Over the past few months, the biggest changes have been made in carrier-based aviation.

At the end of last year, after completing the live-fire test, the main task of the 41st Task Force in Xuhai was to enable the carrier-based aviation units to complete their adaptation training after the rearmament.

The key is that all 3 types of capital carrier-based aircraft have been replaced!

To say that the least changed is actually the carrier-based fighters, which have been replaced only by the latest batch, and the previously equipped "Roaring Sky" will be handed over to the second-line troops.

Compared with the first three batches of "Roaring", the fourth batch of "Roaring" had a replacement engine.

Throughout the war, whether it was a carrier-based aircraft or an army aviation combat aircraft, the first consideration in improving was to replace the engine with more powerful power.

The reason is simple, increasing the power output of the engine is the easiest way to improve flight performance.

Adopting a new engine with a maximum output of 1,800 horsepower and an emergency output of 2,000 horsepower, the fastest flight speed of the fourth batch of "Roaring Sky" exceeded 575 kilometers per hour, making it the fastest carrier-based fighter after the outbreak of the Great War.

In addition, other flight performance has been significantly improved.

The most significant is the rate of climb.

When taking off in an emergency, the time required to climb to an altitude of 6,000 meters has been shortened from 8 minutes to 6 minutes, far exceeding that of other carrier-based fighters.

It will be about 2 years before this climb speed record of "Roaring Sky" will be surpassed by F6F.

Of course, at that time, the main carrier-based fighters of the Imperial Navy were no longer "roaring".

Improvements in other areas have been relatively limited.

If anything, that is, a more powerful voice radio was used, the working distance was increased to 250 kilometers, and it had limited formation command capabilities.

In addition, the multi-purpose performance of the "Roaring Sky" has been enhanced.

Under normal circumstances, the bomb load of the fourth batch of "Roaring Sky" has been increased to 1,000 kilograms, which is not only far more than all previous carrier-based fighters, but also twice as high as the earlier version of the "Wasp". Although the fourth batch of "Roaring Heaven" was not specially strengthened for ground strikes when it left the factory, after it was put into service, the officers and men of the unit installed eight rocket attachment points under the wings of the fourth batch of "Roaring Heaven."

Relying on its excellent take-off and landing performance, the "Roaring Sky" was the most widely used carrier-based aircraft during the Great War.

Compared with fighters, torpedo attack aircraft and dive bombers are not as simple as the new batch, all of them have been replaced with the latest models.

Replacing the "Wasp" was the light bomber-4 "Suzaku" dive bomber.

Strictly speaking, the "Suzaku" was the first carrier-based aircraft to be designed and mass-produced after the outbreak of the Great War.

Although the project was established long before the outbreak of the war, and the preliminary bidding was completed, it was not until the second quarter of last year, that is, in April, that the design work of this new dive bomber was fully completed, and it passed the Navy acceptance, and the Navy order was obtained in the same month.

In addition, "Suzaku" was the first specialized carrier-based dive bomber.

The Army Aviation also participated in the early stage of development, but before entering the formal procurement stage, it retreated and switched to purchasing another dive bomber.

Interestingly, the "Falcon" dive bomber selected by the Army Aviation was actually defeated in the Navy's tender because it was too bulky. The point is that the Army Aviation was not satisfied with this dive bomber later, and only a few hundred of them were procured, which were quickly eliminated to the second-line troops.

Lu Airlines has not purchased "Suzaku", mainly because of the face problem.

If I want to say, the comparison between "Suzaku" and "Wasp" is a bit like the comparison between "Roaring Sky" and "Typhoon".

Although in terms of performance alone, the "Wasp" was not bad among the dive bombers in the early days of the war, and the later version was already very strong, surpassing the 99 ship explosion and SBD in all aspects. Judging by the results of the war, the "Wasp" was the number one hero of the Imperial Navy in the early days of the war. But by the middle of the war, especially as the range of engagements expanded, the inherent shortcomings of the Wasp were rapidly magnified.

For example, slow speed, short range, low bomb load, etc.

To say, the performance advantages of the "Suzaku" are also reflected in these points, especially the range.

The "Suzaku" was the first carrier-based aircraft of the Imperial Navy with a maximum range of more than 2,500 kilometers and a combat radius of 750 kilometers after hanging 500 kg of bombs.

It was for this that the "Suzaku" was also the first dive bomber of the Imperial Navy to be chosen as a reconnaissance aircraft.

In place of the Exocet was the Light Attack-4 Thunderbolt torpedo attack aircraft.

If "Suzaku" is a big hit, then "Thunderbolt" is very prosaic.

Like the "Exocet," the "Thunderbolt" has only increased its maximum flight speed to 475 kilometers per hour and its sea combat radius to 700 kilometers. In other areas, such as climb rate, cruise speed and agility, there was not much improvement.

Of course, it's definitely stronger, but it also means more bulky.

It's not surprising to say.

Among the three types of carrier-based aircraft, the torpedo attack aircraft has the largest bomb load, and the attack stage needs to fly at the fastest speed at ultra-low altitude, the highest requirements for the strength of the fuselage structure, and often one more crew member, so the same material is used to make the fuselage, the torpedo attack aircraft is the most bulky, and if the same engine is used, or an engine with a comparable level of technology, the flight speed is definitely the slowest.

It was precisely in this way that it was not only the Imperial Navy that faced the "torpedo trap", but the navies of all the Great Powers.

It's just that in sea dominance operations, torpedo attack aircraft are indispensable carrier-based aircraft.

Both the Liangxia and Newland navies were stepping up the construction of post-treaty battleships, and live-fire tests proved that torpedoes were the number one weapon against battleships.

What's even worse is that the post-treaty battleships, without exception, mainly use the extra tonnage to increase protection.

With the rapid development and growth of carrier-based aviation, torpedoes and bombs dropped by carrier-based aircraft are more threatening than traditional threats, that is, large-caliber armor-piercing shells.

As a result, from the time of the treaty, the great powers paid special attention to the horizontal and underwater protection of battleships.

In the post-treaty era, horizontal protection has basically reached the ceiling, and the focus is on underwater protection!

In this way, it is necessary to increase the power of the torpedo, that is, to increase the charge of the war mine head.

In addition, with the increase in the anti-aircraft fire of the battleship, it was definitely necessary to enhance the combat survival of torpedo attack aircraft by increasing the range of torpedoes.

These requirements have led to the development of aviation torpedoes in the direction of large-scale.

As a result, in order to increase the bomb load of a torpedo attack aircraft, it is impossible to expand the body indefinitely, so other characteristics can only be reduced or sacrificed.

It was in this way that the Imperial Navy did not make too many excessive demands on the performance of torpedo attack aircraft.

On the whole, the basic flight performance of torpedo attack aircraft is still far inferior to that of dive bombers.

To this end, the carrier-based aviation has adjusted its attack tactics in view of the shortcomings of the torpedo attack aircraft.

Now, all the commanders flew the "Suzaku", and among the common attack tactics, the torpedo attack aircraft were placed at the rear.

This arrangement is mainly aimed at avoiding air defense fighters.

Of course, the Navy is not completely without requirements.

For torpedo attack aircraft, the biggest requirements are range and bomb load, and this is also where the "Thunderbolt" has improved most significantly compared with the "Exocet."

From this point of view, the "Thunderbolt" can be considered an excellent torpedo attack aircraft.