northernbook Chapter 225 Battleships and aircraft carriers are dispatched to target Chongxing Fortress
Chapter 225 Battleships and aircraft carriers are dispatched to target Chongxing Fortress
The First Fleet is the only fleet of the Renaissance Army Navy. It has a battleship detachment, a submarine detachment, a logistics support detachment, an amphibious operations detachment, etc.
The Capital Ship Division is composed of two groups: the First Carrier Group, consisting of two Essex-class carriers and two Midway-class carriers. (Haha, finally reached level 4, can use illustrations, here's a high-definition image of a Midway-class carrier.) The First Battleship Group, consisting of four Iowa-class battleships.
The number of battleships of the First Fleet increased dramatically from two light aircraft carriers to eight battleships.
This scale is already among the best in the world.
Even if the main forces of the Fuso Combined Fleet in its heyday were to engage in a head-on naval battle with the First Fleet, they would definitely be able to defeat it.
Even the United States' two-ocean fleet and John's home fleet can be easily confronted, and it is not impossible to severely damage or even annihilate them.
But it is difficult for them to pose a threat to the First Fleet.
Because in addition to the main fleet consisting of four aircraft carriers and four battleships, the First Fleet also has an auxiliary fleet consisting of 12 Boston-class missile cruisers and 18 Mitchell-class destroyers.
There is also a submarine detachment consisting of 12 Hurricane-class attack nuclear submarines underwater.
It can be said that the First Fleet is powerful in all aspects.
Whether it is aviation, naval guns or submarines, they can all gain the upper hand when facing the enemy.
This time, the Fuxing Army Navy dispatched an unprecedentedly large landing fleet to carry out landing operations in Shanghu.
Except for 12 of the 4 submarines, all other combat ships have been dispatched.
A total of 38 surface combat ships plus 4 submarines.
In addition to these 42 combat ships, more than 60 professional landing ships and supply ships were also dispatched.
Among these more than 60 landing ships, there are multiple models including personnel landing craft, tank landing ships, etc., with tonnage ranging from 200 tons to 4000 tons.
The largest tonnage ship is the County-class tank landing ship that served during World War II. It has a full load displacement of 4000 tons and can carry 15 PT-76 amphibious tanks at a time.
This landing operation was also the first actual combat of the Restoration Army Navy.
Everyone from top to bottom attached great importance to this landing operation.
Shanghu is the most prosperous city in the ancient country and is also the city with the highest probability of encountering a landing operation launched by the Renaissance Army. Not only has the Southern Alliance Army deployed heavy troops here, but it has also built and strengthened many coastal defense fortresses.
There are three coastal defense fortresses along the coast of Shanghai.
One is located on Chongxing Island, which is also the Chongxing Fortress.
Opposite the Chongxing Fortress is the famous Wusong Fortress, which formed cross-fire with the Chongxing Fortress and directly blocked the entrance to Changhehui.
There is also a Nicheng Fortress in the Dongpu area, located on the salient of the Shanghu coast, serving as a strategic support for the entire Dongpu coastal defense line.
In these three fortresses, there are more than 200 artillery pieces of large and small calibers deployed.
The largest caliber is 305 mm.
However, those with a caliber exceeding 200 mm are a minority after all, and some are recoil-type artillery left over from the last century, with very impressive accuracy and range.
The rest of the artillery is mostly below 200mm caliber.
This is also quite normal.
After all, the several major fortresses along the long river also need coastal defense artillery, and there are only so many of them in total, so there are actually not many to distribute.
However, with these three fortresses as strategic support, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation is still very confident in defending against threats from the sea.
In addition to these three fortresses, they also deployed three armies and five artillery regiments along the coast of Shanghai, with a total force of more than 15.
Therefore, this landing operation is also a tough battle for the Restoration Army Navy.
It is almost impossible to launch a surprise attack.
So you can only land from the front.
"First, destroy the coastal defense fortress on Chongxing Island as quickly as possible, then conduct a landing operation on Chongxing Island. Using this as a strategic support, we will launch an offensive towards the Wusong Fortress, engage in a head-on landing operation with the Southern Alliance, and at the same time deplete their manpower.
As long as we capture the Wusong Fortress, we can use it as a breakthrough point to capture the entire Shanghu."
This is the landing operation plan formulated by the General Staff.
The person in charge of commanding this landing operation was Chen Qifeng, commander of the First Fleet.
The landing forces of two Marine divisions, consisting of more than 50,000 people, were also under the command of the fleet headquarters.
The flagship of the First Fleet is still the heavy cruiser Chishan.
The Chishan heavy cruiser also underwent some minor modifications, mainly adding a lot of communication equipment to command this large fleet.
The Chishan heavy cruiser also changed from a combat ship to a command ship.
Subsequently, consideration is being given to converting an Essex-class aircraft carrier into a professional command ship.
After all, the USS Midway medium-sized aircraft carrier has already been launched, and in less than a year, the larger 8-ton conventional-powered aircraft carrier will also be in service.
The two Essex-class aircraft carriers can basically be considered for transformation and continue to play their residual heat as professional command ships of the fleet.
"Commander, a patrol consisting of two SAARC patrol ships has been discovered, less than 60 kilometers away from us."
Chen Qifeng immediately ordered: "Sink them. No other ships are allowed to approach within 100 kilometers of the fleet."
He originally wanted to get closer, but the two patrol boats could detect the fleet at any time, so he had to sink them first.
This attack will definitely let the Southern Alliance know that they are here.
So Chen Qifeng did not hesitate at all and began to issue combat orders.
"Order four battleships, eight cruisers, and eight destroyers to advance and bombard the Chongxing Island Fortress. Aircraft carriers will launch aircraft to bomb the Chongxing Fortress."
"At the same time, notify the shore-based aviation forces of Qidong Province to dispatch bombers to assist us in carrying out precision bombing of the Chongxing and Wusong fortresses. We must destroy the counterattack capabilities of these two fortresses as quickly as possible and eliminate their threat to our ships."
"Notify the Strategic Rocket Force and have them attack the military airport in Shanghu."
The main force targeting the two fortresses of Chongxing and Wusong this time was battleships and bombers dispatched by shore-based aviation.
As Chen Qifeng issued a series of orders, the huge fleet began to operate at high speed like a precision instrument.
The two Midway-class aircraft carriers are the Andong and the Lingnan.
After the modification, the full load displacement of the Midway-class aircraft carrier increased from 6 tons to 6.5 tons.
In terms of the number of carrier-based aircraft carried, it is more than the crowded Essex-class aircraft carrier, reaching 80.
主要搭载F-8十字军舰载战斗机36架、A-4天鹰舰载攻击机36架、AD-4W舰载预警机6架，2架海军版雌鹿舰载通用直升机。
72 combat aircraft + 6 early warning aircraft + 2 general-purpose helicopters are the standard configuration of the Midway-class aircraft carrier.
As for the F9F fighter-bomber, it was retired due to its poor performance in the last naval battle.
The main reason is that its air combat capability is not as good as the F-8, and its bomb load is not as good as the A-4, so it seems very useless.
It would be better to just use the F-8 plus A-4 loading mode.
Except for 12 F-8 Crusader carrier-based fighters left behind on each of the two Midway-class aircraft carriers as a defensive force, all other combat aircraft were deployed.
The two aircraft carriers dispatched a total of 48 F-8 carrier-based fighters and 72 A-4 carrier-based attack aircraft.
These 130 fighter jets formed a huge air fleet and headed straight for Chongxing Island.
As for the other two Essex-class aircraft carriers, they are temporarily used to park helicopters and transport Marines for vertical landing operations, so no carrier-based aircraft were carried this time.
At the same time, the two Mitchell-class destroyers went straight into full gear and headed towards the two SAARC patrol boats at a high speed of 36 knots.
A distance of 60 kilometers is only one hour for a destroyer with a speed of up to 36 knots.
However, before the destroyer sank the two patrol boats, 130 combat aircraft took off from the two aircraft carriers and flew over the two patrol boats.
When the two patrol boats, which were about ten nautical miles apart, saw the fleet of aircraft flying overhead, they were stunned and their scalps went numb.
"The Restoration Army, it's the Restoration Army's jet fighters, their fleet is coming!"
This news was also reported directly to the Shanghai Combat Command as quickly as possible.
The commander-in-chief of the Shanghai front was another trusted and beloved general of Wu Zhichang - Chen Rui, whose courtesy name was Zicheng.
He was also the commander of the Fifth Corps.
The Fifth Corps was also Chen Rui's starting point and the foundation of his foothold in the Southern Alliance.
In addition to the Fifth Corps, there are also several temporary divisions reorganized from the Security Corps.
These temporary divisions were also used as cannon fodder.
When Chen Rui saw the Fuxing Army fighter planes attacking from the sea off Shanghai, he stood up suddenly.
Just at this moment, a telegram arrived from Chongxing Fortress.
"We have detected an incoming group of Restoration Army aircraft in the sky above us. We are currently deploying our fortress air defense forces to intercept them. We request that the command center dispatch fighter jets to protect our airspace and cooperate with our ground air defense forces."
"Chongxing Island... The Fuxing Army's target is Chongxing Island. They want to seize Chongxing Island!"
Chen Rui looked directly at the Chief of Staff. After calming down a bit, he ordered, "Immediately launch fighter jets from all airports to support Chongxing Island. You only need to drive away the Fuxing Army fighter jets and not pursue them."
However, just as he gave the order.
Air defense alarms rang out at the three frontline military airports in Shanghu.
At the same time, the anti-aircraft artillery deployed at the airport also began to fire, trying to intercept the incoming Changkong 8 tactical missile group.
Tactical missiles fell from the sky, causing devastating damage to three military airports.
The fighter planes on the airport runway were attacked by dense cluster warheads, and more than 60% of them were destroyed.
It also caused a large number of casualties.
This sudden attack directly destroyed the air force combat force in Shanghai.
Chen Rui also received the news after giving the order.
This recipe felt very familiar to him.
Liu Jing, who was also the corps commander, had been attacked by this mysterious weapon, and their fighter planes had no effect at all.
And now he has the same thing.
Faced with this situation, he didn't know what to do.
Chongxing Fortress can only rely on itself to withstand the air raids of the Fuxing Army.
At this moment, he already felt the full pressure from the Renaissance Army.