After the British delegation entered Beijing, the people who had nothing to do went out to go shopping, participate in some drinking parties and social activities, while Thomas took his small team to prepare for the upcoming aircraft carrier combat exercise to be staged at the Huaxia Admiralty. At the same time, there is no intervention of land-based aviation, and the location is a sea area, and the weather is sunny and there are no climatic factors. It can be understood how exactly the aircraft carriers would engage in an ideal situation.

The forces of the two sides are the same, and the composition of the forces of one side is as follows: the fleet has 2 aircraft carriers, one is a large aircraft carrier with 100 carrier-based aircraft, and the other is a medium aircraft carrier with 60 carrier-based aircraft. Each aircraft carrier can release up to 45% of the total number of aircraft carried on board. Among them, the release of attack aircraft from heavy aircraft carriers can account for two-thirds of the total release. For example, a large aircraft carrier releases 45 aircraft in a wave, of which the number of torpedo planes and bombers can reach 30. And the release of attack aircraft from medium aircraft carriers is half of the total release. Originally, according to the deduction plan, the two sides could choose whether the aircraft carrier was an armored aircraft carrier, but the British chose a non-armored deck aircraft carrier for the purpose of secrecy, and although Huaxia already knew that the British might want to build an armored aircraft carrier, it was not broken at that time, and made the same choice as the British. Everyone is a bunch of unprotected guys on the deck, and it really depends on their own ability to win or lose.

Since it is an aircraft carrier combat exercise, the setting of carrier-based aircraft has become the top priority. And for this question, which one is tangled between the two sides, because neither of them wants to publish the number of their new aircraft. And so. The proposal put forward by Huaxia only required both sides to use "hypothetical fighters" with the same performance. THE FIGHTER FLEW AT A SPEED OF 260KM PER HOUR. The range is tentatively set at 700 km. The maximum range was set at 1000 km. THE DIVE BOMBER HAS A SPEED OF 160 KM PER HOUR WHEN HANGING A 250KG BOMB, A TENTATIVE RANGE OF 800 KILOMETERS FOR INTERNAL FUEL WHEN HANGING A BOMB, AND A MAXIMUM RANGE OF 1,200 KILOMETERS UNDER THE AUXILIARY FUEL TANK WITHOUT A BOMB. THE MAXIMUM SPEED OF THE TORPEDO MACHINE WHEN HANGING A 600KG TORPEDO IS 140KM PER HOUR, THE RANGE OF THE BOMB TANK IS 800 KM, AND THE MAXIMUM RANGE OF THE AUXILIARY FUEL TANK IS 1300 KM. In addition, there are seaplanes, which have a maximum range of 1200 km.

In addition to aircraft carriers, both sides have 4 cruisers and 16 destroyers. Each of these cruisers can deploy 4 seaplanes, which means that in addition to the aircraft carrier-based aircraft, there are 16 seaplanes at the disposal of both sides. The destroyers are all air defense destroyers. Now that the number of belligerent forces has been decided, then the area of the sea area for which the two sides are engaged is 700 kilometers long. 400 km wide sea area. The exercise lasted for 3 days, and in the end the side with fewer losses won. If no one can help the other within 3 days, the result is a tie.

The British, having carefully studied the configuration of the fleet, began to develop their own battle plans. The British positioned their carrier-based aircraft allocation, with fighters, dive bombers, and torpedo planes each accounting for one-third. This combination emphasizes the aggressiveness of the sea, and the number of fighters is reduced as much as possible. to increase the number of attack aircraft. This is the proportion of aircraft in the Japanese naval aviation at the beginning of World War 2 in history. There was some truth to this in the circumstances. Because the bomb load of the fighter at that time was extremely small, it was almost impossible to undertake the task of attacking the sea, unlike in the middle and late stages of the war, a fighter could hold at least 250KG of bombs as a dive bomber.

In terms of fleet formation, the British divided the fleet into two groups, one was the large aircraft carrier Fury with 8 destroyers and 2 cruisers, and the other was the medium aircraft carrier Eagle with the same fleet, and the two fleets were directly separated by 100 kilometers. The aim is to avoid being found in the next pot. This arrangement was also very popular during the interwar period in history. Because at that time, all countries recognized that the aircraft carrier was a purely offensive weapon, and its own defense was very poor. And the planes flew too fast, there was no radar at that time, the time for early warning was not sufficient, and the number of fighters was small, so if a fleet of the same strength was discovered, the result would be at least a heavy loss, so at that time, the navies of various countries adhered to the theory of not putting eggs in one basket to disperse the aircraft carriers, and left a large enough spacing. In case they are discovered at the same time and then attacked.

"The attack range of our carrier-based aircraft is only about 250KM under the most ideal circumstances, according to our current calculations, it will take about 25 minutes for an aircraft carrier to complete the marshalling and then fly to the target, plus the round-trip range of 500KM, and the fuel that the fighter wants to reserve for air combat, 250KM is already the limit of attack, if the other party chooses to retreat, then in one and a half hours of flying to the target, (take the slowest torpedo machine in the group as the standard.) The opposing fleet can withdraw at least 40 nautical miles, which is about 72 km if we want to make sure that the other side does not escape our combat range, then we have to close the distance. Major Potter said.

"If our fleet can be divided into two groups to search, then we will have a greater probability of finding each other, and if we use the aircraft group on the aircraft carrier to search, we will most likely find the opponent first." Cunningham thought for a moment and said. Seaplanes were used for reconnaissance, but it was clear that Cunningham was not satisfied with this reconnaissance force, and he wanted to use carrier-based aircraft to reconnoiter his opponents more quickly. You must know that according to the setting of the aircraft's reconnaissance, the plane's field of vision is not large, and it can only see a range of 30KM near the route, which means that a reconnaissance plane can only see a very small sector when it goes out.

"Bombers and torpedo planes have a relatively long range, and we can use them for reconnaissance." Thomas thought for a moment as he looked at the drawing board.

"They are indeed convenient for reconnaissance, but the recovery operation will be more difficult, for example, after dawn we will send the first wave of 6 reconnaissance aircraft, 10 degrees apart from each other, to reconnoiter the front of the fleet within 60 degrees. Then we will arrange for other planes to be placed on the deck according to the plan to wait for the attack, if we find the opponent, we can naturally release the plane, but what if we don't? Our deck was covered with aircraft, and 6 reconnaissance aircraft could not be recovered. Major Potter retorted without the slightest concern about the faces of Thomas, the admiral, and Cunningham, a good friend.

"Can we only rely on 8 seaplanes per fleet for reconnaissance? This makes us very passive. Thomas didn't understand the use and arrangement of aircraft carriers, so he didn't mind Portal's rebuttal and asked the question of what to do if the aircraft carrier was not used.

"We can do this, the cruiser with seaplanes is concentrated on the Fury, so that the Fury aircraft carrier battle group has the reconnaissance capability of 16 seaplanes, and then we let the Eagle release fighters for reconnaissance, although the range is short, but the number is sufficient, when the Eagle finds the target, we can use the Fury to attack, if the opponent is a single aircraft carrier battle group, a wave of attacks can achieve a decisive victory." Cunningham thought for a moment and said.

"I think this method is OK, at least it can ensure that an aircraft carrier can launch a wave of attacks in the fastest time, the attack power of the aircraft carrier is far stronger than the defensive power, if the opponent is not prepared, as long as a wave of attacks can work. Even if the opponent spotted the Eagle and attacked, we would at least be undefeated. Portall nodded in agreement.

"So be it, how to arrange the specific attack? I mean aviation. "If Thomas can say two words on the fleet, he can't say a word when it comes to the tactical arrangement of aviation. After all, it is better to leave the problems of the Air Force to someone who understands aircraft.

"The dive bomber cuts in from an altitude of 3,000 meters, and then the torpedo plane descends to an altitude of 1,000 meters first, so that the opposing fighter can only stop one of the waves at most, even if it can intercept it, because it takes time to climb. According to our calculations, if the ratio of fighters on the other side is the same as ours, then there are only 55 aircraft out of 160 at most, excluding the aircraft on standby and dispatched to perform tasks in the hangar, the maximum number of air defense fighters they can mobilize will not exceed 25, and it takes at least 12 or so to intercept our 15 fighters, and the size of the remaining squadron can only choose to intercept bombers or torpedo planes, if our luck is not too bad, we can always hit it hard, everyone is not an armored aircraft carrier, A single bomb can completely paralyze the opponent's aviation capability. As soon as he spoke of his old profession, Major Potter immediately became excited.

"That's good, don't beat them too badly, after all, we are trying to ease the relationship between the two sides this time, and this deduction is just a side task." Thomas was very satisfied with the arrangement of his two subordinates, and he was going to watch the confrontation between the two sides in the director's office on the day of the performance, and he did not directly participate in it, so he needed to tell his two subordinates to leave some measure.

"Portal, will you show mercy to the Huaxia Navy's men?" After Thomas left, Cunningham asked as he lit a cigarette.

"No, of course not, only the strong can win respect, we respect the Huaxia Navy because they are strong, and only when we are strong, they will respect us, the strong can sit together and drink and talk, and the weak are not qualified." Portall said with a smile.

"Let's give them a good look!" Cunningham said with a smile. "How about I consider leaving them a medium aircraft carrier to drive back? We can not look at the face of the Huaxia Navy, but General Thomas is our boss after all, and our future is in his hands. ”

"I promise, General Thomas's last words are just polite words, war, there must always be a superior." Portal's look is understandable. Anyway, no matter what Thomas thinks, Potter decided this way!

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