Chapter 15 Target: Taranto

"General, this is the intelligence summary from today's reconnaissance squadrons' aerial surveillance missions!"

Colonel Rowell's so-called intelligence summary was essentially an enlarged map of the British operational area, with variously colored markings indicating the actual positions of identified British naval vessels.

Young Logan didn't need reading glasses; he studied it directly. The battleship "Rodney," damaged in the Battle of Wash, still sat alone in anchorage at the Shetland Islands, surrounded only by two heavy cruisers and over twenty light cruisers and destroyers. Without support from naval aviation and submarine forces, they couldn't hope to block the surging North Sea, facing off against the formidable German battleship "Bismarck" and the fast battleship "Scharnhorst."

The aircraft carrier "Eagle," converted from a battleship, still alongside the aging "Furious" in the heavily defended Glasgow harbor. The anti-submarine nets in the harbor were sufficient to prevent a repetition of the surprise attack on the "Royal Oak" battleship by German U-boats. A Revenge-class battleship had just escorted a batch of transport ships into the North Sea Strait. According to shared intelligence from the German naval department, this convoy had been attacked by German surface vessels and submarines during its Atlantic crossing. However, due to the valiant resistance of the Royal Navy, only a small portion of the cargo ships were lost.

Clearly, the latest discovery came from Belfast, Northern Ireland. German reconnaissance aircraft spotted a large aircraft carrier and two battleships in the harbor. Upon technical magnification, the staff officers judged them to be the under-construction Illustrious-class aircraft carrier "Formidable," the King George V-class battleship "Prince of Wales," and a Queen Elizabeth-class battleship—likely the damaged Warspite from the Irish Sea. This battleship, originally serving as the flagship of the H-Force, had initially been undergoing repairs in Liverpool but was relocated to Belfast temporarily due to German bombing.

"Pass this intelligence to Naval Headquarters for assessment on which warships lack the ability to escape independently!" Logan ordered.

"What's this? Planning to capture these British big fish?" Marshal Speer, sitting on the sofa, asked without surprise.

Logan calmly picked up his teacup from the table and walked over to Marshal Speer. "Yes, Marshal! I've already discussed it with General Stunde. We're fully capable of occupying the ports behind enemy lines with large-scale airborne operations. Since we've prepared for large-scale airborne operations in coordination with the army's major offensive, why not make it more thorough? If these incompletely finished warships are transported to North America, they'll be fitted with the latest guns and control equipment in American shipyards, and eventually, they'll be turned against us!"

"Airdrops mean considerable risks and casualties. Why not just bomb them?" Speer proposed quite "violently," recalling the devastating effect of 1000-kilogram armor-piercing bombs on the Nelson-class battleships during the Battle of Wash. The experience showed the immense potential of air force anti-ship attacks, prompting the German air force's weapons technology department to start developing aerial bombs with higher accuracy and greater destructive power, with rumors suggesting the first use of radio guidance technology in air force weapons.

"In desperate situations, we'll certainly do that! But... Field Marshal Röder hopes to capture these nearly completed warships, saving the Empire a considerable amount of steel and productivity. This point has also been approved by the Führer!" Logan took a sip of tea, then turned to Colonel Rowell. "Based on our current intelligence, have the British's two aircraft carriers, along with the H-Force, just vanished from the waters around Britain?"

"Yes, General, they seem to have evaporated into thin air!" Colonel Rowell stood respectfully in place.

"Then... should we remind the Italians that the British naval main force may have returned to the Mediterranean region?" Logan turned to face Speer as he asked this question.

"Good or not! Rome might perceive it as a signal of our intentions to intervene in the Mediterranean affairs, and... the British fleet may not have actually entered the Mediterranean!" Speer gave a philosophical response.

"That's true, but I... let's leave the decision to the decision-makers at the High Command!" Logan called his adjutant, August, "Send a message to the High Command: a portion of the British main fleet may have returned to the Mediterranean region, but the specifics of the British military's plans are unknown!"

The radio waves crossed the strait and returned to the European continent. The officers of the German High Command immediately handed this confidential message to Chief of Staff Kettler. Twenty minutes later, the organized report appeared on the desk of the Imperial General. As for why the well-intentioned reminder was not forwarded to Rome until a full 38 hours later, that was no longer a matter for frontline commanders to worry about.

The German armed forces were renowned for their iron will, but throughout history, the determination of British decision-makers and commanders was equally formidable. Just as a small number of German commanders were trying to locate the British H-Force and the two large aircraft carriers, the British fleet, with the "Hero" as the new flagship, had completed its replenishment in Gibraltar port. Its main force consisted of the battleship "Hero," the battlecruiser "Renown," the aircraft carriers "Glorious" and "Ark Royal," the heavy cruisers "Norfolk" and "London." The combat strength was formidable, but there were not many light cruisers and destroyers available for cover. The previous aura of invincibility had also diminished considerably.

In fact, as early as 1935, when Italy invaded Ethiopia, Admiral Dalrymple, then commander of the British Mediterranean Fleet, had formulated plans to use carrier-based aircraft to attack warships anchored in the Taranto naval port as an emergency backup plan. Later, due to the lack of British involvement, this plan was put on hold. Three years later, Captain Ramsay, who served as captain of the Furious, discovered this plan while serving as captain of the aircraft carrier Furious. Intrigued, this experienced commander was later promoted to Rear Admiral and transferred to the aircraft carrier Illustrious as its captain. Returning to the Mediterranean this time, he provided the opportunity to implement this plan once again—after the end of the Malta campaign, except for the battleship "Doria," which was damaged by mines and still stranded in the Catania port, the rest of the battleships had been active in the Taranto port, including the "Giulio Cesare," "Cavour," "Vittorio Veneto," and "Littorio," all of which had recovered from the wounds of the Battle of Alexandria. The "Andrea Doria" had just completed three years of modernization.

Since the outbreak of the war, the British and Italian sides had never shown such a stark difference in power in the Mediterranean. Although the Italian military had suffered heavy blows in operations in Greece and North Africa, the entire Italian state remained highly optimistic about the Mediterranean situation. To support the land campaign, the Italian fleet had been deployed in early December, first bombarding ports in western Greece, causing heavy casualties among Greek military and civilians. Then they moved south to Egypt, fiercely bombarding British military facilities around Matruh and Alexandria!

Abandoning the Mediterranean meant giving up the Egyptian territories that Britain had painstakingly cultivated for many years and their influence in the Middle East. Once Axis forces crossed the Suez Canal, Britain's oil supply in the Gulf region would be in jeopardy. The Churchill government unexpectedly decided to launch a strategic counterattack in the Mediterranean, and after studying General Ramsay's proposed plan, Admiral James Somerville, commander of the H-Force, and Admiral Andrew Cunningham, commander of the Mediterranean Fleet, made corresponding deployments as quickly as possible.

On December 14, 1940, a British reconnaissance plane took off from Alexandria and found that the Italian main fleet, which had been out of port for several days, had returned to Taranto port. Based on past experience, the Italian fleet would remain in port for at least half a month. Upon receiving the intelligence, Admiral Somerville immediately ordered the fleet to set sail. After entering the Mediterranean, this British fleet, composed of 29 ships, did not opt for a high-speed dash but instead sailed eastward at an economical speed of 16 knots.

As the Italian navy temporarily held the strategic initiative in the Mediterranean, the convoys transporting personnel and supplies from the Middle East and South Asia to Britain no longer took the short route across the Mediterranean from east to west but detoured around the southern tip of Africa. Italian ships mainly transported supplies from the mainland or Sicily to Libya, so the British fleet encountered no ships during the first two days of sailing. However, on the third day at noon, when the fleet passed south of Sardinia, fighters launched from the aircraft carrier "Glorious" spotted two Italian transport planes flying from north to south. The British pilots didn't hesitate to shoot them down. Although no radio signals were detected from the Italian aircraft before they crashed, given that the fleet had entered the Italian Navy's operational area, Admiral Somerville ordered the fleet to increase speed to 21 knots and raised the fleet's air defense level to combat readiness.

Before nightfall, three more Italian planes appeared near the British fleet, but the reconnaissance aircraft belonging to the Italian Air Force still seemed indifferent, just as history suggested. It was not until over two hours later that the Italian Air Force headquarters relayed the discovery of the British fleet to the still clueless Italian Navy.

On the night of December 15, 1940, the British H-Force, which had set out from Gibraltar, quickly sailed past the southern tip of Malta, already occupied by the Italians, without any reaction from the Italian Air Force bomber units stationed there. The next morning, the H-Force met with the Mediterranean Fleet, which had set sail from Alexandria, in the southwestern waters of Greece. Although the battleship "Barham" under Cunningham's command was still under repair, the addition of the "King George V" and the accompanying cruisers and destroyers bolstered the combat power of the entire British fleet. At that moment, as British reconnaissance planes set out for Taranto to carry out reconnaissance missions, they reported unexpected news: the Italian fleet had suddenly left port!