My Italy

Lieutenant General Gomes, the commander of the formation, could see the attempt of Major General Xinken to lead his own battle patrol formation to distract the Italian battle patrol formation at a glance.

"Order, the formation immediately speeds up to 25 knots and bites the enemy warship."

At this time, on the flagship Milan, Gomes ordered to increase the speed and catch up with the enemy battle cruiser. He could tell at a glance the other party's intentions of holding him back, but if he wanted to hold him back, he had to see whether the other party had the ability.

For this, Gomes is full of confidence. First of all, he has confidence in himself and is confident that he can see through the opponent's methods. Secondly, he also has confidence in the battleship at his feet. The Milan-class's top speed of 27 knots (externally claimed to be 25.5 knots) and the Taranto-class's top speed of 26.5 knots (externally claimed to be 25 knots) are its guarantee of confidence.

This also led to the tit-for-tat construction of the Invincible-class Indefatigable class by Great Britain, which was maintained at a maximum speed of 26 knots. And now that the benefits of concealing the speed for many years have been revealed, the British will definitely be surprised by the high speed of the Italian battle cruiser.

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

Facing the fierce battle patrol approaching Italy at high speed, Major General Hinken looked like he had seen a ghost. "Why are Italian battleships so fast?"

But at this time, he couldn't care about that much and could only continue to give orders. "Increase speed to 25 knots."

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

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

As the two war patrols chased each other, it gradually turned south. Seeing that not only could he not get rid of his opponent, but he was also getting closer, Major General Xinken knew that his purpose of delaying the opponent's time could not be achieved. It can't be said that it didn't drag on, because the two sides raced for nearly more than an hour.

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

Speaking of which, it is also to blame that Gomes was in a good position and intercepted Major General Xinken's formation from the northwest. It made it impossible for him to move in the northwest and northwest directions. As for why he went south, because behind him was the east, where was the main force of the Mediterranean fleet led by Admiral Cardon, so he could only go south. To the south is the Libyan coast, leaving them with very limited room for trouble, not to mention that the opponent's formation is much faster than them.

"Order all ships to lower to 19 knots and prepare all ships for combat."

At this moment, Major General Xinken saw that he could no longer delay, so he could only prepare for a fight, intending to use his own formation to buy time for the main force in the Mediterranean.

When the two battle patrols were preparing to fight, the battleship formations that were the core of the two fleets had also encountered each other.

At this moment, General Kaden looked at the enemy warships appearing from the northwest and immediately ordered. "Let all ships prepare for war."

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

This order was quickly passed on to all the battleships in the formation. Whether they were tall and mighty battleships, or cruisers that commanded all sea areas, as well as small and exquisite but equally deterrent destroyers, torpedo boats, etc., they were all busy under this order at this moment. middle.

Although we had received reports that the battle patrol formation had encountered an enemy before, we were not sure when the enemy ship would be encountered. Therefore, some preparations were started before the war and could only be started when the enemy appeared.

Compared with the busy enemy, the combined fleet that is constantly approaching the enemy at this moment is quite organized.

Thanks to surveillance from the air, the combined 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, ensuring that it can exert its maximum combat effectiveness when encountering the enemy. This is also the greatest home field advantage of the combined fleet.

"Order the fleet to form a longitudinal formation, with the first, second, and third battleship squadrons in order to form a combat artillery formation. Destroyer and cruiser formations will cover both sides of the artillery formation."

On the flagship Cavour, Lieutenant General Leifer ordered the final reorganization of the battleship before the war. As the most powerful battleship at present, the Cavour class leads the battle without any problems. Its ability to withstand and attack does not matter where it is placed in the lead battle.

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

The third battleship squadron at the rear, consisting of the Dreadnought and three United Forces-class ships, is even more powerful than the second battleship squadron, but it is placed at the rear due to issues such as coordination and tactics. Anyone who dares to look down upon it will definitely be shocked.

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

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

General Kaden was also making the final formation before the battle, because he knew that he could not retreat at this time and had no way to retreat. He could only fight with the opponent. However, compared with the United Fleet, the Mediterranean Fleet seems to be much busier.

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

"The Third Battleship Squadron sent a telegram saying they need 40 minutes to complete pre-war preparations."

"Our First Squadron also needs thirty minutes to prepare."

On the flagship Orion, news that didn’t look good kept coming. As an experienced naval general, Carden certainly knew that the complaints of the battle squadrons at this time were not lies, but facts.

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

But now that he saw the enemy warships coming towards him with great momentum, Admiral Kaden certainly had to buy some preparation time for his fleet.

"Order the fleet to turn south and make a U-turn, and we'll drag each other down."

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

The actions of the Mediterranean Fleet were naturally noticed by the Combined Fleet.

"The enemy wants to escape!"

At this moment, most of the officers and soldiers of the Combined Fleet hold this view. Because if the other party turns back without hesitation, it will be too much like running away.

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

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

"Order each ship to speed up to 22 knots. We will catch up and not give the other side a chance to change."

Following Leifer's order, the combined fleet increased its speed to the extreme and pursued the Mediterranean Fleet at high speed.

Seeing the enemy ship pursuing him at high speed, Kaden knew at this moment that the enemy ship had seen through his intention to delay time. In this case, there was nothing to hide, and the pride of the British Empire's navy surged in his heart at this moment.

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

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

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

As the commander of the combined fleet at this moment, Leifer could still take advantage of the speed to grab the T, but this time he wasted a lot of time. Considering that the enemy's reinforcement fleet was not far away from here, after some thinking, he decided to just stick to it and fight with the opponent in an upright manner.