What Sweeney never imagined was that the Malaise would actually lose its combat capability because it could not take off carrier-based aircraft, or in such a simple and unspeakable way.
The famous nuclear-powered aircraft carrier HMS Malaise is unable to maintain its course and sail at high speed, so it is unable to take off carrier-based aircraft. This is a joke.
The truth is cruel, it really happened.
Sweeney was so anxious that he jumped to his feet.
He could not bear the responsibility of taking the initiative to open fire, and he did not even dare to actually sink the No. 53 ship.
The other party clearly informed that the area ahead was a live-fire training area. According to relevant international rules, no ship or aircraft was allowed to intrude, and all consequences would be borne by itself. In other words, once the Discomfort broke into the live-fire training area,
Ship No. 53 then has the right to use necessary means to expel it.
At this point, Sherfield said to Sweeney, "There's only one way."
Sweeney quickly asked, "What can we do?"
"Turn around and head east." Sherfield said in a deep voice, "The purpose of Ship No. 53 is to prevent us from entering the sea area where they are conducting live fire training. If we turn east, they will have no reason to hinder our navigation."
Sweeney's eyes lit up, this was a good idea.
For an aircraft carrier, if the carrier-based aircraft cannot take off, it will have no combat effectiveness. As long as the carrier-based aircraft takes off, the location of the carrier does not actually matter.
Sherfield did not need to go into detail about the rest. Sweeney immediately formulated a plan to quickly take off the carrier-based aircraft. After completing the eastward turn, he ejected a squadron of Super Hornets before the No. 53 ship discovered its intention.
Only in this way can the incoming Vulture air support unit be barely blocked.
Sweeney knows his own situation. Facing heavy air superiority carrier-based fighters like the J-15, the Super Hornet has no one-on-one advantage. At this time, the Vulture air support unit has already approached within a range of 150 kilometers. According to
Calculating a two-to-one ratio, at least 16 Super Hornets must take off to maintain a certain advantage when facing the Vulture air support unit.
This is also the largest air defense force that Sweeney can bring out. He must leave at least one-third of the Super Hornets in reserve.
The problem now is not that the aircraft cannot be used, but that the number of pilots who can work properly is constantly decreasing!
Although isolation measures have been taken for personnel infected with unknown pneumonia, the situation on the ship shows that unknown pneumonia is still spreading. There is vague evidence that the virus can be spread through the central air-conditioning system, which makes Sweeney highly vigilant.
stand up.
The Discomfort continued to turn left and east, a move that surprised Li Hai.
Chang Haizhou frowned and said, "Are they leaving?"
"It's not that simple." Li Hai felt a little uneasy, and after thinking sharply for a moment, he suddenly said, "No, they found an opportunity to take off the carrier-based aircraft, and they made an emergency left turn! Follow it and make an emergency left turn!"
Chen Yun repeated the command and turned the rudder full to the left.
However, when the Discomfort continued to turn left and east, the original advantageous position of the No. 53 ship became a disadvantage, from the inner circle to the outer circle, which meant that the No. 53 ship needed a larger radius to complete the turn.
Ship No. 53 was too late to stop the Malamute from taking off the carrier-based aircraft.
Li Hai looked at the western sky with some worry. The Vulture air support unit was coming from that direction.
He was worried about the Vulture air support unit's airborne combat time.
At this time, the Malaise quickly accelerated to a maximum speed of thirty knots with its powerful power reserve. Although it was in a tailwind, Sweeney decided to take the risk and take off the Super Hornet. Just a minute ago, the three Poker Classes lost four
There are traces of an aerial target, which means that four fighter planes have begun to fly over the sea at ultra-low altitude. This is a maneuver before a raid, and it is a dangerous signal.
Two Super Hornets ejected and took off one after another, accelerating and climbing in the direction of the rising sun, then quickly turned around and flew west, followed by two more...
Li Hai felt helpless and watched as twelve Super Hornets ejected and took off in a short period of time to form a tactical formation and rush towards the Vulture air support unit.
He picked up the microphone and called Vulture, "Dong Sanguai, this is Wusan. Twelve bugs have taken off from the target mothership and are approaching your position. Please pay attention. It's over!"
Xue Zhengrong immediately replied, "Wu San, I have seen them and am paying close attention to their movements. Our formation will provide you with cover as planned. Over."
When the Super Hornets formed in the air, the active phased array radar in the nose of No. 037 saw them and tracked the twelve Super Hornets separately. In other words, even if they moved separately,
No one can escape the radar tracking of No. 037.
The four J-8HGs have lowered their altitude and started flying over the sea, approaching three Poker-class highways. They are equipped with YJ-83 air-launched anti-ship missiles. Two of them can severely damage a 10,000-ton destroyer, posing a threat to Poker-class destroyers.
great.
The tactics of the Vulture Air Support Team are very simple. Dang Weimin led four J-15 heavy-duty carrier-based fighters to contain the Super Hornet fleet. Wang Xiaowei led four J-8HGs to rush in at low altitude and conduct simulated anti-ship missile strikes on three Poker-class destroyers.
Xue Zhengrong piloted No. 037 to provide unified command from a rear position, acting as a small command and early warning aircraft.
Regardless of whether it is effective or not, the ultimate goal is to achieve the purpose of containing the USS Unfit aircraft carrier strike group. The key lies in the surface detachment, on the two frigates No. 53 and New Youth.
After finishing the call with Xue Zhengrong, Li Hai folded his arms and looked sideways. The location no more than three chains (about 550 meters) away was the Discomfort. The Seahawk carrier-based helicopter was hovering on the starboard side of the Discomfort, more distant from the No. 53 ship.
Nearby. This is a helicopter responsible for emergency rescue. If an accident occurs during takeoff, it will arrive at the location where the pilot fell into the water in the shortest time to rescue.
Li Hai suddenly saw that the Discomfort did not stop taking off after taking off twelve Super Hornets, but continued to take off four Seahawk carrier-based helicopters. The distance was so close that Li Hai could see it with the naked eye.
The four Seahawk helicopters are all anti-submarine helicopters, and they are all anti-submarine helicopters owned by the Misfit.
"Is there any movement in the sonar room?" Li Hai asked with a frown.
Chang Haizhou confirmed, shook his head and said, "There is no movement."
Li Hai was puzzled, "They took off four anti-submarine helicopters. This is not normal."
Chang Haizhou quickly grabbed the binoculars and looked over. He saw that four Seahawk anti-submarine helicopters had formed a submarine search formation and dropped sonobuoys on the large operating surface to start submarine search operations. He said, "It's true that something is not right. They
It’s as if there’s a submarine underwater.”
Four anti-submarine helicopters are dispatched at a time to search a specific sea area, which is basically to determine the existence of unknown underwater targets and is a measure taken only when a threat is felt.
Li Hai never imagined that the abnormal behavior of the Discomfort was due to the strong uneasiness in Sweeney's heart. Sweeney was always "concerned" about the advanced AIP conventional submarine that Sherfield encountered.
According to Sherfield, he was seriously injured under the attack of two frigates and an advanced AIP submarine and had to surface to surrender. Sherfield is a very proud person, and surrendering would almost never happen to him.
body, but he did so.
Sweeney had to be very vigilant about this.
In his opinion, even if there are more frigates exposed on the sea, he is confident that he can deal with them. The only submarines hidden under the water are submarines. Until these underwater ghosts are found, no one knows when and where they will come from.
A few torpedoes were fired.
Zhao Yunlong felt uncomfortable because of his suspicion.
By some strange coincidence, the Blackfish No. 11 advanced nuclear-powered attack submarine commanded by Zhao Yunlong was still in the inner circle of the Discomfort.
According to the plan, the underwater tracking training mission of Blackfish 11 was over, but Zhao Yunlong judged from clues that something was happening on the water surface. He decided to continue to lurk in the core circle of the Discomfort, even on the ship of the Discomfort.
Less than two nautical miles astern!
But what he didn't expect was that the Discomfort actually made a sharp turn of 90 degrees to the left in such a short period of time, and then made another sharp turn of dozens of degrees to the left, completing the U-turn in one fell swoop.
The bow of the ship happened to be heading towards the sea area where Blackfish 11 was located. The most dangerous thing was the four Seahawk anti-submarine helicopters!
Zhao Yunlong once suspected that his whereabouts had been exposed, but he quickly and calmly judged that the whereabouts of the Blackfish 11 were not exposed, but for some reasons, the commander of the Unfit aircraft carrier strike group was sure that there were submarines in this area, so he went to war in such a big way.
In other words, it is very likely that there are friendly boats in the same sea area.
Based on this judgment, Zhao Yunlong can easily know what is happening on the water surface, and one thing is certain, there are his own ships on the water surface, and they are competing with the USS Unfit aircraft carrier strike group.
At this time, Zhao Yunlong was deeply aware of the troubles caused by the incomplete combat communication system. He did not know the situation of friendly forces, and he could not get the latest intelligence on friendly forces activities in relevant sea areas. The conventional forces in friendly forces also did not know about their nuclear submarine forces.
activities.
In desperation, Zhao Yunlong made the right decision - to enter a state of silence and keep the course unchanged.
Just like that, the Discomfort, which was taking off a carrier-based aircraft at a high speed, passed over the head of the Blackfish 11. The noise generated by the four huge propellers churning the sea water was the best cover for the Blackfish 11.
Sweeney believes that the advanced AIP conventional submarine underwater will never happen to be in the sea area below its own route. The reason is very simple - the Malaise has just made two extreme maneuvers, and the route and course have all changed.
He never imagined that such a coincidence could happen.
After hearing the Discomfort passing overhead at high speed, Zhao Yunlong issued two instructions. It was these two instructions that directly helped the No. 53 ship turn from a disadvantage into an advantage!
Zhao Yunlong commanded Heiyu No. 11 to quietly turn around, and followed the No. 11 with the help of the loud noise made by the No. 11 when it sailed at high speed, and at the same time floated to the depth of the attack water!
At this time, on the No. 53 ship, Li Hai frowned deeply.
The unusual behavior of the Discomfort made him increase his vigilance. The Great Wall commanded by Wu Hai had already returned quietly. He was sure that there would not be another submarine of his own in this area.
However, there is one exception!
Chang Haizhou also thought of this and whispered, "Could it be the Blackfish Troops? They always work alone, and sometimes the joint commanders in the theater do not know their specific location."
"That's what I'm worried about." Li Hai nodded slowly.
He made a decision and said, "We can't let them search for submarines so unscrupulously, even if there are no submarines of ours underwater."
Hearing this, Chang Haizhou straightened his back subconsciously. The captain was about to issue a combat order.
Li Hai said decisively, "Open the air defense fire channel, lock the fire control radar on the target, and drive away these flies!"
"yes!"
The anti-aircraft firepower of the No. 53 ship is only an eight-mounted Haihongqi-7 ship-to-air missile and four double 37 naval guns on the B battery position. Among them, the performance of the Haihongqi-7 ship-to-air missile is relatively lagging, and its maximum combat range is only
More than ten kilometers.
However, to deal with low-altitude and slow-speed air targets such as helicopters, at such a close distance, the Haihongqi-7 ship-to-air missile can be said to be accurate!
Even the double 37 naval guns can greatly threaten these Seahawk anti-submarine helicopters.
This was not over yet. Li Hai knew the tactical principle of concentrating superior forces to attack the enemy at one point. He called Xue Zhengrong and said, "Vulture, the enemy mothership is searching for submarines on a large scale. Our ship is taking measures to prevent their actions. Please provide air cover.
complete!"
"Received the Vulture, I will hold back the little bug formation, over!" Xue Zhengrong replied decisively, their purpose is to cooperate with the No. 53 Task Force Formation, and providing air cover is their job!
Xue Zhengrong also didn't know that the Great Wall had quietly returned. He subconsciously believed that the Great Wall was under threat, so Li Hai could not sit back and watch the Discomfort's light search for submarines.
Ship No. 53 turned the hull sideways and faced the Discomfort at a forty-five-degree angle. In this way, the four double 37-guns had a firing range that could cover the four Seahawk anti-submarine helicopters. This opened up the air defense fire channel.
The Haihongqi-7 ship-to-air missile system is faster, and the fire control radar warms up quickly. After entering the working state, it immediately locked two of the Seahawk anti-submarine helicopters. The missile launcher followed the guidance of the fire control radar and turned to aim at the target.
At such a close distance, the targeted Seahawk anti-submarine helicopters are almost unable to fight back. Moreover, the two Seahawk anti-submarine helicopters are towing sonar operations, and their maneuverability is greatly restricted!
It can be seen that the officers and soldiers of the No. 53 ship have rich combat experience. They prioritized the two Seahawk anti-submarine helicopters that were relatively far away but had limited maneuverability, and handed over the two nearest Seahawk anti-submarine helicopters to the four-seat
Double 37 cannon.
At this time, Zhao Yunlong's second combat order was also issued - turn on the attack sonar and lock the Discomfort!
All of a sudden, the lights in the TFCC tactical flagship command center on board the Discomfort suddenly turned red, many red warning lights were flashing crazily, and alarms sounded one after another!
Sweeney and Sherfield's hairs are about to explode, they don't know what happened!