After the crosswind take-off and landing training was completed, the aircraft carrier formation maintained its course and continued to sail outward.

After the fleet bypassed the virtual thunderstorm zone, the reconnaissance group also confirmed the identity of the simulated suspicious target.

After the news was reported to the command, the aviation groups of the two aircraft carriers were once again busy and began to prepare for a formal air strike.

The specific details and processes of simulated operations are determined by the commanders themselves.

However, the logic and ideas of the aircraft carrier operation itself were provided by Zhu Jingyuan in the process of designing the aircraft carrier.

In the eyes of ordinary craftsmen in this world, since Zhu Jingyuan designed an aircraft carrier, it is natural for him to think of how to play the role of this new warship.

But in fact, if it weren't for Zhu Jingyuan's experience in his previous life, it would have taken a long time to explore simply from thinking of putting planes on battleships to really building an aircraft carrier with a relatively reasonable design.

And how to play the role of an aircraft carrier in a war may take much longer than the design of the aircraft carrier itself.

In the original history, the Americans, the British, and the Japanese, from the beginning of the twenties to the end of the thirties, for nearly two decades, did not fully understand how aircraft carriers should be used.

At the beginning of the Second World War, countries used the experience of the past two decades to come up with some impressive tactics, but also some unscrupulous operations.

For example, the British aircraft carrier Glory went to transport planes for the Air Force alone, so it brought two old destroyers to escort it.

As a result, they met the German Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, two guys with cranes in high-speed battleships, who seized this golden opportunity and won the honor of sinking the fleet aircraft carrier with a battleship that is unique.

It was the actual combat experience in the Second World War that allowed them to basically figure out the real and reasonable use of this new warship.

Now, Zhu Jingyuan has taken out all these lessons and told the Ming Navy in the name of his own ideas.

If they train directly according to this idea, they should be able to avoid more than ten years of detours.

At present, it is based on the American-style all-deck attack mode, and some later ideas for aircraft carrier operations and dispatch have been added.

When launching an attack, it is necessary to gather a large enough fleet of aircraft to form a cluster attack.

Zhu Jingyuan leaned on the window, looking at the group of planes leaving in formation, with a rather heavy expression:

"If it is in real combat, in the face of an evenly matched enemy, these pilots do not know how many ...... they can return"

Zhu Zhongliang and Zhu Jianyan, as well as the other overseers, all had some thoughts when they heard this, but none of them said it.

The hit rate of bombs and torpedoes dropped by the aircraft of the aircraft carrier, of course, was higher than that of the battleship's shells.

But before the maturity of guided weapons, aircraft also have to pile up attack density.

There are enough planes attacking at the same time that the enemy's anti-aircraft fire can take care of one and lose the other, and the engines can be exhausted.

Then you can get enough valid hits.

From this point of view, a large part of the pilots and aircraft of this era are consumables.

Zhu Zhongliang and the senior officers understood this.

But the officers did not find this line of thinking unreasonable.

This has been the case since ancient times.

Ancient soldiers would march forward with spears, and the opposite side might have to rush into the spear array with their horses.

In ancient times, the generals who charged into battle had a group of personal guards around them to help the generals resist the indiscriminate swords and guns on the battlefield.

After the musket matured, the war was even more desperate, and both sides stood still and shot each other to see who could not bear it first.

At this time, it is not required that the soldier is highly skilled, as long as he can stand still and shoot at the opposite side.

In the era of trench warfare, it is even more necessary to have enough lives to block the enemy's guns.

Therefore, "mercy is not in charge of soldiers, and righteousness is not in charge of wealth." ”

Fortunately, now that Daming's technology is progressing rapidly, there will be no evenly matched opponents in a short period of time.

The twin carrier formations carried out two strikes in succession, targeting a fenced sea area, where there was also a battleship formation that had always been the enemy.

The fighters that took off from the two aircraft carriers of the Ming Dynasty dumped the ammunition they carried into this sea area.

Judging by the reconnaissance aircraft, the theoretical strike turned out to be quite good.

At present, the warships of the Taixi countries not only have very limited horizontal armor, but also have very rudimentary mine protection facilities.

The simulated target is based on the warships of the Taixi countries, which is basically a crushing game.

By the evening of the same day, all the planes had returned to the aircraft carrier, and the day's simulation exercise was officially over.

That night, Zhu Zhongliang and Zhu Jingyuan's ancestors and grandchildren stayed directly on the aircraft carrier.

Dinner was served by the main generals and overseers, and then they went straight back to the room prepared for the two of them on the ship.

Zhu Zhongliang retired from the idle people and others, and began to ask himself the questions that he had been holding back for most of the day:

"Jingyuan, judging by your experience, what state does the aircraft carrier formation have to reach before it can be considered fully mature?

"Can you cope with the night and the rough sea conditions, and can you leave the battleship behind and fight completely independently?

"You said during the day that the most critical technology is radio detection.

"So in addition, what are the relatively important technologies that can help the aircraft carrier formation mature rapidly.

"What about the one who finally completely suppressed the battleships and took control of the seas independently?"

Radio detection equipment is actually radar, but radar is transliteration, and radio detection is the original meaning.

Actively emits radio waves in a specific direction, and then receives and analyzes the radio waves that are fed back.

According to the characteristics of radio waves, determine whether there is a target in this direction, as well as the direction, distance, and type of target.

The Japanese translate this device as "electric detector", which can actually be considered relatively accurate.

The principle of radio detection was proposed very early, perhaps even before radio communications.

There have been relevant studies in this world for a long time, but Zhu Jingyuan did not receive too much attention before he intervened.

After Zhu Jingyuan specially reminded him, the Ministry of Industry of Daming and the royal consortium quickly set up a special team to work hard in the direction of radio detection.

Zhu Zhongliang also knows the approximate progress of these projects, and whether they can be put into practical use is not determined by Zhu Jingyuan's words.

What Zhu Zhongliang wants to know now, what he wants to discuss with Zhu Jingyuan, is not the technology itself.

The key question is actually - how can the aircraft carrier fleet become the supremacy at sea.

If we look at it from the perspective of battleships in turn, it is necessary to discuss how battleships were eliminated.

This topic is actually a bit big, and Zhu Jingyuan sorted out his thoughts:

"As I understand it, there is no causal relationship between aircraft carriers controlling the seas and battleships withdrawing from the battlefield.

"It's just that the comparison between the offensive capability and the defensive capability of the naval vessels, from relative equilibrium to gradual imbalance, has formed several more important nodes.

"Battleships should be eliminated, and the internal reason for the elimination should be the offensive and defensive imbalance caused by the development of science and technology.

"In addition to radio detection, aircraft carriers and aircraft, these technologies should also include torpedoes, rockets, guided weapons, etc.

"These technologies will make attacks more and more effective and defenses more and more difficult.

"When it comes to defending against the enemy's attack no matter how much armor is piled up, both sides can only completely give up defense and pursue the ultimate offensive ability.

"Strive to destroy the enemy before he is destroyed."

Zhu Zhongliang nodded silently after listening, and then looked at Zhu Jingyuan and waited for the following, because it was obvious that there was something that had not yet been finished.

Zhu Jingyuan continued to explain while sorting out his thoughts:

"This process is definitely not achieved overnight, it will not be said that at a certain point, the armor of the battleship is suddenly useless, the battleship can be directly decommissioned, and the aircraft carrier does not need to be accompanied by a battleship in an instant.

"This is a process of continuous accumulation of quantitative changes and eventually qualitative changes, a relatively long process.

"I think it can be roughly divided into three more important stages.

"The first stage is the completion of the combination of aircraft carriers and carrier-based aircraft, which is our current state.

"Now the strike capability of aircraft carriers is already very strong, ten twin-engine attack aircraft can carry twenty torpedoes, the key is that the strike distance is beyond the reach of any traditional warship.

"The second stage is the realization of all-weather aircraft carriers and all-weather combat aircraft.

"It is necessary for aircraft to be able to take off and land and attack at night without direct interference from the outside world, and to be able to take off and land in small and medium-sized rains and wind and waves.

"It is able to detect high-intensity rainstorms and thunder and lightning in advance, and guide the formation to take shelter in advance.

"Radio detection and communication are the key technologies at this stage.

"Pilots communicate with the mothership and their companions by radio, and need to communicate with the aircrew through radio and cooperate with light signals to guide the take-off and landing operations.

"Make the radio detection accurate enough.

"Accurate enough radios to allow aircraft to radio-detect and determine the relatively accurate location of a target in the absence of light, and then launch an attack.

"Among them, radio communication has basically matured, and the difficulty is the accurate realization of radio detection.

"After solving the difficulties in radio technology, how the mothership docks and communicates with the pilot, what kind of signal to use to direct the pilot to take off and land at night, and how to coordinate the attack, can all be achieved through exploration and training."

Zhu Zhongliang nodded again when he heard this:

"So, when the radio matures, can we just abandon the battleship fleet?"

Zhu Jingyuan also thought about it a little

"I don't think so, with all-weather aircraft carriers and aircraft, battleships have lost their value as the main force of attack.

"Battleships are no longer needed in bad sea conditions, and battleships are left for the purpose of escorting aircraft carriers.

"But this use still has a certain irreplaceability, although it is already very small, but it still exists.

"We still can't guarantee 100 percent avoidance of accidents, and militarily we have to have the necessary safeguards.

"Of all the warships of any kind, there is none that is as durable as a battleship.

"On the basis of such subtle irreplaceability, coupled with the fact that the battleship itself is a good command platform, the most stable air defense platform, the fire support platform, and the most deterrent warship, it still needs to continue to exist.

"I estimate that this process will last at least ten years, if not longer."

Zhu Zhongliang was a little regretful after hearing this, couldn't he see a pure aircraft carrier formation in his lifetime?

Zhu Zhongliang also has a basic understanding of what kind of composition and posture the pure aircraft carrier formation should be in the future.

So now it's not particularly disappointing, so I nodded slowly:

"In the past few years, let's first train the basic application of aircraft carriers, since the battleships will exist for a relatively long time, then when will they really withdraw from the battlefield and active service?"

Zhu Jingyuan now knows it in his heart:

"The third stage is a comprehensive upgrade of the strike capability of the aircraft carrier formation.

"An aircraft carrier or frigate, which is indispensable for an aircraft carrier, must have the ability to threaten battleships at close range.

"In the event of an accidental encounter with a battleship, there must be at least one weapon that can be released immediately, quickly hit the battleship, and destroy it.

"Such an aircraft carrier formation, even without the escort of battleships, will still be able to confront battleships head-on at close range.

"At the very least, we can destroy each other, or lose both.

"In this way, the battleship completely loses its irreplaceability, and whether to continue to build the battleship depends entirely on the cost, and whether there is still a real residue of its deterrent power.

"And the cost of battleships was extremely high......

"So, if our competitors find that the battleships are no longer valuable and do not continue to build battleships, then there is no need for us to continue to build."

At the moment when Zhu Jingyuan paused, Zhu Zhongliang next to him subconsciously asked:

"Isn't this weapon a torpedo...... Uh, no, the torpedo is not fast enough...... But...... Missile! ”

Zhu Zhongliang thought about what that weapon was, missiles!

On the booklet left by Emperor Shizu, although it was not directly said that there was any relationship between that kind of weapon and the elimination of battleships, Zhu Jingyuan suddenly became clear when he put it down.

Aircraft carriers cannot independently eliminate battleships, and missiles cannot independently eliminate battleships.

However, the combination of the two forms a modern aircraft carrier plus missile cruiser (destroyer) combat system, which completely covers the role of the traditional gunboat fleet represented by battleships, and the key is that the efficiency is much better.

Battleships have not been replaced by a new weapon or new ship class that is directly aligned.

He lost his irreplaceability in the new system, and naturally no one would continue to build.

When Zhu Jingyuan said this, he thought of a logic that sounds nonsense, but actually has a certain amount of truth.

After the end of World War II, Britain and France finally did not keep the battleships, the avant-garde and Jean-Barr were demolished just after construction, and the United States finally retired all the battleships.

The immediate reason for this choice was the fact that their opponent, Red Lucia, did not have battleships.

At that time, aircraft carriers were already capable of night battles, missiles were basically mature, and the combat value of battleships was gone.

The final significance is the influence of the era of large ships and giant cannons that has lasted for hundreds of years.

The battleship remained a powerful symbol in the minds of ordinary people, that is, the deterrent remained.

If Maozi really built his own battleship at that time, most of the British and French Tessies would have slapped their swollen faces and become fat.

Britain and France should continue to retain the avant-garde, George V, Richelieu, Jean Bar, these cutting-edge battleships.

The United States will continue to maintain an active battleship formation for a longer period of time.

The reverse is also true, when Father of Steel and the design team determined the design specifications for the Type 24 battleship, they were initially based on the standards of counterpoint Montana.

Iron Father and intelligence officers judged that Montana's halt was only caused by the World War, and that the Americans would probably continue to build Montana after the war was over.

At the same time, after the end of the World War, Britain and France continued to build battleships.

The Iron Father thought they were building newer battleships, like Alsace and lions.

But later more accurate intelligence showed that the British had made an avant-garde with granny dentures, and the French had only finished what was left of the pre-war Jean Barr.

As a result, the Iron Father lowered the standard of the Type 24 battleship, changing from counter-Montana to suppressing Iowa, and the tonnage was limited to 75,000 tons.

They believed that the Iowa class had nine sixteen-inch guns, a nineteen-inch main armor belt, and a speed of thirty-five knots.

Because the goals were still too high, the Type 53 battleship did not officially start construction until the death of the Iron Father in 24.

Red Lucia's new leader, the Corn Emperor, has a distinctly different way of thinking about the navy than the Iron Father.

Emperor Corn determined that the battleship itself was meaningless, it was a kind father's face project, and it was built to be put on display.

The Corn Emperor, who was himself against his loving father, certainly did not continue to build traditional artillery warships, including battleships.

As a result, the design of the Type 24 battleship was directly canceled, the half-finished Type 82 cruiser was directly dismantled in 55, and the unfinished four unfinished 68 modified artillery cruisers were also directly canceled and dismantled.

On the other hand, the British avant-garde was decommissioned in 54 and demolished in 60, and the four George V-class battleships of George V, the Duke of York, Anson, and Howe were sold and dismantled in 57 and 58.

The French Jean Barr was finally completed in 55 and transferred directly to the reserve in 57, Richelieu was converted into a training ship as a dormitory in 56 and into the reserve in 58.

The last two Iowa-class battleships of the United States, the fifth ship, the Illinois, and the sixth ship, the Kentucky, were not built during the war, but they were not dismantled until 58.

The four completed Iowa-class battleships were also put into reserve in '58 and mothballed in port.

The Alaska-class large cruiser, the unfinished No. 3 ship Hawaii, was also dismantled in 58 years, and the completed Alaska and Guam were also delayed in 60 years before finally disintegrating.

The decommissioning, sale, and dismantling of these large artillery warships are, of course, affected by many generations.

However, the fundamental reason is obviously that the era of aircraft carriers and missiles has arrived, which has made them lose their practical role.

At the same time, Red Lucia was not ready to continue building battleships, which could be an important opportunity for the decision to be made.

Of these two reasons, one is inevitable and the other is accidental.

If Emperor Corn continues to insist on building battleships, even if the battleship project is only half-finished, most of the battleships in Europe and the United States will continue to be kept for a longer time.

The death of the Iron Father represents the end of an era.