship's defenses or for other purposes.

The torpedoes dropped by the twin-engine torpedo planes were speeding over the sea less than a kilometer, but fortunately, the unusually large "Fenian" did not react as sluggishly as a giant whale, and it turned again and again, cutting through the dark green sea with its sharp bow......

After throwing a torpedo, The four BA.100s climbed quickly with their bows, but the 2,000-yard throw distance was not commensurate with their maneuverability, the two Piaggio engines were already running at full capacity, but the slightly clumsy fuselage was still slowly climbing and deflecting to one side, and in the bombardier's position in the bow, the young crew members were staring at the gray-white new British warship below the side, its bow was pointing in a very different direction than before, and the torpedoes dragging the white waves were still speeding away in the direction they were originally aimed at, and whether the two could intersect was not something that could be seen at a glance, but not all of these Italian pilots had the opportunity to see the answer with their own eyes.

The flagship of the new United Kingdom's fleet was turning at full speed, but the staggering number of anti-aircraft guns on it did not sit idle, and after the first few seconds of readjustment, the powerful and extremely fast 127 mm twin guns and the 40 millimeter quadruple guns with considerable accuracy against medium and short-range targets opened fire, only a few loud bangs were heard, and two more Italian bombers turned into blinding fireballs in the flames......

As time passed, the new United Kingdom fighter group gradually gained the upper hand in the fierce fighting at medium and high altitudes, and more and more IR-44Ts swooped down after shooting down or getting rid of Italian fighters, ravaging the Italian bombers with weak counterattack capabilities, and the MC.205 and G.55 in charge of escorting the aircraft were exhausted and unable to save their own bombers. Under the double blow of sea and air, the **.79, Z.1007 and BA.100 were constantly shot down - this high-speed bomber, which entered service for several years, was originally pinned on by the Italian Air Force, but World War II has proved to the world that the fate of a medium bomber lacking self-defense ability will become very tragic when facing enemy fighters alone.

Under the interference and interception of the new United Kingdom fighter planes, the tactical attack that the Italian bomber group had managed to organize with great difficulty eventually evolved into a single group or even a single operation, in which the bombers that tried to approach the new United Kingdom fleet could only be driven away or shot down by the enemy's unified and accurate anti-aircraft fire, and the situation of air combat also changed rapidly when the barrel of every anti-aircraft gun in the new United Kingdom fleet that could fire at the air was hot. Seeing that the situation was not good, some Italian bomber pilots who had not yet found an opportunity to drop bombs hurriedly threw off their loads and turned around and flew back.