This unexpected encounter was beyond the expectations of both warring parties. Although both sides knew that the two sides would encounter each other sooner or later in the battle of attacks and counter-attacks, pursuits and counter-pursuits, but when it came time to actually encounter them,

, the tense feeling of the roar of the huge cannon still made the sailors on the warship extremely nervous.

Just as powerful as the roar of naval guns were the invisible radio signals on the fleet. Whether it was the chasing British fleet or the fleeing Italian fleet, they were calling for their own support and calling friendly forces to attack the enemy head-on.

The weaker side in a war often has a unique understanding of retreat. The Italian navy has a deeper understanding of the Mediterranean than even the stronger naval powers, because Italy itself is in the middle of the Mediterranean.

In a sense, any corner of the Mediterranean is a local battle for the Italians. Soon, amidst the roar of artillery, the explosion of torpedoes and the roar of engines, the Mediterranean received the first attack of the day.

Gift: The Royal Navy cruiser was hit by the battleship Count of Cavour and lost its combat effectiveness.

In the already overwhelmed ship under the baptism of Italian armor-piercing bombs, the watertight compartment collapsed directly, and a large amount of seawater poured in! The huge energy of the torpedo explosion even ignited some of the oil tanks, carrying thousands of tons of seawater, and carrying all the

Flame. This cruiser was specially built to support the colonies. It dragged a body of more than 4,000 tons and was accepted by the Mediterranean Sea.

But the naval battle is far from over. Allies from both sides are still rushing in. The sinking of a colonial cruiser does not make the British sad. The French fleet arriving from major ports in North Africa has already approached the battle waters. The British

There is reason to believe that they can keep this battleship that is symbolic of the battle.

It is not only the French who are approaching the battle waters, but also the Austro-Hungarian Navy who came after hearing the news. Their size is not weak at all. Two Combined Forces-class battleships and four pre-dreadnoughts are divided into two fleets.

Come to the rescue. The sun has gradually disappeared over the sea.

Around the fighting Italian fleet and British fleet, continuous explosions and burning lights were scattered throughout the battlefield, and the sea began to boil.

As the distance between the two sides was shortened to 10,000 meters, the battleship's main gun fired, and their efforts finally began to pay off.

The efforts of the British sailors finally paid off. The armor-piercing projectile effortlessly penetrated the turret armor of the Italian armored cruiser, and then with a sudden loud noise, the upper turret exploded. The entire stern of the armored cruiser was lifted out of the water and engulfed by the explosion.

After hitting the turret on the rear deck, a horrifying ball of fire rushed into the sky. The sailors on both sides watched vividly as large pieces of turret fragments and artillery parts were thrown into the sky, and then slowly spread out in all directions in a parabola shape.

whereabouts.

Because the British Royal Navy sank the warship first, and still suffered a loss at the hands of the Italians, even though it was a colonial cruiser that was sunk. Motivated by this shame and humiliation, the British did not give up when the situation was good.

When darkness became the main color of the Mediterranean, the battle continued, and with the arrival of backup from both sides, the naval battle became chaotic. Suddenly there was a big explosion like a landslide, and raging flames enveloped the entire ship. This

The torpedo hit the middle part of the two ammunition compartments of an Italian pre-dreadnought without any bias, detonating the shells stored in the ammunition compartment. The continuous explosions were earth-shattering and endless.

In an instant, all the artillery, some boilers, and engines of the pre-dreadnought were damaged by the huge energy generated by the explosion and became unusable. Flames shot into the sky on the deck. Soon, the ship's speed dropped to five knots, and its combat effectiveness was completely lost.

The Austrian-Italian fleet and the British and French fleets, because of the cooperative relationship between the two camps, have carried out many joint defense cooperations in recent years. They are quite familiar with their allies, and their cooperation can be regarded as a tacit understanding. Whether it is pre-dreadnoughts, armored cruisers and destroyers

, can all find their own value in battle.

As other fleets from both sides arrived, this encounter became more and more serious in the dark night. The Austrian and Italian fleets formed a huge fleet represented by four dreadnoughts and ten pre-dreadnoughts. The British and French combined fleets

The strength is even better, and all Guba-class battleships appear. If there are three long and two short today, after this battle, there will only be two Guba-class battleships in the Persian Gulf in the world.

This is also the reason why the British and French combined fleets continue to increase their power. If the Allies clearly have the upper hand in maritime power and even the Austrian and Italian fleets of the Mediterranean allies cannot deal with it, the German High Seas Fleet may take risky actions.

In the darkness before dawn, the strong northwest wind and the calm sea surface covered up all traces of yesterday's naval battle.

This chase battle that started in the southern Mediterranean and ended close to the east coast of Italy came to an end. Four pre-dreadnoughts of the Austrian-Italian fleet were sunk in the battle, and the dreadnoughts that were simply invested successfully returned to the port.

As for the British and French combined fleet, they paid the price of two pre-dreadnoughts and one dreadnought. The unlucky one that sank was the Kolbe-class battleship that had gone awry from the design. On the contrary, the Mammoth was also seriously damaged.

The battleship struggled to return to the British naval port. As long as it did not sink, it could return to the familiar ocean.

In the distant American continent, Sheffield has no knowledge of the outcome of this naval battle. Now only the participating countries know how much damage the fleets of both sides suffered, but this does not delay his League of Nations agency from doing some artistic processing and creating some fake news to attract people.

Traffic, lamenting in a worried tone that the British Royal Navy could not even deter other navies of the Allied Powers.

"Now it seems that all of a sudden, all countries have the courage to challenge the Royal Navy." The New York Daily News, which did not take it too seriously to watch the excitement, was still making internal and external criticisms.

"You always take the opportunity to humiliate the reputation of the British. Judging from the news coming out now, doesn't it mean that the British and French fleets have the upper hand?" Louisa Morgan knew that as long as her man involves Britain, it will not only be good or bad, but also bad.

I took the opportunity to step on it and was happy, "The content of the New York Daily News is too exaggerated. The German High Seas Fleet is not suppressed to death."

"My dear, you can't think like that. With the same number of warships, the British may no longer be a match for the Germans. Don't think that nonsense like the glorious tradition of a century-old navy is really useful. It's just self-promotion.

There is only a traditional army power, but no traditional naval power. The navy is the most weapons-hungry service." Sheffield waved his hand to correct Louisa Morgan's misconception and said, "During the Spanish-American War, didn't the Spanish fleet have more naval traditions than our United States?

What's the result? How are we better than Spain? It's just that our tonnage and artillery are better than theirs. In this case, any naval tradition is useless. The British don't believe in the nonsense of glorious tradition, otherwise, there will be no

We will take the trouble to implement the two-power standard to deal with maritime threats."

"But now the British Royal Navy is far more powerful than the Germans. As you said, the British don't believe this propaganda. On the other hand, why do you think the German warships are better than the British? The tonnage and artillery are about the same.

, you said the Germans will have the upper hand?" Louisa Morgan asked somewhat confused.

"Dear, the British are no longer an industrial power. In terms of scale, both the United States and Germany are much stronger than the UK, and the reason why Germany is stronger than our country is that the quality of Germany's industry is much higher than ours.

Less." Sheffield stated his argument.

"What does this have to do with anything?" Edith Rockefeller asked in confusion. "What does the high quality of German industry mean?"

"Germany as a whole is a Concern-style empire, and the power they display is much higher than the numbers. The United Kingdom, which has relied on colonies to some extent, is not that powerful. The Germans, whose industrial power exceeds that of the United Kingdom, cannot produce the same weapons.

More durable." Sheffield shrugged and said, "The United Company is the Concern model. I know very well what is the internal strength of such a country."

The Concern model invented by Germany deeply influenced many countries, including the later countries of the Soviet system. Such countries are extremely adaptable to the arms race, and their mobilization power far exceeds that of ordinary countries.

As for the United States, which is influenced by Britain, it is not that it does not have the mobilization power, but it must have a human shield to help buy time so that the United States can slowly realize its potential. The British human shield during World War I was the French-Russian alliance. The human shield of the United States during World War II was

With the Soviet Union holding a human shield in front, the United Kingdom and the United States had time to slowly mobilize their real strength.

The subsequent impact of this naval battle was that Lord Admiral Churchill believed that the opportunity was ripe to attack the Ottoman Empire. For this plan, Britain had been preparing for several months. The Egyptian Anzac Army and the Indian Army were already in place to escort them.

The navy and transportation fleet have also been deployed.

The battered Austrian-Italian fleet believes that it will not come out to cause trouble at this time, but will seize the time to heal the pain after the naval battle. As for the German warships that come out to attack the British mainland from time to time, this is a small problem. Everything is up to me.

Under the control of Daying.

Churchill then formally proposed a combat plan to the cabinet. The Anzac Corps and the British Expeditionary Force would conduct an amphibious landing on the Ottoman Empire. At the same time, the Indian Army would attack the Ottoman Empire from the land. The main force set out from Egypt and headed north along the Hejaz Railway to

The Indian Army based in Oman will set off in the next few days. When the Hejaz Railway line is captured and news of the victory comes, this will greatly shake the Ottoman Eighth Army's fighting will. This army is mainly Christian. Once

Knowing that the Ottoman Empire could not be maintained, they would defect.

There is also a section on instigating the Arab uprising, which can be said to be a very large-scale comprehensive battle plan.
Chapter completed!