My Italian

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

"Order, the formation speeds up to 25 knots immediately, bite the enemy warship for me."

At this time, on the flagship Milan, Gomes ordered the same speed to catch up with the enemy battle cruiser. He can tell at a glance that the other party wants to slow his pace, but if he wants to slow his pace, it depends on whether the other party has this ability.

For this, Gomes is full of confidence. First of all, he has this confidence in himself, confident that he can see through the opponent's methods, and secondly, he also has confidence in the battleship under his feet. The maximum speed of the Milan class is 27 knots (declared 25.5 knots), and the maximum speed of the Taranto class is 26.5 knots (declared 25 knots), which is its confidence guarantee.

This also led to the invincible and tireless class built by Great Britain **** for tat, all of which are maintained at a top speed of 26 knots. And now the benefits of concealing the speed for many years have also been brought out, and the British will definitely be surprised by the high speed of the Italian battle cruiser.

Following Gomes' order, the Italian battle patrol team moved closer to the Mediterranean battle patrol team.

Facing the menacing Italian high-speed battle patrol, Major General Sinken showed a hellish expression. "Why are the Italian warships so fast?"

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

As for why the highest 26 knots is not mentioned, because this will cause the wear and tear of the battleship to reach the maximum, which will increase the probability of power system failure. On the battlefield, if a warship breaks down, it will drag down the entire formation.

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

As the two battle patrols chased after each other, it gradually moved south. Seeing that he was not only unable to get rid of his opponent, but also gradually approached by him, Major General Xinken knew that his purpose of delaying the opponent's time could not be achieved. It can't be said that there was no delay, because the two sides raced for nearly an hour.

Of course, the more important reason is that Major General Xinken can already see the land in front of him, so he has to slow down at this moment.

Speaking of it, it is also to blame Gomes for being too good at blocking, intercepting Major General Xinken's formation from the northwest blocking position. It made it impossible for him to move in two directions to the northwest. As for why he went south, because behind him was the east, where the main force of the Mediterranean fleet led by Admiral Cardon was, so he could only go south. And to the south is the coast of Libya, leaving them very limited room to toss, let alone the opponent's formation speed is much faster than them.

"Order the ships to reduce to 19 knots and prepare for engagement."

At this moment, Major General Xinken saw that there was no way to continue to procrastinate, so he could only prepare to fight, intending to use his own formation to buy time for the main force in the Mediterranean.

And when the battlecruisers of the two parties were preparing to fight, the battleship formation that was the core of the two fleets had also encountered it.

At this moment, Admiral Cardon looked at the enemy warships appearing from the northwest and ordered immediately. "Let all ships prepare for battle."

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

This order was quickly passed on to all the warships in the formation, whether it was a tall and mighty battleship, or a cruiser in various sea areas, as well as small and exquisite but equally deterrent destroyers, torpedo boats, etc., at this moment, they were all in a busy state under this order. middle.

Although I have received reports of the battle patrol formation encountering the enemy before, I may not be sure when I will encounter the enemy ship, so some of the preparations started before the battle, and I can only start when the enemy appears.

Compared with the busy enemies, the United Fleet, which is constantly approaching the enemy at this moment, is quite disorganized.

Thanks to the surveillance from the air, the United Fleet can control the opponent's movements at any time during the day. Therefore, it can adjust the status of the fleet at any time according to the distance from the Mediterranean Fleet to ensure the maximum combat effectiveness when encountering the enemy. This is also the biggest home field advantage of the United Fleet.

"Order the fleet to form a vertical formation, and the order of arrangement is the first, second, and third battleship squadrons to form a combat bombardment formation. The destroyer and cruiser formations will cover both sides of the artillery formation."

On the flagship Cavour, Lieutenant-General Leifer ordered the final formation of the battleship before the battle. As the strongest battleship at present, the Cavour-class is absolutely no problem in leading the battle. Its ability to resist and fight should not be placed in the front line.

As for the Dante class in the middle, although it is the first generation of dreadnoughts, it is no problem to put it in the middle due to the consideration of coordination and command convenience.

The third battleship squadron, which is composed of the Dreadnought and three joint force-class ships at the tail, is even stronger than the second battleship squadron, but it is placed at the tail considering issues such as coordination and tactics. If anyone dares to underestimate it, it will definitely surprise them.

The United Fleet is carrying out the final formation in an orderly manner, and the Mediterranean Fleet is also carrying out the formation of the whole fleet.

"The fleet is organized vertically, and its arrangement order is the first, second, and third battleship squadrons, and the destroyer and cruiser formations protect the two wings of the formation."

Admiral Cardon was also doing the final grouping before the battle, because he knew that he could not retreat at this time, and there was no way to retreat, so he could only do one battle with the opponent. However, compared with the United Fleet, the Mediterranean Fleet looks much more hectic.

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

"The 3rd Battleship Squadron has a telegram that they need 40 minutes to complete the pre-battle preparations."

"Our No. 1 Squadron also needs thirty minutes to prepare."

On the flagship Orion, pieces of bad-looking news kept coming. As an experienced admiral, Carden certainly knew that the complaints of the battle squadrons at this time were not lies, but facts.

Because pre-war preparations are really cumbersome, if a warship of 20,000 to 30,000 tons wants to engage the enemy in the best condition, it needs the close cooperation of all crew members on the ship. The preparation of ammunition, the preparation of fire-fighting equipment, and the inspection of power equipment are all part of the pre-war preparations, so that a warship can meet the enemy in the best condition.

But now that he saw the enemy warships approaching him aggressively, Admiral Kadeng would of course have to buy some time for his fleet to prepare.

"Order the fleet to turn south, turn around, and let's drag each other."

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

The actions of the Mediterranean Fleet were naturally seen by the United Fleet.

"The enemy wants to escape!"

At the moment, most of the officers and men of the United Fleet hold this view. UU Reading www.uukanshu.com Because the opponent turned back without hesitation, it was too much like running away.

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

As the commander of the fleet, Lefer saw the intention of the opponent's actions at a glance.

"Order the ships to speed up to 22 knots. Let's catch up and not give the opponent a chance to change."

Following Laifer's order, the United Fleet increased its speed to the extreme, chasing after 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 desire to delay time. That being the case, there was nothing to hide, the pride of the British Empire Navy surged in his heart at this moment.

"Order the fleet to turn 90° to port and reduce speed to 17 knots for engagement."

At this moment, the Mediterranean Fleet turned 90° to the left and sailed northward, forming a T-shape with the United Fleet that was pursuing. It was obvious that the Mediterranean Fleet was fighting for T.

"Turn north 85 degrees, let's stick it."

At this moment, Lefer, who is the commander of the joint fleet, can still use the advantage of speed to grab the t, but this time he wasted a lot of time. And considering the fact that the enemy's reinforcement fleet is not far away from here, after some thought, he decided to just post it like this and fight with the opponent in an upright manner.

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