The "big liar" Hessman, who was the first time he really commanded a battle, wanted to use the offensive and defensive battle of the Island of Malta to set up a game, with the goal of three British aircraft carriers in the Mediterranean.

The troops he had was enough to achieve this combat goal, but the problem was that he did not have a naval general who could really play with aircraft carriers. Neither Germany nor Italy had such talents. So what he could really count on was the shore-based aviation force of Germany and Italy.

However, Hessman's opponent, Cunningham, the commander of the British Mediterranean Fleet, was a naval commander who was good at using aircraft carriers. After several actual combat, Cunningham not only fully realized the importance of aircraft carriers, but also knew how to conduct naval combat with aircraft carriers as the center.

After the H fleet arrived in Alexandria, Cunningham immediately ordered the maintenance of the Ark Royal aircraft carrier in the shortest time. Then, with the Ark Royal and the Glory as the core, a rapid aircraft carrier strike formation B fleet was formed.

The b Fleet uses the USS Royal aircraft carrier as its flagship, including the USS Royal aircraft carrier, the USS York heavy cruiser, the USS Liverpool light cruiser, the USS Sydney light cruiser and six destroyers.

Since there are no slow-speed battleships and the USS Eagle aircraft carrier (this aircraft carrier is responsible for the air defense of the main fleet), the B fleet can maneuver at a high speed of more than 30 knots.

The B fleet with only one heavy cruiser and two light cruisers will not consider using main guns to fight against the enemy fleet, so its strike power is a carrier-based aircraft.

In order to increase the attack capacity of the aircraft carrier, Cunningham took the means to expand the number of deck tethers and increase the carrier-based aircraft of the aircraft carrier. Among them, the Ark Royal aircraft carrier is equipped with 92 ship-based aircraft (20 are deck tethers), while the Glory has 45 ship-based aircraft (12 are deck tethers).

After deducting the 12 backup aircraft of the Ark Royal and the 5 backup aircraft of the Glory, there were a total of 120 carrier-based aircraft that could be put into operation, and they were organized into 11 squadrons.

The Royal Ark has 7 squadrons, including 1 "Sea Spitfire" fighter squadron, 2 "Tube Swallow" fighter squadrons (one of which has only 8 aircraft), and 3 "Big Blue and White Fish" torpedo bomber squadrons. The Guanghui has 4 squadrons, 1 "Sea Spitfire" squadron (8), 1 "Tube Swallow" squadron (8), and 2 "Big Blue and White Fish" squadrons (all 12).

The three types of combat aircraft carried on the Royal Ark and the Glory also have their own different tasks. Among them, the "Sea Spitfire" with strong air combat capabilities is responsible for the fleet's air defense, and the "Tube Swallow" fighter with a larger range is responsible for escorting the attack troops. The "Swordfish" successor's "Big Blue and White Fish" torpedo bomber is responsible for attacking and recruiting enemies. The 60 torpedo aircraft of the "Big Blue and White Fish" squadron of the "Big Blue and White Fish" squadron are the most favorable weapons of the entire B fleet.

This "Big Blue and White Fish" torpedo bomber and the "Tube Swallow" fighter that escorted it (which can also carry 2 113 kilogram bombs) both have a maximum range of nearly 1,500 kilometers. This allows them to launch carrier-based air strikes 500 kilometers away, greatly enhancing the strike capabilities of the aircraft carrier.

If the air strike target is near the island of Malta, then the ideal attack position of the B fleet is 300 kilometers west of Crete, and the P39 "Flying Snake" fighter jets taken off from Crete can provide additional air advantages to the fleet and attack aircraft fleet.

"Everyone, the Italian fleet has been dispatched, and it is all dispatched!"

On the morning of January 13, 1941, in the conference room of the Battleship "War-Welfare", Cunningham announced that he had just received important information. He glanced at everyone with a bright eye and said slowly: "This is a good opportunity for the Royal Navy to launch an annihilation strike against the Italian fleet. Therefore, I decided to mobilize all warships near Alexandria, including ships under maintenance, to advance to the waters near Crete and Benghazi, implement the 'judgment plan', and seek a decisive battle against the Italian fleet."

The plan for the decisive battle was already planned before the H fleet arrived, code-named ‘Judgement’.

According to the "Judgement" plan, the entire Mediterranean fleet will be divided into two squadrons a and b.

Among them, Fleet A is the main fleet, including all battleships and the USS Eagle aircraft carrier, which will be commanded by Admiral Cunningham himself, and the position to attack is point y, which is the waters near Benghazi.

Fleet A has two tasks: one is to serve as bait to attract the Italian fleet to get close, and create opportunities for fleet B and British fighter jets on Crete to carry out air assaults.

The second mission is to fight a decisive battle with the Italian surface fleet. In order to ensure that there is enough chance of winning in the decisive battle of the fleet, Cunningham incorporated all eight battleships into the a fleet.

At the same time, the configuration of the fighter jet of the only aircraft carrier in the A fleet, the Eagle, has also been adjusted, bombers and torpedoes have been cancelled, and all are equipped with "Sea Spitfire" with strong air combat capabilities. After adopting the deck-tethered carrier, the current "Eagle" (British) aircraft carrier can carry 33 ship-based aircraft carriers, including 5 reserves, and the remaining 28 "Sea Spitfire" are organized into 2 squadrons (1 squadron and 1 squadron and 12 squadrons).

The B fleet was led by Lister, a famous general who was commanding the surprise attack on Toulon Port, advanced to ambush at point x, waiting for the Italian fleet to take the bait, and then assault from the ambush to the attack position, giving priority to attacking the two Italian aircraft carriers!

In addition, in order to confuse the Italians, after leaving Alexandria, fleet a and fleet b will form a large formation to sail westward, and then divide into two after dark. fleet a will head along the North African coastline to the waters near Benghazi, and fleet b will sail northward towards point x.

...

"The entire Mediterranean Fleet sailed westward? Are they going to Benghazi?" Marshal Hessman, who was in the Medici Villa, looked at the newly received information and asked, "What do Cunningham want to do?"

"Maybe it is to bombard Benghazi to force our fleet to fight to the final battle," General Kafnyari replied.

While the Navy and Air Force were preparing to implement the "Battle of Malta", the Italian Army was also preparing for the defense of Benghazi, where several new infantry divisions transferred from Tripoli are now concentrated, and many defeated soldiers retreating from the east are also accommodated. If the port is bombarded, it will definitely seriously undermine the morale of these Italians and will be very unfavorable to the decisive battle to begin.

"Arson Benghazi?" Hessman glanced at Kavniari and said, "Tell General Compioni (Commander of the Italian Fleet) that whether the British Fleet shelled Benghazi or not, the fleet would act as planned."

The original plan was a combat plan code-named "Harves", which was formulated by General Kafniari and General Yeshunnek. It implemented Hessman's two major ideas of "surrounding the point and hitting the enemy aircraft carrier".

However, unlike Cunningham's method of playing the lead role with aircraft carriers and carrier-based aircraft, neither Kafnary nor Yeshunnek regarded the two Italian aircraft carriers, the "Eagle" and the "Sparrow Eagle" and the eight German carrier-based aircraft squadrons above as the main force of air strikes.

Therefore, in the "Harves" plan, there was no separate aircraft carrier strike force (they probably didn't know that aircraft carriers could be used in this way), but instead formed the aircraft carrier and battleship into a large fleet. The four Folk Zero Squadrons on the aircraft carrier were responsible for the fleet air defense, while the other four Folk 99 Squadrons were responsible for bombing the Island of Malta.

The reason for this arrangement is that Yeshunnek does not have the Ju87 dive bomber and HS1 attack aircraft that can accurately strike ground targets. Kafnyari continues his inertial thinking of not believing in the Air Force and is unwilling to hand over the air support mission for landing operations to the Air Force.

In addition, the shore-based bombing aviation corps in Yeshunnek's hands are very powerful. The two German bombing aviation regiments alone have 18 squadrons (each squadron has 12 aircraft), and the 115 torpedo squadrons and the ju88 bombing squadrons each have 9. The Italians also provided 12 S.M.79 torpedo bombing squadrons (two more than at the end of 40). There are a total of 30 shore-based bombing aviation squadrons for Yeshunnek to call, so he does not think it is necessary to use the 4 aircraft carriers of the Folk 99 squadrons to deal with the British fleet.

Therefore, in the "Harves" plan, Yeshunnek formed two aviation commands. One was called the "Support Command", commanded by the Italian Air Force Chief of Staff Pricolo, and under its jurisdiction, 26 Italian shore-based fighter squadrons, responsible for air excellence on the battlefield near the Island of Malta and providing direct cover for the Italian fleet.

Another one, called "Assault Command", is personally directed by Yeshunnek, and is under the jurisdiction of six shore-based fighter squadrons in Germany, 18 shore-based bomber squadrons in Italy, and 12 shore-based torpedo aircraft squadrons in Italy, specializing in the attack on the British fleet.

In addition, in order to effectively carry out the sea search mission, Hessmann also mobilized more f200c, a seaplanes and he115 seaplanes (not shore-based) from Germany. These aircraft were assigned to the Italian fleet (mainly A) and the "Assault Command" (mainly F200c and he115). At the same time, the Italian Navy also sent a large number of submarines to lurk in the vast waters southeast of Crete to Alexandria, acting as the eyes and ears of fleets and aviation.

"Admiral, the radio station monitored an unknown radio wave signal, and there might be an Italian submarine nearby."

At around 5 pm on January 14, 1941 (the British fleet set out on the morning of January 14), Major General Crachley, Chief of Staff of the British Mediterranean Fleet, reported to Admiral Cunningham, who was leisurely smoking a pipe in the commander's tower of the Battleship Commander of the USS War-Feet.

"Do you want to send a destroyer?" Major General Krachley suggested.
Chapter completed!