Taranto is the largest military port in Italy and is now the main anchorage of the Combined Fleet.

The glow of light looms over the harbor, making Taranto even more enchanting, but no one is enjoying the scenery at this time, as a large number of warships are entering the harbor.

Tall and mighty warships are docking at berths, and the sailors who have been training for several days are preparing to disembark, and they are eager to find a place to rest and relieve the fatigue of these days of high-intensity training.

The sailors can relieve the fatigue caused by the training, but the officers are not so good, they need to calculate the results of this training, and calculate the gains and losses, which is much harder than the sailors.

And these various statistical results will eventually be summarized in the hands of Vice Admiral Leffel, the commander of the fleet.

On the flagship Cavour, Vice Admiral Leffel looked at the compiled report and spoke to Vice Admiral Sidorol, the chief of staff of the fleet. "Reportedly, the training effect is significant."

In the face of Lefer's words, how could Sidorol, as his chief of staff, not know the reason.

Speaking of which, before Vice Admiral Sidorol became Chief of Staff of the Combined Fleet, he did not know much about the situation in the Italian Navy. Although the Italian Navy has been famous in the world in recent years, the specific situation of the Italian Navy is not well known to the Austro-Hungarian Navy, which lacks communication.

Therefore, Vice Admiral Sidorol weighed himself and believed that the Italian navy was limited in strength compared to his own. Not only him, but the vast majority of the Austro-Hungarian Navy thought so, and there were even those who thought that the Italian Navy was similar to their own, and these people had been living in the victory in the Battle of Saly.

However, after the formation of the combined fleet, the arrogant Austro-Hungarian navy discovered that this idea was outrageously wrong, and it was only after in-depth contact between the two sides that they found that both sides were outrageously wrong.

Austria-Hungary found that it underestimated the Italians, and Italy found that it overestimated the level of the Austro-Hungarian navy. Speaking of which, the reason for the poor level of the Austro-Hungarian Navy is still a matter of money.

Although the Austro-Hungarian Navy had the support of Archduke Ferdinand, Austria-Hungary was the only army in the country, and even the navy was under the jurisdiction of the army (the Austro-Hungarian Navy did not have an admiralty, only a naval division under the army), how could this be financially supported???

You must know that the navy is a technical branch, so it is more dependent on funding than the army. Although the crown prince had been looking for funds for him before, these funds were basically used to build ships, showing that the strength of the Austro-Hungarian Navy was not bad. This also led to a shorter training time and a poorer technical and tactical level of the Austro-Hungarian Navy.

Finding that the gap between the two sides was not small, Leffel immediately applied to the Admiralty to increase the content of a lot of training on the grounds of improving the tacit understanding between the two sides. Of course, in private, Lefer also reported the situation truthfully to Admiral Yagill.

Out of consideration for Italy's interests, Admiral Yagill also agreed to Lefel's request to use the Italian Navy to help the Austro-Hungarian Navy improve its technical and tactical level.

As a result, for more than a month after the start of the war, the joint fleets formed by the navies of the two countries spent most of their time conducting various training at sea.

The effect of a large number of high-intensity training was remarkable, so that the level of the officers and men assigned to the Austro-Hungarian Combined Fleet increased rapidly, although there was still a considerable distance from the level of the Italian officers and men, but at least it reached a level that could be seen.

That is why the war against Malta will not begin until almost two months after the war has begun.

After all, the reinforcement of the British Mediterranean Fleet needs to be considered, and the addition of three Austro-Hungarian combined forces can put the Italian side in an advantageous position.

As a side note, the Austro-Hungarian Navy currently has only three combined-forces class battleships available, because the fourth Prinz Eugen is undergoing sea trials and cannot be incorporated into the Combined Fleet at the moment.

The same fate as the Eugen was the Roma, which had just finished outfitting. Italy's first super-dreadnought, armed with a 380-millimeter gun, is only now underway and will not enter service until at least the second half of next year. As for the other three warships of the Roma class, thanks to the Navy's initial urging of the shipyards, all three have been launched and outfitted, and it is expected that three will enter service by the end of next year.

In fact, the Admiralty had other ideas for launching the Maltese campaign, and they wanted to use Malta as a bait to lure the British Mediterranean Fleet to rush in for reinforcements.

This would allow Italy to take advantage of its home field advantage and try to solve the problem of the British Mediterranean Fleet in one fell swoop. Of course, if the Mediterranean fleet does not come out of Alexandria, then take Malta and block its Mediterranean routes. Let Britain have to take a detour from the Cape of Good Hope, where the environment is even worse.

This circumference was 7,000 kilometers, which was enough for Britain to invest more merchant ships to ensure the return of various personnel and materials from Asia. The amount of energy and time it takes can be a headache for London.

It is precisely with this purpose in mind that the capture of Malta must not be rushed or slow, and it is necessary to master a good balance.

Of course, all this is premised on the fact that the combined fleet must have an advantage, and if it is at a disadvantage, then everything is not to be mentioned.

Fortunately, under the wise leadership of King Carlo, Italy vigorously built a variety of warships, giving Italy a strategic advantage for the first time. The Admiralty does not take advantage of the superior period to expand the results of the war, so how can it wait.

And Vice Admiral Leffel, the commander of the Combined Fleet, who grasped this advantage, of course, also understood this truth, so it would be logical for him to help the Austro-Hungarian officers and soldiers improve their technical and tactical level.

Talking with Vice Admiral Sidorol about the work of the Combined Fleet, he was busy until late at night.

When everything was almost settled, after seeing off his chief of staff, Leffel was ready to disembark. The port of Taranto at night is very charming, and the warships parked on the berths are visible in the moonlight.

Leffel was very familiar with the battleship in his hand. Outside the port of the armistice was a guerrilla formation led by his friend Vice Admiral Gomez, and 3 Taranto-class cruisers and 2 Milan-class cruisers were quietly resting under the guard of other warships.

Farther than the guerrilla formation was the 3rd Battleship Squadron, where the three combined forces and the Dreadnought were moored. Then to the left was the Second Battleship Squadron, where the four Dante-class ships were equally quiet. As for his current position on the right, there is the absolute core of the Combined Fleet at present, the four Cavour-class ships of the First Battleship Squadron.

Even if four Roman-class ships are commissioned, Cavour's absolute core position will not be threatened in the next two years. This is because it takes a short run-in period between the warship and the officers and men before they can form a real combat effectiveness.

Looking at the huge fleet under his command in front of him, Lefeel was full of pride at the moment, and he wanted to use the sharpest sword of the kingdom to bring enough benefits to Italy. Remember the URL of this site, so that you can read it next time, or enter " " in Baidu, you can enter this site