On May 27, the Third Fleet of the US Pacific Fleet set off from San Diego and began its expedition to the southwest Pacific.

At this point, the third World War, which was called the "Solomon Islands Sea Battle" in history, also known as the "Southwest Pacific Naval Battle". In the "Pacific Maritime Decisive Battle", the most strategic significance and the most far-reaching impact, which marked the complete transformation of the Pacific War situation, finally gathered two crucial factors, namely, the main fleet of the Chinese Navy and the US Navy, which was also the only combat fleet of both sides at that time, heading to the battlefield one after another, preparing to fight with all strength to seize the sea control of the world's largest ocean.

Judging from the total number of warships invested by both sides of the war, this is not the largest naval battle in the war.[..com]

At that time, the Chinese Navy dispatched seven Taishan class aircraft carriers, twenty-eight large-scale comprehensive warships of Heilongjiang class, forty-nine Weihai class anti-submarine warships, fourteen fast combat support ships of three classes, seven submarine motherships, twenty-four Tuna class fully electric submarines and seventy-two Singray class fully electric submarines, a total of 174 ships and a total tonnage of 3.67 million tons.

The U.S. Navy dispatched nine American-class aircraft carriers, eighteen Chicago-class cruisers (the Cleveland-class improved type, so it is also called the Cleveland-class 2), twenty-seven River-class multi-purpose destroyers (the class of destroyers are all named after famous rivers on the North American continent, and the first ship is the Mississippi River, so it is also called the Mississippi River), and thirty-six Guantanamo-class anti-submarine destroyers (the class of destroyers

All are named after the existing and historically overseas military bases of the United States. Two of them are the "Cam Ran Bay" and the "Subic Bay" and the same name as the two "Weihai"-class anti-submarine warships of the Chinese Navy), eighteen rapid combat support ships of two classes, one submarine mothership and thirty-six attack nuclear submarines of two classes, a total of 145 ships (not including ships obtained from the Fifth Fleet later), and a total tonnage of 4.4 million tons.

It can be said that these are two evenly matched fleets.

In terms of total number of warships, the Chinese fleet has an advantage, but the main ones are submarines. In terms of total tonnage, the US fleet has obvious advantages, but there are two additional aircraft carrier battle groups. If calculated based on the average of each aircraft carrier battle group, the Chinese fleet still has a slight advantage.

Of course, both sides also have their own strengths in combat capabilities.

The US fleet has nine super aircraft carriers, carrying more than 1,000 combat aircraft of various types, of which more than 900 carrier-based fighter jets alone, while the Chinese fleet has only seven super aircraft carriers, carrying more than 800 combat aircraft of various types, and less than 700 carrier-based fighter jets.

This shows that the advantageous aviation power of the US fleet.

With the actual combat performance of the "American" class aircraft carrier, as long as the air service personnel perform normally, they can use the tidal operation method to dispatch more than 600 carrier-based fighters at a time. Even if the quality of the Chinese fleet officers and soldiers is higher, and the overall design of the "Taishan" class aircraft carrier is more outstanding, they can only dispatch about 500 fighters at a time.

In fact, this is the only advantage of the US fleet.

In terms of long-range artillery fire strike capabilities, the Chinese fleet has extremely obvious advantages. Not only is the number of twenty-eight large integrated warships far exceeding the number of US military's eighteen cruisers, but also fourteen anti-submarine warships are equipped with large-caliber electromagnetic guns, which can fight in concert with large integrated warships.

This is not just a quantity advantage.

If the large-caliber electromagnetic gun is the basis, the Chinese fleet has a total of fifty-six, while the US fleet has only eighteen, which is more than three times that of the US fleet. If calculated based on the unit throwing ability of ammunition, the Chinese fleet's artillery strike capability is seven times that of the US fleet. In terms of crucial range, the Chinese fleet can attack extended-range shells 1,600 kilometers away, while the maximum range of the large-caliber electromagnetic guns of US warships is only eight hundred kilometers.

In addition, on submarines, the US military not only has no numerical advantage, but also has no combat effectiveness.

You should know that actual combat has proven that in addition to the endurance of the "Tuna" class all-electric submarine, the other performances of the "Tuna" class exceed the most advanced attack nuclear submarines of the US military.

In fact, the Chinese fleet could have gained greater advantages in this regard at that time.

The reason is that the first batch of Great Wall-class attack nuclear submarines had been delivered to the Navy, but they were still in training, so they were not incorporated into the combat fleet. At that time, there was another problem, that is, the first batch of "Great Wall-class" delivered had lowered the construction standards, and many new equipment could not be developed successfully in time, so they could only lower the configuration standards. Even so, these attack nuclear submarines would not be officially put into service until the end of the year.

In a sense, the Great Wall-class attack nuclear submarine is the last straw that broke the US Navy.

Although the construction speed of Chinese naval ships has been greatly accelerated after this, and changes have changed with each passing day, a large number of strange ships joined the ranks of battle, before these new ships were released, the Chinese Navy achieved a decisive victory on the ocean battlefield.

To put it simply, even without new ships, the Chinese Navy can defeat the US Navy.

It can be said that it is definitely a great regret that the "Great Wall" class attack nuclear submarine failed to catch up with this decisive naval battle.

It can be seen that in terms of attack capabilities, except for the aviation force, the US fleet is much worse than the Chinese fleet in other aspects.

In fact, the biggest gap is not in offensive ability, but in defensive ability.

Of course, this is another related issue linked to attack capabilities, which is mainly reflected in that both sides have obtained a second-generation final interception system with powerful performance.

At that time, French insisted on postponing the counterattack until the end of May, which was related to this.

In previous battles, the second-generation last-stage defense system of the Chinese Navy showed amazing combat power and became a magic weapon to disrupt the attacks of the US military. It can even be said that it is precisely because of the second-generation last-stage defense system that the Chinese fleet was invincible on the marine battlefield.

It can be said that those battles that made the last defense system show great power seriously hurt the US military.

You should know that in the face of a powerful last-stage defense system, all attacks by the US military are invalid and basically lose the ability to attack the Chinese fleet.

On the contrary, the U.S. fleet is vulnerable to devastating blows.

After the Battle of Solomon, Nixon complained that letting the Third Fleet fight against the Chinese fleet was like letting the Mongolian cavalry with bows and arrows rush towards the armored cluster.

Although it was a little late, the US military finally solved the problem.

To be precise, it only solved the problem of defense.

At that time, the US warships were equipped with electromagnetic rapid-fire guns with a caliber of 76 mm. Theoretically, the combat efficiency of the second-generation final defense system of the US military was slightly higher, but it was definitely not as exaggerated as the US military boasted, that is, it could intercept large-caliber electromagnetic gun shells.

You should know that the Chinese Navy has done similar tests and found that by increasing the caliber, the probability of electromagnetic rapid-fire guns intercepting large-caliber electromagnetic cannon shells cannot be increased. Therefore, it is determined that electromagnetic rapid-fire guns do not have this ability, so they have not put a lot of effort into this.

At that time, the Chinese Navy chose two other methods to improve the survivability of warships during artillery attacks. One was to adopt a fully automated navigation control system, that is, to allow the warship to be controlled by fire control computers to control the warship to avoid maneuvers when the warship was shot, thereby minimizing the probability of warships being hit by shells. The other was to enhance the resistant ability of warships, and minimize the damage of warships after being hit by shells by installing armor and improving the hull structure, so as to improve the survival probability of warships in artillery battles as much as possible.

However, in 2054, neither of these methods was used.

The reason is very simple. The US military does not have a large-caliber electromagnetic gun that can threaten the Chinese fleet. Unless the battlefield situation completely loses control and the battle enters a state of chaos, the US large warships basically have no chance to open fire on Chinese warships within 800 kilometers.

The subsequent actual combat proved that the second-generation last-stage defense system of the US military would definitely not be able to intercept large-caliber electromagnetic cannon shells.

It can be seen from this that the US military has not actually solved the most serious problem, that is, when it is attacked from a long-range artillery, it has neither the defense ability nor the counterattack ability. What's more, the US military has not solved the problem of counterattack, which has led to the Chinese fleet basically not having to consider defense issues in artillery battles.

To put it bluntly, as long as the combat distance is between 1,600 kilometers and 800 kilometers, the US fleet will undoubtedly be defeated.

In this way, the US military cannot shorten the combat distance to within 800 kilometers, and even if it is shortened to within 800 kilometers, there is no certainty of victory, so it has no tactical choice, that is, it can only control the combat distance to more than 1,600 kilometers as much as possible. Because the maximum attack radius of carrier-based fighters on both sides is about 2,000 kilometers, and the reconnaissance radius is almost 2,000 kilometers, so if the US military wants to win, it must control the combat distance between 1,600 kilometers and 2,000 kilometers, and must first discover the enemy and attack the enemy first. In addition, if the US military fails to attack the enemy first, it can only choose to escape.

Fortunately, unlike the Battle of Solomon, the US military at least has a chance to escape.

When the maximum speed of the two sides and the continuous navigation ability at the maximum speed are not much different, as long as the commander of the US fleet can accurately grasp the battlefield information and make the correct decision, it should not be too difficult to control the combat distance.

The problem is that it is obviously not easy to meet these two prerequisites.

Perhaps, with French personally directing the U.S. fleet to combat, the latter is not a big problem.

The real problem lies in the former, that is, intelligence.

You should know that the Solomon Islands are already in the hands of the Chinese army, and at least there is no military base for the US military to use. The New Hebrides, namely the US military base in Valuatu, has long been destroyed by the Chinese army. New Caledonia belongs to France, which is still neutral. The US fleet can only rely on long-range reconnaissance aircraft deployed in Australia, while the Chinese fleet can rely on aviation troops deployed in the Solomon Islands.

These battlefield situations directly determine that the US fleet's chances of winning are not high.
Chapter completed!