North Atlantic, November 27, 4 am.
Darkness enveloped the ocean, mist filled the air, dark clouds covered the moon, and the waves undulated.
Suddenly, in the darkness, two white beams of light shot up into the sky. As these two white beams of light pierced the darkness, the sea seemed to wake up early from its long winter sleep, followed by several more white beams of light from searchlights. , piercing the surrounding darkness.
In the Akagi bridge, Li Zhaoxun looked up at the Kaga not far away, and suddenly felt an unreal feeling in his heart. Is the era of big guns and giant ships really over? Just a small double-winged wooden aircraft of the level of Sea Flying Dragon and Ssangyong equipped with a 100 kilogram bomb can blow up a large ship with a displacement of tens of thousands of tons to pieces?
He looked around again. In the ocean shrouded in darkness, apart from the Akagi where he was, there was only one Kaga. Just two half-baked aircraft carriers transformed from fast merchant ships, without even a destroyer or light cruiser to escort them. They can rely only on their own speed and a few dozen carrier-based aircraft to sail across the North Atlantic. It can be regarded as the enemy's inner sea, running rampant in the sea.
What would happen if it were replaced by the four Shu Zhongwang-class aircraft-carrying battlecruisers?
This simply subverted everyone's imagination!
"Report, all aircraft participating in the air strike are ready." The voice of a Pacific Fleet aviation staff officer echoed in the bridge of the Akagi. Including Saigo, all Texas sea and land officers stopped. After paying attention to the matter at hand, he turned his attention to Li Zhaoxun.
Although he is only the leader of the "Flight Instructors" sent by the Pacific Fleet in name, he can actually decide whether and how the Akagi and Kaga flying teams can attack!
Without his nod, not even one of the 80 aircraft on board Akagi and Kaga could take off!
The carrier-based aircraft dispatch early this morning was proposed by him, and he personally planned and organized it.
In fact, it is doubtful whether the current carrier-based aircraft can take off from the aircraft carrier at night... Even the Ming Naval Aviation Command does not allow carrier-based aircraft to perform missions in high sea conditions and low visibility in principle.
However, there are situations where principles are violated, or missions must be performed because of higher principles... and the final decision on whether to perform the mission lies with flight group commanders like Li Zhaoxun.
Those who can hold this position are undoubtedly the best pilots. If they all feel that they can't fly, then they really can't fly.
Li Zhaoxun had already put on a thickened flight suit and nodded in front of everyone's gaze. Without saying a word, he strode out of the bridge and went down to the flight deck where the sea breeze was howling.
Whether it can fly or not is meaningless. The first person to fly on a SsangYong aircraft is the one who can really fly!
On the deck, Fengmingshan, who also flies a Ssangyong aircraft, is standing in front of his beloved Ssangyong fighter. He is turning his head to look at his brochure... One bar of three stars!
He's now a captain in the Navy!
Before the war began, this military rank was something he, a sergeant major who had never attended a military academy, could not even imagine. But now, he has stepped into the forefront of naval aviation, and his military rank has risen to the sky. Just after the bombing of Wall Street, Captain Li Zhaoxun personally announced to all the pilots who participated in the operation the collective first-class merit commendation order and military rank promotion order issued by Zhuge Weidao.
All pilots participating in the war, with a rank lower than that of a major, will be promoted to one level, and will receive military medals and large bonuses when they return.
"Mingshan, stop looking. After this battle is over, you should be promoted to major!"
Li Zhaoxun's loud voice suddenly came, telling Captain Fengda a very good news, and then a piercing alarm suddenly sounded on the deck. To the ears of Fengmingshan and others, this sound was the sound of promotion and wealth!
"Board!"
Li Zhaoxun roared again as he passed by Fengmingshan.
"Yes, sir!" the future Major Feng Da responded, and waved to his co-pilot: "Get on the plane, let's go and do some meritorious service!"
Fengmingshan's pilot is a newbie. His former co-pilot Li Pingqing has also passed the pilot exam and is currently training at Hainan Airlines' flight school. If nothing else happens, he will soon become a carrier-based aircraft pilot.
When Li Zhaoxun, Fengmingshan and others climbed into the cockpits of their carrier-based aircraft, the two aircraft-based frigates had already begun to soar into the wind. The engines of the carrier-based aircraft were also started with the help of the ground crew. The propellers rotated rapidly and soon turned into a circle of phantoms. A few minutes later, the wind on the deck reached its peak. Under the dazzling searchlights, the flight commander on the deck raised his right hand. The flag bearer in the distance raised the flag, and then suddenly pointed forward. Li Zhaoxun immediately released the brakes, and the double-wing, double-engine, two-seater Ssangyong aircraft he was piloting suddenly rose into the sky after gliding for a while with the lift provided by the fierce deck wind.
"Get up..."
Now it was Fengmingshan's turn. He used all his strength to pull on the control stick, and then with a lightening of the fuselage, the biplane suddenly jumped out of the deck.
The SsangYong aircraft flown by Li Zhaoxun and Feng Mingshan is the so-called "pilot aircraft" and needs to undertake the task of searching for and leading its own fighters to the battlefield. At the same time, they are also command aircraft and communication aircraft. This two-seater aircraft has a spark telegraph machine that can send reports. It can maintain contact with the ships behind at any time, receive instructions and issue them to other aircraft.
Now, these "pilot aircraft" have also turned on indicator lights of various colors - different colors represent different flying squads. As long as the aircraft belonging to each squad fly according to the corresponding lights, they will not fall behind.
Just as Li Zhaoxun and Feng Mingshan were flying their biplanes in the sky, waiting for other planes to come up to join them, they could already see the sky in the distance that was red with flames of war.
A fierce night battle on the sea is underway...and the destroyer formation of the Texas Sea Commanded by Seiichiro Otani is already at a disadvantage.
Although relying on the "Cat Eye Samurai" and steam gas torpedoes, the Otani formation carried out a quite exciting ambush. But the Guogong class is already an "old ship" after all. Although the ship is not old, unfortunately, this era happens to be when naval technology is advancing by leaps and bounds. It can even be said that no matter how many advanced technologies were used in the design of any warship, by the time it is put into service, it will definitely have fallen behind!
As for the "Old Ships" such as the Guogong-class armored destroyers, which are more than 10 years old, it can be said that they need firepower without firepower (unaccurate shooting equals no firepower), speed without speed, and protection without protection. If you don't get it, Advanced ammunition (the Ming Dynasty's torpedoes and armor-piercing bombs are stronger than other countries), even the ambush just now cannot be fired.
However, after firing all 36 steam gas torpedoes (the Duke-class torpedo launchers are difficult to load and must be operated in port), the 6 Duke-class ships are no longer a match for the 4 Pennsylvania-class ships.
Although their 210mm main guns are indeed powerful, a common problem with small boat cannons is that they are inaccurate and have a slow rate of fire. Moreover, the Kuomintang-level armor cannot withstand the American 8-inch and 6-inch armor-piercing bullets. If the advanced delay fuses used by these armor-piercing bullets do not malfunction, a 6-inch shell explodes and can destroy a Kuomintang-level bullet. I can't eat it and walk around.
Although the American Pennsylvania-class does not have enough 8-inch main guns, they have many 6-inch secondary guns, and they fire very accurately! After a while, all six Guogong-class ships were injured, and they were not serious!
Otani Nobutomo's ship, the Maya, was also on its last legs. It was hit by five 6-inch bombs, two of which exploded, creating a large hole in the bow of the ship and causing a fire. In order to avoid being killed by the bombs, the ship had to be fired. The ammunition depot was filled with water, which caused the Maya's speed to drop to 10 knots, and the two main guns had not fired yet. Now she could only dodge left and right while facing the enemy with her butt. Just when the whole ship was about to become a god, suddenly someone on the bridge shouted: "Plane, plane, our plane is coming!"
