Mediterranean Hegemony Road

As time passed by, the naval battle outside the port of Taranto became more and more brutal. The pit cargo properties of Italian warships were exposed. Thin-skin armor was really not suitable for such a scene, not to mention that they were already injured. .

The situation of the war was getting worse and worse for the Italian Navy, and Count Abruzzi was in a worse and worse mood. A shell just hit the deck of his flagship, the Giulio Caesar, and took away ten men, including his adjutant. the lives of others.

It was almost dawn, Count Abruzzi wanted to defeat the enemy, and it was impossible to leave with the main fleet. The Italian Navy had sunk two cruisers and three destroyers in the one-night battle, but only the enemy sank one. warship.

This is not because the Italian navy is incompetent, mainly because their warships are already injured, plus the number of old warships is more, the anti-strike ability is naturally not good!

Don't look at the number of warships on both sides. In fact, there are not many warships qualified to participate in the decisive battle. It is impossible to send torpedo boats and supply ships, right?

Those involved in the decisive battle were more than 20 warships on the Bulgarian side and nearly 40 warships from the Italian Navy.

Although the Italians have many ships, they are not dominant. The Bulgarian side has five dreadnoughts, while the Italian Navy has only three dreadnoughts!

Fortunately, they still have four former dreadnoughts, and a large number of old-fashioned warships, relying on their numerical superiority, they fought hard against the Bulgarian Navy under the cover of night.

If they hadn't had most of the warships wounded, it would have been the Bulgarian Navy's turn to be unlucky.

But there is no if on the battlefield. Since most of the Italian Navy's warships have been injured, their combat effectiveness has not been able to play eight points, so they are naturally at a disadvantage. Count Abruzzi knows that he can't continue!

As long as they leave with the flagship Giulio Caesar, Cao Durio, and Andrea Doria three dreadnoughts, only by keeping them can the Italian Navy be able to recover in a short period of time.

In fact, the Kao Durio and Andrea Doria were still under Ferdinand's butterfly effect.

It was only completed a few months ahead of schedule, otherwise they would still be on the slipway, then most of them would have been finished in this bombing!

Count Abruch closed his eyes, and after a moment of contemplation, he said fiercely: Order all warships with injured power systems, and warships with a degree of less than 20 knots to drag the enemy and cover the retreat of the entire army!

Obviously, Earl of Abruch is preparing to break his tail to survive. As for retreat, it is more accurate to say that it is a breakthrough!

However, breaking through is not so simple. The Bulgarian Navy has only more than 20 warships that can participate in the decisive battle, but with hundreds of warships, the extra 70 warships are definitely useful!

Frigates, torpedo boats, submarine hunters, minelayers, minesweepers, boarding ships, military transport ships, sailing supply ships, maintenance and supply ships, hospital ships, lifeboats, communication ships, reconnaissance ships, etc.

In this series of auxiliary warships, they did not have much combat effectiveness in the decisive battle, but for the Navy they were all indispensable.

For example, now, the Bulgarian Navy has dropped a lot of torpedoes in the nearby waters. If you want to break through these torpedoes, it is the biggest obstacle. It is too late to clear mines. The only way for the Italians to escape is to gamble!

Earl Abruch's order is equivalent to giving up nearly 20 warships. Naturally, he doesn't care about continuing to use these auxiliary warships as cannon fodder!

Then Pert Ivanlov suddenly realized that the torpedoes that had been dropped before had actually become a weapon to cover the breakout of the Italian Navy!

After all, in the face of life and death, the Italian Navy can take a gamble, and even use auxiliary warships as cannon fodder to open the way ahead.

But the Bulgarian navy is no good. The Italian navies in front of them are desperately trying to create opportunities for the main force. When these enemies are solved, it is estimated that the Italians have already run away!

After all, the combat mission this time is to severely damage the Italian Navy, so don’t think about it, unless Count Abruzzi can’t think about it, and runs back to the port of Taranto.

By the time the main force of the Italian navy was withdrawing, the sun had already begun to light up, and Pert-Ivanlov could only watch the enemy slip from under his nose.

The fighting continued, and as the main Italian navy fleet ran away, the remaining warships suffered immediately. Ordinary destroyers and cruisers will sink to the bottom of the sea in an instant once they are hit by a 15-inch main gun.

After paying several auxiliary warships, the Italian Navy finally broke out of the torpedo zone.

Of course, it can't be so smooth. Since the size of the auxiliary warships can't be compared with the battleships, they can rush out, which does not mean that the battleships can rush past. At least the Andre-Doria was hit by a shell, and the speed slowed down. .

The Italian navy that finally broke through was not a lot in terms of the number of warships. There were more than 60 ships. Unfortunately, they were basically auxiliary warships. Since they did not participate in the battle, the losses were naturally small.

In addition to the three dreadnoughts, there is a former dreadnought, two cruisers and a destroyer, and the rest are auxiliary warships.

Seeing that the main fleet has walked out of dozens of nautical miles, the resistance of the Italian Navy is getting weaker and weaker. Once many warships were severely damaged, they raised their white flags and withdrew from the war.

Seeing this, Pert-Ivanlov decided to negotiate with the enemy. After all, the big fish ran away, and catching a few small fish can at least make up for the loss!

Anyway, this is the practice in Europe. The task has been completed and there is no chance of winning, so it is acceptable to surrender to save lives. Even after the war, the Italian government will not hold them accountable.

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It has to be said that Italians are still very experienced in terms of life-saving, and they are very professional in raising conditions.

As long as Bulgaria agrees to treat the wounded, protect their personal and property safety, and treat them accordingly, they agree to surrender!

Seeing the face of these warships, Rear Admiral Pert Ivanlov readily agreed!

In the end, an old battleship, a former dreadnought, four destroyers, and two ironclads were the harvest of the war. No, there are also several auxiliary warships, which were too old and too slow to escape.

It is a pity that all of these main warships were seriously injured, and even a former dreadnought ship that had been captured was too seriously injured and sank directly!

It makes Pert-Ivanlov feel very sorry. I had known that since the Italians are so good at talking, they would not fight so hard, and just negotiate with them directly.

The Bulgarian Navy has also paid a considerable price. Four destroyers and three cruisers were sunk, and two coastal defense battleships and two cruisers were seriously injured, and even more minor injuries. Even the Dreadnought Constantinople The ships were slightly wounded.

Fortunately, the war was born at night, and the hit rates of both sides were pitifully low, otherwise the Italian Navy, which was severely damaged, would most likely have to fight with the Bulgarian Navy.

After all, it is not so easy to escape during the day. Although the Italian dreadnoughts are very fast, it is a pity that they are a little slower than the class dreadnoughts. If they cannot escape, they can only fight to the end!

To make Major General Pelt-Ivanlov even more depressed, he was cleaning the battlefield when reinforcements from the French arrived.

As for chasing now? Don't be ridiculous, don't look at the distance between the two sides is only a few dozen nautical miles, but this distance is enough for the Italian Navy to run smoothly to the next naval port.

Even if the French arrived two or three hours early, the Italian Navy would be doomed this time.

Although the French fast fleet is composed of destroyers and cruisers, it will definitely not be able to beat the battleships, but it can still be done after a little delay.

Now, after escaping the Italian Navy, it can only be left to the French to deal with.

Anyway, as long as the Italians are not stupid, they will no longer put the naval station in Taranto, and even the coast of Bulgaria will not have the Italian Navy for a long time in the future!

Seeing the spoils of the Bulgarian Navy, Rear Admiral Winster, the commander of the French fleet, knew that he was late and missed an opportunity, especially after learning about the specific situation, he even had the urge to cry.

If he rushes at all costs, he will definitely be able to get it, and then cooperate with the Bulgarian Navy to kill the Italian Navy in one fell swoop, then he will be a hero of France!

Unfortunately, the duck that was about to be cooked actually flew, because he was worried that the high-load driving would damage the power system, he did not drive according to the limit, and did not expect to let the main Italian navy go.

Don't talk about military exploits now, it's not bad to not be labeled as incompetent!

However, he still reacted quickly, and immediately reported the situation to the French naval force and asked them to intercept the Italians. As for whether they could stop it, it was up to fate.

For Major General Pert-Ivanlov, in addition to reporting victory to the country, the more important thing is to conquer the military port of Taranto.

At this time, the naval port of Taranto is like ~~~ waiting for his ravages!

The naval port of Taranto has always been considered the safest place in Italy. It is the naval station of Italy, and it is in the rear, and the defense of the enemy is only from the sea.

Now that the navy has run away, the shore artillery has been hit hard by the bombing of the Bulgarian Air Force. It is difficult to stop the 6th team of the Bulgarian Navy from boarding 6th.

Of course, the Navy 6th team is still at the Kofu Island base, waiting for the results of the naval battle. Now many warships of the Bulgarian Navy are injured and need to return to China for repairs, so they have to return ahead of schedule.

At the same time, the number of Italian prisoners in the hands of Major General Pert-Ivanlov has exceeded 6,000. For this reason, Major General Pert-Ivanlov also specially borrowed three cruisers from the French to help transport the prisoners. When I came back, I had to escort the Bulgarian Navy 6th Squadron.

Not surprisingly, Major General Winster readily agreed. He missed the last opportunity, and this time he can't say anything.

It is impossible to completely wipe out the Italian Navy, but it is also of great strategic value to capture Taranto with the Bulgarians.

This helps to contain the strength of the Italians and can reduce the pressure on the French 6th Army on the front line. Major General Winster still has this strategic vision!

As long as this step is achieved, even if it is not as dazzling as the dazzling exploits of annihilating the main force of the Italian Navy, it is enough to prove that he is not an incompetent person!

Of course, Ferdinand's purpose was definitely not to help the French contain the Italians, otherwise Taranto would not be the only one on the 6th.

Ferdinand is still clear about the combat effectiveness of the Italian army. Historically, the Austro-Hungarian Empire formed several temporary units that could be regarded as militia regiments. Only a few thousand people blocked their main force for three days until the reinforcements finally defeated the Italians. .

Obviously, the strength of the Italian 6th Army is not enough to change the pattern on the battlefield on the Western Front!

Historically, after the Western Front fell into a stalemate, Britain and France still had enough power to attack the Ottoman Empire in the Battle of Dardanelles. They knew that their forces were not so short that they could be crushed with just a straw.

The big deal is that Britain and France can use the hundreds of thousands of troops that have been put into the Ottoman Empire to deal with the Italians. In terms of combat effectiveness, it is not a big problem for this unit to help the French hold the line of defense.

Taranto was attacked because there was what Ferdinand wanted. The seriously injured warships in the port, the Italian shipyards, skilled workers, and designers are all things that make Ferdinand's heart move.

Of course, getting these people to serve Bulgaria is also difficult. But it doesn't matter, Ferdinand is not in a hurry, so he can grind it slowly. The big deal is that the diehards are all sent to mines for mining, and even if they can't get it, they can't let the enemy get it!

As long as the Italian naval industrial base is destroyed, even if the Italians rise again in the future, they will not be able to continue to compete with Bulgaria for hegemony in the Mediterranean!

However, it is easier to get to 6 in Italy, that is, it is still easier now. Once the Italians react, it will not be so easy.

Ferdinand knew that during the foreign war, the combat effectiveness of the Italian 6th Army was less than 5 slag, but during the domestic defense war, people could still soar above the pass line.

Of course, South Italy and North Italy seem to be two different species, and there is still a very obvious gap between them in terms of combat effectiveness.

It just so happens that Taranto is the place with the worst combat effectiveness in the Italian 6th Army, which brings convenience to the Bulgarian Navy 6th team's boarding 6 operation.

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Winster took the initiative to take the task of exploratory attack. After all, if he didn't fire a few shots and kill a few Italians, how could he prove his credit to the country?

It is best to have a warship injured, so as to be able to show the heroic spirit of their navy to the French people and parliamentarians!

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