Chapter 400: Sea Battle 8

Italian aircraft carrier fleet.

Flagship, "Eagle" aircraft carrier.

The telephones in the command tower rang one after another, and the staff in charge of communications kept reporting the latest orders and intelligence to the fleet commander Admiral Anzu. Aquino.

All the good news was unbelievable, as if the goddess of happiness had descended on Italy overnight.

The arrogant British Royal Navy Mediterranean Fleet was definitely defeated! One aircraft carrier and two battleships were confirmed to be sunk! In addition, a "Nelson" class battleship was severely damaged, and a "Revenge" class battleship was severely damaged (it was the Resolution, which was damaged by the 4th assault wave and hit by 3 bombs and 2 torpedoes)

Although the Fw-200C reconnaissance aircraft had not found the remaining two British aircraft carriers, Admiral Anzu. Aquino could not help but send his carrier-based aircraft out to make a fortune. He had 96 carrier-based aircraft, 48 of which were Fokker 99 dive bombers. Although this type of aircraft can only carry 250 kg of bombs and poses no threat to battleships, cruisers and destroyers cannot withstand their attacks.

Now that the battleships are almost destroyed by the air force, the Italian Navy has not made any achievements. Isn't it a bit unreasonable?

Who knows if the night battle tonight can be fought? It is better to send out 48 Fokker 99s first and sink a few light cruisers!

With this idea in mind, Admiral Anzu Yakino has been requesting to attack since 12 noon. At 4:10 pm, it was about to get dark, and Admiral Compionni's order to allow the attack had not yet come.

"Have you found the British aircraft carrier?" Admiral Anzu Yakino asked loudly.

"No..." The staff shook his head, "Fw-200C has searched a large area of ​​​​sea south of Crete and found nothing. It seems that the British aircraft carrier is not there."

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

It was almost dark now. If the attack could not be launched in another 60 minutes, there would be no need to fight and they could go to bed. Tonight, even if the battle fleet caught up with the British fleet, the aircraft carrier would have no chance - the ability of carrier-based aircraft to attack at night was still a unique skill of the British!

However, this unique skill could only deal with a fleet that was stationary in the port. It was impossible to use torpedo planes to attack at night against a fleet that could run dozens of kilometers per hour.

In other words, once it got dark, the Italian aircraft carrier fleet would not be attacked by the enemy.

The staff officer suddenly reported loudly again: "Admiral, the plane responsible for direct cover reported that it had spotted a British seaplane."

"Just shoot it down!" Admiral Anzu Aquino said impatiently, "Go and ask Admiral Compionni for instructions and request carrier-based aircraft to attack!"

...

"Lieutenant, that's not right!"

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

"But it's not the Short Sunderland."

"That's the Walrus, I know it."

"But the Walrus is usually carried by battleships and cruisers."

"Who cares, shoot it down first. Prince, you go first, I'll cover you."

Between the blue sky and white clouds of the Mediterranean, two German carrier-based aircraft pilots, Hessmann's beloved son Rudolf and Prince Egmond Lip-Wiesenfeld, leisurely chased a desperately fleeing British "Walrus" seaplane and chatted for a while, and finally decided that Prince Lip-Wiesenfeld would shoot it down.

Just before Prince Lip-Wiesenfeld shot down the Walrus seaplane, a key piece of intelligence had been sent out by the telegraph operator on the Walrus.

"Major General, the seaplane of the York has found two Italian aircraft carriers, which are protected by only a few cruisers and destroyers. The coordinates are 35.3 degrees north latitude and 19.2 degrees east longitude."

On the Illustrious aircraft carrier, Colonel Boyd, Chief of Staff of Fleet B, reported the intelligence he had just received to Commander Major General Lister.

Both of them looked very ugly. Although Fleet B was still in radio silence, the telegrams sent by Fleet A could still be received.

Therefore, they already knew the heavy losses of Fleet A! This surprised them very much. Although they had long known that the German shore-based aircraft were not easy to deal with, British intelligence personnel had long understood the situation of the German shore-based aircraft deployed on Sicily.

Among them, the only ones that could be used to attack the fleet were 9 Ju88 squadrons and 9 He-115 squadrons. Ju88 is indeed a very powerful aircraft, which poses a great threat to surface ships. However, the shore-based model of the He-115, which was improved from a seaplane, was not a very good torpedo bomber. It was slow, weak, and had little armor, so it was easy to be shot down.

So in the eyes of Major General Lister and Colonel Boyd, the real threat to the British Mediterranean Fleet was the Ju88 of the nine squadrons. However, from the battle report they received from Fleet A, the Italian hunchback aircraft seemed to have exerted a very strong attack power.

Even the Italians can fight. Is this God's will to destroy the British Empire?

But now there is finally good news. Two Italian aircraft carriers appeared within the attack range of the carrier-based aircraft of Fleet B attacking from point X, and there was no battleship escort with strong anti-aircraft firepower nearby.

"About 300 kilometers!" Colonel Boyd and the staff of Fleet B have calculated the distance and time. "It will take an hour and a half... It's 4:15 pm now, so we should be in time."

"Carrier-based aircraft set off!"

Major General Lister was waiting for this opportunity!

"Break the radio silence," he ordered, "Inform Commander Cunningham and the Mediterranean Air Force Command of the location of the Italian aircraft carrier."

The Mediterranean Air Force Command of the United Kingdom has also been waiting for this news.

At several simple airports on Crete, 6 squadrons of Blenheim light bombers and 3 squadrons of P-39 "Flying Snake" fighters have been lined up neatly on the runway. As soon as the order came, the alarm sounded throughout the airport, and one "Blenheim" and P-39 began to take off. More than 100 fighters were divided into 3 assault waves, rushing eastward in a sky-covered manner.

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

The two aircraft carriers were speeding against the wind at a speed of 25 knots, creating a huge deck wind. As the take-off order from the flight control tower was issued, two Fokker 99 aircraft rushed out of the deck first.

One after another. The two aircraft carriers released aircraft at a rate of one per minute. The Fokker Zero and Fokker 99 filled the sky in an instant, roaring eastward!

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

In the command tower of the battleship "Veneto", Rear Admiral Baroni said to Admiral Compionni in a very excited tone: "It is 4:41 now, and they can attack the British cruisers and destroyers at the latest at 5:30!"

Using Fokker 99 to attack British cruisers and destroyers was not in the "Hammer" plan. It was proposed temporarily by Admiral Iachino, commander of the Italian aircraft carrier fleet. And Admiral Compionni agreed, and there was a reason for him. He wanted the Fokker 99 to damage more British ships, and preferably set some of them on fire. This would make it very easy to find the British fleet tonight.

In addition, damaging or sinking some British cruisers and destroyers could also reduce the risk of the Italian fleet being hit by British torpedoes in tonight's "chaos".

Admiral Compionni then asked Baroni, "Have you made plans for a chaotic battle tonight?"

"Yes," Baroni said, "The British may only have four intact battleships left, and perhaps a few heavy cruisers. It is estimated that they will use these battleships to form a bombardment formation to cover the escape of the wounded battleships. We should first form three double battleship formations, each battleship formation consisting of two battleships of the same class, and then equipped with several light cruisers and destroyers. The three battleship formations will launch a full-speed attack on the enemy's bombardment column under the cover of night. In order to break up the enemy's battle line in the shortest time and enter a chaotic battle mode, then two Count Cavour-class and two Doria-class will be responsible for entanglement with the three intact British battleships. The two Veneto-class will be responsible for searching for the wounded. British battleships, using speed and firepower advantages, quickly sank them with the cooperation of light cruisers and destroyers. "

At this point, Major General Baroni suddenly said in a firm tone: "Tonight, even if we lose one or two old battleships, we must sink the 'Nelson' class!"

Admiral Compioni nodded heavily and said: "As long as the 'Nelson' class is sunk, our Italian Navy will be the master of the Mediterranean!"

"Admiral, the fire on the 'Rodney' has been extinguished, the speed has returned to 15 knots, and the 9 main guns are intact, but the rudder is completely destroyed. Now it can only rely on the cruiser to change the course. "

On the "Warspite", Major General Crutchley reported a good news to Cunningham in a slightly joyful voice. After the efforts of the damage control team, the fire on the "Rodney" was finally extinguished. This means that it will not become a sea torch that attracts shells tonight.

But the rudder of the Rodney is still not repaired (in fact, it is gone). If the main gun turret layout of the Rodney is the ordinary two in front and one in the back or two in front and two in the back, then the problem is not so big. The power of three 16-inch guns is too much for even the Veneto class to withstand. But the three turrets of the Rodney are all at the bow. If the enemy attacks from the stern, the Rodney can only take the beating. This is not okay...