On April 12, Venetian Fleet returned to Crete.
After the flagship stopped, Marcello stepped onto the gangplank and walked onto the pier. He noticed that the Duke's expression was very bad, and there were six unfamiliar Official standing behind him.
Marcello asked, "Are they?"
The Duke reminded in a low voice, "Personnel sent from the mainland came here specifically to investigate the internal problems of the navy."
Marcello was a little confused, "The navy has always maintained a high fighting spirit and blocked the enemy fleet at the port. Now, Aegean Sea has very few merchant ships and fishing boats left. Why is the mainland dissatisfied?"
The Duke mentioned what happened during the fleet's departure:
In the past month or so, Venice has lost a total of ten large and medium-sized merchant ships, eight ships have been lost, and two ships were forced to run aground on the beach.
Before the war, Venice maintained at 300 large and medium-sized merchant ships. After the war began, the ships in the best condition were requisitioned as Armed Merchant Ship or transport ships, and the remaining ships were less than 200.
At this rate of loss, all Venice merchant ships will be lost within two years.
Marcello doesn't think this is his mistake, "I have been sending warships to escort me, what else can I do?
The sea route between Venice and Egypt is long, and Eastern Mediterranean is dotted with a large number of enemy warships, so it is inevitable that merchant ships will be attacked. On the one hand, you ask me to destroy the main enemy warships, and on the other hand, you want me to clear up the scattered Cruiser. How can such a good thing be possible?"
Marcello suppressed his anger and stared coldly at the six Official. After standing for a moment, he walked towards Dry Dock not far away to arrange the repairs of the damaged battleship.
Last month, a total of six Double-Deck Warships were damaged in a night attack on the Volos port. Afterwards, they were temporarily repaired at Lemnos, blocking the leaking parts and repairing the damaged masts. This time they returned to Candia and they needed a thorough repair.
During the raid on the coast, two Cruiser and two Galleass warships were damaged by coastal defense artillery. On the way back, the fleet encountered a large wave, and one of the damaged Cruiser took on water and sank.
In addition, Marcello dispatched twenty-four warships to protect merchant ships, five of which were damaged and were undergoing maintenance work at Dry Dock.
"A total of fourteen warships need maintenance, and there are only six large Dry Docks in the port. It's really troublesome."
He called Dockyard Superintendent and asked the other party to give priority to repairing the ships with leaking bilges, and those warships with damaged masts and steering wheels were ranked behind.
Due to various considerations, Venice did not develop the shipbuilding industry in Crete, but concentrated its shipbuilding production capacity locally.
For more than 200 years, Candia has been positioned as the Crete administrative center and a berthing place for passing merchant ships, not a shipbuilding industry center.
Three of the six existing Dry Docks were temporarily built last year. The Duke recruited two thousand civilians and is building more Dry Docks and supporting facilities to meet the maintenance needs of the fleet as soon as possible.
In the afternoon, Marcello finished handling various matters and stayed alone in the office to sleep. He did not spend any money to bribe the six local Official.
If Governor and Great Council want to relieve him of his duties, Marcello actually thinks it is a good thing.
... Half a month later, Official returned to Venice's homeland with a box of reports and returned to Governor.
They found no evidence that the admiral was corrupt or collaborating with the enemy. Marcello did his best to fulfill his duties as commander of the navy and won the approval of the officers.
Foscari picked up a report and looked through it, "I know Marcello's character very well. He will never damage the family's reputation.
You can't blame him or me for this matter. It's Great Council who has too high expectations and hopes that the fleet will annihilate the enemy navy as soon as possible and continue to do business and make money."
Foscari complained for a long time and ordered Official to send this box of reports to Great Council, Senate, and Council of Forty.
Marcello is the candidate recommended by Foscari. If possible, he hopes to keep this steady-style admiral.
However, Great Council believed that Marcello was wasting national power and had only achieved negligible results in the first half of the war. They demanded that Marcello be deposed.
Among the many candidates, Young Loredan, the son of the late general Peter Luo Loredan, has the strongest command ability.
However, Young Loredan's uncle is the current Duke Candia. The parliament was worried that Loredan family's power was beyond its control, so it chose a young and brave nobleman - Lucca·Soranzo.
Governor could not go against the collective will of the nobles, so he announced that Marcello Kanal would be relieved of his position.
On May 10th, Soranzo brought Appointment and Dismissal Letter to Candia. Marcello seemed to have expected it, "What will Great Council decide to do with me?"
Soranzo replied with a bunch of polite words, to the effect that the local people respected the contribution of this outstanding general and granted him a high-status title that did not require him to worry about practical matters.
Marcello interrupted the successor, "I was only dismissed, not arrested? In that case, why should I go back?"
If Venice wins this naval battle, Marcello's situation will be even worse, and the people will think that he has slowed down the pace of the war, causing Venice to suffer many unnecessary losses.
If Venetian Fleet is defeated, the entire maritime empire will cease to exist. Without Eastern Mediterranean's hegemony, Venice's Finance's income will drop sharply, and Po Valley's territory will not be preserved. The entire city will fall into violent turmoil and will no longer be suitable for habitation.
Therefore, no matter whether Venice Navy wins or loses, Marcello will not end well.
He decided to stay away from his hometown and go to a country manor near Rome to spend his remaining years.
The Duke heard about his friend's retirement plan and was sincerely happy for him.
"The situation in Rome is stable and it is an excellent place to retire. When I retire, I may move there and buy a Vineyard or Olive Grove to spend the rest of my life leisurely."
After sending away the former admiral, Soranzo officially performed his duties.
He summoned those captains with rich combat experience and asked these groups what they thought of the Palaiologos navy. "Their Turtle-shell Ship is very hard, and its defense far exceeds our Double-Deck Warship." A Double-Deck Warship captain took out a rough sketch of the Floating Gun Platform and explained the experience of the night attack that night.
Soranzo Observing the size of Floating Gun Platform, we speculate that this is a ship with a single function and is only suitable for mooring in bays with less wind and waves. It is difficult to maintain stability in the wind and waves of the open sea.
"The enemy's morale is very high." A Cruiser captain sighed, showing the scars on his chest and arms, which were all traces of the boarding battle.
A captain reminded, "They have built a special Navy School to speed up the training of officers."
After a long time, the conversation ended, and Soranzo noticed a grim reality:
The enemy navy's personnel quality and ship design are excellent, but its only disadvantage is insufficient numbers.
In the past ten years or so, Palaiologos has been busy waging war with Ottoman, and most of its funds have been invested in the Army. After the demise of Ottoman, Palaiologos has enough funds to develop its navy, and it is only a matter of time before it surpasses Venice.
"Since the beginning of the war, the enemy has been avoiding decisive battles and continuing to accumulate strength. I must find a way to force them to attack."