The Iron and Steel Frenzy of the Republic of China

"Boom---crash!"

Driven by the strong Atlantic wind, the turbulent waves came again and again, slamming against the side of the warship's slanted bow, smashing into pieces, splashing a puff of snowy waves more than ten meters high, turning back and falling down one after another On the head of the next wave, the fine water foam was swept upward by the cold wind, and filled the wooden surface of the flight deck like smoke, leaving layer after layer of salt stains, and then washed away.

With a length of 872 feet and a full load displacement of 33000 tons, the USS Essex, the largest aircraft carrier in the history of the U.S. military, is like a whole flattened steel plate spread out on the sea, with densely packed planes lined up in a neat four-column formation. Most of the upper deck was covered, and the ship island was squeezed to the right, making it extremely lonely.

The steel giant carrying more than 2600 sailors and officers and more than 100 fighter planes of various colors was pushed down by the waves, and the bow of the ship continued to split the waves, trying to maintain the stability of the upper floor.A loud order was swept across the deck through the horn, and then it was blown away by the wind without a trace.

Countless sailors and officers, wearing thick cold-proof clothing, insisted on their exposed positions, and put the huge air defense system of eight 127mm high-level dual-purpose guns, eight 8mm anti-aircraft guns in four companies, and 4 40mm machine guns into the air. Power, erected from the surroundings, is always on guard against attacks that may come from other places, as if the huge battleships advancing in two rows around the surroundings do not exist at all.

Need to be so nervous?

Rear Admiral Mark Mitchell looked back at the misty sea from the command room above the bridge, his face was stern, and he couldn't see the confidence, or the heroic excitement of leading the largest fleet in history. brilliance.

Change it to two years ago.He must have another mental outlook, but now, he couldn't be happy at all.Even under his leadership, the 19th Task Force has two similar main aircraft carriers, two "Independence-class" light aircraft carriers, two "Yamato-class" battleships, and two newly launched "Iowa-class" ships. Class" Battleship!

Just this huge front-line combat unit.Just the terrible firepower projection ability, just the sea force with a maximum speed of 32 knots and a main displacement of more than 30 tons, should have been enough to sweep the world a few years ago.But now, not only do they not have that kind of self-confidence to be arrogant, but they have to be careful at any time, and they are inexplicably killed by the elusive enemy.

It has a 20-inch main turret, bridge armor, an 18-inch main gun, and a full load of more than 7 tons of steel monsters.He would be killed so easily. Who would believe that this kind of thing was said before!

Mark Mitchell took another look at the battleship "Shinano" that was vaguely visible on the left, and sighed in his heart, unable to tell what it was like.

"General! A telegram from Commander Nimitz!"

A combat staff officer walked over quickly and handed him a folder, his voice trembling slightly, obviously nervous.

Mitchell glanced at him lightly.Reaching out to take it, he said casually: "Relax, Major! The enemy is still far away from us! Most of the world's oceans are still under the rule of the US Navy! Even if you encounter the enemy here, victory must belong to us. our!"

"Yes! General!"

The young major blushed, and tried to straighten his back a little embarrassedly.

Mitchell shook his head helplessly, he was still too young.But there is no way, since last year's consecutive defeats in sea battles.The loss of the U.S. Navy was too severe. A large number of officers who had slowly grown up during the 20-year naval holiday died, and younger boys had to be promoted to fill in.

Today, in the rapidly expanding Navy, the officer system has become a very bad dumbbell shape.The high-level senior generals are basically complete.There are also a lot of veteran sailors at the lower level, but there are extremely few middle-level officers who can serve as destroyers, cruisers, or even aircraft carrier captains, so that the process of forming a joint combat force is awkward.

In retrospect, Major General Mitchell seems to have caused this situation by the Chinese alone?Yes, they released hundreds of thousands of captives generously, but why is the proportion of officers so small?

Of course, this has a lot to do with the fact that contemporary naval commanders generally stay on the bridge. With the attack methods of the Chinese navy, the superstructure of the battleship is often bombed out first, so the officer command system is the first to be unlucky. Strange.

Well, it must be on purpose.

Mitchell thought viciously.As a traditional admiral, they still maintain the style inherited from the United Kingdom. Most of the time they stay in the compass bridge command room, and it is normal for them to be exposed to the outside world.Now, the navy's newly built ships have to consider transferring the command system downwards, just like the despicable Chinese guys, and even let the captain hide in the core part with the thickest armor and the most complete protection facilities.

Shaking his head to get rid of distracting thoughts, Mitchell opened the file and read it carefully.

There are not many words, and the content is simple and to the point.It was issued by General Nimitz himself, giving the latest enemy information and instructions to the 19th led by him and the 20th Task Force led by Rear Admiral Spruance.

Although he didn't go into details, Major General Mitchell could guess that the army fighting far away in Asia, and the coalition forces formed with Britain, France and Japan, failed again fucking!

No wonder the young major's staff officer was so nervous, the more he knew, the colder he felt.They knew that before, the Air Force had dispatched the most advanced and powerful formation of fighter jets to take on the heavy responsibility of attacking and blocking the Chinese navy.According to the previous estimate, even if it can't succeed, at least it must force the other party to give up the advance temporarily.

The current U.S. air power is a bit exaggerated, but it is absolutely no problem to change with each passing day.All kinds of new aircraft are updated every month, and the speed is getting faster and faster, even beyond most people's cognition.God knows, 20 years ago, airplanes were nothing more than some aerial toys, and the flimsy wooden body could be killed with just a heavy machine gun.

Now, the bombs and torpedoes carried by a p38 or p61 may easily destroy a cruiser!This huge gap makes it impossible to describe the speed of its development!

But that's it, enough to make the U.S. Navy's own air power completely unstoppable, attacking twice at night and during the day.They all failed!

It's okay at night, because you can't see the situation clearly and you are easy to be ambushed.But during the day, such a well-planned attack plan was finally shot down by more than one-third, and it has not been confirmed whether an enemy ship was sunk... This loss is too much.

Mark Mitchell knew the concerns of his men.Because his car, the carrier-based aircraft on the "Essex" aircraft carrier, is not as good as those road-based fighters!In terms of quantity, it is not as good.So rushing forward, not only is the chance of winning extremely small, but the danger is even greater?

After closing the folder and handing it back, Mitchell said with a normal face: "Record, call back General Nimitz, I already know the situation. The 19th Task Force continues to sail into the Indian Ocean as planned. If there is no accident, it will be in the Arrive in Colombo in seven days."

"Seven days?" The nautical chart quickly appeared in the young major's mind, and a bunch of calculations were completed. He couldn't help but gasped, and exclaimed, "General! We may not be able to achieve such a speed! After all, most warships They haven’t been in service for long, especially those two Japanese battleships. They’ll be a drag!”

Although they are about to enter the Strait of Gibraltar, they are far from the target battlefield, the Bay of Bengal.There are still more than 5000 nautical miles of voyage.Even if all the ships rotate continuously and do not make repairs along the way, they must maintain a speed of 25 knots or even 30 knots day and night before they can arrive.

This is not a cruising speed, this is a life-threatening!In particular, the two "Yamato-class" battleships have a design speed of only 28 knots.It is equivalent to sailing at full speed all the time, can it resist it?

Major General Mitchell waved calmly: "Call back."

This kind of thing, as the commander of the fleet, he still knows it well.Regardless of the fact that several aircraft carriers are manufactured in stages and rushed out in a rush, their sturdiness and power system are absolutely guaranteed.Continuous fast sailing at 30 knots, at best, greatly shortens the lifespan.And because the two Japanese battleships were built in the United States, the power system has also been greatly updated, and there is no problem rushing to 30 knots.

In fact, he had a sentence that he didn't intend to tell the young lower-ranking officers. No matter how powerful and new these warships were, whether they could survive this war was still unknown.

Discouraged?no.Anyone who has seen the mysterious attack methods of the Chinese navy's battleships, the terrible strike accuracy and destructive power will feel similarly depressed.Naval battleships are hit with steel collisions, and if they don't work, they don't work. There is no room for fraud.

Many previous battles have proved that the chances of killing the opponent in shelling are too small. Only by relying on the air force to open the situation first can there be a slight chance of winning, otherwise, waiting to be abused a hundred kilometers away.Thinking about this, Mitchell has a headache, how did the damn Chinese do it?

The mighty 19th Task Force, a huge camp of hundreds of ships, crossed the Strait of Gibraltar openly and entered the Mediterranean Sea.

Their actions first shocked the Germans!If it is launched to launch an attack on France and Italy, there is really no way at all, and it looks completely unbearable!Even the situation in the entire European battlefield will change dramatically!

Hitler stared at it personally, and ordered Goering to mobilize all air power, sea power to protect the naval base, and more than 100 U-boats were gathered, ready to go desperately at any time. More than 1000 state-of-the-art fighters are distributed along the coast, ready to go at any time!

But the good news came later that they were targeting the Chinese!The huge fleet did not challenge the Germans, but went directly south through the Suez Canal.

Hitler breathed a sigh of relief, and then suddenly realized, when was he so worried about being attacked by sea?

Angry from embarrassment!His Excellency, the head of state who basically swept through Western Europe, unconsciously regards himself as the number one leader in the world. In his eyes, no one or any force is stronger and more shocking than him.Now, he has to worry about a group of Americans passing by... Lose points!

So the furious head of state immediately summoned the admirals, spitting and declaring the grand strategy for two hours, and finally made a harsh request: "I don't care what you think, you must complete the Z plan in the shortest possible time! I want to see Germany's powerful navy appear on every inch of the world's sea as soon as possible!"

I understand, Your Excellency the Führer has been pissed off!But no one would refuse such a good thing.In particular, the Navy, which was harassed by Goering's bastard in the past, now has the order of death from the head of state, and the tilt of various production forces.Completing the construction of new ships will only be faster and better.

But the problem is that some of the requirements of the head of state are a bit outrageous. Among them, the main gun of the "Hindenburg-class" battleship is clearly not smaller than 480mm. It is distorted into "the design without scientific proof leads to the overweight of the turret. The superstructure is too large, and the key defenses lead to huge armor holes and are sunk." The German design, which has always emphasized the overall defense, is logical.Finally, it was changed back to 420mm.

420mm, it seems that according to the information, no one has used such a big guy?The largest Chinese and American guns seem to be only 406mm (the caliber of the Kunlun-class main gun is top secret, of course they don't know).

Since it is the world's number one caliber, use it first.After all, Hitler was dealt with in the past, and everyone in the navy was in a cold sweat.Then happily join in the rapid construction work.

Of course, based on their usual habit of designing warships with the standard of manufacturing handicrafts, changing blueprints, redesigning and manufacturing main guns, strengthening the keel, thickening the armor... Once a series of work starts, it will take a long time, and it is impossible to calculate to the end When will it be finished.

Regardless of the fact that they have started construction on two ships since 1939, most of the main body has barely been completed now.After such a toss, it will be a year of the monkey!

Not to mention how the Germans toss.The 19th Task Force is on its way at full speed, and the battle in the Andaman Sea is still going on fiercely!

The Anglo-American coalition forces really went all out this time!They had already guessed and determined Zhu Bin's crazy plan, how dare they leave him the slightest chance to succeed?With Bangkok Bay trapped, Yangon and Chittagong became the last hope.It must not be occupied, otherwise, the consequences will be disastrous!

Countless planes flew thousands of miles from the continental United States to the airport of the Indonesian archipelago, launching round-the-clock attacks.Flying tens of thousands of kilometers all the way.They have just completed the running-in period, and they don’t have to worry about mechanical failures on the way to the battlefield—if there is a problem, they will probably fall directly when crossing the ocean... .

Drawing lessons from the past, the coalition fighters did not dispatch more than [-] aircraft each time.There are almost no gaps between attacks, each time they are divided into dozens of small teams, continuous attacks from all directions, with a variety of tricks, stalking and stalking.

Their tactics are so simple and straightforward that it is unbearable to look at them---one word, consumption!

If you want to kill them suddenly with bombs and torpedoes, there is no possibility of success at all.The air wall of fire formed by the terrible tortoise shell defensive firepower cannot be broken through.Even if it is a Japanese-style suicide strike, it is difficult to break through the last barrier of near-anti-aircraft guns and missiles.In desperation, they had to dispatch countless fighter planes to consume their ammunition in the periphery.

In any case, the total amount of ammunition brought by the fleet is limited, and no matter how strong the artillery is, it cannot be fired continuously, and it must always be stopped for maintenance.No matter how powerful a warrior is, he must rest.After messing with him for several days in a row, I can't believe I couldn't find a single loophole!

Therefore, the air force is the nemesis of the navy. This one can already be established in these years. If you can't blow it up, I will kill you!

Chen Ce had expected this kind of trick.From the moment the attack is launched, the lone army goes deep into possible trouble.Here, after all, is the hinterland of the British. Their defense deployment is too dense, and there are their eyeliners in every sea mile. It is difficult to completely avoid it!

But they are not passively beaten.Basically, every time a wave of attack is repelled, they follow the trend and destroy one or two airports and bases. The Americans and the British are not suicide enthusiasts like the Japanese army who came out and didn't plan to go back.Under the continuous losses, the coalition forces were forced to change their strategy, and the fighter planes that took off from Sumatra and Malaya all returned to Thailand and Myanmar.

For three consecutive days, the coalition forces launched more than a dozen batches of attacks, losing more than [-] aircraft, successfully damaging several destroyers, and even a few crashed fighter jets falling on battleships and aircraft carriers. It was smashed into slag by the close-in artillery, and the damage caused was extremely limited.

This is not bad!And the coalition forces found that the fleet's anti-aircraft firepower is weakening, indicating that their attrition tactics are working!If you continue to work hard, you may be able to complete all your achievements in one battle. Before the arrival of the navy, this tenacious guy will be completely disarmed and become an iron coffin floating on the sea!

After MacArthur and Alexander heard the news, they were greatly relieved.Fortunately, the Chinese are looking for death by themselves, too arrogant to go deep alone, and finally fell into death.Now that we have reached the Bay of Bengal, are we in a dilemma?OK!

They didn't know that on the night of the third day, the exhausted main force of the South China Sea Fleet received a telegram from the headquarters of the war zone. Chen Ce laughed after reading it: "I knew it was not that simple! The Yankees are planning to Picking up a bargain! Hehe, he doesn’t even look at what kind of opponent he is! The order is issued, and the fleet will immediately switch to covert navigation mode, so we won’t play with them anymore!”

On the aircraft carrier, hundreds of Flying Shark-e took off one after another, ferociously meeting another wave of enemy planes intending to take advantage of it, and launched a fierce interception for the first time in four days, preventing them from passing by.

Below, all the battleships met the flagship and the battleship, the mirage system was activated, the lights were blacked out, and it quickly disappeared from the U.S. airborne radar scan.

At the same time, dozens of Skyhawk attack aircraft and Wyvern jet fighters quietly turned from Imphal and rushed towards the Bay of Bengal.In the waters of Malacca, more than 100 light and heavy bombers, escorted by the same number of fighters, fiercely rushed towards the recently discovered bases in Sumatra.An unprecedentedly large counterattack is in full swing in an orderly manner! (To be continued..)