Скачать или смотреть The Lie that Sent the Most Powerful Fleet To Sea

Out of the Mediterranean dusk, three Italian battleships opened fire — orange flashes, then the scream of shells falling from beyond the curve of the horizon, 30,000 meters away.

In the middle of the pounding, British Rear Admiral Philip Vian could only stand and watch from the bridge of the Dido-class light cruiser HMS Naiad.

His orders were simple: it was December 17th, 1941, and his convoy was to deliver the fuel tanker Breconshire to the island of Malta at all costs.

There was just one “little” problem — Vian’s warships carried 5.25-inch and 6-inch guns. They might be enough to damage a destroyer, possibly threaten a light cruiser, and maybe annoy a heavy cruiser… but they would be utterly pathetic against battleship armor at any meaningful range.
And so, minutes from annihilation, Vian… just went for it.

He pulled out the one weapon — the one move — that had zero chance of actually working… except it happened to be the one single thing the Italians were genuinely afraid of.