Empire Conquest

Chapter 503 - 499: Layers of Defense

Around 5:30, the first reconnaissance aircraft took off from the "Pu".

Unlike before, Bai Zhizhan didn’t feel worried.

The entities executing the attack were the 21st Special Mixed Fleet backed by the 22nd Special Mixed Fleet, ready to strike the Newland Fleet that could appear at any time.

As for fleet air defense, it wasn’t a major concern.

The 22nd Special Mixed Fleet was actually positioned north, specifically northwest, of the 21st Special Mixed Fleet at a distance of no more than 300 kilometers.

More crucially, both the 21st and 22nd Special Mixed Fleets were northwest of Transfer Island.

Given that the Imperial Navy’s ship-borne aircraft had a combat radius of over 700 kilometers during maritime operations, compared to Newland’s mere 500 kilometers, unless the Newland Fleet was directly south of the 21st Special Mixed Fleet, near the southwest of Transfer Island, any attempt to ambush would bring them within striking range of the 22nd Special Mixed Fleet and result in their being attacked.

Yesterday afternoon, both fleets had entered a radio silence state.

To enhance the deception, or rather, elevate stealth, two flagships that had constantly been using long-wave radios even detached from the fleet at night.

At this time, the "Qinling" was around 250 kilometers northeast, while the "Kunlun" was approximately 200 kilometers east of the 22nd Special Mixed Fleet.

That is to say, if the Newland Navy used radio triangulation, they would only locate these two flagships.

Of course, the Newland Navy might not use radio triangulation.

It’s simple—the two flagships had been transmitting continuously and had already exposed their movements, but suddenly stopped using the long-wave radios yesterday afternoon.

Clearly, even the dimmest Newland intelligence personnel would assume these were ships tasked with deception.

Of course, Bai Zhizhan didn’t place all his hopes on deception.

Last night, he had Li Mingbo make arrangements to dispatch the accompanying four long-range cruisers, which formed two surveillance groups to the northeast and east of the fleet. They took turns using radar to monitor the nearby airspace and were to report immediately upon spotting enemy aircraft.

These long-range cruisers expanded the fleet’s air defense network by more than 200 kilometers, effectively providing at least 45 minutes of air defense preparation time.

Additionally, because the 22nd Special Mixed Fleet was to the north, there was no need to worry about threats from that direction.

Since they were coming from the northwest, there was also no need to worry about threats from the northwest and west.

As for the south, unless the Newland Navy was actively launching an attack, they were unlikely to send their fleet there. After all, if they were spotted there, they would certainly be unable to escape.

Certainly, Bai Zhizhan also didn’t take things lightly.

According to his plans, when the reconnaissance aircraft were deployed, the escort fast battleships and four heavy cruisers were to dispatch their seaplanes primarily to search the southern and southwest maritime areas, and the search range was expanded to 600 kilometers to maximize the search area.

With sufficient seaplanes available, if the Newland Fleet was in that vicinity, they were bound to be found.

Moreover, the large battleships were equipped with the newest model of seaplanes.

Truthfully, the Imperial Navy had not paid much attention to seaplanes in the past.

For over a decade, the Imperial Navy believed seaplanes to be of marginal utility, their main value not in assisting carrier-based aircraft with reconnaissance tasks, but in rescuing parachuting pilots who landed in the water after battles, as well as transporting personnel and materials between ships.

Consequently, the Imperial Navy’s ship-borne seaplanes had always been outdated.

After the outbreak of the war, the Imperial Navy swiftly realized that seaplanes had greater value, especially in conducting long-range reconnaissance missions.

It’s worth mentioning that seaplanes played a crucial role in two decisive naval battles.

The most notable instance was in the Southwest Fan Flame Ocean Battle, where eight seaplanes using nighttime landing and flotation tactics spotted the Newland Fleet and Bulan Fleet during early morning and dawn, allowing the 11th Special Mixed Fleet to seize the opportunity to launch an attack.

"There’s no way to sink those two Bulan carriers without seaplanes."

Actually, during the Northwest East Ocean Battle, the value of seaplanes became evident.

It was then that the Imperial Navy decided to develop and procure a faster, longer-range seaplane that could patrol for extended periods.

Fortunately, designing and producing seaplanes was much less difficult than producing ship-borne aircraft.

To put it simply, they used better-performing engines, minimized structural weight as much as possible, and increased fuel capacity to extend flying range.

If there were any difficulties, it was mainly with the aerodynamic layout.

Yet these challenges did not stump the Empire’s aircraft designers.

In just a few months, this new type of seaplane, known as the "White-headed Fish Eagle," went through the entire process of design, acceptance, and mass production.

In May, the first batch of production models was officially delivered to the Navy.

Naturally, they were first issued to the twenty-first and twenty-second Special Mixed Fleets.

Under normal circumstances, the "White-headed Fish Eagle" could fly up to 800 kilometers away to perform a patrol mission for at least half an hour, or patrol for two hours at a distance of 600 kilometers.

Six escort battleships were equipped with a total of 20 "White-headed Fish Eagles."

Of course, even if they didn’t locate the Newland Fleet, there was no need to worry.

As mentioned before, due to many uncertainties, the first wave of the attack was not very large, totaling only 84 ship-borne aircraft including reconnaissance planes; therefore, it would not take up too much deck time, allowing fighter planes to take off immediately afterward.

Moreover, the "Osprey" had enough range to take off and wait on standby.

In short, before dawn, at least two squads of fighter planes were airborne, with at least two more squads on standby on the flight deck.

This meant that if they were attacked, at least 32 fighter planes could be deployed for air defense.

Using the early warning provided by the long-range cruisers, it might even be possible to launch an additional two squads of fighter planes, increasing the number of air defense fighters to 48.

With so many fighter planes, they could intercept incoming enemy aircraft three times.

Clearly, dealing with an attack launched by two small carriers was more than manageable.

The concern, rather, was a different scenario where the movements of the two fleets had been revealed early, allowing the Newland Army to strike first.

In the most extreme case, this involved heavy bombers stationed on Transfer Island attacking first.

During the interception of heavy bombers, Newland’s ship-borne aircraft might penetrate from extremely low altitudes, attacking the unprepared battleships.

The critical point was that the heavy bombers were definitely flying at high altitudes, hence intercepting these heavy bombers made it difficult to counter enemy aircraft entering from low altitudes.

In the Southwest East Ocean Battle, concentrating on intercepting high-altitude enemy aircraft allowed a few to penetrate from low altitudes.

Since coordinated effort was required, the likelihood of this occurring was extremely low.

By this point, the Newland Navy had likely lost its ability to coordinate, rendering it unable to organize a large-scale attack.

Furthermore, the "Qinling" was just ahead, and after entering radio silence, it had been carefully monitoring the surrounding radio activities.

If any abnormal conditions were detected, an alert would be issued immediately.

Even Bai Zhizhan felt that his concerns were somewhat excessive.