The waves are rolling and the soot is surging. Under the clear sun, the 11 Allied capital ships lined up in a single column and headed for the battlefield in the southeast direction at full speed. Four Italian Queen Elena-class dreadnoughts sailed in front as the first echelon, followed by five dreadnought-class battleships led by the United Forces. After the "Ferdinand", which is the last digit, there are two Italian pre-dreadnought Queen Margaret-class.

Since the avant-garde fleet had already detected enough battlefield intelligence, House, who had the bottom in mind, did not adopt the cruising queue, nor did he think of adding another former dreadnought with a speed of only 18 knots into the battle column; Instead, he directly threw off these burdens and grabbed the T-shaped cross-head with the maximum formation speed of 20 knots. In addition to these sea monsters equipped with 305 mm or even 350 mm heavy guns, 3 Italian-made Garibaldi-class cruisers, 3 Austro-Hungarian Zanta-class light cruisers and more than a dozen torpedo boats also followed the formation to escort the left and right.

After some measurement on the chart, the two Allied fleets were not far apart; An hour later, Leifer, who was in charge of the Dante, saw his own capital ship group coming quickly from behind, spitting billowing soot. "The Austrians are coming really fast...... "Leffel smiled at the corner of his mouth, not knowing whether it was approval, pride, anticipation, or teasing. Soon he couldn't laugh anymore. As far as the eye can see, 6 of the 11 capital ships in the battle line are their own former dreadnoughts; And the Austro-Hungarian 6 Habsburg-class dreadnoughts, not a single one of them appeared on the battlefield!

"Damn House, where did he hide all his ships?" Leffel kept his eyes on the telescope and searched the surface of the sea several times. I couldn't help but roar loudly. After the formation of the Combined Fleet. A senior officer of the Austro-Hungarian and Italian navies. It is also because of the common interest that they have given a part of the money to each other; For the general performance of this level of Austro-Hungarian dreadnought, Leifeel also had a preliminary understanding in his heart. Like the German Wicchersbach class, the Austro-Hungarian dreadnought with a standing displacement of 11,200 tons is like a hoplite, with a strong defense that seems to be not lagging behind at this stage; If it weren't for the fact that it only had 4 305mm guns, it would have been able to engage in-for-tat frontal shelling with dreadnoughts!

"General, the United Forces will raise the flag, and they will maintain the current speed of 20 knots and insert it into the front of the French fleet, and order Dante to break away from reconnaissance and join the battle line." A herald walked briskly into the command tower and said to Leffel. Hear that. Leffel had a flash of inspiration in his head, and he suddenly understood everything. Due to the generally fast speed of the Italian pre-dreadnoughts, none of them fell below 20 knots; Haosen directly and honestly grouped these ships together with the dreadnoughts, and rushed to the battlefield lightly with the support of his own intelligence. In this way, the former fearless people of their own house will be directly on the front line, and they will undoubtedly be greeted by the fierce artillery fire of the other party!

Leffel clenched his fists, anger surging in his heart; The Austrians, however, acted in a completely reasonable manner, and could not find any reason to blame them. After cursing Hauss for his treachery countless times, Leffel said in a voice that almost popped out of his teeth: "Order, the command of the fast fleet is handed over to the saint?" Marco. The ship turned 7 compass points to the right and prepared to merge into the battle line. ”

The ocean is vast. However, the steam-powered naval fleet has long been able to gallop freely in its arms. After another 40 minutes, the bright red sun gradually rose into the middle of the sky, and an 8,000-yard battle line of 12 capital ships suddenly took shape, heading straight for the French main fleet 23 kilometers away. The Austro-Hungarian officers in the Combined Forces Command Tower were outraged by the Italians' move to the end of the line; House, however, was not impressed, and all he could think about now was the idea of winning the naval battle.

For the Allied fleet, the initiative in naval warfare was already in hand. Thanks to the excellent reconnaissance of the Italian fleet before, House's capital ship group was rushing towards the enemy at an optimal angle. And the Franco-British fleet was the complete opposite. Since their avant-garde fleet was suppressed by the pseudo-war patrol Dante, the Allied navies, who were completely blinded, did not dare to rashly start a battle queue without knowing the trace of the opponent's main forces; And when they now saw the Allied fleet 23 kilometers away, they found themselves in an awkward situation.

There is no doubt that the British and French fleets, with 22 battleships of various types, could not meet the enemy in a six-column cruising formation, and had to spread the battle line as far as possible. However, whether it is to the left or to the right, they are in an unusually unfavorable situation. If it is spread out to the right, with the current situation, it will become the tragic vertical of the T-word, directly hitting the volley fire net that the Allied fleet has already arranged. And if it is spread to the left, since the speed of the fleet of this side is only 18 knots, the whole maneuver time will be as long as 25 minutes; In this process, although the first few formations can avoid the opponent's firepower, the ships located in the rear will inevitably be hit by the concentrated attack of all the opponent's firepower without completing the turn!

In naval warfare, the reconnaissance fleet has never been an insignificant role. If the number of capital ships is small, the all-heavy iron tortoises can also open the battle line after discovering the enemy; However, once the number reaches a certain level, when the enemy is discovered, it is not the right to fight fairly if you want to!

In the end, the French still opted for a left-turn maneuver with the whole army. Compared with the death move of directly hitting the opponent's battle line, turning left will put the battleship at the end of the line in danger, but after all, it can still preserve a considerable part of the complete combat power. Immediately after receiving the order from the flagship, the battleship detachment on the far left strengthened the boiler to a state of strong pressure ventilation in order to speed up as much as possible and shorten the time for the battle line to unfold. At the same time, more than 40 torpedo boats and destroyers of various types, under the cover of 19 armored cruisers and 5 protective cruisers, launched a death charge at the main fleet of the Central Powers at the highest speed. The goal of the French was clear, they had to use these cannon fodder lightning strikes to force the opposing column to change course, so as to buy enough time for the smooth development of their main fleet.

However, this time the Allied fleet was fundamentally different from the German patrol fleet in the Battle of the Gulf of Helgoland and the Turkish Navy in the Battle of the Black Sea. Under the patchwork of Italy, Austria-Hungary and Turkey, the Allied Combined Fleet also had a large number of frigates; In addition to 7 cruisers and 1 armored ship, they also had 5 light cruisers and 40 torpedo boats of various types. And under the cover of the firepower of the battleships in the rear, these forces were enough to form a dense network of firepower that would discourage the opponent. In the face of this situation, the Allied fleet continued to speed up and still rushed straight forward.

"Boom! Rumble! Rumble! "The successive roars of artillery fire broke the calm of the sea. The 254-millimeter guns of the Italian patrol were the first to fire, followed by shells of various calibers and flying wildly in the air. When the calm sea came up, a large number of jets of water were stirred up, as if it were boiling. From time to time, accompanied by blinding firelight and billowing smoke, waves of air burst out, shrapnel flew one after another, and blood rain sprayed. The large-caliber main guns of the 12 Allied battleships remained calm, aiming at the Allied capital ships in the distance. However, their secondary guns had already unleashed their roars to support the outnumbered cruisers. The United Forces, the Hayreddin, and the three Radetz-class ships were all equipped with 10 150-mm secondary guns, while the Dante had 20 120-mm secondary guns, which was enough to effectively suppress the French cruisers, although only half the firepower could be exerted on one side.

And the best in the support of cruisers are none other than the six former dreadnoughts of the Italians. Their four Queen Elena-class, each side is equipped with three twin 203mm L45 secondary guns, this design was originally based on secondary gun projection. The two Queen Margaret class are also equipped with 4 203 mm secondary guns and 12 152 mm secondary guns, and their single-port auxiliary gun firepower also surpasses the French self-Willy class below a dozen mounted patrols. In the confrontation between the loading and patrolling, the 7 excellent Italian loading cruisers occupied an absolute advantage; Even the old 7,200-ton Garibaldi can beat the 13,000-ton French outfit except for the Quinette class, and the 13,000-ton French outfit can't find the north!

"Boom!" A French 194-mm shell roared and crashed into the amidships of the second ship of the Pisa-class ship "Amalfi", and the huge momentum made the warship with a standing displacement of 9,800 tons also shake it. However, even at the edge of the deck's freeboard, the great Italian designers laid a 165 mm (6.5 in) thick piece of Krupp hardened armor for the Amalfi! The French armor-piercing bullet was bounced off without suspense and jumped into the water twenty meters away and exploded; The damage inflicted on the Italian ships was only an insignificant hole in the armor.

The Italians soon discovered the perpetrators. At a distance of 7,000 meters, the nose and tail guns of the Mishlai, with a standing displacement of 13,100 tons, were facing him, and the smoke from the muzzle had not completely dissipated. Seeing this, the angry Italians immediately aimed their artillery at this guy. And the main gun on the Italian patrol is not what the belt of the French scum patrol can withstand! (To be continued......)