Heinrich. Colonel Müller spent three months in China before being reassigned to China as the commander of aviation aboard the newly converted aircraft carrier "Archduchess Irene".

The sun, which was falling towards the sea, obscured several of the fighters that were training in its golden glow. The evening sun shone obliquely on the deck of the aircraft carrier sailing in the Adriatic Sea, on which several freshly completed training landing and dive bombers were parked, as well as several torpedo planes, and the crew on the deck was pushing one of them onto the elevator to be sent into the lower hangar. There were also some exercise torpedoes and aerial bombs piled up on the flight deck, which looked very crowded and cluttered.

In the aviation war room on the first floor of the bridge, Rear Admiral Scott of the Naval Air Force was explaining the tactical arrangements of the naval exercise to the flight officers. Major General Scott was small but very lean, and he still had a visible scar on his black and red left cheek, which was due to the injuries caused by the plane crash. The rear admiral was a pilot of reconnaissance aircraft on the "Empress Teresa" during the European War, and is now the chief of aviation staff of the Second Air Fleet.

"Hey, brothers, here's your chance to raise your eyebrows, now is your chance to teach the battlefleet guys who have nostrils on top of their heads, and let them know how good we are!" The rear admiral, with a thick black cigar in his hand, waved the officers to take their seats. With his legs slightly apart, he stood in front of the huge chart hanging from the bulkhead, a whip in his other hand, and then got straight to the point.

"A large-scale confrontation exercise, well, we've already participated in it twice. But this time it is different, it is the confrontation between the air fleet and the battlefleet, and this is related to the future development direction of the Imperial Navy, and this time we will completely break the confidence of the stubborn people in the navy who are superstitious battleships and obstruct the construction of our air fleet. He pointed to the map with his whip and said, "This is a map of the Eastern Mediterranean." We departed from Rhodes. The battlefleet set out from Riboritania, and the two sides waited for each other to find and destroy their opponents. ”

"It's that simple?" "They're probably all in the water before they even see us." ”

"Don't be careless. Marshal Horthy is said to have laid out a plan for him to raid at night. Scott said, "If we're within range of a battleship." But the joke made it bigger. ”

Scott's words got the pilots motivated, and now the opportunity to prove their worth has finally come for carrier-based aviation to be truly valued by the top brass in the Navy.

Ten days later, the confrontation exercises officially began.

The commander of the naval air fleet, Vice Admiral Sucker, arrived at the Rhodes naval base only three days before the start of the exercise, and immediately after he boarded the flagship "Grand Duke of Istria", he summoned the staff of the fleet and the main officers of the ships to a combat meeting on the flagship.

"According to the plan, our warships participating in the exercise consisted of four aircraft carriers, two heavy cruisers, six light cruisers and ten destroyers, while the battlefleet included six battleships, two heavy cruisers, four light cruisers and twelve destroyers. Our fleet will leave port early tomorrow morning. "Our confrontation exercise with the battlefleet will begin the day after tomorrow, and the exercise will take place in the Gulf of Sirte and northern waters of Libya, which is actually equivalent to our departure from Benghazi to attack the battlefleet from Ripoli." But if the place of our attack is within 150 km of Tripoli, the battlefleet will be supported by land-based aviation. ”

Scott stepped forward, and General Karatosh said, "We will have one day to complete the plan of the attack, and at least maintain a safe engagement distance of at least a hundred nautical miles from the battlefleet. The Emperor and Marshal Horthy will watch the entire exercise from the flagship of the battlefleet, the Grand Duke Friedrich, in the hope that our pilots will drop dye sandbags on their heads. This is the best opportunity to prove the strength of the air fleet. If we succeed in this exercise, then the Navy's funding will be tilted in our favor in the future. The Emperor wants a great victory for the air fleet, and has been speaking for us for so many years. I hope that you will not disappoint your majesty's love and expectations. ”

"In other words, this exercise will directly determine the future development of the Imperial Navy." General Suker walked over, "Different results of the exercises will bring different fates to the air fleet." I don't have any special requirements for you, I just hope that you can show the best results of your usual training in this exercise! ”

"Guaranteed to complete the mission!"

"Annihilate the battlefleet!"

"Sink 'Friedrich'!" The commanders of the aviation units became excited, so that the commanders of the cruisers and destroyers looked at each other, no, it was the flagship of the Imperial Navy. Do you need to say such cruel words?!

Since the aircraft carrier "Pilotion", which was converted from a merchant ship, had a speed of only 23 knots, it could no longer keep up with the speed of the fleet. It has now been decommissioned as a training ship for naval aviation, so all four aircraft carriers of the Imperial Navy have been dispatched. In total, this fleet has 216 carrier-based aircraft of various types. Attack power is definitely not to be underestimated.

The fleet left Port Rhodes the next morning, and the four aircraft carriers of the Imperial Air Fleet, accompanied by more than a dozen escort warships, sailed to the predetermined seas.

Because it was an exercise, it was naturally impossible to use live ammunition, so all the ammunition used for the exercise was used. These munitions have the same shape, weight, and performance as aerial bombs and aerial torpedoes and live ammunition. It's just that the warhead is not filled with explosives, but with paint. As soon as the bomb hits the battleship, the paint inside will scatter in all directions, leaving a very visible mark. It's the same with torpedoes, as long as they hit a battleship, the surrounding sea water will be dyed with a noticeable color.

Müller stood under the bridge of the "Grand Duchess Irene", the deck of the battleship was stacked with various types of warplanes, arranged in the order of fighters, dive bombers and torpedo planes, each aircraft carrier had an air group, a total of 24 fighters, 24 dive bombers and 16 torpedo planes, and there were 8 spare fighters in the hangar. Such aircraft carriers of the class "Grand Duke of Istria" have a total of 72 combat aircraft.

The aircraft factories cooperated with the Reich Admiralty included Trieste Israia Aircraft Manufacturing, Vienna Edrrich Aircraft Company and Zagreb Bosa Airlines. Among them, Bosa Airlines is an aircraft factory invested by a civil aviation company, but it has developed extremely rapidly, and the dive bombers purchased by the Navy are from this aircraft manufacturing company.

The STK-3 "Wild Bee" bomber designed by Bobo Aviation won the favor of the naval aviation department in one fell swoop because of its star-shaped air-cooled engine, which looked like a thick nose fuselage and ugly appearance, but it won the bid in one fell swoop for its excellent performance and durability, and won the bid in last year's fighter tender.

In contrast, the FYL-5 Petrel fighter manufactured by Islaia is beautiful and light.

The "Seagull" torpedo aircraft is a traditional biplane bomber manufactured by Etrich, due to the large load, with the maximum power of the current aero engine, if you want to carry an aviation torpedo weighing 920 kilograms, you can only use a biplane that is not magnetically flexible but has a large load.

Now the show is about to begin. (To be continued) R580