North Africa, the Libyan town of Tobruk.

It is an important port city, and the air forces of the British and Italian sides have been battling air supremacy in the area for many days.

The strength of the Italian Air Force must have a huge advantage in the African theater, but unfortunately the quality of the fighters is too poor, resulting in them being chased by British planes all the time.

The air force could not win, so they called in the Italian navy and sent some warships with anti-aircraft artillery to support.

But the Italian navy also knew that the little anti-aircraft fire on its warships basically did not have much effect.

On the contrary, in order to support the air force, warships are sent to join the air battle, and the cost performance will definitely outweigh the losses.

After all, the cost of a battleship is enough for them to import hundreds of German ME-109 fighters.

But the Air Force has come to the door, and it doesn't seem good that this person doesn't give favors.

As a result, the Italian navy compromised by sending a cruiser Gildio, which was decommissioned at the end of the 19th century, plus several small ships equipped with small-caliber anti-aircraft guns to support.

It seems that the navy has also sent a tall cruiser. But in fact, this is already an old cruiser that is about to be scrapped, and it will not be distressed if it is destroyed.

How old is this cruiser?

That said, at the time of its service, the aircraft had not yet been born.

Because the cruiser was decommissioned in the 19th century, when there were no aircraft, it did not have even an anti-aircraft gun.

And this captain is a very responsible guy, he believes that anti-aircraft guns should be installed to prevent enemy air attacks.

But his superiors didn't think it was necessary, because they didn't have any hope for the broken ship in the first place.

But the captain of the cruiser repeatedly argued with reason, which annoyed his superiors one by one.

Eventually, the superiors cleared their ears and approved the installation of anti-aircraft artillery on the Gildio.

Now, the Air Force asked the Navy to send out the ship, and the first thing that came to the mind of the Italian Navy superiors was to send this old cruiser equipped with 6 anti-aircraft guns.

One is to sell the Air Force a favor, you see, the Navy has already sent out all the cruisers, and the battleships are out of tune.

On the other hand, the admirals did not know if this dilapidated cruiser could still be used, so they simply sent it to test the water.

If the cruiser Gildio does well this time, let it remain in service. If it doesn't work, you can simply sell it to Spain at a low price for money.

Of course, it doesn't matter if it is sunk by a British fighter, it should be scrapped.

So, these navies sent warships for the sake of the air force's face, and they embarked on their journey.

The road to Tobruk was long, and in order to make the old cruiser reach Tobruk smoothly, the Italians even had to dismantle its secondary guns and some of the main guns to reduce the load, so that it finally barely survived to reach Tobruk.

Because the cruiser Gildio was backward and had horizontal armor and was difficult to deal with air targets, his conscientious captain specially ordered the local army to requisition from the local army and pile a large number of sandbags on the warship, turning the cruiser into a water fortress.

.........

On the other side, Balbo, the Italian air marshal and concurrently the governor of Libya in Italy, was sitting on the Italian Air Force S.79 plane with his companion Count Flolio and his party, heading to the North African theater to command the next big war.

Due to the large number of high-ranking officials accompanying the group this time, one plane could not sit down, and the group deliberately flew towards Libya together into two S.79 planes in front and behind.

"Count Florio, the weather seems to be good today, and the view is very good." Marshal Balbo looked out the window and looked at the endless clear sky and said to Count Florio.

"Very good, I think it will be a good sign that we are about to win in North Africa." Count Florio replied with a smile.

"Hahaha, huh? Actually, I think the same way, after all, we have a lot more soldiers and planes in North Africa than the British. ”

With the joyful laughter of the two, they flew out of the skies over the Italian mainland and into the airspace of the Mediterranean.

.........

At the same time, in the Mediterranean, the Italian cruiser Gildio was carrying out their air defense missions.

To be honest, wave after wave of bombing by the British Air Force gave them a headache when they first arrived here.

"Damn the British Air Force, I don't know how many times it's been here this day? Still don't let people stop? "The sailor on the cruiser Gildio Gildio complained to Corladio Mazzola.

Faced with the frequent bombing of the British Air Force, this 20-year-old hairy boy was obviously terrified.

Just fifteen minutes earlier, British Brestol bombers had arrived and harvested the lives of several of his comrades.

Just as he was annoyed by the British bombing, two black dots appeared in the distance in the northern sky, accompanied by the roar of "boom" aircraft engines from time to time.

The sound was terrifying like a nightmare, and it frightened the hearts of the young Italian sailors.

"Enemy planes are here again!"

It's not just someone who roars, everyone seems to be panicked and at a loss for a while.

Fortunately, at this time, their captain stood up in time and stabilized everyone's mood: "Don't panic, all the personnel are in place quickly." Don't rush to fire at the anti-aircraft guns, wait for the enemy planes to get a little closer, and then fire. This time they have only two planes, and they pose no threat to us at all! ”

.........

"Where are we?" At the same time, Marshal Balbo, who was over the ocean, looked at his watch and asked the staff officer.

"We are now in the southern Mediterranean Sea and are about to reach Tobruk." The staff officer replied truthfully to Balbo: "Judging from the Navy Department's reply to our request for support some time ago, this sea area should belong to the Navy sent by the Navy to patrol the sea area with the cruiser Giltio as the flagship. ”

Hearing that he was about to reach his destination, Balbo breathed a sigh of relief. To be honest, he always felt that something was not quite right when he got on the plane today, as if he had a premonition that something would happen.

But now it seems that his worries are too much, after all, his landline has entered the sphere of influence of the Italian army.

"Tell the cabin crew that I'm hungry and get me some lunch." Balbo didn't get to breakfast because he got on the plane too early, and the fatigue of the journey made him hungry.

If he wants to arrive at his destination soon, he thinks that he should fill his stomach first, so that he can better direct the work after landing.

"Okay, Marshal!" The staff officer replied, "There is also a bottle of fine French red wine on the plane, you can taste it." ”