Opening game, American Tycoon

In January [-], in the waters of Penas Bay in the South Pacific, the "Jingwei" and "Jinwu" aircraft carriers of the First Air Force of the Ming Empire Navy drew a clear arc on the sea, and were about to turn their bows towards the sea. Sea breeze blowing from the south.

The ten large and small escort ships surrounding the "Jingwei" and "Jinwu" are also closely following and moving in the same direction.

"Jingwei" and "Golden Crow" are the only two aircraft carriers in the empire. They are both improved on the basis of the "Shenzhou-class" immigrant ships. Compared with warships, the civilian transformations are so cheap Fingers crossed.

However, thanks to the special design of the "Shenzhou-class" immigrant ship, it has a pass-through deck that no other ship has. The wide and flat flight decks of the "Jingwei" and "Golden Crow" have already been crowded with dozens of aircraft, large and small: without exception, these aircraft are all "Hai Holly" biplanes of the Imperial Navy. A long torpedo painted in blue is mounted on the lower belly of the aircraft.

The entire aviation team quickly completed the turn, and the strong sea breeze swept over the flagship "Jingwei", blowing the signal flag on the starboard island top to rattle.

With the sound of the siren, the new signal flag was raised quickly. The take-off commander in the yellow vest and the deck crew in the blue vest were busy on the deck, and the mechanic in the green vest was also struggling to turn the propeller to start the engine for the plane. , After a while, the deck was full of the roar of engines, and the propellers of the plane turned roaringly.

The sea breeze and the whirlwind of the propellers swept across the flight deck, making everyone's vests bulge.Several deck workers carefully pushed the plane forward for a short distance, and the wheels touched the yellow line of the take-off area in front of the deck, and then they used bolsters to block the front and rear of the plane's wheels.

A takeoff director who squatted halfway in front of the leading aircraft against the strong wind gestured to the pilot in the open cockpit—he first circled twice in the air with his arm, and then pointed his two fingers towards his eyes. Ask the pilot for engine speed.

The pilot gave a thumbs up, indicating that the speed reached the take-off standard.The takeoff commander also gave a thumbs up to show "understand", then waved the signal flag in his hand, and played the semaphore "request takeoff" to the aviation bridge on the upper part of the island.

Since the plane took off on the "Yizhou" for the first time, they have been groping forward through constant running-in and training. What is the most complicated thing?It was not the take-off of the plane, but the ground crew on the deck, and they even paid the price in blood for this.And this is the price of the creator.

After the siren sounded again, the take-off signal flag was hoisted on the masthead.

"Take off immediately!"

After the order was given, the take-off crew pulled down the wheel chocks, and instantly the plane with the Suzaku emblem painted on its wings began to glide on the wooden flight deck. Engines, wooden beams, and a combination of cloth and wire gizmos left the deck and floated leisurely into the air—in fact, when it slid out of the take-off area of ​​only more than 30 meters, the fuselage was even slightly in the direction of the bow. It sank for a moment, then rose into the air again.

The lead aircraft turned right immediately after takeoff and began circling over the mothership.

Followed by a second, third, fourth...

One after another, the planes jumped up from the deck one after another, and also hovered over the mothership, forming a formation with the plane that took off first.The unfinished formation continued to circle round and round, waiting for follow-up aircraft to join.

Slowly, the formations above the aircraft carrier are getting bigger and bigger, and accordingly, there are fewer and fewer planes on the deck.

When the last plane on the deck of the "Golden Crow" jumped off the runway, the takeoff commander on the starboard front of the deck stood up and waved his arms to the aviation bridge to signal:
"Takeoff completed..."

Beside the outer railing on the aviation bridge, a lieutenant colonel wearing a golden bamboo staff badge on his collar pressed his pocket watch, his brows were slightly frowned, and he said:
"21 minutes and 57 seconds, still too slow."

Compared with the dignifiedness of the staff officer, Major General Wu Anping, the commander of the First Imperial Aviation Squadron, seemed very calm. He observed with a telescope for a while, and then said slowly:

"According to the operation requirements, it takes 8 minutes. Go back and gather all the flight officers and continue to study ways to save time."

"Yes, sir……"

As the commander of the first aviation team, Wu Anping is the commander of the world's first aircraft carrier battle group. At this time, he is personally leading the newly commissioned "Jingwei" and "Jinwu" aircraft carriers and their escort formations. The Penas Bay exercise field conducts aviation operations and carrier-based aircraft attack drills.

Compared with the huge aircraft carrier battle group in another world, this battle group is even a bit shabby. Why is it shabby?
Because in addition to the two aircraft carriers "Jingwei" and "Jinwu", which are converted merchant ships, even the escort ships are extremely shabby.

Two "Jincheng-class armored cruisers" that Shengde has served in 18 years, this 6500-ton armored cruiser is only equipped with four double-linked 150mm turrets, plus four secondary guns of the same caliber, and its main guns are only 12 With 150 naval guns, this is the standard cruiser of the empire-mainly used to protect the line of communication. In the imperial navy, it is not even the main force.In fact, it is to show the existence of the imperial navy in the colony.Even its construction standards are low. After all, in the war planning of the Imperial Navy, he is also carrying out escort missions on the sea, and he has no part in decisive battles at sea.

and then?
That is, eight protected cruisers of about 3000 to 4500 tons. According to the standards of this era, this is a typical cruiser fleet, or the kind of colonial cruise, and it simply cannot be put on the table.

Why is it so shabby?
Because for this era, they don't understand the role of aircraft carriers at all.Perhaps with the support of Cheng Bichen, the empire established the world's first aircraft carrier battle group, but it is obviously impossible for the empire to use precious capital ships for aircraft carrier escort.

Therefore, the first aviation squadron of the Imperial Navy, the world's first aircraft carrier battle group, is composed of a group of small ships that cannot be put on the table, and it is not even called a "fleet", but a "team". In the sequence of the Imperial Navy, the first level is the two-ocean fleet, then the squadron, and then the battle team.

In other words, it's...not worth mentioning at all.That's exactly the Navy's mentality toward him.After all, now is the era of cannon giant ships.Everyone said that the competition is about who has the thickest armor and whose gun has the largest caliber!
At least until they prove themselves in actual combat, this impression will not change.

However, Wu Anping, as the captain of the team, was full of confidence in them,
Holding Wu Anping in the distance with both hands, looking at the planes carrying torpedoes that seemed to be struggling, and seeing the attack formation of 36 planes in the sky, he couldn't help but said to himself:
"But you must return safely..."

"With Captain Lu Lian leading the team, everything will be fine."

The lieutenant colonel staff officer on the side said confidently.

Wu Anping nodded, and ordered decisively:
"Clear the deck immediately and prepare to launch the second attack wave!"

The old group is dead, and a new book friend group: 739209015 is welcome to join, discuss the plot together, and deduce the plot.