At the same time, the sea west of Yotun Island.

After turning around on the afternoon of the 5th, Task Force 41 had sailed about 800 kilometers eastwards and was still maintaining a speed of nearly 20 knots.

Maintaining this speed is actually to reach the vicinity of Jotun Island after dark, and then immediately arrange for carrier-based aircraft to take to the air to carry out reconnaissance missions. If the Nuland fleet operating in the waters east of Joton Island could be found on the night of the 6th, or before dawn on the 7th to be exact, it would be able to launch an immediate attack. Not having to wait until after dawn to launch an operation will not only save you a few hours, but you may also be able to catch your enemy off guard.

However, this also means that Task Force 41 will need to refuel by the 9th at the latest.

Although it will not burn out all the fuel in just a few days, the fuel capacity of the aircraft carrier must be maintained at more than 60% in a combat state. If you maintain a high speed for a long time and there is no special reason, you have to refuel frequently.

Regarding the fuel problem, Bai Huawei didn't take it seriously.

If the Nuland fleet can be found before dawn on the 7th, it doesn't matter when the fuel is refueled. If the Nuland fleet is not found, it will have to retreat several hundred kilometers to the west during the day on the 7th, so there must be enough time to refuel before the 9th.

The key, in fact, is whether or not the Nuland fleet can be found.

As usual, Bai Huawei went to the officers' cafeteria at 11:30, and after lunch, he brought a copy to Liu Zunling.

Because he had to make a briefing on the task and convene a meeting of the heads of various departments, Liu Zunling would not go back to rest until after lunch. Presumably to save time, he rarely went to the officers' cafeteria for lunch. If Bai Huawei didn't bring it by the way, he would have to arrange for a staff officer to go on a trip.

When Bai Huawei arrived, there were already more than a dozen staff officers in the commander's bridge.

Liu Zunling was talking to the communications staff officer, and after seeing Bai Huawei, he waved his hand and asked the communications staff officer to leave.

"I'm looking for you."

"Any news of the Nuland fleet?"

Liu Zunling shook his head, handed the telegram to Bai Huawei, and then said: "I just received it, the Nuland army has turned its focus to the Howaii Islands, and it has begun to bomb the transit islands. According to reports submitted by the defenders, carrier-based aircraft of the Nuland Navy appeared over the transit island. ”

Bai Huawei was stunned for a moment, and then looked up at Liu Zunling.

"At the time of writing, at least seven fighter jets that had taken off in an emergency were shot down by F-14s."

"Only F-14 fighters?"

Liu Zunling hesitated a little before he said: "Before the bombing, the air defense forces on the island suffered from suppressive electromagnetic interference, and all radars could not work normally. If the intelligence we have is correct, the Nuland Navy's F-14 does not have electronic suppression capabilities. ”

"It's the Prowler, EA-6B."

Liu Zunling nodded, but didn't answer.

The EA-6B was improved from the A-6, and because of the addition of 2 electronic officers and a large amount of electronic warfare equipment, the empty weight was almost 3 tons more than that of the A-3. Even if the maximum take-off weight of the two is comparable, the EA-6B is more bulky and has higher requirements for the carrying platform.

In fact, the A-6 has high requirements for the carrying platform and must rely on catapults.

Because it uses a turbojet engine without afterburner, the maximum thrust is only 41 kN, and the thrust-to-weight ratio is less than 0.4, so the A-6 cannot lift off through the jump deck. In fact, any aircraft with a thrust-to-weight ratio that is too low will not be able to use the jump deck.

If there really is EA-6B involved in the combat operation of the bombing of transit islands, then in the Northern Guia there will definitely be aircraft carriers of the Nuland Navy.

The point is, is that really the EA-6B?

True, it is true that only the EA-6B in the Nuland Navy can perform electronic suppression tasks, and the F-14 cannot carry a dedicated electronic warfare pod, let alone an electronic officer's position. However, the Nuland Air Force has an EF-111A, and this kind of electronic warfare aircraft modified from fighter-bombers can fly thousands of kilometers away to carry out missions after multiple in-flight refueling, which is very suitable for long-distance raids.

Crucially, the Nuland Air Force has hundreds of tankers, several dozen of which are KC-160A with a fuel load of more than 10 tons.

As for the tactical aircraft that bombed the transit island, it is possible that it was the F-14 instead of a specialized attack aircraft.

Although at the time of design, the F-14 was almost identical to the Imperial Navy's "Battle-9", focusing on air supremacy, and was more inclined to rapid interception, and did not consider ground strikes, let alone specifically for attack missions, but for the Nuland Navy, it was obvious that multi-role fighters were needed, otherwise the focus would not have shifted to the F/A-18, and the number of other carrier-based aircraft was reduced at the same time.

When using the A-7, the carrier-based aviation wing of the Nuland Navy generally has a full fighter group and a full attack aircraft group, with 24 F-14 and 24 A-6 respectively, while the A-7 has only one group, with between 24 and 30 aircraft. By the time the F/A-18 entered service and replaced the A-7, the fighter group and attack aircraft group were all reduced to 20 aircraft, the multi-role fighter group increased to two, and the number of F/A-18s carried was between 40 and 48, an increase of more than a dozen aircraft over the past.

The addition of multi-role fighters is actually aimed at enhancing the tactical flexibility of the fleet.

It's just that no matter how much it increases, it can only reach 48 aircraft.

To continue to increase tactical flexibility, it is necessary to find ways to do so on other carrier-based airframes.

It is precisely in this way that the Nuland Navy has set its sights on the F-14, intending to give the F-14 the ability to carry out strike missions through software upgrades.

Actually, the F-14 does have this potential.

At the time of design, the F-14 retained several heavy load points, and the maximum external capacity exceeded 6 tons in theory, which can definitely carry all kinds of ground munitions.

In addition, the F-14's on-board electronics have a good ability to expand.

What is lacking is the relevant control procedures.

As early as a few years ago, the Nuland Navy did a test to get the F-14 to bombard ground targets with iron-hulled bombs, and the bombing accuracy was barely acceptable. If the fire control software is upgraded and the irradiation guidance capability is obtained by means of external pods, the F-14 will definitely become a qualified attack aircraft.

However, the relevant improvement work has never been carried out.

At least there is no information on this.

If you want to say it, the reason is simple. The F-14 is too expensive and requires a lot of maintenance to be used for ground strike missions. Besides, the Nuland Navy still has hundreds of A-6s, as well as many more A-7s, and there is no need for fighters to perform strike missions for the time being.

However, this does not exclude the bombing of the transit island with the F-14.

Even without improvements, the F-14 is capable of carrying iron-hulled bombs on bombing missions.

It can be seen that if it was the F-14 that bombed the transit island, and the EF-111A carried out the electronic suppression mission, the Nuland Navy would definitely not send the fleet to the North East and the Guia.

No matter how famous the Newland Navy is there, it is always attracting the attention of the Imperial Navy.

In fact, Liu Zunling also thought so, so after receiving the news, he did not call Bai Huawei immediately, but waited until Bai Huawei came over.

After the analysis, Bai Huawei decided to continue to wait and see.

However, the speed was reduced from 20 knots to 16 knots.

Not for fear of being ambushed, but to save fuel, so as to delay the refueling by 1 to 2 days and have more time to search the Nuland fleet.

According to Bai Huawei's judgment, the Nuland fleet was still about 2 days away from the island of Jotun.

The reason was that if Task Force 41 had not come to Yoton Island and had turned to the Guia Ocean immediately after the Transit Island had been bombed, it would have been two days before it could reach the vicinity of the Transit Island, and then it would take two to three days to search, and the Nuland fleet would have taken advantage of this opportunity to catch up.

According to this assumption, the Nuland fleet will reach the vicinity of Jotun Island on the night of October 8 and the early morning of October 9.

Obviously, if the speed of 20 knots continues, it will be possible to go to refuel before finding the Nuland fleet. Slowing down to 16 knots would delay refueling until 10 days later, and would have a greater chance of finding the Nuland fleet before then.

As for the impact of the slowdown, Bai Huawei felt that it was not serious.

Do not forget that there is an airfield on the island of Jotun where more than a dozen anti-submarine patrol aircraft are deployed, and by the 8th, a group of fighters will be stationed.

The key is that the Nuland fleet will inevitably deal with the island of Jotun first.

Unfortunately, the situation was not as Bai Huawei expected.

Less than 2 o'clock in the afternoon, the latest news came from Jumbo Harbor.

The garrison at Transit Island captured a Nuland pilot and was confirmed to be part of the 3rd Carrier Air Wing and was a captain squadron leader.

After this guy was captured, in accordance with the provisions of the "International Law of War", he confessed the necessary identity information such as his name, beliefs, and place of origin, including the number of the unit he belonged to.

Crucially, the garrison on the transit island also seized some items that could prove his identity, such as epaulettes embroidered with the wing's logo.

However, the pilot did not explain other things, such as the location of the task force.

Can it be concluded from this that it was the Nuland Navy's task force that attacked the transit island!?

If anything, a similar trick has been used by the Nuland army before, only the last time it was a corpse, not a living soldier. That is, in the Second Global War, in order to achieve the purpose of deceiving the opponent, the intelligence agency of the Nuland military deliberately let a corpse with "top secret" information float to the kingdom of Span Kingdom. After obtaining this "top secret" information, the Empire was convinced that the alliance group would land in the western part of the Locke Kingdom, and began to strengthen the defense line of the Sunset Ocean. In fact, the alliance group planned to launch a counterattack in the Beixuan region, and in the end, it did land in the Beixuan region, and it also caught the Riman Empire by surprise.

The same is true this time?

In fact, in the telegram sent, there was no mention of the Nuland fleet, only of the carrier-based aviation wing.

In other words, even the Treasure Harbor side can't be sure, and no more definite statement has been given.

There's a suspicious spot here that's hard to detect.

The F-14 is a two-seater fighter with a navigator in addition to the pilot, so even if only the pilot escapes, the life or death of the navigator should be mentioned.

Unless that downed F-14 has no navigator on it, only a pilot!

About 3 hours later, almost 5 p.m., I received another message from Jumbo Harbor.

At this time, Liu Zunling had already gone to rest.

After getting the telegram, Bai Huawei didn't think about it, and immediately called Liu Zunling back.

It has been confirmed that the main force that attacked the transit island in the morning was the A-6E, and one crashed less than 10 nautical miles from the transit island.

The officers and men guarding the transit island, taking a huge risk, drove the speedboat to the sea where the A-6E crashed and found several parts that were enough to prove its identity.

Among them is the stabilizer of the vertical tail.

In addition, radio listening units on nearby islands intercepted radio signals from Nuland fighters, some of which were from the old voice stations carried by the A-6E.

Most importantly, the Nuland used an air-to-surface missile modified from the AGM-84C.

There is no doubt that the F-14 will certainly not be able to mount and use such missiles.

However, this still does not prove that the Nuland fleet must be in the North and East Ocean.

At most, it can be said that there is such a possibility!

For this reason, after discussing with Liu Zunling, Bai Huawei ordered the fleet to enter the state of anti-submarine search, that is, to temporarily stop sailing to the east.

Because the fleet could not be stopped, it had to continue sailing, so it had to remain in combat condition.

Usually, the fleet is put into an anti-submarine search state, that is, the fleet is most vulnerable to submarine sneak attacks during the voyage.

Because they might receive new news at any time, Bai Huawei and Liu Zunling did not go to the restaurant for dinner, but sent a staff officer to bring two boxed lunches.

Sure enough, while they were having dinner, new news arrived.

Just after 11 a.m. local time, the transit island was bombed again, but the main force was F/A-18, and enemy aircraft used a large number of air-to-surface missiles.

In addition, some enemy aircraft dropped bombs at high altitudes, using precision-guided bombs.

At the same time, at the request of the commander of the Jumbo Harbor garrison, the Air Force sent a large electronic reconnaissance plane to fly at an ultra-low altitude to the north of the transit island. At around 2 p.m. local time, approximately 600 kilometers north of the transit island, one E-2C and at least four F-14Bs were spotted, in addition to several suspicious sources, suspected to be EA-6Bs on an electromagnetic suppression mission.

In addition, the electronic reconnaissance aircraft was intercepted at a distance of about 300 kilometers from the E-2C and was subsequently shot down by the F-14 with a missile.

Neither the E-2C nor the EA-6B can be deployed on a "quasi-aircraft carrier" with a flying deck.

That is, there must be a Nuland fleet in the Guia, and at least 1 aircraft carrier.

So, is there only 1 aircraft carrier, or are all 5 aircraft carriers over there? If it's the former, then don't take it personally. If it is the latter, it means that all the previous judgments were wrong, and the real purpose of the Nuland Navy is to storm the transit island.

To be precise, it is to occupy the transit island after the war and blockade the Khowaii Islands in one fell swoop!

But how can this hypothesis be proven?

"If we turn to ...... now"

"At what earliest time can we use satellite radio stations to communicate with the rear?"

Liu Zunling was stunned, or didn't understand what Bai Huawei meant.

"According to the latest satellite operation cycle, the satellite station will be able to use after half an hour." The communications staff officer answered for Liu Zunling.

"Go get ready, I'm going to send a telegram."

The communications staff officer nodded, but then looked at Liu Zunling.

"Must it be now?"

"Do you think that just by relying on the task force, even with five aircraft carriers, you can take down the transit island?"

"This ......"

Bai Huawei glanced at Liu Zunling before saying: "If the purpose of the Nuland Navy is to capture the transit island, then behind the task force, there must be a large landing fleet. The point is that the landing fleet is far enough away from the transit island to get less cover than the task force. ”

Hearing Bai Huawei say this, Liu Zunling understood.

Finding the Nuland Landing Fleet is the same as finding the Newland Mixed Fleet.

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