Late at night, in the senior officers' conference room of the Italian Navy's flagship Emanuele II, this cigar called Ramon Aaron is not the best of Havana cigars, but it is favored by cigar connoisseurs for its rich flavor and strong aroma.

A full, small-sized cigar was about half-smoked, and the captains of the four cruisers of the fleet, the "Manuel Filiberto, Duke of Aosta", the "Eugenio", the "Luigi di Savoy, Duke of Abruzzi", and the "Giuseppe Garibaldi", each arrived at the flagship in a transport boat.

When the four cruiser captains arrived, Biankelly snuffed out his cigar and announced the meeting in a slightly hoarse voice: "Gentlemen, it is a necessity to summon you here at this time. As we expected, the enemy has appeared, and their target tonight is the military installations in Sardinia, and I believe their plan is the same as usual, which is to carry out a long-range shelling outside the range of the shore artillery and withdraw at high speed. ”

Speaking of this, the Italian vice admiral with a solemn expression glanced at everyone. At this time, it was the early hours of the morning, and although the four captains were tired, their eyes were blazing, and they did not show any malaise or timidity.

"Ladies and gentlemen, our original plan was for the entire fleet to attack and annihilate the invading enemy, but the two enemy ships were very cunning, and they chose to approach Sardinia from the sea near Corsica, and if we continue to carry out the original plan, we will either sit back and watch the enemy ships slip away, or risk a diplomatic dispute between Italy and France. After thinking about it, I felt that I should adjust the battle plan in time, first with four cruisers, luring the enemy ships south during the battle, and then leading the rest of the ships with the "Emanuele II" and "Umberto I" to attack. In this way, victory is expected, and the biggest difficulty of this plan is ......"

Speaking of this, Biankelly paused and deliberately lowered his voice: "We need to use four light cruisers against one heavy cruiser and one light cruiser of the enemy, and compare the firepower of our 36 6-inch guns, the enemy's 9 8-inch guns and 9 6-inch guns. In addition, the enemy's radar technology has an advantage, and the training preparation is better than ours, so I am worried that you will ......."

The four Italian light patrol commanders looked at each other, and the youngest captain of the "Duke of Aosta", Colonel Calabsere, immediately stood up and said: "We are four against two, and we are defending our homeland and resisting aggression, and we will return victorious despite all kinds of difficulties!" ”

The other three nodded in agreement.

Biankelly raised his voice: "The enemy's fire control radar is excellent, but it is not invulnerable. In this night battle, we must find ways to make good use of searchlights and flares, give full play to the superiority of our main guns twice the number of the enemy, and fight flexibly and maneuverably. ”

"It's a very good law." Colonel Marcina, captain of the "Duke of Abruch", sat down and said: "However, there is one thing that we may need to pay special attention to and be vigilant about - the new United Kingdom Navy has listed guided rockets as standard equipment, not only the combat efficiency of anti-aircraft rockets is amazing, but also the rockets of the ship attack type are also very powerful, and we lack sufficient understanding of the performance of this type of weapon, if our radio jamming equipment does not play the expected role, will we become Austrian cavalry in the battle of Koenig Gretz?" ”

Although you were naval officers, you were well aware of the land battles that had shaped the German world decades earlier and had a great impact on Europe, when the Prussian army, which was not superior, won a decisive victory by defeating the arrogant Austrian cavalry with its firing pin rifles.

Colonel Macina said a word, and the audience fell silent.

After a moment's thought, Lieutenant General Biankelly said: "War is an adventure. If our Corso jammers don't work, and if the enemy's anti-ship rockets are as accurate as they are rumored, you will take the opportunity to retreat and lure the enemy ships in pursuit. ”

The four captains looked at each other and thought that this plan was feasible.

Seeing this, Bio Kelly was very satisfied, and he said: "If there is no objection, then I will ask Major Romano to explain the details of our new battle plan one by one." ”

Next, Biankelly's deputy, the Sicily-born staff officer, spent about ten minutes briefing the four captains on the newly developed battle plan, which focused on explaining the strategies for dealing with various situations. At the end of the day, Biankelly announced that Colonel Marcena would be the acting commander of the temporary battle formation, and stressed to the captains that the four cruisers in this operation must work closely together, that they must be in unison, and that they must not look ahead and fight on their own.

After the meeting, Biankelly personally sent the captains to the gangway, shook hands with them one by one, and then watched them leave in the transport boat. Then, before Biankelly could return to the bridge, the silent night sky in the north suddenly lit up with bursts of red light.

Moments later, Biankelli received reports of shelling of the Cape Cacha radar station in north-western Sardinia.

The Italian vice admiral, who felt the weight on his shoulders, took a deep breath: "Give the four cruisers a light signal: as soon as the captains return to their positions, strike immediately!" ”

After a few minutes, the four ships replied to the light signal, indicating that the captain was in position and ready to fight. The Emanuele II then sent them a light message of "Good luck with Plan B".

The four light cruisers then exited from their concealed positions, forming a column and speeding towards the reddening of the night. At this time, the light patrol formation of the Italian Navy and the light and heavy cruiser formation of the new United Kingdom were separated by dozens of nautical miles, and the shipborne radars of both sides could not detect the whereabouts of the other side, and the Italians thought that they could rely on the feedback of the land forces to guess the location of the enemy's ships and gain an advantage in controlling the movements of the enemy and us, but they did not know that the opponent's IA-40 carrier-based radar early warning aircraft was closely monitoring the waters west of Sardinia. As soon as the four light cruisers under the command of Vice Admiral Billang Kelly left the hidden waters between the islands of St. Peter and San Antioco, the pilots of the radar and early warning aircraft of the new United Kingdom Navy spotted them and reported the situation to the flagship "Fenian" as soon as possible, thus giving the "Farr" and "Melton" under the command of Colonel Molloy sufficient time to respond in advance......

At full speed, it would take the Italian light patrol formation two and a half hours to sail from the concealed departure position to the sea near the Cape Caccia radar station, and if the enemy ships remained motionless, then after two hours the two sides would be within combat range of each other, but the ships of the new United Kingdom Navy, which had always been tactically nimble, would not wait for two hours in the Italians' territory. As a result, Colonel Macina, the captain of the "Duke of Abruchi," who was ordered to command this light patrol formation, kept an eye on the news about the whereabouts of the enemy ships, and the expression on his face changed incomprehensibly with various information.

"Colonel, after receiving a secret telegram from Cagliari, the Cape Cacha radar station was almost destroyed in enemy shelling, and it is difficult for the radar facilities to be restored to service in a short time. Our night reconnaissance planes have been dispatched to reconnoitre, and the whereabouts of the enemy ships have not yet been discovered. ”

"Really?" Colonel Macina, who was over fifty years old, took the telegram from his adjutant and read it carefully, lest the young deputy miss some key words by mistake.

Seeing that the colonel did not say anything after reading the telegram, the adjutant said cautiously: "About two years ago, I had the honor to visit the Cape Cacha radar station, at that time the radar station was still under construction, I feel that its layout is very ingenious, and the defense is also very stable, it is said that the reinforced concrete wall in front of the main building is three meters thick, which can resist the bombardment of the battleship's main guns, but I didn't expect that the bombardment of the cruiser's guns could break it." ”

Colonel Macina snorted coldly: "Can you believe the words of the construction contractor?" ”

Adjutant Ying Cheng smiled: "Since the enemy ship has completed the task of destroying the Cape Kacha radar station, will it have withdrawn to the west at full speed?" In that case, we won't be able to catch up with them. ”

Colonel Macina snorted coldly again: "If you can't catch up, you have to chase it, otherwise what should I do?" In the night battle, although we will not take advantage of anything, we will not suffer a big loss. In daytime warfare, we have to deal with not only enemy warships, but also those high-precision carrier-based bombers, and the situation may be even worse! ”

Hearing this, the adjutant nodded understandingly.

Suddenly, Colonel Marcina muttered to himself, "May the Irish, with their confidence grow, turn around and fight us after discovering that we are following us." In that case, we can have a fair showdown with them. ”

The adjutant also said in a self-talking tone: "With 4 to 2, we won't be completely inferior, right?" ”

Colonel Macina furrowed his brow slightly, as if he had a longing for the prospect of a night battle. The four light cruisers that followed the two Emanuele II-class battleships to the waters of Sardinia are the newest and most armed of the Italian Navy's active light cruisers: "Duke Manuel Filiberto" and "Eugenio" are both of the Duke of Aosta-class, with a standard displacement of 8,500 tons, with four twin 53 times diameter 152 mm naval guns as the main armament, supplemented by triple 533 mm torpedo tubes, twin 47 times diameter 100 mm anti-aircraft guns, twin 37 mm machine guns, The twin 13.2 mm machine guns, using two geared steam turbines, the maximum power of the main engine is 110,000 horsepower, and the maximum speed in combat conditions can reach 36.5 knots; the "Duke of Abruci, Luigi di Savoy" and "Giuseppe Garibaldi" are classified as the Duke of Abruzzi, with a standard displacement of 9,600 tons, equipped with 10 53 x diameter 152 mm guns, and the same triple 533 mm torpedo tubes, twin 47 x diameter 100 mm anti-aircraft guns, and twin 37 mm machine guns, twin-mounted 13.2 mm machine guns as a supplement, and experimentally equipped with 127 mm anti-aircraft rockets, with the method of setting armor inside the hull to enhance vertical defense, its protection level is the best among the light cruisers built in Italy, the power configuration has been reduced, the maximum power of its main engine is 100,000 horsepower, and the maximum speed in combat state is 34 knots.

As far as the basic performance parameters are concerned, the four light cruisers of the Italian Navy are not significantly different from the third-generation standard light cruisers designed and built by the Irish, the Lista class, and the factors that have a greater impact on the combat effectiveness of a single ship are the two "soft facilities" of radar and guided weapons, but how much influence they have in actual combat, so far there are not too many examples for people to accurately measure.