Smith's analysis was not wrong. At least at the beginning, including Bai Huawei, everyone believed that the 52nd Special Mixed Fleet that had sneaked into the west, and the 51st Special Mixed Fleet rushed to the front and was closer to the 41st Special Mixed Fleet.

This is actually related to a piece of information provided by the Navy Command.

After the attack of the 61st Special Mixed Fleet, to be precise, the Navy Command sent a telegram to the 41st Special Mixed Fleet, mentioning that it intercepted an attack aircraft group of Newland Fleet during air defense operations, while another attack aircraft group took advantage of the waters, broke through the air defense network of the 61st Special Mixed Fleet, attacked the "Liu Xiangzhen" and severely damaged the aircraft carrier.

Obviously, the key is the number of attack aircraft groups.

At least from the telegram from the Navy Command, the Newland Fleet dispatched two attack aircraft groups, so it is more likely that it is the 52nd Special Mixed Fleet.

The next battle proves this speculation in disguise.

In the second round of attacks, the main force was no longer the carrier-based aviation force, but the bomber of the Newland Air Force, using long-range heavy anti-ship missiles.

It is not difficult to imagine that the Newland Fleet does not have more carrier-based aircraft available.

Otherwise, why would you delay waiting for the Air Force bombers for a few hours?

If two rounds of attacks are launched in a row, the battle will end in the early morning of the 13th, and both aircraft carriers of the 61st Special Mixed Fleet will be doomed.

After a few hours of delay, the Sixty-first Special Mixed Fleet gave sufficient preparation time.

The key point is that the Imperial Navy used these hours to launch a round of counterattacks, and the fighter jets of the 61st Special Mixed Fleet played a key role in the counterattack operation.

If you are attacked continuously, there is no way to fight back.

That's why Bai Huawei, Liu Zunling, Jiang Wenlong and others determined that the 52nd Special Mixed Fleet was left behind, and the 51st Special Mixed Fleet was rushed in front.

This means that the Newland Navy has abandoned its combat operations against the Hovay Islands.

In fact, the counterattack initiated by the Imperial Navy also proved this judgment in disguise.

On the morning of the 13th, I received a war report from the Navy Command and learned that the Newland Navy divided the landing fleet into two, and on the night of the 12th, it was a transport fleet composed of civilian ships. In the counterattack operation launched later, the landing fleet was the one who blocked the gun in the Det-mix fleet. Bai Huawei and others immediately thought that the Newland Navy had to stop the offensive operation when there was no hope of victory.

Otherwise, there is no need to split the landing fleet into two.

The key is that the landing fleet retreated with the special mixed fleet that was cut off.

To put it another way, the special mixed fleet that was cut behind is likely to be burdened by the landing fleet, after all, the landing ships are not fast.

In order to cover the landing fleet, the broken special-mix fleet can only slow down.

Then, it is even more likely that it is the 52nd Special Mixed Fleet.

To put it simply, if the main task is to cover the landing fleet's retreat, it is enough to leave the 52nd Special Mixed Fleet, and there is no need to take over the 51st Special Mixed Fleet.

However, this is just a speculation about the situation on the battlefield.

No matter which special mixed fleet was rushing ahead, the 41st special mixed fleet had to meet it. Bai Huawei made a decision on the night of the 12th.

Since then, the 41st Special Mixed Fleet has been galloping westward at a speed of 30 knots.

According to the original idea, the battle will begin in the early morning of the 13th.

The key is that when Bai Huawei made the decision to fight, everyone believed that the distance from the Newland fleet in front of the sudden was about 1,500 kilometers.

In this way, it only takes a few hours to sail quickly to shorten the distance to less than 1,000 kilometers.

Although the combat radius of heavy fighter jets and heavy attack aircraft exceeds 1,500 kilometers, considering the combat efficiency, especially sending early warning aircraft to participate in offensive combat operations and allowing escort fighters to cover attack aircraft throughout the entire journey, the combat radius must be controlled within 1,000 kilometers.

Facing the powerful 51st Special Mixed Fleet, Bai Huawei did not dare to be careless.

The biggest problem of shortening the combat distance is actually to expose your whereabouts before launching an attack and then be attacked by the Newland Air Force.

In response to this issue, Jiang Wenlong proposed a solution to get as close to the Hovay Islands as possible.

Not only to obtain the cover of the shore-based aviation, we can also cooperate with the shore-based aviation, and use the shore-based aviation to solve the problem of insufficient troops.

As for the specific tactics, they are actually very simple.

After finding the enemy fleet, the shore-based aviation team sent reinforced fighters to ensure that the 41st Special Mixed Fleet still had enough fighters to perform fleet air defense missions after sending out the attack aircraft group so that it would not neglect to prevent the lack of fighter jets.

The key is that we can take this opportunity to adjust the strength composition of the carrier-based aviation force.

Don’t forget that the attack mission that the 41st Special Mixed Fleet has been undertaken, all three aircraft carriers are only equipped with one squadron of heavy fighters. After sending out escort fighters, there will definitely not be too many fighters left to perform air defense missions, and may not be able to withstand the attack of the Newland Air Force.

According to Bai Huawei's arrangement, the shore-based aviation team sent three brigades of "War-9B" to the 41st Special Mixed Fleet.

To this end, all heavy attack aircraft that completed the first round of attack missions will fly to the islands in the eastern part of the Howai Islands and wait for new orders there. As for the escort fighter jets, if they consume too much fuel in the battle and cannot return, they will go to the Howai Islands with the attack aircraft group and refuel in the air in the north of Hono Island, and then decide whether to return to the 41st Special Mixed Fleet based on the situation.

It's a bit troublesome, but this is the best choice.

This is precisely because before dawn on the 13th, the 41st Special Mixed Fleet sent out the second batch of reconnaissance aircraft and arranged electronic attack aircraft to provide assistance.

The specific tactic is to let the forward reconnaissance aircraft fly at a low altitude, and the electronic attack aircraft guide it in the rear. After the electronic attack aircraft determines the general direction of the enemy ship, the reconnaissance aircraft will then go to explore. Doing so will not only improve the reconnaissance efficiency, but also reduce the loss rate of the reconnaissance aircraft.

In order to find the Newland fleet, two batches of reconnaissance aircraft were dispatched in the morning and all electronic attack aircraft were dispatched.

Unfortunately, the air defense net of the Newland Fleet is simply airtight.

After a whole morning, I couldn't find the Newland Battleship.

But the drunkard's intention is not to drink.

When making this deployment, no one expects to find the Newland Fleet. After all, if the purpose is not clear enough, it is impossible to dispatch fighter jets to provide cover for reconnaissance aircraft. Letting reconnaissance aircraft break through the enemy's peripheral air defense network will not only suffer heavy losses, but also make no sense. The key is that the fleet's air defense network can extend outward for hundreds of kilometers, which is obviously not the basis for launching an attack.

In fact, this problem was exposed during fleet exercises in previous years.

After more than ten years of exploration, the Imperial Navy has not found a better solution, so it can only give up the traditional reconnaissance tactics and adopt a brand new tactical theory.

Simply put, it means changing from direct investigation to indirect investigation.

Here, anti-ship measures are also involved.

In combat mainly against ship missiles, combat aircraft are no longer required to approach the enemy fleet, nor are there any need to fly over the enemy ship to drop ammunition. It can launch attacks hundreds of kilometers or even hundreds of kilometers away, and all it is needed is the approximate position of the enemy ship.

In this way, a general judgment can be made on the activities of the enemy fleet through the boundary of the outer air defense network of the enemy fleet, or to be precise, the boundary changes. As long as there is enough data, it can be inferred from the rough sea area where the enemy fleet is located.

Even if it is still not accurate enough, it can provide great help for tactical reconnaissance.

To put it simply, as long as the approximate position of the enemy fleet can be determined and narrowed to a relatively small area, fighter jets can be arranged to escort the reconnaissance aircraft.

In order to improve the reconnaissance efficiency, the Imperial Navy also pioneered the use of electronic attack aircraft.

In standard reconnaissance tactics, a fighter jet formation composed of 4 to 8 "War-9B" assaulted in the front, and a reconnaissance formation composed of 2 "Attack-5CZ" followed behind, and obtained the position information of the enemy fleet by intercepting electromagnetic signals sent by enemy air defense warships.

During fleet exercises over the years, the Imperial Navy also summarized a set of attack tactics related to it.

Let the attack aircraft group follow closely behind the reconnaissance aircraft to ensure that the reconnaissance aircraft can launch an attack as soon as possible after the reconnaissance aircraft discovers the enemy fleet.

According to the new reconnaissance tactics, the probability of finding an enemy fleet is almost 100%.

The key is that it can save escort fighter jets, that is, let fighter jets following reconnaissance aircraft perform escort missions, thereby increasing the probability of attack aircraft groups' penetration.

Of course, this tactic is not perfect.

The most serious problem is that early warning aircraft must be arranged to command ahead, especially to coordinate the actions of various aircraft groups.

This will limit the combat radius.

If it is a pure fleet decisive battle and there is no military base of the Imperial Navy nearby, the combat radius must be limited to within 1,000 kilometers, otherwise the pilots of the early warning aircraft must be prepared for one-way flight. If there is a base to rely on, it is naturally a different matter.

Even if you cannot fly to the base and land, you can make a landing as close as possible to the base.

What to say is a loss that must be borne.

That's why at noon on the 13th, the approximate range of activities of the Newland Fleet was able to be determined and an attack was launched in the afternoon.

As for attack tactics, there is nothing special about it.

The three aircraft carriers each dispatched an attack aircraft group. The 24 escort fighters who were dispatched first operated unifiedly to cover the electronic attack aircraft that performed reconnaissance missions to break through the air defense network of the enemy fleet. The three attack aircraft groups dispatched thereafter will attack the three aircraft carriers of the Newland Fleet under the cover of the escort fighters deployed later. Except for the air defense warships that must be killed, other warships are not allowed to attack before sinking the aircraft carrier.

Of course, the specific tactical allocation is determined by the actual situation.

At around 1:30 pm, as the early warning plane took off, the attack began.

The 41st Special Mixed Fleet dispatched not one early warning aircraft, but a total of six, three of which burst forward, and the other three acted as backups.

Of course, there is actually only one aircraft that rushed to the front, and the other two aircraft are responsible for coordination in the rear.

Relatively speaking, command and coordination are more complicated than guiding fighter jets to combat. After all, there are too many combat aircraft participating in attack operations.

Interestingly, Bai Huawei did not think about using the help of the Air Force.

It’s not that Bai Huawei is confident that he can eliminate the 51st Special Mixed Fleet in one fell swoop, but he doesn’t want to waste time, that is, the Newland Fleet is also making adjustments to combat deployment.

Given the circumstances at that time, there is no reason to believe that Stark would let the 52nd Special Mixed Fleet send fighter jets to provide cover.

The key is that the 61st Special Mixed Fleet has lost its combat capability.

After two rounds of attacks, the two super aircraft carriers of the 61st Special Mixed Fleet were severely damaged. The situation of the "Liu Xiangzhen" was very bad and it was very likely to sink on its way back. The other, the "Tang Shengxian", was not much better. Even if it could return to the rear base, it would take several months to undergo a major repair, and it would definitely not be able to restore combat capabilities in the short term.

Of course, the threat of the Sixty-first Special Mixed Fleet no longer exists.

Before the battle ended, the Navy Command issued an order to allow the 61st Special Mixed Fleet to arrange carrier-based aircraft that have been launched to fly to nearby islands and strive to land on the islands. If it cannot be done, try to make an emergency landing near the islands where the Imperial Navy is stationed.

Simply put, it is to do its best to protect the pilot.

After the threat was eliminated, the 52nd SME Fleet obviously had no reason to retain too many fighter jets, or it could send fighter jets to cover the 51st SME Fleet.

Besides, the landing fleet, which originally needed the cover of the 52nd Special Mixed Fleet, is over.

Based on these factors, it is easy to think that only by launching a timely attack can there be hope of annihilation of the 51st Special Mixed Fleet. If it delays for a few hours, it will be too late.

At that time, there was another very critical factor.
To be continued...