"Sir, reports of damage to the ships have come up, specifically: 'Eugenio', 14 killed and 39 wounded, damage to the radio communication system and fire control and command system, damage to the rangefinders of the A and B main turrets, damage to 3 searchlights and 1 anti-aircraft machine gun; Duke of Abruch, 25 killed and 41 wounded, C main turret rangefinder damaged, 2 searchlights, 1 anti-aircraft machine gun and 1 anti-aircraft gun; 'Giuseppe Garibaldi', 9 killed, 23 wounded, communication systems and fire control systems damaged, main rangefinder damaged,"

Listening to the adjutant's debriefing, Colonel Macina fell into a long silence. After the air raid by enemy aircraft, none of the four Italian light cruisers were left behind, and none of them were worried about sinking, but the enemy's unprecedented "soft kill" move made him feel the slightest bit of happiness. Coupled with the casualties previously counted by the "Duke of Aosta", the casualties of the four-ship formation have exceeded 200, while the total number of the entire battle formation is only 2,755, and the casualty rate is close to 7.5 percent, and the casualties are concentrated in the command, communication, fire control, and air defense systems.

What's even worse is that this is just a small attack by the enemy's naval aviation, and if there are two or three more waves of air raids of the same scale and form, and then carrier-based bombers are sacrificed, it is difficult to say whether these four Italian light cruisers can escape the fate of being sunk!

After thinking for a long time, Colonel Macina instructed his adjutant: "Send a telegram to the flagship and report to General Biangkelly that we have been subjected to a fierce air attack by enemy fighters, and that all ships have been damaged. Whether to advance or retreat, please decide. ”

After handing over the draft telegram to the communications officer for handover, the adjutant turned back to Colonel Marsina and said in a worried and hurried manner: "Sir, if Admiral Billcelli is indecisive, shall we continue to pursue the enemy ships like this?" ”

Colonel Macina smiled bitterly: "What else should I do? ”

The adjutant lowered his voice and said, "If the 'Duke of Aosta' has a sudden mechanical failure, the other three ships should stay here in order to provide a countermeasure......

Colonel Macina had not thought of this kind of trick with multiple birds in one fell swoop, but it was not convenient to say it to his subordinates because of his face. When the adjutant proposed, he muttered: "If it is known to outsiders, we may lose our reputation and ruin our future." ”

The adjutant understood what Colonel Marcina was saying, and he whispered, "I will do it myself, and I will never let the third person know." ”

Colonel Macina did not say a word as a sign of acquiescence.

About 10 minutes after the adjutant left, the "Duke of Aosta" suddenly slowed down, and the engine room immediately reported that the No. 1 engine had a mechanical failure, the cause of the failure was unknown, and the engineer was investigating. Naturally, Colonel Macina ordered the other three ships to signal that their ships were stalling, and that they should slow down and take cover in the nearby waters.

Receiving the flag command from the command ship, the "Eugenio", "Duke of Abruzzi", and "Giuseppe Garibaldi" replied one after another to express their obedience. In the next half hour or so, the "Duke of Aosta" slowly moved westward in less than 10 knots, and the remaining three Italian light cruisers circled around the temporary command ship again and again, until the second wave of new British Navy carrier-based aircraft appeared in sight - because the enemy planes were approaching at ultra-low altitudes, the Italian ships' air detection radars, even if they were still operating normally, did not detect the incoming enemy planes in advance and issued warnings, causing the Italian crews to panic, and the four light cruisers could not form a formation, so they had to fight separately.

This time, the new United Kingdom Navy dispatched 24 carrier-based aircraft in one go, and the first 12 to arrive on the battlefield were all IR-44Ts, each carrying eight 127 mm diameter air-to-air rockets equipped with fragmentation high-explosive warheads under their wings. The pilots, apparently aware of the absence of enemy fighters in the combat area, continued to skim the sea until they were three or four kilometers away from the Italian light cruisers before dropping rockets in a hurry, and the barrage of explosions soon enveloped the Italian battleships with a rather modern silhouette. When the air-to-air rockets launched by their own fighters exerted a special suppression effect on the enemy, 12 IK-43Ts also broke into the battlefield with the exquisite skill of ultra-low-altitude flight, and these carrier-based bombers, which appeared to be "pot-bellied" because of the belly magazine, began to climb upwards about 15 kilometers from the Italian battleship, and then dropped Angel-III guided anti-ship bombs at a distance of about 6-8 kilometers from the target.

Compared with the air-to-air rockets dropped by carrier-based fighters, these mature anti-ship bombs are no longer a "scratch in the boot" for Italian light cruisers, each of them has a considerable power to severely damage large ships, and if the explosion is properly placed, it is entirely possible to produce a "one-shot" effect.

In terms of the day-to-day training of naval officers and men, Italy was not as rigorous as Germany and the new United Kingdom, but at least it was able to meet the basic needs of modern warfare. As soon as the enemy carrier-based bombers appeared in sight, the watchmen on the Italian warships sounded the highest level of alarm, and the anti-aircraft gunners who were still in operation quickly turned their guns to these deadly threats, and projected the few remaining radio proximity fuse munitions, forming a network of extremely tight fire interception in the low-altitude area, and the technicians of the radio department immediately activated the radio signal detection-tracking-jamming system to interfere with the normal operation of the enemy's radio-guided weapons by blocking the radio band. This technical means has a good effect on the first generation of wireless guided weapons, but the opponent has always been one step ahead of the Italians in the development of the field of guided weapons: Angel-III uses radio frequency hopping technology, once the communication between the control end and the receiving end is interrupted, it will automatically jump to another frequency, and so on. In addition, because of the integration of rocket power technology, the operation mode of the Angel-III guided anti-ship bomb is much more advanced than that of the previous generation of the Angel-II series, even if it is launched at medium and low altitudes, its effective combat radius can still reach about 10 kilometers, and the terminal radar self-guidance and radio proximity fuse technology also maximize their attack efficiency under the existing technical conditions.

Of the 12 Angel-III anti-ship bombs, except for three that failed to reach their targets due to technical malfunction or interference from Italian artillery, the remaining nine were all flying towards their respective targets. Seeing these black deaths roaring towards them, the Italians suddenly felt bad. Those who were agile and quick to react immediately ran desperately to the other side of the battleship, while those whose minds were not bright enough, or who were too bold, either stayed where they were or ran into the cabin in a panic......

Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!

The thunderous explosions rang out one after another, and the dazzling flames flashed again and again, and the four Italian light cruisers were soon enveloped in thick clouds of explosion smoke. They seem to have become boats in stormy seas, and the hand of fate determines whether they continue to float or capsize here, and no amount of efforts will be in vain; They seem to have become fawns in the hunting grounds, and the hunter's performance determines whether they continue to survive or die here, and no amount of struggle will help.

It felt like centuries had passed, and Colonel Macina had finally climbed from the hellish bridge command room to the bridge porch. Breathing in the fresh air of the sea breeze, my mind that was almost in a state of chaos gradually cleared up. Reaching out and wiping his forehead, sure enough, it was full of blood. Faced with severe pain from various parts of his body, he struggled to stand up against the railing. As far as the eye could see, the Duke of Aosta had become a warship that seemed strange to him, with no superstructure on the starboard side intact, the deck was full of holes, countless corpses and dying survivors were scattered from the gun emplacements, and thick black smoke was pouring from below deck......

"Paul! Dario! Rammy! Colonel Macina shouted the names of the Shooting Commander, the Navigation Officer, and the Damage Control Commander, all of whom were on duty outside the combat bridge and could have survived the catastrophic blow just now.

But no one answered, and no one answered.

Driven by the power system, the light cruiser was still staggering. Colonel Macina stood against the railing, gasping for air. His reason had long reminded him that it was very dangerous to rashly pursue the enemy ships, and it was the orders of the upper peak and the greed that blinded him, making him feel that this battle formation was worthy of a strong enemy, and as a result, he was whipped beyond recognition by a few enemy planes without even seeing the face of the enemy warship.

Judging from the current situation, he is ironclad to bear the blame for this painful defeat......

Suddenly aware that the communications officer had come to him hand and foot, Colonel Macina recovered from a deep sense of remorse and remorse, but when he saw that the communications officer was talking with his mouth open and closed, but he could not hear anything, he suddenly realized that there was something wrong with his hearing. He shook his head and pointed to his ear to indicate that he couldn't hear. The communications officer hurriedly dug into his pocket, and then pulled out a piece of the telegraph newspaper that had been automatically printed by the telegraph receiver.

Colonel Macina looked at it, and the contents of the telegram almost made him faint. Lieutenant General Biao Kelly actually ordered him to postpone his westward movement and try to delay it for a few more hours, so that as long as the enemy's carrier-based aircraft continued to attack, his own air force could track out and launch air strikes against the enemy aircraft carriers, thus winning a "decisive victory."

At this moment, Colonel Macina's thinking was unusually clear, he pulled his throat and spoke to the communications officer, asking him to send a telegram to the flagship, informing him that this battle formation had been violently attacked by enemy air forces, and that it was now almost annihilated, and that the enemy's anti-ship weapons were far more powerful and efficient than they had expected before the battle. Finally, he asked the communications officer to send a communication signal to the other three light cruisers, and the battle formation could be disbanded, and the ships would quickly withdraw from the battle and return to their own ports as soon as possible.