Mediterranean Hegemony Road

The second bombing has just passed, and the third round of bombing is coming again. Now the Italians are too lazy to come out to put out the fire, and they are hiding under the bunkers they think are safe.

The unfortunate Italian naval duty Rear Admiral Giorgio Messer was unfortunately affected by the second round of bombing when he was in command of the firefighting. But he was also lucky, he just scratched a little skin, and then passed out happily.

The Italians who do not have the highest commander on the scene will naturally not make any move.

Of course, it is impossible for Taranto to have only one commander, Giorgio Messe. In fact, there are still quite a few generals in the Taranto Navy at this time. Unfortunately, everyone is unwilling to take responsibility!

Turn the tide? This is based on the premise of being able to succeed. Now the naval warships, shipyards, material storage warehouses, and forts have all been visited by the Bulgarian Air Force. The planes in the sky cannot be shot down, and the damaged property cannot be restored. What can they do?

The waiting time is long. Originally, the bombing of the Bulgarian Air Force started in the first round and ended in the third round in just three or four hours, but for the Italians below, it was already a year!

The bombing mission was successfully completed, and the Bulgarian Air Force returned happily, leaving the scene in a mess. The raging fire is still burning, and the scarred warship is still sinking. Everyone knows that Taranto is finished!

After a morning of bombing, more than 200 tons of bombs were indiscriminately bombarded, and on average, every square meter of this port was hit by three or four kilograms of bombs. No one should not try to recover for ten or twenty years.

After more than two hours of bombing, the Italians finally came out of the bunker after they were sure they were safe. At this time, the fire had spread from the port to the urban area, and they had to come out to put it out!

The Italian naval officers who pretended to be ostriches also came out to clean up the mess, organizing firefighting and counting losses, and reporting the situation to the Roman government.

Will things end so easily? Obviously this is impossible. As early as when the air force was dispatched, the Bulgarian Navy also set off from Kofu Island.

Even the rest of the French fleet was dispatched, and although the French did not think the Bulgarian airstrikes would be of much use, they did so in the hope of an eventuality.

For the sake of secrecy, Ferdinand informed the French only an hour before the start of the operation, so the French fleet had only just set off.

Receiving the news of the success of the air attack, the French fleet commander Darran immediately ordered all the battlecruisers in the fleet to take the lead and implement the closed-door dog-hunting plan together with the Bulgarian Navy.

There is no satellite monitoring in this era. Even if the warship is finished, it will take time to sink. Obviously, the Air Force is too late to wait for the Italian warship to sink. The only thing that is certain is that all the Italian battleships have been patronized.

This is enough, at least it can be determined that the Italian Navy has been seriously injured. After all, it is a bomb of several hundred kilograms. Even if it falls from the sky, it can smash the deck into a hole!

After the air raid, the Bulgarian Navy was not far from Taranto. There were five dreadnoughts plus four coastal defense battleships and a bunch of cruisers and destroyers. The entire fleet consisted of more than 120 warships.

Commanding the operation was Bulgarian Rear Admiral Pert Ivanlov, who was also the captain of the flagship Kaiser.

The Great Reich only joined the Bulgarian Navy in early 1915.

There is no doubt that this is a super dreadnought, and the specific parameters are as follows:

Displacement: 28950 tons/full load displacement: 32520 tons

Size: length 196 meters / width 27.3 meters

Draft: 9.1 meters

Power: 24 boilers

Main engine power 75000 horsepower, 4 axles

Speed: 25 knots

Endurance: 4,600 nautical miles / 12.5 knots

Armament: 8 double-mounted 15-inch/42-caliber main guns, 12 6-inch/45-caliber secondary guns, 2 76mm guns, 4 4-inch caliber anti-aircraft guns, plus eight 40mm anti-aircraft guns

Armor: Broadband 13", main deck 2.5-5", turret (front) 13", (top) 5", turret 10", conning 11". The total weight of the armor is 8100 tons.

Crew: 1015 people

This is already the full strength of the Bulgarian Navy. If it is hit hard, the First World War can be declared, and the Bulgarian Navy can only play soy sauce!

Barely, it was a big gamble. If the Italian Navy can be successfully killed this time, then the Bulgarian Navy will have a qualitative breakthrough, and Bulgaria will become a naval power!

On the contrary, Ferdinand can give up the navy and honestly develop the army and air force!

The Italians did not know that the danger was approaching, and were busy organizing people to put out the fire and repair the warship.

After all, many seriously injured warships must be rescued immediately, otherwise they may turn from serious injuries to death.

Watching the sinking of the warships, the heart of the Italian navy commander Count Abruzzi also sank to the bottom. He knew that the Italian navy suffered a great loss this time.

Although the specific losses have not yet been counted, at a glance, more than two-digit warships have disappeared, and more importantly, two dreadnoughts have also disappeared from his sight!

The Italian Navy paid the price in blood for their thin-skin armor, and the two dreadnoughts Dante Allegri and Conte Cavour sank neatly.

No way, who said that the dreadnought is the focus of the Bulgarian Air Force?

An ominous premonition emerged in Count Abruch's heart. Could it be that the Bulgarian Air Force is still coming to bomb?

He is a navy, and he did not know that after completing a bombing, the aircraft of this era must be overhauled before they can continue to fight.

"Now I order that all warships that can go to sea will set sail and go to Palermo!" Count Abruch said solemnly

"Yes!" After a young officer finished speaking, he went down to give orders.

Everyone knows that the port of Taranto is no longer suitable for the Italian Navy. Who knows when the Bulgarian planes will come again and continue to drop bombs on their heads?

...

It was too late for the Italians to act! When the Italian navy left the port, the Bulgarian navy had already come to block the door.

No way, Kofu Island is not far from Taranto, it is not a joke!

No matter how fast the Italians responded, the airstrikes started in the early morning and didn't end until noon.

Even if Count Abruzzi issued an order in the shortest possible time, when the Italian Navy organized to conduct some inspections on the warships, and added some supplies in a panic, the time was still in the evening.

At this moment, the Bulgarian Navy was already waiting outside. Under the cover of night, even if the two sides were only 20 or 30 nautical miles away from each other, the Italians still didn't know that the enemy had arrived before their eyes.

"Applying for generals, this is our preliminary loss statistics." In the evening, an officer handed over a list of losses to the Earl of Abruch

Of course, this is limited to statistics on the losses of naval warships and the losses of active-duty officers and soldiers of the Navy.

Two dreadnoughts, five cruisers and a dozen old warships sank, including one old battleship. The remaining large warships were all injured, and less than half of the warships were able to leave the port, including a dreadnought ship that was severely damaged and unable to leave the port!

There were 2,846 casualties among officers and men on active duty in the Navy, and 876 casualties have been determined. The casualties of logistics personnel have not yet been counted, and the number will not be small now.

After receiving the casualty report, Count Abruzzi's mood was even worse, which meant that the main Italian navy had already lost a third of the force at the beginning of the war!

"Can't wait any longer!" If there is another bombing, the main force of the Italian Navy will be over! Earl Abruzzi knew that even if he left now, he could only keep the warships on the fourth floor of Taranto Port, and he could only leave it to his fate!

But he had to go. The port of Taranto gathered more than 80 percent of the main force of the Italian navy, including the fleet withdrawn from Tripoli.

If you stay, you may be wiped out, but if you run away now, you can at least keep more than half of the kingdom's main force! He has absolutely no illusions about Italy's air defense capabilities!

Whether it is an anti-aircraft artillery or an anti-aircraft machine gun, it is impossible for it to be developed and put into service in a day or two!

In order to be in a hurry, Count Abruzzi decided to take the fleet to set off overnight. Anyway, it was off the coast of Italy. Everyone was familiar with the road conditions, and there was nothing to worry about.

Otherwise, if the Bulgarian Air Force comes to visit again tomorrow, the Italian Navy is really dead!

Of course, Ferdinand didn't know the Italian's loss, otherwise he wouldn't have asked the French for help.

After all, the main force of the Italian navy was killed alone. It is very valuable for Bulgaria to enjoy this glory alone, which is very beneficial to the distribution of interests after the war!

History has no ifs! Since they did not know the reality of the Italians, for the sake of safety, the Bulgarian navy stayed twenty nautical miles away from the port of Taranto, waiting for the arrival of the French navy.

In the dark night, the two fleets collided like this. When the enemy was discovered, the distance between the two sides was only six or seven nautical miles.

"General enemy attack!"

Pert-Ivanlov was taken aback, thinking that the Italians had discovered their existence and were ready to strike first.

But soon he calmed down. If the Italians discovered them in advance, they should have started during the day. Night battles are not so easy to fight!

To a large extent, it all depends on the luck of both sides. Even if the Italian navy is stronger, there is a great possibility of a win-win situation.

Then it is very likely that the Italians want to escape. After all, they were just bombed during the day. If they don't run away now, they will stay and wait to continue to be bombed?

Judging the initial purpose of the enemy, Major General Pert Ivanlov also determined that the Italians must have suffered heavy losses, otherwise they would not be able to run away in such a hurry!

"Order the fleet to prepare for battle!" Pert-Ivanlov calmly ordered

...

Now that the Bulgarian Navy has discovered the Italians, naturally the Italians will also find them, but the Count of Abruzzi has not been able to determine who the enemy on the opposite side is and how big it is!

This is another life-or-death decision for Count Abruzzi. If the main fleet of the Allied countries is outside, then the Italian navy is now half-crippled, and it is not even capable of fighting the first battle. the best choice!

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