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Text Chapter 1090: Better to capture than to sink

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    In the waters about thirty kilometers east of the British and French combined fleets, the Chinese Maritime Fleet is forming. In addition to the three battleships and one battlecruiser that were previously used to lure the enemy, five other battleships have also arrived.  .  It was precisely because of waiting for these five battleships that a lot of time was wasted. Otherwise, when the navy's aviation forces besieged the British and French combined fleets, the Chinese Navy's Indian Ocean Fleet would be able to catch up and launch an attack on the British and French combined fleets.

    ¡°However, the main force of the British and French naval combined fleets still existed at that time. Even if the Chinese Navy¡¯s Indian Ocean Fleet catches up, I¡¯m afraid it won¡¯t be able to take advantage.  The Chinese Navy's Indian Ocean Fleet, plus the five battleships that arrived later, only has eight battleships. Most of them are old battleships, which are simply no match for the British and French naval combined fleet, which is composed entirely of new battleships.  Now, the combined fleet of the British and French navies has suffered heavy losses under the attack of naval aviation. More than half of the battleships have been destroyed and sunk, and the remaining battleships have also been severely damaged. This undoubtedly gives the Indian Ocean Fleet an excellent opportunity.  Opportunity.

    "Order all ships to accelerate to 20 knots and don't let the foreign Japanese capital ships escape!" In

    ¡®Emperor Han Ming, on the battleship No. 1, Admiral Li Haitao ordered.  At this moment, he was very excited. The strength of the combined fleet of the British and French navies was definitely more than twice that of the Indian Ocean Fleet. However, in just one hour, the balance of strength between the two sides was completely reversed. This made him very excited.  While shocked, I was even more grateful.  Fortunately, China was the first to develop weapons like aircraft. Before other countries in the world realized the terror of such weapons, China's fighter aircraft force already had strong combat capabilities.

    "Yes, Commander! Commander, we have just received information from the naval aviation. There are only 8 battlecruisers left in the British and French combined fleets. In addition to the three battlecruisers that began to be sunk, there are another five  The battleships were sunk, including three Queen Elizabeth-class battleships, one Orion-class battleship and one French Navy Bretagne-class battleship. Most of the remaining eight battleships were severely damaged.  The speed has dropped to about 16 to 18 knots," Vice Admiral Wu Zhiyuan, chief of staff of the fleet, reported.

    "What? Three Queen Elizabeth-class battleships were sunk? Those guys from the Naval Air Force are really prodigal! That is a super battleship with a displacement of 33,000 tons and equipped with four twin-mounted 381mm main guns.  Ah! If we can capture them, this will make the strength of our Indian Ocean Fleet a huge leap forward!" Admiral Li Haitao said very distressedly, as if the three Queen Elizabeth-class battleships that were sunk already belonged to  The same as the battleships of the Indian Ocean Fleet.

    "Isn't it the first time that the Naval Aviation guys have entered actual combat? They also want to make meritorious deeds, so they must have attacked those big guys. Those three Queen Elizabeth-class battleships are all the largest battleships.  It must be the first target struck by naval aviation!" Lieutenant General Wu Zhiyuan said.  Although he also felt that it was a pity that the three most powerful Queen Elizabeth-class battleships were sunk, he could also understand the approach of the naval aviation.  After all, they are the enemy's battleships. Only by destroying these battleships can victory be achieved.  Of course, if you can capture him, that would be the best!

    "Old Wu, we have to work faster. If the naval aviation guys start a second round of attacks before we arrive, it is estimated that the remaining eight battleships will be sunk. We  Arrive first and let the British and French surrender. If they can surrender, that would be the best!" General Li Haitao said.  If the Indian Ocean Fleet can add eight battleships, the strength of the fleet will be doubled!

    "OK.

    But in this case, we have to increase the speed.  Otherwise, it would be almost three hours before we caught up with the battleships of the United Fleet.  By then, it was almost out of the naval aviation's combat radius.  If the combined fleet of the British and French navies does not surrender, then our work will be in vain!  "Lieutenant General Wu Zhiyuan reminded. Don't think about capturing the battleships of the British and French naval fleets, but only let these battleships escape. In this case, it will be all in vain.

    Admiral Li Haitao nodded, and then said: "It is better to form a formation with the 'Han Ming Emperor', 'Qin Shihuang', 'Prince Fusu' and 'Wang Ben' to catch up with the British and French naval fleet at a speed of 23 knots.  .The other five battleships sailed westward at a speed of 20 knots

    Provide us with reinforcements.  In addition, a message was sent to the theater headquarters to ask them to coordinate with the naval aviation. The naval aviation's second round of strikes was postponed for an hour before taking off.  At that time, when we catch up with Britain and France,?After the battleships of the combined fleet, the aviation force arrived at about that time.  The cooperation between us and the aviation force can also give those foreign devils a greater deterrent effect.  If they don't surrender by then, we will sink them all!  "

    "This is a good idea, Commander, I will send a telegram to the theater headquarters immediately!" Lieutenant General Wu Zhiyuan said immediately.

    After that, the Indian Ocean Fleet of the Chinese Navy was once again divided into two parts, the battleship 'Han Ming Emperor,' Qin Shihuang, battleship, 'Prince Fusu', and the battleship 'Wang Ben', with several heavy cruisers and ten battlecruisers.  Under the protection of multiple light cruisers and destroyers, they pursued the joint fleet of the British and French navies at a speed of 23 knots.  And the rest of the battleship, Huaxia,

    The battleship 'Shenzhou', the battleship 'Middle East', the battleship 'Zhongnan', and the battleship 'Nanyang' continued to sail at a speed of 20 knots.  At the same time, Lieutenant General Wu Zhiyuan also contacted the theater headquarters and reported their plan to the theater commander, General Zhou Shun.

    After reading the plan submitted by the Indian Ocean Fleet, Admiral Zhou Shun immediately agreed without saying a word.  Although Admiral Zhou Shun is an army officer, he also has a general understanding of the situation in the navy.  The number of battleships in the Chinese Navy is not large to begin with, at least compared with the British number of 40 battleships, it lags far behind.  If the Indian Ocean Fleet can successfully capture the remaining eight battleships of the Combined Fleet, not only will the strength of the Chinese Navy increase a lot, but it will also further reduce the British Navy's number of battleships.  This strategy of weakening the enemy and strengthening oneself is undoubtedly the best.

    At the field airport in Marsala, the fighter planes of the Naval Aviation Wing were ready to take off. Ground crews had inspected the planes, added fuel, and loaded ammunition.  The pilots also sat back in the cabin again, waiting for the order to take off.  Although most of the pilots were very tired after the last round of bombing, everyone was in a very uplifting mood. This kind of will allowed them to continue fighting.

    However, when the No. 1 Wing was preparing to take off, an order was issued from the theater commander to temporarily stop taking off.  Take off again in an hour.  This makes many pilots very puzzled. The current combat radius of Osprey, torpedo attack aircraft, Fish Eagle, and dive bombers is only two hundred kilometers. If they wait another hour to take off, they will fly to the United  When the fleet was in the sky, the location of the combined fleet was almost 150 kilometers away from Sicily.

    By then there will not be much time left to attack, which will seriously affect the effectiveness of the attack.

    Major General Chen Guoli, commander of the Naval Aviation Wing, was very dissatisfied and rushed to the theater commander in person to seek an explanation from the theater commander, Admiral Zhou Shun.  Although the performance of the naval aviation this time has been amazing, who doesn't want to make greater contributions?

    "General Chen, the Indian Ocean Fleet hopes to capture the remaining eight battleships of the British and French forces, so it hopes that the naval aviation will rush to the battlefield after they arrive. If the battleships of the British and French combined fleets do not agree to surrender, the naval aviation will capture them.  Destroy. I also think that if the battleships of the British and French navies can be forced to surrender, that will undoubtedly be the best result. Therefore, I agreed to the plan of the Indian Ocean Fleet!" Admiral Zhou Shun explained.

    Major General Chen Guoli was stunned, and finally nodded. Although he hoped that his fighter planes would sink all the battleships of the British and French naval fleets, he also knew that taking prisoners was undoubtedly better than sinking them.  Of course, if the battleships of the British and French naval fleets refuse to surrender by then, then it is no wonder that the others are the only ones to blame. The naval aviation fighter planes can easily sink them all.  The previous attack went so smoothly, which greatly increased Major General Chen Guoli's confidence.

    An hour later, the Chinese Naval Aviation Wing took off from the field airport around Marsala and flew west.  The 2nd Air Wing had also completed preparations for takeoff, and after the 2nd Wing left, they followed closely behind.

    At this time, the main force of the Indian Ocean Fleet led by Admiral Li Haitao was already only 18 kilometers away from the battleships of the British and French naval fleets.  The watchmen on the battleship have also seen the several capital ships of the British and French naval fleets.  It's just that this distance is beyond the attack range of several battleships of the Indian Ocean Fleet, and it's not possible to attack them yet!
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