The invasion of the Khowaii Islands was inevitable, but the preliminary preparations were still time-consuming and laborious.

The main trouble, still the battleship.

Officers and men can be encouraged, rewarded, and spurred, but when the time comes, the battleship must be maintained and maintained, and if it breaks down, it must be repaired.

Although the "Qinling" arrived at Naqiu Harbor before the Spring Festival and temporarily set up a task force headquarters there, it was not until after the Spring Festival that other warships arrived one after another.

As for the 2 large aircraft carriers, they only came to Naqiu Port after the Qingming Festival.

Such a delay is not the original intention of stopping the war in vain, but is limited by objective conditions.

If anything, it is because the two large aircraft carriers need to return to the shipyard for the first comprehensive overhaul after their service and make the necessary modifications.

The most important, and also the most striking renovation, replaced 8 twin 130-mm anti-aircraft guns and 4 quadruple 40-mm anti-aircraft guns with 12 twin 80-mm anti-aircraft guns. Although this will reduce the long-range anti-aircraft firepower and shorten the interception distance of enemy aircraft to less than 10 kilometers, in actual combat, by the time the anti-aircraft guns on the aircraft carrier come into play, the enemy aircraft will often fly in front of them.

Long-range air defense, that's the task of escorting warships.

In addition, the distance between air defense warships and aircraft carriers is generally about 5 kilometers.

In this way, the aircraft carrier actually needs anti-aircraft fire at medium and close ranges, and this happens to be the ideal combat range for medium-caliber anti-aircraft guns.

According to the statistics made by the Navy, in past battles, the contribution of large-caliber antiaircraft guns on aircraft carriers in air defense operations was less than 20 percent, and the combat distance of intercepting enemy aircraft was often within 10 kilometers, which happened to coincide with the combat range of 80-mm antiaircraft guns.

In addition to the aircraft carrier, the two "South Zhuhai" class fast battleships will also be returned to the shipyard for the first comprehensive overhaul after entering service.

2 fast battleships also took the opportunity to be refitted.

The difference was that the 80-mm anti-aircraft gun was not replaced by the 130-mm anti-aircraft gun, only the anti-aircraft gun was improved to allow it to fire new shells.

In addition, the 2 quadruple 40-mm anti-aircraft guns installed in the stern of the ship were eliminated and replaced with 2 seaplane hangars.

As a result, the number of seaplanes on board has increased from four to eight.

In fact, this is also a change in the new fleet formation.

The 21st Task Force added two large cruisers of the Huai River class to assist two fast battleships to provide cover for the aircraft carriers.

When necessary, fast battleships can be drawn to form earth-machine formations.

As a result, greater search and detection capabilities are required.

Obviously, the key is the newly incorporated large cruisers.

Although there were only 4 ships in the first batch of the "Huaihe" class, the second batch reached 8 ships, and the speed was accelerated in the later stage of construction, and the entry time was only about 2 months later than that of the first batch, which could be synchronized with the first batch into the battle sequence. The point is that all 12 large cruisers remained in the Guia.

As a replacement, the restored "Beihe" and "Nanjiang" were sent to Lu Xinhai and incorporated into the Sunset Ocean Fleet commanded by Liu Xiangzhen.

Because large cruisers are able to provide air defense cover for aircraft carriers, fleet commanders have more and more flexible options in real combat.

However, the command of the Navy did not make adjustments to the establishment of the task force.

Whether or not to form a separate assault formation is decided by the fleet commander in the light of the actual situation.

Here, a very crucial personnel change is involved.

After the Spring Festival, Bai Zhizhan received a promotion order signed by Liu Changxun, officially promoted to admiral, and served as the commander-in-chief of the Guia Fleet of the Imperial Navy.

As for the 21st Task Force, Li Mingbo served as its commander.

Under normal circumstances, Bai Zhizhan still followed the activities of the 21st Task Force, and took the "Qinling" as the flagship.

The main reason for this adjustment is not that Bai Zhizhan has made great achievements and deserves to be promoted and rewarded, but that it is related to the size of the fleet.

After the return of the White Stop, there were three task forces on the Guia side.

A few years ago, the Navy Command made an adjustment and removed the "Longjiang" from the battle sequence to replace the "Hengjiang," which had already been overwhelmed by the serious damage to the hull structure, and to serve as an aviation training ship. As a result, there were only 2 "Imperial Capital" class ships left in the task force under the command of the guards.

Subsequently, the Navy Command dispatched the 41st Task Force, which consisted mainly of four small aircraft carriers, to Fanyanyang to take charge of combat operations in the Nanxuan area.

It's just that the size of the Guia Fleet did not decrease as a result.

After the Spring Festival, the first four ships of the second batch of "provincial" class aircraft carriers were officially delivered to the navy.

After completing the necessary tests, at the end of March, it was officially incorporated into the battle sequence, and the 23rd and 24th task forces were formed, with the commanders Li Jie and Jin Hong respectively.

So far, the Guia Fleet has 4 main task forces, a total of 6 large aircraft carriers and 2 fleet aircraft carriers.

In addition, there are two task forces with four small aircraft carriers each.

If necessary, a fast escort aircraft carrier operating in the Guia can be requisitioned, up to 22 units.

Counting these aircraft carriers, a total of more than 1,600 carrier-based aircraft can be carried!

In addition, the accompanying escort warships were capable of carrying about 400 seaplanes.

On the transit island, there are several hundred long-range fighters of shore-based aviation, and about 500 heavy bombers belonging to the army's strategic aviation.

That is, the Imperial Navy was able to put into operation more than 3000 combat aircraft!

Even without taking into account the quality of officers and soldiers, especially the capabilities of the pilots, just a few thousand combat aircraft were enough to crush the Nuland army in the Khowaii Islands.

According to the information provided by the Sixth Bureau, the Nuland army has less than 3,000 combat aircraft deployed in the Khowaii Islands.

Of these combat aircraft, more than half were tactical aircraft of the Nuland Navy. Those combat aircraft belonging to the Nuland Army are also dominated by tactical aircraft.

It's not that the Nuland Army lacks bombers, but on the Khowaii Islands, all the large airfields capable of deploying heavy bombers have been taken care of.

In addition, the combat effectiveness of the Nuland aviation is much worse.

It's not just the planes that are bad, it's the pilots.

The superiority of the Imperial Navy did not stop there.

If you wait another 2 months, by June, you can get 4 large aircraft carriers and 4 small aircraft carriers, as well as at least 20 fast escort aircraft carriers.

By then, there will be more than 4,000 combat aircraft that can be put into operation.

In Bai Zhizhan's view, there was no need for that at all.

It's not that there is no need for more troops, but if it continues to drag on, the relative advantage of the Imperial Navy will shrink.

If Bai Zhizhan had decided, he would have chosen to launch an offensive before the Spring Festival, rather than delaying it until after the Qingming Festival, because in March, the Nuland Navy's first large aircraft carrier, the "Ethiopia", was officially commissioned. By April, in addition to several small aircraft carriers of the "Independence" class, it is necessary to add three "Endeavour" class quasi-fleet aircraft carriers. If it drags on until June, it will face more Nuland aircraft carriers.

It is a pity that the Imperial Navy will not be ready to attack before the Spring Festival in any case.

Even if you can mobilize enough warships, you won't be able to get enough supplies by the end of the year, especially the fuel that each warship needs.

It is precisely like this, after the Qingming Festival, after the return of the two large aircraft carriers and the preparation of several other task forces, Bai Zhizhan issued the order to go out.