Although it is organized into a task force, it is still divided into three aircraft carrier battle groups in terms of specific tactical arrangements.

Relatively speaking, the biggest advantage of grouping the three aircraft carrier battle groups together is actually that they can cover each other, that is, in regional air defense operations, the air defense cruisers in the three battle groups can provide cover for other aircraft carriers, greatly enhancing the ability to resist saturation attacks.

Strictly speaking, it is actually the combat capability of the regional air defense system that determines the size of the task force, that is, how many aircraft carrier battle groups can be incorporated into a fleet.

To put it bluntly, the combat range of the regional air defense system is only 200 kilometers, so the formation of 3 aircraft carrier battle groups together is already the limit. If the combat range of the regional air defense system can be doubled, it will theoretically be possible to organize nine aircraft carrier battle groups together.

Of course, the premise is to solve the problem of command and coordinated operations.

Among the three aircraft carrier battle groups, the "He Yongxing" is in the rear, located northwest of the "Liu Changxun" and southwest of the "Zhou Kuande."

This position can be said to be quite "ideal".

In fact, when making the arrangement, Bai Huawei made a comprehensive consideration.

Because it was in good condition, the "He Yongxing" was left behind, so that it could provide cover for the two aircraft carriers in front of it in the event of an attack.

Of course, the rear would have been safer.

In the battle, the "He Yongxing" was indeed conscientious.

After the "Liu Changxun" and "Zhou Kuande" were attacked, the "He Yongxing" immediately dispatched two antisubmarine patrol planes. Because the "Liu Changxun" avoided the torpedo and dispatched the anti-submarine patrol plane in time, these two anti-submarine patrol planes were dispatched to the side of the "Zhou Kuande." Next, the warship covering the "He Yongxing" also dispatched four anti-submarine helicopters to assist in the search for the submarine that attacked the "Zhou Kuande."

So far, that's nothing.

After all, there are 6 anti-submarine patrol aircraft in 1 carrier-based aviation wing, and the integrity rate of anti-submarine patrol aircraft can generally reach 100%.

In addition, the aircraft carrier will carry an additional 4 to 6 anti-submarine helicopters, plus the escort warships, 1 battle group will carry between 15 and 20 anti-submarine helicopters. Therefore, even if two anti-submarine patrol planes and four anti-submarine helicopters are dispatched to deal with the submarine that sneaks up on the "Zhou Kuande," there are still four anti-submarine patrol planes and more than 10 anti-submarine helicopters available, which are sufficient to deal with the general level of threat.

Unfortunately, it didn't end there.

As mentioned earlier, until the fleet turned to withdraw, the Nuland submarine that attacked the "Zhou Kuande" in the rear was not found.

As a result, in the next few hours, the "He Yongxing" sent out all the anti-submarine patrol planes.

In order to intensify the search, one destroyer was also sent to the rear of the "Zhou Kuande".

Do not forget that the "He Yongxing" is in the right rear of the "Zhou Kuande", and the Nuland submarine is in the left rear of the "Zhou Kuande".

In addition, the two destroyers covering the "Zhou Kuande" all took part in the damage management and repair work, one of them provided power for the "Zhou Kuande" by side to drive the pumping machine on the aircraft carrier, and the other was responsible for rescuing and transferring the seriously wounded who needed immediate medical treatment.

Obviously, destroyers will definitely have to be sent to provide cover for the "Zhou Kuande".

At that time, the "Liu Changxun" had already rushed to the front, to be precise, in a position to break ahead, responsible for dealing with threats from the main direction.

Do not forget that it is not only submarines that pose a threat to the task force, but also bombers.

Although no unidentified radio signals were detected, after the two aircraft carriers were ambushed by submarines, the first consideration was that they would be attacked from the air after their whereabouts were revealed.

To this end, it is necessary to strengthen air defense.

Judging by its location, "Liu Changxun" is more suitable for air defense tasks.

Because there is only one aircraft carrier, it has to provide air defense cover for three aircraft carrier battle groups, and no one knows when it will be able to evacuate the battlefield, so when making tactical arrangements, the main task of the "Liu Changxun" is air defense, and all the anti-submarine tasks are handed over to the "He Yongxing."

Of course, the key is to protect the "Zhou Kuande".

The reason is also very simple: "Liu Changxun" and "He Yongxing" have both increased their speed and have carried out anti-submarine maneuvers from time to time.

If there is an enemy submarine nearby, it will also aim its guns at the "Zhou Kuande".

All in all, after dark, only 1 frigate and 1 air defense cruiser remained to cover the "He Yongxing".

Fatally, the cruiser was responsible for the command and coordination of the air defense of the inner layer of the fleet.

It can be seen that the "He Yongxing" is basically in a state of unfortification.

Fortunately, it is not only the warships on the sea that cover the aircraft carrier.

In any aircraft carrier battle group, there is at least one large attack submarine dedicated to anti-submarine defense, and sometimes it will increase to two.

This time, there were five large attack submarines in Task Force 41.

However, under normal circumstances, large attack submarines are mainly responsible for anti-submarine operations on the periphery, and rarely provide close cover for aircraft carriers in the fleet.

The reason is also very simple, submarines are attack weapons and are not suitable for defensive tasks.

It is precisely for this reason that three of these five large attack submarines are operating in the sea area 550 to 600 kilometers in front of the fleet, and the other two are 200 kilometers in front of the "Liu Changxun" and "Zhou Kuande" respectively, and their main task is actually to deal with the enemy's cruise missile submarines.

Do not forget that cruise missile submarines can carry anti-ship missiles with a range of about 600 kilometers.

If accurate intelligence can be obtained, cruise missile submarines can launch a saturation attack on aircraft carriers with hundreds of anti-ship missiles from a distance of 600 kilometers.

If anything, that's the number one threat.

It was precisely in this way that after the attack on the aircraft carrier, the 2 submarines that were closer rushed back as quickly as possible. To be precise, only one submarine, the "Xiangjiang" in front of the "Zhou Kuande," sailed at full speed and made a loud noise that could be heard hundreds of kilometers away, while the other one, the "Lushui," sailed at a relatively slow speed and was always behind the "Xiangjiang."

Actually, this is a very typical anti-submarine tactic.

The "Xiangjiang" sailed at full speed and made a loud noise, which was acting as a decoy to make the enemy submarines lying in ambush feel threatened. If the enemy submarine determines that the "Xiangjiang" is the main threat and is preparing to attack the "Xiangjiang", it will be discovered by the "Lushui" behind and attacked by the "Lushui". The point is that as long as the threat of submarines remains, enemy submarines will not dare to rashly attack surface warships.

At about 10 o'clock in the evening, the "Xiangjiang" returned to the vicinity of the "Zhou Kuande".

About one hour later, the "Lushui" arrived northeast of the "He Yongxing".

At this time, at about 11:30 p.m. to be precise, the "Lushui" issued a battle report, claiming that it had sunk an enemy submarine that was trying to sneak attack the "He Yongxing."

After receiving the news, Bai Huawei broke out in a cold sweat.

At that time, the submarine was less than 20 kilometers away from the "He Yongxing". Because the speed of the "He Yongxing" was relatively fast, it had always been maintained at more than 24 knots, and it frequently carried out anti-submarine maneuvers, so the submarine tried to continue to approach, that is, it was discovered by the "Lushui" during this period.

Obviously, if the "Lushui" does not return, the "He Yongxing" will definitely be attacked!

It was this battle that took place under the surface of the sea that made Bai Huawei make the decision to retreat immediately.

Among other things, at least 4 large attack submarines of the Nuland Navy were involved in the battle, which fully proves that it was a premeditated ambush.

Of course, it is also possible to break into the ambush circle of the Nuland submarine.

So, are there more Nuland submarines around here?

Even if it doesn't, the threat from the Nuland Air Force has to be considered.

All in all, there is no need to let the entire fleet stay and take risks.

Before 24 o'clock, Bai Huawei gave the order to retreat. With the exception of 1 cruiser, 2 destroyers, and 2 frigates to cover the "Zhou Kuande", the other warships all turned south and headed directly for the Howai Islands, or Honu Island to be precise.

It's just that Bai Huawei didn't contact Jumbo Port at the first time.

Given the situation at that time, perhaps it was because of the fear of exposing the whereabouts of the fleet, that is, allowing the enemy to judge the approximate direction of the "Liu Changxun" through the position where it was sending telegrams before and after.

It was not until after 5 a.m. on the 14th, after it was basically certain that he had left the dangerous sea area, that Bai Huawei asked the communications staff officer to send a telegram to contact Zhenbao Harbor, and asked the shore-based air force to send patrol planes to cover the "Zhou Kuande" and dispatch fighter planes to provide air defense cover for the 41 st Task Force.

Unfortunately, these measures did not save the "Zhou Kuande".

In the early morning of the 14th, about one hour after Bai Huawei contacted Zhenbao Harbor, the "Zhou Kuande," which was sailing at a speed of 8 knots more than 200 kilometers away, was bombed. According to the message sent by the escort warship, the enemy aircraft was an anti-ship missile delivered from a distance of several hundred kilometers.

All of them are bombers, and the height of the bombs is more than 10,000 meters!

At that time, fighters sent by shore-based aviation had not yet arrived.

Around dawn, the "Zhou Kuande" aircraft carrier battle group issued its final report, and from the "Zhou Kuande" downwards, six battleships were all fatally hit, two destroyers and two frigates sank quickly after being bombed, and the cruiser "Lianzhou," which served as the backbone of the air defense, also sank at about 7 o'clock. Before this telegram was sent, the captain of the "Zhou Kuande" had already given the order to abandon the ship.

It's just that the "Zhou Kuande" did not sink immediately.

If anything, the survivability of this aircraft carrier is really very strong.

In addition to the four torpedoes, the "Zhou Kuande" was hit by about 20 heavy anti-ship missiles, but it did not sink immediately, and there was no sign of sinking when it abandoned the ship.

As a result, on the morning of the 14th, with Bai Huawei's permission, the Zhenbao Port Command issued an order to the submarine "Xiangjiang" operating in the vicinity to sink the "Zhou Kuande" with a torpedo to prevent it from falling into the hands of the enemy. According to the operational record of the "Xiangjiang", the "Zhou Kuande" sank in a large explosion at 10:33 a.m. on the 14th after being hit by three heavy torpedoes in succession.

In the days that followed, the shore-based aviation of the Imperial Navy mobilized dozens of patrol planes to search for and rescue officers and men who had fallen into the water.

Although the large-scale search and rescue operation ended in mid-October, the search continued for several months, and the last surviving officers and soldiers were only found by the search and rescue force before the Spring Festival in 151 New Calendar. According to the battle report released by the Imperial Navy, a total of 3,455 officers and men were killed or missing on eight warships, including the "Zhou Kuande," and more than 1,300 officers and men were killed or missing on the "Zhou Kuande" alone. The Battle of North Honu became the largest number of casualties in the Third Global War of the Imperial Navy.

It's just that the impact of this naval battle is far from being as simple as sacrificing thousands of officers and soldiers.

When the order to retreat was issued, Bai Huawei gave up the idea of looking for the 51st Task Force for a decisive battle, which was tantamount to announcing the end of the combat operations in the decisive battle stage of the fleet.

5 days later, Task Force 41 arrived in the waters southwest of the transit island.

However, it was not until 24 October that Task Force 41 took part in combat operations in the direction of the transit island.

Interestingly, it was only on 17 October that the Nuland Navy determined that Task Force 41 had suffered heavy losses and had lost a large aircraft carrier.

The point is that there were only 4 submarines involved in the ambush, and all of them were sunk or sunk for some reason.

In addition, none of these 4 submarines sent battle reports!

Judging from the situation at that time, the 41st Task Force did intrude into the ambush circle of the Nuland submarine by mistake, but the Nuland submarine did not organize before the war, or it failed to carry out effective coordination before the ambush began, which greatly reduced the efficiency of the ambush operation.

If effectively organized, 4 large attack submarines will definitely be able to take out 3 aircraft carriers!

Most importantly, there are six cruise missile submarines about 1,000 kilometers northeast of the battlefield, all of which are equipped with anti-ship missiles.

Because task force 41 was not detected, the six cruise missile submarines did not participate in the battle.

Obviously, if we can contact the rear in advance and let the cruise missile submarines maneuver westward in advance, even if they are intercepted by the three large attack submarines from the 41st Task Force and do not get the opportunity to attack, they will be able to create opportunities for other submarines. For example, let the fourth submarine, that is, the submarine that was sunk by the "Lushui", have a chance to open fire and send the "He Yongxing" to the bottom of the sea.

It was also because of the lack of coordination that all four submarines did not use communication buoys in the first place for fear of exposure.

As for the bombers that sank the "Zhou Kuande," they were all missiles dropped several hundred kilometers away, and they did not know whether they hit the target or not.

It was only after the Imperial Navy launched a large-scale search and rescue operation and rescued a large number of officers and soldiers that the Nuland intelligence agency smelled the smell of war.

After that, it took 2 days to confirm.

As a result, the Nuland Navy missed the most favorable opportunity, and Task Force 51 had been operating northeast of the transit island, but did not increase its forces on the transit island. On the 18th, after receiving the news, Stark gave up the combat operation of attacking the transit island because he was worried that the 41st task force had returned quickly, and issued an order to retreat that night, and arranged for escort warships to go to the transit island to pick up the landing force.

The Nuland Navy's attack on Transit Island came to an end.

It's just that something went wrong on the side of the Imperial Navy.

Because it was not possible to detect the beginning of the withdrawal of the Nuland Navy in time, it was not until the 24th that the 41st Task Force sent carrier-based aircraft to provide air support to the defenders of the transit island.

At that time, there were less than 1,000 Nuland troops left on the transit island!

If the Nuland Navy is detected in time to begin withdrawing troops, it will not only be able to destroy the enemy who has landed on the transit island, but may also have a chance to take out Task Force 51.

But that's all for later.