In World War II, the United States was undoubtedly the aircraft carrier superpower, and throughout World War II, the United States built more than 180 aircraft carriers, and the average construction speed of one in two or three months made it difficult for other naval powers to match.

As the No. 2 naval power, Britain has only built more than 30 aircraft carriers, which is almost a fraction of that of the United States, and Japan, which is also known as a naval power, has only built more than 20 aircraft carriers.

Throughout World War II, aircraft carriers were divided into three types: fleet aircraft carriers, light aircraft carriers and escort aircraft carriers, of which fleet aircraft carriers were the main force in every naval battle, often with a large tonnage and a relatively large number of carrier-based aircraft.

Ye Feng compared the aircraft carriers that had come out so far in the "Nuwa" system, and the first aircraft carrier he chose to exchange was the Essex-class aircraft carrier of the United States.

The Essex-class aircraft carrier is the largest number of first-class aircraft carriers ever built by the U.S. Navy. Most American war historians agree that naval aviation played an important role in the Pacific War, and the Essex-class aircraft carriers played a significant role. It injected mobility, staying power, and attack power into the U.S. naval aviation, allowing the Allied navies to wrest sea supremacy in the Pacific Ocean from the Japanese navy, ensuring that the Allied forces approached the Japanese mainland and finally defeated Japan.

Before the outbreak of World War II, the United States already had five aircraft carriers, but at that time battleships were still regarded as the backbone of maritime power, and aircraft carriers were only a kind of floating airfield on the sea, from which reconnaissance planes took off and landed and attack planes that had not yet proven their power. The strategy, tactics, and role of carrier-based aviation are still in the midst of theoretical debate.

With the outbreak of war in Europe and the increasingly intensified contradictions between Japan's expansion and the United States, the United States deeply felt the need to strengthen the construction of aircraft carriers. With the strong support of President Roosevelt, the U.S. Congress passed the "Fleet Enlargement Act" and the "Two Oceans Navy Act" in 1940, planning to build 11 Essex-class aircraft carriers in fiscal year 1940 and two aircraft carriers in fiscal year 1941

In the Hereafter. Until the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and the outbreak of the Pacific War, only 5 ships were built. The attack on Pearl Harbor led to a radical change in the strategic thinking of the US Navy. The remaining U.S. naval forces in the Pacific Ocean are composed of aircraft carriers as the core of the resistance force.

The Essex-class aircraft carriers are not only numerous, but in the later World War II, the United States built a total of 24 aircraft carriers of this type, and the Essex-class aircraft carriers are mature in technology.

Furthermore. Ye Feng also took a fancy to the durability of this aircraft carrier, which was difficult to sink throughout World War II. After several unprecedented naval battles, not a single Essex-class aircraft carrier has ever been sunk. The Essex-class aircraft carriers were designed with a large number of watertight compartments, a structure that allowed some of the ships in the class to be sunk despite repeated losses during the war.

In the naval battles of later generations. Most of the ships of this class took part in the battle to varying degrees of damage. Some of them were seriously wounded, and a total of 14 (times) were attacked by Japanese torpedoes, bombs, and kamikaze suicide planes, but none of them sank due to their injuries.

The design of the Essex was modeled after the Yorktown-class aircraft carrier, which had undergone six improvements by 1940. Drawing on the advantages of previous aircraft carriers at all levels, the ship type is an expanded and improved version of the Yorktown class. The ratio of length to width of the hull is 8:1. There are lifts at the front and middle and rear of the flight deck.

The arrest system is equipped with a set of arresting cables at the stern and bow of the ship, which can stop the landing of carrier-based aircraft weighing up to 5.4 tons. The protection of the Essex-class aircraft carriers has been improved compared to the Yorktown-class. Underwater, horizontal protection and anti-aircraft fire have been strengthened.

In his office, Ye Feng liked the Essex-class aircraft carrier more and more.

…….

Outside the Zhoushan Islands, on the surface of the East China Sea. Several reconnaissance planes appeared in this area from time to time to conduct reconnaissance in this area.

In the evening.

Several speedboats were heading towards the area. Ye Feng was in the speedboat, and in addition, Zhao Long stood on the bow of a speedboat, facing the sea breeze, looking at the vast sea area in this area.

The light gradually dimmed, and the speedboat also stopped on the sea, Ye Feng walked to the bow of the speedboat, looking at the sea where the light gradually dimmed, and his heart was slightly excited.

Turning on the "Nuwa" system, Ye Feng began to exchange aircraft carriers, an Essex-class aircraft carrier appeared out of thin air on the sea not far away, as if by magic, fortunately there was no one else nearby, otherwise he would definitely be dumbfounded.

This is too mysterious!

Zhao Long, as well as several members of the special combat team accompanying him, were so excited that they looked at the huge aircraft carrier not far away, although everyone was a system person, but they were inevitably excited when they saw Ye Feng exchanging such a huge aircraft carrier.

"Don't hold on, everyone, let's lean over and board the aircraft carrier to take a look!"

Everyone recovered from the excitement and started the speedboats one after another, several speedboats approached, and everyone successfully boarded the brand-new Essex-class aircraft carrier.

In addition to Zhao Long, there were 20 or 30 special combat personnel accompanying him, and after everyone boarded the aircraft carrier, everything seemed to feel novel.

Ye Feng stood on the huge deck of the aircraft carrier, facing the sea breeze, looking at the vast sea, his heart was surging, and Ye Feng's mind couldn't help but think of the specific data of this aircraft carrier.

The standard displacement is 27,200 tons, and the full load displacement is 34,880 tons. The length of the ship (overall length) is 265.79 meters, the flight deck length is 262.13 meters, the beam is 28.35 meters, the flight deck is 29.26 meters wide, and the average draft is 7 meters. The hangar is 174 meters long, 21 meters wide and 5.4 meters high.

Propulsion unit: 8 boilers, 4 geared steam turbines, the main engine output is 150,000 shaft horsepower, 4 shafts, and the speed is 32.7 knots. It has a fuel capacity of 6,300 tons and a cruising range of 15,000 nautical miles / 15 knots.

Armor: waterline armor belt 63 mm - 101 mm thick, turret armor 127 mm thick, turret base armor 28 mm thick, flight deck armor 38 mm, hangar deck armor 76 mm thick, main deck armor 38 mm thick.

2 twin 127 mm caliber high-level dual-purpose guns for long-range targets. 8 quadruple 40-mm "Bofors" guns, a total of 32 guns; 46 single-barreled 20-mm "Erlikon" anti-aircraft guns.

Carrier-based aircraft include: 2 fighter squadrons (36 units), 1 reconnaissance bomber squadron (18 units); 1 squadron of dive bombers (18 aircraft), 1 squadron of torpedo bombers (18 aircraft), 1 dive bomber for liaison missions, a total of 91 aircraft; There are also 9 in reserve (3 each for fighters, dive bombers and torpedo aircraft).

……

The data of the Essex-class aircraft carrier appeared in Ye Feng's mind one by one, and Ye Feng had already looked at the data of the Essex-class aircraft carrier in the "Nuwa" system in detail before the exchange.

"Commander, we finally have an aircraft carrier." Zhao Long next to him was full of emotion.

Ye Feng nodded, and then said to Zhao Long: "Contact Navy Commander Liu Haiyang, and immediately send someone over to drive our aircraft carrier back." ”

"Yes!"

Zhao Long saluted, and then rushed over to send a report.

Navy Commander Liu Haiyang's rank of lieutenant general is naturally also a naval professional who has been exchanged for the "Nuwa" system, and Liu Haiyang has already known that Ye Feng will exchange an aircraft carrier this evening, and Liu Haiyang has already arranged for personnel to be on standby. Zhoushan Military Port, several warships, several transport ships are ready to go.

Ordinary people naturally don't know that this aircraft carrier was exchanged for their own military seat, and everyone is also wondering about the origin of this aircraft carrier, and many people speculate that the origin of this aircraft carrier may be related to the "Pangu" company.

A lot of materials and the "Pangu" company's fleet have been continuously transported to Ningbo Port, providing a sufficient material basis for the development of the new Sixth Army, especially a large amount of ore, crude oil, rubber, and so on.

After receiving the telegram, Liu Haiyang was extremely happy, and immediately gave an order and led everyone towards Ye Feng's location.

Ye Feng, accompanied by Zhao Long and several special combat personnel, took a slight look at the aircraft carrier. The "Nuwa" system is still very user-friendly, although Ye Feng spent a lot of merit points, but once it was exchanged, the ammunition and fuel on this aircraft carrier were full, and even the carrier-based aircraft were also a lot.

Ye Feng was in the command room of the aircraft carrier, and a special combat team member came over and reported: "Military seat, Commander Liu and the others are coming over here." ”

Ye Feng was in a good mood and said happily: "Let's go, let's personally go to greet our naval soldiers." ”

Zhao Long, plus several special combat team members, everyone stood behind Ye Feng, standing on the deck and watching a fleet of ships in the distance approaching here. Zhoushan Military Port is not far from here, and Liu Haiyang and others came over in more than an hour.

Liu Haiyang saw the huge aircraft carrier in the distance, his mood was inevitably excited, the distance was close, and he vaguely saw Ye Feng standing on the deck in person, he couldn't help but tidy up his military uniform, and walked towards the deck with several senior commanders of the navy.

Seeing such a huge aircraft carrier, the soldiers who came to pick up the ship suddenly cheered,

It didn't take long for Liu Haiyang to board the deck of the aircraft carrier with several senior commanders of the navy, and led everyone to walk towards Ye Feng quickly, standing upright in front of Ye Feng, saluting, and moving in unison, everyone's voices were loud.

"Hello military seat!"

Ye Feng nodded, gave everyone a salute in return, and then ordered everyone to receive the aircraft carrier, and a large number of soldiers began to familiarize themselves with the aircraft carrier after boarding the aircraft carrier, and prepared for the start of the aircraft carrier.

"Gunza, this is our first aircraft carrier and we don't have a name yet, you can give this aircraft carrier a name!"

Seeing that everyone was eagerly looking at him, Ye Feng groaned for a while and then said, "This aircraft carrier of ours will be called 'Nuwa' in the future, what do you think?" ”

This aircraft carrier was redeemed from the "Nuwa" system, and Ye Feng decided to name this aircraft carrier "Nuwa", and the future aircraft carriers Ye Feng decided to name them after Chinese mythological characters.

*****

Today's three watches, the second one will be sent. (To be continued......)