.On May 19, the day after the incident, the State Council of China held a press conference.

In front of hundreds of reporters from more than 100 countries and more than 300 news media, China's Executive Vice Premier Li Pingko solemnly declared that the Diaoyu Islands have been China's sacred and inviolable territory since ancient times. The waters around the Diaoyu Islands are China's inherent territorial waters. China will not tolerate any form of infringement. If necessary, it will use all necessary means to defend and implement sovereignty and jurisdiction over the Diaoyu Islands and surrounding waters.

Almost at the same time, a message appeared on the official website of the Chinese Ministry of Defense: At around 2 a.m. on May 18, 2019, a conventional submarine of the East China Sea Fleet lost contact with the base when performing a regular patrol mission in a non-disputed waters near the Diaoyu Islands. The Chinese Navy has dispatched search and rescue forces including warships and fighter jets to the sea area to search for missing submarines and rescue submarine officers and soldiers.

Now, the news media around the world are in a mess.

The reason is very simple. About an hour ago, the Japanese Ministry of Defense released a message through its official website, which roughly means that a submarine of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force disappeared in the waters west of the Miyako Islands. The Maritime Self-Defense Force and the Maritime Guard Office have dispatched warships and fighter jets to launch a comprehensive search and rescue operation.

Although neither side announced the specific situation of the submarine's disappearance, such as the exact location, the Diaoyu Islands are two hundred kilometers west of the Miyako Islands.

The reporter with a sensitive nose immediately smelled the smell of gunpowder.

These two submarines cannot disappear for no reason, and they must be related.

Soon, the reporter discovered that many Japanese Air Self-Defense Force fighters appeared in the air base in Okinawa, including the F22a introduced from the United States not long ago. In other parts of Japan, reporters flocked to him also found that Yokosuka's first escort group, Sasebo's second escort group, Maizuru's third escort group, Wu's fourth escort group, and Yokosuka's second escort group have all left the port.

Although the first guard group and the second diving team returned to Tokyo Bay that afternoon, the other three guard groups and one diving team group were still missing.

Idiots can think that these dozens of ships must have gone to the Okinawa Islands, or are rushing to the Okinawa Islands.

However, the US military stationed in Japan did not show any signs of dispatch, nor did it increase its alert level, so many people believe that the situation has not yet lost control.

When it reached this point, the incident not only did not end, but also did not improve.

In the afternoon, the East China Sea Fleet, which had been assembled in the waters of the Zhoushan Islands, collectively set up anchors, and more than 20 destroyers and frigates formed two fleets and sailed into the East China Sea.

About half an hour later, a certain detachment squad of the South China Sea Fleet stationed in Shantou also left the port. 7th Route Chinese

Now, the Chinese Navy mobilized more than 30 large warships, which is comparable to the three guard groups of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force.

However, the Chinese Navy's trump card is not surface warships, but a more powerful underwater fleet.

Before the outbreak of the Second Korean War, the Chinese Navy had about fifty conventional submarines and more than ten nuclear submarines. Although in the Second Korean War, the Chinese Navy suffered heavy losses, with a total of eight submarines sinking and one seriously damaged, before the end of the war, the Chinese Navy ordered more than ten conventional submarines, and these submarines were all put into service within three years after the end of the war.

So far, the Chinese Navy has 54 conventional submarines, twelve of which are the new 041, four of which are the latest and improved models, and there are eight 040, four 039, six 636 and two 877 models. The remaining 22 are relatively backward and have little combat power.

Even so, thirty-two conventional submarines still far exceed the eighteen of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force.

In addition to conventional submarines, the Chinese Navy also has a small number of nuclear submarines.

Compared with conventional submarines, the Chinese Navy's nuclear submarines are more mysterious.

The outside world only knows that before the outbreak of the Second Korean War, the Chinese Navy obtained the first Type 095 attack nuclear submarine, and then the first Type 096 strategic nuclear submarine. Because in the Second Korean War, the US attack nuclear submarines played an amazing combat power, not only performed outstandingly in anti-submarine operations, but also played an important role in ground support, so there is reason to believe that the Chinese Navy accelerated the construction of nuclear submarines. However, the construction cycle of nuclear submarines is relatively long, and even if it has been designed and finalized, it will take five to seven years from laying the keel to completing the installation. Therefore, in 2019, the Chinese Navy's nuclear submarine fleet has not yet been expanded on a large scale.

However, in the narrow East China Sea, an advanced attack nuclear submarine is enough.

In front of the news media, the secrets of the Chinese Navy are not considered secrets.

That night, several Western news media broke the news that twenty advanced conventional submarines of the Chinese Navy had left their base, and six attack nuclear submarines were unknown. Four Type 094 strategic nuclear submarines that had already formed combat effectiveness had left the port as early as the morning of the 18th.

At this time, the Diaoyu Islands were already bustling.

As early as the early morning of the 18th, the fighter planes of China and Japan held the first round of confrontation near the Diaoyu Islands.

The main force of the two sides' confrontation is not fighter jets, but maritime patrol aircraft and anti-submarine patrol aircraft.

Perhaps neither side's decision-making level made a decision immediately, so when searching for the missing submarine, both sides' combat aircraft were relatively restrained.

Chinese fighter jets did not enter Japan's actual control area, and Japanese fighter jets did not cross the East China Sea center line.

Most of the time, both sides are active in the enemy-to-eight identification zone of the other party, deliberately causing trouble for the other party and covering their own patrol planes for search.

On the afternoon of the 18th, the situation began to deteriorate.

Perhaps it was because he learned that a submarine of the Chinese Navy was also missing nearby, and the anti-submarine patrol of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force was the first to expand the search range and enter the controlled area of ​​Chinese fighter jets.

In order to prevent Japanese patrol aircraft from using weapons, Chinese pilots can only treat fighter aircraft as weapons.

Most of the time, Japanese patrol planes and fighter planes coming to cover will take the initiative to avoid Chinese fighter planes, but accidents will inevitably occur in repeated fierce confrontations.

At about 4:30 p.m., a J11b of the Chinese Navy Air Force collided with a P3c of Japan.

To be precise, j11b cut the right wing outer engine of p3c with the tip of the left vertical tail, causing the right wing tip of p3c to fall off. Although the left vertical tail of j11b was seriously damaged during the impact, and one of the propellers of p3c broke, it was inserted into the rear fuselage of j11b, but the severely damaged j11b barely returned to the airport in Zhejiang, and p3c also returned to the Jiadena Air Force Base one and a half hours later.

There were no casualties on both sides during this collision, and the situation was still within controllable range.

At night, the main force of the confrontation changed from a fighter plane to a warship.

Whether it is the Chinese naval base closer or the Chinese navy has a higher combat readiness rate, the first to arrive was the Chinese Navy's "Huangshan" missile frigate.

The frigate's hull number is 570, which belongs to the 054a type, and the code given by the West is "Jiang Kai 2".

Although the more advanced Type 054b frigate has already started construction, the first two were put into service in 2015 and 2017, and the construction of subsequent ships is also underway, many of the technologies of Type 054b are not yet mature, and Type 054a is still the main frigate of the Chinese Navy.

Interestingly, the "Huangshan" belongs to the South China Sea Fleet, not the East China Sea Fleet.

At the time of the incident, the "Huangshan" was on its way back to Zhanjiang Port, less than 100 kilometers from the north entrance of the Taiwan Strait, so it is closest to the sea area where the incident occurred.

After receiving the direct order issued by the General Staff, the "Huangshan" immediately turned and rushed to the waters where the incident occurred.

The "Huangshan" arrived less than two hours later, and the Japanese warship also arrived, but it was not a warship of the Maritime Self-Defense Force, but a large patrol ship of the Guard Office.

In front of the fishing boat, Japan's large patrol ships show off their power.

In front of the Chinese Navy's warships, no matter how big the patrol ship is, it is irresistible.

The "Huangshan" not only has eight anti-ship missiles, but also a 100-mm naval gun, while the Japanese large patrol ship only has a 76-mm naval gun and several machine guns on it.

If you really fight, the "Huangshan" can easily kill the Japanese patrol ship.

It was discovered that the "Huangshan" had arrived at the waters where the incident occurred, and the Japanese patrol ship did not dare to act rashly.

However, not long after, the Huangshan USS. Huangshan also retreated because when searching for the sunken submarine, the passive sonar of the frigate discovered a suspicious target under the sea, which was suspected to be a submarine of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force. Although the Huangshan USS. Huangshan is an anti-submarine helicopter and two anti-submarine torpedo launchers, it is impossible to form an anti-submarine network when it is active alone and is easily ambushed by submarines.

By the early morning of the 19th, reinforcements from both sides arrived one after another.

This time, the first to arrive were two "high wave" class destroyers from the second escort group of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, as well as an "Osumi" class amphibious landing ship affiliated to the transport group.

On the Chinese Navy, the first reinforcement force to arrive was the 136 "Hangzhou" destroyer of the East China Sea Fleet.

This is a "Modern" class destroyer introduced from Russia, and it is also the largest displacement warship in the East China Sea Fleet. It has extremely strong sea strike capabilities and regional air defense capabilities. At the beginning, the relatively comprehensive combat capabilities of the "Hangzhou" greatly increased the combat effectiveness of the Chinese Navy. However, as the 052b and 052c destroyers were put into service in large quantities, especially the 052c destroyers equipped with phased array radar gradually improved, and after the trial production was switched from trial production to official mass production, the status of the "Modern" class destroyer in the Chinese Navy was greatly reduced.

However, the arrival of the "Hangzhou" greatly enhanced the confidence of the "Huangshan".

Although both sides were relatively restrained and did not use weapons on the warship before receiving the combat order, they both used radar and launched decent impacts.

For a moment, the rivers and seas near the Diaoyu Islands were overturned.

The fierce confrontation lasted for nearly three hours, and warships on both sides passed by several times. By around four o'clock in the morning, the sea confrontation stopped abruptly, and warships on both sides took the initiative to withdraw.

The reason is that the underwater fleets of both sides have arrived.

Underwater confrontation is more secretive and dangerous. Fortunately, the submarine captain is also more restrained.

In the early morning of the 19th, more than ten ships gathered in the waters near the Diaoyu Islands, and more than a hundred fighter jets were deployed by both sides.
Chapter completed!