"According to intelligence, it is an opportunity and a challenge that large ships cannot enter because of infrastructure problems in the port of Al-Bayda, so the other side is transporting ships with smaller tonnage day and night." Colonel Casaldi, the captain of the Zara, who was in charge of the night raid, assigns tasks on a large-scale map of the port of Bayda.

"According to our hydrographic data, all ships will enter the port from this loophole-type area, with the unloading area of the terminal on the left and some berths and warehouses on the right. Theoretically, there should be no large Allied warships here, our task is simple, after entering the theater of operations, large mine-strike boats will patrol the north, and the destroyers will attack the Austro-Hungarian transport ships preparing to enter the port, and then my Zara, the Golicia, will be responsible for attacking the berths and cargo warehouses under the guidance of seaplanes. ”

"And what if there is a fleet, what do we do?" An officer next to him asked. "Quite simply, before sunset, the British will once again conduct aerial reconnaissance, and if the size of the opposing fleet does not exceed ours, then we will continue to operate...... It's just that the destroyers attack the ships outside the harbor that are ready to enter the harbor, and when the opposing ships attack our destroyers, we attack them again. If the opponent's fleet is larger than ours, we can consider abandoning the attack. Colonel Casaldi said..........

"So will the Sicily come with us?" The captain of the Gorisia asked. "No, they'll cover our evacuation the next day. You know, night battles can be very chaotic, and the two sides won't be far apart. The defense of Sicily was really ......, plus there were tethered planes on deck. Then Casaldi had a look that you all understand.

"If there is no problem, we will act tonight. In the afternoon we will head to Benghazi, and then when it gets dark, we will head to Beida, where we will have some cover from the Air Force and the Sicily before dark. He looked at his subordinates and said nothing else. Casaldi said.

While the Italian Navy was actively planning this operation, the British were not ambiguous. A unit of high-speed reconnaissance planes, codenamed the Shicha Falcon, appeared over the port of Beida again and again, once again verifying all kinds of information about the ships and cargo warehouses in the port. "It's business as usual at the port. No surprises, just a few more ships. "The Ishcha Falcon high-speed reconnaissance plane circled around the port area and then went back decisively, and then sent the Italian fleet a business as usual message. Half an hour later, the Italian assault fleet began to move towards the port of Beida. And because more prey is found. So Casaldi temporarily transferred two more destroyers from the cruiser formation of Sicily, "Tonight must be an unforgettable night." Casaldi said confidently..........

"These mosquitoes are really annoying. Couldn't the Reich Air Force and the Germans do anything about it? "Shortly after the British Air Force reconnaissance plane withdrew, a towering figure appeared from the sea and headed in the direction of Alberta. If the British pilots had stayed for another 30 minutes, they would have discovered the new generation of Combined Forces battleship, which Austria-Hungary regarded as a new symbol of the Navy!

The Italians did not like the Austro-Hungarian fleet at the port of Bayda, and the Austrians were also very unpleasant to the Italian air force deployed in Benghazi. The Italians thought of bombing the port of Beida with cruisers, and the Austrians also thought of using battleships to blow up the air base west of Bengha. As for why it was necessary to send battleships instead of cruisers. On the one hand, the Austrians wanted to completely destroy the British planes that were placed in reinforced bunkers, and on the other hand, to take care of the morale of the main fleet.

"The British are very punctual, and they come to Beida almost every day at this point. It's like a clock. It's not bad at all. Old-fashioned John Bull. A general with a lieutenant general's armband on his shoulder said, looking at the approaching port of Beda in the distance. …。

"The planes are supposed to be coming from Benghazi, and we'll be anchored outside Port Beda this evening, and then we'll be on to Benghazi before dawn the next day, and if nothing else, our shells will fall on their heads while they're having breakfast." A staff officer next to him said..........

"It's good, but I've always figured it out. Why don't we act tonight? Lieutenant General Moody asked, somewhat puzzled, as he had sent several telegrams to Field Marshal Haldy asking for early entry into the battlefield. But the latter has always refused his request.

"Because tonight, the fuel for the air corps deployed in Bayta will be available. The next day we can provide aviation cover, you know, the aircraft carrier formation has returned to Crete, ready to deal with the Italian fleet coming out of Sicily, we are very dangerous without aviation cover, so His Excellency the Marshal wants to act after propping up the air defense umbrella of Al-Bayda, after all, your battleship is too important to make a mistake. The adjutant replied. In his heart, however, he also thought that Marshal Holdey was too cautious.

Joldi deserves to be regarded as a veteran of the First World War...... In order to ensure the foolproof nature of this operation, various factors were taken into account, and a large number of submarine hunters were now dispatched to clean up the nearby seabed, and then, in order to avoid the detection of the British, specially arranged for the fleet to advance to the berthing site at night. Even in order to prevent the attack of the opposing air force, the aviation cruiser Aegean was specially arranged to provide accompanying cover. There is also the aviation fleet deployed by Beida. It's really leaky!. …。

So, Colonel Casaldi confidently sailed towards the port of Beida, unaware that the battleship United Forces had entered the combat zone. And Moody's swaggered outside the port of Beida with the Aegean air cruiser without knowing that the Italians were going to come over at night to fight the stuffy sticks. If someone can open God's perspective, they will definitely cry out. This situation is a bit too talkative!

At 11 p.m., the Casaldi fleet finally entered the target area, and relying on the lighthouse of the port of Bayda, they could see several transport ships preparing to enter the port outside the harbor. The other side should have laid mines or lightning nets, in short, the speed of entry is not fast, and in order to prevent accidental mines, Casaldi ordered the destroyer detachment in the fleet to attack in advance, and the situation on the battlefield at this time is that there are several transport ships between Casaldi's fleet and Moody's fleet, and the distance between the two sides is more than 10km.

Although it had been a long time since there had been a war, the level of training of the Italian Navy was still acceptable, at least the lights were well controlled, except for a few destroyers in front with a little light, and the Zara and Gorisia in the back were completely hidden in the night. The Austro-Hungarian fleet on the opposite side did not expect the other party to come back for a night attack, so the light control was not very good, but even so, because the distance was too far, the Italians did not notice anything unusual in the distance. At this time, Casaldi had the intention of letting the destroyers knock out the ships that could run with kinetic energy first, and then attack the ships in the berths and the cargo stacks on the shore himself. Shortly after the sortie of the destroyers, seaplanes taking off from two heavy cruisers also flew towards the harbor with flares ..........

I have to say. Seaplanes just fly faster than destroyers. When the destroyer formation entered the port from the northwest, several seaplanes had already flown near several transport ships, and the other party did not care about this, thinking that it was the Allied plane that came back at night, as the distance approached, relying on the lights of the port of Bayda, an Italian plane finally spotted two huge figures not far away!

"Owl report headquarters, there are two big guys, northeast of Port Beida, target attributes to be determined!" A radio quickly sent information to the Zara, much to Moody's heartbreak! "Big guy?!" Casaldi frowned, it stands to reason that the navy can be considered a big guy at least more than 10,000 tons. Who will they be?! It is impossible for aircraft carriers, it is absolutely impossible for aircraft carriers to come out of two separate ones, there must be a large number of junior brothers around, and there are only a few around the Allies if there are gunboats! As for whether it would be a transport ship, this idea was denied as soon as it came out, Casaldi was skeptical of the British intelligence, but he was very clear about the situation in the port of Bayda, obviously the port did not support it, and the Allies still had to drive the big ship in, did they show off their heads? It could only be a battleship passing by temporarily! …………。

As soon as he thought of this, the word "cheat daddy" immediately popped up in Casaldi's head! Can the British detect it be more reliable? Can such a big goal be missed by Lao Tzu?! You're a pit teammate! Is the pilot a spy who breaks into our interior?! What is even more tragic is that this time Casaldi is preparing to hit the port, and most of the bombs he brought are high-explosive and incendiary bombs. It did bring some armor-piercing shells, but from the ammunition bay to the dressing room and the turret, they were all high-explosive and incendiary shells, which means that if you want to use armor-piercing shells, you must first use all the shells that have been raised....

The most economical and opportunistic way to deal with unidentified large warships is naturally to let the destroyers go up, and Casaldi does have two destroyers on his side. Casaldi immediately ordered his team to sail towards the two large battleships, and at the same time ordered that ten minutes later, several seaplanes threw flares on the two large battleships for the subsequent artillery bombardment was only the target, and the task of the two destroyers was to rush up under the cover of the ship's guns to release the torpedoes, and then fire the flares to continue to provide targets! As a result, just at this time, a new accident happened, the destroyer responsible for attacking the transport fleet had already opened fire! The silence of the night sky was quickly shattered by the light of fire and explosions! …。

Thank you for the monthly pass support of F663026~~. (To be continued).