John Cleeves anxiously walked around the bridge of his ship. He really didn't expect that his fleet would be discovered so quickly. He also didn't expect that the Tang Army, which was at a military disadvantage, would dare to take the initiative to seek help here.
decisive battle.
This gave him a very bad feeling, and he began to wonder if there was anything wrong with the fleet's decisive battle strategy. Would the Tang Empire, which had always been ahead in technology, come up with some trump card to turn the tide of the war?
You know, from a strategic point of view, although his combined fleet is large in size and seems to be strong, it cannot be missed. Once the combined fleet is severely damaged, the control of the sea in the southern seas will change hands, and the sea routes between Dorne and Qin will
, but it was completely cut off.
This is definitely not good news for the two countries. Once the sea routes are cut off, Dorne's attempt to send troops to join the war will fail, and Qin will not be able to get more support from Dorne and the entire Eastern Continent...
In fact, another purpose of the combined fleet preparing to attack Nanshan Port is to attract the main force of the Tang Empire's navy to come for a decisive battle, which can in disguise ensure that the route between Dorne and Daqin in the southern sea is in a safe state.
"Sir! The commander of the Qin Navy sent a message with a light signal, asking if he wanted to take off the second batch of fighter jets..." An officer came over and asked his commander.
"Send a signal to let them take off as planned, expand the patrol range of the fighter jets, and force the Tang Army's aircraft to stay away from our fleet." John Cleeves gave his order.
"Report! The outer cruiser Shetanli was hit by a missile..." An officer hurried over and reported the just confirmed news to John Cleeves.
In fact, they received the news very late, because at this time, the outer fleet was almost completely wiped out.
There was no way, because the radio was suppressed and all communications were not smooth. Everyone could only use semaphores and light signals to communicate. By the time the message was transmitted to the aircraft carrier fleet, half of the warships transmitting the signal might have been submerged in a sea of fire.
Already.
"..." After hearing the news, John Cleeves knew that Tang's aircraft carriers had begun to attack. However, his fleet did not find torpedo planes or dive bombers, which was very annoying.
"Did the other party use a destroyer to move forward and launch missiles at us?" John Cleeves then asked, because the information he knew about the Tang Dynasty could only allow him to deduce such a conclusion.
In the Battle of Mirage, the Tang Empire used anti-ship missiles. Everyone knows this weapon now. This is the " trump card " of the Tang Empire's navy.
However, according to investigations by the intelligence agencies of various countries, this weapon is very large and can only be carried by warships. Therefore, the navies of various countries are not so afraid of this new type of weapon.
Since it can only be carried by warships, it proves that Tang Jun has pushed its guided missile warship to the front! For John Cleeves, this seems to be a fighter plane!
Therefore, the commander-in-chief of the combined fleet immediately turned around and looked at his aviation commander: "Let the Stuka with the torpedoes take off immediately! Search in the direction of the cruiser Shetanli! Find the enemy's fleet ahead.
, Destroy them!”
"Yes!" The aviation commander couldn't wait for a long time. He stood at attention and saluted, and then went to announce the news. 10 aircraft carriers took off hundreds of attack planes and flew over the enemy's fleet in one go. The destructive power was...
Absolutely amazing.
He has even begun to imagine that his attack fleet will annihilate the enemy's advancing fleet and help the main fleet win this naval battle...
Unfortunately, before he turned around, another officer hurried over and reported bad news to John Cleeves: "The guard fleet in the northeast was severely damaged. Three destroyers were hit, and two destroyers were hit.
There were also fires on the cruisers... They were sinking and the situation was very bad."
"What?" Even the calm John Cleeves was no longer calm at this moment. His counterattack hadn't even started yet. His fleet had already begun to lose so many warships. This speed was too fast.
.
It's not that he can't afford the losses, but at this rate of losses, a gap will soon be opened in his peripheral defense line. When the enemy begins to threaten the core aircraft carriers and battleships of the fleet, what should we do?
"What are you waiting for? Take off the attack planes immediately! Go quickly!" Glancing at the aviation commander who was stunned on the spot, John Cleeves scolded, and then he looked at his staff officer: "Let the fighter units separate
One part, search along the direction where the battleships suffered the heaviest losses! Find the enemy fleet! At any cost!"
"Yes!" The staff officer swallowed and immediately went to arrange the task.
A few seconds later, at the core of the combined fleet, a fireball suddenly rose from the deck of a Dornish Empire aircraft carrier.
Immediately afterwards, black smoke shot straight into the sky, and the entire battleship seemed like a ignited powder keg, exploding from the middle and breaking into two pieces.
The huge explosion blew off the deck, and also knocked the Stuka attack aircraft taking off on the deck into the sea. On the surrounding warships, the sailors widened their eyes and looked at this tragic scene. For a moment, they were stunned.
They all forgot to exclaim.
On the bridge of the aircraft carrier Viva Dorn, the flagship of the United Fleet, which was less than one kilometer away from the aircraft carrier, John Cleeves also looked at the scene in front of him in surprise.
What he feared has appeared: enemy anti-ship missiles have begun to hit his most precious aircraft carrier! If this continues, his fleet will have major problems before night.
"This shouldn't be! This is not normal." Not knowing what he was talking about, John Cleeves muttered a few words, then stepped back from the porthole, and suddenly shouted an order: "Let the attack fleet speed up as fast as possible!
Hurry! Otherwise we are all doomed!"
Now, he no longer cares about confirming the position of the enemy fleet, because he knows that he only has one chance to "bet on luck". No matter what direction, he must send carrier-based aircraft to try to counterattack!
If he succeeds, he can also drive away those "enemy ships" that launch anti-ship missiles. If he fails, his fleet will be sunk by the enemy's anti-ship missiles.
It is a pity that all the officers of the combined fleet do not know at this moment that their judgment was actually wrong from the beginning, and... it was terribly wrong.