Newborn calves are not afraid of tigers. Using the term "newborn calves" to describe the young trainees of the Pacific Fleet is more appropriate. Chen Shichang was originally worried that the troops lacked the ability to fight, so facing a powerful enemy like the United Fleet, his officers and men would be at a loss. Now it seems , but he underestimated the fighting spirit of his officers and soldiers. This is a rather strange phenomenon. It stands to reason that the officers and soldiers of the cadet army and navy who have little war experience suddenly encounter a powerful enemy and it is a decisive battle related to the fate of the country. Even if He is not timid, but he is somewhat at a loss as he thinks too much and is timid. Facts have proved that he was overthinking. Due to the army's proud record of winning every day, the navy officers have long established the belief that they must win. , for the upcoming war, not only did they not feel panic, but on the contrary, they were full of expectations.
The reward and punishment system of the Xuebing Army is perfect, and the concept that "soldiers who do not want to be generals are not good soldiers" has been deeply rooted in people's hearts earlier. If you want to be promoted to generals, war is an absolute shortcut. This is no wonder that young people such as Bian Jingdao and Li Deyan When the officers heard about the war, instead of panicking, they fought bravely to take the lead. With military morale available, Chen Shichang stopped pretending and went straight to the point. As early as when he first arrived in Australia, he sent a combat staff team to attack the Timor Sea area. The hydrological and geographical conditions were surveyed, and with these data as reference, if the battle was to be fought in the Timor Sea, his ideal decisive battle site would be around Yendena Island. The reason why he specifically selected it was that, first, the water depth there was suitable. The submarine force is lurking. There are many islands there, which is very suitable for ambushing one or two surprise soldiers.
Learn from the force deployment of the Pacific Fleet in the Timor Sea. There are nine aircraft carriers, namely Huangdi, Yandi, Qinshihuang, Hanwu, Weiwu, Wudao Tianwang, Tang Taizong, Song Taizu, and Genghis Khan; battleships Two ships, namely Beijing and Nanjing, as well as twenty-five heavy cruisers, thirty-one destroyers, seventeen frigates, forty-one submarines, fifty-three missile speedboats, and nineteen supply ships, With so many ships gathered together, the scale is huge. If the entire army is dispatched, the fuel consumption alone will be an astronomical figure. The fuel required by the Pacific Fleet currently mainly comes from three aspects, one is the mainland, and the other is the mainland. It is Britain and the United States. All the goods obtained from Britain are purchased from the Middle East through a joint venture formed by Xuebingjun and the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. This is considered a corporate behavior, so the price is relatively expensive. After Xuebingjun enters Chongqing, Ouyang Yun must spend a considerable amount of funds. To fill the financial hole left by the former central government in order to maintain the normal operation of the coalition government and the reorganization of the army, it also has to bear the problem of feeding as many as 20 million refugees. Therefore, the economy that was originally relatively prosperous suddenly fell into a difficult predicament. , as a last resort, he could only ask the frontline troops to consider the cost of using troops if there is another war and try to avoid unnecessary losses. Due to this prerequisite, and before the decisive battle, there is indeed no need to dispatch all ships. Chen Shichang's trusted generals have already We knew that there would be a vanguard force that would enter the set combat area first and make tentative contact with the Yamato aircraft carrier fleet. This is why Bian Jingdao and Li Deyan competed for this spot before the meeting got down to business.
Since the mission of the vanguard fleet is to test, mobility will be a key factor. In addition, it must have a certain deterrence capability. Otherwise, if the Japanese army also dispatches a mobile fleet to pursue, the vanguard fleet will be passively beaten or even towed. It is possible to live in it. In this way, Bian Jingdao's Beijing mobile fleet is more suitable for this task than Li Deyan's Hanwu aircraft carrier fleet. Of course, since it is a meeting to discuss, everyone is allowed to express their opinions, and then Chen Shichang will comprehensively consider and select most suitable,
When this issue was not discussed, Li Deyan was already at odds with Bian Jingdao. Now that it was officially discussed, he was naturally even more unwilling to give in. The purpose of the Vanguard Fleet mission was to make tentative contact, but it was also very likely to make the first contribution. This was The reason why Li Deyan knew that the conditions were not as good as those of Bian Jingdao, but still kept striving for it, was that in the end, Chen Shichang took the opinions of De Gu, Qi Minghao and Xu Kai into consideration and decided that the Beijing mobile fleet would be responsible for this task.
After the mission of the vanguard fleet, there are issues such as the selection of ships and the selection of commanders for the submarine force and surprise force that have been ambushed in the decisive sea area in advance. The Pacific Fleet now has a dedicated submarine command, and the commander is Xu Kai. Below the headquarters, there are three sub-submarine fleets according to different combat missions and equipped submarines. As a result of everyone's discussion, Xu Kai, as the supreme commander of the submarine force, took the initiative to accept this task. He will lead the first and second submarine fleets. The submarine fleet sets out in advance to enter the decisive battle area, and sets up ambush circles as appropriate. The surprise force is also the missile speedboat force. The missile speedboat is a brand-new ship type. Because the ship itself has a limited range, and the Poseidon ship missiles it is equipped with There are still many shortcomings in precision guidance and range, and it has not played a decisive role in many previous exercises. Therefore, it is not valued by Chen Shichang, Degu and others, and is regarded by them as a supplement to the submarine ambush force. Qi Minghao At that time, he was the deputy chief of staff of the Xue Taipingyan Fleet and was also in charge of the missile speedboat unit. Chen Shichang and Degu were not optimistic about the missile speedboat unit for objective reasons. As the de facto supreme commander of the unit, even from the perspective of building morale , could not help but express its emphasis on the unit, so he also took the initiative to serve as the commander of the missile speedboat unit.
After all the ships, commanders and combat tasks have been assigned, the next thing is simple. The vanguard fleet will be the first to dispatch. Their first task is to clear the Japanese reconnaissance ships on the advancing channel and rush in before the Yamato aircraft carrier fleet. Before the decisive battle in the sea area, and then to try to launch a tentative attack on it, the submarine force and the vanguard fleet went out together. They also had the initial task, that is, to carry out preemptive strikes against the Japanese submarine force used for reconnaissance or lurking as much as possible. It is thought that the missile speedboat force and the main fleet will clear the waterway to ensure that the missile speedboat force can successfully lurk into the island group near Dejanna Island. In addition to these, the main fleet will also send a certain number of naval forces to escort them, and if they encounter enemies military reconnaissance aircraft, destroy them at all costs.
Finally, Chen Shichang said solemnly: "Gentlemen, this battle is the first decisive battle after the completion of our Pacific Fleet. Victory means that our country has officially become a member of the world naval club, and our Pacific Fleet will be worthy of its name; defeat, it will not , never allow failure, all gentlemen, encourage each other."
Including Degu, all the participants stood up and said in unison: "Yes, failure will never be allowed. This battle must be won."