Text Volume 1734 How to fight in American waters if it is not within reach? The U.S. Navy is also used to being domineering and has never considered giving way to the navies of other countries, so this kind of mistake happened.
After knowing that the other party was the beacon of the Brazilian Navy, Ernest King's expression was extremely wonderful. He kept a dark face and said nothing. The first mate quietly stepped back and arranged for the fleet to turn the helm. If he did not turn, the "Lexington" aircraft carrier would not work.
If tied together with the USS Maryland battleship, it probably wouldn't be able to hit the Brazilian Navy's lighthouse.
After a night of silence, after dawn, the U.S. Navy was surprised to find that there was actually a fleet not far away from its own fleet, heading south like the U.S. fleet.
Looking at the orange, white and blue tricolor flags hanging over the fleet, Ernest King had a solemn expression.
This time it was no mistake. The orange, white and blue tricolor flag was the flag of Southern Africa. Even if the tricolor flag was not flying, Ernest King could clearly identify the "Basutoland" serving in the Atlantic Fleet in Southern Africa.
aircraft carrier.
During naval training in Southern Africa, the U.S. Navy and the Japanese Navy are often regarded as imaginary enemies.
The U.S. Navy is of course the same, and it also treats the Southern African Navy and the Japanese Navy as imaginary enemies during training.
Identifying warship models is the most basic ability. Ernest King has long been familiar with the various parameters of the "Basutoland" aircraft carrier. The U.S. Atlantic Fleet has studied it countless times. Once the conflict between southern Africa and the United States
When the war broke out, how did the U.S. Atlantic Fleet sink the aircraft carrier "Basutoland" at the minimum cost?
This is not correct. The United States abolished the Atlantic Fleet during the World War and did not restore it until World War II.
In short, Ernest King had mixed emotions when he saw the "Basutoland".
Ernest King was originally the captain of the USS Lexington.
As the first real aircraft carrier of the United States after the "Langley", there are two "Lexington" class aircraft carriers, namely the "Lexington" and the "Saratoga".
These two aircraft carriers were transformed from Lexington-class battlecruisers, so their armor thickness is much thicker than that of the "Elizabeth"-class aircraft carriers, and their displacement has reached an unprecedented 35,000 tons. They are the largest displacement aircraft carriers in the world so far.
The tonnage is large enough, but the performance is not good. The "Lexington" class aircraft carrier was designed to carry 120 aircraft, but in the end it could only be equipped with 91 aircraft, which is similar to the "Basutolan" with a displacement of only 25,000 tons.
Thick armor does increase the survivability of the "Lexington" class aircraft carrier, but for aircraft carriers, survivability is not too important. If enemy planes break through the protective network of the aircraft carrier formation and directly attack the aircraft carrier, then the thick armor will
It doesn't make much difference whether it's thick or not.
The reason why Ernest King had mixed feelings was that in the previous exercises of the U.S. Navy, in order to sink the "Basutoland", the U.S. military wanted to gather two "Lexington" class aircraft carriers and simultaneously
It also requires the cooperation of all three G7 battleships to make it possible.
The best result was when the two "Lexington" class aircraft carriers relied on the powerful firepower of the battleships to sink the "Basutoland" after losing all their carrier-based aircraft.
This result is very embarrassing. You must know that there are four "Elizabeth" class aircraft carriers in southern Africa, but the United States only has two "Lexington" class aircraft carriers, plus one "Langley" to make up for the number.
It is for this reason that the U.S. Navy has now begun construction of the USS Ranger aircraft carrier.
The "Ranger" is an aircraft carrier truly designed and built by the United States for the purpose of aircraft carrier. When designing the "Ranger", the U.S. Navy referred to the experience of Japanese aircraft carriers and believed that the greatest function of an aircraft carrier is to cooperate with battleships, as long as it can carry aircraft
The capacity and speed are comparable to those of battleships, and a small aircraft carrier with light protection can meet the needs of the navy.
So even though many naval officers strongly suggested designing a new aircraft carrier based on the "Elizabeth" class aircraft carriers in Southern Africa, the U.S. Naval Aviation Administration decided to adopt a "small aircraft carrier" plan with a displacement of only 13,800 tons.
This small aircraft carrier is the "Ranger".
What should be noted here is that the United States obtained an aircraft carrier quota of 135,000 tons in the "Washington Naval Treaty". After the "Langley" was retired from active service, the standard displacement of the two "Lexington" class ships totaled 66,000 tons, so the Americans are
Prepare to build five "Rangers" at once, so that the aircraft carrier quota can be filled up.
It is a pity that the "small aircraft carrier" plan has inherent deficiencies. It was not until the trial voyage that it was discovered that the seakeeping performance of the "Ranger" was poor, and it was more dangerous for aircraft to take off and land in poor sea conditions; during several "Fleet Problem" exercises, it was found that the "Ranger"
The deck of the "Cavalry" is too narrow and the speed is too slow, which puts many restrictions on the operation of torpedo bombers on the aircraft carrier. Especially without the help of sufficient wind, bombers carrying torpedoes can hardly take off.
So "Ranger" canceled the subsequent four shipbuilding plans after building only one ship.
The United States has never attempted to build a "small aircraft carrier" since.
At this time, Ernest King was still looking forward to "Ranger".
However, what worried Ernest King even more was the problem of carrier-based aircraft. Although the performance of the new "Cerberus" equipped by the US military was good, it was still lagging behind the "Tornado" equipped in southern Africa. All the attack power of the aircraft carrier relied on
It was realized by carrier-based aircraft. Although the "Lexington" was equipped with four twin-mounted 203 mm caliber naval guns, Ernest King never had any expectations for these naval guns.
The "Basutolan" is different from the "Lexington". Not only does it not have a 203mm gun, it does not even have a 127mm high-level and flat dual-purpose gun.
The "Basutoland" is equipped with 40mm anti-aircraft guns, all of which are quadruple mounts, with the number reaching an unprecedented 104.
"What a perfect aircraft carrier!" Ernest King would exclaim every time he saw the "Basutoland".
When the U.S. Navy was building a new aircraft carrier, Ernest King was inclined to build a "big aircraft carrier."
In Ernest King's view, the U.S. Naval Aviation Administration did not refer to the "Elizabeth" class aircraft carriers, but instead referred to the fledgling Japanese aircraft carriers. This behavior is simply stupid.
After all, the "Elizabeth" class aircraft carrier participated in the World War and withstood the test, proving that the "Elizabeth" class aircraft carrier is an aircraft carrier with quite perfect performance.
What makes Ernest King vaguely uneasy is that southern Africa has begun building the next level of aircraft carriers.
Due to the lag in intelligence work, the U.S. Navy does not yet have data on the new generation aircraft carriers in Southern Africa. However, judging from some unconfirmed news channels, the displacement of the new generation aircraft carriers in Southern Africa should be around 30,000 tons. Although this displacement is larger than that of the "Elizabeth"
" class is not much higher, but the aircraft capacity has increased from 108 of the "Basutoland" to about 130.
This is terrible. The performance of the "Tornado" fighter was originally better than that of the "Cerberus", and now it has more aircraft. Whenever he thinks about this problem, Ernest King even feels a sense of despair.
“Where is the destination of the Atlantic Fleet?” Ernest King asked the first mate.
“They said it was Whale Bay.” The first mate had a strange expression, as if he had eaten a fly.
Ernest King glanced at the map and became furious.
If the destination of the Atlantic Fleet is the Bay of Whales, why is it that it has already reached the waters near Maceio and is still heading south? Is it going to Antarctica?
Under normal circumstances, if the Atlantic Fleet departs from its home port of Halifax for Walvis Bay, it can directly change course after passing through the Natal waters and head directly to Walvis Bay.
Judging from the current course, the Atlantic Fleet may be destined to be the same as the fleet commanded by Ernest King, and its destination may be Rio.
Or just Victoria.
“Tell them to stay away from us.” Ernest King was distraught. In the sky not far from the US fleet, a Southern African aircraft was circling.
No need to ask, this is surveillance of the US fleet.
“Get that damn plane out of here.” Ernest King hated this kind of surveillance.
Two US Navy "Cerberus" quickly took off and flew towards the "Tornado" in the distance.
The pilot of the "Tornado" was a little crazy and did not bother with the "Cerberus" at all. He directly pulled the plane up and continued to monitor the US fleet.
The pilot of the "Cerberus" also wanted to follow suit, but was unable to raise the "Cerberus" to the same height as the "Tornado".
Ernest King finally knew how big the performance gap between "Cerberus" and "Tornado" was.
World War I has proven that the most effective tactic in air combat is to seize favorable terrain in advance and launch attacks on enemy aircraft using formation tactics.
In the air, the so-called "favorable terrain" must be a higher altitude.
The U.S. military's new-generation fighter aircraft "Cerberus" has a practical ceiling of 8,500 meters.
Now that the "Storm" has raised the altitude to a height that the "Cerberus" cannot reach, it shows that the practical ceiling of the "Storm" is at least more than 9,000 meters, or even more than 10,000 meters.
In accordance with the Southern African custom of keeping everything in reserve, "even" can be removed.
And looking at the aerial attitude of the "Tornado" fighter, there should still be some room left.
How can you fight if you can’t reach it?
This feeling of powerlessness from the heart almost made Ernest King spit out a mouthful of old blood.
Fortunately, Ernest King was not helpless.
There is also a battleship "Maryland" in the US military formation, which is one of the G7.
No matter how arrogant the Southern African aircraft carriers are, they will never dare to be approached by battleships.
The result made Ernest King even more depressed.
The battleship "Maryland" received Ernest King's order and began to approach the Atlantic Fleet.
As a result, the aircraft carrier "Basutoland" slipped away as fast as a rabbit with wings, and the battleship "Maryland" was unable to catch up.
