Empire Conquest

Chapter 506 - 502: Reprisal of the Newland Army

The battle lasted until evening.

In the afternoon, Wei Jun sent over a ship-borne aircraft to inform Bai Zhizhan that reconnaissance aircraft had expanded their search to the east and west, but the Newland Fleet was still undetected, hence it was determined that they weren’t nearby and there was no immediate concern for a surprise attack.

Consequently, after 3 PM, Bai Zhizhan ordered the fourth wave of assaults on Transfer Island.

With four concentrated bombings, the 21st Special Mixed Fleet destroyed the island’s airport and docks, at the minor cost of losing 22 ship-borne aircraft.

According to Zhou Yongtao, all that was needed next was to blockade Transfer Island and wait for the arrival of the fire support fleet.

As for the landing operation on Transfer Island, it wasn’t closely related to the 21st Special Mixed Fleet.

Of course, blockading Transfer Island wasn’t an easy task.

The crux was that intelligence had reported the Newland Navy, in the past few days, deployed their Air Force and fast boats on several small islands on the eastern side of Transfer Island.

With only one Special Mixed Fleet deployed, it was impossible to attack multiple islands at once.

This allowed the Newland Navy to use the fast boats and aircraft stationed on the eastern small islands to transport troops and supplies to Transfer Island during the night.

The shipborne Air Force had no combat capabilities at night, incapable of dealing with fast boats speeding across the sea, nor intercepting patrol planes flying at ultra-low altitudes.

Regarding dispatching battleships to blockade Transfer Island, that was not within Bai Zhizhan’s considerations for the time being.

The reason was quite simple, it wasn’t part of the plan!

It must be said, not encountering the Newland Fleet, even without any signs of their presence, was very unexpected to Bai Zhizhan.

During dinner, Bai Zhizhan emphasized this point.

Although concerned, even Bai Zhizhan had to admit that no matter where the Newland Fleet was, they had to continue following the plan.

The battle was going so smoothly that there was no reason to adjust the combat plans.

Even if Bai Zhizhan was concerned, all he could do was to stay on high alert, enhance search and patrol efforts, and keep the 22nd Special Mixed Fleet in a state of concealment.

In fact, the 22nd Special Mixed Fleet was key.

In Zhou Yongtao’s words, after the day’s battle, the Newland Navy would certainly deduce that a Special Mixed Fleet was attacking Transfer Island, comprised of carrier-based aircraft from two carriers, and this would likely be a key reason for the Newland Navy not sending a fleet to join the battle.

In that case, just proceed with the plan and attack Transfer Island.

After all, a single Special Mixed Fleet was sufficient for the pre-landing preparations.

Bai Zhizhan raised no objections to this.

However, the operation didn’t go as smoothly as anticipated.

That night, a PBY appeared in the vicinity of the 21st Special Mixed Fleet, but it didn’t detect the battleships strictly enforcing a blackout.

The next morning, around 9 AM, a B-17 advanced towards the 21st Special Mixed Fleet but was intercepted by fighters over 100 kilometers away.

Roughly four hours later, the Newland Land Air Force’s Bomber Plane Group arrived.

All were four-engine heavy bombers, split into three groups, totaling over 100 aircraft.

Judging by their arrival time, these bombers came from islands on the eastern side of the archipelago, and heavy bombers didn’t have an issue with insufficient combat radius.

Some long-range fighters escorted them, but not in large numbers.

The deployed Long-range Cruisers detected the bomber group in time and promptly called for anti-aircraft fighters.

The Battle erupted around 1:30 PM and concluded after 2 PM.

The twenty-first Special Mixed Fleet dispatched over 40 anti-aircraft fighters and successfully intercepted enemy planes and shot down 27 bombers and more than 10 escort fighters.

The key point was that not even one Newland bomber made it over the airspace of the twenty-first Special Mixed Fleet until the very end.

The success in intercepting the incoming enemy planes was due not only to the numerous anti-aircraft fighters and the bravery of the pilots, but also to the splendid contribution of the dispatched long-range cruisers.

The entire battle was directed by the long-range cruisers.

Under the coordination and command of the two long-range cruisers, the combat effectiveness of the anti-aircraft fighters was maximized, preventing any enemy plane from penetrating the outer air defense ring.

This battle fully demonstrated the importance of command and revealed to the Empire’s Navy the principles of anti-air warfare.

It was after this battle that "anti-aircraft alert cruisers" became standard equipment for the Special Mixed Fleets.

However, it was primarily the light cruisers, equipped with air search radars, that undertook the task of anti-aircraft alert, while the long-range cruisers did not receive as much favor.

The reason was straightforward: the Empire’s Navy had built more than a hundred light cruisers; they had to be utilized.

That being said, the losses were a bit heavy, with 11 "Xiaotian" fighters shot down and another seven scrapped due to serious damage.

It must be said, the self-defense firepower of heavy bombers is by no means trivial!

The Empire’s Navy had known this for some time.

On the continental battlefield, the Army’s Strategic Air Force heavy bombers often carried out bombing missions without fighter cover.

Usually, just by forming a dense formation, the bombers could mutually support each other with their self-defense firepower.

Against a dense formation of heavy bombers, there are no fancy tactics required, only more fighters with greater speed and fiercer firepower.

It was in this battle that the Empire’s Navy ship-borne fighters for the first time used rocket missiles to shoot down heavy bombers.

As for the losses sustained, the twenty-first Special Mixed Fleet was well-prepared.

Both large carriers brought along plenty of spare planes, most of which were fighters, and they were hung in the hangar in disassembled states.

In just a few hours, they could be assembled again.

The greatest impact of this battle was that it disrupted the rhythm of the twenty-first Special Mixed Fleet, or rather, it disrupted the bombing operations scheduled for the afternoon.

According to the original plan, the focus in the afternoon was to bomb Transfer Island’s seaplane docks.

The reason was simple; the PBY that approached the twenty-first Special Mixed Fleet last night originated from Transfer Island, or at least it flew back there upon its return.

Furthermore, the reconnaissance aircraft tasked with identification duties discovered in the morning’s bombing that the Newland Army had managed to repair a section of the runway and were diligently repairing the docks, seemingly planning to use Transfer Island as a springboard to launch night attacks with torpedo boats against the twenty-first Special Mixed Fleet.

Indeed, the Newland Navy’s torpedo boats would have to rely on Transfer Island to attack the twenty-first Special Mixed Fleet located to the northwest of Transfer Island.

This was not only because of the limited range of the torpedo fast boats but also due to the distance of the attack and the timing.

To put it more directly, if these torpedo boats with speeds exceeding 40 knots were to launch a nighttime surprise attack, they would need to close the attack distance to within 650 kilometers.

If the distance exceeded this, they certainly would not be able to reach their target during the night.

It would be ideal to shorten the distance to within 500 kilometers, leaving two hours for battle.

As for returning, that clearly was not taken into consideration.

In the Newland Navy, torpedo boats were considered expendable weapons; no one expected these fast boats of only several tens of tons to survive intense combat.

Being able to launch their attack before being sunk, or rather, to fire their onboard torpedoes, was already a victory!

Key to note is that, in night battles, the fast, lightweight torpedo boats possess strong stealth capabilities and often manage to attack by surprise.

That being said, the threat of torpedo boats is comparable to that of submarines.