The movement of the sinking of an ironclad ship is extremely eye-catching, and the battlefield filled with gunpowder seems to have a momentary stagnation for this.

Rodriguez noticed the scene and in fact had been watching with a telescope since the first impact.

He had thought it was a suicidal act, a heroic sacrifice by the Degris to buy them time.

Unexpectedly, it really completed the reversal of defeating the strong with the weak and the big with the small, and it only took a few minutes to capture the first ironclad ship in this war.

"Ruth, good fellow! Worthy of a Spanish cross! Rodriguez stood at the bow of the ship and exclaimed.

However, Captain Ruth didn't know if he would get the medal alive.

Because the De Gris in the distance was given a retaliatory fire by the Italian battleship that had come to its senses, many shells were poured around it.

The surrounding Spanish warships were trying to rescue the hero, but the Degris itself had been badly damaged in the impact just now, and its bow was damaged to a certain extent due to the difference in quality and opponent.

After being hit by 4 shells, it began to leak and lost the ability to move.

At this time, the gunners were still trying to reload the guns, but their fate was sealed, and the Italian battleship was cruising in its blind spot, bullying the old ship to not deal with the enemy at both ends of the nose.

Lieutenant General Rodriguez couldn't bear to watch it any longer.

In fact, their escape has not stopped, and it is expected that in another five minutes, the Numancia and Degris will be out of each other's sight.

The sacrifice of the De Gris was not meaningless, it bought precious time for the escape of the rest of the Spanish battleships, and it also objectively allowed Spain to win this conflict.

……

At 4 p.m., the distance between the decoy fleet and the Italian fleet was again reduced to 2 nautical miles.

Both sides were a little nervous at this time, the Italian fleet was afraid of ramming the French Mediterranean fleet, and the decoy fleet found itself lost.

With only a stretch of sea level on the high seas, it was difficult for them to find a reference to locate themselves at high speeds.

From the previous turn in front of Genoa, they deviated from the intended route, and after the next big battle, the route was even more outrageous.

If all is correct at this point, the decoy fleet should have mixed with the main fleet and successfully completed the mission.

But what Rodriguez saw was nothing but seawater.

Occasionally, a French merchant ship could be seen, but when the other party saw them, they walked around at a distance, running faster than the other.

Moreover, the advancing Italian fleet did not give them time to intercept the merchant ships.

In desperation, the bait fleet can only take the other party around in circles.

Rodriguez was sure that he was in the vicinity of the intended location, perhaps 10 nautical miles away was the main fleet they were looking for.

But if you can't find it, you can't find it, and now you can only hope to find some landmark references - this is very unlikely, the Spanish navy rarely operates here and is not familiar with the terrain.

In addition, there is a relatively inefficient method, which is to wait patiently for the night to come and rely on the stars to determine your position.

However, the worst plan did not work, and half an hour later, things took a turn for the worse.

An Ottoman steam freighter sailed to the sea.

The huge size and slow movement make the decoy fleet happy.

Unlike the small, fast, short, earthworm-like merchant ships of the Mediterranean, the Ottoman-to-French route is one of the longest in the Mediterranean.

Correspondingly, the ships that run this route are larger, last longer, and carry more cargo.

In particular, this "Cunningham" is one of the best, and Rodriguez estimates that this guy has 20 years of service history.

On his orders, one of the cruisers on the left flank broke away from the ranks and headed for the "Cunningham".

The other party really obediently stayed where he was and didn't dare to move.

The stubborn French ran as they wanted, but the Ottoman cargo ships, like their homeland, had learned to be submissive to the Western powers.

Seeing this, Rodriguez was satisfied with the fleet and fled in the opposite direction, lest the Italians discover the two ships in the negotiation.

Unfortunately, the heavens did not fulfill their wishes, and soon, at 4:50 a.m., an Italian reconnaissance ship spotted them.

The two ships were standing still, not knowing what they were doing.

But the Italians don't care at all what they're doing, on the sea, stillness means death.

The reconnaissance cruiser opened fire at a great distance and hit the Spanish "Spino" directly with one shot.

Fortunately, due to the distance and the fact that it did not hit the vital part, the solid bullet only caused minor damage to the hull, as long as the carpenter repaired it in time.

But even this was a great surprise to the Spanish crew, who, having obtained the information they wanted, hurried back to their ships and ran away.

And the Cunningham was not so lucky, in the second round of blows, they took everything in place of the "Spino", which was hit by two shells and leaked badly.

Seeing this, the Italian cruisers were getting closer, and the crew of the "Cunningham" thought that they had realized their mistake and were helping them, and they all muttered something in Arabic angrily and happily, and several Ottomans dressed as wealthy merchants tried to greet them in French.

Unexpectedly, the visitor was full of malice, and the Italians, who were chasing after "Spino", vented their anger on the innocent onlookers.

"Boom!" "Boom!" Several shells hit the body of the "Cunningham" one after another, causing it to ignite a raging fire on the sea.

The panicked Ottoman crew jumped into the sea one after another, floating on the surface of the sea and looking up at the culprit and cursing loudly.

It's a pity that the Italians don't understand what they're saying, and even if they do, they don't care, they laugh and mock the embarrassed Ottomans.

The Italian sailors are very simple-minded, and if you have an unclear affair with the enemy, then you are also an enemy.

They would have some scruples about other European countries, but the Ottomans were barbarians, and relations with Italy had always been bad, so they fought and fought.

……

Probably, no one expected that retribution would come so quickly, and the goods on board the "Cunningham" were tobacco produced in Asia Minor.

The tobacco was quickly ignited, bringing a sky-high fire, and the burning cargo ship sent gray smoke into the sky.

Not only did the decoy fleet and the Italian fleet notice this movement, but even the main Spanish fleet, which was more than ten nautical miles away, sensed the change here and sent several reconnaissance ships to investigate......