Empire Conquest

Chapter 474 - 470: Substitute

After bidding farewell to Lian Xusheng, Bai Zhizhan only stayed in the Imperial Capital for five days.

Early in the morning on February 26, he boarded a plane to Puzhou.

Indeed, the first batch of "province" class large carriers were to be officially delivered to the Empire Navy on March 1, and Bai Zhizhan was the Navy’s chief representative.

According to Liu Changxun, Bai Zhizhan was even more qualified to represent the Navy in receiving the new generation of large carriers.

He went a few days early in order to meet with Zhao Yu and understand some details.

Now, Puzhou was the primary shipbuilding center of the Empire Navy, responsible for the construction of nearly half of the main battle ships.

In addition, the construction of the second batch of large carriers and matching large cruisers had already begun, and even the construction of the next-generation main battle ships had been scheduled.

However, these were not of concern to Bai Zhizhan.

Large carriers were indeed important, with formidable combat capabilities, having replaced battleships as the new sovereigns of the sea, holding irreplaceable value in fleet decisive battles.

Yet, even during wartime and built to wartime standards, the construction period for large carriers exceeded two years.

According to the production report delivered by the shipyard to the Navy headquarters, the second batch of "province" class would not be delivered until the fourth quarter of New Calendar year 102.

What Bai Zhizhan had to face next was not fleet decisive battles but landing operations.

Previous battles attacking the Volcanic Islands, Sai Island, and Lion Spring City had proven that the combat efficiency of fleet carriers was not very high in supporting landing operations.

Mainly, in landing operations, special mixed fleets faced many restrictions.

For example, special mixed fleets generally operated 200 kilometers away from the landing site, and the air support provided by the shipborne air force showed obvious timeliness issues, unable to be summoned at will. Furthermore, to provide cover for the carriers, large ships in the special mixed fleets were rarely sent to perform fire support missions.

Conversely, the support fleets deployed closer to the landing sites played a more prominent role.

Most representatively, during the initial attack on Sai Island, two fire support fleets had effects like the Ocean Stabilizer.

In the battles at Lion Spring City, support fleets were also absolutely the main force.

However, actual combat also proved an issue: support fleets consisting only of ordinary warships were insufficient in supporting landing operations.

In other words, naval guns were not omnipotent.

Against certain special targets, bombs were obviously more useful. Close air support provided by the Air Force also had a morale-boosting effect.

Sometimes, a squadron of fighters flying over the battlefield could scare away the enemy.

Compared to warships tens of kilometers away, which were virtually invisible, the sight of fighters loaded with bombs flying overhead was more direct.

If a few carriers could be provided for the support fleets with shipborne air forces participating in battle, that would be perfect.

This was also the main purpose behind the Empire Navy’s push to create small carriers.

Although initially, Zhao Yu regarded small carriers as a powerful supplement to fleet carriers and large carriers, intended to perform fleet decisive battle tasks before the mass delivery of large carriers, the series of victories actually diminished the value of small carriers in these areas.

The reason was quite simple.

To this point, the enemy only had four fleet carriers left—Newland Navy’s "Fenjin" and "Lek," alongside Bulan Royal Navy’s "Royal Ark" and "Fury," with only "Royal Ark" operational while the other three were merely for show.

In comparison, the Empire Navy possessed three fleet carriers and was about to acquire four large carriers.

In terms of numbers of main battle carriers, the Empire Navy held an absolute advantage.

If a fleet decisive battle were to occur, the Empire Navy’s chances of victory were very high.

At the relatively minor level of small carriers and escort aircraft carriers, the Empire Navy not only lacked an advantage but also had a significant gap.

The key was that the Newland Federation and the Bulan Kingdom took dozens of rapid cargo ships and repurposed them into escort aircraft carriers to counter Tiaoman’s Navy’s submarines.

The Newland Federation also had two small carriers, the "Wasp" and the "Assault Team Member," which were completed before the outbreak of the war.

Likewise, because building Fleet carriers and large carriers took too long, to enhance air combat power, the Newland Navy had started building new small carriers even before joining the war.

It could be said that both parties in developing small carriers thought along the same lines.

Simply put, both took the hulls of existing ten-thousand-ton cruisers, removed the superstructures, and transformed them into carriers by adding hangars.

This approach’s greatest advantage was the saving of design time, allowing construction to start quickly.

In fact, it was even possible to start building the hull and simultaneously design the superstructure, then construct the superstructure following the methods of building carriers.

What made small carriers "extremely popular" was their relatively short construction period.

If the hull was already available or core equipment like boilers could be purchased directly, the building period could be shortened to within 10 months.

The Newland Navy did just that.

Several small carriers were now being rapidly constructed in the shipyards of the Newland Federation and were expected to be delivered within this year.

These carriers were all built using the hulls of cruisers.

According to the information provided by the Sixth Bureau, after the first batch of small carriers was completed and workers became proficient, the construction period for the subsequent batches could be significantly reduced.

It must be said that it was also due to the stimulus caused by the Newland Navy that the Empire’s Navy was able to start building small carriers.

Zhao Yu had been preparing for this all along; he had done a lot of groundwork, such as convincing the shipyards to slow down the building process of several cruisers. After the hulls were completed, they weren’t rushed to have their superstructures fitted, thus making it convenient to convert them into small carriers once funding was secured.

Now, these warships were all being built to the standards of carriers.

According to the report obtained by Bai Zhizhan, the first batch of four would be delivered by the end of June, the second batch of four by September, and the third batch was indefinitely delayed.

What Bai Zhizhan really wanted were just the first batch of four.

Before coming to Puzhou, Bai Zhizhan had sent a telegram to Zhao Yu, inquiring in detail about the carriers.

Zhao Yu’s reply was that he expected them to be delivered ahead of schedule.

However, to commission them early would be quite challenging.

The problem with personnel was even more severe than the problem with equipment.

While the Empire had been mobilizing for some time, even now, the Imperial Navy was understaffed, with nearly all its warships suffering from a shortage of hands.

It wasn’t that the people were unenthusiastic about joining the military; it was that the training of new recruits couldn’t keep up.

The Navy is a typical technical service branch; even the most ordinary sailor has their specialty and can’t just be sent to the front lines after a few months of basic training.

This led to the difficulty of rapidly expanding the Navy during wartime.

Even according to wartime standards, the training period for ordinary sailors was six months, and for technical sergeants at least one year.

Fortunately, this wasn’t a major issue.

As arranged by Bai Zhizhan, the primary initial task of the four small carriers was to support amphibious operations, providing cover for the Landing Fleet.

As for deciding fleet battles, that was the job of the Special Mixed Fleet.

It was key that, with these four small carriers, the Special Mixed Fleet would not be restricted by amphibious operations.

Indeed, upon arriving in Puzhou, Bai Zhizhan hadn’t even gone to the hotel; right off the plane, he had called Zhao Yu and then directly went to the shipyard.