Others may not know what naval warfare will look like when it enters the aviation age, but Zhang Cheng understands it very well. He'd seen too much of that scene on TV and in books.

Even a complete fleet moving at high speed will be extremely critical if it is attacked by an attack aircraft group without air supremacy. What's more, a target ship that is moored in place and has no means of defense?

The new planes are piloted by test pilots who have only been exposed to the new planes in the last month or two, but they have been trained to throw simulated bombs. Now it is just a matter of replacing the simulated munitions used in training with live munitions, from markers on land to target ships that are thrown stationary on the sea.

Dozens of spectators on the foredeck of the Hanzhong raised their binoculars and looked at the sky almost simultaneously. Everyone's eyes were fixed on the rapidly approaching group of planes in the distance.

Although the Germans are the leader in optical technology, the Ming is not bad. High-powered military telescopes can clearly see the status of those planes in the sky.

After breaking through the clouds, the twelve planes quickly separated. The four fighters began to accelerate towards the target ship, and the four dive bombers began to pull up in search of a dive line. The four torpedo planes quickly lowered their altitude and flew steadily to the side of the target ship in a row at the altitude of the sea-skimming flight.

"How did you come up with this attack-and-match tactic?" Marshal Li Han, who was holding a telescope to carefully observe the situation, opened his mouth and asked softly, "Although I don't know what the actual combat power is, but from the perspective of an old navy, this target ship is finished." ”

The corners of Zhang Cheng's mouth curled slightly, and a faint smile appeared in his eyes. He knew that Vice Admiral Yunmo must have already handed over the tactics of naval aviation. smiled, and said in response, "It's nothing, just think about it." ”

Marshal Li Han put down the telescope in his hand in surprise, looked sideways at Zhang Cheng, and had a crying and laughing expression on his face. Shaking his head, he raised his binoculars and continued to stare at the plane that had taken its place.

The fastest fighter first swept over the target ship at high speed, dropping a dense stream of bullets at the wooden gun emplacements on the target ship. There is no way, this dreadnought has long been converted into a training ship, and the weapons systems on board have long been dismantled, and now they can only be replaced with some models.

According to Zhang Cheng's book on the tactics of naval aviation, without having to engage with enemy fighters, these fighters should sweep over enemy ships at high speed and use airborne fire to fiercely strafe enemy ships' anti-aircraft gun positions and bridge positions. Create good conditions for the upcoming attack in the future.

However, the newcomers who played today were obviously not at the level they had been after years of training, and most of their firepower was swept to the surface. Although it seems to be very powerful, it is actually not very useful. And this is still attacking a stationary target ship.

"I still haven't trained enough." Marshal Li Han shook his head and said softly, "If you want to meet the requirements of the tactical planning of naval aviation, you need to train hard for at least one or two years. ”

Zhang Cheng pursed his lips and did not speak.

Soon, when the fighter jet was gone. The dive bombers in the sky roared at a large angle with a loud and sharp whistling sound, and dived straight down to the target ship on the sea. In the distance, on the sea, four torpedo planes had already pulled out a horizontal line and began to quickly approach the side of the target ship.

High-speed dive bombers have a strong overload force, and rookies with poor physical fitness or inexperience are prone to make mistakes at this stage. Fortunately, the test pilots recruited by Zhang Cheng are all retired pilots with a lot of flight time. They are not yet going to make simple mistakes.

Watch the exponential drop on the altimeter as the hands point to 800 meters. The pilot of the leading aircraft pulled the trigger against the strong overload force and fired the school projectile, and after confirming the trajectory, he immediately released the bomb dropper.

The pilot and radioman on the lead plane clearly felt that as soon as their bodies were loosened, the airbrakes behind the wings immediately came into play. The pilot steered the plane out of the dive line. The three planes that followed him also dropped aviation armor-piercing shells one after another.

Aviation armor-piercing projectiles equipped with spiral stabilizers fell from the sky with huge kinetic energy. Four 500-kilogram aviation armor-piercing shells pulled a diagonal line over the target ship, two fell into the sea water and became near-misses, and the other two smashed heavily into the hull of the target ship.

The horizontal armor of the old dreadnoughts could not have stopped the new armor-piercing shells in any case. After smashing through two decks, the fuse of the armor-piercing shell was activated, and the bomb exploded violently.

"Now the target ship has neither a huge amount of fuel nor enough ammunition depots to destroy the entire battleship, so it doesn't look very good. However, once it enters actual combat, this level of penetrating explosion is enough to bring irreparable huge losses to a battleship. Zhang Cheng looked at the huge target ship with the wreckage of the ship rising into the sky in the distance, and explained softly.

"I know." Marshal Li Han nodded, put down the binoculars, raised his hand to the target ship that was already flying sideways in the distance in the huge explosion, and said with a smile: "This is still called a bad effect?" If I'm not mistaken, at least one hit the engine room. A battleship with destroyed power is a dead end on the battlefield. Like you said, if there's a lot of fuel and ammunition, the destructive power is even more terrifying. Moreover, a fifty percent hit rate is a complete miracle for the Navy. It is possible that the battleship main gun salvo did not hit a single hit in many rounds. Even if it hits, it doesn't necessarily have this effect. ”

Zhang Cheng glanced at Marshal Li Han in surprise, he didn't expect that a hard-core navy advocating the doctrine of big ships and huge artillery would be able to say such a thing. In Zhang Cheng's impression, this kind of high-level naval officer who advocates the doctrine of big ships and huge guns should be born to be the sworn enemy of the naval aviation faction. I didn't expect them to understand new technology so well.

The target ship on the surface of the sea was visibly heavily damaged. However, after all, it was a former capital ship, and two armor-piercing shells could not sink this sturdy battleship without a detonating depot and an oil depot. The real lethal threat came from the four torpedo planes flying over the sea.

Because there is no threat, and it is also an attack on stationary targets. The four torpedo planes could easily and stably fly in the Bohai Bay, where the wind and waves were not too strong, to a place only 6 or 700 meters away from the target ship, and calmly drop torpedoes.

The four torpedoes burrowed into the water and soon brought out four white wake marks on the surface of the sea, and swooped straight at the target ship. It didn't take long for the left side of the target ship to stir up four huge splashes under the gaze of dozens of pairs of eyes!

The side of the dreadnought, which was more than a hundred meters long, was torn through four huge openings. The armor of twenty years ago could not withstand the powerful weapons of the new era. After the waterline armor was torn apart, hundreds of tons of seawater rushed in, quickly submerging the bottom compartment of the target ship and quickly spreading to the other compartments. The entire target ship is tilting and sinking at a speed that is visible to the naked eye.

"Alright." Marshal Li Han put down the binoculars in his hand, turned to look at the high-ranking naval officers around him, and said with a cold face, "Everyone has seen it now." Toys that we used to look down on are now able to sink capital ships. Let me know what you think. ”

"It's just a target ship." A voice crept out of the crowd.

"That's right." Marshal Li Han nodded: "It's really just a target ship." There were no anti-aircraft artillery and no escort fighters. So today's test is mainly to verify whether the aircraft is capable of sinking the capital ship. Now you've all seen it? ”

"Yes." The generals quickly nodded in response.

The target ship in the distance was still slowly sinking, and no one could deny the fact that they were watching it. Even the toughest big ship and giant artillery faction can't deny reality.

"I do not deny that the new aircraft pose a great threat to the warships of the Navy. But. Lieutenant General Liu Bin, who has always been calm, said: "The new aircraft still has defects. I looked at the performance data submitted by General Dynamics, and it was clearly written that these fighters did not have the ability to fight in adverse weather conditions and could not operate at night. What if you encounter an enemy warship in such extreme weather conditions? If the fighter plane cannot take off, the aircraft carrier becomes a live target. ”

"You're not wrong." Marshal Li Han nodded, then looked at Zhang Cheng with a strange gaze, and said softly: "However, the specific tactics Lieutenant Colonel Zhang Cheng has already introduced in the article On Naval Aviation Tactics." I think the method is good, so I won't say much about it here. You can take a good look at it when you go back. ”

"Yes." Lieutenant General Liu Bin retreated unwillingly. He's out of luck this time. Not only did he not lose his benefits, but he became famous in the navy, and stealing chickens and rice was the way he was now. At this moment, the resentment against Zhang Cheng in his heart was already higher than the bridge of the battleship.

"Vigorously developing naval aviation is already a trend, and we must follow the pace of the times."

"The reason why the Daming Navy has always been able to maintain a global presence and the number one position in the world. One of the most important reasons is that once a new technology emerges, we can quickly adopt it on a large scale. Technological innovations such as sail battleships, ironclad ships, and dreadnoughts have firmly grasped the trend of the times. Now that we have entered the age of aviation, we cannot afford to lag behind. ”

"The performance of these aircraft is very good, if there are enough of them. I think it is even possible for them to completely annihilate the mighty Pacific Fleet! ”

"Aren't airplanes only coming around in the last twenty or thirty years? Who would have thought at that time that planes could sink capital ships? Now technology is evolving so fast. I think that the problem of not being able to fight at night and in the rain will be solved with the advancement of technology. ”

"It's the age of aviation."

"The capital ship is still very strong. Especially when fighting at night and supporting the land. The capital ship cannot be abandoned easily. ”

"Not only carrier-based aircraft forces, but shore-based aviation are also important. We have a large number of islands all over the world. If airfields are built on these islands and a large number of aircraft are arranged, they will be unsinkable aircraft carriers. ”

“”

The elite of the Navy began to argue, but the basic attitude was clear: the Navy was about to develop its aviation forces vigorously. And the source of all this is these three epoch-making new fighters launched by Zhang Cheng!

An army lieutenant colonel has promoted the revolution of the navy, and Zhang Cheng's name will be remembered in the annals of the Ming Navy!

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