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Chapter 459 Sino-American Atlantic Naval Battle VIII

Today's first watch, and there will be two to three more later

When the Imperial Chinese Navy concentrated its superior fleet to encircle and annihilate the Monte fleet, Eberly had already sent carrier-based seaplanes to search for it. Pen Fun Pavilion www.biquge.info read with me h-u-n mixed * h-u-n mixed * small - say - net, please keep in mind that the Imperial Chinese Naval Air Force alone sent a dozen fighters to deploy between the Eberly fleet and the Monte fleet, intending to prevent the Eberly reconnaissance planes from discovering the Monte fleet.

However, Eberly still has some skills after all. When he learned that there was a Chinese Imperial Navy carrier-based aircraft intercepting his reconnaissance plane in the northeast direction, he had already guessed that there must be an ulterior secret operation of the Chinese Imperial Navy in that direction, so he judged that the Monte fleet must be attacked by the Chinese Imperial Navy somewhere in the northeast direction, and ordered the main force of the Ocean Fleet to sail quickly to the northeast.

At the same time, the naval aviation of the Chinese Empire continued to carry out attacks on the main forces of the American Ocean Fleet. In the fierce air battle, the US fighters suffered heavy losses, but they successfully blocked the approach of the bomber group of the Chinese Imperial Navy, forcing it to drop bombs at an altitude of several thousand meters, and it was difficult to accurately hit the US warships at this distance, protecting the safety of the US Ocean Fleet.

At about three o'clock, the main force of the US Ocean Fleet arrived at the sea area 100 kilometers east of Atlantic City, where the Monte fleet and Wang Shouchang's fleet first engaged in battle.

If Eberly could arrive earlier, if Willems could hold out for another half an hour, then he could flank the main force of the Imperial Chinese Navy in front and back, make Li Dingxin's tactics of pulling teeth out of the tiger's mouth fail, and even form a counter-encirclement posture against the main force of the Imperial Chinese Navy.

When Li Dingxin learned that Eberly's main fleet had arrived, he also felt a cold sweat on his back. The tactic of pulling teeth from the tiger's mouth is a double-edged sword, and it can also hurt yourself while hurting the enemy.

"It's dangerous!"

This sentence came out of the mouths of almost every officer and sailor of the Imperial Navy who was well versed in the art of war.

On the bridge of the flagship Zhu Yuanzhang, Lin Fan, one of the staff officers of the fleet, walked over and said, "The fourteen US warships are all under control and can enter the next step." ”

"Good!" Li Dingxin nodded and said, "Order all teams to rest for 15 minutes and prepare for a decisive battle." ”

According to the battle plan drawn up by Li Dingxin and the Fleet General Staff, after the Monte fleet was destroyed, it would fight a decisive battle with the main fleet of the US army, which had come in for reinforcements.

At this time, the five battleship battle groups of the main fleet of the Imperial Chinese Navy were placed 40 kilometers northeast of the US fleet. Fourteen warships of the captured Willems fleet have been taken to the Bermuda base. Three aircraft carrier battle groups also followed the main force of the US Navy's Ocean Fleet and were located 120 kilometers away.

After several hours of fierce air fighting, only 1,400 fighters remained in the Imperial Chinese Naval Air Force, and the transport aircraft carrier was departing from the San Juan base with a full load of replenished fighters, but it would not arrive until tomorrow morning.

At the same time, the US Air Force paid a high price for losses. More than half of the combat aircraft that were originally deployed at major airfields on the east coast of the United States have been lost. [Cyun Kun] [Cyun Kun] [Small] [Say] [Net] Although the United States' powerful industrial capacity can replenish some combat aircraft every day, the consumption far exceeds the production supply, and the new fighter planes that can compete with the most advanced Thunderbolt and Hellfire of the Chinese Empire cannot play a role because of the lack of production capacity.

The most important thing is that the US Air Force's pilot reserves cannot keep up, and although relying on a large number of old-fashioned aircraft can temporarily block the naval aviation of the Chinese Empire, after every fierce battle, a large number of US pilots are lost, and experienced pilots are unjustly dying because of the backwardness of the aircraft's performance, and the new pilots trained at the air base obviously have no confidence in fighting the Chinese Imperial Air Force, and basically lose more than two-thirds of the new personnel in an air battle.

What's even more terrifying is that the Chinese Empire, as the world's aviation power, has an incredible number of flying talents. However, the aviation academy established by the US Air Force was established only after the United States entered the war, and the US pilots who were supposed to train for four years before serving all graduated early because of the war. With more than three months of air war between China and the United States, the proportion of US pilots killed has exceeded 70 percent, and the follow-up pilot training time is less than a week before they are sent to the battlefield, and the serious decline in quality has become the main culprit for the heavy losses of the US Air Force.

The U.S. High Command is well aware of the great harm of this situation, but they have no way to hope that the U.S. Navy can defeat the Imperial Chinese Navy. Therefore, on the day of the decisive battle between the Chinese and American navies, the US High Command decided to provide air cover for the Eberly fleet at all costs, so as to prevent the Chinese Imperial Naval Air Force from affecting the US Ocean Fleet.

From the morning of 5 July to 2:30 p.m., the US East Coast Air Force lost more than 3,000 fighters in order to protect the Ocean Fleet from being destroyed by the Chinese Imperial Naval Air Force. The US High Command stubbornly transferred a number of planes from the Western Front to supplement the Eastern Front, so that the number of combat planes in the entire East Coast Theater was maintained at about 4,000.

For this decisive battle between the Chinese and American navies, the US Air Force blocked all its net worth. But it is only a tie, and unless a large number of new fighters are in service, they cannot defeat the Hellfire fighters of the Chinese Imperial Air Force, and they cannot talk about seizing air supremacy.

"What a huge fleet!"

When Li Dingxin saw the main force of the US Ocean Fleet, he couldn't help but be amazed. But it was just an exclamation, without any expression of fear. The U.S. fleet had a huge number of capital ships, wiping out one Monte fleet, but the remaining U.S. capital ships still consisted of 25 Superbows, 12 Godsbows, 10 battlecruisers, 22 cruisers, and 72 destroyers. However, Li Dingxin believed that the four Ming-class battleships in his hands were impossible to be sunk, and the most powerful battleships of the US Ocean Fleet were the four North Carolina-class battleships equipped with 17-inch guns, although the threat to the Ming-class battleships was very great, but it was still very difficult to penetrate the Ming-class battleships with 450 mm armor protection, and it was not so easy.

With a trump card in his hand, Li Dingxin will be full of confidence.

"Order Wang Jiancheng's aircraft carrier battle group to organize an ultra-low-altitude torpedo attack against the main force of the enemy fleet."

Liu Guanxiong, chief of staff of the fleet, replied: "I'm afraid not, all the carrier-based fighters of our aircraft carrier battle group have been intercepted by the US fighter group, and the US military seems to realize that today is the time for a decisive naval battle, so their fighter group is intercepting our naval aviation at any cost." ”

Li Dingxin frowned and said: "The art of war is cloudy, and it is a good match to win." Now that the main forces of our fleet are in a head-to-head confrontation, the number of capital ships of the opposing side is much higher than ours, and a head-to-head battle is not conducive to giving full play to the strength of our warships. I need to disrupt the formation of the enemy fleet, divide it and annihilate it one by one. ”

Liu Guanxiong nodded and said, "That's true!" It seems that we can only use the first battle team to attack the main formation of the enemy fleet, and with the strong armor protection of the Ming-class battleships, we should be able to break through the formation of the enemy fleet. ”

Li Dingxin sighed and said, "Although I have confidence in the Ming-class battleships, this battle is related to the fate of the Imperial Navy, and it should not be hasty. Perhaps because the Imperial Navy has always been a victorious army, the Empire will never allow us to make the slightest mistake, so we cannot afford to take this risk. ”

Liu Guanxiong understood what Li Dingxin meant, the former Chinese Imperial Navy was barefoot and not afraid to wear shoes, and even if it was defeated in the face of the navies of the great powers, it would not be a shame. Now that the Imperial Chinese Navy has climbed to the position of the world's No. 1 Navy, the position has been reversed, and now it is a matter of course to defeat the US Navy, but if it is defeated, it will be scolded by the Chinese people and will not be able to raise its head for the rest of its life. As the second commander, Li Dingxin would never allow the first defeat of the Imperial Navy to happen during his tenure, so he had to be extremely careful, because he was too worried that he could no longer let go of his hands and feet as before.

At this time, Lin Fan, one of the staff officers, suddenly said: "Victory or defeat is in this move, instead of sacrificing the first team, it is better to let Wang Jiancheng organize a torpedo attack, as long as the enemy fleet is forced to chaos for a short time, we can take the opportunity to seize the advantageous attack position, as long as we rush into the enemy fleet formation, their numerical superiority will not be able to be brought into play." ”

Li Dingxin turned to Liu Guanxiong and asked, "Is it okay?" ”

Liu Guanxiong said: "I'll let Wang Jiancheng try!" ”

As the second-in-command of the fleet, Liu Guanxiong is the de facto supreme commander of the aircraft carrier battle group. Soon he conveyed the instructions of the fleet command to Wang Jiancheng.

On the Emeishan aircraft carrier, Wang Jiancheng hurriedly convened a staff officer to discuss countermeasures after receiving Liu Guanxiong's instructions.

Chen Xianwu said: "I don't think the fleet command will give this order unless it is absolutely necessary." ”

Bai Ruiliu analyzed: "The current situation is that the US Air Force is desperately trying to intercept us, and even die with us by ramming, and it is unlikely that we want to draw a team to help the Navy." ”

Wang Jiancheng sighed: "If we don't send planes to cover, it will be equivalent to letting four Ming-class battleships go deep into danger." Although I also don't believe that the U.S. military has the ability to sink our super battleships, I am afraid that if I am not afraid of 10,000, I am afraid that the cost of a Ming-class battleship is higher than that of one of our aircraft carrier battle groups, and I think we should sacrifice it. ”

Feng Luxin thought for a while, and suddenly said: "I think we can give it a try, use our most advanced Hellfire fighter to carry out ultra-low-altitude sea-skimming flights, mount torpedo attacks, and if necessary, use suicide ramming." ”

Bai Ruiliu showed a look of surprise and said, "Suicide attack? You can figure it out that the pilots of our naval aviation are all baby bumps, especially the pilots who can fly Hellfire fighters are the elite of the elite, can they be lost? ”

If it is an ordinary cat demon fighter, the pilot on it only needs to train for a few months before he can fly the fight, but the latest Thunderbolt fighter and Hellfire fighter require the pilot to have at least two years of flying experience before he can override and control freely and take advantage of this fighter. The pilots who flew the Hellfire fighters at this time were all experienced ace pilots, and if they were allowed to carry out a suicide attack, the losses would be really large.

Wang Jiancheng said: "If we can't do it, then the four Ming-class battleships will serve as the spearhead responsible for the impact mission, and the Ming-class battleships must not be lost, not only because of their high cost, but they are already the soul of the Imperial Navy, and they cannot be lost." If any of them were accidentally sunk, the blow to the morale of the Imperial Navy would not be something we could have imagined. ”

Bai Ruiliu said: "Then sacrifice the bomber group!" For a suicide attack, one H2 bomber would be enough to destroy an American super-battleship. ”

Feng Luxin nodded and said: "The H2N1 bomber has a bomb load of 6.6 tons, and if it performs a suicide impact, it is enough to sink any U.S. Divine Bow battleship, even the U.S. Super Divine Bow battleship will be severely damaged." ”

Chen Xianwu smiled bitterly: "When did we become a suicide squad!" Is it that serious? As far as I know, the anti-aircraft firepower of the US fleet is not very strong, as long as the US fighter group is diverted, it is enough to get close to the US fleet. ”

Wang Jiancheng was also not very happy to let his subordinates fight by suicide attacks, so he turned to Chen Xianwu and asked, "Do you have a way?" ”

Chen Xianwu nodded and said, "You have all forgotten the greatest advantage of our naval aviation. The range of our carrier-based aircraft far exceeds that of US fighters, and the reason why we have not been able to break through the interception of the US Air Force for a long time is that our fighters opened fire immediately when they encountered US planes, and as a result, they ran out of ammunition in less than half an hour. If we take advantage of the long stay time of our fighters in the air and go around a few more times with the US fighter group, we will exhaust their fuel and make them exhausted, so that we will definitely have the opportunity to take advantage of their return from the previous wave and quickly surprise the US fleet before the next wave arrives. ”

Chen Xianwu's words suddenly made everyone suddenly realize, and they all nodded in agreement, thinking that it made sense.

Wang Jiancheng said: "This tactic is feasible, our bomber group can stay in the air for a long time, as long as they stay at an altitude of 5,000 meters, the US planes can only stare dryly." Fighting with a group of Thunderbolt and Cat Demon fighters, our Hellfire fighter group is circling around the perimeter, waiting for an opportunity to attack, what do you think? ”

The crowd studied it again and thought it was feasible. However, suicide attacks are also implemented as a second contingency plan. For this reason, Wang Jiancheng specially convened a mobilization meeting of pilots, and it was gratifying and grateful that a considerable number of pilots of the Imperial Navy Air Force were willing to sacrifice their lives to join the ranks of suicide attacks.

Wang Jiancheng then made a report to the fleet headquarters, and after Li Dingxin and others studied Wang Jiancheng's two sets of operational reports, they were also greatly pleased, so they approved the implementation.