As for the outcome of the first round of attacks, Stark didn't care too much.

As a matter of fact, as early as 4 o'clock in the morning, that is, shortly after the end of the attack, the leader of the attack formation, the commander of the plane, sent back a report, claiming that it had hit a number of warships, including one aircraft carrier, and that more than 10 anti-ship missiles had concentrated on the aircraft carrier, and that it had lost its combat capability.

It's just that there is no way to say exactly how much water there is in this report.

Under the circumstances, even if the escort fighters had led away the air defense fighters, the attack aircraft group would not have continued to risk flying forward after completing the attack mission, or to be precise, projecting anti-ship missiles, and would certainly have immediately turned back to the plane, and there would have been no way to know the outcome of the attack.

Because the attack distance was too far, the attack aircraft were not arranged to carry out the screening mission.

Strictly speaking, there is no need for this.

Most of this battle report is a rough guess made by the captain and plane commander based on the situation of the engagement, especially the number of air defense warships of the enemy fleet.

However, the actual results will not be too biased.

Entering the operational stage of intercepting anti-ship missiles, the performance of air defense warships is crucial and will determine the life and death of aircraft carriers and even the entire fleet.

The air defense battleship that is in the right position and has abundant firepower is simply the anchor of the fleet.

For example, the "Qingzhou" class cruiser of the Liangxia Navy is equipped with the "Aegis" phased array radar, which has an air detection range of more than 600 kilometers, and can search and process thousands of targets at the same time, and track hundreds of them. Relying on four fire control irradiation radars arranged along the central axis of the battleship, 16 DK-9s can be guided at the same time to intercept 8 high-threat targets. If it is dealing with targets flying along a fixed route, such as anti-ship missiles, it is also possible to use the method of staggered irradiation to intercept 16 targets at the same time with 16 anti-aircraft missiles.

Theoretically, one ship of the "Qingzhou" class can cope with a saturation attack in one direction.

It is precisely for this reason that when dealing with aircraft carrier battle groups, it is often necessary to concentrate forces and first deal with the air defense warships that are blocking the attack line.

This time was no exception.

In front of the group, to be precise, on the right front, that is, to the east of the fleet, there was indeed an air defense battleship, and it was a powerful cruiser of the "Qingzhou" class.

To this end, the 8 A-6Ds of the squadron that arrived first fired all the "Harpoons" they carried at the battleship.

Attacked by nearly 30 anti-ship missiles, the cruiser must have been unable to protect itself.

Even if it withstands the attack of anti-ship missiles, it has no time to worry about anything else and cannot provide cover for the aircraft carrier.

Just relying on its own anti-aircraft firepower, even a supercarrier cannot withstand dozens of anti-ship missiles.

In fact, the self-defense firepower of the aircraft carrier itself is not strong, at least the aircraft carriers of the Liangxia Navy have always been like this.

Although decades ago, that is, in the Second Global War, the Liangxia Navy equipped aircraft carriers with a large number of anti-aircraft guns, and on the largest number of aircraft carriers, there were more than 300 anti-aircraft guns of different calibers, but the brutal battle proved that the value of equipping aircraft carriers with large-caliber anti-aircraft guns was not great. In the face of incoming enemy aircraft, the most effective weapon is a medium-caliber rapid-fire gun. If it is necessary to repel enemy aircraft at long distances, escorting air defense warships will do the trick. As a result, in the latter part of the war, the Liangxia Navy no longer equipped aircraft carriers with large-caliber anti-aircraft guns.

After the war, after entering the missile era, "defunctionalization" became the development trend of aircraft carriers.

The reason is also very simple, at the beginning of the missile era more than 30 years ago, missiles were very large and needed to occupy a large deck area.

Obviously, on an aircraft carrier where every inch of land is at a premium, there is simply no place to place missiles.

It can also be said that if the aircraft carrier is equipped with too many missiles, it will inevitably squeeze out the space that originally belonged to the carrier-based aircraft, thereby weakening the attack capability of the aircraft carrier.

There is no doubt that this is an unacceptable result.

In order to ensure the attack power of the aircraft carrier, there are escort warships that perform their own duties and a large number of them, as well as aircraft carrier battle groups on this basis.

It is precisely like this that the aircraft carriers of the Liangxia Navy are equipped only with basic short-range air defense systems and only have self-defense air defense capabilities.

After losing the cover of the air defense warship, the aircraft carrier is very vulnerable, and it is certainly powerless in the face of saturation attacks by anti-ship missiles.

As for other escort warships, even if they have certain air defense capabilities, they cannot be compared with air defense cruisers.

After that aircraft carrier was attacked, it must have been more than lucky.

Even if the "Harpoon" is not powerful enough to sink the aircraft carrier, it will definitely be able to deal a heavy blow to the aircraft carrier.

However, that's just 1 aircraft carrier.

Prior to this, Smith emphasized that the 61st Task Force had adjusted the configuration of carrier-based aviation according to the situation, increasing the number of heavy fighters. According to Smith's speculation, it is likely that the number of "Zhan-9B" has doubled compared to usual.

Otherwise, Task Force 61 would not have been able to send so many fighters in the previous few days.

If this is the case, then another supercarrier also has more than 40 fighter jets on board, and it is likely that all of these fighters have already been lifted into the air.

Obviously, this is no small thing to joke about.

With the support of carrier-based AWACS aircraft and warships, these fighters can not only intercept the bomber group that is about to be killed, but also provide cover for the bombers of the Liangxia Air Force in the next battle, and hope to destroy the 51st Task Force in the counterattack.

It's just, where the hell is that aircraft carrier?

Stark had a headache, but it was useless to rush right now.

The first round of attacks is over, and the losses are not small. Of the 24 F-14Bs involved in the attack, only 11 flew back. In contrast, the attack aircraft suffered even more losses, a total of 72 A-6Ds, only 22 returned, and 6 of them suffered heavy damage.

Although there are still dozens of F/A-18s available, considering that the F/A-18 has a combat radius of less than 1,000 kilometers after attaching anti-ship missiles, and the distance between the F/A-18 and the 61st Task Force is close to 1,500 kilometers, the 51st Task Force has in fact lost its attack capability.

However, this is not the most serious problem Stark faces.

The F-14B suffered heavy losses in escort operations, and as a result, Task Force 51 did not have enough fighters available for the rest of the battle.

Obviously, when making plans, no one expected to suffer such heavy losses.

Judging from the deployment, Stark actually wants to use the F-14Bs that have completed the escort mission to fill the fleet's air defense loopholes, that is, after sending the second batch of fighters, these returning F-14Bs will carry out the fleet's air defense mission to ensure that they can withstand the attack that may come at any time.

Even if it is only focused on two directions, 16 F-14Bs are needed.

Considering that the Liangxia Air Force used 20 bombers against the transport fleet, even if it was mistaken for a landing fleet, more bombers would definitely be used against the 51st Task Force.

As a result, at least 24 F-14Bs will be retained, with 8 for each carrier.

In fact, this is also the total number of escort fighters in the first round of attacks.

Although Stark knew that he would suffer losses and made some preparations, such as leaving four fighters on each carrier, his estimate was obviously too optimistic compared to the actual losses. Of the 11 F-14B fighters that returned, only three were able to regain flight. Of the other 8, 5 were damaged and could not be dispatched, and the remaining 3 had to be replaced with engines in a few hours.

That is, excluding the fighters used to cover the bombers, there are only 14 F-15Bs available.

This amount is obviously far from enough.

What to do?

Although the F/A-18 can also perform air defense missions, its slower flight speed and poor combat radius make it almost incapable of carrying out interception missions.

In the next battle, Task Force 51 will have to face a long-range attack!

Previously, the bombers of the Liangxia Air Force launched anti-ship missiles at a distance of 600 kilometers, so their attack range would certainly not be lower than 600 kilometers.

At this distance, the F/A-18 can only watch the excitement.

The reason is also very simple, if it is a full-speed sprint, the range of the F/A-18 is less than 600 kilometers, and it will not be able to fly back at all after flying out.

It is that, when the arrangements were made, these multi-role fighters remained in the inner layer.

If anything, this is also the basic tactical requirement put forward by the Nuland Navy at the time of design, that is, to cooperate with the F-14B in air defense operations, to deal with a small number of fish that slip through the net, and to intercept the anti-ship missiles launched at the aircraft carrier with the air-to-air missiles carried at critical moments.

For this reason, all the "Hornets" that were originally assigned to carry out reconnaissance missions were hung with air-to-air missiles.

Unfortunately, this does not solve the problem at the root cause.

If you can't shoot down the incoming bombers in time, but let the bombers drop anti-ship missiles smoothly, even if you arrange for how many fighters to intercept them, you can't be completely sure. In fact, the number one factor that determines the victory or defeat of an air defense operation is whether or not an enemy plane can be shot down in a timely manner.

Obviously, more heavy fighters are needed.

As for where to go to get more heavy fighters, everyone knows it, but none of the staff officers brought it up, after all, the topic is too sensitive.

That's right, it's to go to the 52nd Task Force to borrow troops.

If 20 F-52Bs can be borrowed from Task Force 20, even if they are only sent to carry out the task of air defense of the fleet, it will be enough.

Stark asked Task Force 52 to stay at a distance of 1,000 kilometers, in the hope of using the cover provided by Task Force 52 if needed.

Only now, it's not that simple.

There was enough information to prove that it was Task Force 61 operating to the west, and that Task Force 41, which was more powerful, was not. If Task Force 41 had bypassed the Khowaii Islands from the east, it would have been Task Force 52 that would have borne the brunt for it.

Here's the key.

Although according to the information provided by the CIA, the 41st Task Force is more than 2,000 kilometers away, and even the 52nd Task Force is 2,000 kilometers away, no one dares to guarantee this information, and the CIA is not a military intelligence agency, and it will certainly not be responsible for the defeat of the fleet.

So, who can guarantee that Task Force 52 will not be attacked after dawn?

If, in the event of an attack, fighters were sent to cover Task Force 51 and no fighters were available, who would be responsible?

Crucially, Task Force 52 is part of the Sunset Fleet, not the Guia Fleet.

To put it bluntly, unless Stark gave the order as commander, the commander of Task Force 52 might not be willing to send fighter jets. Even if orders from the fleet command had to be carried out, the details such as the number of fighters and the timing of sorties would make the support provided by Task Force 52 insignificant, and Stark could not blame it.

In fact, even if Stark gave orders, the commander of Task Force 52 might not follow his word.

Don't forget, Stark was just an obscure colonel before he came to the "Nitz", and he was promoted twice in a row before becoming a rear admiral.

Obviously, he has no qualifications corresponding to his authority.

For those old fritters, it couldn't be easier to embarrass a young general.

Not to mention anything else, Task Force 52 had been supporting the landing force in attacking the transit island, the intensity of sorties of carrier-based aircraft was very high, and the state of the two "Nuland"-class aircraft carriers was not ideal, so the order issued by the fleet commander could be prevaricated with relevant reasons.

There's really nothing good to deal with this.

After all, the operational decision-making power of any fleet is in the hands of the commander, who has the right to decide whether or not to carry out the orders issued by his superiors according to the actual situation.

Even if the 52nd Task Force stood still, Stark couldn't do anything.

As such, Stark rarely gave orders directly to Task Force 52 throughout operations, and most often had the fleet command interven.

In addition, it is necessary to act strictly according to the battle plan and avoid extraneous complications as much as possible.

Only this time, Stark really didn't have a choice.

At a quarter past 5 o'clock, after all the returning carrier-based aircraft had landed on the carrier, Stark asked the communications staff officer to give orders to the 52nd Task Force.

Stark didn't ask for much, just asked Task Force 52 to send eight F-14Bs over before dawn.

As to whether the telegram would gain the attention of the commander of Task Force 52 and that the order would be carried out immediately, Stark had little hope.

In fact, by this time, the priority at the moment was not to strengthen the air defense of the fleet, but to complete the second round of strike missions.

20 B-52Gs have already arrived, to be precise, they are about to arrive, that is, these bombers have reached the east side of the fleet and are flying at full speed.

Not surprisingly, it will fly over the 51st Task Force after 6 o'clock, and then launch an attack on the 61st Task Force of the Liangxia Navy before 7 o'clock.

For this, it was necessary to send out escort fighters before 6 o'clock.

Several E-2Cs will also be dispatched to assist the escort fighters in the operation to ensure that when the bombers arrive, they can seize air supremacy on the battlefield.

If anything, the key is still to attract the attention of Liang Xia's fleet.

Here, a very important tactic is involved.

To put it simply, through active escort operations, the commander of the Liangxia fleet made a misjudgment that the two task forces of the Nuland Navy were nearby, and the second round of attacks came from the other task force, and the attack mission was still carried out by carrier-based attack aircraft.

As long as this goal can be achieved, then the Liangxia fleet will shrink the air defense circle when it is making air defense deployments.

The reason is also very simple: the smaller the air defense circle, the greater the density of air defense fighters, and the more powerful the attack will be.

It's just that it was not carrier-based aircraft that attacked.

Those B-52Gs do not need to approach the Liangxia fleet at all and can project missiles from a distance of 600 kilometers, so as long as the Liangxia fleet shrinks the air defense circle, the best interception opportunity will be missed. When the commander of the Liangxia fleet reacted, he was faced with an overwhelming barrage of anti-ship missiles.

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