After two months of ground warfare in Tripoli, although the Italian government invested nearly 50,000 troops in four army divisions and successfully defeated the local Ottoman defense forces in Tripoli, the Italian army's control area was not consolidated in any form, and the Ottoman army and Arab cavalry that continued to appear around forced the Italian army to choose the tactics of attacking from all sides, trying to crush the attacks from the Gobi and the wasteland around the city.

The weakly defended city of Tripoli is not well connected, but the surrounding terrain makes the city extremely vulnerable to attack...... However, it was clear that the Roman politicians had far underestimated the resistance in the desolate territories of North Africa, and this caused great trouble for the Italian army commander, General Sperle, who, after committing the first 50,000 troops, was no longer able to provide de facto reinforcements.

On the 8th, under the planning of Sperler, the 25,000 men of the Italian Expeditionary Force began to land at Chavie, 30 kilometers west of Tripoli, repelled the few local defenders, and then quickly infiltrated inland, capturing Tobruk and Derna the next day.

On the 10th, the Italian battleship Elina Queen, who had returned from replenishment, led the fleet to cover the landing of an infantry division in Benghazi, and the huge 12-inch main guns of the most powerful former dreadnought battleship in Italy fully demonstrated the amazing combat power of the sea monsters, and the entire ancient city was completely shrouded in the shadow of the giant cannons.

Any form of resistance was reduced to dust under heavy artillery bombardment, and after only one day of fierce fighting, the Italian army captured the city, and on the same day Italy received another great support.

The British government declared its neutrality during the Italo-Turkish War, and two Bellerophon-class battleships from the Mediterranean Fleet arrived in Egypt to ensure British control over the overseas colony, and the British government announced that it would impose control over the crossing of the Suez Canal during the Italo-Turkish War......

This directly made it impossible for the Ottoman Empire to reinforce its North African territories by land, unless it took the sea route, it was impossible to send troops or even supplies to its own territories in North Africa!

On the 11th, the news reached Rome, and the Italian government was greatly relieved, and the Italian media were also full of confidence in the rapid end of the war, and even openly announced that the ground war in Tripoli would end within three months with a monthly investment of 300,000 lire, five army divisions, and one main fleet.

On the morning of the 12th, when the commander of the Italian Navy, Vice Admiral Graziani, left with great ambition to lead the fleet that had just finished shelling Benghazi, just after 1 o'clock in the afternoon, the destroyer Shuofeng of the Italian Navy, which was carrying out escort duties outside the port of Benghazi, suddenly noticed that a fleet had appeared at sea level in the distance.

It was necessary to wait for the six supply ships escorted by the destroyer Shuofeng to enter the port before other merchant ships or neutral ships could pass, but after just ten minutes, the shape shì underwent an unbelievably astonishing change, and the fleet that appeared from the sea level rushed towards the port of Benghazi with almost unscrupulous attitude.

When the torpedo boat Lamb finally saw the glaring red caliphate flags on the six warships, the Italian torpedo boat, with a displacement of only 120 tons, made a firm decision, and the torpedo boat commander, Captain Giovanni, ordered the warning flag to be raised, and at the same time accelerated the torpedo boat with all its strength to pounce on the Ottoman fleet rushing straight into the distance.

"Order the destroyers to attack and intercept the Italian torpedo boats! Keep the fleet course and intercept the Italian supply fleet! On the battleship Suleiman the Magnificent in the center of the Ottoman fleet, Rear Admiral François sneered and gave a loud order, a torpedo boat of less than 200 tons, dared to challenge his huge fleet of more than 50,000 tons, this is undoubtedly the rhythm of death.

The fleet sailed almost exclusively at night to circumvent the terrible concealment conditions in the Mediterranean, and even failed to make the neutral countries of Britain and the United States see the slightest flaw, and finally reached the port of Benghazi, north of the coastline of Tripoli and east of Tripoli, after five days of clandestine sailing.

But the key to truly completing today's epic battle, Rear Admiral François naturally knows very well, the Chinese intelligence ships that accompanied them all the way have definitely done the ultimate in intelligence collection, and the news of Italian warships can be obtained almost anytime and anywhere, in fact, the fleet has been lurking in the nearby bay early in the morning, and the surprise news transmitted from outside the bay on the day of the escort confirmed the weakness of the port of Benghazi at this moment.

The two Schalke destroyers were originally a modified version of the Chinese Kunlun-class destroyers, with a displacement of 1,200 tons and a speed of nearly 27 knots at full speed, compared to the displacement of the Italian torpedo boat was only 120 tons, and the speed of the ship was less than 30 knots.

The two destroyers of Schalke outflanked the Italians, one left and one right, and the battleships of both sides were already moving at full speed......

4000 m ......

3000 m ......

The 120mm guns in the bow of the destroyer Schalke and the 30mm guns on the lookout had already been fired violently, and the whistling shells immediately set off a wave around the Shuofeng torpedo boat.

2500 m ...... 2300 m ......

Just after braving the rain of bullets, the Shuofeng finally fired two 380mm torpedoes at the bow of the destroyer Schalke, and then immediately turned around, and after just a dozen seconds, the 120mm naval gun high-explosive shells fired from the destroyer Ehir on the left flank set off a series of waves on the sea, and finally hit the weak opponent after the 17th round of rapid fire.

This high-explosive bomb of more than 20 kilograms hit the small bow of the Shuofeng torpedo boat very accurately, and the armor belt of the Shuofeng, which only had 0.5 inches of steel armor, was easily penetrated, and then exploded violently in the second compartment in the middle of the hull, and the flames that rushed to the sky immediately swallowed the small fish compartment of the Italian torpedo boat, and the indignant Captain Giovanni was hit in the chest by a fragment of the explosion, and immediately fell to the ground.

By the time several sailors went up to pick up the young commander, Captain Giovanni had lost consciousness, and by this time, Sergeant Balbo, who had the highest rank and was temporarily in command, had clearly misunderstood Captain Giovanni's determination, and fortunately, the torpedo boat was in flames, but the power system was slightly damaged.

"Turn the rudder 15 degrees and prepare to fire the torpedo on the left side!"

As soon as Sergeant Balbo gave the order, a shuttle 30mm machine gun bullet came in violently, and immediately swept down more than half of the living people in the crowded cockpit, and even the sergeant was directly killed, without waiting for the Italians to react more, the destroyer Schalke, which was less than 1,500 meters close, and hit the torpedo boat directly in the middle with an accurate 120mm high-explosive shell.

And this time, the god of luck was obviously on the side of the Schalke, and the shell did not hit the boiler at the bottom, but hit a 380mm torpedo that had just been brought up to be reloaded with the launch tube, which immediately caused an earth-shattering mushroom cloud, and in less than a few seconds, the brave Italian torpedo boat was left with only a few broken planks at sea

"Pursuit! The Italian supply fleet must be annihilated! Seeing this scene, Major General François was obviously excited, and immediately jumped up to issue a new combat order......

The attack on the port of Benghazi, as a crucial chapter in the Italo-Turkish War, was clearly trapped in a circle of superiority, and did not anticipate the sudden appearance of the Ottoman navy, so that they did not make important arrangements for the crucial post-war supply...... Of course, the attrition of the navy in the Benghazi operation was also an important factor in the outcome of the guide.

And Rear Admiral François commanded 3 battleships and 3 destroyers to attack the Italian component fleet, which was completely a one-sided slaughter, and the destroyer Shuofeng chose to flee at full speed when the battleship Suleiman the Magnificent raised its 305mm caliber main gun, and even completely abandoned 6 Italian merchant ships! R1152