"No problem, if there are more mines, I can completely block Venice!" Major Staf said without hesitation.

  "My Seawolf will mine in the port of northern Sicily, and block the Strait of Messina with mines before leaving." Major Hoffman said.

   "Well, let's fight this first battle!" Sher is as high-spirited as a lion in battle! Then, the three warships were divided into two groups, the King Albert and the Swordfish, and headed to Taranto Bay. The sea wolf went to the port in northern Sicily.

   "It seems that the Duke's fleet has found the German warship, but I don't know what the situation is now." An Italian navy looked at the rising sun in the mist and said to his comrades nearby.

"It is said that it was discovered last night. Under normal circumstances, there will be no night battles. Now maybe the battle has just started. Maybe we can participate in the encirclement and suppression of this German warship after sending these transport ships to the destination." Another soldier said. .

  Before the war, the Italians tried their best to collect data from the spies, the British and the French. The Duke of Abuqilu had a general understanding of the warship. "It is as indestructible as the ancient heavy cavalry, and we lack the crossbow that can penetrate this layer of armor. This battle is bound to be very long. In addition to suffocating the opponent with massive artillery shells and then sinking with torpedoes, I There is no better way." Therefore, the Duke was prepared for long-distance pursuit and interception.

Originally, the Marco Polo armored cruiser, which was responsible for covering the transport fleet, had barely enough speed and good firepower. It had 6 6-inch guns, 10 4.7-inch guns, and 4-inch side-string armor. From the perspective of combat effectiveness, Yoshino I don't know where Gao is. However, it only has a displacement of 4,000 tons, which is really not suitable for the 13,000-ton King Albert armored cruiser. And because the weapon armor is too heavy and the soft performance is a bit bad, it can only be used to cover the transport fleet.

  Under the **** of the Marco Polo, four fleets carrying 3,000 Italian soldiers, 2,500 horses, more than 60 artillery pieces and 2,500 tons of various supplies sailed out of Taranto Port towards Tripoli. At this time, the sea fog in the distance has not yet dissipated, and the Italian navy officers and soldiers are very comfortable enjoying the beauty of the sunrise sea.

  They are very comfortable now, don’t worry about Prince Albert, because this warship shouldn’t be here, don’t worry about attacking the ship, because Marco Polo’s firepower is enough to deal with any second-class cruiser! They even hope that the assault ship with short eyes can appear in front of them and die!

   "Look, our right side! What is that?"

   "Oh my God, he seems to have suddenly emerged from the sea level! Only 3 nautical miles at most!"

   "God, that was a battleship, a battleship! And definitely not ours!"

  When a sea breeze blows away a corner of the Shanghai fog, two huge figures suddenly appeared in front of the Italian, about 7 kilometers apart, neither the German nor the Italian found each other at first!

"Fire immediately. Destroy them!" The fastest response was the Swordfish attacking the ship. In the roar of Major Staf, the two guns at the bow were first torn off and covered on the gun positions. The gun jacket began to turn the muzzle. Along with an orange fire, the Swordfish fired the first shot of the battle. Although this shell fell into the water 500 meters away from the Marco Polo, it was also the first shot!

"Swordfish attacked the transport ship behind, and the Italian battleship was handed over to us!" Scheer's order was immediately passed through the semaphore. The German fleet quickly disbanded the formation, and the Swordfish at the back charged like a fierce wolf. To the Italian transport fleet, and the Prince Albert aimed the muzzle at the cruiser Marco Polo in the distance!

"We have a chance to rush up! Use torpedoes!" The Italian Navy is much better than their army. The Captain of the Marco Polo, Lieutenant Colonel Durio, still showed vigorous fighting spirit in the face of an overwhelming advantage. , Although there is no use for eggs.

  As a cruiser, the maximum speed is only 17.8 knots, not as fast as the opposite swordfish! Even speed is inferior. What kind of threats can it pose to opponents like the King Albert? Beginning with the first half volley of the armored cruiser King Albert, just 2 minutes later, the fifth round of the volley successfully hit the Italian cruiser that was performing a desperate assault.

A shell weighing 227KG plunged into the middle of the cruiser's hull and landed between the two chimneys. The violent explosion directly overturned the top three gun positions. Countless shrapnel and flames were in the shock wave. It swept across the entire middle of the hull. After a storm of flames and steel dissipated, half of the chimney at the rear of the battleship was swept away. A large amount of smoke could not be discharged from the chimney and began to spread inside the hull. , Some even poured back, extinguishing several boilers!

  At this time, the distance between the two sides was more than 5,000 meters, and the Italians’ 6-inch and 4.7-inch guns could not function at this distance. They poured out shells in anger, but under the rough fire control system and poor operation, these shells fell far into the water~lightnovelpub.net~ In addition to blowing up a column of water, telling people that Italy is fighting back, There is no effect at all.

  In the face of opponents of this level, the Sher did not have too much entanglement with them at all. In just ten minutes, the Prince Albert completed her first kill in her expedition career! The sixth and seventh rounds hit 2 shots, and the eighth round hits 3 shots!

  What a textbook blow, this Italian cruiser was completely wounded! A dull explosion sounded from the battleship hull. The sour metal twisting and breaking sound made all Italians lose their morale. The front of the hull was hit with 4 227KG shells, which not only cut off the entire bow, Two large holes were also dug into the waterline of the hull. In a very short period of time, more than 600 tons of water entered the bow of the ship, causing the warship of less than 4,000 tons to have a serious bow, and the propellers appeared from time to time!

Accompanied by a loud noise, another shell pierced the Marco Polo’s central power compartment. This shell easily penetrated the horizontal armor, and then went all the way down, penetrating the pipelines, flues, and cabins along the way, and then An explosion near the bottom of the bilge! Under the action of more than ten kilograms, high-speed debris smashed the double bottom of the warship, and a huge opening appeared in front of people. Before the remaining survivors called for help, the turbulent sea swallowed the entire boiler compartment!

   "This warship is over, we even save torpedoes." Scheer said calmly.

  The second one is more~~~! Please subscribe for a reward~~~!