My Italian: Chapter 640 The Great Battle of Sirte Epilogue

The sea under the setting sun is a mess, with floating sundries, oil, corpses, and battleships burning with raging fire, which makes people feel the cruelty of war.

As for the cruelty of naval battles, the officers and soldiers of the British army who had just escaped a battle and had no time to catch their breath were arranged for various tasks. How passionate they were fighting before, how embarrassing they are cleaning up now, as if the previous naval battle had exhausted their energy.

The officers and soldiers of the reinforcement formation looked at everything in front of them with different expressions, some yearning, some pale, and some indifferent.

As for Lieutenant General Studi, who is the commander of the reinforcement formation, there is only regret left. His reinforcements did not play a full role at all. Except for finally saving Admiral Cardon's semi-disabled fleet, he did not achieve any desired results at all.

You must know that he left the Agincourt behind and rushed all the way at full speed (the Agincourt was hit by a torpedo, causing the speed to decrease by three knots and unable to keep up with the formation speed).

He is not reconciled, especially after learning that the Italian fleet left within an hour, he has always had an idea.

"Lieutenant General, Cardon has a telegram."

The communications staff handed him a telegram, and Lieutenant General Studi, who received the telegram, quickly checked it.

This telegram is the damage report of the Mediterranean Fleet's statistics of the opponent's United Fleet. Although the Mediterranean Fleet suffered a loss before, it also caused enough losses to fight with it. As Lieutenant General Studi was able to get this report, Admiral Carden's attitude is self-evident.

When did the British Empire Navy suffer such a big loss? A naval battle that was supposed to have an advantage ended up losing such a big loss when the opportunity was lost. Carden, the commander of the Mediterranean Fleet, was so angry that he vomited blood.

Think about how much the Mediterranean fleet lost in this naval battle. Battlecruisers sinking Invincible and Indomitable, battleships; sinking Montagu, sinking Collingwood, sinking Centurion, sinking Vanguard, wrecking St. Vincent, wrecking Neptune, Hercules Major damage, Colossus was moderately damaged, only Orion and Conqueror suffered minor losses.

This is just the main battleship, let alone small and medium-sized warships such as cruisers, destroyers, and torpedo boats. The two lightning strike tactics (one for the enemy and one for the enemy) caused it to lose more than two-thirds. Basically, the Mediterranean Sea is now in a half-dead state. How can you let General Carden accept this result? It's considered a strong heart if you didn't faint from anger on the spot.

Lieutenant General Studi, who happened to be in charge of the reinforcement formation, was also unwilling to say anything, and he couldn't let the Italians leave in such a safe way.

"Teghoff sank, Isstvan shattered, Dreadnought shattered, Dante shattered, Leonardo da Vinci scuttled, Julio scuttled, Petrarch scuttled, United Forces . . . "

Lieutenant General Studi quickly calculated the loss of the United Fleet. After careful calculation, Lieutenant General Stirdy believed that the existing six battleships in his reinforcement formation were enough to deal with the half-disabled United Fleet.

As for how to find the United Fleet that slipped away under the surveillance of the airship in the sky, it is thanks to Admiral Cardon.

Because the Indefatigable Battle Cruiser is following the opponent. After seeing the Italians wanting to run, Admiral Cardon ordered Major General Sinken, who had just arrived, to follow and monitor the Italians.

With the Indefatigable following, Lieutenant General Studi was not worried at all about not being able to find the target.

And he had also received a telegram from Major General Sinken that the Italians were leaving in the north at seventeen knots. As long as Major General Xinken doesn't follow him, he will dare to chase him even in the dark.

Just as Lieutenant Admiral Studi was about to pursue the main force of the United Fleet northward, a column of smoke appeared in the southwest from a lookout post, and then warships appeared on the sea level. The lookout post counted five ships in total. battleship.

"A fleet of five warships was found in the southwest." Just as he was speaking, the sharp-eyed watchman immediately saw the opponent's flag and shouted immediately. "It's an Italian battleship, and this is an Italian battlecruiser formation."

Soon the news of the Italian battle cruiser in the southwest was learned by Lieutenant General Studi and General Cardon.

Seeing the sudden appearance of an uninvited guest, the two commanders who were still thinking about chasing their opponents immediately calmed down.

Five battle cruisers are actually not many, but they have given the two commanders enough problems. On the Orion, Admiral Cardon sighed unwillingly. "Telegram Major General Sinken to return. Also inform Lieutenant General Studdy of this decision."

"As you order, Your Excellency the Admiral."

After giving the order, General Cardon seemed to be a few years older in an instant. He looked at his partner, Lieutenant General Robek, and said. "When I get back to Alexandria, I will submit my resignation to London."

As a colleague who has worked together for many years, Lieutenant General Robeck certainly knew what this man was thinking and why, but he still spoke. "Actually, it's not your fault, we're just cooperating."

They would not have played this match with Italy if they had not followed London's command and cooperated with its genius plan.

"No, I was indeed at fault for losing this naval battle. We underestimated the strength of the Italians. We also underestimated the role of new technologies in naval warfare. At least this one in the sky really confuses me."

Obviously, Admiral Cardon has a deeper understanding of the role of airships, and this naval battle was aggrieved. Every move I make is under the surveillance of the enemy, and I don't even know where the other party is. This means that the enemy can choose the battlefield he wants, the timing he wants, how can he fight?

"Order the ships to the southwest and force the enemy battle cruisers to leave."

After Lieutenant General Robek put down the telegram in his hand, he issued a new order. At the same time, he sighed and threw the battle-damaged telegram of the United Fleet into the trash can.

He didn't mean to blame Admiral Cardon. With five enemy battle cruisers at his side, it would be difficult for Admiral Carden's crippled Mediterranean fleet to block the attack of the other five battle cruisers, so he really couldn't do anything about it. Leaving the Mediterranean Fleet with the worst losses and leaving.

On the side of the United Fleet, after seeing the Indefatigable, which had been following closely behind, leave, Lefer finally let go of his heart.

Thus ended the naval battle at Sirte.

In this naval battle, the joint fleet of Italy and Austria fought against 89 warships of Britain and France with 116 warships, at the cost of losing 57 warships (including 1 battleship), and sank 59 ships of the Mediterranean fleet (including 4 battleships). ship), and won the naval battle.

In terms of the number of warships lost, there is not much difference between the two sides. But the tonnage display is completely different. The total tonnage of the joint fleet was 82,300 tons, while that of Britain and France was 189,200 tons.

In terms of personnel loss ~www.mtlnovel.com~ the joint fleet suffered more than 5,000 casualties, while the British and French sides suffered more than 10,000 casualties. The cause of more casualties on both sides than the Jutland naval battle in history was caused by the long-term exchange of fire between the two sides. (During the Battle of Jutland, Scheer found something was wrong and left as soon as he touched it, so the casualties were not too large)

Of course, this naval battle taught both sides a very important lesson. The importance of aerial reconnaissance almost dominated the direction of the naval battle in this naval battle.

In addition, the use of lightning strike tactics has become more standardized. The performance of the firepower and protection of warships on the battlefield is also thought-provoking.

Of course, all of this is not as dazzling as Lefer, who commanded the combined fleet to win this naval battle. After this battle, the name of this lieutenant general is also well known in the whole world. Because he was the first general to win the British Navy in a decisive naval battle in hundreds of years.

He broke the aura of the British invincible navy, and made everyone no longer blindly follow it.

I didn't finish writing last night, so I'll make it up this morning.

(end of this chapter)

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