After the Chinese Navy captured the island of Diego Garcia, the two raid destroyers did not re-enter the water, but were temporarily used as fixed batteries on the island. At the same time, the landing engineering unit that accompanied the fleet also quickly repaired the airfield and other facilities on the island so that they could be put back into service.

The strategic importance of Diego Garcia Island, located in the middle of the Indian Ocean, is self-evident, and China's seizure of the island will allow it to balance its defense in the eastern and western Indian Oceans, and the deployment of a large naval aviation fleet here will also help to occupy an advantageous position in the subsequent battle.

The PLA immediately passed through Burma and mobilized an entire regiment of Backfire bombers and a whole regiment of J-9 fighters, with the aim of enhancing anti-ship capabilities in regional waters. After the Backfire bomber was introduced from Russia, it directly replaced the slightly backward H-6K medium-range bomber and became the core weapon of China's tactical bombing. At first, the Air Force was equipped with 160 aircraft, but then it became more and more convenient to use them, and began to increase orders, which were manufactured by Xifei, so that by the beginning of the war, Xifei still had a large number of orders for Backfire bombers.

Moreover, not only was the Air Force equipped with a lot of backfire, but the HNA also took this opportunity to re-equip the bomber model. Because the improved Chinese version of the Tu-22M Backfire can carry the multi-type anti-ship missiles of the Chinese Eagle Strike series to carry out air-based anti-ship combat missions, and greatly make up for the shortcomings of fighters such as the J-16 and J-31 in terms of effective range and combat radius.

The United States and NATO also see Backfire as a serious threat, this supersonic bomber flies fast, and the range after passing through China is not close, the combat radius of 3,000 kilometers is more than enough, and what is even more torturous is that China is equipped with a large number of this type of bomber. The weapons used by this type of bomber are mainly cruise missiles with a range of more than 1,000 kilometers, and even anti-ship missiles are long-range anti-ship missiles with a range of 300 or 400 kilometers. In order to deal with this kind of bomber, the US military even considered developing a fighter that can intercept at high altitude and high speed, and also gave the F-35 under development that must reach Mach 2. The standard of more than 3 made Lockheed Martin scratch the scalp, because they only designed Mach 35 for the F-1 at the beginning. 6 mph.

The loss of Diego Garcia Island itself was expected by the Americans, and the Americans knew very well that a brilliant victory could be achieved on the battlefield without paying a single price. But they are also increasingly keen to open a maritime corridor from South Africa to India. The U.S. expeditionary fleet, led by the USS Nimitz, made a brief stop at the port of Cape Town, South Africa, and then set sail into the Indian Ocean to find the Chinese fleet for a decisive battle.

Zhang Juzuo, the commander of the Indian Ocean Fleet of the Chinese Navy, did not want to give the Americans what they wanted, although the Chinese were not afraid of a large-scale decisive battle at sea, but before the decisive battle, Zhang Juzuo still adhered to the traditional Chinese strategic and tactical thinking, to greatly weaken the strength of the US Navy's expeditionary fleet, making it tired, frightened and demoralized.

The best weapon that can accomplish this task is China's submarine!

The Indian Ocean Fleet now has dozens of conventional-powered and nuclear-powered submarines, and most of them sail alone in the deep sea, like lone wolves, but will launch the most violent and ferocious attacks whenever they find the enemy.

In order to deal with this threat, Cornell, commander of the U.S. Expeditionary Fleet, requested the command to mobilize dozens of fixed-wing anti-submarine aircraft, including the P-3C and the newly developed P-8 Poseidon, to patrol at the airfield in South Africa, the nearby waters and even further afield in the Arabian Sea, in order to detect and strike at China's submarine forces.

However, the anti-submarine planes of the US military entering the Arabian Sea in the northeast direction will basically be intercepted by Chinese fighters stationed in Somalia, and this interception is not a warning to expel them, China and the United States are already in a state of substantial war, as long as the US plane is discovered, the Chinese fighter will inevitably shoot it down mercilessly, so the possibility that the US military can achieve anti-submarine warfare in a farther area is also relatively low. At the very least, it would be possible to enhance the safety of the fleet's navigation along the coast of South Africa.

Still, that would not stop the elusive Chinese submarine from attacking the fleets of the United States and its allies. The first to suffer was South Africa's Warrior-class missile boat, the Machanda, a small naval vessel with a displacement of only 450 tons and little endurance, mainly operating inshore. However, while cruising in the offshore area, the boat was watched by a Chinese Type 095 nuclear submarine, and without realizing it, the Chinese nuclear submarine fired a light torpedo and sank it, killing more than 20 of the more than 50 officers and men on board.

However, this was only the beginning of the underwater nightmare of the NATO Allied fleet, and immediately afterwards, the Canadian Halifax-class frigate sailing in the waters east of South Africa was also attacked by Chinese submarines, and the Chinese nuclear submarine fired multiple torpedoes in one go, all of which hit the 3,000-ton frigate and cut it off.

The continuous losses of the allied ships shocked and nervous the fleet commander Cornell, and he even said: "If we can't ensure that there are no Chinese submarines ambushed on our route, our expeditionary fleet will not enter the Indian Ocean to fight the Chinese, and we will be responsible for our boys!" ”

Having said that, Cornell continued to send anti-submarine aircraft and ships with anti-submarine warfare capabilities to constantly sweep the sea area, and he did not know how many Chinese submarines there were in this sea area, but he could not feel at ease if he did not find one and sink one.

The luck of the Americans is still good; more than 300 kilometers away from the southern tip of the island of Madagascar, the US anti-submarine fleet discovered an unfamiliar underwater acoustic signal and judged it to be a Chinese submarine, and then a number of anti-submarine planes flew to this sea area and dropped a large number of sonar buoys, and the anti-submarine helicopters on the anti-submarine ships were constantly passing back and forth to locate this underwater acoustic signal.

"Captain, there are too many sonar buoys above our heads, as long as we move, they will inevitably find them!" The political commissar on the Type 093 attack nuclear submarine said to the captain a little anxiously, because of the habit of being submariners, they speak very quietly.

This Type 093 nuclear submarine is now hidden on the seabed at a depth of more than 200 meters, and they know the seabed situation here well.

This kind of thing is quite dangerous, because no one knows whether the submarine can rise again after it is parked on the seabed, and in so many years of experience in training and fighting submariners, only the submarine genius Li Chun, who is now a high-ranking officer of the Navy Command, has done such a thing. It just so happened that the captain of the 093 submarine was a fan of Li Chun, the submarine warfare genius who played the NATO fleet back then, and he had analyzed all of Li Chun's combat examples, and at this moment he was so bold to let the nuclear submarine stop on the seabed in order to escape the detection of the opponent.

This is not a very good way, although because the ship is stationary, the enemy cannot find its existence, but they are also completely trapped in this sea area, this nuclear submarine has been sailing for more than a month, and the supply on their ship can last less than a month at most, if the enemy commits a shaft within this month, it is to block this sea area, and the side has not yet lifted it, then this nuclear submarine is no different from being sunk.

What is even more painful is that the nuclear submarine is unable to take the initiative to communicate with the outside world for fear of being discovered by the enemy, and at the moment it is out of complete radio silence. They could not inform the headquarters of the Indian Ocean Fleet of their location and inform them to send troops to save them, and now they are helpless.

The captain was not very old, but he was very calm, he held on to the edge of the table, and said calmly: "Wait, let's wait, as submariners, our greatest virtue is patience." In order to wait for the enemy to take the bait, we can stay underwater for a month, in order to wait for the enemy to leave, we will also wait underwater for a month, even if we are suffocated to death in this big iron can, the time is not right, we will never act, this is the consciousness that we submariners should have! ”

The chief of weapons said with some regret: "If we are driving a 095, we can run at a speed of more than 40 knots, and we also have countermeasures against torpedoes, then we will not take care of these clowns, and we will run if we want to." ”

The captain frowned and said: "This is not the time for us to complain that the weapons are not advanced enough, and the war is not only about weapons and equipment, but also about the tactical and psychological elements of our officers and soldiers, I believe in myself, I believe in all of us more, and I also believe that this submarine that has followed us for more than a year, together, will definitely be able to go out victorious!" ”

The captain's words encouraged everyone, but because of the quiet, everyone couldn't shout in unison or anything, just quietly in their respective battle positions, carrying out their own duties.

The Chinese submariners under the water are very anxious, and the US anti-submarine troops on the surface and in the air are not very good. The commander of the expeditionary fleet, Cornell, had given a death order that he had to see a Chinese submarine sunk, otherwise they guys would not come back to see him. The NATO fleet has been severely attacked by China's submarine forces, and they very much need such a result to declare to themselves and the world that China's submarines are not terrible and can be defeated.

It's just that no matter how the towed sonar of the US Perry-class frigate and the sonar buoy of the P-3C are detected, they will not be able to find the underwater acoustic signal just now, and the Chinese submarine seems to be lost in this sea area.

"Sir, we have conducted a complete investigation in this sea area, and still have found no trace of the enemy submarine, could it be that they have evacuated from here?"

The captain of the frigate Boone was deeply skeptical, and he said: "Impossible, if this submarine leaves at high speed, it will be easier for us to find her traces, she definitely did not leave this sea area, but this cunning guy is hiding somewhere, so that we can't detect it." If we can't catch her once, we'll do it twice, three times, and we'll have a lot of time to spend with her! ”

The people in the communications department reported again: "The USS Virginia and USS New Hampshire nuclear submarines have entered the operational sea area and joined our anti-submarine operations!" ”

Captain Boone waved his fist and said, "Great, the more people who join us, the better the odds!" ”

The Virginia class, which replaced the Seawolf class in the plane, did not appear, and the Americans redesigned the Seawolf class, and opened up the Seawolf-class Block-II model without much reduction in its combat power. And the USS Virginia and USS New Hampshire nuclear submarines belong to the batch of Seawolf-class Block-II. In terms of overall combat power, the Seawolf class is much higher than China's 093.

But just when the American anti-submarine fleet was receiving strong support, bad things happened at the same time.

The originally calm Boone suddenly alarmed all the officers and men on board. An officer shouted: "It's an anti-ship missile, we were targeted by an anti-ship missile, damn it, who sent the missile, there is no trace of the enemy at all!" ”

"Bombers, actually Chinese bombers!"

This sea area is exactly within the combat radius of the backfire bombers newly deployed at the Diego Garcia base, and the backfire bombers are on a mission, and after receiving the information that their submarines may be in danger, they immediately rushed to the nearby airspace and launched a number of YJ-12 anti-ship missiles with the assistance of satellites. These long-range anti-ship missiles can be launched even before the ship's radar detects the bomber, and the Chinese bomber will never be able to do so, and immediately turn around at supersonic speed after launching the anti-ship missile.

The US military has two Alex Burke-class destroyers in the sea area, and in the face of the Chinese's anti-ship missile attack, it immediately turned on the Aegis system to counter it, and the US military launched a number of standard missiles and opened its own phalanx, but there were still two missiles that passed through the defense network built by the US Aegis ship and hit the Boone. As a heavy anti-ship missile, the YJ-12 can sink a frigate of more than 4,000 tons with one hit, let alone two.

More than 30 American sailors on the Boone died on the spot, and many drowned later, and the Boone sank directly into the sea without even rescuing it.

And just when the US military was in shock, the alarms of other ships were ordered to make a big noise.

"How can there still be anti-ship missiles? Aren't the Chinese bombers gone? ”

"Oh my God, there are other Chinese submarines here!"