"THE DEFENSE OF THE COMBINED-FORCES CLASS BATTLESHIPS IS STILL VERY GOOD, WITH HEAVY 330MM INCLINED MAIN ARMOR COVERING THE DEFENSIVE AREA FROM THE LOWER DECK TO THE MIDDLE DECK. The height of the main armor of the entire side is up to 5.2 meters. THE FRONTAL ARMOR OF THE MAIN GUN IS UP TO 380MM, AND THE ARMOR OF THE GUN MOUNT IS ALSO UP TO 360MM. In the Battle of Bayda, the ship's vertical defense withstood the test, and the Italians' 10-inch L50 naval guns used armor-piercing shells to hit the armor belt, turret and gun mount at least 8 times, but none of them penetrated, and the best result was only to make a hole about 10 inches deep on the side of the side. However, in areas outside the main armor box, such as the propeller shaft, it was not well protected, and a 10-inch armor-piercing shell hit the 9-inch inclined armor outside the propeller shaft compartment at close range, then caused a penetration and damaged one of the propeller shafts. —Excerpt from the Report on the Night Battle of Beida

"Your Excellency, one of our propeller shafts appears to have been damaged and has been forced to stop working." A few minutes later, a staff officer said with some apprehension. "Damn it! It's so damning! These reptiles actually injured the mighty United Forces! Moody felt a hint of shame and anger in his heart. I found that I was really unlucky, a very well-planned operation was ruined by the night attack of the Italians, and what was even more unfortunate was that the other party actually damaged two of its precious warships, especially the Aegean Sea, I don't know if it can be saved!

Just as Moody's was cursing at the Italians, the United Power finally hit the first shot! A 16-inch shell hit the stern of the Zara, and the powerful 16-inch shell almost directly cut the half-pulled stern off the stern of the Zara. The violent explosion and vibration also caused a certain amount of damage to the power of the Laza. At the same time, hundreds of tons of water were flooded in the stern of this battleship. This blow was like a slap in the face, and Casaldi finally realized the severity of the situation, even if his tactics were correct, he still couldn't gain an advantage when he took the lead. If you continue to fight, as long as the opponent is a little luckier, then your cruiser may really not be able to go back!

"Pull the smoke, evacuate! All ships evacuate the battlefield on their own! Looking at the flaming Aegean and the formidable Combined Forces battleship in the distance, Casaldi finally decided to evacuate. As for seaplanes? Let them fly to the southern part of the country, and Casaldi will not have the guts to recover the seaplane at sea under the threat of the enemy's naval guns! Although there was smoke in the way, the Austrians who had been running back and forth made another hit. A 16-inch shell cut the bridge of the cruiser Gorisia in half, and because it was a direct fire at close range, it was not easy for both sides to hit the main armor belt. Although at this time the Austrians also changed armor-piercing shells. But if you can't hit the core module, there's no way.

"How's the contact with the land-based aviation?" Looking at the Italian cruiser looming in the smoke and night, Vice Admiral Moody asked with a gloomy face. "There is no loss of aviation fuel for us, and our Air Force can continue to track these two warships as long as it is daylight. And if the other side flees in the northwest direction. It will also be attacked by our patrol planes and bombers from Crete. The staff officer next to him said. Well, let's go after the two Italian cruisers, tell the fighter units in the port of Benin, put them in charge of our air defense, and inform the submarine forces cruising in the sea that, if we can, put a cordon on their routes within the range of Sicily, and see if we can stop them! Moody ordered.

The other party is obviously planning to end the game. But Moody didn't want the other party to run away like this, and the two Italian cruisers dared to hit the door with a few destroyers. After sinking no less than 7 transport ships, he also sent 3 destroyers to the bottom of the sea, and at the same time seriously injured the Aegean air cruiser and slightly damaged the United Forces, although the two Italian cruisers were also damaged, but it was obviously the other side that had the advantage, if it was just that, what was the face of the Austro-Hungarian fleet?!

And he also fully considered the feasibility of the matter, the two Italian battleships were also damaged, and the speed of the voyage would not be too fast, even if it was faster than himself, it was definitely within the tolerance range, and even if it was lost, what about it? They only have two directions to run, one direction is to the northwest back to Sicily, but this road will meet the land-based aircraft from Crete, the Italian fleet without a little air defense can never escape the palm of the land-based aircraft, and the other is along the Libyan coastline to the southwest, at this time the Italian fleet is in its own north, they can lead the fleet to intercept the shortcut, and the Italians who are in a hurry to get out will definitely not withdraw directly to the west, in this way, the distance between the two sides will be very close for a while, All it takes is a proper hit to save the Italians. There is never such a thing as 100% certainty in the war, although I don't know the damage of both sides, but Moody's judged that he is 70% sure that he can retain the opponent according to the battle report just now, so it is worth a try! The Italians are done performing, and now it's time to watch the Austro-Hungarian fleet.

Casaldico's plans for the Austro-Hungarian fleet were not clear. However, the Italians also had a way back, the Sicily air cruiser was going to cover their retreat with the land-based air team, at this time both battleships were damaged, especially the Golicia's injuries, in addition to the shell that hit the battleship's superstructure, there were two 16-inch near-miss shells to cause serious damage to the cruiser, one of which exploded near the power compartment, and the sharp shrapnel tore the side chord protection of the Gorisia under the impetus of the current, directly causing a boiler compartment to enter the water. Another shell entered the water near the stern wheelhouse, shattering one of the rudders. It also caused some of the compartments to be flooded, which resulted in the Gorisia being reduced to about 25 knots, which was even slower than the injured Combined Forces.

"The cruiser Sicily was ordered to go 80 nautical miles to meet us, and we may not be able to get to the scheduled place at the scheduled time, and to tell the British! Their intelligence is terrible! I'd love to know why there's a battleship here! Casaldi said indignantly.

"All the planes are ready, and we're probably going to need to fly them at a high intensity." Lieutenant Commander Vito, the captain of the Sicily, thought for a moment after receiving Casaldi's order. "We must guarantee that the first wave of aircraft will have at least 8 fighters and 12 bombers, the latter will have to carry 250KG of bombs, well, that's all. If the deck is not enough, try a catapult. A moment later, Lieutenant Colonel Vito added.

"Our mission is to provide air defense cover for the fleet, not to attack enemy ships, and there are no targets in this area worthy of our attack." The officer on the side reminded.

"The colonel mentioned in the telegram that the other side had battleships, and the firepower of the heavy cruisers was not enough to destroy such a target, and if they caught up, we were the only ones who could stop them." Lieutenant Colonel Vito still gave the order with a prepared mind, and what he did happened to save Casaldi's life!

When the sun rose again, shining on the calm waters of the Mediterranean, Casaldi felt not the warmth of the sun, but the biting chill! Because just now, a British reconnaissance plane discovered that a fleet was rapidly approaching in the northeast of itself, and the leader of it was naturally the battleship United Forces, according to the British estimates, the speed of the other side was about 27 knots, and according to the current speed and distance of the two sides, the other side would be able to bring itself into the range of naval guns after a maximum of two and a half hours! Although Casaldi could not see the terrible creature in the distance under the influence of the morning mist, fear and worry weighed on him like a mountain.

"Do you want to give up the Golicia?" At this time, the speed of the Zara can still reach about 29 knots, if you give up Zara, then Casaldi will definitely be able to run back, but for the Italian Navy, which is also not thick, it is also a difficult decision to abandon a 15,000-ton heavy cruiser!

"Lieutenant Colonel Vito has called, and he says that he has learned the location of both of us based on British intelligence, and that his bomber unit will fly over the other side in half an hour." Vito was very conscientious as a subordinate, he just told the commander what he was going to do, and then let the commander judge what to choose. And Vito's telegram was undoubtedly a shot in the arm for Casaldi!

"Half an hour? If our bombers can stop the Combined Forces, then there is no need to abandon the Gorisia, and even if the stop fails, the Zara still has a chance to evacuate, so it is better to wait. Casaldi said.

Because the Sicily Air Cruiser was about 80 nautical miles ahead of the intended point of contact, the direct distance between the two sides was greatly shortened, so that by the time the fleet released by the Sicily reached the skies over the Combined Forces battleship, the Allied land-based air forces in Bayda were still on land, and the Combined Forces battleship, which had already fought a night battle, was forced to face these deadly aerial assassins.

"Damn it! Our anti-aircraft guns on the right were almost completely destroyed by high-explosive shells! At this time, Moody discovered a serious problem, that is, although the core compartment of his battleship did not receive any losses, the anti-aircraft guns on the surface of the battleship were almost wiped out by the two Italian heavy cruisers! The 10-inch cannon high-explosive shell hits these anti-aircraft guns with only one bulletproof steel plate or no bulletproof steel plate, and the gun position can be described as handy. Looking at the anti-aircraft artillery that was beaten into piles of ruins, and then looking at the bombers that were about to dive in the air, Moody's face turned white!

Thanks to the book friends zhouyu1976, hukaikaka for the tip~~~, and the book friends soaring in the universe of the constellation of the monthly pass support~~~. (To be continued......)