The Black Sea is already a little cool in October, with a dazzling sun hanging over the sapphire sea. The weather was fine, and Task Force 4, consisting of the aircraft carriers "Macedonia" and "Moravia", was conducting a training cruise in the Black Sea. This is the first time since the commissioning of the two heavy aircraft carriers in early September that they have conducted formation training.

The air units on the two warships are actually "old birds" who have completed all the training subjects of carrier-based aircraft, and after more than a month of intense adaptive training, the vast majority of them have been able to carry out combat missions. The high-speed rotating propeller stirred up the deep blue water, and behind the huge hull that looked like a floating island, two white navigation signs stretched out like a white road on the sea.

The flagship of the fleet was the battleship "Archduke Friedrich", which was commissioned in 1918 and had been modernized to 31 knots, and was assigned to the 4th Task Force as a servant, but the commander of the 4th Task Force, Admiral Yankel, was still accustomed to using this battleship as his flagship due to the complete communication facilities on it and the more comfortable living conditions than on the aircraft carrier.

The fleet sailed out of the Sevastopol naval base in the morning, sailed about 50 nautical miles from the southern part of the Crimean peninsula, and then began routine training for the take-off and landing of fighters. The fighters took off from the ship in turn, and then flew towards Sevastopo! The airfield of the base of Er, after refueling, returned to the warship.

There was some panic on the way the planes landed, and one of the bombers crashed headlong into the rear flight deck of the "Moravia" while landing, and the entire fuselage immediately fell apart and plunged headlong into the sea. An escorted destroyer sped to the accident site, busy salvaging the two pilots who had fallen overboard.

Admiral Yankel stood on the bridge of the "Grand Duke Friedrich" and watched the training on the aircraft carrier. When he saw the accident, he just frowned and didn't say anything else. Such accidents are not uncommon during aircraft carrier training, and in the course of a month or so, Task Force 4 has lost seven aircraft and two pilots have lost their lives.

"General, do you want to start returning now?" Chief of Staff of the Fleet. Major General Spasic walked over and asked.

"Oh. We need to wait for the Chinese aircraft carrier group to come over, and in a few days we will have a naval confrontation drill with them. "It's a bit of a shame if we lose to the Chinese." ”

He looked up at the sea, and the "Macedonia" and "Moravia", surrounded by two battleships, four cruisers, and more than a dozen destroyers, were slowly moving eastward at a cruising speed of fifteen knots. The Austro-Hungarian Navy had no enemies in the Black Sea at all, and most of the crews had nothing to do.

By noon, two Chinese aircraft carriers, escorted by two cruisers and six destroyers, appeared on the surface of the sea, rushing to the predetermined place in the Black Sea to rendezvous with the Austro-Hungarian fleet. Those two aircraft carriers carry the hopes and dreams of the rise of the Chinese Navy. According to the plan, they will return to the Far East in mid-November in formation with the 4th Austro-Hungarian task force.

The two aircraft carriers "Jiangsu" and "Fujian" equipped by the Chinese Navy are improved versions designed according to the drawings of the Austro-Hungarian Navy's "Attila" aircraft carrier, which are medium-sized aircraft carriers according to the classification of the Austro-Hungarian Navy, but in the eyes of the navies of all countries in the world, they are still large aircraft carriers, with a displacement of 23,700 tons, which is the same size as the German "Zeppelin" class aircraft carrier and the British "Brilliant" class aircraft carrier, but so. Due to the optimization of the hangar structure and the increase in the flight deck area, the number of carrier-based aircraft has increased to 72. In terms of combat effectiveness, it is much stronger than the British aircraft carriers.

The design of the Austro-Hungarian battleship inherited the advantages of the German Navy, focusing on the sinking resistance of the warship, and about 600 watertight compartments were designed in the underwater part of the hull. However, due to the structural strength and stability of the hull, the hangar was designed to be semi-open, and there was little armor defense. In fact, the upper hangar and flight deck of the aircraft carrier are two separate parts with the monomer. This has the advantage of being able to equip more fighters, but the flight deck and hangar can easily be penetrated in the event of an attack.

The Austro-Hungarian ship designers had the idea that carrier-based fighters on aircraft carriers were the main force of air defense, anti-aircraft artillery was placed on the back burner, and the superstructure could be destroyed. But warships will not be sunk. This and the British aircraft carrier's concept of focusing on the armor defense of the superstructure formed two lines of thought, and no one can judge the advantages and disadvantages of the two ideas without the actual combat test.

In order to save space in the hangar, the "Jiangsu" class aircraft carriers of the Chinese Navy are equipped with four twin 105-mm anti-aircraft guns under the four corners of the flight deck, instead of the originally designed 127-mm high-level dual-purpose guns, which have sufficient medium and short-range anti-aircraft firepower, but not enough long-range anti-aircraft fire density.

However, this is already the optimal configuration that can be achieved on an aircraft carrier with a displacement of 23,000 tons.

Due to the final modification work completed at the Italian shipyard, the Chinese aircraft carriers were equipped with Italian-made fighters, each with two squadrons of 32 Macchi MC.202 fighters, 2 squadrons of 28 Breda BA.201 dive bombers and Br.22 twin-engine carrier-based bombers / torpedo engines produced by Fiat.

Vice Admiral Chen Shiying is the commander of China's aircraft carrier fleet, and Colonel Chen Changming, who graduated from the third phase of the Fuzhou Naval Diving School, is the commander of the fleet. The captain of the "Jiangsu" was Colonel Cheng Yaoheng, and the captain of the "Fujian" was Colonel Sa Shijun.

General Chen Shiying and Colonel Chen Changming were invited to the "Grand Duke Friedrich" to discuss the details of the confrontation exercises between the two sides. While the two sides were discussing, the communications officer of the Austro-Hungarian fleet entered the conference room and handed Admiral Yankel a telegram.

"Looks like our plans are going to fail." Yankel spread his hands and said to General Chen Shiying, "The fighting between Sukhumi and Pakistan is very tense, and the imperial base camp has sent a telegram asking if we can provide air support to the army. I think we should be able to do that, and I'm a little sorry indeed. ”

"A rare opportunity to fight, we can also participate in it." Chen Shiying said, "Anyway, we have long been in a state of war with the Soviet Union, so we don't need to ask for advice at home." ”

"How's your pilot training?" Yankel asked.

"It shouldn't be worse than you, we've been training for almost three months, and there should be no problem in carrying out the mission." Chen Shiying said, "I think pilots should find some opportunities for actual combat. ”

"Okay, I'll have to ask the base camp first." Yankel nodded and said that the Chinese side has more than 140 aircraft, and it is indeed a large air strike force.

Soon, the base camp replied and agreed to the participation of the Chinese fleet in support operations against the Caucasian side.

So the two fleets joined forces and sailed mightily to the sea near Husumi. (To be continued......) R1292