The Sun Never Sets In Spain

In the Ligurian Sea, the main fleet was moving slowly by moonlight.

Although the lack of onboard lights limits their speed, it also minimizes the risk of exposure.

The time came at 6:35 in the morning on October 9th. The sun slightly dissipated the mist on the sea. On the open deck of the side gun iron-clad ship Arapiles, Morales raised his arm and looked at himself. Military watch.

After nearly two years of development, military watches have become more and more mature, and their water resistance and adaptability far exceed those of previous pocket watches. Now they have become a necessity for the Navy.

But Morales's mind is obviously not on this. According to the scheduled plan, the decoy fleet should have entered the Italian territorial waters around 6:30.

In an era without radio, even a very simple plan contained many variables.

Perhaps because of a storm and an interception, the decoy fleet cannot reach the scheduled ambush point on time, and there is a possibility of passing by between the decoy fleet and the main fleet.

Morales had personally commanded the previous operations on the Numancia, but now he has a black eye on the situation on the front line. How can he not be worried?

But when he was blown by the cool sea breeze, he also understood that his worries were meaningless, and now everything can only be seen by Diego Rodríguez...

When the main fleet was heading to the scheduled ambush site, Rear Admiral Rodriguez arrived in the sea 8 kilometers from Genoa as planned, and he would really enter the territorial waters of Italy in just one step.

Everyone in the navy discovered something wrong at this time. It is reasonable to say that many fishermen will be fishing here at this distance, and there will never be fewer merchant ships coming and going around.

But now there is no boat here, which is very different from their past experience.

Obviously, Italy believed in the news that they had deliberately released it before, and this deliberately dispersed the nearby fishermen and merchant ships.

"The fish has bitten." This is the common voice of the decoy fleet's seamen.

Rodriguez noticed that the hands of the guards holding the guns were shaking slightly, a look of both fear and excitement.

In order to prevent the plan from being exposed, most of the sailors, except for a few high-ranking officers, were told the true purpose of the operation before they set sail, and they did not even leave time for writing their last words.

Use two armored ships to actively enter the ambush of the enemy's main force, and then hang the other side to ambush them in turn. Undoubtedly, this is definitely a highlight in the history of modern naval warfare!

In other words, they are making history!

In this kind of excitement, Rodriguez needs to make a choice that is a matter of life and death, and even the future of Europe-whether to continue to advance to Genoa or wait for the Italians here?

In the early morning, the fog has not completely dissipated. Even with a telescope, the visibility is only about 1 km. If you continue to move forward, you may be surrounded by the risk. The deeper you go, the harder you will be to escape.

There is also another risk of waiting in place. The Italian fleet may abandon the hunting plan because of their abnormal behavior, and waiting in place will certainly not stop the ship, so they can only make a circle in the nearby waters. , May enter the battle in a disadvantageous position.

Both options have their own risks, so Morales did not interfere with Rodríguez's behavior in advance, but only let him "do it cheaply."

Rodriguez looked at his watch and found that it was 6:40. After a few hours, it really lights up. Maybe a spy in Rome will find that the port is empty.

The navy had placed many sailing battleships in the harbor in advance, but there was a difference between wooden ships and iron ships.

No matter how tightly guarded it is, it is difficult to guarantee that it will not be seen. After all, it is a group of big guys nearly 100 meters long, and the military port of Rome is temporarily cut out.

Must act as soon as possible!

Rodriguez looked around: "Go ahead, take the zigzag route, and be ready to turn at any time. In addition, send out all the reconnaissance ships."

Everyone nodded solemnly, and each went to arrange the task. Only the captain of the Numancia, Colonel Osvaldo raised a question: "General, do we want to seize the position after discovering the enemy ship?"

The position that Osvaldo said was naturally the "T" side. Whether it was a sailing battleship in the past or an ironclad ship today, the side firepower is far greater than the frontal firepower.

Seizing a favorable position is the consensus of the global navy.

But the purpose of the decoy fleet is not to fight the opponent to the death, so in other words, Osvaldo is asking: "Should I run again after a few tricks, or just run?"

This really stopped Rodriguez. Just run, it seems a bit false, and if you don't grab the position, the opponent will grab it, and it may cause them a lot of loss in a short contact.

But let's talk about robbing, prolonging the contact time will definitely increase the risk accordingly.

After thinking about it, Rodriguez couldn't give an exact answer. He could only respond: "Waiting for my order."

...

Time passed and the visibility on the sea was getting higher and higher, but the enemy ship was never seen. Rodriguez guessed that the opponent should wait until he started attacking the port as usual before acting, and he was trapped around the port. Naturally, the fleet has no resistance.

But the decoy fleet will not make them what they want. At 5 nautical miles southwest of Genoa-actually 7 nautical miles, the zigzag route combined with the influence of the tide caused a slight deviation in the direction.

Here the fleet turned slowly and headed west.

Rodríguez was already sweating his palms at this time, he was betting, although it stands to reason that if Italy finds them, then they will also find Italy, so the two should not know the exact location of each other. .

But they are driving step by step along the way, and he speculates that Italy has a rough estimate of their location.

If they detect that they are turning, Italy may catch up.

This avoids getting into too deep a siege.

As for this behavior is too abrupt, Rodriguez believes that there are too many abnormalities around Genoa, and it is reasonable for him to temporarily cancel the attack, and Italy should not doubt it.

Under his order, the fleet moved slowly at 8 knots, waiting for Italy to catch up.

And he himself has been standing at the stern of the ship holding a telescope and looking around.

Unfortunately, nothing was found.

Just when he was half cold, he felt that this mission was mostly a failure, and he was hesitating whether to take a risk and go to the surroundings of Genoa to provoke him.

Osvaldo suddenly ran over with excitement: "General, a reconnaissance ship just returned, 5 nautical miles on the port rear side, I found traces of Italian ships! Many, big fleet!"