At 3:15 pm on February 3, 1898, a full-scale naval battle broke out between the Far East Fleet and the Italian Fleet in the Libyan waters of the Mediterranean. At the same time, all over the world, the three Far East fleets and various sectors immediately took action, and subsequently, all countries in the world
His attention was attracted by the war between the Far East and Italy.
Although on the surface, all countries maintain a wait-and-see attitude, they are not without some preparations. For example, once the Far East is defeated, and Italy is defeated, everything can only wait until this sudden naval battle ends, but all
Among the countries, only one country took the initiative to participate in the battle in the Mediterranean, and that was Spain.
Although many powerful people in the country opposed this troop dispatch, under the determination of Queen Mother Maria and Alfonso XIII, the Spanish Mediterranean Fleet immediately pulled anchor and headed to the Mediterranean to support the Far East Fleet. However, Spain
The strength of the fleet is really not that good, otherwise it would not have played any role in the Spanish-American War.
Benjie, commander of the Italian Combined Fleet, based on the time information of the Far East Fleet's departure from Spain, concluded that the Far East Fleet would return directly to Somalia through the Mediterranean. On February 1, 1898, Benjie ordered that the Mediterranean and Combined Fleets enter combat positions and wait for the Far East Fleet.
At 3 o'clock in the afternoon on February 3, the Far East Fleet entered the Mediterranean Sea and penetrated the encirclement of the Italian Fleet.
At 3:05 pm on February 3, the Italian heavy cruiser "Karalski" discovered the Far East Fleet. At 3:15, Benjie ordered the entire fleet to attack. 15 minutes later, the Italian fleet began to follow the Far East Fleet. At 3:00
At 30 minutes, the two sides conducted the first tentative exchange of fire.
However, just when the Italian fleet was always accompanying the Far East Fleet like a ghost, they tried to create pressure on the Far East Fleet, but they failed because they did not bring mental pressure to the officers and soldiers of the Far East Fleet. On the contrary, the morale of the Far East Fleet was high at this time.
.
The Italian Combined Fleet is divided into four squadrons. The first squadron is the flagship squadron, consisting of 2 battleships and 2 cruisers. It is in the command battleship and does not enter the naval battle sequence. The second and third squadrons are the main battleship. The fourth squadron is
The task force consists of one main battleship and the rest are torpedo boats and escort boats.
At 3:50 pm, Commander Qiu Jun of the Far East Fleet ordered to change the formation and fight with his own advantage. He ordered the fleet to be divided into the first and second echelons. The first echelon was the commando team, and the four light cruisers accelerated to 18 knots.
, sailing to the second Italian main battle group, the flanks of the third group were covered with artillery fire, while the first echelon torpedo ships wandered to the Italian second group, and the two wings of the third group directly fired large 533 mm caliber torpedoes at close range.
The second echelon is composed of three main armored battleships and one light cruiser. The long-range attack system uses the attack distance advantage of artillery to carry out differentiated strikes.
Since the Italian Combined Fleet did not order the reshaping at the same time, the entire Italian Combined Fleet's formation fell into chaos. At 4:10 pm, the Far East and Italy were close to 15 nautical miles, and the Italian Combined Fleet had a large speed difference between the ships.
, the chaotic formation has not yet been restored, but five armored battleships have been placed in a prominent position.
At 4:15 p.m., Commander Benjie of the Italian Combined Fleet issued a signal that "success or death depends on this battle, everyone works hard!" At 4:25 p.m., the first echelon light cruiser battle group of the Far East Fleet, with five ships in Italy
Under the attack of the battleship's artillery, after entering the effective range, they obtained a favorable attack position and began to attack. However, at this time, the commander of the Italian Combined Fleet, Benjie, ordered, Second, the main battleship of the third team made a big turn. Originally,
The famous "U" turn turned into showing the side of the armored battleship under the artillery fire from the Far East.
The first attack echelon of the Far East Fleet was naturally unceremonious. At 4:28, the four light cruisers of the Far East Fleet, "Hangzhou, Suzhou, Xuzhou, and Ganzhou" concentrated fire on the battleship Duke Lovvo, the main battleship of the second and third teams of the Italian Fleet.
, and at 4:48, the five main Italian warships completed the turn, and then fired back at the Far East Fleet Hangzhou and Suzhou. At this time, the warships of both sides began an artillery battle within a distance of 5,000 meters, and the battle in the Mediterranean officially began.
After the Italian Combined Fleet completed the U-turn in 23 minutes, it originally wanted to use the T-shaped cross-head tactic to attack the Far East Fleet and attack the three main battleships in the Far East. However, during the turn of the Italian Combined Fleet, the Far East Fleet's third
The first-echelon attack had already damaged two armored battleships of the Italian Second Division, but after the Italian and joint turns were completed, the Italian fleet still used its number of ships to gain an advantage.
However, at this time, the first echelon of the Far East Fleet was not willing to fight, and took advantage of its higher speed to immediately move away in a single column. At this time, the second echelon of the Far East Fleet had begun to use its advantage in the power of artillery and ammunition to gradually seize the victory.
Taking the initiative on the battlefield for the first time, the five main armored warships of the second and third divisions of the Italian Combined Fleet were concentrated and violently fired by large-caliber artillery fire from the Far East.
At 5:20 p.m., the rudders of the two armored battleships "Rozjes" and "Tvinsky" in the second and third divisions of the Italian Combined Fleet were broken, the warships completely lost control, and the captains of the two fleets were also seriously injured.
All the superstructures of the ship were smashed, and then it was forced to withdraw from the battle line and float alone on the sea. The second and third teams of the Italian Combined Fleet once again fell into chaos.
At this time, the 12 torpedo boats of the first echelon of the Far East Fleet had already begun torpedo attacks on the cruisers on both wings of the third detachment of the Italian Combined Fleet. However, without any cover from artillery fire, three of them soon sank, but they all sank.
It was only after launching large-caliber torpedoes that it was completely sunk. The remaining torpedo ships launched attack torpedoes while rescuing their comrades at sea. Under the attack of the first wave of 36 large-caliber high-explosive torpedoes,
.
The third squadron of the Italian Combined Fleet once again damaged three cruisers. The failure of the first battle of the Italian Combined Fleet caused Benjie to immediately change the combat details. He dispatched the flagship "Liabia" of the fourth squadron of the combined fleet.
Led 2 armored battleships and 6 cruisers, they also adopted a column attack mode and went straight to the second echelon in the Far East. However, the second detachment suffered a fatal blow, which also directly led to the complete failure of the Battle of the Mediterranean.
Vote to support the author and receive points and k-beans