My Italy

The Mediterranean climate is rainy in winter, which also results in unpredictable weather. Not only had a strong storm hit, the Italian airship responsible for exploring the Mediterranean Sea was in a state of chaos.

At this time, in the sky, inside a small airship with the word N18 printed on its body, the members of the airship were busy.

"Agil, bring the No. 3 wrench."

On the suspended engine located at the tail of the airship, Haber, the airship maintainer, shouted to Yagier, the transmitter and assistant.

"Here, here's wrench number three."

A No. 3 wrench was handed to Haber, who was hanging on the engine. His oily hands took the wrench and began to work on the engine.

In addition to repairing the engine, other members of the N18 airship were also busy due to the violent storm. Sewing and patching, arranging and arranging cables, and testing transmitters. It can be said that after this storm, none of the twelve members on board the N18 airship will be able to relax.

As a small airship, its ability to withstand weather changes is indeed much worse than that of medium and large airships.

However, there is nothing that can be done about it. Although the small airship is smaller in size and has a smaller windward surface, its power is worse and its self-sustaining ability is also worse, so its ability to resist weather changes is also poor.

The vast majority of airships currently performing reconnaissance missions over the Mediterranean are small airships like the N18.

In addition, in terms of the degree of damage, N18 actually meets the standards for return-to-flight repairs. However, meeting the standard does not mean that it can return, because now in order to ensure the surveillance mission in this sea area, unless another airship takes over, otherwise N18 needs to continue to persevere.

Of course, if the N18 airship really suffers irrecoverable damage, it can send an emergency telegram and ask the Navy to send an airship to replace it first. Of course, this emergency telegram can only be used when the airship has been unable to complete its mission, and the current N18 airship cannot reach this state.

For the Italian military, they are also aware of the various problems faced by small airships like the N18. However, the three major advantages of small airships are low cost, small personnel requirements, and low maintenance costs. They are used for reconnaissance missions. can only rely on this small airship, even if it has various shortcomings.

In fact, all countries are similar at present. The airships used for reconnaissance are all small models, even in the United States, which is rich and wealthy. Of course, it is unrealistic to rely solely on small airships to monitor the vast sea area between Crete and Malta. Medium and large airships can only be deployed as supplements, which even affects the strategy for Malta.

However, for Italy and even the Allied camp, the British Mediterranean fleet is far more important than the island of Malta. Therefore, even if the Malta strategy does not go well, priority must be given to ensuring that the Combined Fleet knows about it as soon as the Mediterranean Fleet appears.

The N18 airship can only be parked in mid-air for repairs, but the repair time is not long. At about 4 o'clock in the afternoon, the N18 was finally restored after three hours of repairs.

"Now we are going to area B3 and need to catch up."

Captain Hartsey held a chart divided into countless small grids and talked about his next mission destination.

Each airship can patrol its own sea area. Generally speaking, each airship needs to patrol thousands of square nautical miles of sea area a day. Although the patrol range is not too large, there are requirements for the number of patrols. There will be patrols in the morning and afternoon to ensure that the Mediterranean fleet will not slip by.

Just as the N18 reconnaissance airship was preparing to finish its inspection this afternoon, suddenly the observer shouted loudly as if he had discovered something.

"At 10 o'clock on our left, we found a plume of smoke. There should be a large group of ships preparing to pass over there."

"What?"

Captain Hartsey took out his binoculars and looked over, and found that there was indeed a smoke column at 19 o'clock. Based on the size of the smoke column, there must be many ships.

"Turn around, let's rush towards the 10 o'clock position at full speed to see what ship caused it."

While issuing orders to the pilot, Hartsey picked up the ship identification chart issued by the Navy.

At this time, a large group of ships suddenly appeared, which made him feel something was wrong, so he first took the ship identification map in his hand.

And his actions made other people on the airship quiver in their throats. This was not due to nervousness but excitement.

Soon, driven by a 920-horsepower diesel engine, the N18 airship rushed towards the direction of the suspicious fleet at an altitude of 3,000 meters and a speed of 117 kilometers.

At this time, the advantages of aerial reconnaissance are revealed. Although the speed of the airship is only over 100, it can see far from the height. In addition, compared with the speed of the battleship, which is only about 20 knots, the airship is much faster (one knot = 1.85 kilometers).

Half an hour later, the crew on N18 could already observe through clear telescopes what ship was emitting the smoke column.

At this time, Captain Hartsey and the lookout both showed surprised expressions, and then their expressions turned into surprise.

"This is the British fleet and we have them."

Captain Hartsey then carefully observed the fleet on the sea while flipping through the ship identification charts, trying to observe which warships they were.

"This is the enemy's Orion, Conqueror, and Centurion..."

"That's the enemy's St. Vincent, Collingwood, Vanguard, Neptune..."

As Captain Hartsey and other members chanted, they read all the main battleships of the British Empire's Mediterranean Fleet.

"Immediately, send a report to Taranto and tell them that we have discovered the Mediterranean Fleet sixty nautical miles west of Crete, including all its main warships."

When Hartsey was so excited that he shouted at the discovery of the Mediterranean Fleet, the Mediterranean Fleet at sea also discovered the airship in the sky.

"Admiral, we have been exposed to the eyes of the Italians."

A staff officer reported to Admiral Cardon, who was also observing the N18 airship on the flagship Orion.

"I've seen it, go down."

After sending away the staff officer, Lieutenant General Roback, the chief of staff, spoke. "Now we have been exposed to the eyes of Italians. I believe that Italians' eyes will be attracted to us all tomorrow."

Kaden put down his telescope and looked at his chief of staff. "Isn't this what we planned?"

Yes, exposing the fleet to the Italians was a premeditated plan.

In order to reduce the pressure of discovery for the reinforcement formation, the Mediterranean Fleet decided to take advantage of the fact that it was a thorn in the eyes of the Italians, intending to attract all their attention to itself and create favorable conditions for it to pass through the Central Mediterranean.

And this is why the Mediterranean Fleet will choose two or three hours before the sun sets to appear in the eyes of the Italians. Using the cover of night, Kaden can advance, attack, retreat or defend. He can decide whether to rush forward thousands of miles or retreat to a hiding place.

This is also a strategy set up by Carden to take advantage of the convenience of Italian investigation. Since the Italians have weaved a reconnaissance network with great fanfare, and it is so airtight, then if they don't use it, wouldn't it mean that the Italians underestimate the reputation of the British Empire?

So sometimes the investigation is too good and it can be easily taken advantage of.

And in addition to the reinforcement formation, Kaden also has backup.

Therefore, it is not yet known who will win the upcoming naval battle.