Chapter 976: Detonating Everything’s Fuse
"It's impossible for the French to deploy all their warships here?" the prince asked.
"Before, before our St. Stephen entered service, they really didn't do this. The fleet would rotate frequently, but up to now, the main force of the French fleet has been deployed here for nearly 45 days. At least 8 dreadnoughts and super ships Fearlessness is always there!" Major General House said.
"Damn it." The prince couldn't help cursing in his heart. He could clearly perceive two points from General House's words. First, there was something wrong with the navy's secrecy work. The "jailbreak" operation. And the second question is that the situation is about to change, and 80% may have something to do with the Japanese Navy!
The so-called end of the crossbow can not wear Lu Jin. The French are actually overdrawing the soft power of the fleet. Even Alexandria cannot support the actions of the entire French fleet, so it will be even worse if they move the front line forward hundreds of kilometers and reach Crete! Supplies, personnel status, and ship status will be gradually consumed during long-term deployment, which is abnormal from a common sense! If the French are not fools, then there is only one possibility, they are trying to spend the last period of time! So do your best to stay here.
And the only reason for the French to do this is that the Japanese fleet is coming! And when the Japanese fleet finally arrives, the Allied fleet in the entire Eastern Mediterranean will be nailed with the last coffin nail! Even if only two dreadnoughts came, the fleet of the Allied Powers would no longer be able to make any waves. After all, the difference in the number of fleets was too great. No matter how good the warships of the same period are, it is difficult to resist the attack of two enemy ships of the same level.
"To be honest, I don't have a very good idea now. From the current point of view, almost all plans have a success rate of no more than 60%! This is something I have never encountered before." Rupre Hitt wrote this in his diary, and to his surprise, when the situation in the Mediterranean was gradually becoming a deadlock, a small stone fell into the vast Mediterranean, and then set off a ripple , when this stone was thrown from the hands of the God of Destiny, no one could have imagined that the second large-scale naval battle since the war broke out as a result!
"Look over there, there seems to be something?" The lookout of the destroyer Musketeer of the French Mediterranean Fleet, which was cruising in the northwest waters of Crete, said loudly, pointing to a sparkling sea in the distance.
"Aren't you blindsided again, kid?" Under the mast, a bearded veteran said dismissively. Since this little guy from Marseilles boarded the ship, the number of false alarms has exceeded 30 times. His surprise and surprise disturbed the entire ship! In the end, fortunately, people ignored him and just ignored his words.
"I swear, I saw something!" cried the lookout.
"Really? I saw it too. Isn't that our supply ship? Anyone with eyes can see it." A veteran's words caused the people present to burst into laughter.
The destroyer Musketeer still proceeded according to the scheduled route, and signaled to the transport ship that came to deliver supplies.
When the two French ships communicated with each other using semaphore, a slender pipe quickly dived under the water surface. After a while, the huge shadow under the sea surface disappeared. The cigar-like steel monster fish is slowly passing through the Antikythera Strait. (The strait is between mainland Greece and the island of Crete, in the northwest of Crete.)
A UB-12 submarine of the Austro-Hungarian Empire sailed quietly underwater at a speed of 4 knots per hour towards the port of Castelli in Crete. The French fleet is mainly concentrated in Castelli and another adjacent bay, the Gulf of Yunia. Major Egon Lerch, the captain of the UB-12 submarine, is tired of attacking ordinary merchant ships. This time, he plans to play a big game.
The submarine was sailing slowly under the water surface, and all the personnel on duty walked carefully inside the narrow submarine. Occasionally, some resting personnel lay obediently in hammocks, reducing energy consumption on the one hand, and reducing noise as much as possible on the other hand.
The captain and the navigator repeatedly measured and plotted on a large-scale chart. After a while, a curved route drew a huge arc from the current position, and the end of the arc was Castelli! One of the important anchorages of the French fleet!
"How far?" Captain Lercy asked.
"There are still 17 nautical miles, and there are still 2 and a half hours before sunset. We can still go forward for about 10 nautical miles, and then we will reach this point! Avoid the patrol boat near the French port, then float up to recharge, and then take a zigzag line, Enter the port." The navigator thought for a while and said.
"The only problem now is, how do we get in, the French have laid mines, and there are sunken ships as underwater obstacles. It is difficult for us to get in at night," said a non-commissioned officer.
"This is not difficult. The French will have a large-scale replenishment every 2 weeks. This replenishment will last for more than a day under normal circumstances, so there will be ships passing through the blockade outside the port at night. We can just keep up. It's gone," said Lieutenant Lerhy.
"But we don't know the distribution of warships in the port." The deputy captain said.
"We don't need to know, we just need to aim at the largest battleship in sight. We only have 10 torpedoes, and only 4 torpedo tubes in the front. Then we can go, I don’t know which target we will hit? But what I can be sure of is that as long as we can hit, we will definitely not pay!” Captain Lerxi said with a smile.
It wasn't long before France occupied Crete, and it took even less time to deploy anchorage defenses. The large number of warships that stopped at the anchorage every day gave some bold people an idea. Captain Lercy was such a person. During his first trip to sea, he had observed the activities of the Allied Fleet and supply fleet near Crete, and obtained information from other colleagues. Not long ago, the Turks sent the hydrological data of the main islands in the Aegean Sea Afterwards, this made Captain Lerhi more confident.
"Then how do we get out? Our power may not be enough to support the submarine to escape from the opponent's pursuit." Said the navigator.
"It doesn't matter, here is the timetable of the nearby currents and ebb and flow of the tide. The ebb and flow time at dawn will be around 5 o'clock tomorrow. We can even turn off the engine and go out with the ocean current!" Captain Laerxi said.
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