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Text Chapter 1,308 The Destruction of the Mediterranean Fleet

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    On the morning of May 12, the main force of the Chinese Navy's Indian Ocean Fleet had passed through Saar, and was now only more than 800 kilometers away from Gibraltar.  Admiral Li Haitao, commander of the Indian Ocean Fleet, also caught up with the fleet and arrived on the flagship battleship 'Han Ming Emperor'.  Previously, the fleet had been commanded by Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Wu Zhiyuan.

    It can be said that earth-shaking changes have taken place before the current Indian Ocean Fleet and the Battle of Sicily.  As well as the 'China class' battleships that have been in service for nearly twenty years and the old 'Dreadnought class' battleships that captured the British and French navies, they have withdrawn from the fleet and joined the artillery formation.

    The current fleet¡¯s capital ships are 11 battleships and one battlecruiser.  Among these 12 battleships, in addition to the battleships Hanmingdi, Qinshihuang, Prince Fusu, and Wangben battlecruisers, the other 8 were built by China itself.  These ships are all the capital ships of the British and French naval fleets captured in the Battle of Sicily, including the battleships 'Iron Duke', 'Benbow', 'Canada' and 'Bold' that originally belonged to the British Navy.  , the battleship Centurion, and the battleship Thor, the original book companions of the French Navy's battleship Lorraine, and the battleship 'Provence,'.  Seemingly to humiliate Britain and France, this time the Indian Ocean Fleet repaired these damaged battleships and joined the fleet without even changing their names. It just changed the flag to the flag of the Chinese Navy!

    Except for two ¡®Qin-class battleships and one ¡®Baiqi-class battlecruiser, these battleships in the Indian Ocean Fleet are equipped with 5mm main guns, and the rest of the battleships are equipped with 343mm main guns.  These capital ships alone have made the strength of the Chinese Navy's Indian Ocean Fleet develop by leaps and bounds!  Except for the Chinese Navy itself, probably no country can come up with a fleet that rivals the Chinese Navy's Indian Ocean Fleet!

    Of course, as the performance of aircraft continues to improve, aircraft carriers have shown sharp combat effectiveness in naval battles.  It is foreseeable that in the near future, capital ships will gradually be eliminated.  But now, except for China, which is equipped with aircraft carriers, other countries do not have such weapons. This allows these capital ships of the Chinese Navy to still exert strong combat effectiveness!

    After Admiral Li Haitao attended the Navy Department meeting chaired by Navy Minister Zhang Cheng, he flew from Beijing to the front line.  Because the distance was too long and the flight range was extremely low, it took three days to get to Cairo.  Then he took a "Fuqing-class" destroyer of the Chinese Navy and quickly chased the fleet.  Fortunately, we finally caught up before the fleet arrived in Gibraltar!

    ¡°Chief of Staff, thank you for your hard work these days!¡± Admiral Li Haitao said on the battleship ¡®Han Ming Emperor!

    ¡°Commander, it¡¯ll be great if you¡¯re back! Did the meeting go well this time?¡± Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Wu Zhiyuan said with a smile.  After receiving the order from the Admiralty, he immediately ordered the Indian Ocean Fleet to start preparations for the war. Such a large fleet had to be mobilized. He was really exhausted these days!

    "The meeting was a success! When I left Beijing, I had received news from the marshal that His Majesty the Emperor had approved the battle plan we submitted! And all three battle plans were approved! This time, we are going to do something big.  Got it!" Admiral Li Haitao was very excited!

    "Three combat plans? In addition to attacking Gibraltar, where else should we attack?" Lieutenant General Wu Zhiyuan asked.  At this moment, the Chinese Navy is still making secret preparations, and specific combat missions have not yet been issued.  So Lieutenant General Wu Zhiyuan didn¡¯t know about it!

    "Chief of Staff, capturing Gibraltar is only our first goal! After capturing Gibraltar, we will return to Sicily and attack Italy! The Army will directly transfer troops from North America to the Mediterranean to defeat Italy! If we can defeat Italy within a month  If it's Italy, we can finally launch an operation to land in the UK!" Admiral Li Haitao said!

    "Landing in the UK? That's great! However, it may not be easy to defeat Italy within a month! Italy is not a small country. Although the main force of their army is concentrated in the north, the Germans will definitely drag us down by then.  Its hind legs!" Lieutenant General Wu Zhiyuan exclaimed!

    "Everything says that troops are expensive and fast! After we take Gibraltar, we will attack Rome directly! After taking Rome, it is best to capture the Italian king and government officials, and then force them to surrender! If everything goes well, I am afraid it will not take more than a month.  It will end the war in Italy!" General Li Haitao said.  In this battle, time is very important.

    "Haha! Commander, it seems we have to speed up. The 8th Marine Division will be responsible for the attack on Gibraltar! There should be no problem with one Marine Division attacking Gibraltar! If everything goes well, it is expected to take three to four days  Then you can get Buluotuo!" WuLieutenant General Zhiyuan said.  !

    Before the attack began, they had already obtained the deployment of British troops in Gibraltar.  In addition to the greatly damaged British Navy's Mediterranean Fleet, there is only one regiment of land and one battalion of marines, with a total strength of about 3,000 people.  Such a small force is simply not noticed by the Chinese Navy's Indian Ocean Fleet.

    "Well! In order to speed up our strength, the Marshal has agreed to temporarily assign the aircraft carrier 'Jiuhuashan' and 'Putuoshan' aircraft carrier to us! It is expected that we will be able to arrive at the battlefield in two days! With the support of the two aircraft carriers, we  The difficulty of capturing Gibraltar will be reduced again!" Admiral Li Haitao said with a smile!

    "What? Assign the 'Jiuhuashan' and 'Putuoshan' to us? This is really great!" All fleets of the Chinese Navy want aircraft carriers, but the number of aircraft carriers is too small. In order to ensure the ability to fight against the United States  Victory, aircraft carriers have always been used together!  This situation may not be improved until the first batch of Wuyue-class aircraft carriers enter service at the end of the year!

    "Now, it's time for our Indian Ocean fleet to develop! Order the fleet to increase the speed and arrive at Gibraltar at noon tomorrow! In addition, the 'Lop Nur-class' frigates should be prepared for anti-submarine warfare, and don't let the British take advantage of the loophole!"  General Li Haitao ordered!  During the meeting at the Navy Department, Marshal Li Dingxin specifically warned about the issue of anti-submarine, and Admiral Li Haitao also always remembered it.

    "Yes, Commander!" Lieutenant General Wu Zhiyuan nodded and then issued the order!

    Soon, the speed of the fleet increased to 16 knots.  The 15 Lop Nur-class frigates of the Indian Ocean Fleet are also scattered in front and left and right of the fleet. The sonar above has been turned on, and the sonar troops are fully monitoring the underwater.

    At three o¡¯clock in the morning on May 13, the Chinese Navy¡¯s Indian Ocean Fleet entered the Alboran Sea!  The fleet's speed has always been maintained at 16 knots.  15 Lop Nur-class frigates have been patrolling the periphery of the fleet.  Although it is difficult to achieve comprehensive defense with only 1 frigate, when the fleet is advancing at a speed of 16 knots, it is not easy to be attacked by enemy submarines!

    At this time, 12 submarines of the British Navy¡¯s Mediterranean Fleet are lurking under the water one hundred kilometers east of Gibraltar.  They waited for the Chinese Navy's Indian Ocean Fleet to come to their door, and then used torpedoes to sink the Chinese Navy's warships!  Even though many of these battleships were once the pride of the British Royal Navy, now, these battleships have become the shame of the British Navy!

    However, these British Navy submariners did not know that their ambush would not succeed at all in front of the Chinese Navy.  Just like the ambush of their ally the US Navy, they were still found and eliminated by the Chinese Navy.

    At 5:25 in the morning on May 13, the Chinese Navy's "Bell Lake" frigate detected something strange underwater and immediately issued a combat alert!  Suddenly, the battle began, and the Chinese Navy's frigates and destroyers began to attack the submarine force of the British Navy's Mediterranean Fleet!  A large number of depth charges were thrown into the water. Many British Navy submarines did not know why they were exposed while hiding underwater until they were sunk!

    Except for 9 of the 12 British Navy submarines that ventured up to the surface and fired torpedoes, the remaining submarines were found by Chinese Navy frigates and sunk without even having a chance to fire torpedoes.  The four submarines that launched torpedoes were all sunk without any results.  The battleship of the Chinese Navy is at least ten kilometers away from the battlefield at this moment, and the range of torpedoes at this time is mostly only about four kilometers. It is simply impossible to hit a target ten kilometers away!

    After wiping out the British Navy¡¯s submarine force, the Chinese Navy¡¯s Indian Ocean Fleet continued its westward march.  At the same time, the fleet also strengthened its anti-submarine operations.  After all, no one knows how many submarines the British Navy has in the Mediterranean Fleet!

    At 9:05 a.m., the Indian Ocean Fleet of the Chinese Navy and the Mediterranean Fleet of the British Navy encountered each other.  Commander of the British Navy's Mediterranean Fleet John.  Admiral Jellicoe was very disappointed after discovering that the Chinese navy was unscathed. The submarine force for which he had high hopes failed to achieve any results, which made him very disappointed!

    At this time, all 6 heavy cruisers, 15 light cruisers and 16 destroyers of the British Navy's Mediterranean Fleet are here!  John.  Admiral Jellicoe gave the order to attack aboard the heavy cruiser Cambridgeshire.  More than thirty warships of the Mediterranean Fleet launched a desperate attack on the Chinese Navy's Indian Ocean Fleet!  However, in the face of the absolute strength gap, their final result was to be completely annihilated!
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