When Hercules decided to defeat Hades' three-headed dog, no one thought he would succeed, but the most powerful hero of ancient Greek mythology and legend eventually defeated the monster. And this time the Italian navy also faced the powerful monster of the Entente, and no one thought that the Kingdom of Italy could defeat them. This is one-sided, and a contempt for the Royal Italian Navy, which we will tell our enemies and friends with our actions that the strength of the Italian Navy is beyond doubt, that the Mediterranean Sea will be ours, and that any attempt to prevent Italy from restoring the glory of the once Roman Empire will be destroyed by the Royal Navy! Before the departure of the Italian fleet, Tycho said to his officers.

On the night of September 25, 1914, under the cover of night, the first battleship formation of the Italian Navy slowly sailed out of the harbor with the help of guide ships and lighthouses. And today, as a force that changed the pattern of the entire world, he joined the largest and most skilled battle since the beginning of civilization. From now on, the fate of the Kingdom of Italy was largely determined by Tycho.

"My teacher created an empire in the East, and now, I will revive an empire in the West." In his diary, Tycho wrote: This formidable fleet assembled all the capital warships that Italy could handle, 4 Caraccino-class super-dreadnoughts. Three Earl Cavour-class dreadnoughts and three Dante-class quasi-dreadnoughts, plus a large number of armored cruisers, light cruisers, and dozens of destroyers, the entire fleet assembled at a speed of more than 18 knots towards the predetermined location. According to the arrangement of the Italian side. The Italian ambassadors to France and Great Britain will deliver a diplomatic note to the British and French governments at 8 a.m. on September 26, declaring that the two sides will be at war, and on September 27 the Italian-Austrian fleet will attack the French fleet.

After more than a dozen hours of sailing, the Italian avant-garde fleet finally discovered the Austro-Hungarian fleet. Then the two sides met at about 2 p.m. on 26 September with the German-Austrian representatives, Count Spee and Vice Admiral Jordi on board their flagship, the Caraccino. Begin to make the last preparations for the upcoming battle. After the convergence, the huge Allied Mediterranean Fleet began to sail in the direction of the French fleet. More than a dozen destroyers spread out a fan-shaped search line in front of the fleet and began to search in the direction of the last discovery of the Grand French Fleet.

"This battle will decide the fate of the 3 empires, so I hope that everyone involved can do their best, and there will be sacrifices in the war, so I hope you can understand my arrangement." looked at Lieutenant General Spee, who had a serious expression, and Lieutenant General Jordy, who showed dissatisfaction. Tycho said. For this kind of fleet, which has never conducted a single exercise and cooperation, Tycho still has some confusion in his heart. But this is the best chance to wreak havoc on the French fleet, and if you're not ready, you'll have to go too!

And just when the Italian-Austrian combined fleet was sailing murderously towards the Ionian Sea, the French fleet that was cruising here also received a message from the mainland, and the situation that the French had been worried about finally appeared, Georges Legge (the name of the French general is really not found, it seems that the French 1st World War Navy did nothing except the Dardanelles, it is too difficult to find. Bear with me, everyone——! The admiral's hands trembled slightly as he looked at the telegram in his hand, just this morning. This telegram was sent in by the adjutant, and Admiral Georges Leger, who had just gotten up, was very unhappy, but now, it seemed that it was nothing to be disturbed from sleeping, because by this time, the Italian fleet had already moved, and the French could encounter a fierce battle at any time, maybe today, maybe a week, but it would definitely not make the French wait too long, because it was not long before another piece of intelligence was sent, The French spy ships and destroyers, who were tasked with monitoring the Italian fleet, suddenly discovered that several important naval bases in Italy were empty!

Admiral George Legge now had nothing more than two options, one was to quickly assemble the fleet and prepare for battle, and the other was to slip back to the western Mediterranean while the Italian and Austro-Hungarian fleets had not yet arrived. But such a major action was not something he could decide, because it involved not only the French fleet, but also the British fleet, which was already about to enter the Red Sea, and it was said that the convergence of the two engines was imminent, and if the French fleet was gone, what would happen to the British fleet? What about Malta and Alexandria? This responsibility is too great. So much so that Admiral George Leg had a trace of hesitation, and this hesitation made him lose the opportunity to be the last!

However, during this time, Admiral George Legge did not do nothing, first of all, he ordered the fleet to shrink rapidly, and it became pointless to continue to maintain the blockade of the Adriatic. If he wins, the Austro-Hungarian fleet will definitely not be able to return home, and if it loses, the previously deployed mines will be slowly swept away by the opponent sooner or later, and the Austro-Hungarian fleet can use the Italian military port. So he first gathered all the destroyers and above in his own hands, and then began to reorganize them, and estimated the threat that the French fleet would have to face this time.

George Legge still has a certain understanding of the strength of the two sides, although the number of dreadnoughts is 8 to 11, but the actual situation is definitely worse than the number comparison! The worst of the Italian-Austrian fleet was the Italian Count of Cavour, but even the worst, based on the performance of both sides in the Sino-Russian War, the French also thought that the Danton class was certainly not as good as the Count Cavour.

As for the lonely-class battleships of the French? How to put it, this is a bit like an upgraded version of the Count of Cavour in terms of layout, to be specific, there is a knapsack turret in the first place, and a turret on each side of the hull amidships, a total of 6 turrets in the whole ship, and the sidechord fire is between 10 and 12 12-inch guns. THE THICKNESS OF THE MAIN ARMOR IS 270MM. THE UPPER ARMOR IS 180MM, THE TURRET FRONTAL 320MM. With a speed of 20 knots, it is a new ship that is only 8 years old, and in the eyes of the French, the performance of this class of battleships should be slightly stronger than that of the Count Cavour class, and about the same as the Austro-Hungarian Combined Force battleship.

As for the super-dreadnought comparison of the most rear, the French immediately knelt down. Although 3 Brestani-class battleships are really good, but if you have 3, the Italian-Austrian Navy has a full 6! 27 main guns against 56 main guns, the difference in firepower between the two sides is doubled, how to fight? So Georgeleg did not think at all that his fleet could defeat Italy and Austria in terms of dreadnoughts.

But at the same time, Georgeleg also recognized his advantage, the French fleet had a lot of cannon fodder to use, the quasi-dreadnought French had the advantage, and the armored cruiser French also had the advantage, but somewhat contrary to Tycho's assumption, Georges Legge did not intend to put such a huge auxiliary fleet into battle. He divided these auxiliary warships into two parts, the first part was 6 quasi-dreadnoughts and 6 armored cruisers, and their tasks were twofold, the first was to tear through the gaps in the opponent's defense line and provide time for the main fleet to move in. On the other hand, it depends on whether the situation can make a contribution in the middle and near distances. After all, the Italian Navy inherited from China, emphasizing long-distance combat and key protection, and the main armor belt is all weak protection, once faced with medium and close range deck washing, I am afraid that there will be danger. At this time, Georges Legge still had a slight desire for victory, and believed that even if the French fleet was defeated, he could still achieve certain results.

The other 4 older cruisers and more than a dozen destroyers were grouped into the second group. Georg Legge was already aware of the drawbacks of the serious shortage of auxiliary warships in the Ito-Austrian fleet. So he thought of the tactics that the other side might concentrate on using auxiliary warships. Since it is used intensively, then there must be ground counterparts that cannot be taken care of, and the task of this formation is to make a sudden attack when the other side cannot take care of it to see if it can get some results with torpedoes, and George Legge does not mind the loss of patrol and lightning strike ships.

The Mediterranean Sea is too small, the two sides almost meet is a dead knock, 10,000 tons of loading and cruising is not low, if you have the support of the capital ship, you can also wash the deck, if not, it is the cargo that will be killed in seconds, in Georg Leger's opinion, if you can exchange three or four ships for one capital ship of the other party, it is worth it. In this operation, George Legge planned to trade these outdated and obsolete battleships for the opponent's valuable dreadnoughts.

Just as the Italian-Austrian fleet was murderously rushing towards the French fleet under the leadership of Tycho, and while Georges Leg was preparing to evacuate and fight at the same time, Thomas's fleet, which was sailing in the Red Sea, finally received an urgent telegram from the British Admiralty that had been forwarded several times. "Italy has declared war on our country, and the main fleet of its navy has left the port and its whereabouts are unknown, and the Third Rapid Fleet is ordered to go immediately to the Mediterranean to join the French fleet. If you encounter any Allied fleet, you can dispose of it yourself. ”

By the time he saw this telegram, Thomas had already sensed that something was wrong. "Damn, I should have thrown out the supply ships behind me and hurried to the Mediterranean, the Admiralty guys are so arrogant, they are too basking in the Victorian glory to extricate themselves. They underestimated their opponent's strength and determination. However, Thomas could only continue to the Mediterranean for now, and Thomas was not confident that he would be able to join the French fleet before the two fleets clashed. After all, now the fleets of both sides have been assembled in the Mediterranean. The Italian fleet disappeared, and then the eight achievements were to join the Austro-Hungarian fleet. And the Mediterranean Sea is such a big place, facing a fleet with a cruising speed of more than 15 knots, it will soon be able to meet. And when it happens, the result is bound to be an earth-shattering battle!

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