"Look, our plane!" An Austro-Hungarian sailor pointed to a fast-flying figure in the distance. "When did those old men in the Air Force become so efficient?!" A non-commissioned officer next to him muttered quietly, and under the light of the lights on the shore, he could see several other shadows hovering around in addition to this plane. But it soon became clear that something was wrong. Why don't these planes fly towards the place where the fire is exchanged, and hang around near their own fleet?!

"Hell, they're throwing flares at us!" Finally the Austrians found out that this was definitely not their own plane! Hundreds of thousands of candlelight flares slowly descended under the action of parachutes, exposing the position of the Austro-Hungarian fleet to the night for several minutes, and the Austrians, no matter how confused, knew that this was definitely the other side's plane, but the vast majority of Austrians still did not understand how the other party's plane flew here at night? Could it be that the Italians have the ability to navigate long distances at night?!

"There are the other side's capital ships around!" Leadership is leadership...... Moody is definitely a little capable of climbing to today's position, and he found the truth of the matter at the first time, and at the same time as he thought of this, a cool breath rushed directly from the soles of his feet to his head! The opponent's capital ship! The seaplane has already exposed its location with flares, so these killers hidden in the dark can't bear to be lonely! …。

To Moody's surprise, Casaldi, who was not far away, was also scared in a cold sweat, and the distance between the two sides was estimated to be no more than 8km at this time! And it's still close. From the back in the light, Casaldi could see the massive hull of the United Forces. And the same gun arrangement as on the Combine Forces, 4 twin main turrets! This is definitely not a cruiser! The cruisers of Austria-Hungary and Germany were either 2 triple turrets or 3 triple turrets! Combined with the huge hull he saw, the identity of the other party is about to be revealed! "Damn the British! If only I could find a pilot. I'm going to let him go! Casaldi said indignantly.

The United Forces was recognized. The identity of the other battleship was also quickly verified. The same slender hull must have been a cruiser, and the aircraft carrier was also vetoed, since the Italians saw a turret-like east-east from above. Coupled with the fact that this battleship does not have a towering superstructure like an ordinary cruiser, then this identity has also been determined, it must be an Austro-Hungarian aviation cruiser, as for the specific one? Then it doesn't really matter! "I'm going to attack the other side's ship. Gorisia attacks that aviation cruiser behind! In this case, Casaldi could not be allowed to retreat. This is a battle on the opponent's home turf, who knows how many auxiliary warships there are around, and if you are covered by searchlights or flares by auxiliary warships or planes flying from the harbor, it will be a matter of minutes for the United Forces to destroy itself! Beat. It may be nine deaths and one life, and if you don't fight ten deaths, you will not be alive! Thinking of this, Casaldi decisively gave the order to attack!. …。

"Boom!" Two Italian cruisers fired the first salvo at the Austro-Hungarian fleet in the distance at a distance of less than 7km! 18 10-inch guns were almost in a flat-fire state. The 260kg shells went out to the target at a muzzle velocity of more than 800 meters, and in the dark night, the orange muzzle flames that joined together exposed the entire hull, and as long as the guns fired, the Italian fleet was also exposed!

In just a dozen seconds, 18 shells from the first salvo fell next to the Austro-Hungarian fleet. Due to the close proximity, the first round of fire was a hit, and a high-explosive shell smashed the flight deck of the Aegean. The violent explosion tore both planes to shreds. If it's just like this, it's nothing, a high-explosive bomb is about 20 kilograms of explosives at most, even if the flight deck is not protected, it will just be ignited, but these two planes are filled with fuel! It was intended to carry out the task of air defense of the fleet after dawn the next day. In fact, the amount of fuel is not much, and an airplane is only 500L aviation gasoline....... Imagine what a spectacle it would be for hundreds of kilograms of gasoline to explode on the deck! …。

Although most of the energy generated by the explosion is diffused into the air. But a few hundred kilograms of fuel still left half of the flight deck on fire. The violent explosion blew up the teak planks in the upper part of the deck and the steel plates below, opening a large hole of several tens of square meters in the deck. The scorching flames spread out in all directions under the effect of the shockwave. Even the bridge on the side of the deck was set on fire. The burning gasoline spread along the broken hole to the hangar, and the deadly fuel vapor also began to spread to the entire hangar, just when the Austrians were busy extinguishing the flames and lowering the fire curtain, another shell hit the side wall of the hangar, although the armor-piercing ability of high-explosive shells can only be described as sad, but it is no problem to knock on the structural steel more than ten millimeters thick, under the flash of fire, the hundreds of square meters in the cabin were swept away, and several planes were smashed into pieces, but fortunately, The operating specifications of the Austro-Hungarian Empire forbade non-armored aircraft carriers to refuel and reload in hangars, and although this blow was severe, the damage caused was not as good as the first shell! …。

"Let the Aegean quickly withdraw from the battlefield to put out the fire...... I've got the situation here! Looking at the Aegean, which was almost beaten into an oversized torch in the back, Moody's heart was bleeding. The Austro-Hungarian Empire, as a land power, was itself reluctant to assemble a strong navy. As a result, within a few minutes of the start of the war today, a warship with a displacement of more than 15,000 tons was already on the verge of destruction. "We block the other side and let the Aegean into the non-belligerent side of our ship." Moody's then issued a second order. The huge battleship Combined Forces began to maneuver and eventually landed between the Aegean and the two Italian cruisers. Night sighting was already poor, and when the United Forces blocked it, the two Italian cruisers could not effectively attack the Aegean, but in that case, they had to concentrate their firepower on this large ship.

"It looks like the other side is using high-explosive bombs." Moody glanced at the shell that exploded on the side of the ship, wiped a cold sweat and muttered to himself. It's not very sad today, it seems that the other side is planning to attack the port at night, and the preparations are all high-explosive bombs or incendiary bombs, and judging from the power of the opponent's shells, it should not be a new type of battleship. Considering the rate of fire and other circumstances, it should be two cruisers. "If you're here, don't go!" Thinking of this, a sneer appeared on the corner of Moody's mouth, who had been depressed for a long time, the displacement of the two battleships together was not as much as his own, I was afraid that it would do much! It's all over the place, but Moody seems to have forgotten one thing, that is, the shells in the turret and dressing room of the United Forces are also high-explosive shells! Because they are going to shell Benghazi tomorrow, even if the bunkers are somewhat strong, they will definitely not be able to hit them with high-explosive shells against battleships. Although the distance is a bit close now, there is a large angle between the routes of the two sides, and whether the 16-inch high-explosive bomb can get the opponent's 8-inch inclined armor is indeed a question mark..........

As a result, the fleets of the two sides used high-explosive shells in the first night battle after the end of World War 1. In a situation where it is difficult for both sides to penetrate the opponent's armor, the advantage of artillery with a larger caliber is not obvious, after all, the battleship's main guns have a slower rate of fire, and the projection of the 8 16-inch guns of the United Force is not higher than that of the opponent's 18 10-inch guns! Plus he has flares dropped by the opponent's seaplane above his head. And he could only counterattack according to the flames of the opponent's muzzle, and the observation and aiming conditions were not equal, so in the confrontation, the tragic United Forces did not hit a single shell of the opponent in the first 5 rounds of salvo!

In the course of several minutes, the two Italian heavy cruisers hit their targets frequently, and the armor-piercing coffee table but first-class arson high-explosive shells plunged the United Forces into a sea of fire, with shells occasionally hitting the superstructure and the weaker secondary and anti-aircraft guns. Destroy a 4-pack 37mm anti-aircraft gun weighing several tons along with the gun mounts. Clusters of flames scorched the hull of the United Forces. One of them even hit the 12-meter rangefinder at the top of the United Forces' main mast, and although it was lightly armoured, how could a rangefinder that was only shrapnel resistant prevent a 260kg shell from hitting at a speed of more than 600 meters per second, and after a loud bang, the expensive and sophisticated rangefinder turned into a pile of debris. And during this time, the high-explosive shells stored in the turrets of the two Italian cruisers were finally finished, and when armor-piercing shells were raised from the ammunition depot, it seemed that the balance of victory was also in favor of the Italians! …………。

"The armor-piercing shell is reloaded, and you can fire!" With the sound of artillery locking, the thick 10-inch L50 main gun was aimed at the target again, and with a violent vibration, 9 armor-piercing shells came out of their disembowels and flew towards the target in the distance! A dozen seconds later, several sparks erupted from the side side of the United Force.

After changing armor-piercing shells...... The two Italian cruisers continued to attack the behemoth in the distance with all their might, and the two destroyers, under the cover of the capital ships, tried to launch a lightning strike, but as soon as they got closer, they were blocked by four destroyers, and they hurriedly dropped their torpedoes and returned in vain. And after a few minutes of shooting, Casaldi found out that the situation was also some troops. The Italian cruiser after being reequipped with armor-piercing shells could not penetrate the opponent's armor even at a distance of about 7km!

"If it's the battleship Longxiang or the Cavour, I'm afraid the United Forces has already sunk, but just the two of you, even if you take the lead?" Moody looked at the two Italian cruisers in the distance with some relief. The effect of the opponent's armor-piercing projectile attack just now is not as good as that of high-explosive shells. At least the latter has a stronger fire resistance and a greater loss for the non-protective part. And at this moment, suddenly there was a loud noise from the stern, which made Moody frown slightly ..........

The second is more ~~~, ask for subscription and support~~~. (To be continued).