Little Luzon Bay.
In the early morning of September 24th, the tenth year of Taiping.
Snow-white searchlights pierced the pre-dawn darkness, and countless Niutou brand military tractors (actually trucks, but they looked and sounded like old-fashioned walking tractors) were traveling between the warehouse and the dock.
Amid the shouts and sharp whistles of the sailors, the cranes on the pier and on the warships swung back and forth, constantly hoisting various supplies and even SsangYong carrier-based seaplanes onto the aircraft carriers parked next to the pier. Patrol aircraft carrier.
Standing on the top of the bridge of the Shu Zhongwang, looking at the various warships being prepared around him, even Zhuge Weidao, who was good at calculations, turned red with excitement. He returned from Brunei Bay to Little Luzon Military Port, the Nanyang Fleet. At the meeting point of the battle patrol detachment and the HNA fleet, his spirit seemed extremely excited.
Although the most powerful battle cruisers, aircraft-carrying battle cruisers and aircraft carriers of the Ming Navy are a bit weird, they are still the most powerful battleships and aircraft carriers in the world today!
Those four "Zhongwang" class battle cruisers with a standard displacement of over 20,000 tons, this "block" alone is the largest among the known battleships and battle cruisers! Although they are dubbed "battle cruisers", this does not mean that the firepower and armor protection of this class of battle cruisers are not outstanding.
In fact, the 45-caliber 300mm naval gun they used is the most powerful rapid-fire naval gun of this era. Its design idea is to fire from a "safe distance" of more than 7,000 meters, hit and sink a "Hero" class battleship!
The armor of the "Zhongwang" adopts a rather advanced key protection concept. It has an armor box with a strong inclined main armor belt and a thick armor deck as the main body to protect the most deadly parts such as the ammunition depot and power area. At the same time, an armored torpedo room was set up under the bow deck, and a large number of waterproof compartments and mine protection partitions were designed at and below the waterline. The four main turrets and command tower of the "Zhongwang" class also adopt a focused protection design and are protected by thick surface-hardened armor steel!
In other parts of the "Chungou" class, relatively thin armor protection that can only protect against fragments generated by the explosion of large-caliber shells is used to minimize weight.
It is no exaggeration to say that the armor protection of this "Zhongwang" class is the best among 20,000-ton battleships and battlecruisers. Even in the future when 30,000-ton and 40,000-ton battleships will roam the oceans, The "Zhongwang" class can also be used as a break-in ship after the power system is upgraded. As long as its hull design is slightly improved, it can continue to be used to build a 20,000-ton fleet aircraft carrier.
Speaking of aircraft carriers, although the aircraft-carrying battlecruiser is a bit "stitched", it is suitable for use today. After all, the current carrier-based aircraft only have a combat radius of about 100 kilometers. If the time required to marshal the fleet is taken into account, these 100 Kilometers have to be discounted.
When carrier-based aircraft have short legs, the aircraft carrier cannot hide far behind. And if you want to move forward, you will easily be hit by the enemy's capital ship. Therefore, this aircraft-carrying battlecruiser is quite suitable to be used as the flagship and bodyguard of the aircraft carrier formation.
As for the other three "Liaodong" class aircraft carriers built with the hulls of the "Nandao" class passenger ships, although they are not as powerful as the "Shu Zhongwang" class, the construction cost is much lower and the time spent is much shorter. The number of carrier-based aircraft is similar to that of the "Shu Zhongwang", currently both have 25 SsangYong aircraft (hangar capacity).
The new fleet aircraft carrier based on the Zhongwang-class and Nandao-class hulls, with a larger hangar, a direct deck and an island superstructure, has been designed and tendered according to Zhuge Weidao's orders. It is estimated that in three to five years, Ming Dynasty will have a real fleet aircraft carrier!
By then, Ming Dynasty will own the entire ocean!
When Zhuge Weidao was looking forward to the future, there were rapid footsteps behind him, followed by a standing attention salute and a loud report.
"Chen Jian, the commander of the battle patrol unit, reported that the battle patrol unit has been supplied and can set off at any time!"
"Report from the headquarters of Lei Teng, the first detachment of the first aviation battle, that the first detachment has been replenished!"
"Second Squadron Commander-in-Chief Wang Leiyong reported that the supplies for the Second Squadron have been completed!"
"The commander of the third team, Yu Tianzhu, reported that the supplies for the third team have been completed!"
"Ling Zongjun, the commander of the Fourth Squadron, reported that the supplies for the Fourth Squadron have been completed!"
Zhuge Weidao turned around, looked at the five detachment commanders under his command, as well as the chief of staff Ma Xuchen, chief staff officer Wang Wen, and aviation staff officer Guo Xiaobao of the first aviation battle, and nodded heavily.
"First Air Force, let's go!"
Zhuge Weidao raised his arm, performed a military salute, and then gave the order to attack in the simplest words.
Four o'clock in the morning.
Under the military salute and gaze of Major General Huang Shuren, the commander of the Naval Air Force Airship Corps who stayed at the Little Luzon base, the newly formed First Air Force slowly sailed out of Little Luzon Bay, and then disappeared into the sea and sky under the morning glow. In one color.
The home port of the Nanyang Fleet, Brunei Bay.
At the same time that the first aviation battle set off from Little Luzon Bay, Vice Admiral Guan Tianpei, the admiral of the Nanyang Fleet, was already standing neatly in military uniform in the command tower of the flagship Hongwu Emperor.
The Hongwu Emperor has now been refitted and turned into a "Hanwu Emperor" class ship with 6 main gun turrets and 12 240 mm 45 times caliber cannons! Although this level of battleship is not as good as the four hero-class ones abandoned by the Rakshasa Kingdom, let alone the four loyal king-class battlecruisers assigned to the first aviation battle, it is definitely a battleship with excellent cost performance.
Among them, the Hongwu Emperor was the former flagship of the Ming Dynasty Navy. Its internal facilities were luxurious and complete, and it was also equipped with a powerful communication command center. Sitting on this battleship, Guan Tianpei can command all the battle teams, squadrons, and bases under the Ming Dynasty's Nanyang Fleet, and can also obtain important enemy information in a timely manner from the reconnaissance airships in the sky.
That's why he didn't choose any of the four hero-class Taishan, Huashan, Hengshan, and Songshan in the fleet to serve as his flagship.
"Junmen," Ge Yunfei walked to Guan Tianpei at this time with the message he had just received, "the first aviation battle has started! They will maintain an economic speed of 15 knots and will cross the Lombok Strait in 100 hours. In They will maintain radio silence until crossing the Lombok Strait."
"The economic speed is 15 knots." Guan Tianpei exclaimed, "It's so fast!"
"It's indeed fast!" Ge Yunfei said with a smile, "It's a pity that we can't run at that speed. We can only maintain a speed of 10 knots at most."
Guan Tianpei smiled and said: "Ten knots is enough. In 65 hours we can reach the eastern entrance of the Strait of Malacca!" He paused, "Where is the Nanyang Army? Are you ready?"
Ge Yunfei smiled bitterly and said: "The Army is always not very efficient in doing things, not to mention that this time they have to use two Japanese divisions to lead the battle. But after all, they have been preparing for many years, so they should not be too embarrassed."
The army of this era did not have any high-level mechanization. It only dug holes, stretched barbed wire, set up machine guns, and enlarged artillery. It looked crude, and it was not surprising that the navy looked down upon it.
Guan Tianpei smiled and said: "It doesn't matter, let's fire the first shot of the attack on Malacca by our navy! The main force of the Nanyang Fleet that I have been ordered to set off now, aiming for the Strait of Malacca!"
"Yes, Junmen!"
As Guan Tianpei's order was conveyed by the lights on the Hongwu Emperor, the main force of the Ming Dynasty's Nanyang Fleet, which had already heated up the boiler and started the main engine, suddenly woke up like a dormant giant beast.
Four Hero-class battleships, eight Hanwu Emperor-class battleships, and 12 Haohan-class armored cruisers formed the Second Battleship Group, the Third Battleship Group, and the Fourth Armored Cruiser Group respectively. They were escorted by a large number of second- and third-class cruisers and destroyers. Below, it drove out of the bay in a mighty manner. Following behind them was an equally large landing team!
(End of chapter)
