Before the sobered people could find a place to hide, the first row of shells of the British whistled down on the hull of the ship "Fum".

Because it was a close-range flat fire of 2900 yards, the first salvo of the "Sovereign" was hit by 6 15-inch armor-piercing shells 5!

A series of explosions followed, and the tower of one of the aft turrets was completely overturned and pressed against one side of the ship.

Thirty seconds later, the second salvo of the "Sovereign" fell on it, and this time all eight main guns opened fire, again with several hits.

In the meantime, the first salvo of the 4 main guns in the front of the "Rodney" was also directed at the "Fum".

The "Fumu", which had been hit by these shells, turned into a large fireball in just 2 or 3 minutes, and the hull of the ship was seriously tilted to the right, quickly losing power, and slowly breaking away from the queue.

Just 45 minutes later, the warship, barely fighting back, disappeared into the sea, leaving behind countless life rafts and struggling crowds.

Almost at the same point as the "Fum" was attacked by the destroyer "Alfieri", and it was the battleship "Barham" that shot him.

The battleship "Barham" was about to shoot at the "Pola", which fired red flares, and was about to open fire when the order to change course was received, and at the turning point, the gunnery officer saw the silhouette of the destroyer "Alfieri" in the afterglow of the searchlight.

Because the artillery was ready and pointed in this direction, he gave the order to open fire immediately.

How could a destroyer like "Alfieri" withstand direct fire from a 15-inch cannon at a distance of 3100 yards?

At least two of the four armor-piercing shells hit directly, and the entire hull burst out like a praying mantis blocking the car, and the flames rose high, and then the smoke billowed out, and it also broke out of the queue.

"Fum" has just been disabled, and then it will be the turn of the flagship "Zara".

The "Rodney" and the "Barham" opened fire on it at almost the same point, and the "Sovereign" quickly joined the battle. The first two ships fired 5 salvos each, the latter fired 4 salvos.

All important parts of the "Zara" - the conning tower, the turret, the main engine room, the boiler room, etc., were directly hit by 15-inch armor-piercing shells, and the explosions were stacked one after another.

The 8-inch guns that resisted sporadically were all knocked out with twisted barrels and pointed in all directions. The main engine had come to a standstill, and an explosion caused by a boiler split the hull of the ship.

There was even a forward turret that was blown off the turret by a wave of air, rolled like a toy across the flaming deck, and fell into the sea.

At this point, the command tower was also full of casualties. Seeing that the general trend was gone, the commander of the cruiser straightened his uniform, calmly crossed the purgatory deck on earth, walked to the stern, ordered the ship to be abandoned, and ordered the placement of slow explosives to prepare to blow up and sink the flagship.

Having tasted the pleasures of a one-sided battle, the British battleships stopped firing and withdrew from the chaotic battlefield at 22:38, and 2 minutes later, the British destroyers began to clean up the battlefield.

Ten minutes later, the burning "Zara" and "Alfieri" were discovered by the British destroyers "Stuart" and "Havoc", and "Stuart" fired a torpedo and missed.

At 23:05, the slow explosives on the "Zara" were detonated, and the flames became more intense, but it seemed that God intended to torture the "Zara", and he still did not sink.

At 23:15, the "Alfieri" suddenly turned over and sank into the sea.

Two minutes later, "Zara" received two more salvos from the 4.7-inch guns on the "Stuart", and apart from a few explosions, nothing had any effect.

At 23:30, the "Havoc", which had swam around the battlefield and witnessed the tragic appearance of the three ships "Zara", "Fum" and "Alfieri", fired four more torpedoes at the Italians, but none of them hit.

It was not until 2 o'clock the next day that the Mack's detachment arrived at the battlefield, and they ignored the Italians struggling in the water, and went straight to the place where there was fire.

The "Zara" at this point burned about everything that could be burned, except for a few fires on the upper deck - and that was enough.

The "Zara" was hit by three torpedoes from the destroyer "Jarvis", and after the huge explosion, the water column rushed dozens of feet high, and the fire ignited again, illuminating the sea for several nautical miles - now littered with warship wreckage, floating corpses, life rafts, and helpless sailors.

At 2:40 a.m., the "Zara" finally turned over its huge body with a sense of relief, and with the cruiser commander - no one knew whether he was dead or alive, gradually sank into the sea.

After the British shelling began, the other Italian destroyers realized that the situation was not right, and they turned their rudders and fled.

The Oriani was damaged in the forward engine room by the Sovereign's 6-inch secondary guns, and the Giobetti was set on fire by the Sovereign's 15-inch cannon, but they both escaped with the help of speed, night cover, and the chaos of the battlefield.

Only the "Karducci" was shelled by the "Havoc" at 3:08 a.m., and seven minutes later it was torpedoed by the opposing side and died at 3:30 a.m.

At this time, the "Bora" could almost be said to be a bystander, it was floating motionless on the sea, and the damage to the electrical equipment at the point of attack made the ship's guns point to the east and west, and the whole hull was completely black.

Although it had been spotted by the British ship "Barham", the sudden appearance of a cruiser detachment to rescue him distracted the British, so it did not suffer from the shells of the British battleships.

It was not until 4 o'clock that it was again spotted by the searchlight of the "Havok". Perhaps the "Havok" was too small compared to the "Bola", so it was considered "Veneto" by the captain of the "Havoc" Watkins.

Half a little later, the Mack's detachment, which was pursuing the "Veneto", rushed over. Although the report was later corrected, it was too late, and Mike mistakenly joined the fight.

At 4:40 a.m., the searchlights shone again on the "Pola", this time on the destroyers "Hound Dog" and "Griffin", and the embarrassed people gathered on the upper deck had to cover their eyes.

However, the British did not attack immediately, they were waiting for Mack's detachment. At 5:25, the "Jarvis", which sank the "Zara", approached it, and some of the people on the "Pola" could not wait to get * close enough to jump into the water.

After that, the British kept shouting at the Italians in the water: "Catch this!" Poor worm! They threw the cables one after another, and the Italians boarded the Jarvis with the help of the cables. Including those rescued from the water, there were 257 people in total.

At the same point as rescuing the Italians who had fallen into the water, the British also organized a group of gunners to rush onto the "Bora" with a swarm of screams, dismantle the small guns they lacked, and return to their warship from another springboard.

Fifteen minutes later, the cable was untied, and the "Jarvis" fired one torpedo at the "Bola" - there was no explosion, and the destroyer "Nubia" next to it made up one, and at 6:03 the "Bola" exploded and sank.

At this point, the 1st Italian cruiser detachment was completely annihilated, and only the sailors who were struggling in vain on the sea remained.

Finally, the British commander, Admiral Cunningham, sent a gentlemanly telegram to the Italian Admiralty, asking them to rescue their compatriots who were still struggling at sea. (To be continued.) )