In the early morning of May 7, 1917, off Alexandria, Egypt, North Africa, five different naval flags fluttered in the wind, and the team of the 7th Chinese ship, together with the huge combined fleet of Germany, Ottomans, Japan and Korea, galloped west along the coast in two columns. 【 I want: super fast update 】

After a night of silent sailing, the fleet gradually woke up with the rising sun, and although the use of radio was still not allowed, the various flags became a channel for the sailors of the five countries to communicate.

Expeditions are always not trivial, not to mention entering the Mediterranean, which is known as the belly of Europe, even if the former Mediterranean hegemons Britain and France need to help the United States defend the Caribbean Sea because of heavy naval losses, but still no one dares to underestimate the dangers lurking under this sea.

May in the Mediterranean is a beautiful season, with the clear blue waters rippling slightly, the thin water rolling up shells and rushing onto the beach, the birds and seagulls flying together, the schools of sardines huddled together, and the verdant olive trees on the islands are full of business.

The beautiful and beautiful ocean makes people linger at the same time, but because of the unique geographical location, it has lost the tyranny and restlessness that the sea should have, so many sailors have come to the deck early, for them who are used to fighting with strong winds and waves, this unpopular sea area is really a little unaccustomed.

"We're back."

On the deck, Spee muttered to himself as he walked towards the already prepared motorboat, after nearly three years of war, the German Far East Fleet led by him finally returned to Europe, although only four old warships, the Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, Emden and Nuremberg, were left, but he had no regrets about returning to Europe.

On the right is the former German Navy's battlecruiser Goben, which was sold and renamed under the Ottoman flag, and behind it are three battleships and armored cruisers from Korea and Japan.

On the left, there are well-deserved protagonists, with 3 aircraft carriers that have become famous all over the world, 3 battleships equipped with 9 battleships with 5/406 mm guns, and 1 heavy cruiser with 9156/305 mm guns (Shi Pei believes that the Xi'an class is a heavy cruiser) "The Seventh Fleet of the Chinese Navy after strengthening."

As he stepped into the motorboat from the gangway, several long-range hummingbird reconnaissance planes slowly left the water, and immediately after, the nose of the disc was painted with a big mouth pattern, and the bumblebee fighters also rushed into the blue sky. Spee looked enviously at these soaring eagles, because it was with them that the Combined Fleet hardly had to think about the sudden encounter with the enemy during the day.

In order to try not to let the outside world spy on the intelligence of aircraft carriers and fighters, this time Gu Junhuo chose the Taiwan battleship as the flagship, and the internal space of such a wide battleship was envied by Shi Pei and other generals who boarded this kind of super battleship for the first time. ※※※※※ I ※ I ※ ※

"It is reported that the main forces of the Italian naval fleet have all departed from Taranto half an hour ago, heading due south at a speed of 17 knots" and at this rate are expected to arrive in Malta tomorrow morning. "In addition, we received a telegram from the Austro-Hungarian General Staff" that the Austro-Hungarian Navy has promised to join the Combined Fleet, but hopes that we will go to the Adriatic Sea to meet it. ”

"Coincidence?"

Although it was a small plan to release the Austro-Hungarian Navy from the Adriatic Sea and then cooperate with the Ottoman Navy and the German Far East Fleet to besiege the Italian coastline, the intelligence that the main force of the Italian Navy left Taranto almost at the same time still made him sense a little strange.

"Exposed?" Gu Junhuo was not surprised by this "Answer", "After all, this is the Mediterranean, and it is indeed difficult for such a huge fleet to sail from Italy, France and other countries with hundreds of years of deep roots, but if it is hiding other targets, what ...... should I do?"

"Is that old fellow at Delfino finally willing to come out? That's great! It is incredible that he was originally a German rear admiral, but after arriving in the Ottoman Empire, he became the commander-in-chief of the Ottoman Navy, and even now he still represents the Ottoman Navy, which is also a highlight of this great war.

"Delnofi has 4 strong Combined Forces-class battleships" and 3 old battleships, if it weren't for the damn environment of the Adriatic, it would have been of great use, so I think we should take advantage of the Italian fleet to go to Malta, pick them up from the bay, and then attack the Italian coastline in full! With a super battleship like the Taiwan on his feet, Spee could only call the Combined Forces-class battleship, which was second to none in Europe and even envied by Germany, as a "stronger battleship", but like all Germans, he was extremely angry at Italy's betrayal of the alliance after the war.

"If the Austro-Hungarian Navy comes out, it can indeed strengthen our combat capability, but I think we should first determine whether the Italian fleet is really going to Malta before making a decision!" After serving as a naval staff officer for more than two years, Wu Yingke, who had reunited with the fleet of the motherland, seemed very excited, and he was also very familiar with the situation of the countries bordering the Mediterranean, so he also put forward his own proposals.

"Do you think they ...... "not going to Malta?" "Yes." Wu Yingke nodded, pointed to the map and said, "I suspect" that the Italian Navy deliberately created the illusion of leaving the base and going to Taranto, and then took advantage of the Austro-Hungarian Navy to suddenly kill the horse. ”

"Back to the pistol?" Shi Pei finally figured out the meaning of the word from the translator's mouth, and immediately asked: Is this possible? "I think Wu's words are very likely. As a former colleague, Sorochin glanced at Shi Pei, walked to the map, pointed and said: "We are sailing along the coast of North Africa, continuing west to the Maltese Islands, the heart of the Mediterranean, and if the Entente are not stupid, this is the theater of war that they must defend."

But the question is, all our intelligence so far is saying that Malta only has a few cruisers and a large number of destroyers and torpedo boats, and there are no naval capital ships deployed, will they abandon this strategic location for nothing?

Answer: No!

But why don't you keep it in advance when you know it's important?

Because they were equally worried that Delfino's fleet would come out to flank us, they would certainly take advantage of this opportunity to destroy Delfino's fleet before we reached Malta. ”

"But can Italy alone destroy the Austro-Hungarian fleet with the rank of female combined force?" Spee looked at his colleagues back then, a little unconvinced.

"Maximime, you've been to the Far East for too long." , Soroqin said, and the corner of his eyes quietly swept down Gu Junhuo, who had not spoken, and said: "Italy is not invincible, in addition, please don't compare the Italians with the army and navy, the Italian Navy is the maritime combat force of the Entente after Britain and France, and its combat capability is even better than that of the United States Navy" and their naval guns have a unique design, "The range armor-piercing ability is better than that of Delfino."

During this time, the Italian Navy has been on a mission, although it has not been tested by a big war, but it has more experience than Delfino's fleet, and the important thing is that Italy and France have submarine forces comparable to our country, and if Delfino runs into open water, it will definitely be attacked by them! Soroqin kept looking at Gu Junhuo as he spoke, so it was not so much that he was talking to Shi Pei as he was reminding the former.

Although Gu Junhuo is the commander of China's Seventh Fleet and himself has the rank of lieutenant general, "but he was not well-known in the Chinese Navy before he took up the Xi Ling, far inferior to Ji Weishan, Le Fei, Liu Buchan and Sa Zhenbing and others, if it weren't for the previous interception battle in the Indian Ocean, maybe everyone wouldn't have paid attention to him at all, but even if the Indian Ocean interception war was successful, the outside world still credited Ye Zugui of the Chinese Second Fleet.

Looking at the eyes of these people, Wu Yingke secretly laughed, he knew who Gu Junhuo was, the eight captains of the emperor when he started, although the light was not as good as Ji Weishan and others over the years, if anyone dared to despise him, he would definitely pay a heavy price.

Admiral Sorochin is right, we must first determine the real goal of the main force of the Italian Navy, and there is another thing that we should not forget. Zhou Cheng was amused, thought for a while and said: "Up to now, they still haven't received any information about the British support fleet, but one thing is certain" In such a tense situation, they will never continue to stay in Gibraltar! ”

"Your Majesty, the Chief of Staff is right, I think we should avoid interference and postpone the Austro-Hungarian naval fleet to attack Malta directly!" Rear Admiral Muto stood up and said.

"Nope."

Sorochin would not directly remind Gu Junhuo, but it did not mean that he would agree with Rear Admiral Himoto's words, and immediately said: "After France lost Djibouti, Britain strengthened the defense of the Maltese Islands, and last month Italy also withdrew 70,000 troops to the island, and it takes several hours to arrive in Malta from Sicily by ship" So if you want to take Malta, you must first completely defeat the Italian navy, if you can't do it, "After the land landing, you will face endless harassment and naval artillery sneak attacks." ”

If you want to take Malta, destroy Taranto first.

Gu Junhuo agreed with Sorochin's words, Taranto is the cradle of the Italian navy, only 400 nautical miles from the port of Valletta, Malta, even if the cruising speed is enough to reach it in one day and one night, and from Alexandria, where it is currently located, even if it soars to 30 knots, it will take 30 hours to arrive, so the Italian navy has enough time to arm.

And Zhou Cheng has already said that since arriving in Gibraltar 3 days ago, the three Queen Elizabeth-class battleships supported by the British suddenly disappeared, because the fortress of Gibraltar has been completely closed, even the invincible German intelligence department in Europe is difficult to grasp the situation inside, which means that they can calmly use the night to avoid all eyes.

He is not afraid of the three queens, and he is not afraid of pulling all the remaining battleships in Britain in time, and he is not afraid of the life and death of the Austro-Hungarian navy, the only thing that bothers him is how to force the Italian navy to come to a decisive battle, instead of huā for ten days and a half to go around in circles, so that even if he can reach Spain, the follow-up supply ships will be attacked by the enemy's capital ships.

"Taranto." Gu Junhuo stared at the bay at the eastern end of the Apennine Peninsula that was like a big mouth of blood, and smiled coldly: "Send a report and tell Prince Delfino that we will arrive in the Strait of Otranto tomorrow night." ”

PS: Today's unit is busy.,There's no code word.,When I went home, I didn't even eat dinner and locked myself up in this chapter.。 I'm going to eat, and I'll see if I can get some more out later.

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