Major General Catanho knew that it was launched by the Bora and was in contact with him. However, not long after he saw the signal flare, a strong light suddenly shone 3,000 yards away, covering the No. 3 ship "Fum" in the formation. The aftermath made the outlines of the "Zara" and "Alfieri" particularly clear in the night sky. For an instant, the Italian naval officers and soldiers were stunned.

"Boom", the panicked Italians saw a row of flames rising from the British ship and heard deafening sounds. "Battleship!" The experienced man shouted, and Major General Catanio's hope was completely shattered - he thought that the British destroyer fleet might have attacked them. In an instant, the will of the Italian naval officers and soldiers collapsed. Before the people who woke up were looking for a hiding place, the first row of British shells fell on the ship "Fum".

Because it was a close-range flat shot of 2,900 yards, the first 6 15-inch volley of the "Jun Quan" was hit by 5 armor-piercing bombs! Then, there were a series of explosions, and the tower of a rear turret was overturned and pressed on one side of the hull. After 30 seconds, the second volley of the "Jun Quan" fell down immediately. This time, all eight main guns fired, and several shots hit again. During this time, the first volley of the four main guns in the front of the "Rodney" was also aimed at the "Fum".

The "Fum" that was hit by these shells turned into a large fireball in just 2 or 3 minutes. The hull was seriously tilted to the right, quickly lost its power, and slowly left the queue. After only 45 minutes, the warship, which had almost no fight back, disappeared on the sea, leaving only countless life rafts and struggling crowds.

Almost at the same time as the Fum, the destroyer Alfiery was attacked, and the battleship Baalam was fired. The battleship Baalam was originally planning to shoot the Bora, which fired the red signal flare. When it was about to open fire, it received an order to change its course. When it was turning, the gun officer saw the outline of the destroyer Alfiery in the light of the searchlight.

Because the artillery was ready and just pointed in this direction, he ordered the fire to be opened immediately. How could a destroyer like the "Alfieri" withstand the direct shooting of the 15-inch cannon at a distance of 3,100 yards? At least 2 of the four armor-piercing bombs hit directly, and the entire hull was like a mantis blocking the car. In a series of explosions, strong light burst out, and the flames rose high. Then thick smoke rolled and left the queue.

The Fum was just broken, and then it was the flagship Zara. The Rodney and Balum opened fire at it almost at the same time, and the Junquan also quickly joined the battle. The first two ships each fired 5 volleys, while the latter fired 4 volleys. All important parts of the Zara - the command tower, turret, main room, boiler room, etc., were directly hit by 15-inch armor-piercing bombs, and exploded and stacked once.

The 8-inch cannons that had sporadic resistance were all dumb, the barrel was twisted and pointed to all directions. The main unit had stopped rotating. An explosion caused by a boiler split the hull from it. Even a front turret was blown away by air waves, rolling over the flame-covered deck like a toy, falling into the sea. At this time, the command tower was also full of casualties. Major General Catanho saw that the situation was hopeless, sorted out his military uniform, calmly crossed the purgatory deck on earth, walked to the stern of the ship, ordered the abandonment of the ship, and commanded the resettlement of the slow-moving ship, preparing to sank the flagship.

After experiencing the fun of fighting, the British battleship stopped firing and evacuated the chaotic battlefield at 22:38. Two minutes later, the British destroyer began to clean the battlefield. At 22:59, the burning "Zara" and "Alfieri" were discovered by the British destroyer "Stuart" and "Hawak". "Stuart" fired a torpedo, but failed. At 23:05, the slow-witted ** on the "Zara" was detonated and the flames became even more fierce. However, it seemed that God intended to torture "Zara" and he still did not sink.

At 23:15, the "Alfieri" suddenly turned over and sank into the sea. Two minutes later, the "Zara" was hit by "Stuart". It had no effect except for a few explosions. At 23:30, I wandered around the battlefield and witnessed the "Zara", the "Fum" and the "Alfieri" three ships, which were tragic, fired four torpedoes at the Italians, but none of them hit.

It was not until 2 o'clock that the Mike squadron arrived at the battlefield. They ignored the Italians struggling in the water and rushed straight to the place with flames. At this time, the "Zara" was almost burned, with only a few fires left on the deck - which was enough. The "Zara" was hit by three torpedoes from the "Jarvis" destroyer. After the huge explosion, the water column rushed dozens of feet high. The fire ignited again, illuminating the sea surface within a few nautical miles - now there were wreckage of warships, floating corpses, life rafts and helpless sailors. At 2:40, the "Zara" finally turned its huge body with relief and took Major General Catanho - no one knew whether he was dead or alive at that time, and gradually sank into the sea.

After the British shelling began, other Italian destroyers found that something was wrong and turned to the rudder and left the team to escape. The "Oriyani" was injured in the front engine room by the 6-inch sub-bomb of the "Junulu". The "Jobeti" was fired by the 15-inch cannon of the "Junulu", but they all escaped with the help of speed, night cover and chaos on the battlefield. Only the "Karduic" was shot by the "Havok" at 23:08, and was beaten by the opponent's torpedo 7 minutes later, and was buried in the sea at 23:30.

At this moment, the "Pola" can almost be said to be a bystander. It floated motionlessly on the sea surface. When it was attacked, the damage to the power equipment made the artillery on the ship pointing east and west, and made the entire hull pitch black. Although it was once discovered by the British ship "Balham", the Catanio squadron that suddenly appeared to rescue him distracted the British, so it did not get shells from the British battleship.

Until 24 o'clock, it was discovered again by the searchlight of the "Havok". Perhaps the "Havok" was too small compared to the "Bora", so it was considered by the captain of the "Havok" Watkins to be the "Veneto". Half an hour later, the Mike squadron who was chasing the "Veneto" rushed over. Although the report was later revised, it was too late, and Mike joined the battle by mistake.

At 1:40, the searchlights were aimed at the Bora again. This time the Hunter and the Griffin destroyers were crowded on the upper deck and had to cover their eyes. However, the British did not attack immediately. They were waiting for Mike's squadron. At 3:25, the Jarvis, who sank the Zara, approached it, and some people on the Bora could not wait and jumped into the water. After that, the British kept shouting at the Italians in the water: "Catch this! Poor!" They threw the cables one by one, and the Italians boarded the Jarvis with the help of the cables. There were a total of 257 people, including those rescued from the water.

While rescuing the Italians who fell into the water, the British also organized a group of gunmen to rush onto the Bora, dismantled the small guns they lacked, and returned to their warships from another springboard. 15 minutes later, the cable was untied, and the Jarvis fired a torpedo at the Bora - no explosion, and the Nubia destroyer next to it added one. At 4:03, the Bora exploded and sank.

…(To be continued)

ps: handsome old man

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