Alexandria, devastated by Romanian air raids, was in shambles, and there was a terrible scene everywhere. Three aircraft carriers sank into the sea, and only a small piece of the ship island was still exposed, and the counterattack had the same treatment.

As for the remaining five battleships, the Nelson has been filled with more than 4,000 tons of seawater, and the team is no longer able to control the danger. And the Malaya is also unable to move at all because the power room was flooded by the sea. The only ones that could move now were the three battleships Rodney, the Sovereign, and the Warweary, and for the first time Britain felt such a miserable situation.

But now Cunningham could not care about the loss of Alexandria, because he had something more important to do.

Because of this, he had a dispute with the chief of staff, Lieutenant General Hawkins.

"Hawkins, you can't look at it that way. Now it is even more wrong to let three battleships leave, and how far can they go when they get out of port without the cover of enough warships. Not to mention, they are also wounded, and if they are pursued by the enemy, they will be even more desperate. ”

Cunningham was dissuading his chief of staff, Hawkins, from trying to get the three battleships to leave first. In fact, this idea was not the idea of his chief of staff alone, but the thoughts of many people in the fleet.

In their opinion, it is now possible to avoid even greater losses by taking advantage of the gap between the departure of the Romanian air raid group and immediately letting the three battleships that can be driven leave quickly. Yes, that's what most people think.

It's just that that's why they can't be celebrities. In Cunningham's view, this was a bad idea. Let the three battleships leave, how far can they run, in their current state, they can run up to 20 knots. And Cunningham seems to be unclear about the enemy outside now, and it is not suitable to go out at all.

And even if there is no enemy outside, it will be more than 60 kilometers in two hours. This point was ten minutes away from the plane, and the three battleships that lacked protection at that time could not resist the enemy's repeated attacks. Even if you bring the other warships that exist in the harbor.

In the face of Cunningham's objection, Hawkins asked rhetorically. "So what will these warships do with the next enemy air raid? They're all wounded, and when the next attack comes, we may not be able to save even these three ships. ”

"Not necessarily."

Faced with Hawkins' rhetorical question, Cunningham retorted.

"What?"

"I said not necessarily."

After hearing Cunningham say this in the most standard English, Hawkins didn't want to continue arguing, he wanted to hear what his commander had to say.

I saw Cunningham say his own way without hesitation. "My method is to wait until the next air raid comes, and we will run three battleships aground. And place more firepower around it, deplete the enemy's ammunition, and buy time for air support in Cairo and Said. ”

And Cunningham's words made Hawkins stunned. Because the grounding will cause a lot of damage to the battleship, especially the damage to the keel, which will also be the most serious. And to run these three powerful battleships aground, even if they succeed in keeping the battleship, the damage caused is still very serious.

What's more, it would be very troublesome to get it back on the ground and it would take at least three months to get it back on the line.

This also means that even if these three battleships are finally kept, it will mean that the Mediterranean Fleet will have no capital ships available for a short time, unless the mainland is re-dispatched.

It's just that it is quite unrealistic to want the mainland to be re-dispatched, according to the size of the Romanian fleet, less dispatch is completely food delivery, and more, what should the homeland defense do. And the pressure on the home fleet was not small, and it was also tasked with blocking the German Navy. So it will also mean that in a short time, the British Navy will be missing in the Eastern Mediterranean. And Egypt, which has lost the protection of the Mediterranean fleet, as well as the regions of French Syria, will most likely become targets for the Romanians.

Thinking of this terrible and catastrophic consequence, Hawkins immediately began to veto Cunningham's solution, "This is not going to work." This would put the Eastern Mediterranean in Romanian hands, and that would have consequences that we could not afford. ”

Could Cunningham not know the consequences of Hawkins's words, but he patiently explained. "I know what you're talking about, but look here!"

Cunningham pointed to the Counterattack, which only showed the tip of the ship in the harbor. "Do you still think that we are capable of stopping the Romanians from reaching into the Eastern Mediterranean?"

Cunningham's questioning left Hawkins speechless. Because the facts cannot deceive people, at present, with the five wounded battleships of the fleet, it is simply impossible to stop the Romanian fleet.

Not to mention that the Nelson and the Malaya are both dangerous, one is about to capsize, and the other has broken power.

Hawkins was actually on the verge of being persuaded by Cunningham, but he was going to fight for it again. "That's why it's all the more important to keep these three ships, otherwise the Romanians will be unscrupulous. And your method will leave the entire fleet without the slightest resistance, and the enemy will scare us out to sea with just one battleship. ”

"My Excellency Chief of Staff, it's time for you to wake up."

Cunningham tapped Hawkins on the shoulder. "It takes years to build a battleship, and it only takes an hour to sink them. We can't afford to let the Empire's precious warships gamble on an illusory opportunity. And now we need to find ways to minimize the losses suffered by the battleship, and not gamble on chance. ”

Cunningham's words convinced Hawkins, only to see him speak. "Well, Your Excellency, as you say."

After hearing that the chief of staff agreed with him, Cunningham felt that he should give some good news. "Chief of Staff, Air Force Commander Ted has just promised me that he has drawn fighter jets from Cairo and Said, and is ready to give us reinforcements. And Logeel Airport has also temporarily cleared a runway to accommodate them. In addition, we have more than a dozen planes on our keep, and with the help of these fighters, we may not be able to keep them. ”

That's right, the commander of the Air Force, General Ted, has urgently transferred 3 squadrons of Hurricane fighters, 2 squadrons of Gladiator fighters, and 2 squadrons of Hawker fighters from these two air bases, becoming a strong air support force for six squadrons, which is also the essence of the British air force in Egypt.

In the harbor, the location of the three battleships that can still move has also been chosen, just in the southwest corner of the port, where the water depth is about 5-6 meters, and more importantly, the bottom of the sea is sandy, which is conducive to protecting the keel. And in addition to these three, the Malaya, which lost power, was also pulled over. It is hoped that in this way, these four battleships will be saved.

As for the Nelson, the battleship, which was already heavily tilted, even Cunningham had already given up.

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