On the calm sea surface of the Mediterranean, the sharp bow of the warship cuts the waves, and the white waves split into two spread out to the sides, gradually disappearing away from the water.

Britain heads south to block the battleship Hood battleship, the flagship of the fleet.

"Captain, why did Germany, which does not have even heavy cruisers, directly dispatch such a huge fleet? Two battleships, with three cruisers, on such a large scale..." The first mate asked the captain holding the telescope boredly.

"Do you think this is to deal with the two broken fishing boats of the German Navy?" The captain put down his telescope and said with a proud smile: "We have three tasks this time; first, block the sea surface in the Middle East and completely cut off the Middle East oil resources; second, shock the indigenous people in the Arab region and let them obediently hand over the German oil share; third, let the Italian Navy see how powerful we are, so that we should not be so close to Germany."

In fact, both the British government and the navy were not very relieved about this long-distance blockade. Because Germany also used various means to weave a big net of interests here: Turkey and Italy, two local snakes were tied to this big net of interests. So even if Germany does not have a warship in the Mediterranean, the British Navy still felt that the scale of the fleet must be huge.

Because the Italian government has not yet made a clear statement to remain neutral, and the Italian Navy does have the combat capability and idea to wipe out the small-scale Royal Navy - the British fleet was stared at by the Italian Navy as soon as it entered the Mediterranean.

In 1934, the Italian Navy had two old Earl Cafur-class battleships: the Cafur and the Giulio Caesar; and two old Cafur-class battleships: the Cafur-class battleships: the Cafur-class and Andre Doria.

Although the battleships seem to be average, Italy has outstanding strength on cruisers: at that time, the most powerful heavy cruisers Zara-class heavy cruisers were the best protection in the world: "Zara", "Fum", "Grazia", ​​and "Pola". In addition, it also has two Taranto-class heavy cruisers and two Borgano-class heavy cruisers.

If 10 light cruisers and 60 submarines are included - if this Italian fleet comes out in full swing, it will completely cause headaches for the Mediterranean forces of the British Royal Navy. Therefore, this time the British Navy dispatched its local fleet to move south to ensure that it will shock Italy, which is getting closer and closer to Germany.

After he explained, he immediately issued an order: "Send a signal to King George V and keep the speed and head, and we will arrive at the German transportation route in about an hour." I hope that the British diplomatic department has given the British government's price to the Italian bullshit leader Mussolini, so that the behemoths of the naval forces of the two countries do not have to fight in the Mediterranean.

The price is really not light. The UK promised to share 10% of Italy's German oil share. Of course, in order to facilitate the local tyrant Saudi Arabia, it also divided 20% of the shares, France required 20% as compensation, the United States also swallowed 10%, Turkey, as a local power in this region, took 10% of the shares, and the British government made efforts to obtain 30% as compensation. I hope that Italy will accept this condition without hesitation.

After a while, King George V of England replied: "Two British destroyers are coming, and they have been responsible for monitoring the nearby German routes."

"To be honest, our army should go to the Germans to attend classes! But our Royal Navy is different. It is time for the world to recall who is the overlord of the sea!" The commander of the British fleet snorted and said, "Prepare all 5.5-inch artillery! Notify the fleet to move forward at full speed! Any Germany must board the ship for inspection. If there is resistance, allow fire!"

There are four warships in British history named Hood. The battlecruiser Hood, built in 1916, is one of the most powerful warships. The warship has a full load displacement of more than 48,000 tons, making it a real super war machine.

It has 8 15-inch main guns, equipped on four double-mounted turrets in front and rear, and can use shells to strike enemy targets 33 kilometers away. It has a 12-inch armor thickness, which is enough to withstand the attacks of most artillery artillery - this battlecruiser can be said to be the pinnacle of the world's battlecruiser design and is definitely the most powerful weapon that the British Navy can currently take.

After completing and entering service in 1920, the "Hood" was the largest and most expensive main ship in the Royal Navy, and its speed was the fastest among the Navy's main ships at that time. The "Hood" was regarded as the pride of the British Royal Navy and became a symbol of the maritime national strength of the British Empire. She gave people a deep impression. During her service career, she used the etiquette ship to showcase the British national prestige and visited countries around the world as a ritual ship for the Royal Navy to showcase the prestige of Britain many times and attracted attention.

"Keep the course! Notify the power chamber and accelerate immediately!" The first mate shouted: "All personnel return to their posts! Prepare for the second-level combat!"

"The reconnaissance plane sent a telegram and found that the German transport fleet, two D-class (that is, the German Hercules-class transport ships) were sailing on the scheduled route." The combat staff handed over the telegram and handed it over to the fleet commander.

"Order, the two destroyers in front immediately lean over and board the ship to check! If you encounter resistance, sink on the spot. Pay attention to the direction of the Italian coastline in the north of our fleet. When encountering Italian planes, you will immediately enter the air defense alert state! All anti-aircraft guns are equipped with shells."

"All anti-aircraft guns are equipped with shells! Beware of the air at a 45-degree angle!" The first mate shouted at the microphone, and then the entire warship began to become noisy.

"Boom!" After a while, an explosion sounded from afar, and the command room was in chaos. The captain and the fleet commander picked up the telescope and began to look into the distance. The combat staff measured the drawings at the charts. Soon, the explosion sounded again, and it seemed that the British ship was firing.

"Hey? Communication room? Confirm! Which ship opened fire? Quick!" A combat staff member asked loudly with his intercom, "I want the exact news! Report it to me immediately... Well, well! I understand!"

Putting down the earpiece, the combat staff immediately reported to the fleet commander: "Report! The Brave sent a signal, the German transport ship accelerated to escape, and Italian naval ships responded in the distance. They opened fire and hit one of them, and the other had entered the protection area of ​​the Italian navy, and they did not continue to pursue them."

I had known that the Italians would protect the Germans, but I didn't expect that they would come so quickly. It seemed that the Italian fleet also set out in advance to wait here. In this way, the Germans had long discovered the British fleet's southward movement. This intelligence collection skills were even better than those in World War I. The fleet commander put down his telescope and thought.

"Boom!" An explosion that resounded through the sky was hundreds of times louder than the sound of artillery fire just now. You could see a thick smoke rising into the sky without a telescope. It seemed that the German transport ship transporting oil was hit by a shell. Judging from the tragic level of the explosion, this time the Royal Navy even saved the trouble of sending lifeboats to implement international law.

...

In front of Acardo, Colonel Smith said proudly: "Because Germany forcibly expelled the coalition armament control committee, the international community expressed doubts about Germany's sincerity in reflecting on its defeat. Therefore, it was initiated by the French government and jointly implemented by the five countries of Britain, the United States, Belgium and Japan to impose economic sanctions on Germany."

The war could break out at any time. As the military officer of the British Embassy in Germany, Colonel Smith originally planned to set off and return home. However, since the government had made the decision not to start the war immediately, it seemed that the retreat would not be so urgent. So he swaggered and met the German head of state on behalf of the British government.

It has to be said that this move really hurts Germany. Akado strives to build the largest mechanized legion in the world at this stage, laying a solid material foundation for Germany's blitzkrieg in advance. Hundreds of cars and tanks have brought the German team unparalleled assault capability and propulsion speed. The high-performance fighter jets have made the German Air Force not have enough numbers but extraordinary power, and have revealed its powerful strength to dominate the sky. But behind the power is that these modern equipment are each of them are super oil tigers that make people feel pain: engines with greater power; tanks and vehicles with larger tonnages; and communication equipment that rely heavily on field generators.

While bringing the German team to the goal of surpassing the French Army in a short period of time, the German army's fuel consumption also reached as much as twice that of the backward French Army. Now Akado feels that in modern warfare, it is not possible to win the war with guns and cannons - you must have oil!

"Col. Smith." Akado stared at the British official who had dealt with him most with him, and said, "I don't understand why things have developed to this point, nor why our arms expansion and defense for Europe's offense will make so many people think of sanctioning us."

"The clear person does not say secret words, Yuan will be born first." Smith smiled proudly: "We need Germany to stand with us to deal with the threat of *, rather than using this slogan to annex neighboring countries and make the whole of Europe chaotic."

"We are gathering our strength to make our own contribution to the eternal peace of Europe, but you have a knife behind us!" Akado said with a slight helpless look on his face: "Just for Germany's 20% oil share in the Middle East, the British did this time.

"If the head of state is really willing to move eastward, they can buy oil from everyone. At least the US share will not be shipped back to the North American continent. They are just looking for a buyer to buy their goods nearby." Smith replied with a smile.

"Good idea! I bought it!" Akado nodded and said, "Can we talk about the British ship firing fire at our civilian transport ships in the Mediterranean and sinking our ships?"

"Yes!" Smith also nodded: "But before I talk, I hope Yuan Xiansheng can remember one thing, that the British Empire just opened fire on pirates in the Mediterranean."
Chapter completed!