Churchill knew when the fleet was attacked, but it was useless to know it, and there was no empty weapon here in Hong Kong. Britain did not think at all that Hong Kong would be attacked, and did not deploy anti-aircraft weapons at all. Moreover, the shore artillery does not know where to counterattack, if the artillery is fired indiscriminately, it hurts civilians or what to do, at this time there are still many British in Hong Kong, if the war is lost, then what will China do if it retaliates.

Churchill was completely embarrassed, and Churchill was also worried that this was not a prelude to the opponent's attack. When the defending forces at the front reported that there was no sign of movement of the Chinese army, Churchill was temporarily relieved.

The loss of two destroyers, although both old-fashioned, was enough for Churchill to feel sorry for. But it's just a little appetizer, and the big meal is yet to come.

Compared with Churchill's mood, the Chinese in Hong Kong are much happier. The fishermen, who watched from the shore, rushed back to the village and made a big publicity. This matter spread ten, ten, hundreds, and soon everyone became aware of it.

The victory was so meaningful that many Hong Kongers wept with joy. Watching British warships flaunt their might in the waters of China every day is now a thing of the past. China used airplanes to destroy those invincible British ships, which made countless Hong Kong Chinese feel extremely comforted. They have appeared in countless fantasies like this, and today they finally don't have to fantasize anymore, the fact has happened. Some of the old people who are still alive are even more tearful, their growth is accompanied by British rule, and now they can still see Hong Kong's return to the embrace of the motherland in their lifetime, at this time they are smiling.

―――――――――――― at the same time as the dive bombers were dispatched, the electronics of the Naval Combat Staff were dripping. One news after another, the reconnaissance planes of the roadbed air force belonging to the Admiralty kept dispatching.

The radar department screened a large amount of data, which needed to be verified by reconnaissance aircraft. This is not the high-tech era of later generations, where basically a radar sweep can detect what it is. That requires the computer to use a large amount of data to compare, and now there is no way but to use the most earthy method to send a reconnaissance plane to check it.

And because of the curve of the earth, the radar wave is straight, beyond a certain distance, you can't see anything on the plane except the sky. At present, the radar of Hainan Island can only see the range of the Xisha Islands at the longest distance. A search radius of more than 300 kilometers to the sea.

However, due to the upgrade of the base, the building unit can just be built on the Paracel Islands. Originally, Chen Shao could also go to Xisha for a trip, so that it could also be built, but Chen Shao never had time to go, and this matter has been put on hold.

At this time, on the Paracel Islands, a simple three-story building stood on an isolated island. This is the radar that has just been built not long ago.

In the radar studio, more than a dozen young officers are busy inside, they are both male and female, but they all have one thing in common, they are all very focused.

At this time, the British fleet was cruising in the South China Sea, but it had never approached China, and it was still south of the Spratly Islands at this time. After receiving the news of the declaration of war from both sides, the Eastern Fleet planned to start its march towards China.

Roger. John. Brownlow. Keith, like Haig, was also a general who thought he had survived World War I, and Keith was much younger than Haig. At 56 years old, he still looks in good spirits. Originally, he was the commander of the Mediterranean Fleet, and like Haig, he was temporarily appointed to come to the East to serve as the commander of the Eastern Fleet. Compared with the scale of the Mediterranean Fleet, the Eastern Fleet, on the surface, looks as if it has been degraded. Because the Eastern Fleet is all old ships except for the Nelson, and the Royal Oak is not an old ship. But if you look at the cruisers and destroyers, they are all more than twenty years old.

However, this position was won by Case, he was a fanatical military strategist, he has always emphasized increasing military power, especially after the emergence of Kunlunshan-class battleships in China, he even applied to the parliament every day to build more powerful battleships. As soon as he heard that there might be a war with China, he applied many times to come to the front line and command the fleet to meet China's fleet.

Originally, the aircraft carrier Athletic God was going to follow him, but the two Japanese aircraft carriers had learned from the past, and the British side did not want this aircraft carrier to come here to die. At this time, there were still countless people who believed that there could only be battleships to defeat battleships, and sending aircraft carriers to the East, which had powerful battleships, was pure death.

So it's pitiful, Britain was in a state of consideration, and the Eastern Fleet at this time only had two battleships, the Nelson and the Royal Oak.

The Nelson was newly built, with a full load displacement of 38,000 tons, three triple 16-inch/45 caliber main guns, a number of secondary guns, and eight 40-mm anti-aircraft guns. The Royal Oak was built in 1916 with a full load displacement of 31,000 tons, three triple 381 mm guns, two 76 mm anti-aircraft guns, eight 20 mm anti-aircraft guns, and three seaplanes.

Keith was standing on the aircraft carrier of the battleship Nelson, and he used to have a sense of pride whenever he saw a British battleship. Now seeing the battleship under his feet, Keith has no pride, although this battleship is very advanced and new, but at this time he can't find a place to be proud.

In his eyes, China, which had always been backward, actually built an incomparably powerful battleship, with a tonnage of 50,000 tons. It is more than 10,000 tons larger than the latest British battleship under its feet. This made Keith extremely unbalanced. In his eyes, such a battleship should have been built by the British. He doesn't have anything to say about whether Germany or France made it, but now it's actually from the hands of a backward country. When he heard the news, he didn't believe it, and blamed others many times for being false. When the news spread more and more, Keith had to believe it. At that time, he also lamented: "This is the biggest joke of the century, God must be asleep." ”

It was already in the past, and Keith didn't want to do that now, but wanted to see how much combat power the Chinese battleship claimed to be the largest now. Whether it was as reported in the news, the Japanese Third Fleet had no backhand.

If the British knew what Keith was thinking, there must have been many people who wanted to strangle him. This is completely different from Britain's plan, which wanted to fight guerrilla warfare with China, but did not think of going to the other side to fight hard.

However, they will all be disappointed, because when the British Eastern Fleet approached the Paracel Islands, it had already been detected by radar there. And China did not intend to send battleships either, but a swarm of underwater ghosts and eagles in the sky.

Radar observation station in the Paracel Islands.

A female soldier saw the dots slowly emerging on the scanning screen, and more and more, and when the dots no longer appeared, the number of dots was exactly twelve points. Although it is not clear whether it is a warship or a merchant ship, one thing is certain, that is, this target is definitely a large ship.

The female soldier immediately reported the situation on the radar.

When the naval staff headquarters in Hainan received this news, they attached great importance to it, and there were many suspicious targets in front of them, but none of them were obvious. The previous targets, confirmed by reconnaissance aircraft, all denied the fact that it was the British Eastern Fleet. Now one of the most noteworthy targets has appeared, the location of which is also critical, and the number of targets is the same as the number of warships of the British Eastern Fleet is known.

The Navy's General Staff immediately passed on this news to the aircraft carrier battle group also in the South China Sea, and the acting captain of the Shihuang aircraft carrier is called Liu Haijiang, a graduate of the first phase of the Chinese Military Academy, a naval ship academy, and an aircraft carrier major. When he just graduated, like other cadets, he was personally awarded the title of lieutenant by Chen Shao. Seven years have passed, and like the other students of the first batch, they have all received a huge improvement. This year, he was just promoted to the acting captain of the aircraft carrier Shihuang, becoming the youngest captain of an aircraft carrier, mainly because he wrote an article: "Theory of Over-the-horizon Operations" was received by Chen Shao, and then took office.

In this battle against the British Eastern Fleet, the aircraft carrier battle group was also commanded by him. This is a test for Chen Shao for him, and it is also an opportunity for him.

Liu Haijiang has no outstanding background, an ordinary person, a person who grew up by the sea since childhood. Because of fate, he entered the Chinese Military Academy, and because of that article, he got today's opportunity. Liu Haijiang will never forget Chen Shao's summons for the rest of his life. Liu Haijiang feels that this is the biggest opportunity in his life, irreplaceable. After the meeting, Chen Shao's last sentence was always in his mind: China needs soldiers like you with self-opinions, your theory is very good, and this will be a new model of war in the future.

Liu Haijiang was lucky, but he was not the first and definitely not the last.

Unlike Case, Liu Haijiang has always been proud, and he is not proud of battleships, but aircraft carriers. In Liu Haijiang's eyes, the aircraft carrier is the future maritime hegemon. The era of battleships will definitely be replaced by aircraft carriers, and no matter how powerful a battleship is, when facing an aircraft carrier, the aircraft carrier will not give the battleship a chance to attack the aircraft carrier itself at all. Unless it's a funny aircraft carrier commander who uses an aircraft carrier to fight a battleship with a gun.

This is also the starting point of Liu Haijiang's theory, over-the-horizon combat. The opponent can't even see you, how can you fight? And your carrier-based aircraft can bomb each other non-stop, kite flying tactics, this is the advantage of aircraft carriers.

Liu Haijiang received a message from the Navy Staff and measured the distance between himself and the target. When they learned that the distance between the two sides was only 300 nautical miles, they immediately sent a reconnaissance plane to the target sea area.

Liu Haijiang had a hunch that the target to be reconnoitred this time was definitely the British Eastern Fleet. He didn't have this hunch in the previous reconnaissance, and although he didn't believe in such ethereal things, sometimes he believed a little. A voice echoed in his heart, and the naval battle was coming.

(To be continued)