afterglow

Chapter 451 The Essence of Island Attack and Defense War; Armored Aircraft Carrier School

Zhu Lingjing said "hmm" and stared at the tea leaves floating in the cup, "The additional construction project should be finalized in the next few days."

In order to cope with the large number of warships to be built under the US "Two Oceans Navy Act" - especially the eighteen Essex-class ships, the Ming Navy is also intensively planning its own construction plan.

This construction project will directly determine the future war situation and even the fate of the country, so no one dares to draw a conclusion easily. Various tactical schools within the Ming Dynasty were debating, and the technical department was also involved, with great momentum.

After a while, she raised her eyes and glanced at Zhou Changfeng, "In this case, you can also go and listen. If you have any opinions or ideas, just mention them directly. Listen and you will understand."

The latter nodded and said yes.

Zhu Lingjing agreed in principle with his suggestion of mobilizing people to dig out dry docks and build slipways.

The shipbuilding competition must promote its own strengths, and Ming Dynasty's abundant human resources are very suitable to play a role in this labor-intensive industry.

The construction of the land slipway is relatively simple and convenient. A slide is preset under the ship, and then the ship is built little by little on top. Finally, when it is launched into the water, it slides into the water through the slide.

The dry dock is connected to land on three sides and faces water on three sides. It is difficult to build and requires a large amount of earthwork. The dock door is closed during work. When the water is finally launched, seawater is introduced into the dock to slowly float the ship, and then the dock door can be opened.

Winning consecutive battles has greatly boosted the court's prestige. There is no problem in simply mobilizing millions of people. By the way, they can also issue more national debt and print more money.

After all, there is no essential difference between mobilizing people to dig shipyards and recruiting corvees to dig canals or build the Great Wall in ancient times. They are all earthwork work.

As for how to maximize the advantages of human resources to dig dry docks in various places, that is the task of technocrats and professionals.

In view of the Army's reluctance to give up its leadership and voice, Zhu Lingjing asked Zhou a question.

"The Pacific is so big, what role should the Army play in it? What do you think?"

The latter's eyes jumped left and right, and after thinking for a moment, he asked: "Your Majesty, are you referring to the defensive strategy?"

"Indeed, the landing battle during a large-scale attack should be similar, with the Marine Corps cooperating with the Army. Optimistically speaking, in the future, if the naval battle severely damages the US fleet, it will enter a stalemate for a period of time, and it is inevitable to defend the island, let alone defend the island. Think about the worst."

"That's it, I understand. First of all, I want to emphasize the most important point, which is... without sea control, it is impossible to defend any island. Even a strong island like Oahu has the possibility of being captured."

There are two situations in which there is a lack of sea control. Either the main force of one's own navy has been completely destroyed, or the navy is conserving its strength and passively avoiding war.

Zhou Changfeng then slowly said in a very confident tone: "It is extremely difficult to defend in this situation. There are too many large and small islands in the archipelago area. Once the enemy comes to the city, each one will be isolated. The enemy can attack every time Use more to defeat less."

Take the classic Mariana Islands as an example, which includes more than a dozen islands including Saipan, Guam, and Tinian. Even the Ming Dynasty could not garrison several divisions on each of them.

In the Battle of Saipan, 40,000 Japanese troops resisted 70,000 U.S. troops, with the strength of the two sides less than twice the difference.

In the twenty-four days of the battle, the U.S. military killed most of the Japanese troops at the cost of 3426 killed and 10364 wounded. The exchange ratio was about one to two, and the death ratio was one to seven.

In the Battle of Tinian Island, 9,000 Japanese troops and 3,000 militiamen resisted more than 50,000 U.S. troops. The strength difference between the two sides was about four times.

The battle lasted for nine days. The U.S. military killed most of the Japanese troops at the cost of 328 killed and 1571 wounded. The exchange ratio was close to one to three, and the death ratio was as high as one to sixteen.

The advantage of using more to attack fewer and using strong to defeat weak is undoubtedly significant. From a macro perspective, this situation can be analyzed using the Lanchester equation.

Zhu Lingjing nodded lightly, "It is true that there are too many scattered small islands and reefs. The troop garrison strategy claimed by some people in the past was quite naive and unrealistic."

Zhou Changfeng spread his hands and said nonchalantly: "Moreover, the enemy's strategic deployment can be more flexible. For example, they can advance by leaps and bounds. Instead of attacking islands one by one, they only attack important nodes and advance directly in depth."

"To go so far alone is to seek death."

"Yes, that's right. As long as our navy still has certain strength, if the enemy dares to be so bold, he will be asking for trouble."

The island hopping tactic can skip less important islands. For example, the 140,000 Japanese troops in Rabaul did not play a role in history. They were trapped on New Britain Island to open up wasteland and farm until the end of the war. Life was quite comfortable.

However, there are also great risks in the island hopping tactic. If you go deep alone, it will be over if your own side loses the naval battle. But Marshal Mai had absolute confidence in Nimitz, and the Pacific Fleet indeed destroyed the Combined Fleet.

"So..." Zhu Lingjing pondered for a few seconds and asked: "Zhou Kexing, do you think there is no need to deploy heavy troops on the Pacific islands?"

"That's not true, Your Majesty, I just elaborated on the essence of the Pacific War Island Offensive and Defense War. We should analyze what to do based on this essence and characteristics." Zhou Changfeng said.

In the absence of sea control, the defenders on the islands were completely isolated, without reinforcements, and the sick and wounded could not be evacuated for medical treatment. This was fundamentally different from the battles represented by Shangganling.

In this case, all the defenders can do is to use the limited troops and ammunition they have hoarded, maximize the use of the terrain to build a dense defense system in depth, and fight the attackers to the bitter end with the determination to lose, exchanging lives for lives. A trapped beast fights to buy time.

From a military point of view, battles in such bad conditions should be avoided as much as possible, but the offensive and defensive battles on the Pacific islands are so cruel.

Select the necessary islands, select the less important islands, select the key points and defend them - this was the answer given to the emperor by someone from Zhou.

This is a strategic idea. What to do tactically is not something the emperor needs to clearly understand.

There are only a few important islands. For strategic defense reasons, three of the Mariana Islands (Saipan, Guam, and Tinian) must be defended; two of the Solomon Islands (Guadalcanal, Buenos Aires) must be defended. Ganville Island) must be held; New Britain Island must be held.

These islands have the meaning of deploying heavy military groups, digging deep holes, hoarding grain, and amassing bombs, and prepare for the worst.

Don't worry about the rest of the dozens of scattered islands. It's enough to deploy a garrison team of several hundred people. If you encounter a large-scale landing by the US military, you can lay some booby traps and sneak into the jungle to fight guerrillas.

Perhaps persisting in fighting guerrillas will achieve greater results than holding on for nothing from the beginning.

Zhou's argument was not only well-founded but also similar to the views presented by the Army. After comprehensive evaluation, Zhu Lingjing was convinced of it.

In other words, the Ming Army only needs to deploy seven to ten infantry divisions, or at most a dozen divisions, to the Pacific. So where should the large number of idle troops be deployed?

The Army has already set its sights on the fat piece of India and India, so it is sparing no effort to demonstrate the benefits of conquering the South Asian subcontinent from all aspects.

"Sir, you have won several battles in a row, why doesn't the court give you a promotion?"

"Don't worry about this. No matter how high the false title is, it can't compare to the real power. To be honest, my right to speak is really not small now."

Xia Xiaoshi was more positive than Zhou when it came to promotion. She subconsciously felt that as long as she defeated the enemy in battle, she should be rewarded. The disease was not cured. Zhou Changfeng, who came back from the palace, felt a little tired, so he lay down on the recliner and said casually: "The gold content of these victories is different. I fought well in Malaya and Java, but Darwin and There's nothing much to say about Moresby in these two games. He was stable and showed relatively little value as a commander."

Xia Xiaoshi originally had unrealistic fantasies, such as waiting for her daughter to wean herself before returning to school to continue teaching.

Now I just feel that the idea I had before was really funny - how can any general's wife work outside these days?

People care more or less about their own value, and Xia Xiaoshi has not seen through the world of mortals, so she has always been a little anxious.

Gao Lingling has a clear understanding of her daughter's little thoughts and enlightens her that she must recognize the reality. The first priority for a lady who wants to be a good wife is to attend more banquets among ladies and ladies, as a major help for her husband to maintain a network of relationships.

"Those people have gatherings every two days." Xia Xiaoshi curled her lips and complained, "Is it true that you don't get tired of it?"

Zhou Changfeng, who was lying on the recliner, laughed, "Didn't you always enjoy going to banquets in the past? Why are you not happy now?"

"It wasn't so frequent before, at least once every ten days and a half a month. It feels like there are so many people trying to curry favor with us, it's really troublesome to deal with it."

"It's okay. It's not compulsory. You can choose to go if you want. The tree is big and attracts the wind, so there are bound to be people who want to please it."

During normal chats with other generals, they would occasionally talk about their families. Whenever he heard others complaining about what his wife had done, Zhou Changfeng would sigh in his heart that Xia Xiao's poems were really soothing.

At this time, the latter suddenly came over and asked with a smile in his eyes: "Zhou Kexing, I think your illness is almost healed. How is your energy?"

"Ahem, Xiaoshi, I haven't recovered yet, and I have no interest."

"Hmph, then I'll spare you one more night."

Two days later.

Because Zhou Changfeng's malaria infection was not serious this time, he was almost completely cured in five or six days.

Since the emperor asked himself to attend an internal seminar within the navy, why not?

The stakes are so high that wartime military ship construction seminars held by the upper-level organizations of the Ming Navy have been held many times. The seventh seminar that Zhou is currently participating in can only be regarded as the end before the final decision is made.

More than ten people have gathered in the No. 2 conference hall of the Ministry of War and Navy Department, and the attendants are serving tea and water and presenting files one by one.

Zhou's appearance surprised the people present, but they were only surprised for a moment. There was no rejection or resistance. On the contrary, several people greeted him before the meeting started.

Zhou Changfeng lowered his voice and said to an older civilian brigadier next to him: "Old sir, what is your surname? I have something to ask."

The latter's spectacle lenses flickered, and he smiled calmly and said: "My surname is Ye, what do you want to ask?"

What Zhou Changfeng is most concerned about is naturally the aircraft carrier - what route will it take in the future? What are the construction plans?

The Ming Dynasty now has a total of 19 large slipways or dry docks from north to south that can build battleships or aircraft carriers.

For comparison, there are a total of 29 slipways or dry docks on the east and west coasts of the United States that can undertake the construction of capital ships, including 7 on the west coast and 22 on the east coast. Historically, Japan only had 8.

【Picture】

大明最重要的造船基地在上海府，拥有340m船坞1座、300m船坞1座、240m船坞3座、244m船台2座，这些可用于建造主力舰，除此之外还有一些小型船台和干船坞。

第二重要的造船基地在葫芦岛州，拥有330m船坞1座、300m船坞1座、240m船坞1座、270m船台2座、244m船台1座。

In addition, the 10-meter giant shipyard that can theoretically build 380-ton ships will be completed soon and is expected to be put into operation next summer.

"...Well, the Navy is debating whether to armor the deck of the aircraft carrier."

"exactly."

After some exchanges, Zhou Changfeng nodded thoughtfully and reached out to flip through the file in front of him.

The development of anything is not achieved overnight. As a cutting-edge weapon that was born only 20 years ago, the value of the aircraft carrier was not fully proven until this year.

What kind of aircraft carrier should be designed to cope with the upcoming sea and air battle? The generals and experts were divided into several factions, each holding its own views.

The differences in design mainly lie in the contradiction between displacement, protection capability and strike capability.

Increased offensive and defensive capabilities will lead to increased size and displacement, resulting in fewer and fewer slipways or dry docks to undertake construction.

Therefore, if you want to start as many aircraft carriers as possible at the same time, the size must be controlled within 240m, which means that the displacement is limited to about 2 tons.

However, this ton-class aircraft carrier is destined to be unable to adopt the design of an armored flight deck, otherwise the aircraft capacity will be pitifully small.

The group that insists on the armored aircraft carrier design is led by the old man who just talked with Zhou.

"Mr. Ye, have you made any changes to the last design?" a Navy Department official asked.

The civilian brigadier general, or senior technical officer, took out a thick stack of wire-bound documents from the briefcase beside him and said calmly: "The main structure remains unchanged, but the pipeline layout has been adjusted and the elevators have been strengthened."

"Has the thickness of the flight deck armor been reduced?"

"The three-inch main armor remains unchanged, but the half-inch inner lining is being considered to be deleted."

The armored aircraft carrier faction believes that the Ming Dynasty's shipbuilding capabilities are inferior to those of the United States, so it must adopt an armored flight deck with strong protection capabilities and high survivability.

In the design of Jiangnan Naval Factory, the flight deck armor is 96mm thick, and there is a 16mm low carbon steel lining layer underneath to block the fragments that may be generated when the deck is subject to violent attacks.

However, considering that this seems to have little meaning, only adds complexity and wastes time, I considered deleting it.

Three inches?

Zhou Changfeng was greatly surprised. He remembered that the armor-piercing depth of a 1000-pound armor-piercing aerial bomb when dropped at a normal height was only more than millimeters.

【Picture】

(End of this chapter)