The confrontation ended in a resounding victory for the Reds, and the alert Lippet eventually escaped the Red fleet with his Amazon, and was the only one of the Blue Side who still had a little face.

The five-week RIMPAC exercise finally came to an end, and there was no doubt that the Chinese were the biggest winners and the most high-profile characters in the exercise. Generally speaking, the exercise is an exercise after all, and even if there are any achievements, it is not in the true sense of the word. The winner does not necessarily gain the most, and the loser can also learn from the exercise.

Sailors from all over the world were still enjoying a little fun in Hawaii, and in the office of the Pacific Fleet command, four-star Admiral Hayes and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who had traveled from Washington and the previous commander of the Pacific Command, William Anderson, were still enjoying a little fun in Hawaii. Chloe had a long talk.

The Chinese Navy's outstanding performance in RIMPAC not only confuses the US Navy, but also makes those in power in Washington feel a little uneasy. So the Reagan administration specially sent Chloe, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to Hawaii directly, nominally to attend the closing ceremony of the Rim of the Pacific joint military exercise, but in fact to find out.

Chloe only stepped down last year, and he was very clear about the situation of the Pacific Fleet, and he was even more convinced of the strength of the Pacific Fleet, but in the two major battles, anti-submarine warfare and actual confrontation, the Chinese won a relatively large victory with seemingly relatively weak forces. This made Mr. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff a little restless.

"Ronald, tell me, are the Chinese really so strong that our lads can't fight it?" Chloe came up with a worried look.

Ronald? Hayes was much more calm, laughing: "Factually, I think our defeat this time is very justified and even necessary. To lose is to lose, I don't want to justify anything, the Chinese really have a reason to win in the exercises. Since they came to Pearl Harbor, they have shown a desire to survive, as well as discipline and spirit, which are not possessed by the navies of other countries. They were going all out with the momentum of lion fight and rabbit, while our lads and allies weren't at their best. In addition, there is no doubt that the Chinese have done a very good job of our intelligence work and understanding, but we know almost nothing about them, and this information asymmetry has also caused this ugly end. ”

Chloe frowned and asked, "Information asymmetry?" How to say. ”

Hayes said: "The Chinese know very well the composition of our fleet, the performance of our ships, and even the materials of our warships, and I suspect that many of the things they know are very secret." For example, during the Red and Blue Combat Exercise, their missiles 'hit' our Aegis cruiser, and we made an assessment of the battle situation, but the staff of the Chinese Navy immediately objected. They say that the Tikon superstructure is made of aluminum, and the high-explosive effect of their anti-ship missiles is so good that it will definitely cause a very serious fire and cause even greater secondary destruction. In addition, they even knew that our cruiser had added 300 tons of useless counterweight ballast iron in order to balance the weight of the phased array radar, and said that if it was really seriously flooded, these things would become a burden for the ship's sinking. Our director thought that the points they pointed out were very plausible and wanted to knock our lads on the ground, so they took their advice. ”

Chloe's face was a little blue, one hand unconsciously pressed the armrest of the sofa, and said: "This shows that the Chinese are not as deferential and harmless as they appear on the surface, like the Soviets, they are sparing no effort to dig up our military intelligence, and even many of their achievements may be based on the wisdom of the United States." ”

Hayes nodded and said, "So, I want you to go back and explain to the Pentagon and Langley (CIA) that you try to dig up Chinese spies in North America as much as possible, because the damage they bring to the United States is probably no less than an atomic bomb." ”

"I know it," said Chloe, who thought for a moment and asked, "I know that our defeat was due to a lot of the slackness and underestimation of the boys, and they paid the price, but please tell me more carefully, what do you think we will do if we do open up and go to war on the high seas with our 'quasi-ally'?" ”

Hayes smiled, showing full confidence: "First of all, I think that the failure of our exercise is partly representative, but not all. It's not that the Chinese have defeated us twice, which means that they are stronger than us, which is absurd. ”

"It's inevitable."

Hayes added: "It can be said that we are particularly beneficial to the Chinese Navy in the initial plot setting, and the Chinese Navy has obviously done a lot of work in this regard, so that they can calmly follow the planned route and use their intelligence expertise to form a certain comparative advantage over us."

And I have to mention that China's naval strategy, as they themselves say, is to maintain control of the coastal waters of the marginal seas, namely the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait, and parts of the South China Sea. So their navy relies heavily on air shelter provided by shore-based aviation, oh indeed, they have an amphibious assault ship that can pretend to be an aircraft carrier, but at most it is a dozen aircraft, and the speed is not good, and the strength is quite limited.

As a result, we have seen that the Chinese navy has developed this kind of naval power, which has absolute control over the coastal area, but when it enters the high seas, it is worryingly weak. There are no large aircraft carriers, no nuclear submarines, even if the level of their destroyers and conventional submarines is impressive, but in the face of our aircraft carrier battle groups, there is not the slightest advantage.

Our F-14 and F-18 can find them at a distance of eight or nine hundred kilometers and then deliver a killing blow, and their AIP submarines cannot easily break through our anti-submarine net, which is not enough to see compared to the Seawolf class. The 052A destroyer has a certain regional air defense capability, but in comparison, the ability to resist saturation strikes is relatively weak.

From the above analysis, the Chinese Navy does not have the ability to launch a large-scale naval decisive battle with either the United States or the Soviet Union on the high seas. ”

Chloe nodded, also relieved, and said: "But there is another point that is a little worrying, you say that they are not capable of fighting against the United States and the Soviets, so what about dealing with allies like Britain and France?" ”

Hayes pondered for a moment and said: "Looking at the battlefield environment, if it is in a neutral ocean area or European waters, Britain and France have a better chance of winning, and if it is on the edge of China, Britain and France will not have a chance of victory. ”

Chloe naturally asked, "What about us, what are the chances of entering their edge sea?" Knowing that Taiwan also faces a threat from China, we may need to intervene. ”

Hayes rolled his eyes and said: "Sir, strategically, it is impossible for us to position China as a quasi-ally in the first place, and because they sent troops to Formosa, we will turn against them, and it is self-evident which one is more meaningful to contain the Soviet Union, Taiwan or China." Well, from the perspective of pure technology, we can win, but the consequence of winning is that our navy may suffer relatively large losses, because China has a new generation of fighter fleet of a certain size, oh, they still have 70 F-14s, unless we mobilize three or four aircraft carrier battle groups, dispatch a large number of marines, a large combined fleet of hundreds of ships, we can't suppress the Chinese navy, this is a reality, I don't feel ashamed to say such things. In addition, what are the benefits of defeating the Chinese Navy with heavy losses? This is back to strategy, I won't say much, but the Soviets will be happy. ”

Chloe said worriedly, "Let's not just create another enemy for ourselves just because we want to tie the hands of the Soviets. ”

Hayes added: "Don't worry, China has a country that is not as simple as the Soviet Union, a billion people and even most of them are in a state of poverty, I believe that they are so anxious to develop military strength has reached a dangerous point, and the next growth will definitely slow down, otherwise they may collapse before the Soviet Union." ”

Chloe disagreed: "A billion people can be a burden or a wealth. At least I know that now that some of the Chinese products have begun to enter the American market, if they are more closely connected to the free world, they may slowly enter an era of relative affluence, and at the same time provide more military spending for their army. ”

"Well, maybe. However, I am more optimistic that while approaching us, their people see a better life and a huge disparity in themselves, which will shake the leadership and legitimacy of their CPC regime. The worst consequence is that the Soviet Union is over, China is democratized, and they are stuck in their own strife and are powerless to threaten us. ”

Chloe smiled and said, "At least for now, we still need this country to maintain a certain number of minions, to be able to hurt the Soviet Union and make the Soviet Union afraid." As for what to do in the future, the people in Washington definitely have their plans. ”

The two put on their military caps and came out of the office and walked together to the officers' cafeteria to prepare for the meal. Hayes put his hands in his trouser pockets and said with emotion: "But as far as things are concerned, we should also learn something from this country of naval laggards." At least their fighting spirit is worth learning from the lads who have slowly lost their ambitions. Oh, besides, the discipline of the communist state, though somewhat overkill, but there is not a single army that does not like such soldiers, and perhaps we should make the sailors more honest. ”

Chloe said: "Don't let your sailors complain about your persecution of human rights. ”