The Sun Never Sets In Spain

"Great!" Rodriguez was overjoyed, but soon he calmed down: "How many troops does the opponent have, do you see clearly?"

Osvaldo shook his head: "I only know that there are more than five ironclad ships. If you continue to approach, the reconnaissance ship is at risk of being sunk."

"That should be the enemy's main fleet." Rodriguez speculated:

"Considering that we gave him a day to mobilize ships, the rear fleet should contain most of Italy’s warships, but will not include the Carignano Prince, Messina and Conte on Sicily. Cape Verde.

Calculating this way, I think there should be about 10 ironclad ships behind. "

Osvaldo agrees with this, the amount is about the same as he thought.

"Will you continue to sail at low speed and wait for them or run directly to the ambush point?"

"Hmm..." Rodriguez groaned, "I speed up to 9 knots."

Following the command of the commander, more coal was poured into the steam engine, and the propellers spun quickly, which abruptly stopped the gradual approach of the Western and Italian sides.

In fact, this speed is far from reaching the limit of the decoy fleet, but it has already made it difficult for Italy to catch up.

The performance of the Italian ironclad ships is no worse than that of Spain. The main reason is that they still stayed in the old fleet decisive battle era. In order to ensure the victory of this naval battle, it can be said that they are elite.

Not only brought a lot of gunboats, but also several sailing battleships. These old and large ships generally had speeds of only about 6-8 knots, which greatly slowed down the fleet's sailing speed.

The chase lasted for a while, and Italian commander Pietro Bardoglio seemed to know that this mission was hopeless, so he made up his mind to throw down most of the wooden ships.

After abandoning the useless old ship, the speed of the Italian fleet increased a lot, reaching a level close to 10 knots.

At 2 o'clock in the afternoon on October 9, the two fleets arrived west of Corsica. Under Rodriguez's deliberate control, the distance between the two was always maintained at 5-7 nautical miles.

In the rear, Badoglio felt that the situation was a little bit bad, which was far from their plan. It was originally a siege and annihilation around the port of Genoa, but now it has become a chase.

Further ahead, it entered the range of activities of the French Mediterranean Fleet. Italy and France are in an alliance and opposition. If they are hit by them, it is impossible to guarantee that they will not have any bad thoughts.

And he had some vague feelings, the opponent seemed to be hanging himself, otherwise, judging from the opponent's performance, he should not be able to get close to them to such a distance, let alone biting the opponent's high speed with the main fleet in a high-speed pursuit. The fleet will not let go.

"Can't chase it anymore." There was a voice in his heart admonishing himself that there were a lot of abnormalities in the opponent during this operation. Although there is no definite evidence, the risks have already emerged.

But he was not reconciled. It was said that this was a "rare" piece of information that was only obtained. If he returns without success this time, I don't know when he will have to wait for another opportunity like this.

Whether the precarious Kingdom of Italy can wait until there are two things to say.

After thinking and thinking, Badoglio still thinks it’s better to evacuate first. He also recognizes the coward who was accused of being incompetent when he went back. He lost this opportunity and Italy had the most meat. If there is something wrong with the fleet in his hands, then Italy really It can only be slaughtered.

Just as he was about to issue a return order, Major General Catano suddenly ran towards him with excitement on his face: "Marshal, the reconnaissance ship ahead reported that a cruiser on the other side suddenly caught fire. The Spaniards seemed not I plan to abandon that ship, and at the current speed, it is expected to take over in 25 minutes."

Badoglio frowned deeper, which is a coincidence!

"Did you find out the cause of the fire?"

Catano shook his head: "I only know that the cruiser is a steam-sail hybrid, and the location of the fire is in the rear bottom bin. The specific reason is not clear."

"..."

Badoglio wanted to say that this was unreasonable, and the best option at the moment was to retreat, but seeing everyone's eager gaze, he couldn't speak.

"Oh." He sighed heavily, and then slapped the opponent's shoulder sharply: "Then hurry up, don't miss the opportunity!"

The Italians were happily preparing for the battle, and the decoy fleet was quickly salvaging the overboard crew of the Pipollo.

In order to make this scene more real, they really burned the ship, and the sailors really jumped into the sea after the fire couldn't be controlled.

The nearest Italian ship was only 3-4 kilometers away, and they took a lot of risk in doing so.

The decoy fleet also stopped moving forward at this time, and instead lined up in a row, facing the left side in the direction of Italy, surprisingly prepared to have a few tricks with the opponent!

Just as the last crew member who fell into the water was picked up, the figure of the Italian battleship appeared in the sight of the Spaniard.

1, 2, 3...7, there are 7 ironclad ships in the field of vision alone! Not to mention the reserve fleet in the rear and the wooden cruisers of the surrounding stars!

It can be clearly seen that Italy has divided the fleet into three "V" shapes, which is a very powerful formation.

Among them, the first V is the main force composed of 7 ironclad ships in the middle, the V on the left is a number of fast wooden hull ships, and the rest of the reconnaissance ships and gunboats are included in the V on the right.

And their common point of impact is where the decoy fleet is.

I have to admit that watching a large group of warships sprinting towards me is indescribable, and the visual experience it brings is indescribable. It seems that if I don't run away, I will be crushed into dregs by them in the next moment and sink into the sea.

But at this time Rodriguez calmly gave the command to fire. As the semaphore command was received, whether it was concentrated in the gun room or distributed on the deck, the gunners who had prepared all opened the shooting window and aimed at the intention. The ship tilted its own firepower.

A large web of artillery shells quickly flew forward, and the dark iron shell reflected the cold color under the sunlight.

Unfortunately, because they were too far away, in this volley of fire, the best-recorded shot just passed on the starboard side of a gunboat, only smashed the fence above it, and killed a few who had no time to evade. Sailor.

In terms of cost, this volley is undoubtedly a loss, but what Rodriguez wants is its deterrent effect.

He was afraid that the opponent would not fire at himself, but instead rushed over to fight him close by relying on the superiority of numbers.

As the enemy ships continued to attack, the Spanish position also changed. The ships on both sides of the long snake formation turned slightly and sailed quietly to the rear.

This is to prevent the worst-case scenario. If the opponent really wants to fight in close combat, they can only continue to flee. In a melee, their strength is definitely not enough for the opponent to fight.