Italian aircraft carrier fleet.

Flagship, aircraft carrier "Eagle".

The telephone in the Commander's Tower rang one after another, and the staff officer in charge of communications kept the latest orders and information received to Fleet Commander Anzu. Admiral Aquinoy.

All the good news came and the good ones were unbelievable, as if the goddess of happiness had come to Italy overnight.

The invincible British Royal Navy Mediterranean Fleet was definitely defeated! An aircraft carrier and two battleships are sure to be sunk! In addition, a Nelson-class battleship was heavily damaged, and a Revenge-class battleship was heavily damaged (it was the Determination, which was disabled by the 4th Strike Wave, with 3 bombs and 2 torpedoes)

Although the FW-200C reconnaissance aircraft has not yet found any trace of the remaining two British aircraft carriers, Anzu. Admiral Aquino couldn't help but send his carrier-based aircraft out to get a handful. He had 96 carriers, 48 of which were Fokker Type 99 dive bombers. Although such aircraft could only carry 250 kg of bombs and posed little threat to battleships, cruisers and destroyers could not resist their blows.

Now that the battleships are about to be blown up by the Air Force, and the Italian Navy has not yet made an inch, is it a little unreasonable?

Who knows if we can fight tonight's night battle? It's better to send out 48 Fokker 99s first, and it's good to blow up and sink a few light cruisers!

It is with this in mind that Anzu. Admiral Aquino has been asking for sorties since 12 noon. By 4:10 p.m., it was getting dark, and Admiral Cumpioni's order to strike had not yet arrived.

"Did you find the British aircraft carrier?" Anzu. Admiral Aquino asked aloud.

"There is no ......" the staff officer shook his head, "the FW-200C has searched a large area of the sea south of Crete, and has found nothing, it seems that the British aircraft carrier is not there." ”

"Not there? So where are they? "Anzu. Admiral Aquino frowned. He was not so worried about not being able to find the British aircraft carrier, but about not being able to launch an attack in time.

It's getting dark now, and if you can't attack in another 60 minutes, you don't have to fight, you can wash and sleep. Tonight, even if the battle fleet catches up with the British fleet, there is nothing to do with aircraft carriers -- the ability of carrier-based aircraft to attack at night is still a unique skill of the British!

However, this unique stunt can only deal with a fleet parked in the harbor and does not move, and it is impossible to use torpedo planes to attack the fleet on the march at all, which can run tens of kilometers per hour.

In other words, as soon as it gets dark, the Italian aircraft carrier fleet will not be attacked by the enemy.

The staff officer suddenly shouted again: "Admiral, the aircraft in charge of direct cover reports the discovery of a British seaplane. ”

"Just knock it down!" Anzu. Admiral Aquino said impatiently, "Go and ask Admiral Campioni again for a carrier-based aircraft attack!" ”

……

"Lieutenant, that's not right!"

"Prince, what's wrong? That's the British seaplane! ”

"But not in the Schott 'Sunderland' style."

"It's a walrus, I know it."

"But the walrus was usually carried by battleships and cruisers."

"Whatever, let's fight it down first. Prince, you go first, I'll cover. ”

Between the blue skies and white clouds of the Mediterranean, two German carrier-based pilots, Hersmann's precious sons Rudolf and Egmont. Prince Lip Wissenfield leisurely chased a desperately fleeing British Walrus seaplane and chatted for a while, and finally decided that Prince Lip Wizengfeld would shoot it down.

And just before Prince Lip-Wissenfeld shot down the Walrus seaplane, a crucial piece of information had been sent by the telegraph operator on the Walrus plane.

"Rear Admiral, the seaplanes of the Yorkie found 2 Italian aircraft carriers, protected only by a few cruisers and destroyers, and the coordinates were 35.3 degrees north latitude and 19.2 degrees east longitude."

Aboard the USS Tejlis, Colonel Boyd, Chief of Staff of Fleet B, reported the information he had just received to the commander, Rear Admiral Listter.

Both of them had ugly faces, and although Fleet B was still silent, the telegram from Fleet A could still be received.

So they already know about the heavy losses of Fleet A! This came as a great surprise to them, and although they had known for a long time that the Germans were not good at shore-based aircraft, British intelligence officers had long since figured out the situation with the shore-based aircraft deployed by the Germans in Sicily.

Among them, 9 Ju88 squadrons and 9 He-115 squadrons can be used to attack the fleet. The Ju88 is indeed a very powerful aircraft, which poses a great threat to surface ships. But the shore-based version of the He-115, which was improved from the seaplane, was not a very good torpedo bomber, with slow speed, weak firepower, little armor, and was easily shot down.

So in the eyes of Rear Admiral Lister and Colonel Boyd, the real threat to the British Mediterranean Fleet was the Ju88 of those 9 squadrons. However, judging from the battle briefing they received from Fleet A, the Italians' hunchbacked planes seemed to have exerted a very powerful attacking force.

Even the Italians will go to war, is this God going to destroy the British Empire?

But now the good news finally came, two Italian aircraft carriers appeared within the range of the carrier-based aircraft of the B fleet attacking from point X, and there were no battleships with relatively strong anti-aircraft fire nearby.

"About 300 km!" Colonel Boyd and the staff of Fleet B had already calculated the distance and time, "it will take 1 and a half hours...... It's 4:15 p.m. and it should be in time. ”

"Carrier-based aircraft depart!"

This is the opportunity that Major General Lister was waiting for!

"Break the radio silence," he then ordered, "to inform Commander Cunningham and the Mediterranean Air Command of the location of the Italian carriers." ”

The British Mediterranean Air Force Command has also been waiting for news for a long time.

Six squadrons of Blenheim light bombers and three squadrons of P-39 Flying Snake fighters lined up along the runway at several airstrips on the island of Crete. As soon as the order arrived, the sirens sounded throughout the airport, and one after another "Blenheim" and P-39s began to take off, and more than 100 fighters divided into three assault waves and rushed eastward under the cover of the sky.

At the same time, on the decks of the Italian aircraft carriers "Eagle" and "Sparrowhawk", 32 aircraft were each ready to go.

The two aircraft carriers, speeding into the wind at a speed of 25 knots, created a huge deck wind. As the take-off order from the flight control tower was given, two Fokker 99 aircraft were the first to rush out of the deck.

One after the other. Two aircraft carriers, releasing planes at a rate of 1 per minute, the Fokker Zero and Fokker 99 filled the sky in an instant, whistling and flying eastward!

"Admiral, 48 Fokker 99 and 16 Fokker Zeros have taken off!"

Rear Admiral Baroni, the commander of the battleship "Veneto", said to Admiral Cumpioni in a very excited tone: "It is 4:41 a.m., and by 5:30 a.m. they will be able to attack the cruisers and destroyers of the British!" ”

The attack on British cruisers and destroyers with Fokker 99 was not part of the "Iron Hammer" plan, it was improvised by the commander of the Italian aircraft carrier fleet, Admiral Yaquino. And Admiral Campioni also had a reason for agreeing. He wanted the Fokker 99 to damage some more British ships, and it would be better to set some of them on fire. So it will be very easy to find the British fleet tonight.

In addition, damaging or sinking some British cruisers and destroyers would also reduce the risk of the Italian fleet being torpedoed by the British in tonight's "chaotic battle".

Admiral Cumpioni then asked Baroni, "Have you made plans for tonight's chaos?" ”

"Well," said Baroni, "it is likely that the British will have only 4 intact battleships left, and perhaps a few heavy cruisers. It is estimated that they will use these capital ships to form an artillery formation to cover the escape of the wounded battleships. We should first form three double battleship formations, each consisting of two battleships of the same class, with several light cruisers and destroyers. Three battleship formations were to launch a full-speed assault on the enemy shelling column under the cover of night. In order to break up the enemy battle line in the shortest possible time and enter the chaos mode, then the two Earl Cavour-class and the two Doria-class will be responsible for entanglement of the three British battleships in good condition. The two Veneto-class ships were tasked with searching for wounded British battleships, taking advantage of their speed and firepower, and quickly sinking them with the cooperation of light cruisers and destroyers. ”

Speaking of this, Rear Admiral Baroni suddenly said in a firm tone: "Tonight, even if we lose one or two old battleships, we will sink that 'Nelson' class!" ”

Admiral Cumpioni nodded heavily and said, "As long as we sink that 'Nelson' class, our Italian Navy will be the master of the Mediterranean!" ”

"Admiral, the fire on the 'Rodney' has been extinguished, the speed has been restored to 15 knots, and the 9 main guns are also intact, but the rudder is completely destroyed, and now it can only be towed by the cruiser to change course."

On the "War Wey", Rear Admiral Cratchley reported good news to Cunningham in a slightly joyful voice. Through the efforts of the damage management team, the fire of the "Rodney" was finally extinguished. This means that tonight it will not turn into a sea torch that attracts shells.

But the rudder of the "Rodney" is still not repaired (in fact, there is no one), and if the layout of the main gun turret of the "Rodney" is the ordinary front two and one back one or the front two and two back two, then the problem is not very big. The power of three 16-inch cannons was unbearable even for the "Veneto" class. However, all three turrets of the "Rodney" were in the bow, and if the enemy attacked from the stern, the "Rodney" would have to be beaten. That's not going to work...... (To be continued.) )