"If the message sent back by the attacking force is correct, the only thing that is certain is that the aircraft carrier sent most of its carrier-based aircraft out before it was attacked."

While Smith was doing his analysis, Stark didn't say a word, staring at the chart in front of him.

The attack was over, and the fighters and electronic attack planes sent out were on their way back, so there was no need for Smith to stay at the combat command center.

It's just that Stark's attention isn't on that.

After being attacked, the Liangxia Navy will definitely launch a counterattack, and it will need to involve the 61st Task Force, especially arranging fighter jets to escort the bombers who launch the counterattack. Besides, it is also necessary to send carrier-based aircraft on reconnaissance missions to find Task Force 51.

In fact, this is most likely what Task Force 61 did in the hours between rounds.

According to Stark's speculation, after the first round of attacks, the commander of Task Force 61 sent reconnaissance planes as soon as possible.

After that, it was to arrange fighter jets to carry out escort missions.

The reason was that at the time of the second round of attacks, there were not many anti-aircraft fighters over Task Force 61.

That is, most of the carrier-based fighters have already been sent.

The counterattack has begun!?

So, where is the Liang Xia fighter that launched the counterattack?

That's undoubtedly Stark's concern.

Although judging from the course of the battle, with only one aircraft carrier left, the counterattack will certainly not be dominated by the carrier-based aviation of the 61st Task Force, and there is no need to worry about being attacked by carrier-based aircraft, but the value of dozens of heavy fighters is not blown.

Besides, there are several carrier-based AWACS aircraft whose whereabouts are unknown.

Actually, Stark has already considered a possibility.

Before the second round of attacks, Task Force 61 sent escort fighters, but instead of directly attacking Task Force 51, these fighters first joined up with the attack group, most likely the bomber group of the Liangxia Air Force, and refueled in the air during this period.

It is precisely because of this that these fighters did not stay in the skies over the 61st Task Force and did not participate in the fleet's air defense operations.

In this way, the counterattack of the Liang Xia Navy is coming.

But the problem is that the whereabouts of the 51st Task Force have not been revealed, and the reconnaissance planes of the Liang Xia Navy have not appeared near the 51st Task Force until this time.

So, why did the Liang Xia Navy launch a counterattack?

Don't forget, last night, the Liangxia Navy dispatched more than 100 patrol planes, but none of them were able to break through the outer air defense network composed of carrier-based early warning planes and fighters.

I don't even know where Task Force 51 is, so where can we talk about a counterattack?

Since there is no way to launch a counterattack, where do those fighters go?

Stark never figured it out.

The reason is also very simple, even an ordinary fleet commander would never send air defense fighters away when the enemy fleet has already been attacked and the enemy fleet has not been discovered, so that the fleet is in a dangerous state of being extremely vulnerable to attack, and it can even be said that it is not defended.

Thinking about it, Stark only thought of one possibility.

Before the second round of attacks, Task Force 61 had sent escort fighters, and the Liang Xia Navy had already found Task Force 51 in a way that was not easily detected by the adversary, at least determined the general direction, and decided to launch a counterattack.

If this is the case, the counterattack of the Liang Xia Navy will come soon.

To this end, Stark summoned Smith over, and before he arrived, had the communications staff contact Task Force 52 again.

If nothing else, send the fighter over as soon as possible.

Unfortunately, Task Force 52 still did not respond.

It's just that the question that puzzled Stark was quickly answered.

Before half past eight, the communications staff officer sent the latest news.

From the landing fleet.

A few hundred kilometers southwest of Task Force 51, the landing fleet, which was sailing northeast, was attacked by Liangxia bombers.

The point is that similar to the blow to the transport fleet, the Liangxia bombers projected hundreds of heavy anti-ship missiles.

By the time the report was issued, the landing fleet was paralyzed.

If you have to say, you are not far from destruction.

Could it be that the Liang Xia Navy regarded the landing fleet as the 51st task force!?

Obviously, this is really possible!

Because 4 Kidd-class destroyers were asked to cover the convoy, Stark sent an escort formation to the landing fleet to retreat, the lead ship was a Tikan-class air defense cruiser, and the other 3 destroyers were also from Task Force 51.

If, on a reconnaissance mission, it is discovered that the landing fleet is an electronic attack aircraft, or that it carries passive detection equipment, it is possible to detect the cruiser at a sufficient distance, such as outside the detection range of the Aegis air defense system, and determine its identity.

Because they were worried about being intercepted, the reconnaissance planes of the Liang Xia Navy might not risk approaching.

Crucially, the Tikan-class cruisers are the air defense backbone of the Nuland fleet, and only more than 10 of them have been built, all of which are part of the aircraft carrier battle group.

Well, the discovery of the Tikon-class cruiser is tantamount to the discovery of an aircraft carrier battle group.

If you have to say, this is also the routine of the Nuland Navy.

In addition, heavy anti-ship missiles have strong autonomous attack capabilities and only need to know the general direction of the enemy fleet to launch an attack.

In order to make the attack more sudden, the Liangxia Navy had every reason to let the reconnaissance planes turn back after discovering the air defense battleship.

All in all, the landing fleet was attacked, which is enough to prove that the Liang Xia Navy mistook the landing fleet for a task force.

It's just that Stark doesn't dare to take it lightly.

The two waves of attacks launched by the Liang Xia Navy were very sharp, not only had a strong tactical suddenness, but also the intensity of the attack should not be underestimated.

If nothing else, the convoy was wiped out before dawn.

According to the final report, more than 40 ships, including eight escort warships, sank to the bottom of the sea shortly after being attacked.

Even 4 destroyers of the "Kidd" class did not withstand.

Don't forget, these are 4 large destroyers of the "10,000 tons" class.

Although the full load displacement did not reach 10,000 tons, and it was classified as a destroyer, the hull of the "Kidd" class was not fundamentally different from the "Tikon" class, with a full load displacement of nearly 9,000 tons, and the ability to resist strikes and survivability was not bad, and it certainly surpassed civilian ships.

By design, the Kidd class is capable of withstanding the blows of 2 to 3 heavy anti-ship missiles of the BGM-109B.

To say that the performance of "Kidd" is above the Nuland Navy's own model, the destroyers of the "Spu" class.

As a result, less than half an hour after the attack, all four "Kidd" class ships were sunk.

According to reports from 4 destroyers, all were hit by only a few anti-ship missiles.

Even if it must be sinking, it is too fast.

Obviously, this can only show that the anti-ship missiles of the Liang Xia Navy are definitely more advanced and more powerful than the outside world speculates.

Now the question is, is the counterattack of the Liangxia Navy over?

Based on the battle reports from all sides, it can be basically determined that a total of 40 bombers were dispatched in the two counterattacks, and nearly 1,000 missiles were fired.

Obviously, this is by no means the limit of Liang Xia's army.

Do not forget that the Liangxia Air Force has thousands of bombers.

Even if it is necessary to provide support for bombers, such as dispatching tankers, so how many bombers can be dispatched is actually determined by tankers, but with the combat effectiveness of the Liangxia Air Force, it will not be too difficult to dispatch dozens of bombers, at least there is no difficulty that cannot be overcome.

Sure enough, somewhere to the west, there are still dozens of bombers loaded with anti-ship missiles waiting for combat orders.

The key is that after killing the landing fleet, the Liang Xia Navy will definitely be able to find out that it is not the 51st Task Force, and it will rearrange the reconnaissance operation.

Perhaps, the bombers that had projected anti-ship missiles were heading towards Task Force 51.

However, it is more likely that fighter jets and reconnaissance planes were sent by Task Force 61.

Because the Liangxia Air Force dispatched tankers, these carrier-based aircraft did not need to worry about running out of fuel at all.

Besides, after the destruction of the 61st Task Force, the pilots of the carrier-based aircraft must be eager for revenge and will deal with the 51st Task Force at any cost.

For Stark, what needs to be considered now is not whether he can withstand the counterattack of the Liang Xia Navy, but whether the Liang Xia Navy will find out.

In other words, as long as it is discovered, it will definitely be annihilated!

Do not forget that there are only 51 anti-aircraft fighters left in the 12th task force.

Although the F-14Bs that participated in the second round of attack operations lost only 3 aircraft, the remaining 21 aircraft could not return until about 9:30 o'clock.

Fatally, four A-6Fs had to be attached to drop fuel tanks and partner refueling pods to meet the fighters.

Because there was not enough fuel left to return to the fleet, even if they knew that the fleet was attacked, the fighters could not accelerate back.

In addition, even if the fleet is returned in time, it will take a lot of time to prepare for the re-liftoff.

According to the aviation staff officer, these F-14Bs will be able to take to the air for patrol after 10:30 at the earliest.

Prior to this, the only thing that Task Force 51 could rely on was the 12 F-14Bs that had been dispatched before.

Fortunately, after arranging an air refueling, the 12 F-14Bs were able to patrol until 12 o'clock.

That is, the air defense of the 51st task force was at its best between 10:30 and 12:00.

That's not the biggest problem, though.

If only to intercept enemy reconnaissance aircraft, 12 F-14Bs are enough.

The real problem was that of the six E-2Cs on air patrol, three that took off before dawn had to return to the carrier by 9 o'clock. After letting the other three go up, they also need to return to the ship around 10 o'clock. It will be after 11 o'clock at the earliest, and the AWACS aircraft will be rescheduled for liftoff.

That is, between 10 and 11 o'clock, it was possible to rely only on air defense cruisers.

If anything, it's a situation that Stark has been avoiding.

Although the electronic reconnaissance plane can also detect the electromagnetic signal emitted by the early warning plane, the speed of the early warning aircraft is high, so it is impossible to guess the position of the aircraft carrier through the direction of the early warning aircraft. But for air defense warships, it was different, especially cruisers, which served as air defense pillars.

For this reason, when making tactical arrangements, Stark emphasized extraordinarily.

Perimeter alert is the responsibility of AWACS aircraft, and before being attacked, the air defense cruiser has to maintain radio silence and, at most, warm up the radar to ensure that it can be activated immediately if needed. To put it bluntly, the air defense cruiser can activate the radar only when the AWACS aircraft detects the incoming enemy aircraft, to be precise, the attack aircraft group.

It was precisely in this way that the 51st Task Force was able to avoid the patrol planes of the Liangxia Navy on the night of the 12th.

In addition, the discovery of the landing fleet and its destruction had a lot to do with the discovery of the Tikan-class cruiser that was responsible for the cover.

In fact, the attack on the transport fleet was also related to the exposure of the whereabouts of the "Kidd" class destroyers responsible for covering.

It can be seen that in the half-hour period from 10 o'clock to 10:30 o'clock, the 51st Task Force is extremely vulnerable to attack and basically has no defense capability.

Considering that it takes about 30 minutes for fighters to fly 600 kilometers away after an emergency takeoff, it is a "vulnerable period" for Task Force 51 until 11 o'clock.

How to solve this problem?

According to Smith's meaning, the F/A-18 was first lifted into the air, to be precise, the F/A-18 that had previously been lifted off for patrol and returned to the fleet after completing the reconnaissance mission was dispatched in batches, and all of them carried five large auxiliary fuel tanks, extending the patrol time by more than one hour.

Although the air supremacy of these fighters will be greatly reduced, mainly carrying only 4 air-to-air missiles and only 2 medium-range missiles, it will ensure that there are enough fighters to patrol the perimeter and intercept incoming enemy aircraft before 11 o'clock.

However, this also means that Task Force 51 will lose the only counterattack force it has to have.

At least during the daylight on the 13th, Task Force 51 was unable to launch an organized offensive operation.

Stark didn't think much of it at all, and directly took Smith's suggestion.

The reason is also very simple, after taking out the 61st Task Force, there is no longer a target worth dealing with, and there is no need to retain the ability to attack.

The top priority at the moment is actually to keep the fleet and withstand the counterattack launched by the Liang Xia navy.

Anyway, at least at this time, Stark still had a hint of luck.

Unfortunately, this fluke was quickly shattered.

Towards 10 o'clock, the landing fleet sent its final report.

After arduous repairs, the captain of the last amphibious assault ship announced that he had given up his efforts and let the officers and men escape in lifeboats.

At this point, all 6 amphibious assault ships were destroyed.

Prior to this, nearly 20 landing ships had been sunk one after another.

Even the dozen or so remaining landing ships are likely to sink in a matter of hours.

In fact, after the loss of all amphibious assault ships and integrated landing ships, the landing fleet has already existed in name only, and the Nuland Navy has lost its amphibious delivery capability.

Perhaps, relying on the requisitioned civilian ships, it can support the 1st Marine Division to conquer the transit island.

But the problem is that without a landing fleet, it is certainly impossible to attack the other islands, let alone recapture the Khowaii Islands.

When the landing fleet was attacked, Stark thought about this problem and realized that this might be the real purpose of Liang Xia's navy.

Exchange Task Force 61 for the landing fleet of the Newland Navy!

While tactically uneconomical, it is strategically valuable.

After stabilizing the battle line, all that remains is a battle for sea supremacy, and it will be easier to bring into play the combat effectiveness of the Liangxia Navy, especially the 41st Task Force.

The key is that in the case of hopeless attack, even if the Nuland Navy wins sea supremacy, it will be difficult to advance an inch, and in the end it will have to retreat.

Now that the landing fleet is finished, is it necessary to continue fighting?