There was not a glimmer of natural light on the pre-dawn sea, as if the whole world was in darkness with no fingers to reach. As a result, the seven ships of the New United Kingdom Navy's Mediterranean Task Force Combat Fleet remained in a neat and tight array: three aircraft carriers were in the central column of the fleet, one light cruiser and two destroyers were in the left and right columns, one heavy cruiser and two submarine hunters were in the arrow-shaped advance guard, and the shield-shaped rear guard was composed of two destroyers and two submarine hunters, and one destroyer was maneuvering alone.

"All...... Level alert! Target...... 5 degrees east of due north, 5 meters away! P-Shell Reload...... Continuous Shooting Preparation ......"

This powerful, slightly fast-spoken voice came from the Irish captain of the new United Kingdom Navy destroyer Athlone, Major Simon Tweg. This gentleman is a "giant man" with a height of nearly two meters, and his neat military uniform looks particularly imposing on him, with broad shoulders and strong arms to give him a sense of solidity and reliability, and at the same time make anyone who intends to be an enemy deeply fearful, and his dark green eyes are as rare as gems.

Receiving a battle order from the bridge, the crews on duty in the main turrets and ammunition depots immediately went into action. A shell equipped with a proximity fuse was transported to the waiting position by a bomb lifter, and the main turrets carrying 27-mm naval guns were turned to the northeast under the drive of electric motors, and the muzzles of black holes pointed at the sky majestically......

The destroyers that will be integrated into the new United Kingdom Navy's Mediterranean Task Force Combat Fleet have two classes, namely the Wind class and the Red Dragon class. The former is an old ship designed in the early 3s and experienced the baptism of World War II, and its cost-effectiveness and balance have been highly recognized by the navies of various countries. In the past decade or so, a total of 68 wind-class destroyers have been built, including those built in foreign shipyards in the form of technical licensing, and all but a few have been sunk or scrapped due to wars or accidents, and the rest are in service; The latter is a new ship designed and finalized in the early 4s, regarded as an epoch-making work, and the use of a large number of electronic and mechanized equipment makes the cost of this class of destroyers high, but practice has shown that the multi-functional and multi-purpose design makes it sufficient to meet the needs of various combat modes under modern conditions, so it has high military value.

After the Red Dragon class 6 continued to enter service, 2 of the 26 Wind class destroyers of the new United Kingdom Navy were transferred to mothball, and the 4 ships that continued to serve have successively undergone technical modifications, including the replacement of the original 5 times diameter 27 mm Krupp guns with 6 times diameter 27 mm domestic guns with longer range and higher accuracy, the replacement of improved models of semi-automatic loading systems, and the installation of gun sighting radars and mechanical ballistic calculators of the same model as the Red Dragon class destroyers. Replace the old anti-aircraft and anti-submarine armaments with quadruple-mounted anti-aircraft rocket catapults and quadruple rocket-mounted depth charge launchers. These technically modified Wind-class destroyers have improved their overall combat performance by at least 5 compared to the original model, earning them the unofficial designation Tempest.

The "Athlone" is one of the old and strong "storms".

"The target is about to enter the close cordon!" Osien's in place! The 'Galway' is in place! The ship is in place! ”

In the battle bridge of the "Athlone", the staff officer relayed the report from the radar room to Major Twegg, who stood proudly in front of the porthole. Without hesitation, the naval officer with the body of a giant ordered: "Turn two compass points to the left with a full rudder!" ”

The first mate immediately responded: "Left full rudder, turn to two compass points!" ”

A moment later, a report came from the bridge lookout: "The flagship authorizes the 'Orcyon' to command the right flank close defense!" ”

Major Twig didn't say anything, but turned his gaze from starboard to starboard. In the impenetrable darkness of the naked eye, the Fiona-class light cruiser "Orcyan" and the Red Dragon-class destroyer "Galway" maintained a fixed course and course, and together with the "Athlone" they formed a moving shield, blocking the path of the Italian torpedo boat group to attack its own aircraft carrier formation, and although the Italian torpedo boat group was still 10,000 meters away, the "Fenian," which was equipped with high-frequency radar, had firmly placed under its control the movement of the enemy and us within a radius of several tens of kilometers. Under the precise dispatch of this flagship, the column on the right flank of the guardian fleet took the initiative to move the defensive line north, and the close defense position on the right side of the aircraft carrier was temporarily taken care of by the destroyers who carried out the maneuver and the submarine hunters transferred from the rearguard force......

The enemy is getting closer and closer, and as soon as the battle is touched, the atmosphere in the bridge of the "Athlone" suddenly becomes tense, and the staff officer constantly reports on the combat readiness: "The Osien is coming to signal the light code, and the ships are shooting at each other...... Artillery Sight Radar Positioning...... Shooting Zhu Yuan is determined...... The main guns have been adjusted......"

At the same time, at the various main gun positions on the ship, the gunners were ready for battle. The night obscured the enemy's figures, and the waves hid the enemy's noise, so they could not see anything unusual with their naked eyes and hear anything unusual with their ears, but they did not have to be nervous about it. On the radar screen of the battleship, the group of Italian torpedo boats galloping towards them could not be hidden, and their tactical strategy was also intuitively reflected: these torpedo boats were roughly divided into two teams, the four largest ones were in front of the right, apparently tasked with the task of feints to lure the enemy, and the larger ones were in the rear of the left, and if nothing else, the main attack would be carried out by them.

Under the command of the flagship "Fenia", the ships began to carry out blocking jamming on the radio frequencies commonly used by the Italian army, and at the same time paid close attention to the radio waves that appeared nearby, so that those Italian torpedo boats temporarily lost their radio contact ability and minimized their operational coordination. When the enemy's torpedo boat group crossed the preset kilometer, that is, the meter close defense cordon, the three triple 27-mm naval guns of the "Osien" roared through the sea and air without hesitation!

At the moment when his dark green eyes and angular face were illuminated by the flames, Major Twig also let out a lion-like roar: "Fire!" ”

After each group of gunfire, the firing commander will adjust the parameters to the gun position according to the linkage data of the gunsight radar and the ballistic calculator, and the process usually only takes 5-2 seconds, so from the outside, the battleship is almost continuously firing, and the P-type projectile with the proximity fuse at this time was originally used for air defense, compared to ordinary high-explosive grenades. The prefabricated fragments of such shells are more suitable for killing lightly armored combat aircraft, as well as against torpedo boats that are of size and weak armor.

After three rounds of artillery fire, Major Twig received an exciting report from the staff officer: a third of the targets had been lost, and two had even disappeared directly from the radar screen!

Major Twig nodded grimly, and continued to look at the illuminated sea. Although the high-sprint Italian torpedo boats were able to approach their opponents at a rate of 5-8 meters per minute and make juggling evasions during the voyage, they faced the "Athlone" with five single 27-mm guns, the "Galway" with three twin 27-mm guns, and the "Orcyne" with three triple 27-mm guns. These three warships were able to pour their guns with all their might, and they were able to create a large blockade net on the surface of the sea, through which no ship could pass through it unharmed, and no ship could avoid such a large net as it pleased......

Five minutes later, the six groups of guns of the "Athlone" were projected, and the "Orcyne", which was the combat command ship, gave the order to stop firing, watch carefully, and avoid torpedoes. As a member of the huge family of Fiona-class light cruisers, it did not retreat in this era of technological replacement and new ships, but obtained all kinds of software and hardware required by modern naval warfare through modernization and modification. Although compared with those who were designed and built in the thirties and forties, there is still a certain gap in power and protection of the upgraded and modified Fiona class, and the firepower seems to have been weakened by replacing the twin 52 mm guns with excellent single power and penetration, and the triple 27 mm guns, the advanced fire control system and the truly epoch-making ship-to-ship missiles that are enough to reflect the country's scientific and technological strength have given them a brand-new combat effectiveness that cannot be looked down upon by any opponent......

The artillery fire stopped, and the whole world suddenly fell silent. The three-ship battle group led by the "Orcyan" turned on its searchlights on the one hand to keep a close watch for possible torpedo tracks on the surface of the water, and on the other hand, it used sonar equipment to listen to the sound in the water to guard against the torpedoes dropped by the Italian torpedo boats before they retreated. After a while, the torpedoes appeared on the ships6, but fortunately they were fired from a long distance, with poor accuracy and easy evasion. Under the warning guidance of the three combat ships, the ships under the jurisdiction of the fleet evaded accordingly, and finally resolved this crisis that was not to be feared.

After the torpedo warning ended, the staff officer reported to Major Twig on the ammunition consumption of each main gun of the "Athlone" in this battle 3 P-type ammunition, a total of 5, accounting for 875 of the P-type ammunition reserve, and 245 main gun ammunition remaining at the end of the battle, including: 65 P-type anti-aircraft bombs, 8-type armor-piercing shells, 8-type high-explosive shells, and 2 F-type flares.

Major Twig, who was extremely burly, turned around and looked at the officers who had been busy for a while, and finally showed a look of relief on his face. In such a naval battle of "fighting with a big blow," "fighting fast with slow," and "fighting more with less," the defending side was able to achieve a complete victory, to a large extent, thanks to the heavy firing that did not hesitate to consume, and if the battle lasted another five or six minutes, the ammunition consumption would have to at least double, and once the opponent was brought into effective torpedo range, losses were possible.

As for the four Italian torpedo boats that took part in the battle, except for four that fled north in panic, the rest were all killed under the guns of the New United Kingdom Navy, four of which were sunk on the spot during the battle, and six of which were completely or partially deprived of power. The "Osien" did not give them a chance to slip away, and after the warning signal of abandoning the ship, it unceremoniously sank them one by one.

(End of chapter)