I got the latest news about the two enemy cruisers from our own air force pilots. The "chess game" in front of Lieutenant General Bionkelly and Major General Mandragola suddenly changed: Continue to search for enemy aircraft carrier formations, you may find an excellent opportunity to attack them, or you may return in a defeat; locking and attacking enemy cruisers may miss the opportunity to kill enemy aircraft carriers, leaving huge hidden dangers for future combat operations, but you may also have a considerable chance to sink enemy cruisers.

If you choose the right path, Lieutenant General Bionkelly and Major General Mandelagola can achieve success and fame, with a bright future. If you choose the wrong one, at least one person will take the blame for the Navy's defeat.

Major General Mandragola, who was born in a military family, was young but not arrogant. Although he had a tendency in his heart, he did not make any decisions. Instead, he contacted the flagship and asked the "Aquila" to be the priority of searching for enemy aircraft carriers or attacking enemy cruisers.

The battlefield situation is complex and the victory or defeat is subtle. Lieutenant General Biang Kelly dragged it for nearly ten minutes before giving a very unpleasant reply: The enemy aircraft carrier poses great threat to me. We should do our best to find out where it is and strive to make it lose its combat effectiveness. If this cannot be achieved, we should attack the fleeing enemy cruiser and achieve a victory that boosts the morale of the army.

The implication is that if you have the opportunity to attack enemy aircraft carriers, you must do your best, but if you can't find their traces at all, then you can deal with the enemy cruisers.

When receiving the flagship's reply, Major General Mandragola had no choice, because the flight deck was filled with fighter jets waiting to fly, and the oil supply of the previous on-duty fighter jets could not last long...

Although the "Aquila" has a standard displacement of more than 37,000 tons, and its hull specifications and deck size rank among the top among the active aircraft carriers of various countries, it is a traditional direct deck design that does not have the ability to fly and receive carrier-based aircraft while releasing. After the Irish built a new aircraft carrier with an oblique flight deck, countries followed suit. The Italian Navy also planned to undergo a major transformation of the flight deck of the "Aquila". The technical plan was determined after several twists and turns, but the capital investment required for the plan made the naval senior management difficult: it seemed that it would be more cost-effective to rebuild an aircraft carrier in total.

As a result, the modernization modification plan of the "Aquila" was stranded. Before learning that the new United Kingdom and the Austro-Hungarian Empire were fighting against Italy, the top leaders of the Italian Navy were not very anxious about this matter. After all, the old ships of the Austro-Hungarian Empire could not pose a threat to the "young and strong" Italian Navy. Moreover, the Japanese Navy had started construction of their first oblique flight deck aircraft carrier. In another year or two, the Italian Navy could completely pick up the ready-made technology of secret allies.

The enemy aircraft carrier was clearly located at a certain location in the Western Mediterranean. Two batches of combat reconnaissance aircraft sent successively could not find them. Major General Mandragola had to let 46 carrier-based aircraft loaded with fuel and ammunition and on standby on the flight deck attack the enemy cruisers.

During the design and construction of the "Aquila", Italian engineers combined the carrier-based aircraft catapult technology obtained from the Japanese Navy and equipped the heavy aircraft with three steam catapults, greatly improving the dispatch efficiency of the carrier-based aircraft and the number of single batches of take-off carrier-based aircraft. With the dedicated efforts of the ship's service staff, 18 G.59 carrier-based fighters, 18 MC.3O2 carrier-based dive bombers and 1O Ba.133 carrier-based torpedo bombers took off in full, which took only 16 minutes!

On the sea more than 40 kilometers away, the aircraft carriers "Fenia" and "Torgest" belonging to the New United Kingdom Navy's Mediterranean Task Force are traveling south under the cover of the elite escort ships of the heavy cruiser "Esolen". The reason why this considerable maritime formation can avoid the sight of Italian combat reconnaissance aircraft is not because they are good at blinding and stealth techniques, but they are skillful in using radar technology advantages. In terms of detection distance alone, I'm avail-4

The 4T carrier-based radar is not much better than the ICG.59, but before the Italian carrier-based aircraft approached, the I-48 carrier-based radar early warning aircraft that carried out warning missions near the new United Kingdom Navy combat formation had accurately locked their whereabouts, allowing its surface ships to perform radar interference while maneuvering. In addition, the decoy signal emitters thrown by the ir-44t in the sea, the Italian carrier-based aircraft was simply led by the other party.

While avoiding the reconnaissance and tracking of Italian carrier-based aircraft, the new United Kingdom naval combat formation under General Bainier was also actively exploring the location of the enemy aircraft carrier. He had previously dispatched the "Far" and "Melton" to attack Sardinia at night in order to lure the Italian Navy into the Western Front. With the active assistance of the Austro-Hungarian Air Force, the Joint Operations Command of the two countries spent a morning investigating the deployment and mobilization of the Italian Navy's main ships, and concluded that two Emmanuele II battleships were very good.

The conclusion that he had already gone south to Sardinia made Bainier and his subordinates very excited. He had previously unexpectedly attacked the main Italian fleet at the entrance of the Otranto Strait and killed two aircraft carriers that the Italians were proud of on the spot. Bainier and the combat fleet he commanded were immediately famous. In addition, they have since made air strikes on Malta and bombarded Sardinia. They have made outstanding military achievements that are comparable to those historical figures. Every record they have achieved in the future will add a legendary color to their military achievements!

Under Bainier's direct command, carrier-based aircraft with two squadrons of "Fenia" and "Torgest" each entered a standby take-off state. According to the distance of the attack target, all ir-44t carrier-based fighter aircraft were equipped with medium-sized secondary fuel tanks, and the number of air-air rockets nicknamed "Ruger's Spear" was reduced to 4; 4o% of the ik-43t carrier-based attack aircraft were equipped with "Angel Flying Wing" radio-guided bombs suitable for high-altitude bombs, while the rest were equipped with Angel-iii guided anti-ship bombs suitable for medium- and low-altitude attacks.

Soon, the I-48, which was conducting reconnaissance and alert in the front, sent back an important report: more than 100 kilometers west of Sardinia, a large number of aircraft suddenly appeared in the area near the coast of North Africa. From this, it can be judged that the enemy aircraft carrier was moving at that location.

The confident Bainier immediately issued an order to implement the pre-determined attack plan to the two aircraft carriers. In less than ten minutes, 64 carrier-based aircraft completed their formation over the fleet and rushed eastward.

After the first attack formation was released, the "Fenia" and "Torgest" were in a busy scene again. The service personnel used lifts to send the completed carrier-based aircraft one by one to the flight deck. During this period, the fighter jets who returned on duty landed in an orderly manner, reclaimed the hangar through the lift to refuel and carry out necessary maintenance.

In terms of the design level and technical content of weapons and equipment, Bainier has won before the battle.

The frontal battle between the main aircraft carriers of the two sides is about to begin. Those advance ships that act as bait and use to lay the foundation seem to be able to retreat successfully, but the two naval colonels and thousands of soldiers under their command are still struggling on the brink of danger. Colonel Moloy's side, due to the repeated attacks of enemy submarines and fighter jets, the damage and casualties of the USS Melton light cruiser have far exceeded expectations. It is not easy to continue sailing, and it is an indisputable fact that the combat power has dropped sharply.

Under such circumstances, the heavy cruiser of the Far has become the escort ship of the Melton. A mere three or two aviation bombs are not enough to have a serious impact on its combat capability. The most serious problem at the moment is that the efficient consumption of ammunition has been used up, and there are not many ordinary air defense ammunition left. Once it encounters a large-scale attack from enemy aviation forces, its carrier-based aircraft cannot fully undertake the blocking task, so it is not easy to escape without being able to escape without being able to do so.

Colonel Masina, due to the lack of preparations before the war, the four Italian light cruisers failed to fully utilize their design performance. They were beaten by a few enemy fighters before they even saw the enemy ships. The serious failure of air defense operations not only damaged the morale of the army, but also made the four warships lose the ability to continue fighting. Even if they could successfully leave the battlefield, what awaited them would be a very long maintenance period. Fortunately, the appearance of the Bionkelli fleet attracted all the attention of the enemy. Whether it was enemy fighters or surface ships, no one had time to care about these four insignificant light cruisers. Even if there was another round of attack, they could make them unable to take care of themselves...

I learned from our own carrier-based early warning aircraft that the enemy carrier-based aircraft group was launching a large-scale move. Colonel Moloy, who had just patrolled the entire ship, suddenly had a bad premonition. In the spirit of not giving up and not giving up, he ordered the "Melton" to evacuate all over the Spanish coast, and he took over the "Fal" to cover it, and used the old method of burning smoke and fraud to create the illusion of damage to the ship to attract the attention of enemy pilots.

As Colonel Moloy was worried, the carrier-based pilots of the Italian Navy were not as soft as the Air Force and the Navy's 6-based aviation units. They had the latest army and were least affected by various bad habits. They finally waited for the opportunity to join the battlefield. They were like newborn calfs, rushing around and sternly unstoppable. Despite being intercepted by two enemy carrier-based fighters, half of the more than 40 Italian naval carrier-based aircraft that took off from the Aquila caught up with the Far. Seeing that the enemy ship seemed to have signs of burning and the sailing was not fast, the Italian Navy pilots neither considered much nor paid attention to so many tactical strategies, and directly attacked in squadrons.

Successfully attracted hatred, Colonel Moloy hurriedly ordered the power system to be adjusted to full power output, the entire ship's air defense military firepower was fully opened, and a large amount of canned smoke agent was released to interfere with the sight of enemy pilots and reduce their bombing accuracy. These methods more or less played a role. Most of the bombs and torpedoes dropped by Italian fighters deviated from the target, but Colonel Moloy and his "Far" were still for the lone hero after all.

The decision came at the cost of paying the first was a 450-kilogram aviation armor-piercing projectile pierced through the two decks of the stern of the ship. The violent explosion opened the box armor belt wrapped outside the power compartment like a can, causing permanent damage to half of the boilers and the right turbine. Immediately afterwards, a 533mm aviation torpedo hit the starboard part of the battleship and exploded 3 meters below the waterline, which made the survival situation of the heavy cruiser even worse...

(End of this chapter)
Chapter completed!