On the calm waters of the Mediterranean, the sharp bow of the warship cut through the waves, and the white spray that split in two spread out to the sides, gradually disappearing into the water.

The British battleship HMS Hood, the flagship of the British blockade fleet to the south, was commanded on the bridge.

"Captain, how could the blockade of Germany, which did not even have heavy cruisers, directly send such a large fleet? Two battleships, with three cruisers, such a large scale......" The first mate asked the captain with the telescope boredly on the side.

"Do you think this is to deal with the two broken fishing boats of the German Navy?" The captain put down his binoculars and said with a smug smile: "We have three tasks this time: first, to blockade the sea surface of the Middle East and let Germany completely cut off the oil resources of the Middle East; second, to deter the natives of the Arab region by force, so that they obediently hand over Germany's share of oil; and third, let the Italian Navy see how powerful we are, so that we don't get so close to Germany." ”

In fact, both the British government and the navy were not very comfortable with this ocean-going blockade. Because Germany has also used various means to weave a large net of interests here: Turkey and Italy are tied to this great net of interests. So even though Germany did not have a single warship in the Mediterranean, the British Navy still felt that the size of the fleet must be large.

Because the Italian government has not yet made a clear statement of neutrality, and the Italian navy does have the combat capability and idea to wipe out the small Royal Navy - the British fleet was targeted by the Italian navy as soon as it entered the Mediterranean.

In 1934, the Italian Navy had two old Count Cavour-class battleships, the Cavour and Giulio Caesar, and two old Cao-Durio-class battleships, the Cao Durio and Andrea Doria.

Although the battleships seemed to be of average strength, Italy stood out in the strength of the cruisers: at that time, there were four Zara-class heavy cruisers with the best protection and most powerful in the world: "Zara", "Fum", "Grazia", and "Bora". In addition, it has 2 Taranto-class heavy cruisers and 2 Borgano-class heavy cruisers.

If you count 10 light cruisers and 60 submarines - if this Italian fleet is poured out, it can completely give the British Royal Navy's Mediterranean strength a headache, so this time the British Navy sent the home fleet south, just to ensure that Italy, which is getting closer and closer to Germany, is to be deterred.

As soon as he had finished explaining, he gave the order: "Signal the King George V, keep the speed and course, and we will arrive at the German transport route in about an hour." "Hopefully, the British Foreign Service has given the British government a price to Italy's bullshit leader Benjamin Mussolini, so that the two naval behemoths don't have to fight in the Mediterranean."

The price is really not light, Britain promised to give Italy and Germany 10% of the oil share, of course, in order to facilitate the head snake Saudi Arabia also took 20%, France asked for 20% as compensation, the United States also swallowed 10%, Turkey, as a local power in this region, also took 10%, and the British government contributed to get 30% as compensation. I hope that Italy will accept this condition without hesitation.

After a while, the British King George V replied: "Two British destroyers are coming, and they have been monitoring the German route in this vicinity." ”

"To tell the truth, our army should go to the Germans and take a good lesson! But our Royal Navy is different, it's time for the world to remember once again who is the supremacy of the seas!" The commander of the British fleet snorted and said, "Give all 5." 5-inch guns on stand! Inform the fleet to move forward at full speed! Any Germans must board the ship to inspect it, and if there is resistance, allow it to open fire!"

There are four warships named the Hood in British history, and the battle cruiser Hood, built in 1916, is one of the most powerful warships, this battleship has a full load displacement of more than 48,000 tons, and is a real super warplane.

It has 8 15-inch guns, equipped with 4 twin turrets in the front and rear, which can hit enemy targets at a distance of 33 kilometers, and has 12-inch armor thickness, which is enough to withstand most artillery attacks - this battlecruiser can be said to be the pinnacle of world battlecruiser design, and it is definitely the most powerful weapon that the British Navy can get its hands on at present.

When commissioned in 1920, HMS Hood was the largest and most expensive capital ship in the Royal Navy, and she was the fastest of any naval capital ship at the time. Regarded as the pride of the Royal Navy and a symbol of the British Empire's maritime might, HMS Hood has made a deep impression and has attracted attention many times during her service as a ceremonial ship of the Royal Navy to demonstrate British prestige.

"Keep course! Notify the power room, and speed up immediately!" The first mate shouted: "All personnel return to their posts!

"The reconnaissance plane sent a telegram and found the German transport fleet, two D-class (that is, German Hercules-class transport ships) on the scheduled route. The operational staff officer handed over the telegram to the fleet commander.

"Order, the two destroyers in front of them immediately lean over, board the ship and inspect it! If they encounter resistance, sink them on the spot. Pay attention to the direction of the Italian coastline in the north behind our fleet, and immediately enter the state of anti-aircraft alert when encountering Italian planes! All anti-aircraft guns are on standby. ”

"All anti-aircraft guns are on alert!45 degrees in the air!" the first mate commanded loudly into the microphone, and then the whole battleship began to be noisy.

"Boom!" After a while, the sound of an explosion was heard in the distance, and there was chaos in the command room. The captain and fleet commander raised their binoculars and began to look into the distance, and the combat staff officers drew a wave of pictures on the charts. Soon, the explosion was heard again, and it seemed that a British * ship had opened fire.

"Hey, the communications room, confirm it! Which ship has opened fire? Quick!" a combat staff officer asked loudly over a walkie-talkie, "I want exact news!" and report it to me immediately...... Yes, yes, I see!"

Putting down the earpiece, the combat staff immediately reported to the fleet commander: "Report! The Brave sent a signal, the German transport ships accelerated to escape, and the Italian naval ships in the distance answered, they opened fire and hit one of them, and the other ship had already entered the protection of the Italian navy, and they did not continue the pursuit. ”

I knew for a long time that the Italians would protect the Germans, but what I didn't expect was that it would come so quickly, and it seems that the Italian fleet also set off in advance to wait here, so the Germans had already discovered the southward movement of the British fleet, and the skills of this intelligence collection were better than those in World War I. The fleet commander thought as he put down his binoculars.

"Boom!" An explosion that resounded through the sky was a hundred times louder than the sound of artillery fire just now, and you could see a billowing smoke rising into the sky without a telescope, and it seemed that the German oil transport ship had been hit by a shell, and judging from the tragic course of the explosion, this time the Royal Navy even saved the trouble of sending lifeboats to enforce international law.

......

In front of Accardo, Colonel Smith said proudly: "Because Germany forcibly expelled the Allied Arms Control Commission, the international community doubted the sincerity of Germany's defeat and reflection, so it was initiated by the French government and jointly implemented by the United Kingdom, the United States, Belgium, and Japan to impose economic sanctions on Germany. ”

War could break out at any time, and as the military attache of the British Embassy in Germany, Colonel Smith had planned to leave for China. But now that the government had made the decision not to go to war at once, it seemed that the retreat did not need to be so urgent—and he swaggered to the German Führer on behalf of the British government.

I have to say that this move really stabbed Germany in the most painful place, Accardo made every effort to build the world's largest mechanized corps at this stage, laying a solid material foundation for the German blitzkrieg in advance, hundreds of cars and tanks brought the German * team unparalleled assault ability and propulsion speed, high-performance fighters made the Luftwaffe although the number was insufficient but extraordinary, and it has revealed its strong strength to dominate the sky- But behind the power is that each of these modern equipment is a painful super-oil tiger: more powerful engines, larger tonnage tanks and fighting vehicles, and a huge amount of communications equipment that relies on field generators.

While giving the German team the goal of surpassing the combat strength of the French Army in a short period of time, the fuel consumption of the German Army also reached twice that of the backward French Army. And now Accardo feels that in modern warfare, you can't win a war with guns and cannons - you have to have gas!

"Colonel Smith. Accardo stared at the British official in front of him who had dealt with him the most, and said, "I don't understand why things have come to this point, and I don't understand why our expansion of armaments to defend Europe against an attack has made so many people think of sanctioning us. ”

"Ming people don't say dark words, Yuan is born first. Smith smirked: "We need Germany to stand with us in the face of the threat, not to annex our neighbors and turn the whole of Europe into a miasma with this slogan." ”

"We are gathering our strength to make our own contribution to the eternal peace of Europe in the east, and as a result, you have stabbed us in the back!" Accardo said with a slight helplessness on his face: "For the sake of Germany's 20% share of oil in the Middle East, what the British are doing this time seems to be a little unauthentic. ”

"If the Führer really wants to go eastward, he can buy oil from everyone, at least the American share will not be shipped back to the North American continent, and they are looking for a buyer to buy their goods nearby. Smith replied with a smile.

"Good idea! I bought it!" Accardo nodded and said, "Now can we talk about the fact that the British ship opened fire on our civilian transport ship in the Mediterranean Sea and sank our ship?"

"Yes!" Smith nodded as well: "But before we talk, I hope that Yuan Xiansheng will remember one thing, the British Empire is only firing at pirates in the Mediterranean." ”

Note: Historically, the destroyer Brave was on guard against Japan in the Far East at this time, so military fans should not take it seriously.