At 12:30, more than a dozen light spots appeared on the display of the 279 air-to-sea search radar on the battleship "War-Willing".

"The one flying from the southeast should be the Italian.50!" Major General Krachley immediately told Admiral Cunningham after receiving the report, "This is the first attack wave, and there should be two waves behind it. In addition, there is most likely an Italian aircraft carrier in our northwest direction, which will also launch three waves of attacks."

"There is nothing to worry about. These .50s cannot break through the fire-breathing defense at all." Cunning paused and asked again, "By the way, the German Folk Zero is still wandering behind our butts?"

50 he was not worried. The range of such aircraft was too short to form a large formation. An Italian aircraft carrier released 36 to 48 aircraft for at least 4050 minutes. With a .50 range, the first aircraft was almost used up.

Therefore, each attack wave has a maximum of 12 aircraft, and it cannot break through the defense of 9 sea fires. Even if there are several aircraft, 50s break through the defense of sea fires, it doesn't matter. The 50 is not a dive bomber, and the load capacity is limited. If only two or three aircraft break through, it will not pose a great threat to the fleet.

But the German Folk Zero worried him, because one walrus reconnaissance plane sent to monitor the 200 and the Folk Zero reported that the German plane had changed its defense. Four new Folk Zero and one new 200 replaced the original planes.

This shows that there are more than 4 Fokker Zero deployed to the Eastern Mediterranean, and it is likely to be a 16-aircraft squadron!

If the 16 Folk Zeros come together, then the trouble will be great.

"Admiral, nothing has changed," a consultant immediately replied, "they just follow from afar."

"That's good!" Cunningham smiled relaxedly and asked Major General Krachley, the chief of staff around him. "If it were just Italians, there would be nothing to worry about. They could not compare with the Germans at all. If they had half of the Germans, no, as long as they had one-third of the Germans' ability to fight, we would have long been unable to gain a foothold in the Mediterranean."

"Rudolph, Little William, Prince, Doctor, the rest is over!"

Less than 1 o'clock in the afternoon, Little Hessman's boss, Lieutenant Walter Novotney, suddenly broke into the pilot's lounge at Taranto Naval Airport and yelled at the four people playing poker.

"What? We've just been back not long!" Rudolf Hessman immediately started yelling.

"This is an order!" Lieutenant Novotney shrugged helplessly, "It is the Italian Navy's order that we are all under their jurisdiction now. All 12 Fokker Zeros must be dispatched to idling over the British fleet to see if several sea blasters can be knocked out."

"What's wrong?" Little Hessman asked while packing up his playing cards, "Is it the Italian .50 that was beaten up by the sea fire?"

"It must be like this!" Lieutenant Novotney shook his head with a wry smile. "If the Italians could give us their two aircraft carriers, the war in the Mediterranean would have ended long ago."

"There are 79," nicknamed "Doctor", a pilot who went to the University of Munich before the war interjected, "That's very good bombers, I've seen them trained to fly at low altitudes and low speeds, and have a large range. If the Italians can use them well, the British Mediterranean Fleet will be finished."

"Then let Rudolph report it," Ensign Novotney smiled at Little Hessman, "Your father will definitely be interested in them, right?"

Rudolf Hessman shrugged, "God knows what the people above think? Anyway, no one seems to be interested in the Italian Sea."

He said something absolutely. In fact, the Italians are not so careless. At least the Italian Navy is still quite professional. In fact, the Italian Air Force is not bad. It’s just that the Italian Navy has been in trouble for 20 years and has not cooperated much. Therefore, the Italian Navy has no useful aviation force, while the Italian Air Force pilots have not received anti-ship training. Therefore, there are more than 600 79s that cannot be used.

Just as Hessman and others were about to fly the Fokker Zero, on the Mediterranean Sea about 210 nautical miles east of Sicily, nine Royal Italian Navy .50 fighters were chasing 12 Bigou planes that rushed over the Italian fleet and were firing fiercely!

These 50s were left by General Compioni as direct cover aircraft, and there was no bomb on them, and the passenger seat was empty. Therefore, the total combat weight was reduced by more than 300 kilograms, so the maximum speed was restored to 450 kilometers, which was 90 kilometers faster than the 360 ​​kilometers of the Daou fighter bomber. Therefore, it was able to show its power. In less than 10 minutes, five Daou shot down, and the remaining 7 Daou also lost the bomb and fled.

At this time, 18 swordfish torpedo bombers, famous for their "slowness", were still wandering around the Italian fleet, which had already formed an air defense formation, and even the low-altitude penetration positions had not entered!

"Admiral, our first attack wave also failed!"

At 1:35 pm, Major General Crachley, the chief of staff of the British Mediterranean Fleet, held the battle report he had just received and frowned and said to Cunningham, "The loss of 5 big gulls and 8 swordfishes, and the Italians lost up to 2.50. Their fleet is intact. It seems that both of these aircraft are out of date and can only be used for sneak attacks."

Cunningham was also a little surprised by this result, because he had recently used a swordfish plane to severely damage the French fleet, which performed well in night attacks. He did not expect that it would be so useless in daytime combat.

"It seems we are going to be ready to fight the fleet!" Cunningan said in a deep voice, "Before they have not met with the two Venetto-class ships, we have a great chance to become two Earl Cafur."

He paused and asked again: "Have Lieutenant General Vito's fleet arrived in Malta?"

"Arrived safely, General." Major General Krachley replied, "No 12 transport ships were damaged, and the defense capabilities on the island of Malta can be greatly enhanced."

"Where is the fleet?" Cunningham asked again, "still north of Algiers?"

"Yes," said Major General Krachley.

"Let them sail eastward along the coastline after dark until they can allow the sea to take off from the aircraft carrier to Malta."

"Admiral, do you want the fleet's 12 sea fires to fly to Malta?"

"Yes," said Cunningham, "today we will definitely defeat the Italians, and then the Germans will intervene. At that time, their first target will definitely be Malta, so there will be fierce battles in Malta soon!"

When Cunningham gave the fleet the Mediterranean Fleet he commanded and the Italian Fleet of Admiral Compionni were still approaching each other.

When both sides released the first assault wave, the distance between the two fleets was about 100 nautical miles. When the assault waves sent by both sides were both bleeding from the opponent's direct cover aircraft and air defense net, the distance between the two sides had shrunk to 40 nautical miles.

At 2:30 pm, the British and Italian fleets began to adjust their formation almost at the same time. Since the fleet consisted of five light cruisers in Malta, Cunningham first adjusted the fleet and fleet's strength, and then led the fleet he led was composed of the Battleship, the Malayan battleship and 10 destroyers, and the fleet consisted of 1 battleship, 2 aircraft carriers and 5 destroyers, not far behind the fleet.

The two British fleets have a total of 3 battleships, 1 aircraft carrier and 15 destroyers. Their opponents are much larger, with 2 battleships, 7 heavy cruisers, 8 light cruisers and 32 destroyers! In addition, two Veneto-class battleships are also coming at full speed and are expected to be put into combat at night.

Admiral Compionni, who has an advantage in military strength, knows that his weakness is that one battleship has less number, and his firepower and armor are not as good as the other. The two Earls Caful have only 20 320 cannons in total, while the three British battleships have 24 38,115-inch cannons.

At the same time, he also knew that his strength was on the cruiser. He had 7 heavy cruisers and 8 light cruisers, but not one of his opponents, and the number of destroyers was twice as large as that of his opponents.

Therefore, Admiral Compionni divided his fleet into combat fleets, the First Cruise Fleet, the Second Cruise Fleet and the aircraft carrier fleet. The combat fleet includes 2 Earl Cafur class and 16 destroyers, responsible for attracting opponents' firepower from the front. Since the speed of the Earl Cafur and Caesar increased from 21.5 knots to 28 knots after completing the major reform, they can use their speed advantage to deal with their opponents.

The two cruisers each consist of 3 heavy cruisers, 4 light cruisers and 7 destroyers. Their mission is to find opportunities to attack the British aircraft carriers and destroyers. As long as one of the two British aircraft carriers is injured, there is a chance to drag the entire British fleet. Waiting for the arrival of the two Venetto-classes, there is a possibility of sinking the British battleship!

The aircraft carrier fleet consists of 1 aircraft carrier, 1 heavy patrol and 2 destroyers. They are arranged at the end of the fleet and are ready to withdraw to Benghazi at any time.
Chapter completed!