Jiang considers it from the perspective of tactical innovation... This maritime battle, known as the "Maldives Naval Battle", has at least three important significances: First, the era of air force dominating the victory and loss has ended, and the era of naval battle with "multiple arms and all-round coordinated strikes" is coming; second, naval battle is no longer a battle between warships and fleets, but a stage for various war forces; third, the main indicator for measuring the intensity of naval battle attack is no longer firepower, that is, ammunition delivery ability. But energy, that is, the total amount of energy for attack and defense.

Influenced by this, the "Maldives Naval Battle" brought the Marine War into the Age of Energy.

Of course, in terms of specific tactics, this naval battle is not that simple.

On the 4th of the month, when the Republic Navy was dispatching troops, the US Navy was also actively taking action. Its Sixth Fleet was advancing toward the Cape of Good Hope at the fastest speed of the Blade Festival on the South Atlantic Ocean. The newly established Third Fleet set off from Brisbane, Australia, and joined a large fleet of transport ships in the Bass Strait north of Tasmania. It also sailed westward at the speed of the Chinji, and entered the Indian Ocean that night.

Judging from the time of fleet mobilization, the US Navy made strategic adjustments before the Republic Navy.

In other words, the first thing to do in the direction of the Indian Ocean was the US Navy, not the Republic Navy. Although judging from the situation at that time, due to the lack of marine surveillance satellites, it was possible to rely on sporadic branches to collect intelligence in the South Atlantic and Southwest Pacific Oceans, it was difficult for the Republic Navy to grasp the specific whereabouts of the US fleet. It was impossible to respond based on the deployment and mobilization of the Sixth Fleet and the Third Fleet. Therefore, it can be roughly concluded that the strategic decision of the Republic Navy to increase troops in the Indian Ocean has almost nothing to do with the mobilization of the US Navy, but from the strategic situation, Pei Chengyi could not see the importance of the Indian Ocean battlefield, and he should have expected Duche to increase troops in the Indian Ocean. Therefore, the increase in troops in the Indian Ocean on the 4th of the month can also be regarded as a functional reaction to the threat of the US Navy.

The question is, how much significance does the US Navy have to increase its troops in the Indian Ocean at this time?

From time to time calculation, if the South China Sea Fleet of the Republic Navy immediately turns west after entering the Indian Ocean, even if the cruise speed is maintained, it can reach the waters west of Tokyo Kowloon Ridge in the morning of the day, that is, reach the waters that can attack Digo Garcia. The Indian Ocean Fleet that is active in the north can turn south before the ugly point on the night of the 4th, and can reach the eastern waters of the Maldives Islands before 2 noon on the day, that is, enter the range of attacking Bigo Garcia to assist the South China Sea Fleet in combat. Because the Indian Ocean Fleet can complete supplies as soon as day and night, and the Fourth Fleet that is active in the Gulf of Aden and the Eighth Fleet that is rushing north, the Indian Ocean Fleet will definitely be able to move south before the 4th point on the 4th; it will also have the ability to fight in concert with the South China Sea Fleet.

The two fleets were dispatched together, and Digo Garcia would definitely suffer a devastating blow.

More importantly, even if the US Navy cannot grasp the specific whereabouts of the Indian Ocean Fleet and the South China Sea Fleet, the US intelligence agencies will monitor the dispatch of the naval naval carrier-based aviation. It is known that the Republic's navy used heavy air combat aircraft to replace multi-purpose fighters. As we all know, heavy air combat aircraft are actually multi-purpose fighters, but their main task is fleet defense. In other words, when performing strike missions, heavy air combat aircraft have a longer range and a larger ammunition capacity. In addition to lacking separate combat capabilities in some cases, Xi surpassed multi-purpose fighters in other aspects, especially when attacking fixed targets, heavy air combat aircraft are more threatening.

Based on this information, the US Navy has 100% reason to believe that its opponent's primary target is Digo Garcia.

In other words, the US Navy must first defend Digo Garcia, at least to ensure that Digo Garcia will not suffer a devastating blow.

Mu Yong doubted that after the Fourth Fleet and the Eighth Fleet met, they would definitely go south from the Gulf of Aden at full speed. They would strive to reach the western waters of Digo Garcia before the opponent launched an attack. Only in this way can carrier-based fighters be dispatched to strengthen Digo Garcia's air defense.

The problem is that the effect of passive defense is very limited.

More importantly, the commander of the US fleet must consider another possibility, that is, the opponent forces the US fleet to Digo Garcia by attacking Digo Garcia, and the opponent's real purpose is to attack the US fleet.

In fact, this possibility is even greater. After all, the key to seizing sea control is not to destroy the other party's naval base, but to destroy the other party's fleet. From another perspective, if the US fleet in the Indian Ocean can be eliminated in one fell swoop, it would be easy to destroy the U.S. fleet in the Indian Ocean, and it would be easy to destroy the Mago Garcia. There is no need to use the fleet, and it is enough to dispatch a few gunboats.

Affected by this, the US fleet not only had to sail invisible places, but also had to request support.

This is also the key purpose of the Sixth Fleet rushing to the Indian Ocean at full speed. The problem is that, from time to time, the Sixth Fleet with the Zhang aircraft carrier can only reach about a thousand meters south of Mago Garcia in the early morning of the 6th, and then enter the waters covering Digo Garcia. In this way, if the Fourth Fleet and the Eighth Fleet want to avoid "fighting alone", they have to actively move south, that is, to actively approach the Sixth Fleet. In other words, when the Mu-Fleet and the Eighth Fleet arrive in the waters east of the Seychelles, they have to turn south to avoid contact with the Republic fleet too early. In this case, the US Navy has almost no way to cover Digo Garcia, that is, they can only sacrifice Mago Garcia.

At this time, some people may think that the Third Fleet will arrive early.

Theoretically, the Third Fleet was able to reach the southeastern waters of Digo Garcia on the night of the 3rd. The problem is that the Third Fleet is a newly established fleet, that is, it is a fleet without aircraft carriers, and its main force is to move cruisers and 4 destroyers. More importantly, the first task of the Third Fleet is to cover and not to travel to Digo Garcia with multiple fast transport ships, rather than participate in naval battles. This is exactly the case. After entering the Indian Ocean, the Third Fleet had to reduce its navigation speed to below the Junjie, because only in this way can the sonar on the escort warships work normally.

Obviously, the Third Fleet has nothing to count on.

That's why the whole world focused on the fourth and eighth fleets of the US military.

The

, , , Zhengji, and the Indian Ocean Fleet and the South China Sea Fleet of the Republic Navy. From the calculation of Tigangzhi, the Republic Navy will first concentrate the forces required to launch an attack, so from a tactical inference, the Republic Navy will first launch an attack, that is, by attacking Digo Garcia, force the US fleet to appear in the war, then attack the Fourth and Eighth Fleets of the United States Navy, and then concentrate their efforts to intercept the Sixth Fleet that arrived on the battlefield. Tactically speaking, the South China Sea Fleet should attack Gogarcia and the Indian Ocean Ship

The team was ambushed in the waters of the Maldives Islands. Because the Republic has several comprehensive naval bases on the Maldives Islands and the southern end of the Indian Peninsula, which can not only deploy heavy fighter jets, but also hundreds of long-range patrol aircraft, the US fleet has almost no way to detect the Indian Ocean Fleet ambushed in the waters of the Maldives Islands. That is to say, as long as the Fourth Fleet and the Eighth Fleet turn east after Digo Garcia is attacked, they will enter the ambush circle of the Indian Ocean Fleet, thus suffering a devastating blow.

Very simple and reasonable tactics.

Objectively speaking, unless the US Navy abandons Digo Garcia, that is, to save the two fleets by sacrificing Digo Garcia, otherwise it will not be able to escape from the ambush circle of the Republic's Navy. Although looking at this naval battle rationally, the US Navy has enough reason to give up Digo Garcia. No matter what, preserving a fleet is more important than preserving a base, but the purpose of the US Navy's increase in troops in the Indian Ocean is to protect Digo Garcia, and only by protecting Digo Garcia can the Indian Ocean be transformed into

Only when the Darwin Port in the east is connected with Darwin, northwest of the Indian Ocean, can he be qualified to compete with the Republic for the Indian Ocean's sea control, thus forcing the Republic to stay heavily in the Indian Ocean. If Digo Garcia is lost, even if Digo Garcia loses its ability to be a naval base, Darwin Port will be easily attacked, and Darwin Port will be unable to sing alone, thus completely driving the US Navy out of the North Indian Ocean and can no longer pose a threat to the Republic's North Indian Ocean route.

To put it bluntly, if Digo Garcia could be left behind, the US Navy would not have sent two of the most powerful fleets in the Atlantic Fleet. You should know that before the outbreak of the war, the US Navy Network had just used the name of "security inspection" to secretly activate three sealed aircraft carriers, which were scattered in the Atlantic Fleet, increasing the number of aircraft carriers of the Atlantic Fleet to 7. The other ships are planned to be allocated to the Pacific Fleet, which is expected to arrive at Pearl Harbor around the old day of the month, and the number of aircraft carriers of the Pacific Fleet will also increase to

That is to say, except for the Eighth Fleet and the Atlantic Fleet, the other six aircraft carriers are all in the Fourth Fleet and the Sixth Fleet, while the Second Fleet operating in the North Atlantic Ocean does not have aircraft carriers. Although according to the mobilization plan of the US Navy, there will be another view of the aircraft carriers being unblocked at the latest, and 2 to 3 of them will be left in the Atlantic Fleet. However, before that, the US Navy sent all aircraft carriers of the Atlantic Fleet to the Indian Ocean, which is enough to prove the importance of the US military to the Indian Ocean battlefield.

Including the Third Fleet, which belongs to the Pacific Fleet, there is even more reason to believe that the US military will not easily abandon Digo Garcia.

After the battle began, the actual situation was not much different from it.

During the day and night, carrier-based fighters of the Republic's Navy bombed Digo Garcia. According to the U.S. military's combat record, hundreds of cruise missiles launched by warships or bombers landed on Digo Garcia Island that night, and the carrier-based fighters participating in the bombing operation should be on the side of the stern. Considering that the Shanghai-class aircraft carriers all carry heavy fighters, the maximum load capacity will not exceed four. Because the South China Sea Fleet is active in the eastern waters of Digo Garcia, the bomb deployed by the US Air Force in Australia must be considered.

The bombing agency is a threat, so it is impossible to dispatch all carrier-based fighters. Some of them must be left to perform fleet air defense missions. It is basically the largest attack capability of the South China Sea Fleet. Unfortunately, because the long-range warning radar on Digo Garcia is destroyed during the bombing, the attack aircraft group used super low-altitude penetration methods when entering. Therefore, at the end of the bombing, the US military failed to determine whether these fighters came from the north or the east.

Under Anjin's consideration, the Fourth Fleet and the Eighth Fleet turned.

Coincidentally, at this time, the Fourth Fleet and the Eighth Fleet were just east of the Seychelles. That is to say, when Digo Garcia was bombed, the fleet was sailing southeast. When the news was received, the two fleets immediately turned south.

At about the fly point, about an hour after Digo Garcia was bombed, the third fleet, about 1,000 meters south of the Cocos Islands, was suddenly attacked.

According to the U.S. military's engagement records, the attack came very suddenly. Before nearly a thousand anti-ships and missiles appeared on the radar screen of the air defense warship, the fleet's detection system and the vertical take-off and landing early warning aircraft temporarily dispatched to the air defense warships did not find any suspicious targets. It can be concluded that the attack on the third fleet must be heavy anti-ship missiles with a range of more than 1,000 kilometers. Because among the anti-ship missiles of the Republic's Navy, except for the range within a range of 1,000 kilometers, only heavy anti-ship missiles with a range of more than 1,000 kilometers, and these anti-ship missiles cannot be tactical.

Fighters carry, so it can be concluded that the attack on the Third Fleet is either a strategic bomber or a large surface ship. First, large surface ships can be ruled out, because the South China Sea Fleet can only reach about a thousand meters north of the Kokos Islands at most. The distance to the Third Fleet is definitely more than kilometers, while the range of heavy anti-ship missiles carried by most surface warships is only four thousand meters. More importantly, several firepower ships of the Republic's Navy are in the northwest Pacific Ocean. Even if they arrive at full speed, they will not be able to participate in combat operations in the Indian Ocean at this time.

Affected by this, the US military commander immediately concluded that he was attacked by the Republic's strategic bomber.

For the US military, the unfortunate part was that before nightfall, the Third Fleet separated from the transport fleet and took the initiative to move the route north by about kilometers.

In other words, when the Third Fleet was attacked and the entire army was wiped out, the transport team was sailing westward at a speed of Qinjie about a thousand meters south of it, and was not attacked or even harassed.

From a common sense, the US Navy should be cautious at this time and wait for the Fourth Fleet, Eighth Fleet and Sixth Fleet to meet before searching for the fourth Fleet

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The problem is that, given the situation at that time, the US military commander thought it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

This opportunity is that the South China Sea Fleet just attacked Biango Garcia, and the bombers fighting in concert with it attacked the Third Fleet. Therefore, the Republic's Navy has no way to pose a threat to the Indian Ocean, especially the US fleet in the East Indian Ocean, and even has no way to cover the lonely South China Sea Fleet. If we can seize this opportunity to kill the South China Sea Fleet, we can prevent the two major fleets of the Republic's Navy from meeting in the north, so that after the arrival of the Sixth Fleet, we will concentrate the enemy forces from the two norths to encircle and annihilate the Indian Ocean Fleet.

Faced with this opportunity, the US military commander could not refuse.

The reason is simple. The Indian Ocean Fleet has the best aircraft carrier in the world. The US military intelligence agencies have confirmed that the Indian Ocean Fleet is not only equipped with heavy air combat aircraft, but the number of fighters in each air wing is about to fall, and its strength is far greater than any of the US fleets. Considering the performance advantages of heavy fighters, its combat effectiveness is equivalent to the sum of the Fourth Fleet and the Sixth Fleet. Although the US military has the Eighth Fleet, no one will expect that a fleet with only one aircraft carrier can turn the world around. If Digo Garcia was not bombed, the US military still had some support. As Digo Garcia became a ruin, the US fleet could only fight independently, while the Republic fleet could rely on the huge base group behind it. It can be said that without considering other factors, the US military was unlikely to win in frontal battles.

Not to mention the commander of the US fleet, if Ducheway was replaced, he would have seized this opportunity.

That's why the US transport fleet was moving forward at high speed suddenly slowed down and turned.

Obviously, this is not a transport fleet, but a "sea base".

There is nothing strange about this. Like the Republic Navy, when it is unable to build enough warships, especially large aircraft carriers, the US Navy has also exploited loopholes in the Stockholm Treaty and vigorously developed various "quasi-military ships" including "maritime bases". Because in the Pacific, the US Navy usually only retains 7 aircraft carriers, and is deployed on the local west coast of San Diego and Long Beach in the southwest of Washington State, rather than Long Beach in New York, Pearl Harbor in Hawaiian Islands, Apula Port in Guam, and Brisbane in Australia belong to the seventh ship respectively.

The team and the Fifth Fleet have caused the US Navy to have very weak forces in the Southwest Pacific Ocean, which is only an aircraft carrier battle group affiliated to the Fifth Fleet, which is difficult to shoulder the heavy responsibility. Therefore, two years ago, the US Navy deployed a maritime base composed of ugly modules in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide, Australia in the name of a prefabricated fleet. Because before the war broke out, the maritime base was a strategic weapon and its confidentiality was no less than that of a strategic submarine, so the outside world was not aware of it before that, and even the air force that accompanied it returned to China to train instead of locally in Australia.

The problem is that the maritime base is not without traces, and there are not many secrets in front of the intelligence agencies.

Word.

In any case, the US Navy has deployed multiple rapid transport ships in Australia. Although these ships often perform various transportation tasks in peacetime. They have not always stayed together, but in the eyes of the Military Intelligence Agency, these warships are a huge maritime base. You should know that the concept of "maritime base" was first proposed and the reality was not the US Navy, but the Republic Navy. Not to mention anything else, the mutual module ships have a complete power system, that is, the ship-based controllable fusion reactor.

All the Yukou ships only have composite batteries. More importantly, from the full load displacement and maximum load capacity of this fast transport ship, it can be roughly calculated that it does not carry many composite batteries, so it must obtain electricity from the outside world, otherwise its endurance will be very limited. In the deployed formation, the ugly fast transport ships always move in a formation, that is, they always lead other transport ships to move in activities by "core ships equipped with controllable fusion reactors. This alone can be concluded that this is a maritime base system.

Of course, there is another force method that can determine the identity of a maritime base, that is, the supporting aviation force.

Although from the perspective of actual use, in most cases, the maritime base plays a force delivery platform, that is, as a mobile field airport, serving other forces. In this way, not all maritime bases need supporting aviation. In many cases, there is no need for supporting aviation, but in combat, air force is dispatched according to actual needs. In fact, because the maritime base mainly supports vertical take-off and landing transport aircraft, it can provide runways up to meter long and assisted meters when supporting fighter jets and other aircraft that require taxiing take-off and landing, and can even provide runways up to meter long to support large strategic transport aircraft, so take-off and landing is not difficult, and it is extremely difficult.

Some pilots do not need to undergo special scraping training. However, in some cases, especially when using sea bases to replace aircraft carriers, they must provide supporting aviation troops when performing combat missions that seize sea control and air control in waters far away from their local areas. As mentioned earlier, when performing sea control combat missions, maritime bases are often broken down into several sets of active maritime airports to avoid losing maneuverability due to excessive size. In other words, in this case, the space available to the air force is very limited, and most tactical fighter jets must take off and land in conventional ways to ensure combat radius, so there are high requirements for the pilot's ability, especially the ability to take off on a short runway.

Mu Yong doubted that the US Navy Aviation deployed in Australia had undergone special training.

According to the information mastered by the Military Intelligence Agency, pilots of the specific number of the US Navy Air Force stationed in Australia from the Dikou Tactical Aviation Brigade have to return home every year for a three-month special training. During this period, they will also undergo adaptive training in Hawaii and Guam. If conditions are ripe, they will also be deployed to the aircraft carrier for adaptive training.

In comparison, the 6th Tactical Air Brigade deployed in the Philippines is not treated so well.

Based on this information, the Military Intelligence Bureau has enough reason to believe that it is a maritime base.

In other words, when they met the Third Fleet in the Bass Strait, the whereabouts of the US maritime base attracted the attention of the Republic's Navy.

In fact, when the US military commander decided to use the maritime base, he also committed a crime.

At the early morning of the 6th, at 4:30 Western Australia Time, about 2 hours after the US military commander ordered the establishment of a maritime base, many fighters stationed in western Australia and the 4th Tactical Air Brigade of the US Army in Perth in the southwest took off one after another.

Although these fighter jets were deployed at the Daoliao Airport, two of which were exclusive military bases by the US military, and the other two were shared by the US military and the Royal Australian Air Force. However, if multiple fighter jets wanted to take off all of them, it would take some time. On average, two batches of fighter jets were taken off at the airport, each batch was collected. One airport took off a small fighter jet. It also took force minutes before and after.

At the same time, several other 2-field fighter jets deployed in the 4th Tactical Aviation Brigade in eastern and northeastern Australia have also begun to take off one after another.

Although all the reconnaissance satellites in the Republic were scrapped, the Republic's intelligence personnel lurking in Australia were not blind.

It is definitely not a trivial matter to dispatch so many fighter jets at once.

About the time after Dingshi, that is, the Republic time point was divided, the Military Intelligence Bureau issued the highest level of tactical alarm.

At 2 o'clock on the battlefield time, the Naval Command of the Republic of Fengfen issued a tactical alarm through a long-wave radio.

In fact, before this, the Republic's Navy had raised its vigilance and sent reconnaissance aircraft to evacuate the US Navy's rapid transport fleet in the East Indian Ocean.

Of course, the US commander did not know that it was not the South China Sea Fleet that attacked Digo Garcia, but the Indian Ocean Fleet.

After the battle started, the Indian Ocean Fleet first dispatched carrier-based fighters and the escort warships launched heavy cruise missiles to launch a comprehensive strike against Digo Garcia. In order to make the opponent believe that the attack was initiated by the South China Sea Fleet, not only did the fighter's attack routes be carefully deployed, but more tortuous attack lines were also designed for the cruise missiles. Of course, from the situation mentioned above, because the US early warning system of Mago Garcia was not very perfect, and the incoming aircraft group was not discovered in advance. Therefore, the significance of these arrangements was not obvious.

In total contrary to what the outside world expected, the South China Sea Fleet did not run towards Gogarcia.

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From another perspective, even though we know that the Sixth Fleet cannot arrive in time, the Fourth Fleet and the Eighth Fleet will not risk the sudden attack to rush to support Digo Garcia. The Republic's Navy has no reason to waste the valuable combat power of the South China Sea Fleet and forced Gogarcia to invest too much force. More importantly, as the initiator of the maritime base, the Republic's Navy is very clear about the significance of the maritime base in combat. If we include the multiple fighter jets of the US Navy's Tactical Air Brigade, no one dares to underestimate the potential threat of a maritime base. In this case, the sound is adopted.

The tactic of attacking the east and west, luring the US sea base out of the hole through Digo Garcia and intercepting it halfway. It is naturally a normal tactic. Objectively speaking, if the US Navy wants to defend Digo Garcia and ensure that combat operations in other directions will not be affected, it should not place its hopes on the fleet, but should try to deploy a sea base at a kilometer in the southern part of Digo Garcia to form an interdependent situation with Digo Garcia. In fact, this is also the fundamental purpose of the US Navy hurriedly sending the sea base to Maigo Garcia.

The goal is determined, but it is not easy to implement.

As mentioned earlier, under any circumstances, the survivability of a maritime base is not as good as that of an aircraft carrier battle group. Because most module ships adopt the construction standards of civil ships, the resistant ability of a maritime base is far inferior to that of a warship. In short, it is not difficult to strike a maritime base. The difficulty is how to discover and find a maritime base. If in peacetime, this is not a big problem. The Republic's Navy has dozens of large reconnaissance satellites and hundreds of marine surveillance satellites, which can implement full-time surveillance on a certain area within 10,000 square kilometers. The problem is, with the United States

After the war in China, not only all military satellites were done, but even civilian satellites were in trouble. By the afternoon of the 4th of the month, less than the civilian satellites in the Republic were left, and the situation in the United States was even worse. Even though the Republic's Sky Army was increasing its satellite launch efforts and mainly used small satellites with limited working life, but the launch difficulty was less difficult to restore the satellite communication and positioning system, rather than the satellite reconnaissance system. In other words, if you want to find an ugly fast transport ship in the East Indian Ocean, or one or several sea bases composed of them, it will not be much easier than finding a needle in a haystack.

When satellites are unreliable or unreliable, they can only rely on traditional reconnaissance workers.

It's right.

To put it bluntly, we will move out reconnaissance aircraft and long-range patrol aircraft, and use the navigation capabilities of the US military's rapid transport ships to conduct a comprehensive network-style dialing of possible sea areas.

Probably speaking, even if all patrol aircraft deployed by the Republic in the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asian theaters are mobilized, all the reconnaissance aircraft of the South China Sea Fleet of the Gab South China Sea Fleet do not have dedicated reconnaissance aircraft, but fighter aircraft carry reconnaissance equipment to perform reconnaissance tasks, so if necessary, only the necessary air defense fighter jets can be retained, and all other fighter jets can be dispatched to perform reconnaissance tasks. That is, it is equivalent to allowing about two-thirds of the fighter jets to perform reconnaissance tasks, and it will take an hour to complete the search mission of the East Indian Ocean waters to the west of Australia.

There is no doubt that modern naval warfare will definitely not have such sufficient time.
To be continued...