In the blue sea, a huge fleet is sailing. This fleet has more than 60 large and small warships, six of which are particularly conspicuous. Their tall and majestic appearance looks like battleships.
Yes, this is the French fleet commanded by Darlan. After the fleet left Algiers, he led the fleet slowly along the coast of Algeria towards Tunisia at a speed of 14 knots.
The journey was not peaceful. The Italians showed great enthusiasm for their arrival. If it were not for the efforts of the French Air Force, the warships he carried might have been damaged on the way.
Watching the driven away Italian fighters disappear, Darlan sighed sincerely. "It seems that without the cover of the aircraft carrier, the air defense of the fleet will become a big problem in the future."
Yes, Darlan still believes that battleships will serve as the main force in battles. In fact, his concept is still the mainstream among the world's navies. Even after Romania's raid on Alexandria, the status of aircraft carriers still has not reached the core position of the battlefield.
The most important thing is that the aircraft carrier is still an indispensable warship for the fleet. It can provide air protection and reconnaissance convenience for the fleet.
As for Alexandria, it was just a special case. At that time, the warship was completely stopped and was defeated by an unprepared attack. If faced with a fully deployed fleet, the aircraft on the aircraft carrier would still not be as threatening to the fleet as the battleships.
This view still firmly occupies the mainstream in the world's navies. Of course, if there are many naval battles dominated by aircraft carriers, then this will speed up people's understanding. However, currently, countries are still at the stage of understanding the use of aircraft carriers.
Del is not willing to let other countries accelerate this realization.
Although Italian aircraft were harassing, the results achieved were limited. On the one hand, France had air force cover, and on the other hand, the Italian air force had limited sea combat capabilities.
Despite these harassment methods, Darlan and Compioni's eyes were firmly fixed on each other. They both knew that if they wanted to decide the outcome, they could only rely on the battleships in their hands.
…
After two days of sailing, Darlan had approached the waters near Cape Tunis. At this time, the number of Italian fighter planes suddenly increased and there were even fighter planes to protect them. This made the French fighter planes feel very strenuous. From time to time, Italian planes broke through the blockade and entered the sky above the fleet.
Fortunately, the French fleet was in an anti-aircraft formation, and there were fewer aircraft entering the sky, so the fleet maintained a complete formation.
After driving away this wave of incoming fighter planes, Darlan frowned. "How far away is General Cunningham from us now?"
"The latest reports show that they are about a hundred nautical miles behind us."
This is a distance of more than three hours, but based on the experience of the last Battle of Jutland, more than three hours is too much, and it can determine the outcome of the naval battle.
"Let General Cunningham speed up the pace. It is best to keep the distance between us at about 50 nautical miles."
"As you command, Your Excellency, General."
After solving the problem of distance from friendly forces, the next step is to understand the opponent's position. From this point, the French fleet commanded by Darlan is at an absolute disadvantage because it has been under the surveillance of the Italian Air Force, and the position of his opponent
He hasn't learned yet.
Darlan also had his own solution to such an unfavorable situation. That was to use the outstanding heavy cruisers of the French fleet to form an exploration formation to explore the sea area.
He believed that even if the heavy cruisers could not detect the Italian fleet, they would come to the door on their own. Because the heavy cruiser fleet owned by France was the second strongest in Europe, second only to the heavy cruisers built by Germany for the purpose of breaking diplomatic ties on the ocean.
In particular, the last French heavy cruiser, the Algeria class, is equipped with a 55 times 203 caliber main gun in order to deal with the German Admiral Hipper class. Its armored fire protection is also extremely high. The only drawback is its speed.
The speed of 31 knots is almost on par with many new battleships.
But now Darlan plans to use his own heavy cruiser, which is stronger than France, as bait to lure the arrival of the Italian fleet.
"Send an order to Rear Admiral Laborde and ask him to lead the first and second cruiser formations to search for the enemy. But you must remember not to leave the fleet within 40 nautical miles."
"Yes, Your Excellency Commander."
Following Darlan's order, the forward formation consisting of 7 heavy cruisers, 1 light cruiser and more than ten destroyers began to leave the fleet, and the warships in the formation began to accelerate and search forward.
This is also Darlan's last resort. If he had a way, he would not let the heavy cruiser be used as a bait. As for its only aircraft carrier, the Béarn, there are only 40 carrier-based aircraft on it, and Darlan is reluctant to use this.
The carrier-based aircraft were wasted in vain, so the aircraft carrier was firmly protected behind the fleet. It waited to join the British fleet to strengthen the aircraft carrier power in its hands.
The division of the French fleet was quickly learned by Italy, which had air superiority.
It is located 150 nautical miles north of the Tunisian waters. It is close to the two islands of Sardinia and Sicily. It is not only threatening the Tunisian waters, but also under the protection of its own air force. So there is no better position to wait for the arrival of the French fleet, and Italy
A fleet of various warships are quietly waiting here for the arrival of the French.
Of course, it is impossible to just wait blindly. It requires flexibility.
At this point, Admiral Compioni, as the commander of the Italian fleet, thought that he had done a good job. So when the news of the division of the Chinese fleet appeared in his hands, he couldn't help but smile.
Yes, it was the kind of expression that showed a sudden surprise. He thought that he also received an unexpected surprise. Seven heavy cruisers, plus one light cruiser and more than a dozen destroyers, should have a tonnage of 100,000.
Warship. And such a great gift was given by the French fleet commander. He felt that if he did not accept it, his conscience would be uneasy.
So he held up the telegram and jokingly said to other officers, "Are we going to celebrate Christmas?"
A burst of laughter immediately erupted from the command cabin.
Someone even said, "Your Excellency, is this the day Mr. Darlan failed to remember Christmas?"
"That's right. Do we need to remind him?"
Seeing his subordinates shaking their heads, Compioni felt that it was not necessary.
This was a victory for nothing, and there was no reason not to take it. Since Darlan made a mistake, he had reason to give him a heavy blow.
Thinking of this, Compioni gave the order with a tight expression. "Immediately give the order and rush to the predetermined sea area. We will first eat the French squadron, and then directly attack their own fleet."
Following Compioni's order, the Italian fleet dispatched, and they rushed towards the French heavy cruise formation that was searching for them.
And this also kicked off the naval battle of Cape Tunis.
