"Admiral, the radar found an unknown group of aircraft, flying from the northeast, it should be P-39!"

In the command tower of the "War Weathiness", the sound of the radar officer's report relieved everyone. The "Sea Spitfire" on the "Eagle" was either shot down or fell into the sea because it ran out of fuel. Therefore, the "War Weathiness" did not have air cover against the second assault wave of enemy aircraft, so it suffered heavy losses. Now with the cover of the P-36, it seems that the fleet can be saved.

"Admiral, here comes the P-36 of 3 squadrons!" Soon the fleet's communications staff reported that "they are from Crete and can provide us with 90 minutes of direct cover." ”

"Good!" Admiral Cunningham smiled reluctantly, "Now move closer to Crete, tell Lieutenant General Somerville to repair it as soon as possible, and strive to increase the speed to more than 15 knots before dark...... We can't afford to lose the Rodney now. ”

Now Cunningham has some regrets, and the loss of the "Eagle", "Lorraine" and "Monarchy" in today's battle is in his calculations. Since it is necessary to break into the combat circle of the German shore-based aviation, it is necessary to be prepared to bear some losses. However, a super battleship as powerful as the "Rodney" was actually bombed by aircraft and severely damaged, which was greatly beyond his expectations.

Although the "Rodney", with its solid armor and good anti-sinking design, was still able to hold on to the surface of the sea. But by the time the battle was over, the battleship would have to spend months overhauling. This meant that the "Rodney" would not be able to enter the war for several months...... For the current Mediterranean theater, this is about the same effect as sinking.

However, Cunningham could not give up the Rodney now. Because "Rodney" is also a decoy of strategic value. As long as it slows its way to Crete, the Italians will not pass up the opportunity to sink it.

Because after the loss of the "Sovereign" and "Lorraine", the number of battleships of the Mediterranean Fleet was already the same as that of the Italian fleet. If the most powerful "Rodney" is lost again, then the balance of power in the Mediterranean Sea will change dramatically. With the great power of the two "Veneto" classes, the Italian Navy will overwhelm the British Mediterranean Fleet with only 5 battleships left and become the hegemon of the Mediterranean!

"Admiral, the 'Monarchy' is sinking!" Major General Cratchley's voice suddenly rang out, interrupting Cunningham's thoughts, "It's under siege by He-115!" ”

It turned out that the P-39 planes flying from Crete were desperately trying to cover the "Rodney" at this time, and threw the "Sovereign", which burned out of shape and lost power, to He-115 to clean up. In just a few minutes, 24 He-115s dropped torpedoes on the "monarchy", 8 of which hit, and the battleship of more than 30,000 tons was instantly lost and sunk in the Mediterranean, and less than 40 of the 940 crew members on board were rescued.

"We've lost our 'royal power'!" Major General Krachley's voice was almost crying. 2 battleships and the aircraft carrier "Eagle" have been sunk! The battleship "Rodney" was also half dead...... This battle is going to be lost!

"It doesn't matter," Cunningham forced a smile, "we haven't lost yet, because the Italian fleet has been dispatched...... Fleet B will soon be able to avenge the Eagle, Sovereign and Lorraine. ”

At this time, a fierce air battle unfolded in the vicinity of the British Mediterranean Fleet. This was the first contest between the P-39 "Flying Snake" and the Fokker Zero. The P39 was more numerous, with 3 squadrons totaling 48 aircraft, while the Fokker Zero had only 16 aircraft.

The superior P39 did not realize that it was inferior in performance, and all British pilots who flew such an aircraft praised its excellent low-altitude performance, believing that it was an aircraft that could compete with the Fokker Zero.

Therefore, after the engagement, the P39 group did not immediately take advantage of its overwhelming numerical superiority, but used 24 P39s to deal with 16 Fokker Zeros, and then used the remaining 24 P39s to drive away the He-115s carrying torpedoes, forcing most of the He-115s to throw away their torpedoes and flee for their lives, and also shot down 12 of them.

However, while these P39s drove and shot down the He-115, the 24 P39s that fought with the Fokker Zero found themselves as if they had met a nemesis. Although the P39 is very flexible at low and medium altitudes, they have encountered the Fokker Zero, which can be the king at low and medium altitudes. The P39's mid-altitude performance is not good enough, and the climb speed is slow, so it is impossible to deal with the Fokker Zero by pulling up and diving like the "Sea Spitfire". As a result, in less than 10 minutes, 24 P39s were shot down in 10, while the Fokker Zero did not lose anything.

Cunningham, who witnessed the air battle in the command tower of the battleship "War-weary", turned slightly blue. These P39s are one of his trump cards, I didn't expect it to be so useless!

"Admiral," Rear Admiral Krachley's voice was a little hoarse, "P39 and Blenheim ...... Crete"

"According to the original plan, let them attack first to consume the carrier-based aircraft of the Italian aircraft carriers......" Cunningham frowned, "two Italian aircraft carriers must be sunk today, at all costs...... Otherwise we will lose the Mediterranean in 1 month! ”

Without aircraft carriers, the Italian fleet, even if it had superiority in battleships, would never dare to leave the protective circle of shore-based aircraft. Britain, on the other hand, could use the shore-based air force on Crete and two aircraft carriers to block the Italian Navy's eastward advance.

The premise, of course, is that there must be a long-range fighter that can counter the Fokker Zero......

……

"Marshal, the third assault wave did not achieve the expected results."

Villa Medici, Hersman also received a report on the results of the operations of the third assault wave. Hans. Jeshunek frowned and said to Hersman: "They came across a fighter that had never been seen before, and 115 He-12 were shot down. However, this fighter is no match for the Fokker Zero, 10 were shot down, and none of the Fokker Zeros were lost. ”

"A new fighter? Where did it come from? ”

"Crete, perhaps," said Hans. "It is also possible that it took off from an aircraft carrier," Jeshunek said. ”

He thought for a moment and said: "If you come from Crete, the maximum range of such an aircraft should be more than 1,500 kilometers." Otherwise, it's a ...... that takes off from an aircraft carrier"

1500 km range?

Hersman thought for a moment and said, "It could be the Fairey Company's 'Pipenose Swallow' carrier-based fighter." Intelligence indicates that such an aircraft may have a range of more than 1200 km. ”

Hersman did not think that it was the American P39, but remembered the British "pipe-nosed swallow", after all, it was now at war with the British.

"It seems that this is the kind of plane," said Jeshunek, "like that...... 2 aircraft carriers could be lurking 400 km northeast of the British main fleet, so our Fw-200C did not detect them. ”

Hersman also agreed with Jeshunek's analysis, so he asked: "Is there an Fw-200C to search for?" ”

"There are 2." "You can have the Eagle send eight Fokker Zeros to escort them, so they can search the waters south of Crete," Jeshunek said. ”

"Okay, that's it."

"In addition, the 5th and 6th assault waves should be canceled." "If we find an aircraft carrier, we need these planes to bomb it." Moreover, the 5th attack wave was not escorted by fighters, so it would be troublesome if it met the British 'Guanbi Yan' fighters. ”

Now the 4th assault wave, in fact, is the planes that the 1st assault wave returned, and they have already set off again, so they will not be recalled. However, Jeshunek did not feel safe to make a sortie by the 5th Strike Wave (originally planned to be escorted by Fw-190s) without an aircraft escort. So it was proposed to cancel, along with the 6th assault wave, in order to prepare for an attack on the British aircraft carriers.

"You can cancel." Hersmann, who had been fighting a good battle for a long time, began to be confused like Jeshunek. The cancellation of two waves of attacks, in particular, the 5th wave of assault, consisting of 5 squadrons of Ju88 and 8 squadrons of S.M.79, was almost equivalent to sparing a British battleship!

Otherwise, the fifth wave of attacks will sink at least one more battleship, and it is possible that the half-life "Rodney" will be directly sunk.

After all, Hersman and Jeshunek were not from the navy, and they could not understand the essence of "destroy the enemy when you see it" -- the meaning of this sentence is probably that the enemy's fleet is not very easy to see, and it may not be able to destroy it when it is seen, so when it can be destroyed, it doesn't matter if you can destroy it, destroy Y first, and then talk about it, don't worry about any plan.

While the two laymen were in command (in fact, they were commanding according to the "Iron Hammer" plan), Admiral Cavgnari of the Italian Navy was in contact with Admiral Cumpioni, who commanded the fleet, by telegram to finalize the tactics for tonight's night battle.

Because Admiral Kavnyari could already be sure that the British fleet was staggered by planes, there should be quite a few half-dead capital ships. If they had escaped back to Egypt, they might have been repaired in a few months, and they would have come alive again.

So Admiral Kavnyari proposed in the telegram the method of fighting a "chaotic war". The so-called "chaotic battle" can also be roughly understood as a melee battle, which is not a battle line to fight a dignified formation, but a scramble formation to conduct a melee.

If it was fought like this during the day and under normal conditions, it would certainly not be beneficial to the Italian fleet. However, the current situation is that the British fleet is full of wounded soldiers, and if a line battle is conducted, it is very likely that the battleships that have already suffered injuries will escape under the cover of battleships in good condition, so it is more advantageous to choose a chaotic battle. (To be continued.) )