In January 1995, in the waters of the Gulf of Penas in the South Pacific, the "Jingwei" and "Jinwu" aircraft carriers of the First Air Squadron of the Ming Empire Navy drew a clear arc on the sea and were about to turn their bows towards the sea breeze blowing from the south.
The ten large and small escort ships surrounding the "Jingwei" and "Jinwu" were also moving closely in the same direction.
"Jingwei" and "Jinwu" are the only two aircraft carriers in the empire. They are both improved on the basis of the "Shenzhou-class" immigration ships. Compared with warships, the civilian-modified ones are so cheap that it is outrageous.
However, thanks to the special design of the "Shenzhou-class" immigrant ship, it has a slatted deck that no other ship has. The wide and flat flight decks of the "Jingwei" and "Jinwu" were already crowded with dozens of large and small aircraft: these aircraft were all "Sea Holly" biplanes of the Imperial Navy, and each of them had a long blue torpedo mounted under its belly.
The entire air fleet quickly completed the turn, and a strong sea breeze swept over the flagship "Jingwei", making the signal flag on the top of the starboard island flutter.
As the whistle sounded, the new signal flag was quickly raised. The takeoff commander in the yellow vest and the deck worker in the blue vest were busy on the deck. The mechanic in the green vest also worked hard to turn the propeller to start the engine of the aircraft. After a while, the deck was filled with the roar of engines, and the propellers of the aircraft began to turn with a roar.
The sea breeze and the whirlwind from the propeller swept across the flight deck, blowing everyone's vests up. Several deck workers carefully pushed the plane forward a short distance, until the wheels touched the yellow line of the takeoff area in front of the deck, and then they used wooden blocks to block the front and rear of the wheels.
A takeoff commander who was half-crouching in the right front of the lead aircraft against the strong wind gestured to the pilot in the open cockpit - he first turned his arms twice in the air, and then pointed two fingers to his eyes, asking the pilot about the engine speed.
The pilot gave a thumbs up, indicating that the speed had reached the takeoff standard. The takeoff commander also gave a thumbs up to indicate "understood", and then waved the signal flag in his hand and sent a flag signal of "request to take off" to the aviation bridge on the top of the island.
Since the first takeoff of the plane on the "Yizhou", they have been groping forward through constant running-in and training. What is the most complicated thing? It is not the takeoff of the plane, but the deck ground crew, who even paid the price of blood for it. And this is also the price of the pioneers.
After the whistle sounded again, the take-off signal flag was raised to the masthead.
"Take off immediately!"
After the order was issued, the takeoff attendant suddenly pulled down the wheel block, and in an instant the plane with the Suzaku emblem painted on its wing began to glide on the wooden flight deck. It glided very quickly, and in just a blink of an eye, the small gadget made of aluminum engines, wooden beams, cloth and steel wires broke away from the deck and floated slowly into the air. In fact, when it slid out of the take-off area of only more than 30 meters, the fuselage even sank slightly in the direction of the bow, and then rose into the air.
After taking off, the lead aircraft immediately turned right and began to circle over the mother ship.
The second, third, and fourth followed closely behind.
One after another, planes glided off the deck and circled over the mother ship to form a formation with the planes that took off first. The unfinished formation continued to circle again and again, waiting for the follow-up planes to join.
Gradually, the formations above the aircraft carriers became larger and larger, and correspondingly, the number of planes on the deck became fewer and fewer.
When the last plane on the deck of the "Golden Crow" jumped off the runway, the takeoff commander on the starboard side of the front deck stood up and waved his arm to signal the aviation bridge:
"Takeoff operation completed..."
On the outer railing of the aviation bridge, a lieutenant colonel with a golden bamboo staff badge on his collar pressed the pocket watch in his hand, frowned slightly, and then said:
"Twenty-one minutes and fifty-seven seconds. It's still too slow."
Compared to the solemnity of the staff officer, Major General Wu Anping, the commander of the First Imperial Air Force Squadron, seemed very calm. He first observed through a telescope for a while, then slowly said:
"According to the operational requirements, it should be eighteen minutes. Gather all pilots and continue to study ways to save time."
"Yes, sir..."
As the commander of the 1st Air Squadron, Wu Anping is the commander of the world's first aircraft carrier battle group. At this time, he is personally leading the squadron's newly commissioned "Jingwei" and "Jinwu" aircraft carriers and their escort formations to conduct aviation operations and carrier-based aircraft attack drills at the Penas Gulf training ground.
Compared with the huge aircraft carrier battle group in another world, this battle group is even a bit shabby. Why is it shabby?
Because apart from the two aircraft carriers "Jingwei" and "Jinwu", which were converted immigration ships according to merchant standards, even the escort ships were extremely shabby.
Two "Jincheng-class armored cruisers" that entered service in the 18th year of Shengde. This 6,500-ton armored cruiser is equipped with only four twin 150mm turrets, plus four secondary guns of the same caliber. Its main guns are only 12 150mm naval guns. This is the standard cruiser of the Empire - mainly used to protect the traffic line. In the Imperial Navy, it is not even the main force. In fact, it is just to show the existence of the Imperial Navy in the colonies. Even its construction standards are low. After all, in the war plan of the Imperial Navy, it is only to carry out escort missions on the sea, and it has no role in the decisive battle at sea.
Then what?
There are eight protected cruisers of about 3,000 to 4,500 tons. Judging by the standards of that era, this is a typical cruiser fleet, the kind used for colonial cruises, which is not even up to the standard.
Why is it so shabby?
Because for this era, they did not realize the role of aircraft carriers. Perhaps with the support of Cheng Bichen, the Empire established the world's first aircraft carrier battle group, but it was obviously impossible for the Empire to use its precious capital ships for aircraft carrier escort.
Therefore, the Imperial Navy's First Air Squadron, the world's first aircraft carrier battle group, is composed of a group of small ships that are not up to standard. It is not even called a "fleet" but a "squadron". In the Imperial Navy sequence, the first level is the Two Oceans Fleet, followed by the squadron, and then the squadron.
In other words, it is… not worth mentioning at all. This is exactly the mentality of the navy towards him. After all, this is the era of big guns and big ships. Everyone says that the competition is about who has thicker armor and who has a larger caliber artillery!
At least this impression will not change until they prove themselves in actual combat.
However, Wu Anping, the captain of the team, was full of confidence in them.
Wu Anping held the telescope with both hands, looking at the planes carrying torpedoes that seemed to be struggling, and the attack formation composed of 36 planes in the sky, and couldn't help but mutter to himself:
"You must come back safely..."
"With Captain Lu leading the team, nothing will happen."
The lieutenant colonel staff officer at the side said confidently.
Wu Anping nodded and gave a decisive order:
"Clear the deck immediately and prepare to launch the second attack wave!"
The old group is down, so I created a new book club group: 739209015. Everyone is welcome to join and discuss and deduce the plot together.
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