Episode 91: Dilemma

About forty minutes later, a squadron fighter jet released by the Ming army aircraft carrier formation flew over the designated sea area. The aircraft group was divided into four four-aircraft formations and searched separately on the vast sea 160 kilometers wide between Taiwan Island and Diaoyu Island.

Soon, a four-plane formation discovered a Japanese destroyer that was patrolling. The Japanese destroyer immediately launched artillery into the air. The Ming army group avoided the artillery fire, flew over the destroyer, and continued to search. Soon, a heavy cruiser was discovered more than ten nautical miles away. Almost at the same time, the other three four-plane formations also discovered Japanese destroyers and another heavy cruiser. It seems that the Japanese warships were fully dispersed in order to fully guard the entire strait. The various groups of aircraft summarized, there were two Japanese heavy cruisers and four destroyers in this sea area.

The pilot judged that one of these two heavy cruisers should be the 10,341-ton Ancient Eagle Class and the other should be the 14,743-ton Miao Senior. The latter is definitely not the Miao Senior, because Miao Senior was seriously injured in the Japanese naval battle. That should be one of the three remaining Miao Senior.

After determining the specific location of the enemy ship, the Ming army fighter jets returned. On the way back, one of the fighter jets encountered a Japanese reconnaissance plane. The Japanese reconnaissance plane could not escape and was shot down.

At this time, the Ming army aircraft carrier formation, 100 nautical miles away in the north, received a report and began to release the first wave of attack aircraft.

The first wave of attack aircraft group was 6.4 fighter jets, 36 torpedo bombers, and 42 dive bombers. The large group of 142 aircraft was roaring in the vast sea, with glass covers shining in the vicious sunlight, and pounced towards the Japanese warships in the southeast direction.

...

At this time, the Okinawa Naval Base had also received alarms from various ships, saying that Ming army fighter jets appeared above them, and they should be ship-based kingfishers, with a total of only one squadron. Immediately afterwards, Okinawa Airport received a call for help from a reconnaissance plane, saying that it had encountered four Ming army fighter jets and was being attacked. Then the signal disappeared.

As soon as the Japanese staff contacted the report "Discovering the Ming Army aircraft carrier formation" that they had just received, they immediately decided that this was an aircraft on the Ming Army aircraft carrier and the other party was conducting reconnaissance on the Nazhi submarine.

The commander of the Okinawa base sweated on his forehead and immediately sent a letter to the Tokyo Navy Command. If it were the Japanese Army, it would not ask for instructions at this time. After a few staff members made up their minds, they would start fighting immediately. However, the Japanese Navy still paid great attention to the superiority and inferiority. The secret telegram was sent to Tokyo, and after encryption and decryption, the Tokyo Navy Command sent the orders with secret telegrams, and then decrypted them after encryption and decryption... Twenty minutes passed.

However, the Japanese army followed the traditional naval battleship command habit. In traditional naval battleships, these twenty minutes were really delayed. Because only the opponent's reconnaissance plane was discovered, the opponent's fleet might still be far away. In the traditional naval battle mode, this means that at least a few hours will be required for the fleets of both sides to contact and start fighting. In that case, it would be necessary to spend twenty minutes communicating with the military command.

But now the Ming army is an aircraft carrier formation, and its weapon is not a cannon, but an aircraft. Although the cannon is still a hundred nautical miles away, the plane flew in half an hour. Of course, the Japanese commander in Okinawa also understood that it was an aircraft, but his thinking was still stuck in the traditional way of combat in the fleet.

Okinawa Island is 500 kilometers away from this sea area, and the Ming army's fleet is only 180 kilometers away. Even if the Japanese planes take off now, the Ming army's fleet will still reach 40-50 minutes earlier. These forty or fifty minutes are enough to destroy the two heavy cruisers one by one.

...

The Ming army also expected that the Japanese army would receive an alarm at this moment, and that Japanese planes from Okinawa base would also take off to reinforce. The Nanjing General Staff also generated power to the Taiwan Naval Base and ordered the land-based planes from Taoyuan Airport to take off immediately and intercept Japanese planes flying in Okinawa.

The Taiwan Naval Base has two military ports and two military airports. The north end is Keelung Port and Taoyuan Airport, and the south end is Kaohsiung Port and Kaohsiung Airport. However, whether the Ming army's Taiwan base or the Japanese army's Okinawa base, there are not many aircraft stationed, basically one brigade of fighters and bombers, only seventy or eighty. After receiving the order, the Taiwan base first sent two squadrons of fighter jets to fight, and half of the remaining fighters were on standby.

Now in the southern part of the East China Sea, which is the vast sea area between Okinawa and Taiwan, the Ming army fighter jets have an absolute numerical advantage. The only fighter jets that the Japanese army can send is one brigade on Okinawa Island. In addition, the closest one is the Japanese local airport. Four aircraft carriers of the Japanese army are also staying in the local military ports. They are all 108,000 miles away. In addition to a fighter jet brigade on Taiwan Island, the Ming army also has three fighter jet brigades in the aircraft carrier formation. A total of four brigades are against a brigade of the Japanese army.

If it were normal for normal times, the proportion of Ming and Japanese fighter jets in the southern part of the East China Sea was basically stable at 1:1. Now, because Xiang Xiaoqiang suddenly concentrated on three large aircraft carriers, the proportion of Ming fighter jets suddenly increased, reaching 4:1 for the Japanese army. Now it can be said that no matter what the Ming army does in the southern part of the East China Sea, it will be difficult for the Japanese army to stop it. This is exactly Xiang Xiaoqiang's purpose. He wanted to use this shocking "air naval battle" to give Nanjing a deep impression from the emperor to the general - aircraft carriers should be used like this.

At this time, the Tokyo Navy Command's order came, but it was very vague. The order did not mention the Hiei battleship, but only ordered the base to send air forces to fight the Ming army.

The commander and chief of the Okinawa base is facing a choice: should we send all forty fighter jets from the base to fight against the Ming army fleet? Or should we leave some fighter jets to protect the bomber fleet and find the Ming army aircraft carrier formation?

If they were sent to fight the Ming army fleet, it would be obviously a battle that would not make any profit. The difference was just a matter of big or small compensation. Because without the protection of fighter jets, bombers could not be sent out to find the Ming army aircraft carrier fleet. If a part of the fighter jets were distributed to protect bombers to find the Ming army fleet, there would certainly be a possibility of sinking the Ming army aircraft carrier, but the protection of the two cruisers on their side would be much weaker.

After several minutes of fierce struggle, the Japanese commander finally resisted the temptation of "sinking the Ming army aircraft carrier" and ordered all fighters to take off to fight the Ming army fleet.

However, he still couldn't understand why the Military Command did not mention dispatching the Hiei battleship. The Hiei is a fast battleship, with a speed that is no slower than the Ming army aircraft carrier, and its firepower is far stronger than that of the other party. No matter what, as long as it is sent out, it will be a huge threat to the Ming army aircraft carrier formation. Moreover, as a battleship, its air defense firepower is much stronger than that of the cruiser. The Okinawa Commander is still very confident about the Hiei air defense capabilities. At night, Ming army aircraft cannot take off, and the sea is even more of the battleships.

After much thought, he sent a secret telegram to the Tokyo Naval Command, asking him to send the Hiei battleship out of the port to fight.

...

At this moment, there was also a fierce dispute within the Navy Command in Tokyo. The core of the dispute was whether the Hiei should be sent to fight the Ming aircraft carrier formation.

Like the Ming Navy, the Japanese Navy at this time was also a "cannon club" and was the world of giant ships and cannonists. What they argued was not "whether battleships can beat aircraft carriers" or "whether the air defense firepower of battleships is really that strong", but rather:

——Are these three aircraft carriers the main force of the Ming army fleet?

In the eyes of these giant ship cannonists, a fleet composed of purely aircraft carriers is incredible, and even very strange. In a word: I haven't heard of such military use.

Many people tend to say that this aircraft carrier formation is just a bait fleet of the Ming army. Its mission is to attack and divert tigers from the mountain in order to lead the Hiei battleship to the southern end of the Ryukyu Islands. The real main force of the Ming army's fleet, probably a fleet with one or two battleships as the core, will take the opportunity to break into the Pacific from the northern end of the Ryukyu Islands.

All this speculation comes from a deeply rooted concept: how can the main force in naval warfare make an aircraft carrier? It must be a battleship!
Chapter completed!