On October 12, in the Guia Ocean, the supercarrier "Nix", the flagship of Task Force 51.

It was already the sixth day of the assault on the transit island, and the ground battle had been going on for five days, and the landing force had not been able to annihilate the defenders on the island as planned.

Not only because the defenders fought stubbornly, but also because of the counterattack of Liang Xia's army.

Three days earlier, on the third day of the landing, the Liangxia Air Force had sent bombers to attack the landing site with hundreds of long-range cruise missiles, regardless of the possibility of accidentally injuring the defenders.

Because the strike came very suddenly, the bombers were dropping missiles from more than 1,000 kilometers away, and there was no reconnaissance before the attack, so the landing force on the beach did not take any precautions and did not have time to evacuate, and a large amount of equipment and supplies that had just been sent to the beach were destroyed.

Just ammunition supplies, almost 5,000 tons were lost.

In addition, there are hundreds of construction vehicles.

Relatively speaking, the casualties were not too large.

Although in this battle, a very serious problem was reflected, the lack of field air defense systems in the marines did not have even a few anti-aircraft guns.

When they were attacked by cruise missiles, the Marines on the beach had to fire in the air with heavy machine guns.

In addition, that is, individual anti-aircraft missiles that are not numerous enough.

It's just that the Marines can't be blamed for this.

Ground battles were still going on, and the beachhead was shelled by the defenders from time to time. Even if it's just a mortar, it's not a small threat.

According to the operational plan, during the landing phase, the fleet provided anti-aircraft cover for the landing force.

To this end, Stark specially arranged for four Kidd-class air defense destroyers to go south and operate on the north side of the transit island to provide cover for the landing force.

It is a pity that these 4 battleships were more than 30 kilometers away from the landing site and could provide very limited cover.

In addition, the "Kidd" class is not a real air defense warship.

This destroyer is an air defense warship developed on the basis of the general-purpose destroyers of the "Spu" class and in accordance with the requirements of the Poi-Iraqi Navy. Because it uses the same hull as the Nuland Navy's own "Tikan" class air defense cruiser, and even the anti-aircraft missile launch system is exactly the same, it is classified as an air defense destroyer, and it is also known as the most powerful air defense warship outside the "Tikan" class.

It is a pity that the "Aegis" system, which was developed to counter the saturation attack of anti-ship missiles, was not adopted in the Kidd class.

As a result, when the four "Kidd" class ships were completed and about to be delivered, the Poy Navy gave up and asked to carry the "Aegis" system, and was willing to pay an additional fee for this, otherwise it would not accept the four destroyers that had already been built.

For this matter, the two sides almost fell out.

After several years of stalemate, the Nuland Navy took over the four destroyers and incorporated them into the Guia Fleet to form a specialized destroyer detachment.

If anything, the Nuland Navy took advantage of it.

Before the fallout, the Boyish State had already paid 75% of the purchase cost, that is, 600 million New Zealand dollars, and in the case of unilateral reversal, the Nuland shipyard would certainly not return this cost. That is, it is equivalent to the purchase of 4 destroyers for the Nuland Navy by the Boi State.

Of course, electronic equipment and weapon systems are not included.

In order to bring the four destroyers into service, the Nuland Navy spent NZ$150 million to purchase electronic equipment, weapons and ammunition for them.

Actually, the Nuland Navy has Aegis destroyers.

This is how the first ship was launched at the beginning of the year, and it is planned to build more than 30 Burke-class ships.

If I want to say, that is, after knowing the existence of the "Burke" class, the Boi Navy suddenly changed its mind, otherwise it would have taken away 4 "Kidd" class ships earlier.

According to the final agreement reached, the Nuland Navy will come forward to purchase three Burke-class ships, which will be transferred to the Boe Navy after the completion of acceptance. For these three destroyers, the Poy Navy not only needs to give up four "Kidd" class, but also has to pay 600 million New Zealand dollars for construction. The key point is that after delivery, it will cost about NZ$300 million to purchase supporting electronic equipment, weapons and ammunition for the three destroyers.

In other words, for the three "Burke" class, the Boi Navy spent about 1.5 billion New Zealand dollars before and after.

However, the Boe Navy will become the first navy to have Aegis warships outside of the Nuland Navy.

Although in the Nuland Navy, the four "Kidd" class are all "DDG", nominally missile destroyers, often called air defense destroyers, but compared with the "Tikon" class cruisers, the "Kidd" class air defense capability is not strong, and it is not as good as the "Qingzhou" class of the Imperial Navy.

For this reason, the four "Kidd" class ships were listed separately and organized into one destroyer detachment, and were not assigned to the aircraft carrier battle group.

When the landing site was bombed, these 4 destroyers did not play their due role at all.

It was not until the end of the bombing that the commander of the destroyer detachment received the message.

From beginning to end, the cruise missiles fired at the landing site were not detected by the 4 ships of the "Kidd" class.

The main thing is that these cruise missiles fly at a very low altitude, less than 50 meters, and they are fired from the west, but the four destroyers are in the northeast of the transit island.

As for the air defense fighters sent by Task Force 51 to cover the transit island, they were also far away.

Fundamentally, this is the pot of the 51st Task Force.

It was precisely because the 51st Task Force did not advance to the west, to be precise, to expand the air defense circle to the west, that the Liangxia Air Force seized the gap. If Task Force 51 advances 500 kilometers to the west and its air defense range is extended to 1,000 kilometers west of the transit island, it will be able to detect the incoming enemy planes in time and arrange for fighters to intercept them. Even if it is not possible to shoot down all the bombers, it can provide the landing force with more than 1 hour of early warning time. As long as the personnel and materials are evacuated in time, even if they are bombed, the losses will not be too great.

This sudden, and very heavy bombardment, disrupted the plan to attack the transit island.

As a result, for the next two days, the Marines basically abandoned the offensive and began to work on consolidating the landing ground and sending war supplies to the landing force.

Crucially, on the night of the 9th, the night of the bombing of the landing site, the 51st Task Force sailed 500 kilometers west to the northwest of the transit island, and arranged for carrier-based aircraft to set up an interception line about 500 kilometers west of the transit island.

To be precise, only 1 AWACS aircraft was sent over, and 4 F-14Bs were put on standby behind the AWACS aircraft.

After the AWACS aircraft discovers the enemy plane, the fighter planes will go out to intercept it.

The effect was immediate.

In the early morning of the 10th, the forward F-14B, under the command of the E-2C, successfully intercepted a bomber group. Although the results were not achieved, the main reason was that the Liangxia Air Force dispatched large early warning aircraft, and when the F-14B accelerated forward, those bombers turned and flew away, but it successfully prevented the Liangxia Air Force from bombing the landing site again and protected the transport ships that were transporting war materials to the landing force.

At that time, there were at least 20 transport ships loaded with ammunition and supplies in the landing field!

The largest of them was loaded with about 7000 tons of ammunition, of which at least 2000 tons of shells. If the transport ship were to be bombed and the ammunition it was loaded with would be detonated, the consequences would be unimaginable, and it would be possible to abandon the assault on the transit island.

In the next two days, the Liang Xia air force launched at least five attacks, but all of them were crushed.

It was only last evening that the landing force regained its strength.

According to the telegram sent by the front command, the offensive operation was resumed by the afternoon of the 12th at the latest, and the remaining enemy on the island was annihilated within three days.

Apparently, the commander of the Marine Corps was really confident.

It's just that, in Stark's eyes, this self-confidence is very blind.

Just last night, the F-14B fighter who went to the west to intercept the bomber encountered the Liangxia fighter!

Although there was no exchange of fire, at a distance of about 150 kilometers, the four F-14Bs had to turn back because they had reached the extreme combat radius, and then they disengaged from those enemy planes, and the E-2C in the rear was too far away, only judged that it was a few fighters, and it was not possible to distinguish the specific model, and it was impossible to determine whether it was a fighter of the Liangxia Navy, but one thing is certain, a few days ago, the Liangxia Air Force did not arrange fighters to escort the bombers, but only sent large early warning aircraft to coordinate and command in the rear.

The point is, the islands with large airports are 2,000 kilometers away.

Even if the Liangxia Air Force has a lot of large tankers, and let the fighters fly 2,000 kilometers away to fight, there is no efficiency at all.

In addition, forward airfields still need to deploy bombers, early warning planes, and electronic reconnaissance planes, and there is no way to deploy too many fighters.

What's more, it's been 7 days since the Nuland Navy began attacking Transit Island!

In the past seven days, Task Force 41 has already returned to the vicinity of the transit island, and perhaps even Task Force 61 has arrived.

In this way, in the southwest of the transit island, I am afraid that there are 2 task forces!

Because the carrier-based aircraft were arranged to intercept the bombers of the Liangxia Air Force before, even if the F-14B has a large combat radius and can expand the interception range through air refueling, the interception operation that lasted for several days was enough for Bai Huawei to make a rough judgment on the whereabouts of the 51st Task Force, so Stark did not believe that it was a fighter of the Liangxia Air Force, and it was more likely to be a carrier-based fighter of a certain task force.

So, is it Task Force 41 or Task Force 61?

This is the most critical question.

Stark's first thought was that Task Force 41 had already maneuvered to the southwest of the Transit Island, intending to enter the Guia Ocean with the support of the Air Force.

If anything, this is also the most normal way of playing.

Even with the support of the 61st Task Force, in order to achieve a decisive victory and reduce combat losses, Bai Huawei would make full use of shore-based aviation and air force.

No commander likes to kill a thousand enemies and lose eight hundred.

However, Stark immediately rejected this judgment.

The reason is simple, Task Force 41 rushed back from the island of Jotun and reached the waters near the transit island on October 9. Even if he didn't want to encounter the Nuland fleet too early and have a decisive battle, when the 61st Task Force arrived, Bai Huawei could stay south of the transit island, and then send carrier-based aircraft to bomb the landing force, or send fighter planes to provide cover for the bombers bombing the transit island.

Worried about revealing your whereabouts?

If the round of bombardment on the night of the 10th was successful, even if he knew where the 41st Task Force was, Stark would choose to withdraw his troops.

At the strategic level, the Liangxia Navy first had to ensure that the combat operation of attacking the transit island was thwarted.

As long as the transit island is guarded, then everything is easy to say.

In fact, as long as the 41st Task Force was far enough away from the transit island, there was no need to worry about being attacked.

Besides, if Bai Huawei wanted Task Force 41 to remain hidden, why did he send fighter jets on the night of the 11th?

From this point of view, those fighters are most likely from Task Force 61.

Task Force 61 has arrived!?

Extrapolating from the time of calculation, as long as the average speed was maintained at more than 22 knots, Task Force 61 was able to reach the southwest of the transit island on the night of the 11th.

This verse 22 is no coincidence.

The fastest cruising speed of the Liangxia battleship was 22 knots.

This "maximum cruise speed" refers to the speed at which half of the power equipment, usually gas turbines, can be operated at maximum power.

Because the fuel consumption is too high, it is not an economical cruising speed.

In addition, judging from the sea area where those fighters appeared, it is likely that Task Force 61 is to the west of the transit island, or more west.

Unsurprisingly, between Transit Island and Koh Wih.

In this way, Task Force 61 will be able to obtain the cover of shore-based air forces deployed on Wai Island, which will enable carrier-based aviation, especially a limited number of heavy fighters, to carry out offensive missions, such as escorting attack aircraft groups, and improve the penetration efficiency of aircraft groups.

Actually, this is a very orthodox tactic.

Regardless of who the commander of Task Force 61 was, as long as he could maintain full combat effectiveness and pose a threat to the Nuland forces landing on Transit Island, he would be invincible. Even if the 41st Task Force was severely damaged or even wiped out in the next naval battle, as long as the 61st Task Force could still fight, it would allow the Nuland Navy to waste more time on the Transit Island.

So, where is Task Force 41, or where has it gone?

To the southeast of the transit island?

If this is the case, then Bai Huawei is using Task Force 61 to attract the attention of his opponent, waiting for the time to annihilate the Nuland fleet in one fell swoop.

This is very much in line with Bai Huawei's style.

Southwest of Transit Island?

With the 61st Task Force, it is not impossible. With the two task forces together, even if it is a head-to-head battle, there is enough chance of victory.

It's conservative and decent.

Heading north from the west side of the transit island?

In this arrangement, it is to find the Nuland fleet for a decisive battle, and through the decisive battle, to turn the tide of the war, and strive to defeat the Nuland navy in one fell swoop.

Of course, the risks are also significant.

Stark did not make a judgment on these three situations, but made corresponding deployments and adjustments.

Last night, he issued an order to the 52nd Task Force to go south to the sea area where the 51st Task Force was located before, take on the heavy task of providing air defense cover for the landing force, and be ready for a decisive battle with the Liang Xia fleet at a critical moment.

The key is to let Task Force 52 replace Task Force 51.

In addition, he gave orders to the landing force.

In the next few days, the momentum of the offensive will be maintained, but the intensity of the offensive will be appropriately reduced, and the defensive deployment of the beachhead will be strengthened. If there is a major change in the situation on the battlefield, it is necessary to evacuate the transit island in an orderly manner under the cover of the fleet, or at least from attack to defense.

All of these arrangements are preparations for the decisive battle of the fleet!

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