Later that day, about 50 nautical miles northeast of Nanci Island.

A huge fleet of more than thirty ships is slowly sailing due north.

In the far center of the fleet, on the USS Excellence, fleet commander Rear Admiral Alan West sits upright in the Operational Information Center (CIC), staring at the circular radar screen in front of him.

Since about 20 hours ago, two old Chinese warships have loomed near the fleet.

But this is not a particular focus of the major general.

At the edge of the screen is a nondescript signal that looks like a slow-moving airliner or transport plane, but from the zigzag course it flies out, it is not difficult to tell that it is carrying out a sea search mission.

The Invincible-class aircraft carrier, which took into account the experience of the Soviet Union in the preparation of its budget, deceived the congressmen in the name of "all-deck command cruiser", a decision that led to the ship paying the price of reduced combat effectiveness in many respects, but at least bringing a CIC that far exceeded the ship's tonnage standards.

After upgrading the datalink system in the early 90's, the commander was able to see what the rest of the fleet was searching for.

This was particularly important for the Royal Navy, which had suffered heavy losses in 1982.

Also upgraded after 1982 was the radar equipment of the Type 42 destroyers.

But even so, West was still a little worried.

After all, as the captain of the sunken Zealous frigate, he completely brushed shoulders with death.

And now the senior general in a high position already knows that the problem of the air defense of the Type 42, or the entire Royal Navy fleet, is actually only retained with a dedicated long-range warning radar and fire control radar, but it turned out afterwards that although such a configuration saves money and space, it is difficult to connect it during combat.

It often happens that the long-range warning radar has clearly seen the target, but the fire control radar cannot accurately lock onto it, so it can only watch dryly.

This is not a problem that can be solved simply by upgrading the equipment.

However, there is good news, and the latest addition, the Type 23 frigate, Somerset, can make up for this problem to some extent.

During several small-scale exercises along the way, Alain had to admit that he had some prejudice against the new model and the son of Captain Doseme Slater, the current First Sea Lord.

The Su-22 of the Annam Air Force repeatedly simulated the low-altitude penetration strategy of the Super Flag in an attempt to break through the air defense network, but each time it was successfully intercepted, including several targets that simulated anti-ship missiles.

This made the major general feel somewhat relieved.

What made him feel even more troublesome was that many people in China regarded this operation as a royal parade like a century ago, and did not have the seriousness of carrying out a military mission at all.

As a result, this fleet, which was quite professional and capable at the time of sailing, was required to include a variety of non-combat ships along the way, which were not necessary.

Originally, according to the Rear Admiral's plan, one logistics supply ship of Fort Victoria and Fort Rosalie would be enough to sustain the operation, after all, there were more than a dozen ports along the way, and most of the supplies could be carried out on shore.

Today, however, the fleet has grown to nearly 40 ships, more than half of which are unplanned transports and tankers, most of which do not even have the ability to replenish on the move, and can only be lifted by helicopter to move supplies.

This includes, but is not limited to, the fact that some people stuff in the ships where the descendants of the family hold positions in order to add to their resumes, and some companies register their almost abandoned small cargo ships as oil carriers to join the fleet in order to receive a special royal subsidy for participating in the royal parade.

True, from the very beginning of the propaganda, the Conservative Cabinet was carried out according to the standards and caliber of the "royal parade".

This maneuver allowed them to quickly inflate their already precarious approval ratings and delay the suspense over the allocation of seats in parliament, which was supposed to be settled in early May, for two months.

As a professional naval commander, West naturally refused to do so at first, but many companies have high-level or even royal connections behind them, and it is not something that a single rear admiral can manage.

This reached its peak five days earlier, when a royal cruise ship full of tourists joined in.

The whole fleet is now more like a tour group.

"Alain, this target is almost 300 kilometers away from us, and you've been staring at it for almost 10 minutes."

A man about his age walked from behind West, patted him on the shoulder and said.

The former had a slight look of disgust on his face, but it was only fleeting.

Vice Admiral Michael Boise, who is rumored to be the next First Sea Secretary to succeed Jock Slater.

This kind of rumor is actually a pre-appointment release, which is often extremely accurate, so West is not willing to offend such a celebrity.

"Before the sinking of the Sir Zealous and Sheffield, the fleet was monitored for a long time by a P2 patrol aircraft wandering at the edge of the defense zone."

Every detail about the Falklands will echo in West's mind in this life.

The answer made Boise frown.

The biggest obstacle to the appointment of the new Sea Secretary was the notion that he had no experience commanding or even participating in any major maritime mission.

He forcibly intervened halfway this time to silence this criticism.

And now that someone is mentioning this matter in person, there is no doubt that it will make the lieutenant general feel unhappy.

So he simply replied:

"If you're really scared of this target, why don't you take off a formation to check it, we can't analyze anything even if we look here."

West tilted his head slightly, glanced at Boise behind him with his peripheral vision, and did not give any direct response.

The latter joined the fleet with the royal cruise ship.

In fact, Michael Boise is more of a political officer than an admiral.

The most unbearable thing for West is that the lieutenant general himself has no such self-awareness.

Since joining the fleet, the latter has spent hours on board the USS Excellence by helicopter almost every day.

Theoretically, as fleet commander, West should have supreme command.

But when a man with a higher rank, a knighthood, and a high probability of becoming the next Sea Secretary is standing in the CIC, it's hard not to be disturbed.

And the rest of the CIC is even more so.

For example, Colonel Leard Denis, the captain of the aircraft carrier Excellence, who was sitting opposite the rear admiral and had just been silent, suddenly spoke:

"General West, before setting sail, I specially read the detailed situation table of the Huaxia Navy and Air Force provided by the intelligence department."

"The Su-27 aircraft, which has the longest range of the Chinese army, currently has a very low completion rate, and can only be stationed at an airfield located inland, and the remaining aircraft do not pose any threat to us in terms of range or performance, so at most they will dispatch a patrol aircraft without attack capability for reconnaissance, so even if a batch of Sea Harriers is dispatched, it should not matter."

"Even if it's sent out, what's the use?"

West shook his head, "The target location is almost at the edge of the Sea Harrier's combat radius, and even if we take off, this plane only needs to retreat slightly to avoid head-on contact with our aircraft." ”

Such arguments are naturally untenable.

The mission of dispersion was originally to drive away the opponent's plane, and as long as the target retreated, the goal was achieved.

Actually, this was just a temporary version of West's attempt to deceive Boise.

The real reason is that there were originally 14 Sea Harrier FA.2 fighters on board the Excellence, but 4 aircraft are currently being overhauled because of the recent continuous exercises, and the other two have just taken off and are planning to conduct a sea attack exercise with the Su-22 of the Annam Air Force, and there are only 8 aircraft in total.

Considering that the two Sea Harriers on a sea attack mission would soon return, West was reluctant to send another plane at this time.

Because there is no beveled deck, the Sea Harrier can only take off in a vertical take-off and landing mode when there are aircraft on deck.

That empty time is almost negligible.

Another coincidence when the Zealous and Sheffield were sunk was that both a group of Sea Harriers on bombing missions happened to return home, resulting in no effective cover over the fleet for a long time.

The incoming planes were actually detected by radar at the final stage, but the entire fleet could not find any weapons capable of performing air defense tasks, except for rifles in the hands of sailors.

However, West's excuse was able to fool Boise, but he could not convince Dennis next to him.

The latter hesitated, but finally decided to support Boise, who had a higher rank.

And West's reason just now is indeed comparable to lying to a fool.

"We don't need direct contact, according to that fact sheet, the only thing that Huaxia can perform this kind of task now is a patrol aircraft improved on the basis of the An-12, and the radar it uses is exported by our country, which is actually the same model as the early warning helicopter on our ship."

"And that kind of thing?"

Boise was immediately attracted by the news,

"So what?"

"So the Sea Harrier can carry a jamming pod, although it is an old model that was in service many years ago, and can only inject jamming to the front in a fixed way, but at least it works very well for our own radar."

West realized that he might have a hard time refusing it anymore.

Still, he made one last effort:

"Maybe you're right, Colonel, but that's what we saw before we set sail, and it may not be the same now, and the efficiency of our intelligence services is ......."

However, this time he was directly interrupted by Boise:

"Major General, although you have sailed around half of the region until now, it has only been five months, do you think that in such a short period of time, there will be any earth-shaking changes in the situation over there?"

"This ......"

West couldn't answer.

Because common sense says, 5 months is really nothing.

"As for the efficiency of our intelligence services......"

The lieutenant general stepped forward quickly and sat down opposite West in a very oppressive position:

"They are not the Soviet Union."

At this point, West really couldn't say anything more.

Because if you take 10,000 steps back, they are not in a state of war, and they have not entered the territorial waters of any country at present.

Although everyone knew that this was a provocation, it was true that there was no violation of any international conventions.

Even if he was a major himself, he couldn't imagine what Huaxia could do other than send warships to follow around.

In fact, the two old ships did not have any deterrent effect on the fleet at all, and many people on the cruise ship even used them as background photos to take pictures, and the nuclear submarines that had been hidden below the surface of the sea also simulated many torpedo attacks.

Continuing to insist on his own views will only make him look like a persecution paranoia.

"Okay, let the two Sea Harriers go over and take a look at the situation and try to force the target away."

West sighed and decided to compromise.

But after a little thought, he still added:

"Take off another Sea King MK2 AWACS helicopter, just in case."

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(End of chapter)