Chapter 781 The Night of Tarantto on

@@@@@@@@@@@@@ In the early morning of May 7, 1917, off the coast of Alexandria, Egypt, North Africa, five different naval flags fluttered against the haze, with Xinhua Seventh Fleet as the team, plus a huge joint fleet composed of Germany, Ottoman, Japan and North Korea, in two rows along The coast galloped westward.

The colorful signal flags kept climbing up the mast. After a night of silent sailing, the fleet gradually woke up with Xu Yu. Although the use of radio is still not allowed, all kinds of flags have become a channel for the sailors of the five countries to communicate.

Expeditions are always small, not to mention entering the Mediterranean, which is known as the abdomen of Europe. Even if the previous Mediterranean hegemon Britain and France need to help the United States defend the Caribbean Sea because of the heavy damage to the navy, no one still dares to underestimate the dangers hidden under the sea.

May in the Mediterranean Sea is the most beautiful season. The clear and blue water ripples slightly, the fine water rolls up the shells and rushes to the beach, the egrets and seagulls fly together, the swarms of sardines are crowded together, and the green olive trees on the island are full of business.

While the beautiful and beautiful ocean makes people linger, but because of its unique geographical location, it has lost the tyranny and restlessness of the sea, so many sailors came to the deck early. For those who are used to fighting against the wind and waves, this turbulent sea is really not used to it.

"We're back."

On the deck, Spee walked to the already prepared motorboat and muttered to himself. Nearly three years after the war, the German Far East Fleet he led finally returned to Europe. Although there were only four old warships, Schahnhorst, Gneisenau, Emden and Nuremberg, he had no regrets to return to Europe. .

On the right is the Ottoman flag, which has been sold and renamed the former German Navy Goben, followed by three battleships and armored cruisers from North Korea and Japan. On the left is the well-deserved protagonist, with three world-famous aircraft carriers, three battleships equipped with 9 L45/406 mm guns, and a heavy cruiser with 9 L55/305 mm guns (Spe believes that the Xi'an class is a heavy cruiser). After strengthening, the seventh fleet of the Xinhua Navy .

While stepping into the motorboat from the gangway, several long-range hummingbird reconnaissance aircraft slowly left the surface of the water, and then 12 noses were painted with shark beak patterns. Bumblebee fighters also rushed into the blue sky. Spee looked at these soaring war eagles with envy, because it was with them that the joint fleet hardly had to think about the problem of suddenly encountering the enemy during the day.

In order to prevent the outside world from spying on the information of aircraft carriers and fighters, Gu Junhao chose the latest battleship Taiwan as his flagship this time. Even if it is such a spacious internal space of the battleship, it is the first time for Shi Pei and other generals who boarded this kind of super battleship are envious.

"Report, I received information that the main force of the Italian naval fleet had all departed from Taranto half an hour ago, heading due south at a speed of 17 knots. At this speed, it is expected to arrive in Malta tomorrow morning." The staff officer said, "In addition, we have received a telegram from the General Staff of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The Austro-Hungarian Navy has promised to join the Combined Fleet, but we hope we can go to the Adriatic Sea to pick it up."

"Coincidence?"

Two messages received almost at the same time made Gu Jun Huo's eyebrows pick. Although there was a 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 main force of the Italian navy was almost at the same time. The information that left Taranto still made him aware of something strange.

"Are you exposed?" Gu Junhuo's answer is not strange. After all, this is the Mediterranean Sea. It is indeed difficult to hide such a huge fleet of Italy, France and other countries with centuries of deep roots, but what if they are hiding other targets? How should I deal with it?

"Is that old guy in Delfino finally willing to come out? That's great!" The speaker is the former captain Sorochin. It is incredible that he used to be a major general of the German navy, but after arriving in Ottomans, he became the commander-in-chief of the Ottoman navy. Even now, he still represents the Ottoman navy, which is also a highlight of this world-long war.

"Delnofi has four strong combined force-class battleships and three old-fashioned battleships. If it hadn't been for the damn environment of the Adriatic Sea, it would have had a greater effect, so I think we should take advantage of the opportunity of the Italian fleet to go to Malta to pick them out of the Gulf, and then all Attack the Italian coastline!" Stepping on a super battleship like Taiwan, Spee can only call the United Forces-class battleship, which was the first in Europe and even the envy of Germany, a "stronger warship", 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 capabilities, but I think we should first determine whether the Italian fleet is really going to Malta before making a decision!" After Osman served as a naval staff officer for more than two years, Wu Yingke, who rejoined with the motherland's fleet, was very excited and was also familiar with the situation of countries along the Mediterranean coast, so he also put forward his own suggestions.

"Do you think they are not going to Malta?"

"Yes." Wu Yingke nodded and pointed to the map and said, "I suspect that the Italian navy deliberately created the illusion of leaving the base for Tarantho, and then suddenly killed a back gun while the Austro-Hungarian navy came out."

"Horseback?" Spee finally figured out the meaning of the word from the translator's mouth and immediately asked, "Is it possible?"

"I think Wu's words are very possible." As a former colleague, Solochyn looked at Spee and went to the map and pointed to him, "We are sailing along the North African coast and continue to the west to the Maltese Islands, which is known as the heart of the Mediterranean. If the Ally countries are not fools, this is the war zone they must stick to.

But the problem is that so far, all our intelligence has said that Malta only has some cruisers and a large number of destroyer torpedo boats, and there is no deployment of naval capital ships. Will they give up this strategic place in vain?

The answer is no!

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

Because they are also worried that Delfino's fleet will come out to cooperate with us, they will definitely take this opportunity to try to destroy Delfino's fleet before we arrive in Malta.

"But can Italy alone destroy the Austro-Hungarian fleet with four joint forces?" Shi Pei looked at his colleagues and didn't believe it.

"Maximi, you have been in the Far East for too long." Sorochin said solemnly, and the corners of his eyes quietly swept Gu Junhuo, who had been silent, and then said, "Italy is not incomparable. In addition, please don't compare the Italian army with the navy. The Italian navy is an allied maritime combat force second only to Britain and France, and its combat capability is even better than that of the U.S. navy, and And their naval gun design is unique, and their range armor piercing ability is better than that of Delfino.

During this period, the Italian navy has been on a mission. Although it has not been tested by the war, it has more experience than Delfino's fleet. The most important thing is that Italy and France have submarine troops comparable to our country. If Delfino runs to the open waters, it will definitely be attacked by them! "

Sorochin kept looking at Gu Junhuo when he spoke, so he was not so much telling Shi Pei as reminding the former.

His words also resonated with Shi Pei and Hakan, the deputy commander-in-chief of the Ottoman Navy. Although Gu Junhuo was the commander of Xinhua Seventh Fleet and himself was also a lieutenant general, he was not famous in the Xinhua Navy before he became commander in his forties, far less than Ji Rushan, Lefei, Liu Buchan and Sa Zhenbing. In the previous interception war in the Indian Ocean, perhaps people would not pay attention to him at all, but even if the Indian Ocean interception war was successful, more credit was still credited to Ye Zugui of Xinhua's Second Fleet.

Looking at the eyes of these people, Wu Yingke smiled secretly. He knew best who Gu Junhuo was. Although the eight captains when the emperor started his family were not as bright as Ji Rushan and others these years, if anyone dared to despise him, he would definitely pay a heavy price.

General Solochin is right. We must first determine the real goal of the main force of the Italian navy, and there is another thing you should not forget. Zhou Cheng felt even more amused and said, "So far, they still haven't received any information about the British support fleet, but one thing is certain that in such a tense situation, they will never continue to stay in Gibraltar!"

"Commander, the Chief of Staff is right. I think we should avoid interference, postpone receiving the Austrian-Hungarian naval fleet, and directly attack Malta!" Major General Muto stood up and said.

"No."

Sorochin will not directly remind Gu Junhao, but it does not mean that he will agree with Major General Ben's words and immediately said, "After France lost Djibouti, Britain strengthened the defense of the Maltese Islands. Last month, Italy also pulled out 70,000 troops to enter the island, and it only took a few ships from Sicily to Malta. An hour, so if you want to take Malta, you must first completely defeat the Italian navy. If you can't do it, the army will face endless harassment and naval gun attacks after landing.

If you want to take Malta, destroy Taranto first.

Gu Junho agreed with Sororchin that Taranto is the cradle of the Italian navy, only 400 nautical miles from Malta's port of Valletta. Even if the cruising speed is enough to arrive in a day and one night, and from Alexandria, even if it soars to 30 knots, it will take 30 hours to arrive, so Italy The navy has enough time to defend.

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

He was not afraid of the three queens, and he was not afraid of pulling all the remaining battleships in Britain in time. As for the life and death of the Austro-Hungarian navy, he didn't pay attention to it. The only thing that bothered him was to force the Italian navy to fight, instead of spending ten days and a half a half in circles, so that even if he could reach Spain, he would make up for it. The ship will also be attacked by the enemy's capital ships.

"Taranto." Gu Junhuo stared at the bloody bay at the eastern end of the Apennine Peninsula and smiled coldly: "Send, tell Prince Delfino that we will arrive in the Strait of Otranto tomorrow night."

(to be continued)