Compared to the Australian continent, the main force of the British Royal Navy is, of course, a more valuable target!

If the land is lost, the ship will be lost; Save the ship and lose the land, and save the ship and the land!

The main force of the British Royal Navy is still there, so it will be difficult to carry out the Australian campaign with peace of mind, and the main force of the Pacific Fleet covering the landing force must also be fearful, for fear of being attacked by the British.

But if the main force of the British Royal Navy, that is, the Indian Ocean Fleet, is destroyed. Then the Australian continent has become a super-large island and isolated, and it has no industrial base of its own, and even a small population. You can only rely on the army that went to the island before and the materials they have hoarded to fight, and it is not a matter of time before the whole army is wiped out?

Therefore, the Joint General Staff of the Daming Navy and Army naturally put the main force of the Royal Navy in the first position to be eliminated, and the capture of Australia can only be ranked second.

Now that the number one target has been dispatched, what else is there to say, of course they will be destroyed.

Maybe the Indian Grand Fleet will be destroyed, and Princess Victoria of the British Empire will lie down. When the time comes, Britain will become "Zhu Ying", will Australia still be a problem?

"Send a telegram to the General Staff," Zhuge Weidao certainly knew what the overall situation was, and he said to Guo Xiaobao, "The Pacific Fleet will form the First Air Force with six aircraft carriers, including Guangdong, Guangxi, Liaoxi, Jilin, Heilongjiang, and Beihai, to carry out long-range maneuvers to the South Luzon Islands!" ”

"Yes, Junmen!"

Guo Xiaobao recorded the order dictated by Zhuge Weidao, and after giving Zhuge Weidao a look and signing, he handed it over to a staff officer and asked the latter to hurry to the radio station to send a telegram to the General Staff in Beijing.

Zhuge Weidao set his sights on Vice Admiral Ma Xuchen, who had just stepped down as Admiral of the Naval Aviation, and he was now the chief of the first detachment of the Pacific Fleet. Among them, the "detachment" is the daily management unit of the ships on standby in the home port, which is organized according to the different types of ships - the same kind of ships are grouped together for easy management! The "warband" is a temporary formation when the mission is released, and it is a mixture of various ships - only when they are mixed together can they be coordinated!

Therefore, the "general officer of the detachment" is a permanent position, which is generally filled by a vice admiral or rear admiral. The "Commander of the Squadron" is a temporary position, which is generally held by the "Chief of the Detachment" or the Admiral and Deputy Admiral of the Pacific Fleet.

And the first detachment of the Pacific Fleet is an aircraft carrier detachment with 8 motherships under its banner!

Because he is in charge of aircraft carriers on a daily basis, and has served as the commander of the aviation force, it is most suitable for Ma Xuchen to serve as the commander of the first air force!

"Xuchen," Zhuge Weidao said, "you should be the commander of a naval battle, and give you 6 motherships. Then some mounted cruisers, second-class cruisers, destroyers, and fast tankers were transferred to the First Voyage Battle. ”

As he spoke, he took a long baton from a staff officer and clicked on the Maluku Strait, south of South Luzon, "That's it. It lurks here, waiting for the Grand Indian Fleet to enter the Java Sea. It is more than 4,000 nautical miles from Pearl Harbor to the Maluku Strait, and the speed of a single voyage battle is fast, and it can be reached in a maximum of 10 days. If nothing else, the First Air Campaign will definitely be in place before the British Indian Grand Fleet. ”

"Junmen, don't worry," Ma Xuchen nodded, "The department will definitely be in place within 10 days!" ”

Zhuge Weidao said: "There is the jurisdiction of the Nanyang Fleet. When you get there, you have to listen to the command of the military gate, and don't have any view of the door. Also, remember to play the majesty of my Pacific Fleet! ”

"Yes, Junmen!" Ma Xuchen said with a smile, "The department has followed you for many years, and under your teaching, I have long learned the trick of using an aircraft carrier, this aircraft carrier is like a warrior dressed in cloth and holding a flying spear, throwing a flying spear can pierce through the enemy's armor, and the enemy's sword can easily kill a warrior without armor." So seizing the opportunity, throwing a flying spear, and killing the enemy before they kill themselves is the key to the command of the aircraft carrier! ”

"Good!" Zhuge nodded with satisfaction for Dao, "Xuchen. It's good that you understand this truth! In addition, I remind you one more point, the aircraft carrier we have is! What we need is a chance to win! If you sacrifice all the aircraft carriers in the first air battle, you can exchange it for one less year in the world war, even if it can only bring the victory forward by one month, it is worth it! ”

This aircraft carrier, or the navy of the ironclad steam era and beyond, is actually an industrialized game that can be played and doesn't care!

Whoever treats aircraft carriers, battleships, and other expensive large surface ships as treasures and is reluctant to do anything will not be able to win this naval battle. Historically, all those who have won this kind of industrialized naval warfare, except for Japan, which is a strange thing that "it is better to build than to buy", are all countries that build aircraft carriers and warships and dumplings. Historically, after Japan met the United States, a big guy who didn't care how many ships sank, it was reluctant to shrink back in all kinds of ways, and the final result can be imagined.

And now there is no word "reluctant" in the dictionary of Daming, there is only gain!

And the pot of "dumplings" is still serving! If there are really no losses, what about so many dumpling ships?

Thinking of those "big dumplings" under construction, Zhuge Weidao said to Ma Xuchen with a smile: "Fight hard, I'll wait for your good news and don't be afraid of losses, how many aircraft carriers you lose, I will make up as many aircraft carriers as you want." When the Indian Grand Fleet is over, let's go to Australia together! ”

"Yes, Zhuge Junmen!"

In Colombo Harbor, sailors are busy lifting supplies from the aircraft-carrying armored cruiser USS Black.

The Blake was one of the two Blake-class ships that had to withdraw from the battle due to a main engine failure in the Battle of Malacca. Because both ships had been repaired by Hindustan Shipbuilding before entering the war, the Indian Navy took Hindustan Shipbuilding to court afterwards.

But Hindustan Shipbuilding argues that almost all of the ships they repaired returned safely, without losing a single one. This can't be called a loss for the Indian Navy, right? On the contrary, the ships that were not repaired to them sank a lot!

So that trial ended with the victory of the Hindustan shipyard. Later, the legendary shipbuilding company of India, which could bring luck to warships, took over the renovation of two Blake-class ships, converting these two armored cruisers into aircraft-carrying armored cruisers.

Although this is a very complex and huge project, the engineers and workers of the Hindustan shipyard completed the entire construction in less than two years with great enthusiasm.

And a few months ago, these two aircraft-carrying armored cruisers were handed over to the Indian Grand Fleet.

Now, one of them, the Blake, has become the commander of the air detachment of the Indian Grand Fleet. The flagship of General Yoshiru.

And George. Yilu and his air detachment, as the vanguard of the entire fleet, quietly left the port of Bommai before the departure of the Grand Fleet, and made a hasty journey to the Colombo military port two days earlier...... The air detachment was to complete an important replenishment here and then sail to Port Moresby in one go.

After a short rest in Port Moresby, the air detachment of the Indian Grand Fleet will converge with the fast detachment, as well as the rapid detachment of the Australian Grand Fleet...... Let's go north to Pearl Harbor!

(End of chapter)