Before dawn, the Fourth Fleet, operating in the waters west of the Okinawa Islands, received an order to go to the Diaoyu Islands

Initially, Rear Admiral Yu Hashimoto, who had participated in the Sino-Japanese conflict in the East China Sea six years ago and was promoted to commander of the Fourth Fleet at the end of last year, was a little skeptical, believing that there was a problem with the information provided by the United States

The Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force, which ranks first in Asia and fifth in the world, will it take several days to complete preparations for war.

Thinking of the subtle changes in U.S.-Japan relations over the past few years, Hashimoto had to question U.S. motives

Six years ago, Japan was furious for the United States, and the Republic of China was furious and terminated its strategic economic cooperation with Japan, which became the last straw that crushed the Liberal Democratic Party

The LDP's reform measures have hurt US interests to a greater or lesser extent

Three years ago, if it were not for the fact that the LDP had not yet completed the replacement of the old and the eight major factions and failed to reunify, the United States would have managed to get the DPJ to "get out."

Although the DPJ slowed down the pace of reform over the next three years, the DPJ that preaches "independent Japan" will not give up on its laurels, and the United States will not allow Japan to drift away under the leadership of the DPJ

With the help of the Sino-Japanese war in the East China Sea, the United States will be the biggest winner if the "independent" Democratic Party is allowed to cocoon itself

As a professional soldier, Hashimoto was able to accurately judge the relationship between the United States and Japan, which is a rare and commendable thing, but it is a pity that he seriously underestimated the military strength of the Republic and underestimated the determination of the Republic to regain lost territory

As the sky brightened, Hashimoto's doubts disappeared as the Republic's foreign minister issued the "Declaration of Sovereignty".

After ordering the fleet to increase its speed to 24 knots, Yu Hashimoto continued to curse the imbecile Japanese intelligence agencies and the incompetent Japanese government departments

At this time, the Fourth Fleet was barely ready for war

The flagship "Hyuga" helicopter destroyer has only 3SH-60K and 1 MCH-101 helicopter, and the number of aircraft has not been increased according to wartime standards, and the "Kongo" and "Ai" air defense destroyers have not overhauled their electronic equipment for more than a month, and the "Ai" and 1 SH-60J on the ground also flew to Kadena Airport yesterday afternoon to replace the engines that are about to reach the end of their service life, and can only return to the fleet at noon at the earliest, 4 "Murayu" and 2 "Takanami" The general purpose destroyer is also in poor condition, and many important equipment needs to be overhauled

Hashimoto has to hope that this is another "trick" by China

Hope is beautiful, reality is cruel

After receiving the news that the P-1 anti-submarine patrol plane had sunk a Republic submarine in the waters northwest of the Diaoyu Islands, Yuki Hashimoto was extremely nervous, and then the "Hyuga" received a short-wave signal from the submarine "Yushio", and before the flagship communication officer could connect the tactical data link, the signal sent by the "Yushio" disappeared, and before Yu Hashimoto could figure out what was going on, the Maritime Self-Defense Force Command sent a message that the landing commando had been suddenly attacked, and the Diaoyu Islands had been "occupied" by the ** squadron, and then "Hyuga" received reconnaissance photographs from the United States

War had already broken out, and the Fourth Fleet became the "vanguard" of the Japanese forces participating in the war

For this "title", Yu Hashimoto not only did not feel excited, but he couldn't even talk about being happy

After giving the order to fight, Yu Hashimoto called several of the main staff officers over

The battle plan was ready-made, and there were several copies of the record, and Yu Hashimoto was only responsible for tactical command, and the Naval Self-Command was responsible for both campaign coordination and campaign deployment

Before entering the battlefield, Hashimoto wanted to find out the number of submarines China had invested and the deployment of submarines

After the Fourth Indo-Pakistani War, the Japanese Ministry of Defense organized a three-month exercise between army, navy, and air force generals and senior officers to analyze the course of the Sino-Indian war, sum up lessons and lessons, and speculate on China's military strength

As a fleet commander who served as the captain of the Kuroshio submarine, Hashimoto attaches great importance to the performance and combat capabilities of Chinese submarines

In his report, it is clearly mentioned that China has at least one submarine with extremely advanced capabilities

In order to support his viewpoint, Yu Hashimoto comprehensively expounded and analyzed the process of the sinking of the aircraft carriers "Vikrant" and "Vikramaditya", simulated the ambush tactics of the submarines with computers, and held that no kind of submarine in China could sink two closely protected aircraft carriers in a few tens of minutes, and that after completing the attack, it had already appeared that the "Fighter" nuclear submarine was not sunk by an accident, but was sunk by a Chinese submarine The combat operations of the ship were analysed and the same conclusions were reached as the former

Unbeknownst to Hashimoto, this report has attracted great attention from the top level of Japan

Although even the United States has not been able to confirm the existence of the Swordfish, American and Japanese intelligence services have long suspected that China has built an all-electric conventional submarine with very advanced performance, powered by composite batteries and propelled by superconducting electric motors, and believe that it was this submarine that sank the "Fighter" and the two Indian aircraft carriers

Before and after the Fourth Indo-Pakistani War, several submarines of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force also encountered the "Swordfish".

Yu Hashimoto "hit by mistake" and made the same analysis and judgment as the intelligence department

This report not only promoted Yu Hashimoto to commander of the Fourth Fleet, but also made the Japanese government determined to build more 19ddh helicopter destroyers and speed up the design and development of "aircraft-carrying air destroyers."

Facing the Chinese Navy, Hashimoto had to worry about threats from underwater

In addition to confirming that there was at least one Chinese submarine in the area where the "Xishio" sank, not to mention Yu Hashimoto and the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force, even the US Navy and intelligence departments did not know how many submarines China had put into it, and the specific deployment At that time, Brigadier General Xiang Linghui, the commander-in-chief of the campaign, only knew the patrol range of each submarine, and did not know the specific situation

All Hashimoto can do is strengthen anti-submarine search

After dividing all carrier-based anti-submarine helicopters into three formations, taking turns to perform search missions within a 120-degree sector in front of the fleet; Yu Hashimoto organized six general-purpose destroyers into two anti-submarine detachments, which formed anti-submarine barriers on both wings of the fleet; The two air defense destroyers that are responsible for the air defense of the fleet area have also put down their towed sonars and strengthened their antisubmarine search efforts before entering the theater of operations, and the Fourth Fleet has changed from a relatively dense sailing formation to a relatively loose antisubmarine formation

What can be done, Yu Hashimoto has done

In his opinion, the biggest flaw of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force is that it did not attack nuclear submarines!

Even if the AIP system can give conventional submarines the ability to perform missions without surfacing to recharge their batteries, the AIP system will never replace nuclear reactors and provide conventional submarines with unlimited submersible capabilities and submersible speeds that exceed those of surface ships

Not to mention that all the submarines of the Maritime Self-Defense Force are sent to the theater of operations, even if there are several submarines accompanying the Fourth Fleet, they will not be able to keep up with the speed of the Fourth Fleet

Without the support and cover of submarines, the anti-submarine capability of the Fourth Fleet was greatly reduced

As for the threat from the air, Yu Hashimoto was not too worried

In the eyes of every Japanese, the air defense capability of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force, which has four helicopter destroyers, eight "Aegis" air defense destroyers, and 24 general-purpose destroyers, is not the first in the world, nor is it the second

Since the end of the Cold War, the main development direction of Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force has been to enhance regional air defense and tactical anti-missile capabilities

The "King Kong" and "Atago" not only possess the world's most advanced "Aegis" air defense system, but are also equipped with "Standard-6" regional air defense missiles and "Standard-3" shipborne anti-missile missiles, and the "Gaoba" and "Murayu" class general-purpose destroyers are equipped with "Advanced Sea Sparrow" air defense missiles with a range of 40 km, and have limited regional air defense capabilities and powerful point air defense capabilities, and even the "Hyuga" helicopter destroyers are also equipped with "Advanced Sea Sparrow" air defense missiles and have a certain air defense combat capability

According to theoretical calculations, the fleet air defense of the Japanese Fourth Fleet is indeed second only to the aircraft carrier battle group of the US Navy

Although the lack of aircraft carriers greatly reduced the air defense combat capability of the Fourth Fleet, it was able to obtain strong support from the Air Self-Defense Force's F-22:5J and 2 combat aircraft to carry out combat missions near the Japanese mainland, making up for the lack of carrier-based fighters

Yu Hashimoto was well aware that when war broke out, fighters from Kadena airbase would immediately take off

In Hashimoto's view, it will be difficult for the attack aircraft groups of the Chinese Air Force and Naval Aviation to break through the interception of the Air Self-Defense Force and launch an air strike on the Fourth Fleet

It's just that the situation has once again changed beyond Hashimoto's "predictions"

When the air raid siren sounded, the commander of the major general suddenly came back to his senses

The Aegis radars of two air defense destroyers, as well as the E-767 AWACS aircraft, which had just arrived, simultaneously detected the enemy group

12 J-13Bs broke through the sound barrier at an altitude of 250 km >:00 m from the fleet and continued to approach the fleet

What kind of tactic is this!?

Yu Hashimoto did not hesitate and immediately issued an operational order in accordance with the Fleet's Air Defense Operations Regulations

Whether it is a fighter or an anti-ship missile, it is impossible to break through the air defense network of the Fourth Fleet!

Damn it*

The little devil is on the stage, everyone smash it, smash it with a monthly pass, and smash and sink the Japanese Fourth Fleet! (To be continued)