?The mast of the flagship Ark Royal was hoisted with a signal flag symbolizing charge, and the Royal Navy ships began to assemble and send out torpedo attack formations.
At the same time, the Italian Navy's artillery shells never stopped. They attacked the British fleet for no less than three rounds. However, because the British army began to move deliberately, these poorly trained Italian Navy sailors showed their artillery fire.
Technical shortcomings.
Most of the artillery shells of the Italian Navy's three attacks hit the sea, and none of the torpedoes fired hit.
"These idiots!" Leifer yelled.
Indeed, in such a close naval battle distance, almost all the Italian Navy's artillery shells missed, which is really unbelievable.
After these rounds of attacks, the Italian army ran out of tricks. After the British Royal Navy fleet arranged its formation, they clearly felt the pressure.
On the other side, the British navy also began to counterattack. For a while, various naval guns and torpedoes were fired at the Italian army in succession, leaving them unable to parry.
Immediately afterwards, the British fleet, which owned the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal, scrambled 20 torpedo attack aircraft.
Moreover, if it were not for the fact that the British army was destroyed by French anti-aircraft firepower in the Port of Oran, too many fighter planes were destroyed, the British air force faced by the Italians at this moment would have been doubled!
There was no need for Leifer to remind him by radio, all Italian officers and soldiers knew what happened.
That's right, they were caught by surprise with several times the enemy's strength. If this continues, the main force of the Italian Navy may even be completely annihilated in this battle!
Admiral Leifer shook his fist fiercely in the air, as if he wanted to vent the anger of being beaten passively for more than ten minutes.
He shouted confidently to the frightened fleet staff and department commanders in the command tower: "What are you still doing? Order the fleet to stop bombarding, release smoke and withdraw from the battle! We cannot let down Mussolini."
The Prime Minister’s training for our Italian Navy!”
At this time, Leifer was no longer thinking about establishing a century of meritorious service, destroying the British fleet, and making a name for himself.
All he wants now is to hold on to his Italian warships to avoid being cut to pieces due to heavy losses when he returns home!
Leifer felt dizzy at the thought of Mr. Leader feeling sorry for the treasures of these battleships.
If Mussolini heard after returning home that Leifer had lost Italy's battleship, I'm afraid even ten Leifers wouldn't be enough to kill him!
However, just when the Italian navy was retreating steadily and had just withdrawn its equipment from the battle, Forbes's British fleet disrupted its formation first.
When Leifer, the commander of the Italian fleet, had given up fighting and was preparing to run away, the British were the first to get into trouble?!
Happiness came so suddenly that Leifer couldn't believe it for a moment.
However, he did not immediately order to catch up and suppress the British, but continued to maintain a distance of more than 20km from a distance.
Pulling over the adjutant who was conveying the order to retreat, Leifer shouted loudly: "Don't retreat yet, pass on the order, and keep the bombardment on all ships!"
Although he didn't dare to get close, Leifer still dared to accompany the British in a round of artillery fire.
He wanted to use the time of this round of shelling to conduct further observations to see if the British were playing any tricks.
In fact, Leifer doesn't have to worry at all. Because the British fleet has already taken advantage of others, there is no need to play tricks on you.
Now that the British army has stopped shelling and is in disarray, it means that they are really in trouble.
"Commander, you're not running away?" Leifer's adjutant Paul asked doubtfully.
He was still in the fear he had felt a few minutes ago and wanted to run away immediately to avoid the group of British guys who were possessed by Poseidon.
"Nonsense, why are you running?" Leifer said angrily.
While they were talking, the Italian fleet had launched its fifth round of bombardment, and finally concentrated a British cruiser and two destroyers.
This is not to say that the Italian navy's gunnery skills have skyrocketed and that the gunnery is possessed.
The reason why they were able to hit three British warships at once was entirely because the British fleet, which was already in disarray, slowed down its movement and dodge speed, making it easier to be hit.
Of course, the British fleet would not be in chaos on its own. The reason why they suddenly started to be in chaos was entirely because the German submarine force suddenly appeared in the gap between the British fleet's formations, suddenly surfaced and launched torpedoes.
Almost with a few whooshing sounds, the German submarine fired torpedoes at several British warships. With several loud bangs, the British Navy flagship HMS Ark Royal and several other destroyers were damaged to varying degrees and almost lost their combat effectiveness.
The Italian Navy was confused. What happened to the British Navy opposite?
"The British Navy seems to have been attacked by a submarine?" Leifer's chief of staff mused.
"It seems that our submarine has come to support us. Listen to my order and turn the ship around to cooperate with the submarine in combat!"
I thought it was Italy's own submarine force that was very impressive and rushed over to support the operation. Leifer also ordered with an excited look.
…
At the same time, on a submarine belonging to the Italian Navy, Fred, who was ordered to intercept the sneak attack on the British fleet, was still waiting.
"What's going on? The British fleet hasn't appeared yet?"
Fred also chatted with his adjutant.
Because Leifer stopped the British warship pair, the Italian submarine Fred was on would naturally not encounter the returning British fleet.
In other words, if they encountered the returning British fleet, it would mean that Leifer's Italian fleet had lost.
"Isn't it a good thing to have no enemies?" Fred's adjutant smiled: "Wouldn't it mean we don't have to fight?"
"That's right." Fred nodded and finally figured it out: "Why do I expect to encounter the British fleet?"
In this way, Italy's own submarine forces were in a state of dissociation. They did not participate in the battle as Leifer wanted.
…
On the other side, after almost a day and night of fighting, the British Navy's Princess Royal and Australia were sunk one after another, and Warspite was seriously injured and forced to withdraw from the battle.
However, the wretched and sinister German submarine was not damaged at all. It must be said that they were a little too lucky.
At the same time, the price paid by the Italian Navy was only one cruiser severely damaged, two battleships slightly damaged, and one destroyer sunk.
The setting sun slowly sets, replaced by the smoke of the battlefield and the endless darkness.
This time, as a rare Italian militant general, Leifer was favored by the God of Luck.