Chapter 425: Night Raid on Malta

At the same time that the Spanish Royal Army was marching toward the Gibraltar fortress, the Spanish Navy had also mobilized on a large scale, with the target pointing directly at the main station of the British Mediterranean Fleet, the island of Malta in the middle of the Mediterranean.

The island of Malta was located south of Sicily, Italy, east of Tunisia, and west of Greece, exactly in the central area of the Mediterranean.

Britain chose this place as the main station of the Mediterranean Fleet precisely because of its relatively important strategic position. The Mediterranean Fleet on the island of Malta could support Gibraltar to the west and also support the Suyishiyunhe to the east.

If the Strait of Gibraltar and the Suyishiyunhe were the foundation for Britain to control the situation in the Mediterranean, then the island of Malta, an important naval base, was the foundation for Britain to control the situation in the Mediterranean.

Precisely because it was clear about the importance of Malta, the first target of the Spanish Navy's attack on the British Mediterranean Fleet was chosen without hesitation to be the island of Malta.

Although it was the island of Malta, the complete Malta was composed of multiple islands; the island of Malta was just the largest island among them, and there were also Gozo, Comino, Cominotto, and Filfla, etc.

The British Navy's station was on the island of Malta, which had the largest area, and this was also the target that the Spanish Navy truly wanted to attack.

The British Mediterranean Fleet possessed about 8 to 10 battleships, among which the number of *Formidable*-class battleships should be the most, about 4 to 5.

Besides *Formidable*-class battleships, the British Mediterranean Fleet should also possess *Canopus*-class battleships and *Duncan*-class battleships; the number of these two types of battleships should be about 2.

In order to be able to attack successfully, Spain dispatched a quite luxurious fleet. This fleet was led by the brand-new flagship *Dreadnought* battleship, and the *Courageous* battleship, which was about to end the sea trial stage, also joined the attacking fleet.

The *Fury*, which was just launched in April, did not participate in this action; after all, the *Fury*'s biggest task at present was to discover all problems in the sea trial stage and solve all these problems before it entered service.

Besides 2 *Dreadnought*-class battleships, the Spanish Navy also dispatched 4 *Monarch*-class battleships and 2 *Matador*-class battleships; as for cruisers, it drew 5 armored cruisers and 12 light cruisers, and there were as many as 12 submarines following.

It was no exaggeration to say that such a luxurious fleet, if it encountered the navy of any country in the world, could compete with it.

If it was a sneak attack, even the complete British Empire Royal Fleet would have to suffer a big loss under the sneak attack of such a fleet.

The firepower of the *Dreadnought*-class battleship and the *Monarch*-class battleship naturally didn't need to be said, and the torpedo launch tubes carried by those 12 submarines also had a quite exaggerated caliber.

As long as the torpedo could hit the British warships, whether it was a battleship or an armored cruiser, there was hope of killing it with one blow.

Spain also didn't expect that one attack could annihilate the British Mediterranean Fleet. For Spain, it only needed to sink or damage a few battleships in this attack to reach the expected goal of launching the attack.

Spain's main target was those two *Duncan*-class battleships; these two battleships must be destroyed.

Britain's *Duncan*-class battleships were new warships built in the last two years; the two *Duncan*-class battleships of the Mediterranean Fleet had just entered service in the first half of this year.

As long as the two *Duncan*-class battleships were sunk, and then a few *Canopus*-class battleships and *Formidable*-class battleships were randomly damaged, the British Mediterranean Fleet would basically lose its combat effectiveness.

At that time, even if the British support fleet rushed to the Mediterranean, the Mediterranean Fleet would not be able to quickly put into naval warfare in a short period of time.

By then, it wouldn't be the British Navy chasing the Spanish Navy, but the Spanish Navy chasing the British Navy.

Once Britain lost its naval advantage, Spain could not only wantonly surround Gibraltar from all sides but also launch attacks on some of Britain's relatively important overseas territories, such as Egypt and South Africa.

By then, the British would have a headache about how this war should end. After all, Spain's land power was very powerful; once Spanish troops were allowed to land in Egypt, South Africa, or India, the first thing to collapse would not be the British Empire's finances, but the British Empire's colonial system.

Because Malta and the Spanish mainland were separated by thousands of kilometers, wanting to sneak attack the British fleet stationed in Malta required rushing thousands of kilometers and spending several days.

When the Spanish fleet arrived in Malta after a long journey, the time had already come to July 25, 1904.

At about 11 o'clock in the evening, the Spanish fleet finally arrived at the port of Valletta on the island of Malta. Although the Mediterranean in summer would be dark late, generally it would be dark in eight or nine o'clock, and the sky at 11 o'clock was already pitch black, and nothing could be seen without lights.

At this time, several days had passed since the two countries declared war, and the British Mediterranean Fleet naturally also learned the news of the outbreak of the war.

In order to preserve the strength of the Mediterranean Fleet, the British Navy ordered the Mediterranean Fleet to shrink in the port to preserve strength, not to act without authorization to counterattack the Spanish fleet, and to wait for the arrival of the support fleet from the Home Fleet before making other plans.

The Mediterranean Fleet was indeed doing this. In these few days, they strengthened the defensive power of the port of Valletta on the island of Malta and increased patrol manpower to prevent the sneak attack of the Spanish fleet.

When the Spanish fleet arrived around the port of Valletta, it naturally also sensed the relatively tight defensive power deployed by the British.

If they sailed toward the port so openly, they would definitely be discovered by the British in advance, and the sneak attack would become a fair contest.

Although the combat effectiveness of this Spanish fleet was not inferior to the British Mediterranean Fleet, there were coastal defense guns in the port, and these artillery batteries on the coast were also a not-small threat to the Spanish warships; Spain naturally did not want to have a head-on war with the British Navy in the port.

Since they couldn't sneak attack these British warships openly, they could only use submarines with better concealment.

Fortunately, 12 submarines participated in this sneak attack mission. According to the ratio of two submarines attacking one battleship, these 12 submarines could also attack at least 6 battleships.

As long as half of the sneak attacks were successful, which was sinking or heavily damaging three British battleships, this surprise attack mission could be considered a complete success.

If a greater result could be created, the Spanish Navy could even counter-attack actively to find the British Home Fleet supporting the Mediterranean, seeking the opportunity to annihilate the British fleet again.

The 12 submarines dispatched this time were all new-style submarines newly built by Spain, equipped with 381mm torpedo launch tubes, and each submarine was equipped with 6 torpedoes.

Because the submarine technology of European countries was not mature, countries did not pay too much attention to the armor protection of the underwater part when building warships.

If hit by a 381mm caliber torpedo, even the latest *Duncan*-class battleship of Britain, the soldiers on the warship had to pray to God to survive.

As for the warship itself, if hit head-on by such a torpedo, it would be good if it wasn't directly blown into two sections; wanting to maintain combat effectiveness was basically impossible.

After a few minutes of communication, the 12 submarines slowly sank into the water in the sea area tens of kilometers away from the port, and then drove toward the port with great tacit understanding.

In such a pitch-black night, submarines diving more than ten meters underwater could not be discovered at all. Even if Britain increased the patrol power of the port by another time, they could not see the submarines in the water at all.

Although the port had searchlights to illuminate the sea area, these lights obviously could not penetrate the distance of more than ten meters underwater. This also allowed the Spanish submarines to successfully approach the port, two submarines as a group, each looking for their own target.

It had to be admitted that the British family background was very rich. The Mediterranean Fleet currently docked in the port of Valletta had a total scale that was more powerful than the naval scale of many great power countries.

Besides nine battleships, the port also possessed dozens of other types of various warships; the cost of any warship could be as high as hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Since they were not discovered by the British, these submarines must choose more valuable targets when launching the attack.

According to the Spanish Navy's mission, the main target of this sneak attack was the *Duncan*-class battleship, the secondary target was the *Formidable*-class battleship, and the last choice was the *Canopus*-class battleship.

Besides battleships, other various types of warships were not within the scope of Spain's attack. After all, besides these battleships, other warships were difficult to play a positive role in naval warfare.

That was to say, armored cruisers and battlecruisers would have a certain role in naval warfare, but their role compared to battleships was obviously still a bit worse.

Since they could sneak attack Britain's battleships, they must prioritize choosing Britain's battleships.

Approaching the port and picking their respective targets took nearly two and a half hours. After the time came to 1:30 in the morning, the Spanish submarines finally launched the attack.

Bang!

With a dull sound in the ocean, a torpedo shot toward the front at an extremely fast speed. It was very difficult to aim accurately at the target at night, and whether they hit their target could only be determined by the explosion after the torpedo hit.

Boom! Boom boom!

The good news was that the sneak attack of the 12 submarines was still quite effective. Before the British reacted, three battleships were hit, and it looked like they were not lightly injured.

The remaining submarines either didn't hit the target at all or hit places that were not very fatal, and the combat effectiveness of the battleships was not affected.

With a few explosions, the British finally realized something was wrong.

The searchlights of the port were all lit, and the British Navy's station also sounded an alarm, and the naval soldiers rushed to the warships one after another.

These warships all had left-behind soldiers; under the operation of these soldiers, one warship after another also turned on the power system, preparing to fight to the death with the Spanish Navy that came to sneak attack. ===== CHAPTER 426 =====