Major General Sinken's attempt to divert the Italian battle patrol formation with his own battle patrol formation was obvious to Lieutenant General Gomes, who was the commander of the formation.

"Order, immediately increase the formation to 25 knots, and bite the enemy ship for me."

At this time, on the flagship Milan, Gomez ordered the same speed to catch up with the enemy patrol. The other party wants to drag his own pace carefully, he can see it at a glance, but if he wants to drag his footsteps, it also depends on whether the other party has the ability.

For this, Gomes is full of confidence. First of all, he has this confidence in himself, confident that he can see through the other party's means, and secondly, he also has confidence in the battleship under his feet. The Milan class's maximum speed of 27 knots (25.5 knots is claimed to be external) and the Taranto class is 26.5 knots (25 knots is declared to be external).

This also led to the British-for-tat building the Invincibility Class Indefatigable Class, which was maintained at a top speed of 26 knots. And now that the benefits of years of concealing the speed of the voyage have been revealed, the British will definitely be taken aback by the high speed of the Italian war cruisers.

With Gomez's order, the Italian battle patrol formation moved towards the Mediterranean battle patrol formation little by little.

In the face of the aggressive Italian high-speed battle patrol, Major General Sinken showed a hellish expression. "Why are the Italians so fast?"

But at this time, he couldn't care so much, so he could only continue to order. "Increase the speed to 25 knots."

As for why the highest 26 knots are not mentioned, this will cause the maximum wear and tear on the battleship, which will increase the probability of an outbreak of powertrain failure. And on the battlefield, if one battleship breaks down, it will drag down the entire formation.

Seeing the speed of the British war patrol, Gomes immediately ordered. "Increase the speed to 26 knots."

As the two battle patrols chased after me, they gradually moved southerly. Seeing that not only could not get rid of the opponent, but was also gradually approached by him, Major General Sinken knew that the purpose of wanting to delay the opponent's time could not be achieved. It can't be said that there was no delay, because the two sides were racing for more than an hour.

Of course, the main reason is that Major General Sinken can already see the land in front of him, and he has to slow down at this moment.

Speaking of which, it is also to blame Gomes for being in a good position, intercepting Major General Sinken's formation from the north-west position. He could not move in both directions to the northwest, and as for why to the south, because behind him was the east, where was the main force of the Mediterranean Fleet led by Admiral Carden, so it could only go south. To the south is the Libyan coast, leaving them with very limited room to toss, not to mention that the opponent's formation is much faster than them.

"Order the ships to be lowered to 19 knots, and prepare for battle."

At this moment, Major General Sinken saw that he could not continue to drag on, so he could only prepare for a fight, intending to use his formation to buy time for the main force in the Mediterranean.

And when the two battle patrols were preparing to fight, the battleship formation, which was the core of the two fleets, had already encountered.

At this moment, Admiral Kaden looked at the enemy warship emerging from the northwest and immediately ordered. "Prepare the ships for battle."

"Send a signal for ships to prepare for battle."

This order was soon passed on to all the warships in the formation, whether it was a tall and mighty battleship, a cruiser in various seas, and a small but equally deterrent destroyer, torpedo boat, etc., all of which were in a state of hustle and bustle under this order.

Although we had received reports of the enemy encountering the battle patrol formation before, it was not possible to believe when the enemy ship Admiral Kaden was encountered, so some of the preparations began before the battle, and could only be started when the enemy appeared.

Compared to the busy enemy, the Combined Fleet, which was constantly approaching the enemy at the moment, was quite untidy.

Thanks to surveillance from the air, the Combined Fleet can keep track of each other's movements during the day. Therefore, it can adjust the state of the fleet at any time according to the distance from the Mediterranean Fleet, and ensure that it can exert its maximum combat effectiveness when the enemy encounters, which is also the greatest home advantage of the Combined Fleet.

"Order the fleet to form a combat artillery strike formation in a vertical formation, arranged in the order of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd battleship squadrons. Destroyers, as well as cruiser formations, took cover on both sides of the shelling formations."

On board the flagship Cavour, Vice Admiral Lyfer ordered the last pre-war marshalling of the battleships. As the strongest battleship at present, the Cavour-class has absolutely no problem taking the lead, and its ability to resist can not be put in the first formation.

As for the Dante-class in the middle, although it is the first generation of dreadnoughts, due to the convenience of cooperation and command, there is no problem in placing it in the middle.

The third battleship squadron, which consisted of the intrepid and three combined forces class in the tail, was even stronger than the second battleship squadron, but it was placed in the tail due to coordination and tactical issues. Anyone who dares to underestimate it will definitely surprise them.

The Combined Fleet is methodically carrying out the final formation, and the Mediterranean Fleet is also organizing the entire fleet.

"The fleet is organized longitudinally, in the order of the first, second, and third battleship squadrons, and the destroyers and cruiser formations protect the flanks of the formation."

General Kaden is also carrying out the final formation before the battle, because he knows that he can't retreat at this time, and there is no way to retreat, so he can only do a battle with the other party. However, compared to the Combined Fleet, the Mediterranean Fleet looks much busier.

"Report, a telegram from the 2nd Battleship Squadron saying that its pre-battle preparations would take half an hour to complete."

"A telegram from the 3rd Battleship Squadron that it will take them 40 minutes to complete their pre-battle preparations."

"Our 1st Squadron also needs thirty minutes to prepare."

On the flagship Orion, news that doesn't look good keeps coming. As an experienced admiral, Carden certainly knew that the distress of the squadrons at this time was not lying, but the truth.

Because the pre-war preparations are really very cumbersome, if a 20,000-ton or 30,000-ton warship wants to engage the enemy in the best condition, it needs the close cooperation of all the crews on board. The preparation of ammunition, fire-fighting equipment, and checking power equipment are all part of the pre-war preparation, so that a battleship can meet the enemy in the best condition.

And now that he saw the enemy ships coming towards him, Carden would of course have to buy some time for his fleet to prepare.

"Order the fleet to turn south, turn around, and we'll drag each other along."

At this time, the Mediterranean Fleet, led by the leading flagship Orion, turned around in turn, giving people a feeling as if they were about to run.

And the actions of the Mediterranean Fleet, naturally, were also seen by the Combined Fleet.

"The enemy wants to escape!"

At the moment, most of the officers and men of the Combined Fleet hold this view. Because the other party has to turn backwards without hesitation, it is too much like running away.

"The enemy is not trying to escape, this is to delay time."

As the commander of the fleet, Leffel could see at a glance the intention of the other party's move.

"Order the ships to speed up, to 22 knots. We catch up and don't give each other a chance to change."

With Lefel's order, the Combined Fleet raised its speed to the extreme, chasing the Mediterranean Fleet at high speed.

Seeing the enemy ship chasing at high speed, Carden knew at this moment that the other party had seen through his idea of trying to delay time. In that case, there was nothing to hide, and the pride of the British Imperial Navy was surging in his heart at this moment.

"Order the fleet to turn to the left at 90°, and the speed will drop to 17 knots to prepare for engagement."

At this moment, the Mediterranean Fleet turned 90 degrees to the left and sailed northward, forming a T-shape with the pursuing Combined Fleet, which was obviously the Mediterranean Fleet grabbing T.

"Turn 85 degrees north, and we'll stick to it."

At this moment, as the commander of the Combined Fleet, although Leffel can still use the advantage of speed to grab T, this time he wasted a lot of time. And considering the fact that the enemy's reinforcement fleet was not far from here, so in the end, after some thought, he decided to stick to it like this and fight with the other party in a dignified manner.

Free to read.. com