Soon, the whole fleet was adjusted, course 280, 24 15-inch, 20 6-inch and 20 4.5-inch guns were aimed at the Italian fleet on course 130, the gunner's finger was already pulling the trigger of fire. At 22:27, the British fleet, which had completed preparations, turned on the searchlight by the destroyer "Hound Dog", which covered the No. 3 ship of the Italian formation. The killing is about to begin.

Admiral Aquino didn't expect that his order would send his fleet to the Ghost Gate. Major General Cataño, although he obeyed the order, still underestimated the danger. Because the Italian fleet did not make any effective preparations for a night battle. They only equipped the torpedo tubes with flame-suppressing equipment, but not on the artillery, and it is said that the Italian officers thought that it was impossible to use the main guns in a night battle. In addition, due to the fact that they do not pay attention to the study of fire control equipment for night combat communications in peacetime, none of their equipment is suitable for use at night. Why would such a fleet dare to return to a dangerous sea area at night to rescue friendly ships? This was because they believed that there was no possibility for the British fleet to catch up, and even if it did, it would never be possible to send a large ship like a battleship to pursue it at night. According to Aquino, he believed that the British would only leave the destroyers around. Thus, while the British had already aimed their guns at the Italians, the Italians were hardly mentally prepared for the imminent start of the battle, and Rear Admiral Cataño was only concerned about the actual condition of the "Pola".

In fact, as early as 21:55, the Cataño detachment was discovered, and it was the British light cruiser "Ajax" equipped with 279 radars that detected them. The radar screen of the "Ajax" immediately reported upwards after showing that there were three unidentified ships 5 nautical miles ahead. Colonel Mack, who was then directing the destroyer fleet in pursuit of the "Veneto", received this report. At the moment, he was 10 nautical miles northeast of Cataño's fleet. The navigator analysed the messages and charts and found that the position of the unidentified vessel reported by the "Ajax" was only 4 nautical miles away from its position at 21:55. Due to the low accuracy of radar positioning at that time, it was common for the difference of several nautical miles to be different, so Mike judged that the "Ajax" had discovered himself and ignored it. In fact, not only did the radar have errors, but there were also errors in the nautical chart operations carried out in the rocking warship at that time, and the double errors of the radar and the nautical charts were superimposed, resulting in the Cataño detachment at a distance of 10 nautical miles from the Mack fleet at 21:55 to a distance of 4 nautical miles. The Cataño squadron seems to have escaped this fate, but an even greater catastrophe awaits it.

The Cataño detachment, unbeknownst to it, continued its march in the darkness of the night, with the destroyer Alfieri at the head of the queue, followed by the Zara, the Fum, the Betty, the Calducci, and the Oriani. At 10:26 p.m., two red flares were raised in front of its bow. Rear Admiral Cataño, knowing that it was launched by the "Bora", was in contact with himself. However, not long after he saw the flare, a bright light suddenly shone 3,000 yards away, covering the No. 3 ship "Fum" in the formation, and the afterglow made the outlines of the "Zara" and "Alfieri" extremely clear in the night sky. For a moment, the Italian naval officers and men were stunned.

"Boom", the panicked Italians saw a line of flames rising from the British ship and heard a deafening sound. "Battleship!" Experienced men shouted, and Rear Admiral Cataño's hopes were completely dashed - he had thought that it might be the British destroyer that attacked them. In an instant, the will of the Italian naval officers and sailors collapsed. 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 "War Wereary" 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 "War Wey" followed, 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 "Warrior" 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 simultaneously with the "Fum" was attacked by the destroyer "Alfieri", and it was the battleship "Barham" that shot him. The battleship "Barham", which had intended to shoot the "Bora", which fired red flares, was about to open fire when it received an order to change course, and just as it was turning, the gunners 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". "Warrior" and "Barham" fired at it almost simultaneously, and "War Wey" 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 time, there were also many dead and wounded in the command tower. Rear Admiral Cataño, seeing that the general situation was gone, straightened his uniform, calmly walked through the purgatory-like deck on earth, walked to the stern, ordered the ship to be abandoned, and directed the placement of slow explosives, preparing 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. At 22:59, 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, after a circle of the battlefield, the "Havoc", which had 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 that the Mack's detachment arrived on the battlefield, and they ignored the Italians struggling in the water, and went straight to the place where there was fire. At this time, the "Zara" was almost burned out, except for the upper deck and a few fires - this 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 flipped over its huge body with a sense of relief, and with Rear Admiral Cataño, no one knows whether he was dead or alive, and 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 war-weary's 6-inch secondary guns, and the Gioberti was set on fire by the war-weary's 15-inch cannons, 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 23:08 and torpedoed by the opponent seven minutes later, and died at 23:30.

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 during the attack caused the ship's guns to be pointed in all directions, and the whole hull was pitch black. Although it had been spotted by the British ship "Barham", the sudden appearance of the Cataño detachment to rescue him distracted the British, so it did not suffer from the shells of the British battleships. It was not until 24 o'clock that it was again discovered 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 an hour 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 1:40 a.m., the searchlights shone again on the "Bola", 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 3:25, the "Jarvis", which sank the "Zara", approached it, and some people on the "Bora" could not wait 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. While rescuing the Italians who had fallen into the water, the British also organized a group of gunners to rush onto the "Pola", 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 "Bora" - there was no explosion, and the destroyer "Nubia" next to it made up one. At 4:03 the "Bora" 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.) )