In the eastern waters of the Mediterranean, the expeditionary fleet of the Chinese Navy.

On the battleship Huanghe, Shen Shoukun, commander of the Navy's expeditionary fleet, and Fang Datong, chief of staff, were talking.

The expeditionary fleet consisted of two battleships built by Huaguo itself, the Yellow River and the Yangtze River, the aircraft carriers Gaozu and Taizu, and the battle cruisers Liu Che and Liu Xiu.

"Sir, it is said that although the Ottoman Empire's navy does not have any new warships, the number and scale are still not small, according to the investigation of our naval intelligence department, the total tonnage of the Ottoman Navy is about 100,000 tons, and there are five old battleships, all of which have a displacement of more than 10,000 tons, should we go to Izmir first to destroy this fleet? lest they sneak up on us from behind! ”

Shen Shoukun thought for a while after listening to the words of Chief of Staff Fang Datong, and finally shook his head and said: "The combat effectiveness of those old ships of the Ottoman Navy is not very good, we can't make a special effort to deal with it, now our main task is to cooperate with the army to fight, provide the army with air strikes, support and naval artillery fire in a timely manner, and it will take several days to sail from here to Izmir, and it will take at least a week to go back and forth, if the army needs us to support during this period, and we are not in this vicinity, When something happens, no one should explain, Wu Shiyou is dissatisfied with not being able to have the command of the naval expeditionary fleet, if he catches the handle, hey, our navy's face will be lost, anyway, although there is a difference between the army, navy and air force, but everyone is the national defense force, we still have to pay attention to unity, and Shangfeng attaches great importance to this aspect. We have always been strict against the contradictions between the arms of the armed forces from developing like the contradictions between the Japanese army and navy! ”

Hearing this, Fang Datong nodded and agreed: "Then let's just do it, let the fleet always keep the closest distance from the army troops." We should strive to provide timely and effective support, and at the same time, we should increase the number of reconnaissance aircraft reconnaissance patrols every day. So as not to be inserted into the gap by the Ottoman Navy and Air Force to the detriment of our army! ”

"Well, that's it!"

At this moment, the communications staff officer came in and saluted: "Report to the chief, our No. 4 reconnaissance plane has discovered a fleet flying the flag of the Ottoman Empire 80 nautical miles to the northwest, this fleet consists of five old battleships as the main ships, and there are more than 20 other large and small ships, ships of more than 2,000 tons are relatively old, and now this fleet is currently coming towards our fleet at a speed of 14 knots!" ”

Shen Shoukun and Fang Datong looked at each other at the same time, "The Ottoman Navy has been dispatched!" ”

"I can't imagine that we won't go to them. They went to the door on their own initiative, are these guys sick in the brain? And their old ships want to attack our fleet? I think they're looking for death! ”

"Notice, first-level combat readiness!"

"Yes!"

In fact, Shen Shoukun and Fang Datong did not know that the Ottoman naval fleet was not coming for their fleet, but was preparing to go to Tel Aviv to support the 40,000 Ottoman troops besieged in the city, and Shen Shoukun and Fang Datong regarded the Ottoman naval fleet as coming for them.

The distance of 80 nautical miles is not very far, and with the average speed of the Chinese expeditionary fleet, it only takes more than two hours to encounter the Ottoman naval fleet, and there is no need to send a fleet to engage the battle. You only need to dispatch naval aviation to destroy the opponent, but the distance is not far anyway, and driving the fleet over will not affect the supporting army.

As the order to prepare for battle was given, the officers and men of the navy on every ship of the fleet began to get busy. Shen Shoukun did not forget to ask the communications staff officer to send a telegram to the headquarters of the expeditionary force in Baghdad to inform him of the likely naval battle that would take place next.

The communications staff officer came shortly afterwards and reported: "Sir, the Commander has telegraphed the news to the Expeditionary Force Command in Baghdad. However, the Expeditionary Force Command sent back a telegram informing us of information that the Ottoman Empire had transferred a hundred warplanes from the peninsula of Asia Minor. It is currently in Damascus, where exactly is Damascus. It is not clear to us for the time being, our intelligence officers are trying their best to find the opponent's airfield, and before finding the opponent's airfield, let our fleet be vigilant so as not to be attacked by the opponent's air group! ”

Shen Shoukun's face changed stern when he heard this, and he waved his hand and said: "Give the air patrol unit an order to change the patrol every two hours to once an hour, and if there is any suspicious situation, you must report it immediately, especially if you find a fighter plane or a group of aircraft!" ”

The staff officer stood up and said, "Yes, sir!" ”

After the communications staff officer left, Shen Shoukun said to the other party: "Old side, it seems that we can't do our best in the naval battle with the Ottoman naval fleet this time, at least the fighters on the two aircraft carriers can't all be dispatched, only half of them can be dispatched, and the other half must stay to guard against possible air attacks by the opposing air force, what do you see?" ”

Fang Datong promised: "I agree, in fact, I hope that their air force will appear sooner, and with the performance of our carrier-based aircraft, we can throw out their fighters a few streets, and destroy their air force as soon as possible, and the air supremacy will be in our hands. ”

Shen Shoukun smiled when he heard this: "The Ottomans are not fools, how can they do what we think?" Forget it, let's deal with their navy first! ”

The pilots and ground crews on the aircraft carrier Gaozu who received the combat order began to be nervous and busy, a big hole was exposed on the deck of the aircraft carrier, and one after another fighters were sent to the deck by elevators from inside the aircraft carrier, and inside the Gaozu aircraft carrier, the ground crew was testing and filling up the fighters with fuel and ammunition, because the space on the deck was limited, and the carrier-based aircraft also needed a certain amount of space to take off, so most of the fighters inside the aircraft carrier could not be transported to the deck at one time. A large portion of the carrier-based aircraft, which have been inspected and filled with fuel and ammunition, are parked inside, and when there is enough space on the deck to transport them up.

The pilots are wearing helmets and flight suits standing in front of the fighters waiting for the ground crew to be busy, they wear sunglasses, leather boots on their waists and feet, and self-defense pistols pinned to their waists, some fighters have been tested, and filled with ammunition and fuel, the pilots are convenient for the ground crews to say hello and get on their own fighters, some fighters need to be piloted in pairs, such as bombers and torpedo planes, which need one pilot to pilot, and the other to observe and drop bombs.

"Attention all pilots, the combat mission begins five minutes after liftoff, and pilots who are not ready should be prepared as soon as possible!"

Pilots who were ready began to climb aboard the planes to check the situation in the cockpit and see if there was anything that the ground crew had missed.

With the command from the deck, the fighters in the hangar began to be transported to the deck one by one, at this time the original more than 20 fighters on the deck have almost all lifted into the air, and the fighters who were sent to the deck by the elevator turned their heads and drove forward for more than ten meters after being hung on the catapult by the deck ground crew, and with the ground crew in front of them gesticulating to take off, the pilot increased the throttle, and the huge thrust of the catapult made the fighter gain a great speed in an instant, and the fighter that rushed out of more than ten meters raised its head and rushed into the blue sky. On the deck of an aircraft carrier, an average fighter plane takes off within 30 seconds, and this average take-off time interval is already very short, and the average take-off interval of the US Nimitz aircraft carrier in later generations is only 18 seconds.

"Sir, the reconnaissance plane reports that the enemy fleet is less than forty nautical miles away from our fleet!" Communications Staff Report.

Shen Shoukun picked up the intercom and asked the combat staff officer: "How many carrier-based planes have taken off from Gaozu?" ”

"Report to the sir, all three more will take off!"

Shen Shoukun said again: "Are the carrier-based planes on the Taizu ready?" ”

"Yes, sir, it's all ready to take off!"

"Have all the ship's air defense weapon systems been completed?"

"Ready!"

"Are the gun emplacements ready?"

"Ready!"

"Order, all battleships are in the highest state of combat readiness and ready to fire at any time!"

"Yes!"

The carrier-based bomber group consisting of 15 fighters, 25 bombers, and 20 torpedo planes on the aircraft carrier Gaozu took off and then quickly flew off to the Ottoman naval fleet 40 nautical miles ahead.

This is not the first time that a carrier-based aircraft group has been used to deal with the enemy fleet, as early as last year, the carrier-based aircraft group was used to deal with the Japanese naval fleet, but the naval carrier-based aircraft group was to cooperate with the land-based air force to bomb the main force of the Japanese naval fleet, and an air raid destroyed the main force of the Japanese naval fleet, and this time the bombing target was also the main fleet of the Ottoman Navy, and the estimation of this fleet cannot be compared with the Japanese naval fleet, and there is no need to dispatch too many fighters to deal with it.

Forty nautical miles was only a matter of ten minutes for a bomber group flying at a speed of more than 300 kilometers per hour and close to 400 kilometers, and the group quickly flew over the Ottoman naval fleet.

The division of labor in the aircraft group is clear, the fighters are responsible for dealing with the turret artillery and other personnel on the enemy warship, and the bombers are responsible for bombing some turrets and offensive weapons, and the torpedo planes throw torpedoes to attack the opponent's ships, the whole process is orderly, this is after countless training, a qiē in accordance with the offensive steps and procedures, without the slightest panic, on the other hand, the Ottoman naval fleet was suddenly all in chaos, and the sudden arrival of an extremely large number of enemy fighters made them unable to counterattack at all, and could only watch their ships being bombed, watching his comrades being blown up. (To be continued......)