The Japanese Navy lost most of its main aircraft carriers in previous naval battles, which meant that they lost their ability to fight for sea supremacy in the open oceans. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 However, with the exception of aircraft carriers, the damage of other ships of the Japanese Navy after the start of the war was not large, especially the large battleships.

Only the hapless battleship Yamashiro was sunk by a submarine in the Japanese Navy. The Ise, Fuso, and Kongo were wounded, but they have all been repaired. The other capital ships were not damaged. When the Ming Dynasty launched the Ryukyu Offensive, the Japanese Navy was still able to mobilize more than ten capital ships to join the naval battle.

In addition, the battered air fleet of the Japanese Navy also maintained a certain combat strength. The Katsuragi, which has been reequipped with radars, has been re-entered active service and has become the flagship of the reorganized Combined Fleet Air Fleet. The Japanese still have a number of light aircraft carriers at their disposal. Of course, the damage was not light, and the Ruihe, which was still lying in the dock of Wujun Port at the moment, would definitely not be able to participate in this operation.

If you add in other ships, large and small, the Japanese, who still have three points of nails, will be able to pull out a fleet that looks decent on paper. It's just that the Japanese Navy knows best what the combat capability of this fleet is.

Compared with the Japanese, the attack formation of the Ming Navy was very terrifying. There are two carrier battle groups alone providing air support, each with four newly commissioned escort carriers. The two carrier formations will provide air cover for the landing force while simultaneously carrying out ground bombing missions.

In the same way, they were also tasked with luring the Japanese Navy.

As the main force of the air strike force, it is still the 11th Task Force under the command of Vice Admiral Tong Haifeng. The fleet, which had four regular fleet carriers, did not need to engage in ground attacks, and their only job was to sink any Japanese warships that came their way.

In addition to this, the Ming Navy mobilized a powerful artillery fleet. The artillery strike formation, consisting of four cutting-edge new provincial capital-class battleships and four old ultra-dreadnought battleships as the core, will provide fire support for the landing force.

The production of the new provincial capital-class battleships of the Ming Dynasty is considerable, but there are too many places where they are needed. The ability to squeeze out four ships this time was the result of direct intervention by the naval command.

As for the old ultra-dreadnought battleships, most of these old battleships were modernized before the start of the war. For example, the piping system was replaced, which strengthened the pipe loss capacity. The two sides of the hull have increased anti-torpedo protruding compartments, which improves the underwater defense capability of the hull and provides additional buoyancy. Expansion of mast and bridge facilities to install new radar and other equipment. Replacement of new anti-aircraft guns, installation of new seaplanes, and so on.

These modifications have greatly improved the combat capabilities of these grandfather warships. It's just that because they are unwilling to carry out large-scale modifications to important parts such as hull structure, armor defense parts, power system and main guns, they still can't be compared with cutting-edge warships.

The operation against the Ryukyu Islands was close to each other, and the Admiralty received definite information that the Japanese Navy had mobilized all the fleets it could muster for the war, including the Japanese capital fleet. As a result, these grandfather warships were able to put on the battlefield again.

Originally, after the new battleships officially entered service, these old battleships were modernized and gradually entered the reserve fleet. If war hadn't broken out, they might have been mothballed.

These battleships, together with a large number of cruisers and destroyers accompanying them, formed the work of fire support on the opposite shore and escort the transport fleet. And their main opponent is also a group of grandpa-class capital ships.

The Japanese Navy had twelve battleships before the war, not counting the Shinano, which was under construction. A year after the start of the war, with the exception of the hapless Yamashiro, the other battleships suffered few losses. While the Ming Dynasty continued to launch cutting-edge battleships like dumplings, the Japanese Navy was still carrying out rounds of large-scale modernization of old battleships.

The power system of a battleship is very important, and it is basically built and installed in one go. If you want to revamp the powertrain, it's like a completely new rebuild.

However, the Japanese, who lacked military spending, did just that. Many of the Navy's battleships that had been in service for many years had undergone new power system modifications to increase speed.

The Japanese are very poor. By exporting rice, timber, coal, women. Coupled with the meager processing fees earned by processing with supplied materials, what kind of possessions can the Japanese save? The ability to assemble such a fleet was already a miracle created by the Japanese tightening their belts. The people of the Ming Dynasty could not imagine the miserable situation of the poor Japanese who would starve to death every year.

Most of the rice was exported to the Ming Dynasty in exchange for valuable foreign exchange, leaving only barely subsistence grain in the country. If there is a slight natural or man-made disaster, a large number of poor people will immediately go bankrupt.

There is no politics in this era. Many people were starved to death on the streets. In the dark corners of bustling Tokyo, there will never be a shortage of stiff corpses. This kind of thing is normal in this era of capital supremacy.

The Japanese battleships, which were constantly undergoing major overhauls, especially the battleships that had been regarded as the absolute core, had long since been very different from when they were first launched. It is normal for the displacement to generally increase by one or two percent.

The Ming Navy will also upgrade and improve the warships. But it will never be forced, let alone altered the power system and armor protection and firepower. They will choose to decommission the battleship and then build a new one directly. And the Japanese were completely forced. Especially after the rise of aircraft carriers and the Japanese Navy came up with the Super Battleship program!

Not much to say about aircraft carriers, the new maritime hegemon, all resources must be tilted towards aircraft carriers. The super battleship plan is because in the face of the crushing quality and quantity superiority of the Ming Navy, the Japanese Navy, which feels that it is invincible, proposes not to compete with the Ming Navy in quantity, but to build a super warship that can be ten at the same time. In the event of a fierce battle at sea, a single ship against an entire enemy battleship fleet.

This crazy plan was passed by the even more crazy Japanese. Even the Ming Navy did not dare to compete with the Japanese Navy for super warships. It's not that it can't be done, but it's not necessary.

No matter how powerful a battleship is, can it fight several warships at the same time? No matter how strong your armor is, can you wrap it all up from beginning to end? No matter how powerful your firepower is, can you take out a battleship with a single shot? The so-called super-battleship program is nothing more than the desperate self-consolation of the weak.

When Yamamoto Isoroku planned the battle plan for the Ryukyu Islands, he already understood that the only way to repel the attack of the Ming army was to destroy their coastal supply grounds and sink their transport ships.

To do this, it is no longer realistic to rely on naval aviation, which has lost most of its combat effectiveness. Moreover, because of the bombing and free safari operations of the Ming fighters, Japan's air power was unable to provide sufficient fighter support for the Ryukyu Islands.

After losing air superiority, the only forces in Yamamoto's hands that could still pose a threat to the Ming attack force were those battleships.

When Yamamoto made up his mind to use the battleship force to attack the Ming landing fleet, his think tanks quickly came up with a specific battle plan.

It is mentioned here that Isoroku Yamamoto, as the commander of the fleet, only proposed a strategic policy, and the specific operation was planned by the staff officers, and then handed over to the front-line commanders to carry out. The think tanks led by Kameshima Nakasa are very good, and the previous plan to raid the Zhoushan Islands was planned by them.

One day in mid-July from the mainland and Taiwan. Long-range bombers from Bay Island once again visited several islands in the Ryukyu Islands, dropping a large number of bombs as they had done for weeks. The main bombing target was still the island of Ryukyu (i.e., Okinawa). This is what everyone recognizes as the main landing site of the Ming Dynasty.

"Nagano-kun, do you think we can hold this place?" Lieutenant General Ushijima Mitsuru, commander of the Japanese Ryukyu garrison, put down the binoculars in his hand, looked at the Ming bomber group swaggering away with an expressionless face, and asked the chief of staff beside him.

"Your Excellency." Rear Admiral Nagano Mori respectfully replied, "If the navy can defeat the Ming fleet, the air support of the mainland can seize air supremacy." With the courage of the soldiers and the dedication of their lives for His Majesty the Emperor, we have no problem holding on here. ”

"Navy? Air supremacy? Ushijima, who was short and stocky, pursed his lips and sighed softly in his heart.

What was the situation of the Japanese Navy at this time, they were very clear to the top brass of the army. The Japanese Navy, having lost most of its aircraft carriers, was no longer able to continue to compete head-on with the Ming Navy. What kind of role the Navy will be able to achieve, no one knows now.

As for air support on the mainland, after the Ming Dynasty's strategic bombing of the Japanese mainland, which lasted for several months, the production of aircraft and engines in the Japanese mainland has been reduced to an unacceptable level.

Building an airplane is not an easy task, especially with a cutting-edge technology like an engine. The small-scale workshop model that the Japanese are accustomed to cannot produce these products on a large scale.

The factories and industrial areas that could produce aircraft have been largely destroyed by massive bombing. The planes they now have at hand are already clumsy enough to even defend their homeland, let alone protect the Ryukyus. The only hope is American aid.

It's just that the planes of the Americans need to go by sea when they come over. Daming's raid ships and submarine forces were active in the waters around Japan and on the North Pacific shipping routes, and many of the US-aided planes were sent to the bottom of the sea before they could go ashore.

And the Americans were not willing to let their pilots risk flying all the way to Japan in fighter planes from various northern islands. Let's not mention mechanical failures, weather and other reasons. The fighter units deployed by the Ming in Kamchatka and Sakhalin are not decorations!

"It's still up to you." After a moment of silence, Ushijima shook his head and sighed. (To be continued.) )