ps: I didn't have time to update it yesterday, I'm sorry, I'll make it up now

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November 23, 10:25 a.m., the ocean near Belitung Island.

The officers and men of the Chinese Navy's First Task Force finally breathed a sigh of relief after the heavy rain that raged in the western part of the Java Sea overnight, and it seemed that the weather forecast was still relatively accurate, at least they did not have to fight in the heavy rain.

At this time, a Shui Reconnaissance-2 "" water reconnaissance plane that took off from the light cruiser Daijiang swept past at a low altitude next to the Huangshan and then flew south.

On the bridge of the navigation ship of the Huangshan, Li Ang looked at the rain outside the porthole, and then at the seaplanes hovering over the fleet, and frowned: "Isn't the carrier-based aircraft of the Zidian still able to take off?"

The combat staff officer replied: "Captain Wang of the Purple Electric said that the water on the deck has not yet reached the requirements for taking off and landing, and the friction on the deck is too small, and it is difficult to achieve the acceleration that can take off. ”

"This kind of escort aircraft carrier is not good at all, it doesn't even have a catapult, and it is not as good as a seaplane at this time......," Li Ang said depressedly.

The chief of staff smiled: "There is no way, after all, it is only an emergency product, and if you install a catapult, the change will be too big." ”

"Then forget it, anyway, there are only 20 attack planes on the Purple Electric, even if it can take off, 4 facing the five super dreadnoughts of the Netherlands is better than ......" Li Ang had to sigh and said: "Fortunately, our cruisers have catapults, otherwise when the official start of the battle will start later, there will not even be a school shot......"

The Nanyang operation was very important, and in order not to have an accident, Mr. Wen transferred three unmanned exploration vehicles to monitor the battlefield over Europe. There is no way to do this, the weather in the Nanyang area is too changeable, and now China's spy satellites can only conduct optical reconnaissance, and once they encounter bad weather, they can only be dumbfounded, and they still have to be much more reliable in the 23rd century.

With the advantage of near-one-way transparency in intelligence, the movements of the Dutch fleet have long been in China's grasp. However, although there is an unmanned exploration vehicle as a map-wide plug-in, the navy's own reconnaissance is also indispensable. On the one hand, because the exploration vehicle is a strictly confidential equipment, and now there are more and more things in the sky, and it is necessary to pay attention to secrecy. On the other hand, it is also to exercise their reconnaissance strength, after all, exploration vehicles have a service life. In the past few years, it has been used too often, and the six flying machines have been overhauled several times, and the accessories of this thing can't be replenished, so they can only be maintained by inventory, and one less is used, and if it is completely broken, it can only be developed by this plane, so it has to be used sparingly, and it will not be taken out at a critical time.

At this time, the light cruisers of the First Task Force released their reconnaissance planes and went to the waters of the Dutch fleet to monitor and track.

Captain Wang Fenglei of the Purple Electric was standing on the bridge of the navigation ship at this moment, looking at the seaplane flying in the rain with a gloomy expression.

"Madan, I said I had to install a catapult, but they just didn't listen, this is good, we are all Nima as spectators now! I might as well go to the seaplane carrier......"

In fact, catapults appeared quite early, the earliest flying catapults appeared when the aircraft was invented, in 1901, the British first invented the spring-loaded catapult, and the Wright brothers also created the weight-falling catapult under the same concept. The so-called falling weight type is to use the force of falling heavy objects to eject the aircraft, and the principle is similar to that of a counterweight trebuchet.

The aviation technology of the plane has developed faster, and the corresponding catapult has also developed rapidly, and before the outbreak of the European war, there are many kinds of flywheel, gunpowder, rocket-boosted, electric, hydraulic, and pneumatic types, and all kinds of brain-opening designs.

As the number one aviation power, China, of course, also has catapults on its own warships, and the seaplanes on battleships and cruisers have no requirements for the ejection cycle because of their small number, so they use simple and reliable flywheel catapults, while several regular aircraft carriers are equipped with hydraulic catapults.

The planes of this era were very light and could take off directly from the deck of an aircraft carrier under their own power, which was much more efficient than using catapults. The use of catapults to take off will increase the complexity of deck operations, making the already complex lift-off operations more difficult to execute, and causing delays in lift-off. Under normal circumstances, Chinese aircraft carriers do not use catapults, so when modifying this "Baihong-class" escort aircraft carrier, the navy simply omitted the catapult in order to hurry up and reduce costs, and also simplified the deck drainage system. Normally, it is not affected, but in the current weather that is not suitable for direct take-off, the Purple Electric has no choice but to stare dryly.

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11:35 a.m., Huangshan.

"Report to the detachment commander, at one o'clock in our fleet found a seaplane that found the Dutch, and our seaplane has gone to drive ......," the intelligence non-commissioned officer reported.

Leon stood up, picked up his binoculars and looked at the sky.

He saw that several seaplanes were already in the sky, and because of the distance, he couldn't see too clearly here.

At this time, in the air more than ten kilometers away from the fleet, four Chinese monoplane seaplanes were strongly watching the two Dutch biplane seaplanes. The water reconnaissance plane currently used by the Dutch fleet is the British "Hadrian" seaplane, which is the successor to the "Spanlow" type, and its performance is much better than that of the much-criticized Spanlow, but it also depends on who it compares with.

For example, they are now facing the Shui Reconnaissance-2 "" water reconnaissance aircraft (note: "" is pronounced "ladder". A water bird that resembles a duck with a straight and pointed beak, also known as "water hyacinth"). This seaplane also adheres to the tradition of China's water reconnaissance, and in addition to being used as a reconnaissance aircraft, it can also be used as a fighter jet when necessary, and its performance is completely inferior to all similar aircraft in the world.

It is a three-pontoon monoplane, the appearance is somewhat close to the original time and space of the United States in World War II is the SC "Sea Hawk" water reconnaissance aircraft, but it has been replaced with a two-seater, compared with the SC, its maximum speed has dropped to 450 kilometers, but the range has increased to 1800 kilometers, and the ceiling is 9500 meters. The armament was three 12-mm machine guns with two in the nose and one in the rear seat. In an emergency, it can also carry two 150-kilogram bombs, and make a cameo appearance as an anti-submarine aircraft and bomber. However, in general, it is mounted on two auxiliary fuel tanks, at which point its range can be increased to 2,500 kilometers.

The performance of this aircraft is not only the best in its class, but it can also be fought against professional fighters. "Hadrian", with a maximum speed of only 280 km, is naturally not an opponent, not to mention that there is no advantage in numbers. There was no suspense about the outcome of the air battle, and a few minutes later, two "Hadrians" fell into the sea with black smoke in tow.

At this time, the communications staff officer said: "Detachment leader, a radio signal was intercepted just now, which was sent to the Dutch Far East Fleet by the seaplane just now, and it seems that the Dutch already know our location at this time. ”

"Well, got it......" Leon nodded, he was already mentally prepared for this. At this time, the carrier-based planes of the aircraft carrier could not take off, and relying only on the seaplanes carried by the eight cruisers could not form a tight air blockade, and the seaplanes of the opposing side were likely to slip in. But it doesn't matter, anyway, his task is to act as a bait, entangle the main force of the Dutch fleet, and wait for his own main fleet to come and destroy the other side.

What he is most worried about now is that the Dutch fleet is instigated, and it will be more troublesome if it does not dare to respond to the battle but slips away.

At this time, the intelligence staff officer reported: "Report to the detachment leader, the No. 3 reconnaissance aircraft of the Nujiang reported that the Dutch fleet has been discovered, coordinates xxxx, course xxx, speed 15 knots. It has now been divided into two groups, with five Dutch monarch-class super-dreadnoughts in front, eight Sumatra-class light cruisers and six Brio-class destroyers. Dragged behind were six shore defense battleships, six Dutch-class protective cruisers and eight Fret-class destroyers. The distance between the two teams is about 14 kilometers...... The intelligence of the AWACS airship indicates that the other side is speeding towards us. ”

Hearing this news, Li Ang breathed a sigh of relief, it seems that the other party still has courage. So he immediately ordered: "Order the whole fleet, speed up to 25 knots, keep course ......"

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Twenty minutes ago, the Dutch Far Eastern Fleet.

"Report to Your Excellency Commander, our reconnaissance aircraft has found traces of the Chinese fleet, coordinates xxx, about 50 kilometers from us, heading directly towards us, at a speed of about 20 knots...... "The intelligence officer reported to Cruyff.

"Well, it looks like the other side is going to fight us......" Cruyff nodded, and looked up at the sky outside the bridge.

In the sky a few kilometers away from the fleet, several Chinese seaplanes were swaggering after them.

He said with a bitter face, "Chinese have already discovered us...... Hey, the kingdom's aviation is so weak that even the Chinese reconnaissance planes can't help it......"

The Dutch admiral, who was traditionally sent with a giant ship cannon to a large ship, had already deeply felt the importance of air power at this moment. Since this morning, Chinese seaplanes have been coming to visit them, and they have been following them with a swagger, and they even handed over a shift in the middle. The Dutch fleet also carried seaplanes, and at first, Cruyff ordered his own planes to drive them away. But it is a pity that the performance of the Dutch aircraft was too inferior, and not only did not drive away those hateful Chinese planes, but they were pulled down like ducks by the other side. After paying the price of eight planes, the remaining pilots said nothing to send to their deaths.

The Dutch Navy has no plan to develop aircraft carriers at all when expanding its navy, because the mainstream view of their navy is still dominated by giant ships and cannons, of course, they are not completely ignorant of air power, they just regard aircraft as the eyes and ears of the fleet, and do not use them as an attack force, in the eyes of the Dutch Navy, as long as a few seaplanes on a warship are enough. They did not react until after the Battle of Jutland, but they were still not interested in aircraft carriers. In their opinion, there are many islands in the Dutch East Indies, as long as they build a few more on those islands and arrange some land-based aircraft, there is no need to spend money on building professional aircraft carriers.

However, this plan could not be completed because of the European war, because they did not have the ability to manufacture aircraft themselves, and all the aircraft were imported from Britain, France and Germany. At a time when the European war is getting more intense, it will also be difficult for them to buy more planes. Moreover, the Dutch government must give priority to ensuring the security of the homeland, and the advanced aircraft purchased must first meet the needs of the homeland, and can only be deployed to the East Indies in small quantities.

For example, there is an airfield on Belitung Island, which is the closest to them, but there are only two poor planes on it, and it is still an old-fashioned fighter like the "Newburgh 11", which was shot down by water scouts just after going up, which really made the Dutch want to cry without tears.

Jakarta does have a slightly decent number of planes, but now the distance is too far to count on at this time. Besides, Lieutenant General Cruyff was distrustful of things made of wood and canvas, and he did not think that they would be pleased by China's advanced seaplanes. Although it is only a reconnaissance plane, it is also an advanced all-metal monoplane.

However, out of case, he still asked Jakarta for air reinforcements, but at the speed of those old planes, I am afraid that the fight will be finished when they arrive. Well, in fact, those planes of the Dutch have not been in service for more than five years, strictly speaking, they can't be considered too old, but the current planes are being replaced too quickly, let alone four years, and I am afraid that they will be outdated in two years.

"Order the ships, speed up, and prepare for battle!" Cruyff ordered.

It was necessary to destroy this fleet while the main forces of the Chinese Navy did not arrive. Now that the two sides are only 50 kilometers apart, he decided to rush over with the new warships first, as for the old ships behind, the speed cannot be improved at all, and it is not suitable for forming a battle line, and it can only be a burden to forcibly bring them, it is better to let them catch up later, as a reserve.

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11:55 a.m.

Almost simultaneously, both sides discovered the smoke column of the opposing fleet. At this time, the fleets of both sides were divided into two parts, both sides were the main formations to break forward, the old Dutch ships followed more than 20 kilometers behind, and the Chinese Zidian escort aircraft carrier and four frigates were also dragged about 30 kilometers behind.

"The Chinese fleet has appeared! 11 o'clock direction! 27 kilometers away!" shouted the lookout on the Dutch Sovereign excitedly.

The five Dreadnoughts of the Dutch fleet had already lined up in battle, led by the flagship Dutch Monarch, followed by the Prince of Orange, Prince Maurice, Frederick Henry, and William I. At this time, the Dutch Monarch adjusted its course slightly, and began to sprint rapidly towards the Chinese fleet, and the chimneys of the five battleships suddenly rose with black smoke, and the engine department had already raised the credit to the maximum, raising it to a rapid speed of 22 knots.

At this time, Li Ang also nervously stared at the display screen of the battle situation analysis computer, looking at the fleets of the two sides that were getting closer and closer, he issued a series of orders: "Keep a distance of more than 22 kilometers! You can't fight hard with them, the whole fleet turns left, starboard against the enemy......

This is the first time he has commanded a fleet in actual combat as a commander, and it would be false to say that he is not nervous.