"If we can think of it, can't Stark think of it?"

After Jiang Wenlong suddenly said this, the atmosphere suddenly became very awkward. This guy, in front of dozens of staff officers, questioned the inference made by the commander.

Liu Zunling's face was extremely ugly, probably thinking that Jiang Wenlong did this deliberately in order to show himself.

A young naval officer, he has always been known for not knowing the sky.

However, if you really want to investigate, it is also a precedent for the White Stop War.

After noticing Bai Huawei's expression, Liu Zunling controlled his emotions. As a task force commander, there is no need to be as knowledgeable as a young staff officer.

"In any case, sea supremacy is the key, and it is the fleet that determines the supremacy of the sea, so when making arrangements, Stark will inevitably take into account the decisive battle of the fleet. If you lose the decisive battle of the fleet, or if you lose the task force, you will definitely not be able to defend the transit island even if you defeat it. Jiang Wenlong pursed his lips and said, "The key thing is that there are only 9 days left for Stark. Whatever the plan, we must be killed before Task Force 61 arrives. In fact, this was the only chance to destroy Task Force 41. ”

At this point, the atmosphere became even more awkward, and even a little tense.

Jiang Wenlong's analysis can be said to be leaky, and there is no problem with the general policy, even Bai Huawei is difficult to refute.

As long as the two task forces converge, even if they are not invincible, they can make the opponent fearful.

From the standpoint of the Nuland Navy, there will simply be no challenge to two task forces at the same time, or at least dare not.

The reason is that even if the decisive battle of the fleet is won, the Nuland Navy will suffer huge losses and lose the ability to continue the offensive.

In this way, there is no way to sweep the Khowaii Islands after the capture of the transit island.

Obviously, as long as it drags on for a few months, when the Imperial Navy recovers, the Nuland Navy will have to retreat, and even have to abandon the transit islands that have already been obtained.

From this point of view, what the Nuland Navy needs is a clean victory.

Then, the only way was to annihilate the 41st Task Force while it was alone, and then deal with the 61st Task Force from the southwest and east.

There are similar examples in history, and they are very famous.

More than 100 years ago, Chen Bingxun, the god of war of the Imperial Navy, first annihilated the Eastern Fleet of the Royal Navy of Bran in the Battle of Lion Spring, the Throat Strait, and then moved westward to annihilate the Second Eastern Fleet of the Royal Navy of Bran outside the port of Trincomalee. After two naval battles, the Royal Navy of Bran, which had a considerable advantage in total strength, lost cleanly and completely because of the division of troops and the expedition with the labor division.

It can be seen that the most taboo now is the division of troops.

"According to you, we should withdraw and wait for Task Force 61 to arrive?"

Jiang Wenlong nodded, indicating that Liu Zunling was right.

"The thing is, you mentioned it at the beginning, and since we can think of it, Stark must be able to guess. Obviously, compared to other arrangements, it is the most normal tactic for us to return to the waters west of the transit island and join Task Force 61, and it is easier to think of it. ”

"......"

"What's more, Task Force 61 will not arrive until nine days later. Even if the time to return to the transit island is removed, we will have to move alone for at least 6 days. By then, the Nuland Marines would definitely have taken control of Transit Island. Even if we are unable to use the airfield on the transit island, we will certainly be able to use the transit island to intensify the search and weaken the activity capability of our shore-based air forces. Liu Zunling paused slightly, and then said: "In this case, the only way to avoid a premature decisive battle with the Nuland fleet is to retreat westward. ”

Jiang Wenlong's brows jumped a few times, as if he had thought of something.

Without waiting for him to speak, Liu Zunling continued: "The situation is clear at a glance, if we rush back now, we may be attacked by two Nuland fleets. Because the defenders of the transit island are still fighting, and because the naval command has not issued an order to abandon the transit island, as long as we return to the waters near the transit island, we must participate in the battle to defend the transit island, and we will inevitably encounter the Nuland fleet. ”

"No matter what, we won't give up on Transit Island." Bai Huawei spoke at this time: "On the other hand, Stark is more likely to believe that we will defend the transit island, and conclude that we will return to the vicinity of the transit island, and its combat deployment must be related to this. ”

Liu Zunling nodded, indicating that he meant the same thing.

"Besides, we do need to rendezvous with Task Force 61, but not now, and the rendezvous is not near the Transit Island." Bai Huawei let out a long breath before he said, "What we have to do now is to make full use of the few days before the arrival of the 61st Task Force. Seize this opportunity, and we hope to achieve a decisive victory in the next decisive battle of the fleet! ”

Hearing this, Jiang Wenlong also understood.

Obviously, it is Bai Huawei who doesn't want to go back, and it is mainly related to face.

Although there is some truth in what Liu Zunling and Bai Huawei said, it sounds like that, but they avoid answering the most critical questions.

Or deliberately ignored.

Is the transit island more important, or is the fleet more important?

According to Liu Zunling, after the defenders of the transit island were defeated, the Nuland navy was able to use the transit island to intensify its search for the nearby waters, and the 41st task force was able to continue to retreat westward. Even if you have to retreat all the way to Wei Island, as long as you can keep the fleet, it will be no problem.

As for the order of the command of the Navy, it is pure nonsense.

According to the rules of the Imperial Navy, the commander of the fleet had the right to refuse to carry out tactical orders issued by his superiors, and the command of the Navy had no right to dictate the actions of the fleet.

This is what is often said, there will be something to be affected by the king's life outside.

Besides, living in the Shoufu Mansion is Zhou Yongtao, the most outstanding commander of the Imperial Navy after the White War!

In addition, he is the only naval commander who participated in World War II and is still alive today.

In addition to him, the last admiral to participate in World War II died at the end of last year.

With Zhou Yongtao in charge, those generals of the Navy Command dare to mess around?

The key is that after returning to the waters near the transit island, he will only need to wait for 6 days to be able to join the 61st Task Force that has arrived.

Is 6 days a long time?

Even if Stark had been prepared and successfully conquered the Transit Island, he might not have been able to find and destroy Task Force 41 within 6 days.

From a tactical point of view, Task Force 41 only needs to intensify its search efforts, and rely on the long-range air force of Wai Island and Guan Dao, and if necessary, it can also make a request to the air force, so that it can be very sure that it will be able to detect the Nuland fleet in time that is trying to approach and launch an attack.

In fact, even if there is no way to avoid a decisive battle in the fleet, there is no need to be afraid.

Be fully prepared for a decisive battle with the Nuland fleet, even if it is 3 to 5, relying on better quality officers and men, and better performance combat aircraft, even if it cannot win the decisive battle of the fleet, it will definitely be able to inflict heavy losses on the opponent and make the Nuland fleet pay a large enough price.

In this way, when the 61st Task Force arrives, at least it will be able to stabilize the situation and prevent it from collapsing.

From a strategic point of view, as long as it can be stabilized, it is a must-win game.

On the other hand, it is not the Nuland fleet that really needs to be worried, but strategic bombers!

Judging from the blows suffered by the 51st Task Force in the heart of the eastern continent, the threat posed by bombers to the fleet has surpassed that of carrier-based aviation.

The point is that bombers can carry more and heavier anti-ship missiles, which can not only launch attacks from hundreds of kilometers away, but also only need a few dozen bombers to meet the standard of saturation attack. Purely in terms of strike efficiency, bombers are several times more numerous than carrier-based attack aircraft.

In fact, that naval battle also reflected a problem.

When using bombers to carry out anti-ship combat missions, the biggest problem is not the bomber's strike capability, but the previous reconnaissance.

If the target is not found in time, no matter how strong the bomber's strike power is, it will not help.

In this battle, because of the lack of effective reconnaissance means, even if it knew that the 51st Task Force was operating in the eastern land and the sea, it could only adopt the "air-sea tactics" and dispatched four bomber groups at the same time to launch an attack by chance. Although the 51st Task Force was severely damaged and both aircraft carriers lost their combat effectiveness, the Terman Air Force also suffered extremely heavy losses.

Purely measured by the value of weapons and equipment, the losses of the Manman Air Force are actually greater.

To get to the root cause, that is, the Manman Navy is not strong enough.

If the Manman Navy is strong enough and has the ability to fight in the Luxinhai, even if it deploys a large aircraft carrier near the Raleigh Kingdom, it can attract the attention of Task Force 51 and arrange for carrier-based aircraft to carry out reconnaissance missions to help bombers find Task Force 51.

With the whereabouts of the 51st Task Force in hand, the strike will inevitably result twice the result with half the effort, and not only will the losses be reduced, but it may also be possible to completely annihilate the 51st Task Force.

From another point of view, this is most likely the role played by the Nuland fleet!

The point is that the Nuland Air Force has strategic bombers that far surpass the Vulcan in terms of performance. Whether it is the B-52G, which has been in service for almost 30 years, or the B-1B that has been in service a few years ago, it has a bomb load of more than 30 tons, and is theoretically capable of carrying more than 20 heavy anti-ship missiles to attack fleets thousands of kilometers away, and the two types of bombers have a total of more than 1,000 units. Besides, in the desert of Neva, the famous aircraft cemetery, there are about 2,000 bombers that have been retired and mothballed over the past 20 years.

In terms of overall strike capability, the Nuland Air Force is 10 times larger than the Manman Air Force!

In fact, this is one of the key reasons why the Nuland Navy has not developed, or has not been able to develop rapidly.

If there is so much military spending in total, and more is allocated to the Air Force, then the distribution of other branches of the armed forces will naturally be reduced, and the speed of development will also be limited.

Of course, proceeding from reality, it is obvious how fast and economical it is to develop the air force.

Not to mention anything else, as long as the core technology, especially the technology related to the engine, is not too backward, the efficiency and cost ratio of the bomber far exceeds that of the warship.

Take the Nuland army as an example, the money to build a "Nuland"-class aircraft carrier is enough to purchase 100 B-52Gs.

Here, not counting the carrier-based aircraft on board, as well as the escorting warships.

If all of them are taken into account, then the investment required to purchase an aircraft carrier battle group is enough to buy 400 strategic bombers of the same era.

In any respect, the combat efficiency of 400 bombers is far greater than that of an aircraft carrier battle group.

Crucially, strategic bombers are more in line with the strategic needs of the Nuland army.

To put it simply, the Nuland Republic does not have the military needs for global deployment and global operations, and its core interests are mainly concentrated in the northern and southern isolated continents of the Western Hemisphere, so there is no need for a naval fleet that can be used for global deployment and the main mission is to safeguard global interests.

In the Nuland Republic, the main mission of the fleet is actually to protect sea routes and transport combat troops to the front line.

Don't forget, the number one mission of the Nuland army is to recapture the Khowaii Islands.

Because ground battles are inevitable and require the use of armored forces, even if the air force undertakes a strike mission, it is necessary to transport combat troops by naval ships.

In addition, in the landing operation, it will act as the backing of the landing force.

Of course, the tactical use of the naval fleet was also determined by this.

To put it simply, under the premise that bombers are the main striking force, the mission of the task force is to find targets for bombers.

Jiang Wenlong is very familiar with this set of tactics.

His graduation thesis at the Naval Academy was to demonstrate the value of strategic bombers in naval warfare and the impact on naval warfare tactics.

In fact, it was this thesis that gave him the opportunity to serve in the command of the Fourth Fleet.

In this paper, in order to prove that the bomber has a strong combat capability of sea domination, Jiang Wenlong also made a detailed introduction to the Nuland Air Force.

If anything, by writing this paper, he gained a deeper and more detailed understanding of the tactical system of naval supremacy of the Nuland army.

What made Jiang Wenlong laugh was that what he saw above was another point.

Wave the flag and shout for the expansion of shore-based air forces.

Shortly after Jiang Wenlong took up his service at the Fourth Fleet Command, his paper appeared in the newspapers, and the two houses of parliament were discussing a proposal for the Navy's shore-based aviation, that is, whether to appropriately relax restrictions and equip shore-based aviation with strike platforms specifically for naval operations.

Unfortunately, under the resolute opposition of the Air Force and the Army, and many people were worried that Zhou Yongtao would sit big, this proposal was not passed.

In order to compensate, the two houses amended the bill passed when the Air Force was established and added some provisions to clearly stipulate that in times of war, the Navy has the right to mobilize and requisition the Air Force's strategic bombers to carry out naval strike missions, but it is required to bear all expenses related to this.

It is precisely because of this that Jiang Wenlong resolutely opposes any risky tactical action.

In his opinion, before having absolute strength, it is certainly not wrong to be conservative, even if it will lose face, it is much better than suffering a fiasco.

Unfortunately, the matter is not up to him.

Bai Huawei obviously wants to save face, and Liu Zunling is about the same, and both of them think that they have figured out the enemy's context and have a great chance of winning.

Jiang Wenlong is very knowledgeable, after all, he is just a little-known young staff officer.

It's just that after asking Liu Zunling to do the deployment, Bai Huawei did not let Jiang Wenlong leave, but called him and went to the open-air corridor outside together.