Continuing from the above, it was mentioned above that the Soviet and German newest fighter planes had the first confrontation over the Strait of Gibraltar, although the scale was not large, and the winner was not completely distinguished, but the meaning was still different.

However, the story that will be told in this chapter takes place not in the air, but at sea, and following the confrontation in the air, the Red Navy also fought against the German and Italian navies on the sea. However, this fight was not deliberate, but by accident.

How did it happen? That has to start with the national army. The adjustment period of the previous months did not mean that the two sides of the civil war were just waiting for their respective godfathers to provide assistance, and it was certainly impossible to wait blindly.

For example, Franco, who was blocked at the end of the Strait of Gibraltar, was constantly sneaking troops to the other side of the strait, although he no longer dared to engage in any "victory transport" with great fanfare, but he was carrying troops in the night almost every day. As the saying goes, it took more than three months to transport 20,000 people. Although it is not enough to march into Madrid, it is enough to keep the territory of Cádiz.

Especially after entering 1937, Ferrol's two Canary-class heavy cruisers were finally "completed". Even this kind of completion must be put in quotation marks, because these two heavy cruisers are simply the goods that were made up of everything. The fire control equipment, carrier-based aircraft and catapults, and secondary guns were all improvised ways to dismantle the east wall and make up for the west wall (all in Britain and the Netherlands), for example, the secondary guns were 4 102mm guns removed from the shore batteries and the antique Nordenfeld 57mm rapid-fire guns.

Another example is the vital fire control equipment, which was also borrowed from land batteries, and even the compass was supported by the Portuguese navy (Portugal sided with the Nationalists in the Spanish Civil War).

Let's be honest. Such a patchwork of battleships is really unsightly. If you add it to the ugliest appearance in the history of the Canary class. These two heavy cruisers are simply a disgrace in the treaty heavy cruises (the Canary-class bridge and chimney are so huge that they are like two "bags" on top, which is really ugly).

Of course, for the national army, appearance is not a problem at all, half a year after the start of the war, their navy was forced by the Republic Navy to be quite wolf, and the only battleship belonged to the family squatting (the Spanish was in disrepair and had almost no combat effectiveness at all). The two light cruisers of the Republic were still under repair in the dockyard, and they could only rely on the ship Severa to maneuver with each other, and the disadvantages were obvious.

And the service of the "powerful" Canary class will reverse the disadvantage at sea in one fell swoop, if we can concentrate three cruisers and take advantage of the Republic Navy in Gijón and Santander when they are drunk and dying, quickly go south, and cover the crossing of Franco's remaining troops in one fell swoop, then the overall situation will be decided!

That's what the Nationalists thought and did, on a dark and windy night. The two Canary-class heavy cruisers, which had just been completed, and the light cruiser Severa quietly slipped out of the port of Ferrol and headed quickly towards the Strait of Gibraltar.

The commander of the formation, Admiral Moreno, also thought that the operation was very stealthy. Not being discovered by the Red Navy, which was spying on Ferrol, was really a little proud. However, this person was too happy, indeed, the visibility was very low at that time, and there was no surface ship activity of the Red Navy on the surrounding sea, but the absence of surface ships did not mean that the Red Navy had no ships on the spot.

The Spaniards were so careless that since the beginning of the war they had been focusing only on the surface ships of the Republic and the Soviet Union, not knowing that the Red Navy had not only sent surface ships to Spain, but also submarine forces.

Four of the Baltic Fleet's L-class conventional submarines (Leninets-class) (the names are really not available, for the sake of narrative convenience, they are called L1, L2, L3, L4) arrived in the Bay of Biscay. L3 was monitoring Ferrol's every move that night, and when Moreno's formation slipped out of the harbor like a petty thief, it happened to be caught by L3.

Of course, it is impossible for L3 to launch a torpedo attack, otherwise Moreno will not know how to die, and the only thing L3 can do is to report the situation of Moreno's formation to his superiors. Soon, Kuznetsov, who was sitting on the Leningrad, received this information.

Naturally, Kuznetsov did not dare to be sloppy, and immediately forwarded the telegram to Tukhachevsky, the commander-in-chief of the international column, who forwarded it to the Spaniards. It should be said that this series of movements was still very fast, and less than two hours after Moreira left the port, the Spanish Admiralty had already received this information.

But what happened in a daze, and the Spaniards reacted so calmly that Tukhachevsky's eyes could be squinted, because the other party said that he would give this information back to the Admiralty Minister at 9 a.m. tomorrow when the Admiralty began its work.

Tukhachevsky scolded the street on the spot, it was only four o'clock in the morning, and by nine o'clock in the morning, the daylily was cold. Nima, it's war time, and you don't care if you go to work or not during the war, you think you're the official ape of Switzerland and Japan who will be paid military salaries in the future!

With Tukhachevsky's outburst, the Spaniards were dumbfounded, and they were very aggrieved that it was not in accordance with the rules, but in view of the excitement of the Soviet advisers, they had to make an exception to open the back door.

Tukhachevsky later recalled: "I never thought that one day going through the back door would turn out to be a good thing. I was speechless for the lazy Spaniards, and I couldn't figure out how they could accomplish the great cause of the empire on which the sun never sets......"

The news of this backdoor finally reached the Minister of the Navy of the Republic, and in general, the next step should be to attach great importance to it, and then immediately take targeted arrangements. And this time the Spaniards were about to renew Tukhachevsky's concept, and the Minister of the Navy said that he attached great importance to it, but in fact there were no targeted measures, except for ordering four destroyers in the port of Malaga to intensify patrols in the Strait of Gibraltar, other effective measures were basically none.

Tukhachevsky couldn't figure it out: "Why not let the fleet that stayed in Gijon immediately set sail to catch up?" Can only four destroyers stop two heavy cruisers and one light cruiser? ”

To this the Minister of the Navy replied: "Gijón's fleet is still resting, and according to the opinion of the Marine Council, the fleet is not suitable for departure from the port for the time being......"

All right. For the first time, Tukhachevsky hated the Sailors' Council as a body. If the Baltic Fleet Sailors Council in the October Revolution in Russia is also this table. Lenin and Trotsky had to commit suicide by jumping into the sea.

But it doesn't make any sense to let Tukhachevsky do his job, because the Minister of the Navy directly stated that he did not have the power to mobilize the fleet on a large scale, and this matter had to be decided by the prime minister, otherwise he could not help.

After hanging up the phone, Tukhachevsky's expression was one of tears and laughter, and many times he wondered whether Nima was in the Spanish Civil War or the Russian Civil War. Why is he, a Russian, more concerned and responsible than the Spaniards, on the contrary, those who are the main ones are not doing the same thing, and Zhennima can't understand it!

What I don't understand is still to come, the reaction of the four destroyers that Malaga received orders from the Admiralty is interesting, two of them resolutely refused to carry out the order by the vote of the ship's sailors' committee on the grounds that it was a suicidal mission (not to be wrong), and in the end only the Rebanto and Galliano honestly carried out the order (remember these two destroyers?). It can be seen that they are not the most funny).

In a thick fog, the Rebanto and the Galliano were once again headed for the Strait of Gibraltar, two hours later. A Nationalist reconnaissance plane flew over the heads of the two ships, after making two large circles. The pilots passed back the whereabouts of the Rebanto and Galliano.

As mentioned earlier, Franco was preparing to break through the blockade with three cruisers and cross the Strait of Gibraltar in one fell swoop, so after receiving the information from the Navy of the Republic, he paid great attention to it and immediately organized all the forces he could get and began to meet it.

The so-called full force is the gunboat Canovas. Morality. Castillo, Lauria, Dato, Canalehas and the armed fishing vessel Ket Riverplate. To be honest, this bit of power is really miserable. However, the fighting spirit of the National Army Navy is much stronger than that of the Republic Navy, and even a few garbage ships dare to take the initiative to fight!

For example, the previously mentioned gunboat Dato, the captain of the ship, Rear Admiral Sunico, is a fierce man, who had embarrassed Rebanto and Galliano last time, especially after witnessing the tragedy at sea, this one was holding back enough to give the enemy a little color.

And it was this overly aggressive Naval Lieutenant Suniko who stabbed the big basket! The fog was heavy that day, and the gunboat Dato was poorly equipped for sighting, and while cruising in the strait, lookouts reported what appeared to be destroyers on the port side.

As soon as he heard this, Suniko did not hesitate to give the order to open fire, aiming at the enemy destroyer in the fog and began to fire fiercely, don't you say, under Suniko's command, the Dato was not ordinarily accurate, and achieved a cross-fire result in the first round of salvos! If nothing else, the Dato will soon be able to bring blood to the enemy on the other side!

However, Sunico and his crew were soon dumbfounded, because the destroyer in the fog soon raised a huge Royal Navy flag! It turned out that this was the destroyer HMS Basilisk stationed at the base of Gibraltar!!

My good man, it's going to be a lot of fun now. What is the nature of firing at the Royal Navy, one of the two great navies in the world?

"Stop shooting! Stop shooting now! "Suniko jumped on the bridge.

The only thing that made Suniko fortunate was that he only got a cross shot and didn't really hit the Basilisk, otherwise there would be no way to end the game.

Through the guò flag signal and the public frequency exchange, Sunico took great pains to explain to the British that this was a misunderstanding, although in the end the British did not listen to his explanation, and strongly demanded that the national army give an explanation. So much so that Franco had to send a diplomatic delegation to London in person to apologize to the British and ask for forgiveness.

But this is a digression, so I won't talk about it. Suniko was in a bad mood after the mistaken attack on the Basilisk, but he didn't get discouraged, and he didn't quit the mission in a discouraged manner. Suniko remained in the Strait with the Dato, still trying to search for the destroyers of the Republic.

At half past seven in the morning, when the fog had cleared a little, the Dato spotted another suspicious target, and in the fog a destroyer appeared like the Galliano. This time Suniko was a little cautious, and his eyes widened for a full ten minutes, and after repeated confirmation, he decided that this was the destroyer Galliano.

"All gun emplacements are ready. Aim at enemy ships. Fire! ”

There may be comrades who want to ask. Why did Sunico attack in such a hurry, and if he got closer, or could he call the public channel of Guò Radio to confirm?

It's really not good, because first of all, Sunico is eager to fight and can't wait to give the Republic Navy a little color, and secondly, the Dato is not powerful! It is a ship with a standard displacement of only 1,300 tons and a maximum speed of 15 knots. A small boat with only four 102-mm guns. And Suniko's opponent was a real destroyer with five 120-mm guns and six 533-mm torpedo tubes, which could reach a maximum speed of 36 knots!

Let's put it this way, the Dato and the Galliano are not opponents of the same level at all, and if Suniko does not strike first, I am afraid that he will only be beaten.

This time the Dato hit even more accurately than the last time, and in the first salvo a 102-mm shell hit the stern of the enemy ship, although it did not cause much damage, but it was a good start!

And after the "Galliano" was attacked by the Dato, the reaction was also quite rapid. On the one hand, it immediately accelerated, and on the other hand, it began to fight back violently!

The enemy's return fire reassured Suniko. He became more and more sure that the Galliano was on the other side, so he ordered: "Send a telegram to inform the friendly ships of our location, and let them come to the aid of the battle at once!" ”

After giving the order, Sunico focused his attention on the next battle, except for the first shot, the next dozen or so salvos of the Dato never opened again, and even the straddle shots were very rare, but their opponents were getting more and more accurate, and several times the shells almost grazed the deck of the Dato.

In this regard, Sunico was a little surprised, because a few months ago, the watch of the Galliano was simply unsightly, how could the level of work in just a few months skyrocket?

After thinking about it, Suniko could only blame it on Maozi's military advisers, anyway, he didn't believe that the lazy Republic sailors could spontaneously improve their technical and tactical skills.

It was at this moment that the "Galliano" finally made a hit, and a hole was cut in the middle of the Dato's hull, and the waves immediately rushed in, and for the next few minutes, shells continued to kiss the hull of the Dato, and at one point even the bridge where Sunico was located was hit.

"Canovas. Morality. When will the Castillo, Lauria and Canaleas arrive? Suniko shouted loudly as he grabbed the chart table to stabilize his figure.

"The Canalehas is nearby, and it will be there soon!"

This news reassured Sunico a lot, if the Canalehas can arrive soon, it will be two to one, although there is not necessarily any advantage, but it is better than the disadvantage of going head-to-head now.

Suniko ordered to continue the battle on the one hand, and on the other hand, he also raised his binoculars to observe his opponent, in the exchange of fire just now, his Dato was certainly very bad, but it was not just beaten and did not fight back, and the Dato also returned a few shells from his opponent.

Suniko wanted to see what he had done, but as his binoculars swept over the enemy bridge, the huge banner made his pupils shrink sharply!

With a white background, a red five-star and a sickle axe, and a blue border underneath, this very ugly naval flag belongs to the Red Navy!

Sunico swore that he had never seen this weak flag before! Otherwise he would definitely not have fired!

Well, it can only be said that Suniko's luck is too bad, the Red Navy's flag recognition is indeed a little low, especially in the fog, and it is normal to be ignored.

But how to end up now is the first thing Suniko needs to consider. Immediately cease fire and show the Soviets that this was nothing more than a misunderstanding. Speaking from the heart, Sunico didn't like this choice, the previous tragedy was still vivid, and he was angry with the Soviets who "made" that qiē, and he had long been looking forward to fighting Maozi! Anyway, now the fight has been fought, and there is an example of the British in front, he is already a dead pig who is not afraid of boiling water, if he can take the opportunity to sink a Maozi destroyer, it can be regarded as revenge for the brother who was killed before!

Sunico's idea of this in Canovas. Morality. The Castillo and Canalejas reached their peak when they arrived on the scene almost simultaneously. He ordered to continue the fight, which was prepared to be a mistake to the end!

So, what kind of ships of the Red Navy were in the crossfire with Suniko for a long time? It was not a destroyer, but the Black Sea Fleet's Type 36A frigate, the Guardian, which was patrolling the Strait of Gibraltar and was somehow killed by the Dato.

After being attacked, the captain of the guarding ship, Captain Berdyaev, ordered an immediate return fire, and ordered Kuznetsov to immediately inform Kuznetsov of the situation. At that time, Kuznetsov was also stunned, and he couldn't understand what the Nationalist Army was mad about, but he immediately said that Berdyaev's response was correct, that is, he should resolutely combat the enemy's arrogance, and immediately ordered the Type 33 destroyer, which was closest to the incident site, to immediately rush to the area where the incident occurred to support the Guardian.

Not long after the three Nationalist gunboats began to besiege the Guardian, in the dense fog, the narrow Excellence plunged in like a sharp sword, and eight 130-mm guns rained down on bullets, enveloping the three Nationalist gunboats at once.

At that moment, Sunico was dumbfounded, he never expected the enemy's reinforcements to come so quickly, and the firepower was so fierce, it was only a little while, his ship Dato was hit by five bullets, and the power of the enemy's shells was considerable, each bullet could make a big hole in the hull of the Dato, according to this trend, it would not take ten minutes, he would have to go to sea.

Faced with an unfavorable situation, Suniko's eyes rolled, and he immediately shouted to the Russians through the guò international general channel, shouting that this was a misunderstanding, and demanded an immediate truce...... (To be continued......)

PS: Bow and thank you to zz120, Prince Chu, Traveler with the Wind, Glorious Charter and Comrade Juventus!