Empire Conquest

Chapter 623 - 619: A False Alarm

In the next few hours, everyone waited for news, but no news came.

At breakfast, Zhou Yongtao joked that it would be very good if they could receive definite news before lunch.

In fact, what Bai Zhizhan was worried about was not whether they could receive news in time.

After dawn, he had been asking about the situation of each Special Mixed Fleet almost every half hour, that is, whether they had been discovered by enemy patrol planes and whether they had been attacked.

What worried Bai Zhizhan the most was still the twenty-second Special Mixed Fleet.

On the several large islands to the east of the Howay Islands, the Newland Army had built dozens of field airports and deployed thousands of combat planes, with more than 2,000 four-engine bombers alone, and a sufficient number of long-range fighters that were not too badly equipped.

Even with the current situation of the Newland forces, even if they went all out, it might not be possible to wipe out the three Special Mixed Fleets that had a total of six large carriers and about 250 ship-borne fighters, but there was a great chance of taking down the isolated twenty-second Special Mixed Fleet if they could concentrate their forces.

The key point was that the whereabouts of the twenty-second Special Mixed Fleet had already been exposed.

No matter how well the cover was executed in the earlier stages, as long as Nizi was in charge of Treasure Harbor and Spur was in command, they would definitely be able to guess the movements of the twenty-second Special Mixed Fleet.

However, at this time, the absence of news was actually the best news.

And so, Zhou Yongtao’s prediction came true.

By noon, the first telegram came from the "Imperial Capital."

The twenty-second Special Mixed Fleet had not been attacked but had followed Bai Zhizhan’s orders to sail away from the Howay Islands at the fastest speed for nearly ten hours, widening the distance to 1,200 kilometers from Honu Island, thus leaving the range of the shore-based air force.

The operational radius of the heavy bombers certainly exceeded 1,200 kilometers, but the escort fighters couldn’t fly that far.

A key issue was the lack of organizational and command capabilities required by the Newland forces.

Even the Imperial Navy’s shore-based air force could not launch attacks on fleets over 1,000 kilometers away, mainly due to the difficulty of organization and command.

Even for fighters, flying at cruising speed, it would take about three hours to cover 1,200 kilometers.

For bombers, it would take about four hours.

During these hours, all sorts of accidents could happen.

Furthermore, there was a technical challenge that had yet to be resolved.

Navigation and positioning.

If relying only on the gyroscope, the actual deviation for a 1,200-kilometer flight would be about 100 kilometers, and the gyroscope might not even function properly.

Due to technological limitations, high-precision gyroscopes could only operate without fault for a few hours.

That was under ideal conditions.

In actual use, it was pretty good for high-precision gyroscopes to work steadily for several minutes.

It would take decades for an advanced technology to emerge before high-precision gyroscopes could become practically valuable.

Tactically, whether it was the Navy or the Army Air Force, they relied on radio equipment for navigation.

As for the principle, it was actually very simple. Two or more radio stations would be deployed in the rear, continuously transmitting meaningless signals. The radio on the combat plane, upon intercepting these signals, could use triangulation to approximately calculate its position.

For sufficient accuracy, shortwave and medium wave stations were generally used.

Only when providing navigation services for fleets would they use less accurate longwave stations.

Of course, battleships had better navigation equipment, such as sextants, geomagnetic instruments, and so on, so they were the same with or without radio navigation.

If operating over land, the problem wasn’t too big.

Using distinctive landmarks for guidance, pilots could employ specialized navigation maps and navigate in segments to determine their precise location.

Over the past few years, the Newland Land Air Force and the Bulan Royal Air Force’s bombers had consistently relied on iconic buildings on the West Continent for navigation, and the method proved to be quite effective. For instance, a lighthouse in the Norman region of the Locke Kingdom provided positioning for dozens of bomber groups over several months.

Though surface features can be destroyed, such as when the Tiaoman military blew up that lighthouse after months of bombing, there are always other landmarks, and many cannot be destroyed by man, like the winding Rhine River and the densely scattered towns and villages.

In fact, the Tiaoman Air Force and the Imperial Land Air Expeditionary Air Group also used similar methods to bomb the Bulan Kingdom.

For an extended period, the Tiaoman Air Force’s bomber groups flew north along the east coast of the Bulan main island, bombing the northern industrial towns.

Combat over the ocean, however, was not so ideal.

If the attack distance was only a few hundred kilometers, specifically within 700 kilometers, then relying on inertial navigation equipment and adopting appropriate tactics could solve the problems of positioning and navigation, or rather eliminate the impact of navigational deviation and ensure the attack target could be located.

Any further, and precise navigation would become a significant problem.

The most direct impact is the requirement for combat aircraft on attack missions to reserve more fuel to allow for more time to search for targets after reaching the operational sea area.

The problem is, this is flight with bombs on board.

Even heavy bombers cannot travel very far when fully loaded with bombs.

Take, for example, the Newland Federation’s main bomber, the B-17, which boasts an operational radius of over 1500 kilometers; however, fuel reserved for a return flight is only 35%.

If it flies fully loaded, its maximum range would still only be around 2200 kilometers.

Even if it drops bombs before returning, the B-17’s operational radius is only 1200 kilometers after reserving enough fuel for a search mission for an hour.

Because of these limitations, even the Imperial Navy’s shore-based air force could not launch effective attacks on fleets more than 1000 kilometers away.

And it was even more so for the Newland Army.

This was precisely why the Wei Jun chose to break radio silence at this time.

The 22nd Special Mixed Fleet had already left the dangerous sea area, and it was only 500 kilometers southwest of the 21st Special Mixed Fleet, although the distance had increased.

Mainly because the retreat route of the 22nd Special Mixed Fleet was more westward, while the other three special mixed fleets were more northward.

Of course, there was no need to worry anymore.

As expected, long-range fighters stationed at Leysan Island had already arrived to provide air defense cover for the 22nd Special Mixed Fleet.

However, Bai Zhizhan’s mood did not improve.

It wasn’t just the 22nd Special Mixed Fleet that wasn’t attacked, but all the special mixed fleets encountered no attacks.

After daybreak, not even reconnaissance or patrol aircraft made an appearance.

It was as if the Newland Army had not intercepted the radio signals from the north of the islands and had not noticed the Imperial Fleet that had reached their doorstep.

Equipment failure or negligence?

Neither was possible.

The Howay Islands had more than a dozen listening stations that covered nearly all frequency bands; it was impossible for all the listening stations to malfunction at the same time.

As for negligence, that was even more improbable.

Even if morale was low, the rank-and-file servicemen would not all shirk their duties. Moreover, radar operators were technical military personnel with heightened discipline.

At least, the Imperial Navy’s technical servicemen were more disciplined.

So, the only explanation was that the Newland Army had given up the opportunity to attack.

But the question is, why give up?!