Winter in the North Atlantic, a rare sunny and windless day.

The torpedo bombers led by the "Qiongzhou" flew close to the mother ship, and in the process of landing, they suddenly spun and slammed into the side of the deck, as if a toy plane was bursting apart, and the debris was tumbling into the sea.

The other pilots circled the plane high in the air and temporarily stopped landing.

The escorted destroyer sped towards the wreckage in the sea, the chimney was billowing smoke, and the hull of the ship cut two curved white marks on the sea, and then slowed down the ship to salvage the pilots in orange and red life jackets.

Admiral Chen Shiying stood on the bridge of the "Yunling" and witnessed the entire accident with a frown. Such flight accidents were not uncommon, but this time it made him feel bad omen.

According to the latest order, the Datang task force will be dispatched to intercept the landing operation of European coalition forces on Xinludao.

At the moment when the order was delivered, there was a burst of cheers among the pilots of the aircraft carrier, but for the next three boring days, the fleet always made a roundabout journey towards the island of New Java (Dominica) at the usual cruising speed, and the excitement of the pilots died down, and everyone became bored and nervous, and somewhat uneasy.

The four aircraft carriers, "Qiongju" and "Yiju", "Jeju" and "Bukdao", were escorted by a ring of cruisers and destroyers, and sailed in the waters of the North Atlantic, where gray waves rolled and cold winds blew.

"Wencha, I heard that General Gao Zhiyang once organized a war game to seize the Shetland Islands?" In the conference room, Admiral Chen Shiying was leaning over the huge nautical chart on the conference table with a two-legged rule, and he raised his head and said to Ling Wencha, who was standing beside him.

"Yes, sir." "It was just a failed war game, and our naval forces were not strong enough to control the sea in the North Atlantic, and even if the landing was successful, the final result would only be a serious defeat." ”

"Will the North Atlantic Fleet only be entangled in the North Sea aspect?" Chen Shiying stood up, "The biggest weakness of the Europeans is in the Mediterranean, as long as we master this sea area, then their naval blockade line is useless. ”

"Yes, General." Ling Wencha could only nod his head to deal with the fleet commander's high-minded talk, and Admiral Chen Shiying seemed to have been brainwashed by Prime Minister Li Jintang's national theory.

Huo Xunchi interjected at this time, relieving Ling Wencha's embarrassment, "Wencha, you have been a naval attache in Europe, what is your most profound experience. ”

Chen Shiying turned his head to look at Ling Wencha, this was what he wanted to know the most.

"Yes, the most profound experience is that the enemy's air power is developing rapidly, and if the air power is superior, we believe that surface ships cannot survive." Ling Wencha said loudly, "We have been attacked by enemy shore-based aircraft three times now, and if it weren't for the limited air force deployed by the Europeans around New Jeju, I don't think we would be so comfortable standing here to discuss attacking the enemy." ”

"It sounds familiar, and this is consistent with your theory, General." Huo Xunchi said to Chen Shiying.

"Well, the outcome of future naval battles depends on the contrast of air power." Chen Shiying said, "The risk of our operation is not great, the British air power in the area of the Zephyr Islands has almost been exhausted by the army air force, and most of the British aircraft have been wiped out before." Just beware of threats from underwater, both of you are submarine commanders, can you talk more about submarine tactics? ”

"As long as you maintain high-speed maneuvering on the surface of the sea and are alert enough, it will be difficult for submarines to launch attacks on warships." "The speed of the submarine underwater is too slow, and it is simply impossible to keep up with the high-speed maneuvering warship," Ling said. In addition, destroyers on perimeter alert should be vigilant enough, and this is the main reason why we have always advocated that the Grand Fleet should bring enough anti-submarine destroyers. As long as the anti-submarine patrol circle is large enough, it is difficult for the capital ship to be attacked by enemy submarines. ”

"Is it hard to catch submarines?"

"Not necessarily, with the advancement of sonar and radar technology, the survival of submarines is actually under increasing threat, and I think anti-submarine patrol aircraft will be the biggest threat. If you think about it, when a submarine comes to the surface, it has an observation distance of less than 15 kilometers due to the low bridge, and it only takes a few minutes for an airplane to fly over such a distance, while it takes at least 10 minutes for a submarine to dive from the surface to the bottom. This was enough time for the aircraft to launch multiple attacks on it, and the submarine's defenses were very weak. ”

"Although the submarine force has done a good job since the beginning of the war, and has caused a lot of interference to the European coalition to provide assistance to the rebels, submarines alone cannot effectively seize sea supremacy." "At present, our naval strategy is based on land and air power as the main support, unless we have enough aircraft carriers to suppress land-based air power." ”

"So I don't have any hope of landing in England now, which the Imperial Army is clamoring for." "The Europeans are not weak in their ability to build aircraft, especially in the Kingdom of West Francia. ”

"But if we have superior maritime power, we can kill them on the periphery, and that's the weakness of European countries." Chen Shiying said, "This is the real purpose of building aircraft carriers with all our might, or is it to gain sea supremacy." ”

……

New Deer Island (Puerto Rico Island) is located in the eastern part of the island of New Borneo and is part of the Caribbean island chain.

However, on these islands, the proportion of Tang people is relatively small, and most of them are of mixed Asian and European and African descent.

Imperial naval intelligence learned that the Europeans were using the port of New Jiaozhou (Port of Spain) as the main base of operations in this area. It is the largest natural harbor in northeastern South America and the capital of the imperial state of New Jiaozhou, but it is a commercial port with few defenses.

An almost completely enclosed bay is formed between New Jiaozhou Island and the mainland, and the harbor forms a deep bay mouth in the embrace of the mountains, which is naturally protected. It has a deep-water anchorage for a large ocean-going fleet.

According to the reports of reconnaissance patrol aircraft, the Europeans sent transport ships and supply ships to New Jiaozhou every day. Apparently they were massing here, preparing to continue their westward advance along the island chain with the intention of occupying New Borneo.

The latest order received by the task force was that if the enemy attacked New Deer Island (Puerto Rico), they were to do everything in their power to intercept it in order to stop the enemy attack.

Admiral Chen Shiying believed that if his fleet could reach the northwest shore of the island, it would be able to hide there, and under the cover of the island's land-based air forces, it would be certain to avoid the air patrols of the European coalition forces and take off his own carrier-based aircraft force to attack the unsuspecting enemy ships anchored at anchorage.