Chapter 515 Times have changed, sir

Chapter 515 Times have changed, sir

Chapter 515 Times have changed, sir

After the naval review was the parade, with fleets slowly passing in front of the reviewing ship and the soldiers standing on the slope saluted together.

Tirpitz looked at the mighty Daxia fleet with contempt. Hum, what's the use of so many? Haven't you heard of the Battle of St. George Strait? Submarines plus torpedoes are the future of naval warfare.

Under the torpedo attack of our 1,000 German submarines, even the most powerful battleships are nothing. You only have 50 submarines for show, but you don't understand the essence of naval warfare.

Liao Rong saw Tirpitz's expression and smiled mysteriously without interrupting his imagination.

After the parade was over, Liao Rong announced, "We will now conduct a small-scale exercise to demonstrate our naval aviation force's anti-submarine and anti-warship attack capabilities."

Five 30-ton light destroyers stood out from the crowd, cruising at a speed of knots, looking like they had more than enough power.

Everyone was not surprised by the speed of the Luzhuang. It was not unusual for a light warship with a heavy fuel engine and a gas turbine to run at more than 30 knots.

Tirpitz sneered. That's it? Don't we know that destroyers can catch submarines? It's useless. Submarines are so cheap. Your sight of catching submarines is like missing a thousand. If a submarine approaches a battleship, the battleship will be finished.

Our submariners are not afraid of sacrifice. If we exchange ten submarines for one of your battleships, we will make a huge profit. Do you have a hundred battleships? We have a thousand submarines...

Unexpectedly, the Daxia fleet consisted of not only destroyers, but also five airships hovering above the destroyers and flying in sync with them.

At this time, everyone remembered that Liao Rong wanted to demonstrate the anti-submarine tactics of the "Naval Aviation Force". Could he be talking about these airships?

During the European war, Britain and Germany's airship bombings against each other caused heavy losses to cities on both sides, but soon the British invented armor-piercing incendiary bombs for machine guns, and Germany soon followed suit.

Then, airship bombing became less effective, and both sides' airships suffered heavy losses and withdrew from the war.

Now, airships have become a purely civilian means of transportation, used for both passengers and cargo.

Unexpectedly, the Daxia people found a new military use for airships - anti-submarine.

The depth of a submarine is not infinite, in fact it can't dive very deep. Looking down from the sky, you can see everything.

Moreover, unlike airplanes, airships can stay in the air for a long time without spending any money, making them perfect for aerial reconnaissance with relatively slow fleets and for detecting submarines.

Soon, the airship discovered a large number of submarine models that had been deployed underwater.

As depth charges were dropped one after another, debris continued to surge up from the seabed.

Sir Milne held Liao Rong's hands with both hands and expressed gratitude, "Thank you so much for selflessly sharing anti-submarine technology."

Glancing back at the Irish representative in the distance, Sir Milne sneered, "We in the British Empire no longer have to worry about your submarines."

The Irish representative looked blank and unresponsive, but he was laughing in his heart. We don't want to attack London by submarines. If your fleet dares to come to Dublin again, there will definitely be another surprise.

Will the British understand the close relationship between Great Britain and Ireland? Will they let us suffer?

Just yesterday, the Irish had just obtained the technology of magnetic mines from Daxia for free. Now they didn't need submarines, but a few mine-laying ships of 200 to 300 tons could ensure the safety of Dublin.

The devil is always stronger than the righteous. It is not easy for me to defeat you, but I am determined to defend my home. No matter how big the hand of your British Empire is, you can't pinch a hedgehog like me.

The Irish were confident that their plan would be a success. Tirpitz's face turned pale. It's over. My wolf pack plan has been ruined. What should I do?
How could Germany challenge the British Empire's naval supremacy? Comparing battleships with them? No.

Of course, Tirpitz did not blame the Daxia people for leaking the secret. Destroying submarines with airships was just a matter of thinking. There was no technical difficulty. Maybe the British would figure it out tomorrow.

The Daxia people reminded us early on that relying solely on submarines would not work, which might be a good thing.

If the British suddenly come up with an idea after the war starts, we will be completely finished. Now, there is still a chance to change course.

Airships can defeat submarines, but that doesn’t mean submarines are useless; it just means their importance is no longer infinitely elevated.

No weapon is invincible. There is a spear and there is a shield. Even if a weapon is truly invincible, it is only temporary, such as a battleship.

Magnetic mines can defeat battleships. Of course, mines only restrict them, preventing them from attacking other people's ports without scruples. There are even bigger blows waiting for the battleships.

After the anti-submarine demonstration, Sir Milne was surprised to find that the British Far East Fleet had arrived.

The British Far East Fleet is already a joke. The entire Far East is now firmly controlled by Daxia. This fleet flies the Union Jack, but it takes orders from Shao Quanzhong, the Marquis of Bauhinia. Is it possible for it to maintain Britain's hegemony in the Far East?

"Sir, I have replaced a large number of gas turbine-driven small frigates and privateer boats for the Imperial Far East Fleet to maintain order in Hong Kong. These old steam sailing warships have been retired."

As Liao Rong explained, the British Far East Fleet collectively lowered the Union Jack and stopped there, and all the sailors left the warship on transport ships.

Are they going to use this fleet as a target ship? The knight's men have reported on the military exercise in Akrotiri Bay in the eastern Mediterranean. For retired warships, this is a waste utilization.

Everyone is relaxed. Generally speaking, it takes several hours to sink so many target ships. It's time to relax and take a break. Do you want to go into the warehouse and have a cup of coffee first?
Sure enough, a large fleet came, and everyone immediately became alert.

There are no battleships in this strange fleet. It is composed of two aircraft carriers as the core, surrounded by several cruisers, destroyers, and frigates for escort, and followed by anti-submarine airships. Under the sea, the silhouettes of submarines can be vaguely seen.

"This is the first aircraft carrier formation we have established. Since the aircraft carrier is a first-generation test product, its tonnage is too small and it is just a test, the effect may not be satisfactory." "Two big guys with more than 10,000 tons are still small?"

Weng Derong was one of them, so he didn't bother to be polite with Liao Rong, and Liao Rong didn't hide anything from him, "The next aircraft carrier we're going to build is going to be 30,000 tons, carrying 90 fighters, which can basically control an entire sea area. The current one is not very good."

Weng Derong was both happy and worried. Thirty thousand tons would definitely be more expensive. How much would it cost? But Liao Rong said lightly that it could control an entire sea area. Was he just bragging? Was this thing really that powerful?
If they could really control the sea, the Heavenly Kingdom Federation would sell everything it had to buy an aircraft carrier fleet, and then they would no longer be afraid of the British.

Tirpitz and Underjong both hoped that this so-called aircraft carrier formation would be as powerful as possible, but Sir Milne looked calm and composed.

Liao Rong probably had no idea, so he said the effect was not satisfactory. He just made big promises, saying that 30,000 tons would be effective, and fooled South America into selling Daxia's aircraft carrier. Did he think that 90 planes could deal with a battleship formation? I don't believe it.

The battleship fleet is invincible in the world, and this has been deeply engraved in the minds of the British. They have relied on this to roam the seven seas for more than a hundred years.

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, planes took off from the aircraft carrier one after another. The first ten planes that took off were fighter jets. They did not attack the target ship at all, but circled around the aircraft carrier, pretending to be escorting the aircraft carrier.

This was actually a simulation of defending against attacks by enemy aircraft on one's own aircraft carrier, but since no one else had an aircraft carrier, no one understood it at the moment.

Then sixteen aircraft appeared that no one had ever seen before. They had only seen bombers and fighters before. Only Tirpitz knew what he was looking for: the Stuka.

A Stuka screamed towards the Zhenyuan, the scrapped Minotaur-class flagship. Was it going to perish together with the enemy ship? Wasn't that too cruel? Besides, what good would a small plane like you do if it crashed into a huge battleship?
The Daxia Naval Aviation was not a pirate and would not do such a thing. Everyone watched as the Stuka dropped the bomb, pulled up in a very dangerous posture, flew away, and returned to the aircraft carrier to land.

"boom!"

With a thunderous explosion, the Minotaur weighing more than 10,000 tons broke in the middle like a paper ship and slowly sank.

Liao Rong scratched his head. "I'm sorry. As far as I know, this dive bomber was personally piloted by the flight captain Shao Jishu. The bomb was dropped very accurately and hit the vital point with one shot. This is the effect. It can't be regarded as a routine."

"Our dive bombers carry 1100-pound aerial bombs. According to our previous training experience, it takes two bombs to sink a -ton cargo ship target."

The generals were stunned. Two shots were enough? A 10,000-ton battleship, worth more than a million taels of silver, was destroyed in just two shots? An airplane is only this small, how much does it cost? Even if it was lost, it was still a huge profit, not to mention that there was no loss at all.

Everyone suddenly remembered that all the defenses of the battleship were to defend against enemy artillery fire, and they had never thought of being attacked from the air. This -

Sure enough, not all pilots have Shao Jishu's ability. Sixteen Stukas screamed down and only sank ten battleships.

However, Milne's face had turned pale. Ten warships, large and small, totaling six or seven million taels of silver were just wasted.

Besides, their planes can be reused. They can fly back, load bombs, and come back quickly...

However, the organizers of the exercise did not make everyone wait that long for the planes to be equipped with bombs and return to combat.

The dive bombers circled in the air, waiting in line to land, and then fourteen planes slightly larger than the dive bombers took off.

This kind of plane is bigger than a fighter but smaller than a bomber, and has a torpedo hanging under its belly.

"This is our newly developed torpedo attack aircraft, which we call a combat attack aircraft. After being equipped with a 2000-pound torpedo, it is not as flexible as a dive bomber. If the enemy warship has anti-aircraft machine guns or rapid-fire guns, it will be easy to lose."

"So let the Zhanbao go first and destroy the enemy's air defense. The Zhangong has poor flexibility, but its attack power is higher than that of the Zhanbao..."

Liao Rong doesn't need to explain this, one can tell with the naked eye that the torpedo is more powerful.

The battleship stood there motionless, and all 40 torpedoes hit it. The remaining largest Wangfu-class battleship was also destroyed by a torpedo...

Forty aircraft were dispatched from two aircraft carriers, but only thirty participated in the attack. In five minutes, all the target ships sank and the former British Far East Fleet was destroyed.

No one expected that the exercise would end so soon.

Sir Milne was already dumbfounded. What he was thinking about now was that Britain had spent hundreds of millions of taels of silver to build the world's best navy. Should the word "front" be added now?
Underjong jumped and cheered, and Tirpitz's eyes sparkled.

Such an aircraft carrier formation is only so powerful. The fleet that the British Empire spent hundreds of millions of silver to build is now outdated.

Liao Rong was even more modest, "Soon, all warships will be equipped with anti-aircraft weapons, and in actual combat, the warships will be mobile."

"So, we need more carrier-based aircraft. Forty aircraft are not enough. An aircraft carrier formation needs at least ninety aircraft to dominate a sea area, so we need more or larger aircraft carriers."

"In addition, there must be spare aircraft, and in actual combat, there will be losses of pilots."

Wunderjong and Tirpitz didn't care at all about what Liao Rong said. The death of a few pilots didn't matter. You know how expensive this battleship is.

Besides, there are so many people on a battleship. Once it is sunk, the casualty ratio between the two sides will be terrible.

That’s right, in official history, the world’s first naval battle between aircraft and warships was in the waters near Xingdao Island, where the Japanese pirates fought against the British. All six Royal Navy warships sank, killing 793 people, while the Japanese pirates only lost three fighter planes…

Ondjong looked at Sir Milne, who was in a state of silence, and said in a mocking voice, "Times have changed, my lord."

(End of this chapter)