The existence of early warning aircraft is an extremely secret matter in the national government, and it is even at the same level as the atomic bomb and the Lingbo-class aircraft carrier at the level of secrecy, and even higher than that of jet aircraft.

This is mainly because the existence of jet aircraft is not a secret matter in itself, it has been studied in various countries, and even countries such as Germany have begun to install jet fighters on a small scale, so the existence of jet aircraft, although it is a secret, is not as good as atomic bombs and early warning aircraft.

After all, the detection distance of the early warning aircraft for low-flying targets is more than 100 kilometers, and the detection distance for large targets on the sea surface has reached more than 300 kilometers.

But even if it's clairvoyance, there are times when it's not useful.

At least this time, several AWACS planes failed to detect the United Fleet, but allowed the Japanese submarines to discover the location of the Ocean Fleet first.

This is not surprising, in the vast sea, although the detection range of more than 300 kilometers of the AWACS aircraft itself is also wide, there is also the possibility of not finding the target ...

But...

Since there are Japanese planes leading the way, it is relatively easy to find the traces of the Japanese fleet, especially since there are more larger ships in the Combined Fleet, and these ships have nothing to hide under the detection of radar.

"Report the location to the fleet..."

Looking at the large dot of light displayed on the radar monitor, a soldier said to his companion.

The companion nodded, and then reported the location of the combined fleet to Chen Shaokuan.

After obtaining the approximate location of the Combined Fleet, Chen Shaokuan ordered the fighters, which had been reloaded with ammunition and fuel, and the ships that had just not participated in the air battle to take off...

"It's a good opportunity. The Japanese would never have imagined that we had discovered their location. ”

Indeed, the Japanese could never have imagined that there was such a thing as an AWACS aircraft in the world. Of course, this is not to say that the planes of this era are not equipped with airborne radars, but there are indeed no aircraft like early warning aircraft that are specifically used for vigilance and reconnaissance.

Under the orders of Chen Shaokuan. The group of aircraft that took off flew in the direction indicated by the AWACS.

On the other hand, Chen Shaokuan ordered another group of planes to intercept the Japanese planes flying towards here.

Although it was important to attack the Combined Fleet, it would be a nuisance if the fleet itself was sunk by the Japanese.

Due to the warplanes of this period. In particular, bombers and other aircraft fly very slowly, and some bombers even have a speed of more than 200 kilometers per hour. During this time, the fleet that existed as a target could be transferred to a considerable distance, so when the group flew to the direction just now, Chen Shaokuan had already commanded the fleet to move to other positions.

This also made it necessary for the Japanese aircraft group to relocate the ocean fleet, but fortunately, the ships did not run as fast as the planes, so the Japanese did not waste too much time when they arrived.

And this time. The departing fleet was already flying over the head of the Combined Fleet.

Unlike land-based air forces, air battles on the sea generally take place in lower airspace, so the Japanese can easily spot incoming fleets.

The sudden appearance of the group of planes surprised the Japanese, especially Yamamoto Isoroku himself. Originally, Yamamoto Fifty-six was still playing shogi with a shogun there. By the time the news of the enemy plane's attack arrived, Yamamoto Isoroku even dropped the shogi in his hand onto the chessboard.

"How did the Chinese find out about us?"

Listening to the news from his subordinates, as well as the alarm that had already sounded, Yamamoto Fifty-six raised his head in surprise.

Originally, the Chinese discovered the traces of the other party one step ahead, and Yamamoto fifty-six thought that he had won the battle, at least to take advantage of a certain advantage. But now ......,

"Your Excellency, what should I do now?"

Looking at Yamamoto Fifty-six's surprised look, the shogun who was sitting across from him playing shogi with him asked.

"What should I do?" Yamamoto fifty-six regained his composure a little and said something from Yanguang. "Cold salad!"

Yamamoto fifty-six looked up as he spoke. Commanded to his subordinates.

"Order the existing fighters to take off to meet the enemy."

"Yes!!"

After his subordinates left, Yamamoto Fifty-six glanced at the sky outside the bridge.

"I hope that the take-off ship bombardment will succeed..."

Yamamoto didn't regret sending out most of the fighters, because the defense could not be won, and only by taking the initiative to destroy all the enemy's forces could it be successful.

Therefore, what Yamamoto Isoroku was looking forward to was that the flying unit would be able to send back the good news he wanted.

In fact, earlier the flight unit had already sent back some good news. It's just that in Yamamoto Fifty-six's opinion, it's not good enough.

Injury?

Yamamoto Isoroku wants to sink, and preferably the largest ship in history...

But the immediate need is the enemy planes that are heading here. Therefore, after ordering his subordinates to clean up the shogi, Yamamoto Isoroku began to command the fleet.

Yamamoto Fifty-six did not send out all the warships, or it was impossible to send them out, so soon a group of warships took off to meet the enemy.

This period was also the peak of the Japanese army, and although a considerable number of troops were consumed when it went south to the South Seas, Australia, and India, the navy as the core did not suffer much loss. Therefore, the pilots of the carrier-based aircraft under the command of Yamamoto 56 are the elite of the elite, and those ground crews are even more original, so in a very short period of time, the ship battles on the deck have been flying together.

A few minutes later, the two groups collided...

"Your Excellency, do you think..."

Looking at the wargroup that was moving towards here, an adjutant said with some concern.

He knew very well that the Zero Combat of the fleet equipment was no match for the JZ-10 ...

"It's useless to say anything now, it's up to them..."

Hearing the worries of his subordinates, Yamamoto Fifty-six just said lightly.

――――――――――――――――――――

Although the Japanese desperately intercepted in the air, many ships soon rushed out of the battle group and flew towards several aircraft carriers of the combined fleet...

"Quick. Facing the Enemy!! ”

Looking at the several ships that swooped down, a soldier shouted loudly.

As he shouted, an anti-aircraft machine gun next to him fired at the oncoming Flyers.

However, unexpectedly, the ship bombardment actually swooped down under the fire of the machine gun, and then dropped a bomb...

"Boom !!"

Same with the Japanese. Chen Shaokuan also knew very well that in naval warfare, only aircraft carriers were the most important, so almost all the targets of the ship bombardment units were aircraft carriers, and only those ship bombardments that were about to be shot down would find a random target and throw down the ammunition.

However, even so, the ship-bombardment force still caused heavy casualties to the Japanese army.

Especially torpedoes dropped by ship-bombardment units. Although many times the Japanese felt that they had dodged, but unexpectedly, these torpedoes continued to chase them after they had avoided ...

"Acoustic self-guided torpedoes..."

Looking at a hit Akizuki-class destroyer in the distance, Yamamoto Fifty-six's hand clenched the railing tightly.

Acoustic self-guided torpedo is a kind of automatic torpedo that can receive the noise of water and ships, and this kind of torpedo greatly improves the hit rate.

Although there are no such torpedoes in Japan, this does not mean that Yamamoto has not heard of them. Because both Germany and the United States are developing such torpedoes. …,

Among them, Germany, an ally of Japan, developed the T-4 and T-5 models, while the United States developed the MK24 model.

The idea of creating a torpedo that could "automatically" search for targets appeared in the minds of torpedo designers during the First World War. At that time, the naval powers were quite interested in this, but the level of scientific research at that time could not turn it into reality. At that time, there was a lack of in-depth research on the physical mechanisms of sound production and propagation in seawater. In 1933, Germany began to develop acoustic self-guided torpedoes. In 1943, the T-4 "Falcon" and T-5 "Wren" torpedoes were put into real combat.

In the fall of 1941, the U.S. Navy asked the U.S. Defense Research Council to explore the possibility of developing an air-dropped small anti-submarine acoustic homing torpedo. In response to this request, on December 10, 1941, members of science and industry convened a meeting at the Underwater Acoustic Laboratory of Harvard University to discuss the possibility of developing such a torpedo. Soon after. In David? At the second meeting held in the Taylor ship model test tank, the basic development performance parameters of the torpedo were determined as follows: the size should be suitable for the 454 kg bomb pylon, that is, it should be less than 48 cm x 48 cm; It can be at a speed of 120 knots. put at an altitude of 60-90 meters; Lead-acid batteries, electric propulsion; At a speed of 12 knots, the endurance is 5-15 minutes; carries 45 kg of high-explosive warheads; Passive acoustic self-guidance.

For the Americans, a speed of 12 knots was enough to catch up with a submarine under water, and a cruising range of 15 minutes was enough for the torpedo to guide itself to the target and detonate the warhead on impact. Therefore, the Americans were quite satisfied with the performance of the MK24. For the Americans, he is a weapon designed specifically against submarines.

Unlike the Americans. On the other hand, the T-4 and T-5 torpedoes developed by the Germans were specially designed to deal with ships on the sea―――――― after all, they were the wolves under the ocean.

The T-4 torpedo developed by the Germans has a diameter of 533 mm, a warhead weight of 280 kg, electric propulsion, a range of 7,500 meters, and a speed of 20 knots per hour.

The T-4 was the first self-guided torpedo, produced in March 1943, with a passive sound guidance device installed. It was mainly used when the U-603, U-758, U-221 attacked the HX-229 convoy and the SC-122 convoy.

As for the T-5, like the T-4, it is a 533mm diameter torpedo, with a warhead weighing 274 kg, also with electric propulsion, a range of 5700 meters, and a speed of 24 knots.

The T-5 was put into service in the fall of 1943 and was characterized by its rapid, effective attack range, and the ability to be detonated either magnetically or triggered. It was originally designed to be a convoy killer, and although there were some minor successes, the Allies soon had a device to deal with it, the Foxer. In addition, it works by locking onto the loudest vessel 400 meters after launch, but it turns out that if the U-boat is launched through the aft launch tube, it must quickly dive below 60 meters after launch. Otherwise, it will be a target for the T5 because it is too loud. U-972 and U-377 were nearly hit by their own T5 torpedoes in December 1943 and January 1944, respectively.

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Like the Germans and Americans, the Chinese Navy attaches great importance to the development of torpedoes, and for them, torpedoes that can track their targets on their own are even more coveted.

So after having a little capital, the development of self-guided torpedoes began.

However, unlike Germany and the United States. China has not only developed torpedoes to deal with surface ships, but also developed specially designed to deal with underwater submarines.

In addition, these torpedoes are also divided into three types: aircraft use, ship use and submarine use.

Aircraft naturally refer to aircraft such as ship bombardments, and ships are surface ships such as torpedo boats and destroyers, and there is no need to explain submarines.

In fact, for the Wehrmacht Navy, self-guided torpedoes are also a novelty. The latest finalized product was only installed in '41. So far, there are only tens of thousands of acoustic self-guided torpedoes equipped by surface ships, including submarine forces and torpedo boats, and the number of air-dropped torpedoes is even smaller......

And in order to be able to destroy the combined fleet in one fell swoop, the navy took out almost all the air-dropped self-guided torpedoes.

In addition, the United States did not position the self-guided torpedo as a submarine-launched torpedo at the beginning, but positioned it as an air-dropped torpedo, which avoided the technical problem of how to avoid attacking itself after the torpedo entered the water. It can be said that the project positioning of the weapon is very accurate. When German submarines use self-guided torpedoes, how to avoid attacking themselves and friendly ships has always been a headache for them.

However, Chen Shaokuan did not have any trouble in this regard at all, because all the ships used now are airdrops, unless they can fly out of the water like flying fish, otherwise it is impossible to pose any threat to the ship bombardment in the air...

But...

Not necessarily for Yamamoto Isoroku...

"Boom!! Rumble!!! ”

Just for an instant. Two self-guided torpedoes hit the aircraft carrier Wyvern, opening two large holes in the aircraft carrier's hull.

Although the air-dropped acoustic self-guided torpedoes equipped by the Navy only have a speed of more than 20 knots, which is completely incomparable with the high speed of about 30 knots that modern aircraft carriers can achieve, it is very difficult to avoid these torpedoes with a speed of more than 20 knots if the torpedoes are thrown from the front.

And most importantly...

The Japanese did not expect at all that the Wehrmacht would be armed with self-guided torpedoes. So when they think they've avoided it, when the torpedo turns and swims on, they barely have any resilience...

"Boom!! Rumble!!! ”

In the face of such a never-before-seen torpedo. The Japanese fleet was almost in disarray, they did not understand what to dodge the torpedoes, and in one corner of the Combined Fleet, two ships even collided in order to avoid the torpedoes.

On the other hand, since the self-guided torpedoes equipped by the Navy are the same as the German T-5, they will automatically turn to the largest target. So after sailing for some time, these torpedoes almost automatically turned to targets like aircraft carriers, battleships. Even if there is no steering, when dealing with ordinary ships, because of this self-guidance ability, the hit rate is greatly improved.

Seriously speaking, it is not impossible to deal with this kind of torpedo, at least in history, the Allies have developed such a thing as the noise jammer Foxer, which is used to jam acoustic homing torpedoes―――――― and the solution of the Germans is to develop wire-guided torpedoes with stronger anti-jamming capabilities.

However, although there is such a thing as a noise jammer, the Japanese did not expect to encounter this kind of weapon in advance, and the noise jammer was also developed by the Allies after paying countless blood and tears, so in the face of this new type of weapon, Yamamoto Isoroku almost fell into a helpless situation.

Originally, in Yamamoto's plan, it was planned to solve the ocean fleet through conventional naval warfare like killing the British fleet, or at least to inflict heavy damage.

In fact, the tide of the war did turn in his favor to some extent, at least he discovered the enemy's traces earlier than the ocean fleet with AWACS, and thus made the ocean fleet pay a certain price.

Although not long after, the enemy's carrier-based aircraft rushed directly to kill him, which somewhat surprised Yamamoto Isoroku, but he didn't care much.

After all, Yamamoto Fifty-six had never thought that the location of his fleet would never be discovered. Although Yamamoto Isoroku was not aware of the existence of the AWACS aircraft, in his opinion, he found the target one step ahead of the enemy, which was already considered a profit.

Next, as long as the command is carried out according to the conventional model, the combined fleet has six aircraft carriers, plus the Philippines' shore-based air forces, it may not be impossible to inflict heavy damage on the ocean fleet.

But now...

Looking at the torpedoes on the sea that could track their targets on their own, although Yamamoto Isoroku's own castle government did not plunge him into chaos, he had no solution to the current predicament of the fleet.

The only order he could give was to order the air force to desperately intercept the enemy's ship bombardment, and at the same time order the ships of the fleet to make evasive actions as much as possible.

However, these maneuvers, which were extremely effective in the past, have become less effective in the face of self-guided torpedoes...

In fact, Yamamoto Fifty-six should also be happy, because the guided bomb specially developed for the Navy has not yet been officially put into service due to some problems, otherwise his situation may be much worse.

And just as he was trying to think of a solution, another aircraft carrier was hit ...

"The !! of the Dragon"

Looking at the aircraft carrier that was hit, Yamamoto fifty-six shouted in pain.