Empire Conquest

Chapter 577 - 573: Air Defense Operations

The importance of the Xifan Canal needed no explanation.

Even after losing over a hundred "Mosquito" Bombers by the morning, the Bulan Royal Air Force did not back down and continued to launch attacks in the afternoon.

However, the protagonist now became the Fighter.

Starting from 1:30 PM until dusk, the Bulan Royal Air Force deployed over 200 Fighters, launching three major aerial assaults on the 11th Special Mixed Fleet. The main force consisted of "Spitfire" Fighters, most likely originating from the field airports in the Sudan Region.

Of course, they might also have refueled at a forward field airport.

The key point was that these Fighters almost all carried bombs and rocket projectiles, with a very clear combat mission—to attack any battleship they encountered.

Interestingly, the Bulan Royal Air Force once again spared the 12th Special Mixed Fleet.

This was understandable; the 12th Special Mixed Fleet was more than 100 kilometers behind, and the 11th Special Mixed Fleet had extended its air defense interception range. Any enemy aircraft coming from the north would certainly first encounter the 11th Special Mixed Fleet, making it impossible to attack the 12th directly.

As a result, the 11th Special Mixed Fleet bore almost the entire pressure.

Fortunately, the 11th Special Mixed Fleet was not fighting alone.

After the morning’s battle, the 12th Special Mixed Fleet sent four Fighter squadrons to assist, and the aviation maintenance personnel of the 11th went all out to assemble backup Fighters. By the afternoon, the 11th Special Mixed Fleet had up to 78 available Fighters.

In addition, the 12th Special Mixed Fleet also received reinforcements, accepting six squadrons of Fighters sent from the shore-based air force on Socotra Island.

They were the same "Xiaotian" Fighters as the shipborne air force’s "Xiaotian"—no difference at all.

Thus, the two Special Mixed Fleets together had 14 Fighter squadrons, totaling more than 140 aircraft.

Even excluding the Fighters needed for the 12th Fleet’s own air defense, there were still over 100 Fighters providing cover for the 11th Special Mixed Fleet in the afternoon’s battle.

Another key factor was that the assault formation had slowed down in the morning, narrowing the distance to within 100 kilometers of the 11th Special Mixed Fleet by the afternoon.

Indeed, during the afternoon’s air defense operations, two Fast Battleships took on the critical command duties.

Although the Long-Range Cruisers were also capable of air defense command, the size constraints of their hulls meant their air defense command centers were much smaller than those of Fast Battleships, equipped with only six communication lines for commanding operations, capable of issuing orders to a maximum of six groups at a time. Fast Battleships, on the other hand, could command 12 groups simultaneously. On the "Nanzhu Sea" class, there were even four universal command stations, able to command 16 groups at the same time.

In terms of command capabilities alone, the "Nanzhu Sea" class was certainly the most powerful battleship to date.

Of course, the dedicated flagships were temporarily excluded from the category of "battleships" and were classified among military auxiliary vessels.

Another key point was that the radar systems on Fast Battleships were more efficient.

Not that the radars were more advanced, but because the masts on which the radars were installed were taller, thus offering a greater detection range for low-flying, especially sea-skimming, enemy aircraft.

Launching assaults from extremely low altitudes had become a standard attack tactic.

Even in good weather, air defense radars had a typical ranging limit of only 30 kilometers against ultra-low-flying enemy aircraft.

Essentially, they were already within visual range.

In bad weather, detection distances would be even shorter.

Of course, to counter the ultra-low altitude penetration tactics, the Imperial Navy had developed several useful defensive methods, the most important of which was to expand the defense range.

Simply put, it required more Anti-Air Warships.

Unable to increase the number of Battleships, they could only equip more Battleships with Air Defense Radar.

As long as there were enough Anti-Air Warships in the direction of the incoming enemy planes and sufficient Anti-Air Fighters nearby, it was possible to detect even low-altitude attacks in time and arrange for Anti-Air Fighters to intercept, preventing enemy aircraft from approaching the carriers.

For this reason, the Empire Navy equipped all cruisers with Air Defense Radar.

From another perspective, this was a key reason for the decline of Long-range Cruisers.

Up until now, aside from the ten-thousand-ton Heavy Cruisers, even Light Cruisers with displacement less than 10,000 tons were equipped with air search radar and had strengthened anti-air firepower. They could undertake detection and interception tasks within the Fleet’s anti-air operations and possessed strong independent operational capabilities.

Indeed, it was because of the sufficient number of Anti-Air Warships that the 11th Special Mixed Fleet was able to withstand successive attacks launched by the Bulan Royal Air Force.

Compared to Bombers, the threat from Fighters equipped with bombs and rockets was not insignificant at all.

Even small yield bombs and rockets might not sink a large Battleship, let alone a highly resilient carrier, but they could still incapacitate a Battleship.

The reasoning is simple: just a few rockets could paralyze a carrier.

Once a carrier suffered significant damage, especially to its flight deck, it meant the loss of combat ability and would require several months for repairs.

In the Fan Flame Ocean, the Empire Navy temporarily had no usable naval bases.

Even if they could rely on self-propelled floating docks, the damaged warships would have to return to Sri Lanka or head to Gwadar, and just the round-trip voyage would take half a month.

Furthermore, after dropping their mounted ammunition, Fighters could immediately regain full air combat capabilities, transforming from Attack Aircraft into escort Fighters.

In fact, this was precisely why Multi-purpose Fighters were in demand.

Thus, the battle in the afternoon was fiercely fought.

And it was thanks to the numerous Anti-Air Warships.

In three consecutive rounds of attacks, it was the outlying Anti-Air Warships that timely detected the incoming enemy planes and guided the Anti-Air Fighters to intercept, preventing enemy aircraft from breaking through the Fleet’s air defense net. This also protected the carriers at the rear from threats, avoiding unnecessary losses.

However, the cost was immense.

By the evening, aside from 2 Fast Battleships suffering different degrees of minor damage, there were 2 Long-range Cruisers struck, both sustaining severe damage. One of them was hit by over a dozen rockets, its hull seriously flooded, and temporarily lost combat capability.

In addition, over 40 Fighters were lost.

Within the anti-air operations, 32 "Xiaotians" were shot down by enemy planes, 7 had emergency landings near the carriers, and 5 were scrapped after returning.

It must be acknowledged that Bulan Kingdom’s "Spitfire" Fighters were indeed formidable.

This was, in fact, the second opponent of comparable performance that the Empire Navy’s "Xiaotian" Fighters had encountered besides the F6F.

Performance-wise, these two types of Fighters were evenly matched, with neither possessing an absolute advantage.

Because "Spitfire" was for long-range combat and had burned off half its fuel before the air battle, it was considerably lighter, whereas "Xiaotian" took off fully loaded for air defense and hadn’t burned off much fuel in combat; therefore, "Spitfire" had a not insignificant advantage, particularly in acceleration performance.

As for pilot capabilities, the difference was also not that great.

Unfortunately, the Bulan Fighters were fighting alone.

Without systematic support, in many instances, the incoming enemy planes were in a passive position, finding it difficult to compete with Anti-Air Fighters directed by ship commands.

Indeed, this once again proved the importance of a command system.