"I need a chance, an opportunity to prove myself by stepping on the shoulders of the German Navy's God of War..."

On the breakwater of Alexandria, Egypt, El Alexis, commander-in-chief of the Mediterranean Fleet wearing a lieutenant general's dress, pointed at the Japanese warships entering the port and said impatiently.

In September, as the Supreme Navy commander of the Allies in the Mediterranean, Alexis was in a dilemma.

After the German "First Naval Expansion Act" in 1898, the ocean fleet rose to an amazing momentum. After the outbreak of the European war, in order to concentrate on dealing with the ocean fleet, the naval agreement between Britain and France reached: the Royal Navy weakened its existence in the Mediterranean, and the interests of the British Empire in the Mediterranean were protected by the French Navy as compensation, and the coastline on the Atlantic side of the French Atlantic was handed over to the Royal Navy to guard it.

Although Britain and France reached a naval agreement, the British Mediterranean Fleet remained relatively safe and stable with the French Navy. Just as the Russians tried every means to obstruct the Turks from joining the Allies, the British Empire's vigilance against the feud of France may not be inferior to the Germans. The command of the British landing fleet established for the Battle of Dardanelles in 1915 was firmly grasped by the British.

In 1915, the situation of the British and French navy's death and never interacting with each other completely changed. The Royal Navy suffered an unprecedented defeat in the North Sea, and the relatively objective British Mediterranean Fleet was severely damaged by the Muderos raid. The British, with empty local defense, were forced to carry out strategic contraction in the Mediterranean. The Battle of the Dardanelles was a start and abrupt end, and the Mediterranean Rescue Fleet was rushing to set off.

By this time, the British no longer had the indifference of the early stages of the war. Because they were worried that the Allies would take the opportunity to take advantage of the core interests of the British colonial empire, Egypt and the Suez Canal, the British spent a lot of money to win over France, and paid a lot of money to arm the French navy at a considerable price, and the command of the British Mediterranean Fleet was also given up.

For national interests, the British gave up the Mediterranean, but this does not mean that the arrogant Royal Navy was soaked in their bones that they could recognize the command of the French. Faced with the defeated generals under the past, the Royal Navy had capital of arrogance and arrogance. Although they were forced to desperate by rising stars and occasionally trembling in the dead of night, they would never include the French.

Aside from the illusory sense of national honor and self-esteem of the British, El Alexis also finds it difficult for him to gain a foothold in the Mediterranean Fleet.

Although the Mediterranean Fleet is a fleet with the French Navy as the main body, it is still a multinational force after all. Heidi Sileme has to spend some energy dealing with internal disputes between the multinational forces, not to mention El Alexis, who can only be used by the French Marine Commander in his resume.

El Alexis himself lacks prestige and his ability is even poorer. After the Battle of Thessalonika in 1915, Alexis led two Guba-class battleships to encircle and suppress the Avos. However, he was scared away by the Austro-Hungarian Navy, which was dispatched in full swing in the Adriatic Sea. God knows how El Alexis connected the Austro-Hungarian Navy hundreds of miles away with the encirclement and suppression of the Avos.

In 1916, Italy declared war on the Allies, and rumors spread that the Allies were going to form a Mediterranean Combined Fleet, while El Alexis' performance was even worse.

In the early days of the formation of the Joint Fleet, only six Italian main battleships were stationed in the Port of Taranto. The Chief of Staff of the Mediterranean Fleet persuaded El Alexis to take firm and powerful actions. While the Joint Fleet was assembling all its main forces, the Alexis ambushed the Avos battle patrol, but El Alexis made a major misjudgment due to several photos of the Avos battle patrol that Heidi Silem forged, which made the Aegean Fleet easily cross the Aegean Sea and merge with the Joint Fleet.

After missing the opportunity to weaken the joint fleet, El Alexis, who was lacking in ability, finally attracted dissatisfaction among the naval officers and soldiers.

"I don't expect Alexis to have the same strength as Heidi Sileme, and can compete for awareness and execution at the strategic and tactical levels, but at least I won't be overwhelmed just because his opponent is Heidi Sileme."

The captain of a second-class British cruiser openly claimed at the Alexandria Officers Club. French officers and soldiers also turned against each other. A roadbed reconnaissance pilot wrote to his colleagues without hesitation, saying, "Working with El Alexis makes them feel ashamed."

Faced with the surging criticism, El Alexis finally lost his mind and couldn't wait to fight with the legendary Heidi Sileme.

Alexis believed that he was not an unreasonable reckless man.

In addition to being slightly inferior in the number of main ships, the Allied Navy has an absolute advantage in light ships and auxiliary ships.

Even the British Third Cruise Fleet, which is patrolling the Gulf of Aden to play hide-and-seek with the East Asian fleet, which is playing hide-and-seek game. The British Navy can invest seven old battleships, eight cruisers and sixteen light warships, and the French Navy can invest two old battleships, five cruisers and fifteen destroyers. In addition, the Japanese Second Secret Fleet stationed on the Island of Malta, and the Greek Fleet located in the Port of Thessalonika, Greece, will soon join the Mediterranean Fleet.

The reason why the Greeks tore off their hypocritical neutrality veil and went barely to fight was also blamed on Britain and France. After Italy declared war on the Allies, the Allies stepped up their efforts to win over the last neutral countries of the Balkans, Greece and Romania. The British and French navies' attitude towards the Greek navy changed from initial surveillance to disarming. So in May 1916, the Greek navy, which had two former Mississippi-class battleships with armored cruisers and a 10,000-ton Italian-style armored cruiser, were incorporated by the Allies with paralyzed and black belly without launching a shot, becoming a maritime mercenary flying the Greek flag.

Half a month ago, the command of the Greek army also officially changed hands. Due to concerns that the maritime supply line was cut off by the navy of the Allied Powers, the British and French Army, which were fighting in the Balkans, disarmed most of the Greek army. Except for the troops near the capital still controlled by the Greek government, Greece is already a de facto Allied country. If nothing unexpected happens, the Greeks will show the world what a weak country has no diplomacy in the past few days.

Putting aside the advantages of light warships and auxiliary warships, the Allies' disadvantages in terms of the number of main battleships are not obvious.

It is difficult for politicians and soldiers on the Apennine Peninsula to keep secrets, according to the intelligence sold by intelligence dealers, Heidi Silem has not yet completed the integration of the joint fleet, which means that the Allied Fleet with eleven main battleships is simply a mess. If Heidi Silem dares to use the joint fleet with only a numerical advantage to form a tacit Mediterranean Fleet with officers and soldiers, Alexis is confident that Silem will encounter the Battle of the Skagerak Straits Alexis.

"I will inform the intelligence department to pay close attention to the Taranto Joint Fleet..."

The confidant subordinate understood Alexis's impatience. He raised his collar and looked at the solemn Eastern Mediterranean Sea, answering without any hesitation.

"Tarento, Heidi Sileme, who has been famous for a long time, can he easily fall into the trap of the commander of French land combat naval forces El Alexis?"

The essence of Japan's second spy fleet - the cruiser Akashi and six ocean-going destroyers slowly drove into the home port of the Allied Mediterranean Fleet. At this time, Alexandria had assembled ten main battleships, eleven former dreadnoughts, thirteen cruisers and more than thirty destroyers.

The captain of the cruiser Akashi looked at the masts and dense artillery inside the military port, and repeated what he said in the port of Malta a few days ago.

"If naval battles were just simple numbers, there wouldn't be naval legends like Heidi Sileme!"

"I've really had enough of pasta, can't the Intelligence Department give us more funds?!"

In a building in the old city of Taranto that exceeded the average height of the harbor building, Thomas, wearing silk pajamas, had just eaten a few bites of pasta, and his fragile stomach began to turn over. Thomas, with a haggard face, scratched his messy hair, took the telescope from his companion's hand and came to the windowsill, gently pulled open a corner of the curtain, raised the telescope to aim at the port of Taranto.

From Thomas's perspective, the scenic Port of Taranto can be seen in a clear view, and Thomas can easily find the information he wants.

"Hahn, it seems like there is a capital ship missing..."

"Don't worry, novices, that's the battleship Tegerhof of the Third Detachment of the United Fleet, one of the short fat people in Austria."

Hahn, an old intelligence veteran, sat on the sofa, leaned his head with a faint pain on the back of the soft sofa, picked up a wet towel to apply to his swollen eyes, and introduced him to Thomas:

"It is the 2nd ship of the Third Detachment. It went out to sea with two old Elena battleships at around 4 pm, as if it was providing fire support to the Italian army fighting in the Balkans."

"Oh." Thomas, who had just entered the intelligence team, nodded and continued to keep an eye on it. After half a minute, the inexperienced young man started shouting again: "Wait, Hahn, the Joint Fleet seems to have a big move..."

Hahn snatched the telescope from Thomas's hand and skillfully adjusted the focal length to observe the movements of the joint fleet. Through the telescope barrel, Hahn saw several tugboats slowly leaning on three main battleships in the wide port of Taranto, and squirted with coal smoke to pull the battleships to the main channel.

"It's the second team." Hahn refracted and took out the observation record table, carefully compared the numbers two weeks ago, shook his head and said, "The first Italian dauntless ship Dante, followed by two Cayodurio-class battleships, of which the Andreidoria battleship was launched in the first half of the year. This team is the weakest link of the joint fleet, and Sileme may also realize this, so the second team's training frequency is higher than that of the other two teams. Oh, there will be a training session once every half month during the preparation period. The legendary German naval god of war may really fall into a big fall in the Mediterranean!" (To be continued...)

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Chapter completed!