With abundant supplies, Cai Tingyuan's troops bombarded Tunisia Port with fierce firepower, inflicting heavy losses on the Axis garrison. The loss of sea control made the land battle quite passive, and Halsey knew that it could not go on like this.
, otherwise what they will face is destined to be a failure.
After communicating with the Axis air forces, they decided to launch a joint attack and fight to the death with the Iron Blood fleet to regain control of the sea in the Mediterranean, otherwise Halsey's fleet would be destroyed.
After full preparations, the Axis Powers Group began a comprehensive counterattack. Halsey led a mixed fleet composed of the last forty-five aircraft carriers of the Axis Powers to sail out of the Aegean Sea and headed for the port of Benghazi where the Iron Blood Fleet was stationed.
Go, they will use themselves as bait to attack the opponent's fleet, so as to attract the opponent's fleet to the coast near the north, allowing land-based aircraft to carry out a decisive attack.
As early as a few days ago, Peng Dechao noticed anomalies in satellite photos. On the southern coast of the Western Continent, various military airports controlled by the Axis powers were busy. A large number of aircraft were transferred from the north to the south, as if something big was about to happen.
The action is average.
Sure enough, a few days later, Halsey's fleet set sail. As soon as they left the port, the Black Feather strategic reconnaissance aircraft conducting reconnaissance in the high altitude discovered them. Under the illumination of the synthetic aperture radar, such a huge naval fleet
There is absolutely no escape.
After learning that the opponent's main fleet had sailed, Peng Dechao also reviewed the latest satellite images. He found that many ports on the west coast of the Aegean Sea had become quite empty, and these places had always been the ports where Halsey's fleet was stationed.
After making sure that the opponent's main fleet had all left the port, Peng Dechao also ordered the Jagged Fleet to leave the port. However, for the sake of safety, he did not ask Feng Ju's fleet to leave the port to fight. Instead, he asked them to serve as the second echelon, ready for reinforcements at any time.
Feng Ju also realized that this operation was not trivial. He immediately notified Cai Tingyuan of the Southern Military Region and Gao Hong of the Mediterranean Military Region via radio, asking them to be on strict alert. After receiving the news, the two knew that the situation was serious, and they immediately took off on their own
reconnaissance aircraft to closely monitor the enemy in front of them, and at the same time ordered all airports to enter first-level combat preparations.
Leading a huge fleet sailing on the boundless sea, Halsey, who had just been promoted to Navy Marshal, was sweating. He had no confidence in victory. At first, he was so high-spirited that he thought the aircraft carrier fleet was invincible.
, but now it looks so weak.
Halsey and Nimitz were good friends. Before the war, they were also the generals who most firmly opposed the war. In fact, although the navy had the most obvious advantage before the war, the naval generals headed by Nimitz and Halsey
However, they are the group of people who are the most fiercely opposed to the war, because they know very well that there is no chance of war at sea.
In land battles, you may be able to make use of rugged terrain and various special climates to defeat the weak. But on the vast sea, the battle is a head-to-head duel. Any technical advantage may be infinitely expanded and transformed into transcendence.
Numerical superiority leads to victory, but technological superiority is precisely what the Chinese Empire is best at.
Under such circumstances, even with an absolute numerical advantage, they still knew that the Axis fleet could not defeat the Chinese Empire, especially in this era where air supremacy determines sea supremacy, with island airports densely scattered in the Eastern Ocean.
The Chinese Empire was already in an invincible position.
Although the two opposed the war, they were not ignorant people. After the government announced the war, they still devoted themselves to the war. Nimitz became famous in the attack on Pearl Harbor, but then he
He was shelved by the bureaucrats of the Admiralty. Because his correct opinions were not accepted, which resulted in the destruction of the entire ocean fleet of the Boston Empire, Halsey now faced the same difficult choice.
If we retreat to the Aegean Sea and give up sea control in the Mediterranean, we can indeed save the last main fleet of the Axis group. However, in that case, the Axis army that has lost sea control will be restricted everywhere, and their living space will be slowed down.
Slow compression. When the land is completely occupied by NATO allied forces, Halsey's fleet has only one way to surrender, unless of course he is willing to sink himself like the Yaman Navy.
The other option is what Halsey is doing now, using himself as bait and relying on the power of land-based aircraft to try to severely damage or annihilate the Chinese Empire's naval fleet. Although Halsey knows that this possibility is very small,
Let him hide in the Aegean Sea and slowly watch his own defeat. He would rather die vigorously on the battlefield, only in this way can he be worthy of his duty as a soldier.
After sailing out of the Aegean Sea, the Axis fleet turned southwest and headed straight for the Port of Benghazi. At this time, the Iron-blooded Fleet had already set sail from the Port of Benghazi and several nearby ports, forming four aircraft carrier formations heading towards
The Axis fleet rushed forward.
Four Lombok-2 early warning aircraft ascended to high altitude early. Accompanied by sixteen Sailfish 3B electronic warfare aircraft, they flew in all directions in a fan-shaped structure. The active phased array radar was turned on at full power,
Large areas of sea and airspace were included in the search scope.
The land-based Hawkeye radar aircraft have already taken off. They fly far ahead of the Halsey fleet to conduct long-distance reconnaissance for them. This radar aircraft improved from the B29 bomber has a long range and patrols the Mediterranean Sea.
It was more than enough. They flew towards the south at a speed of more than 500 kilometers per hour. At the same time, all radars were turned on to search for the situation at sea.
The air search range of the Hawkeye radar is 120 kilometers, and the sea search range is only 70 kilometers. This is still at this time when there is no electronic interference, and as early as 300 kilometers away, the Longmu 2 early warning aircraft
It had already been spotted. Without the other party's knowledge, several Sailfish 3B aircraft began to accelerate and rushed towards the Axis radar aircraft.
The Axis officers who were diligently observing the radar suddenly discovered that the radar screen turned into a clutter. This was when the Sailfish 3B electronic warfare aircraft began to interfere. The powerful electromagnetic interference wave speed completely turned the Axis side into a clutter.
Blind man, when this happened, the Axis officers and soldiers on the radar immediately knew that the enemy was approaching, so they quickly turned around and fled towards their own airport inland.
The pilots of the Iron Blood Army were not willing to let the fat in their mouths slip away. They immediately began to accelerate and chased at a supersonic speed close to Mach 2. Even if the Hawkeye radar aircraft was driven at its fastest, it could only reach 570 kilometers per hour.
It's only fourteen kilometers. How can it dodge a Sailfish 3B aircraft traveling at over 2,500 kilometers per hour at such a speed?
The six electronic warfare aircraft caught up with the Axis radar aircraft at maximum speed within a minute. Although it has been converted into an electronic warfare aircraft, the Sailfish 3B aircraft still retains basic air combat capabilities, at least every aircraft
The aircraft also carried four PL-5 short-range air-to-air missiles.
After approaching within a range of five kilometers, the leading Sailfish 3B fighter took the lead in using active phased array radar to lock on the bulky Hawkeye radar aircraft. The locking of the active phased array radar was very fast, and it only took a few seconds
In one third of a second, the Hawkeye radar aircraft was firmly locked in the aperture, and the leader aircraft quickly launched its own missile.
The new Thunderbolt 5 missile has achieved fully active guidance and multiple guidance such as radar, laser, and infrared. With the current aircraft manufacturing level of the Axis powers, even the best F104 fighter jets have no chance of escaping.
I saw a short missile igniting on the wing, and an orange tail flame formed instantly. With the help of the engine's propulsion, the missile quickly broke away from the wing and flew forward.
The missiles equipped by the Iron Blood Army have got rid of the previous cold launch mode. In the past, when launching missiles, the missiles had to be detached from the pylon before igniting, so each launch took more than two seconds. The new launch method allows the missile to be launched while the missile is on the pylon.
It is directly ignited and launched from the aircraft, so that it only takes a quarter of a second to complete the missile launch process. However, the material requirements for such a launch are also much higher, because it has to withstand the burning of the rocket engine exhaust flame of more than 6,000 degrees.
eclipse.
At this time, the Thunderbolt 5 missile had separated from the pylon of the leader aircraft and rushed towards the Hawkeye radar aircraft not far ahead. Looking at the speeding missile, the Boston gunner in the tail cabin widened his eyes.
Before he could call the captain, he used the communicator to alert the captain that the missile flying at Mach 3 had hit the wing root of the left wing of the aircraft and exploded.
The violent explosion caused the left wing of the radar aircraft to completely fall off, and at the same time a large hole was opened in the belly of the aircraft. The three officers working there and the radar equipment were all reduced to pieces, and the left wing of the aircraft also fell off with two huge engines.
Toward the ground.
One wing was destroyed, and the aircraft could no longer maintain its balance. Although the captain tried hard to break the control stick, the radar aircraft still made a half circle and plunged into the sea water below. Under the attack of this missile
Then, the prelude to the great battle in the Aegean Sea finally began.
Seeing the radar plane crashing into the sea, several Iron Blood Army planes quickly turned around and returned to the early warning aircraft. The radar plane had not returned for three hours, and the top brass of the Axis Air Force knew that the situation had changed. The radar plane had probably been captured.
It was destroyed, so they left and reported the situation to Halsey. After receiving this news, Halsey knew that the Iron Blood Fleet might have attacked, but he was still unable to determine where the opponent was, so he immediately asked the Air Force to send fighter jets
Conduct reconnaissance.
The Air Force agreed to Halsey's request. This time, to be safe, they dispatched sixty-four F104 fighter jets. They were divided into eight groups and fanned out in eight directions. Although the combat radius of the F104 fighter jet was only 900
kilometers, but in the narrow Mediterranean, such a voyage is enough.
A note to readers:
I recommend a good book "The Supreme Sword", written by Zhuge Yeshao. I hope everyone will collect it.