Chapter 1003 Aircraft Carrier Trap
Balfour was accusing the Minister of Munitions.
Helping the French army build aircraft carriers was an exchange with the French army under the leadership of the Minister of Munitions, but now it may cause great trouble to the British army.
But the Quartermaster General laughed, gloating over himself: "Yes, I did it. But if you think it's my fault, you're wrong."
As he spoke, the Quartermaster turned his gaze to General Winter.
General Winter has been following up on this matter.
General Winter understood. He took out the papers and distributed them while saying:
"We set a trap when we helped France build an aircraft carrier."
"We advised the French to retain the rear guns and told them that this would give the carrier the necessary defensive capabilities."
"They obviously believed it."
Navy Secretary Balfour was confused: "What effect will this have on the battle? Are you saying that retaining the rear guns will prevent their fighter planes from taking off from the aircraft carriers?"
He didn't know much about aircraft carriers, and the research and development in this area was followed up by the Minister of Munitions.
He just thought: If "it can't take off", France won't be stupid enough to be fooled, right?
"Of course not." The Minister of Munitions explained with a smile:
"They can take off, but we've done a lot of testing and the deck is too short, which makes it very difficult to take off and land aircraft and to maneuver them."
"It takes 10 minutes or even longer to take off a fighter jet. Just imagine how long it would take to take off six fighter jets."
The people in the conference room said "Oh" and understood.
This will take up to an hour, and that hour is just the time to form the formation in the air. By then, the first fighter has consumed an hour's worth of fuel.
General Winter added:
"The problem is not just this. Aircraft carriers without a straight-through deck also have a lot of uncontrollable turbulence, and aircraft landing is very prone to accidents and incidents."
"Plus there isn't a lot of space on deck for aircraft to prepare and wait."
"The straight-through deck is different. On average, our aircraft carrier can launch one fighter jet every six minutes, and can launch six fighter jets in about half an hour of airborne time."
The Quartermaster General proudly concluded:
"Think about it, gentlemen."
"Even if the French send out aircraft carriers, it is certain that their fighter planes will still be at an absolute disadvantage."
"So, what are you waiting for, let's go take care of them!"
There was warm applause in the conference room.
Even General Winter, who was originally hesitant, now believed that Charles would lose the battle.
Charles was not a god, he thought, and no matter how talented he was, he couldn't solve this "hardcore" trap.
…
However, Colonel Will on the front line was not so optimistic.
Unexpectedly, the French army did not send "torpedo planes" to participate in the battle. The first batch of planes deployed on the battlefield were "Camel" and "Snipe".
…
The battle was commanded by Lieutenant General Geprat, who set up his headquarters on the island of Malta, right at the airport.
Many officers advised Lieutenant General Geprat not to do this, saying it was too dangerous.
Charles contacted Lieutenant General Geprat specifically about this matter:
"You are a navy officer, Vice Admiral."
"I think a warship rather than an airfield would be a more suitable headquarters for you."
"This will not only ensure your safety, but also provide you with a more ideal command platform!"
But Lieutenant General Geprat declined:
"I know, General."
"But Malta Airport is the key to this battle. If it is lost, we lose."
"Besides, you must not know that the radio on the warship is always malfunctioning. I've had enough!"
The last sentence is true. Warships are sailing in a high-salt and high-humidity environment. When sailing on the sea, they will shake uncontrollably with a little wind and waves. It is normal for radio stations to malfunction and lose contact. Commands are more often conveyed by signal lights and signal flags.
Charles thought about it for a while and felt that what Lieutenant General Geprat said made sense.
If you lead a fleet into battle, commanding from a warship may be no problem, but commanding the coordination between the airport and the navy is almost impossible to accomplish from a warship.
The problem was that the airfield where Gaiplat was located was likely to be bombed by British battleships.
Lieutenant General Geprat didn't take this to heart at all. His command center was the airport's control tower, which was tall and conspicuous.
He joked with his men: "As we all know, the British use a combination of upper and lower image distance measurement. Even if we give them a target, they won't be able to hit it!"
(Note: Although British warships were advanced, their sighting and aiming equipment was relatively backward, as France and Germany had already adopted stereoscopic rangefinders.)
Caprat had long anticipated the British fleet's attack on Malta.
His strategy was to use France's unique "Green Water Navy" to deal with the British fleet.
The battleships act as auxiliary, keeping a distance from enemy battleships to pose a threat.
This defensive tactic of using battleships at long range, destroyers at medium range, and torpedo boats at close range was actually effective against the British fleet, which was several times stronger than their own.
The radios and radios in the headquarters were noisy, and Lieutenant General Geprat stared at the map intently.
He was somewhat surprised by the current situation.
According to his idea, it should be difficult for the "Green Water Navy" to stop the British fleet, which consisted of 7 battleships and more than 30 cruisers and destroyers.
The French army had only 2 battleships, 19 destroyers and more than 50 torpedo boats.
Although the French army had advanced torpedoes that made the British ships wary, as long as the British fleet was willing, they would be able to advance towards Malta.
Lieutenant General Geprat was also prepared to fight and retreat.
Ultimately, to stop these battleships from bombing the airport, they still had to rely on the 30 "torpedo planes" parked at the airport and ready for battle.
However, the British fleet was blocked at the 150-kilometer line.
If this is the case, if the British fleet can be defended against with just the "Green Water Navy", why would the British dare to declare war on France?
Just when Lieutenant General Geprat was puzzled, the staff officer reported:
"General, enemy fighter planes have joined the battle. They are the latest 'SE5a' fighter planes."
"There were more than 20 of them in total. They were most likely launched from a nearby aircraft carrier."
"Should our army meet the challenge?"
Air superiority is crucial to naval warfare.
When the warships started fighting, a large number of seaplanes started fighting, providing information and intelligence to the warships below.
If enemy fighter planes joined the battle, they would immediately wipe out the French seaplanes like fallen leaves in the autumn wind.
Then, the sky belonged to the British, and the French fleet could not see anything beyond 40 kilometers.
I don't know if the enemy has reinforcements, or if there are bombers approaching...
Lieutenant General Geprat was about to order fighter jets to take off for reinforcements, but he swallowed the words back the next second.
He suddenly understood why the British fleet could not break through the defense of the "Green Water Navy".
It’s not that they can’t break through, but they have to set up the air combat battlefield in the sea 150 kilometers away!
(End of this chapter)
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