The sky is as blue as jade, and the sun in the clouds is like fire; On the blue sea, a large fleet was spewing thick soot and sailing at full speed in the direction of the sun. On the majestic steel hull, there are tall triangular masts that are completely different from the capital ships of the Mediterranean Rim powers; From a bird's-eye view, all you can see is a magnificent main turret, and the St. George's Cross flag ringing in the sea breeze undoubtedly shows their identity as a combination of thousands of halos - the British Royal Navy!

"General, General Milne has sent another distress telegram, the French battleship Mirabeau has been sunk, the situation is extremely critical for them, and they urgently need the immediate support of our fleet!"

In the commander tower of the battleship Orion, Betty, who was in a straight uniform, frowned after receiving the telegram from the adjutant, and her blue eyes were full of worry. His lips twitched, and he slowly spoke: "Call back the old man asterisk, it is impossible for our own fleet to sail at full speed at 20 knots; Ask them to hold out for another 40 minutes, and my main fleet will be able to reach the battlefield and meet the enemy. ”

"General, why don't we send a destroyer fleet to support our allies first? The destroyers we brought out this time were elite warships, and the destroyers could reach speeds of more than 28.5 knots, and if they were to be the first to strike, they might be able to relieve a lot of pressure on Admiral Milne in danger. One of the staff officers spoke with some confusion, causing everyone in the command tower to turn their eyes on Betty.

Betty turned her head suddenly, two terrifying sharp looks bloomed in her eyes, and she said coldly, "Major." Don't you think the young men in Britain didn't die enough? The capital ships of the Allies have all received some damage. But they still have a large number of auxiliary ships at their disposal; If a group of destroyers is rashly sent for a surprise attack. Not only will it be highly likely to expose the existence of our main fleet to the Austrians, but it will also plunge the destroyer fleet itself into an unprecedented crisis under the interception of numerous frigates of the opposing side. Even those Austro-Hungarian Tazan-class light cruisers, which were built in the last century, were by no means able to withstand our destroyers, not to mention that the Italians had a powerful armored cruiser! ”

The British staff officers knew that they were not well thought out, and their faces were ashamed and silent. Betty snorted, ignoring the reckless colleague her own age; He sent a herald to the chart room. Once again ascertaining the current position of his own fleet, he sat back on the seat that had been fixed to the ground, and his mind began to think about the current situation.

A week earlier, this huge fleet, which accounted for one-third of the main force of the Grand Fleet, had set off from Scapa Bay overnight, playing an exciting movement of stealing the day. This time, the British Admiralty staff officers were surprisingly efficient, putting together a large schedule of merchant ships sailing the North Atlantic, and then giving Betty the ideal shipping route that could be best concealed. In the actual voyage, with the help of light ships escorting ships in the Atlantic, Betty, who has superb seafaring skills, successfully avoided one merchant ship after another; And even when there is no way to avoid it. The British fleet also collided with its own freighter that had departed from Britain mainland and was bound for the Americas across the ocean. Regardless of the subjective position or objective conditions, there is almost no possibility of them leaking secrets.

Late at night on August 10th. In the dim light and darkness, the eight super dreadnoughts of Betty's fleet quietly passed through the Strait of Gibraltar. Fortunately for the British, due to the entry of the Italians and the appearance of German submarines in the Gulf of Aden in the East China Sea, the number of merchant ships in the originally busy Mediterranean shipping lanes was sharply reduced, which undoubtedly provided them with a lot of room to maneuver in this relatively small sea area. Two days later, the British fleet sailed off the coast of Tunisia, just one step away from the main Allied fleet. Looking back on the thrilling voyage of the past week, even Betty herself was amazed by her good fortune and command; If he could return to Britain with a victory, it would be a classic that was not inferior to the Battle of Trafalgar!

However, it was not all smooth sailing. On Aug. 13, one of Orion's Parsons steam turbines malfunctioned after a long period of high-power operation; Although the British ship-carrying mechanics dealt with it urgently, this was undoubtedly a last-minute drag on the British fleet. Burdened by the flagship, which had a history of power problems, Betty's fleet was nearly an hour behind schedule and was still in a hurry more than 30 nautical miles from the area of engagement. Even now, at 20 knots, Betty took a big risk, lest the main engine of the battleship strike and stop if it was unhappy. He now misses his battle cruiser fleet immensely, and with the bottom of the ship cleaned and the power system effectively maintained, even the oldest of the Invincible class can chase the wind at 25 knots.

According to Betty's original plan, the French fleet was to use the French fleet as a fishing bait, and after the main Allied fleet had bitten it, he would then slant up from the rear and annihilate it in one fell swoop. However, this ideal situation was aborted with the changes in the actual battlefield. The heavy losses of the French fleet in the battle had already exceeded his pre-war expectations; The delay in timetable due to the power failure of the Orion also made it impossible for the British fleet to sit idly by and ignore the crisis of the French fleet, and then choose to detour and copy the other side's back road. In this case, Betty can only choose the most time-saving frontal support. Even so, Betty was worried about the time she was not waiting for; In the Battle of the Gulf of Helgoland more than two months ago, he had already played the role of a long-overdue rescuer!

The clock turns, the machinery ratts, and the waiting time is always extraordinarily long. After more than twenty minutes of torment, Milne's distress message did not come again; Faced with this situation, Betty's heart was not the slightest relaxation and happiness, but was filled with heavier worries, because it was likely to mean that the communication facilities of the old man asterisk had been damaged. Gradually, a thick cloud of coal smoke appeared in the far east sky, and a more and more intense thunderous sound came from the ears; Betty struggled to maintain her composure, but her hands gripped the chair's steel-cast deputy.

After another quarter of an hour, the lookout on the mainmast suddenly screamed, and a magnificent and open battlefield gradually appeared before the eyes of the British fleet. Betty stood up abruptly, grabbed her binoculars and looked into the distance. The smoke billowed and the fire shone brightly. The shadow of a fiery ship appeared in the barrel, and Betty's gaze was like a magnet attached to iron, and she could not leave it again; Although its outline is indistinguishable at 23 kilometers, Betty already has a strong intuition in her heart that it is most likely the United Forces, built by the Austro-Hungarian Navy on the basis of the German Caesar-class!

"Order, the ship's front main gun is raised to the maximum elevation angle, high-explosive shells are loaded, and half a minute later, aim at the enemy ship to carry out a round of shooting!" Betty put down the binoculars in her hand and spoke out to the herald beside her. Although the Royal Navy's maneuvers never exceeded 14 kilometers, and although the British 343 mm L45 naval guns had a range of only 21,780 meters at a maximum elevation angle of 20 degrees, it was absolutely necessary for him to use this method to send a signal to friendly forces that could not be directly seen at this time: the Royal Navy's support fleet is finally on the battlefield!

"Boom!" The earth-shattering loud roar exploded, and the four main guns in the bow of the Orion suddenly rushed out a wave of fire like a cloud, and the violent muzzle storm raged into the sky, and the majestic momentum made everyone in the command tower enthusiastic. About 50 seconds later, a huge wave hundreds of meters high suddenly rose from the sea in the distance, like an angry sea emperor Poseidon sweeping endless waves. The British, who were desperate for single-shot power, frantically stuffed their 343-mm high-explosive shells with more than 80 kg of high explosives, which was far more heavy than the later Japanese Yamato-class 460 mm high-explosive bombs. And when the sensitive fuses of these shells were triggered by hitting the water, they created an unprecedented miracle scene!

The waves are raging and the water is flying. House, who was immersed in the joy of the imminent annihilation of the Allied Mediterranean Fleet, instantly seemed to be struck by lightning, and his brain fell into a brief crash due to the violent conflict between the two conscious minds. After a while, the report from the lookout on the mainmast made his eyes widen and his body was soaked in ice: a formation of about 40 warships was approaching him from the west at a speed of more than 18 knots, and the first eight ships all had tall triangular masts, and there was no doubt that they were the main ships of the British Navy!

"Isn't the British Grand Fleet in Scappaflo, how could it suddenly appear in this Mediterranean?" House's incredulous roar echoed through the entire command tower. At present, his fleet has sunk 3 dreadnoughts and 7 former dreadnoughts, and another Danton-class battleship, the Diderot, has also been battered by his own artillery fire, and a few more shells can completely sink it. And now, the situation on the battlefield has been reversed in an instant because of the addition of this British fleet, and what he is thinking about is no longer to annihilate the French fleet, but how to escape back to the base safely!

"The order was given that the capital ships would no longer follow the flagship maneuver, and immediately turn to the right full rudder and sail directly to the Taranto military port at full speed." House took a deep breath and made his decision on the spot. At present, his capital ship has been heavily damaged in the previous battle, and the remaining ammunition is definitely not able to withstand a fierce battle, and running away is his only choice at present! (To be continued......)