"Commander, could it be that the military region received some intelligence that led to the separation of the formations?" Seeing General Xu being so angry, the staff officer quickly expressed his guess.
At this time, most of our commands relied on telegraphs. It is very likely that the ships in the sea area where the accident occurred sent the telegrams to the military region, and the military region directly issued orders to the transport formations, so who
There was no time to notify the headquarters of the Southern Fleet.
"Well, it's very possible, but it may also be the order from the front finger. Alas, unified command is a big problem in today's naval battles." General Xu was reminded by the staff, and he also thought of this problem. Now in the south
In the sea area, all command relies on telegraph machines. The troops are all on the vast sea, and it is impossible to even think about talking to each other. Not only the telegrams between the headquarters and the troops, but also the communication between command institutions.
information and intelligence.
This would be okay in ordinary times, but once the matter is urgent and the amount of information is huge, the translator will not have time to translate the large number of telegrams, and can only pick out the important ones and translate them first.
"Immediately send a report to the front command and the military region to report the information we have received." Although I know that this approach will only make the various headquarters busier, there is no other way. Such a battle report must be sent.
"What else did the telegram say?" Commander Xu asked this question. Seeing that the communications staff member had not left yet, he continued to ask.
"Commander, there is a strange sentence in the telegram, which is said to be forwarded to the Zhennan detachment." The communications staff looked at the words on the telegram and really couldn't figure out what it meant.
"Strange words, what words?"
"The fish are breathing in the sea, the seagulls are chirping, and they are counting the fish silently... The mother duck is full, and she is wandering near the fish with three or two ducklings." The staff officer told Xu awkwardly.
The general read the message once, then looked at the commander, waiting for the commander's order.
"Is this a secret message?" Commander Xu has been fighting for a lifetime. When he heard this, he felt that it was a secret message to convey information. But he didn't know what it meant.
"It looks like it, but why does the Zhennan detachment still have secret codes that none of us know?" The communications staff officer was puzzled. He is engaged in communications. There is no code in the entire fleet that he doesn't know. Of course, the ones that don't belong to the Southern Fleet
He doesn't know.
"Forward it immediately, and also ask the transport ship that sent the message to whom it is sent!" General Xu did not think much and asked the communications staff to send the message.
…
Zhennan Island, Zhennan Detachment.
"Detachment leader, telegram from headquarters!" Gao Mingyuan, who was checking the post, heard the correspondent's report and immediately took the telegram and read it.
I didn’t understand it!
"What does this mean? Why don't I remember that we have such a secret language?" Gao Mingyuan asked involuntarily.
"Captain, are you from the platform ship side?" After all, the correspondent has been exposed to this more often, and he suddenly remembered the platform ship side chaired by General Cheng. After all, in principle, they do not belong to the Zhennan detachment. Sometimes.
They also borrowed the radio station here to send some messages.
"Well, it's possible. Let's go, let's send it to the old chief, and we'll find out after asking." Gao Mingyuan didn't care about checking the post anymore, and immediately drove to the direction of the ship repair yard with his correspondent.
The ship repair yard at this time is no longer what it was at the beginning. All kinds of machinery are almost piled up on the slipway. A large ship is docked next to the pier. From the appearance, it can be clearly seen that
This is an aircraft carrier. However, anyone with a little military knowledge will be confused by its size and ship type when they see this aircraft carrier.
As an aircraft carrier, it is too small, and because it was converted from a ro-ro ship, there is still a ramp at the stern that can be connected to the dock, so that vehicles can drive directly from the dock to the
Go in the boat.
Gao Mingyuan has seen this boat more than once. Every time he sees it, he feels an indescribable feeling in his heart.
"Gao Mingyuan, why did you come to me?" General Cheng usually lives on the ship when he has nothing else to do. In addition, the ship's seaworthiness and training have been very frequent recently, so he did not do it at this time.
Leave the ship and live at home.
"Chief, take a look at this. This was just sent from the Southern Fleet Headquarters." Gao Mingyuan did not dare to delay. When General Cheng asked, he took out the message.
General Cheng frowned immediately when he read the message.
Of course he could understand the words above. Not to mention anything else, the code name of Mother Duck was given by Zhao Ye. General Cheng said more than once that the name was not nice and asked Zhao Ye to change it.
"I ordered to blow the emergency assembly call immediately, and everyone arrived at the combat post immediately. Logistics immediately refueled, bombed, and supplied the ship, so that it could be ready to sail at any time." General Cheng was also a man who had been fighting for half his life. When he saw this
After receiving the telegram, I learned that the maritime conflicts mentioned frequently by my superiors recently may have really escalated.
Although there is no order for them to set off yet, it is always right to be prepared at this time.
"Yes! Blow the emergency assembly horn! Prepare to sail." Upon hearing this, Gao Mingyuan immediately repeated the order loudly. Then he left immediately.
This telegram conveyed far more information than that. General Cheng handed the telegram to the people at the UAV Research Institute for specialized decryption. Soon, a piece of information was decrypted.
"Chief, this is the telegram sent by Zhao Ye. According to the plan, he should be on the incoming transport ship now. But they may have encountered some special situation. This telegram just asks us to urgently send the Seagull drone and hang it on the communication
The pod and sea radar pod rushed to the target sea area for reconnaissance. In addition, it was suggested that the platform ship rush to the sea area where the incident occurred under the cover of other ships."
"Well, something must have happened." Although General Cheng had a higher military position than Gao Mingyuan, Gao Mingyuan was the captain of the Zhennan detachment, so he said to Gao Mingyuan: "Gao Mingyuan, send a report to the headquarters immediately to explain
Our detachment will send reconnaissance drones to conduct reconnaissance of the sea area where the incident occurred. In addition, the Zhennan detachment is ready to go and can provide support at any time."
"yes!"
After arranging things here, General Cheng immediately contacted the UAV Research Institute and ordered them to immediately send Seagull UAVs to investigate the sea area where the incident occurred.
"Chief, the Seagull UAV is a low-speed UAV. It will take at least four hours for it to get there. Do you think we should let the Thunder UAV do some reconnaissance first?" Director of the UAV Research Institute
suggested.
"Well, you can, but you can't come back if Raiden rushes over." Raiden is a high-altitude, high-speed drone. Although it flies fast, it can't fly very far. Such a long distance means that Raiden's flight is one-time.
Consumables.
"Yes, it would be great if the platform ship could drive over."
"Well, we still need to sail the ship over. I will ask the commander for instructions." General Cheng has long wanted to see the actual combat capabilities of this drone aircraft carrier that he has high hopes for. There is a war at this time, and he is better than anyone else.
I hope this ship will participate in the war. Even if it doesn't go to the front line, it would be good to provide support nearby.
…
At 10:30 p.m., Southern Fleet Headquarters.
"Report, Zhennan detachment will call back."
"read!"
"The Zhennan detachment has received the secret message from the headquarters. This secret message is a message between the United Factory and the Zhennan UAV Factory. The UAV Research Institute is now sending a Seagull UAV to the sea area where the incident occurred to conduct reconnaissance. It is expected that tomorrow morning,
Arriving at around 30:30, we can stay in the area where the incident occurred for three hours. In addition, our drone platform ship has been prepared and we request to go to the sea area where the incident occurred and provide support at the nearest location."
"Oh? Is it possible to carry out air reconnaissance? Is there something new over there with Lao Cheng?" Commander Xu relaxed his brows, and the joy on his face was beyond words. At this time, waiting is the most unbearable. If aerial reconnaissance can be carried out, it will undoubtedly be the most difficult.
OK.
Commander Xu stood in front of the map, looked at it carefully for a while, and then ordered: "Send a report to the Zhennan detachment, order the platform ship, 5521, 5522 escort boat, and 277 boat to form a formation, commanded by General Cheng, and go to Sea Area 7 to stand by.
.The remaining ships have entered the first level of combat readiness, commanded by Gao Mingyuan. Their mission is to defend the enemy from attacking the Zhennan Sea Area."
The order was issued, but Commander Xu's heart did not calm down. Such an arrangement was, to be honest, a risk. How could he, as the fleet commander, not know what a platform ship was? Currently, only one Type 6604 submarine hunter and two submarine hunters were dispatched.
If it is accompanied by a missile escort boat, its self-defense power is very insufficient. Once it encounters the enemy, it will be quite dangerous. Therefore, out of caution, Commander Xu only allowed it to go to Sea Area No. 7, which is far east of the sea area where the incident occurred.
There is a torpedo boat group, which can provide some protection to this formation.
After receiving the order, General Cheng immediately issued an order to sail. Starting from receiving the first telegram, all ships in the entire Zhennan base were preparing to sail. At this time, the order was issued, and the ships immediately headed towards
Set off towards the target area.
However, General Cheng did not completely follow the orders of the headquarters to arrange the ships in the formation. In addition to the two escort boats and a submarine hunter pointed out by his superiors, General Cheng also brought two more supply ships. These two ships were also civilian ships.
They were modified. The ship repair factory upgraded their power. Although it still couldn't keep up with the speed of the fleet, it was not much different.
Due to the addition of two more supply ships, the entire fleet moved with 5521 at the beginning, followed closely by the drone aircraft carrier, 277 submarine hunter accompanying the aircraft carrier on the left rear, and 5522 on the right rear. However, 5522 cannot always follow the aircraft carrier.
, he also needs to use his high speed to turn around and go back from time to time to provide escort for the supply ship.
The reason why we have to carry the "burden" of two supply ships is because whether they are hunting submarines or escort boats, their cruising range is not very long. If you want to fully play their role, you must have these two supplies in the formation.
ship. In normal times, for the sake of safety, the formation must take care of the speed of these two ships and keep sailing at 18 knots. However, the current situation is urgent and they have to be left behind.