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The Battle of Ionia began at 12 a.m. on July 10 and ended at 3 p.m. Of the six battleships of the main fleet of the Italian Navy, not a single one escaped. In the'Leonardo. Reach. After the battleship Vinci was sunk first, and the battleship Count Cavour was then sunk by a torpedo by the destroyer of the Chinese Navy, the commander of the Italian Navy, Admiral Bohini, seeing no hope of victory, led the fleet to retreat at high speed, but in the end it was still not able to pick it out. Intercepted by the Chinese Navy, all were left behind.

The flagship of the Italian Navy'Andrea. After the damage to the propeller shaft of the battleship Doria, Admiral Bohini moved to Cayo. The battleship Duilio' continued to command the battle. And 'Andrea. The battleship Doria, under the command of its commander, Commodore Mario, continued to fight the Chinese Navy.

It's just that at the moment'Andrea. The battleship Doria' was in an extremely dangerous situation. After the power dropped by half, the battleship could not escape at all and fell under siege from the battleships 'Huaxia', 'Shenzhou', 'Middle East', 'Zhongnan' and 'Nanyang' of the Chinese Navy. Although 'Andrea. The battleship Doria had more main guns, but in this case, there was still no chance of victory.

After being surrounded, 'Andrea. Commodore Mario, the captain of the battleship Doria, did not hesitate at all, and immediately ordered the white flag to be raised and surrender to the squadron. He had completely forgotten about the time before Admiral Bohini had left. How did he swear to Admiral Bohini that he would lead the entire ship to fight to the end?

'Andrea. The officers and men of the Italian Navy aboard the battleship Doria. Although he was a little surprised by Brigadier Mario's order, he did not stop it, but immediately raised the white flag. None of them are fools, and now that the Italian Navy has lost, if they continue to fight, they will surely die. Surrender words, albeit a disgrace. But he can always save his life. Westerners, unlike Easterners, value their lives more than they do, and it is not a shame to surrender to the enemy knowing that there is no hope of victory.

'Andrea. The surrender of the battleship Doria so cleanly surprised the Chinese Navy, but this is exactly what the Chinese Navy wants to see. Sinking an enemy battleship can get a battle merit, but it is good to capture a battleship of the enemy! Not to mention the fact that there were not many capital ships of the Indian Ocean Fleet in the first place, and one more was captured. It will also further enhance the strength of the Indian Ocean Fleet. The battleships of the Italian Navy were able to do so much with their main guns although they were not good. Even as a fire support ship is good. Next, whether the squadron launches an attack on India or Australia, it will need to carry out landing operations, and these fire support ships can come in handy.

In 'Cayo. Admiral Bohini, who continued to command the battle on the battleship Duilio, was even more angry when he learned of Commodore Mario's surrender, claiming that when he returned to Italy, he would definitely bring Commodore Mario to court-martial. It's just that the premise is that he can return to Italy! In the end, Admiral Bohini followed in the footsteps of Brigadier Mario.

'Andrea. The surrender of the battleship Doria was a big blow to the Italian Navy. Although the remaining three battleships were still desperately trying to escape, their morale was already very low.

At 2:24 p.m., 'Giulio. The battleship Caesar' was hit, albeit with at least minor injuries. But 'Giulio. The captain of the battleship Caesar, however, directly ordered the white flag to be raised and surrendered to the Indian Ocean Fleet of the Chinese Navy.

This result was even more devastating to Admiral Bohini. Subsequently, the two remaining battleships of the Italian Navy did not hold out for long, surrendering to the Indian Ocean Fleet of the Chinese Navy at 2:52 p.m. and 3:45 p.m., respectively. None of these battleships suffered a fatal blow, only some minor injuries. If you return to the military port, you will only need to make a simple repair and continue the battle. The reason why the Italian Navy surrendered so simply was that they knew that they could not escape back to the Taranto Naval Base, and in order to save their lives, they chose to surrender to the Chinese Navy.

Admiral Bohini's Cayo. The battleship Duilio' was the last to surrender. But after the other battleships surrendered one by one, his confidence also faded, and finally disappeared. When the battleships of the Chinese Navy will'Cayo. When the battleship Duilio intercepted, Admiral Bohini knew that there was no hope for the Italian Navy, and he had lost the main force of the Italian Navy. Emmanuele III and Prime Minister Giovanni. Joliti will never let him go. Perhaps for him, surrendering to the Chinese and waiting in the Chinese prisoner of war camps until after the war was over before returning to Italy was the best option. Of course, the precondition was that the Allies and China won this war, and the King of Italy and zhèngfǔ had already been overthrown. Otherwise, he probably won't be able to return to Italy safely for the rest of his life.

When Admiral Bocini ordered the surrender, he did not forget to give it to King Vittorio of Italy. Emmanuele III and Prime Minister Giovanni. Joliti sent a telegram. In his telegram, he claimed that the capital ships of the Italian Navy had been sunk or surrendered, that the Italian Navy had no chance of winning this naval battle, and that in order to save the lives of innocent soldiers, he would lead the Italian Navy to surrender to the Chinese Navy, hoping that His Majesty the King and His Excellency the Prime Minister would understand.

When Vittorio. When Emmanuele III received this telegram, he was so angry that he almost fainted. The battleships built by Italy with countless funds were sunk or surrendered to the Chinese Navy, Vittorio. Emmanuele III even had the heart to kill Admiral Bohini. If it weren't for the fact that Admiral Bohini had already surrendered to the Chinese Navy, he would probably have ordered Admiral Bohini to be sent directly to the gallows.

zhèngfǔ Prime Minister Giovanni. Joliti also had a sad face, although he had long guessed that the navy would not be the opponent of the Indian Ocean Fleet of the Chinese Navy, but he did not expect that it would fail so quickly and lose so badly. After the naval defeat, Italy's long coastline was no longer protected, and it would become the target of wanton attacks by the Chinese navy and the Austro-Hungarian navy, which was very unfavorable to Italy, which had just joined the Entente and declared war on the Allies and China. China and Austria-Hungary will certainly retaliate against Italy, which simply cannot resist.

"Your Majesty, we now need to call upon Britain and France for help to help Italy regain control of the Mediterranean and protect its shores. Otherwise, our coastal cities will be dealt a fatal blow, which is very severe for Italy, and will even lead us to defeat in this war! "Giovanni. Prime Minister Jolitti said.

"Your Excellency Prime Minister, you can do it!" Vittorio. Emmanuele III said weakly, as if someone had pulled out his bones, and his whole person became very decadent. Originally, he also wanted to take the opportunity of Italy to join the Entente in the war, to restore Italy's national prestige and restore the glory of the Roman Empire. But the fiasco of the navy woke him up. The loss of the Italian Navy also cast a shadow on Italy's future this time.

At a time when the King of Italy and zhèngfǔ were frowning over the crushing defeat of the Navy, the Indian Ocean Fleet of the Chinese Navy was already celebrating its victory. The total annihilation of the main fleet of the Italian Navy at a small cost is definitely a great victory for the Indian Ocean Fleet of the Chinese Navy. When Admiral Li Haitao got the battle report, his face was already smiling.

In this naval battle of the Indian Ocean Fleet of the Chinese Navy, the battleships "Taizi Fusu" and "Zhongnan" were damaged and needed to be returned to the dock for repairs. The other capital ships suffered only minor damage, which did not affect the battle. In addition, one of the heavy cruisers was heavily damaged. Two of the light cruisers were seriously damaged and three were slightly damaged. Two destroyers were sunk and three were heavily damaged.

The results were striking, as all but two of the six battleships of the Italian Navy surrendered. As long as these battleships are repaired, they will be able to join the Chinese Navy to continue operations. And it is very likely that he will join the Indian Ocean Fleet, which makes Admiral Li Haitao especially happy. Although he had also seen the power of aircraft carriers, battleships were still the main force in naval warfare until the aircraft carrier fleet was made public. The increase in the strength of the Indian Ocean Fleet will also be of great benefit to him, the commander of the fleet.

It was at this time that a destroyer in the northern jǐng ring sent a jǐng newspaper. In the northern sky, a large cloud of black smoke appeared, as if dark clouds were moving.

"What's going on? Is it the enemy? Admiral Li Haitao hurriedly asked. The losses of the Indian Ocean Fleet, although relatively small, were exhausted after a day of fighting, and could no longer support a high-intensity naval battle.

A few minutes later, the Chief of Staff, Vice Admiral Wu Zhiyuan, received the exact news: "It's the Austro-Hungarian Navy, but how can they be here?" ”

"Humph! They definitely want to come and pick up the bargain. It's just that they probably didn't expect us to win so quickly, and at a small cost! Admiral Li Haitao said disdainfully. (To be continued......)