At a time when the whole of Germany was thinking about how to get the Italians to stand on their side, when the diplomats of Germany and Austria-Hungary lobbied the Italian top brass and promised great benefits and benefits, and when even the British and French believed that Italy would not be able to enter the war within one year, the Kingdom of Italy had already begun to make the most difficult preparations for war.

Although Italy is a third-rate imperialist country in Europe, it is important to know that even a third-rate country has ambitions! Italy has been working since its unification to restore its glory during the Roman Empire (well, I have to say that this expectation is too far away. But France to the northwest and Austria-Hungary to the northeast, without a single soft persimmon (relative to Italy). Although the mountains to the north allowed Italy to hold back their advances, it was not something Italy wanted to see.

As a fledgling empire, Italy was only on the last train to carve up its colonies. Although because of Xu Jie, the traverser, the Italian Army is better than in history, at least the current Ethiopia is Italian! But the Italians were still not satisfied. It is not only Germany and Austria that can benefit, in fact, in order to win over this country that still has some strength, Britain and France have also made good conditions. But it is far from what Italy wants. And this time, the Italians saw an opportunity, one that could soar.

And it was a bold move by the French that led to all this! In this plane, the conditions of the Austro-Hungarian Navy were much better than in history. On the one hand, Italy is still neutral, and the Austro-Hungarian navy is not blocked at home. On the other hand, the strength of the Austro-Hungarian navy was much stronger than before. In addition to the 2 Combined Force Battleships, there are also 2 Prinz Eugen-class Super Dreadnoughts. (Imitation of the German Caesar class.) This gave Austria-Hungary confidence, after all, at this time, the nearest Greek navy was only one Dreadnought. Or an old ship that participated in the Sino-Russian War. Although the French Navy had 7 battleships, it was still stationed in the port of Toulon, which could be said to be beyond the reach of the whip.

And so. Under the command of Vice Admiral Jordy, commander of the Austro-Hungarian Navy, 4 battleships with a number of younger brothers made waves in the Mediterranean! And even more so at the beginning of the war. The battleship Liberty of the Greek Navy was directly and heavily damaged, and it was driven to Alexandria and did not dare to come out, if Thomas had not gone earlier. Then I'm afraid that if Thomas wants to go to the Indian Ocean, he will have to take a detour to the Horn of Africa! As a result, a matter was staged in the Mediterranean where there was no tiger and monkey in the mountains to claim the king, and the strength of the Austro-Hungarian fleet in the Mediterranean was the third, and it is difficult to say who the first and second were. But it certainly had nothing to do with Austria-Hungary. But in the entire Eastern Mediterranean, Jordi's Austro-Hungarian fleet was the most powerful presence.

With the wreaking havoc of the Austro-Hungarian navy, shipping throughout the Mediterranean tended to come to a standstill, and at this time the Entente could absolutely not allow it, especially the island of Malta was seriously threatened. After some consideration, the French believed that defeating or even annihilating the Austro-Hungarian navy before the Italian navy entered the war would be very useful to the military posture of the Allies as a whole. After all, if the Austro-Hungarian fleet retreated into the Adriatic Sea, the French had no choice, but since it came out, then a decisive battle at sea. The French Navy believed that it was still strong enough to suppress its opponents.

According to the French's assumptions, this plan should not be a big problem. Since the French government has said that the Italians will not move in 1 year, then the situation of the naval battle is 8 to 4, 2 Danton-class battleships, 3 Guba-class battleships and 3 Brestani-class battleships of the French Navy. At this time, the Austro-Hungarian Navy was raging off the coast of Greece. The French fleet could cut off the retreat of the Austro-Hungarian navy and force their opponents to fight a decisive battle when they were overwhelmed. Of course, the Austro-Hungarian fleet could also be pushed to the Dardanelles Sea in Turkey. But the ports of Turkey simply could not accommodate and maintain such a large fleet, so the end that awaited the Austro-Hungarian Navy even slowly rotted! It is not okay for a battleship to go unmaintained for a long time.

The French thought so, and did so, and on August 7, 1914, the first ships of the French Navy sailed out of the port of Toulon, and this fleet gathered almost all the warships that the French Navy could handle, 2 Danton-class dreadnoughts, 3 Guba-class battleships and 3 Brestani-class battleships, plus 10 armored cruisers and a large number of destroyers and minelayers, and their task was to carry out the blockade plan to the Ionian Sea at the fastest speed, and their follow-up fleet would rush to the battlefield within ten days, And use the island of Malta as a base to lock the retreat of the Austro-Hungarian Navy!

And in addition to inflicting heavy losses on the Austro-Crarian navy, the Entente could also gain a number of other benefits, and after the French inflicted heavy losses on Austria-Hungary, what if the Italians entered the war? The strength of the two sides is equal. The French said that although they had always been bullied by the British Navy, and although they had now degenerated to a strength similar to that of the Italian Navy, the French still believed that they would not lose to this emerging country! And perhaps, the Italians, who are the grass on the wall, will join the side of the Entente when they know that they cannot do it!

The French think they have a last resort, but the Italy of this era is not the Italy of history, it has stronger strength and greater ambition! Italy's powerful navy has given it the ability to compete with the French. And the smug actions of the French made the Italians see an opportunity, an opportunity that could make the French fleet doomed with just one battle!

If the French wanted to block the retreat of the Austro-Hungarian navy, they had to concentrate their main forces on the Ionian Sea! And it's also very close to Italy! There is nothing wrong with blockading this sea, but because of the neutral status and strength of the Italian Navy, this blockade line is useless for the Italian Navy! What would have happened if the Italian Navy and the Austro-Hungarian Navy had been in harmony all the way? A counter-encirclement of the French fleet will be formed on the periphery! The French battleships were many, especially the former dreadnought battleships and a large number of armored cruisers. However, it is precisely because of the large number that it will be inconvenient to maneuver, and the speed will be slower, and if such a large number of warships break through, the huge number will become a shackle that restricts the main fleet. Unless the French generously threw away all the backward battleships, the speed of the dreadnoughts could not be increased!

But what if the French play a strong man with a broken wrist? In the narrow sea between Sicily and Tunisia, Italian submarines would continue to await the arrival of the remnants of the French fleet. The French will lose a number of warships when they break through, and they will lose another batch of warships after breaking through this blockade line, so there will definitely not be many ships that the French Navy can go back to! And once the French navy collapsed, then there would be little obstacle to the Italians' ambitions in North Africa, at least in the eyes of the Italians, as long as there was a strong navy, even if the island of Malta was in the hands of the British? The armies of Italy, Austria and Turkey are not ready to deal with the isolated Allied North African Legion? What if the British fleet came to support? How many battleships can the British send out?? Even if it came, the Italian and Austro-Hungarian navies were definitely not afraid.

As the de facto commander of the Italian fleet, Vice Admiral Tycho had an even more ambitious plan, that is, after inflicting heavy damage on the French fleet, he would concentrate his forces and cooperate with the army to capture Alexandria and the Suez Canal. and eventually open up the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean, and if this plan is successful, then the German-Turkish combined fleet can go north to the Mediterranean to join the Italian fleet. Thomas's fleet, which was alone overseas, became a solitary son. Either stay in the Indian Ocean and survive, or you will have to make a detour to Africa and then back to Europe, but then the entire coast of India will become unprotected. The British and French colonies in Asia would have lost all ties with their homeland. Australia and New Zealand have the manpower and inability to transport to the Pacific Ocean, the Strait of Magellan and then the Atlantic, which increases the cost and expense, which is tantamount to the situation for Britain and France, which are extremely dependent on sea transportation.

Of course, although this plan is very promising, there are still many problems, the first problem is the question of when to declare war, the French can rely on the island of Malta for supplies, they can cruise at sea for a long time, and the Austro-Hungarian fleet will be less and less effective even if it is cowered in the Dardanelles Strait, because it cannot get sufficient maintenance and supplies, that is, the Italian fleet should act as soon as possible in this battle! The later you go, the less you can help.

But then a new problem arose. After the convergence of the Italian fleet and the Austro-Hungarian fleet, the question of command! Italy, for its part, must have thought that it was much better than Austria-Hungary, which had only 4 dreadnoughts, both in terms of fleet size and strength. Command should be completely in your own hands. But at the same time, as the victor of the feud and the Battle of Lisa, Austria-Hungary would certainly not hand over command so happily, and the biggest problem for the two countries fighting together was the problem of communication and pitting teammates. The communication problem was serious, the Italians spoke Italian, and the Austro-Hungarian fleet spoke 3 languages at the same time! What do you say about this? As for the problem of pit teammates? I can't really say that. The Italians and Austrians distrust each other. It is impossible to say that two countries cooperate directly and intimately!

Therefore, this plan can be described as very full of ideas, and very skinny in reality. But it was at this time that the arrival of a mysterious man gave the Italians a hope. A hope that the forces of the Mediterranean can be integrated and a viable operational plan can be developed.

The second is more ~~~, please support ~~~~. (To be continued......)