.Mu Haoyang could rest with confidence, but the officers and soldiers behind him became busy.

According to Li Guoqiang's arrangement, the warship camouflage equipment was loaded into twenty-eight large transport aircraft on the afternoon of the 26th, and arrived at the Navy Air Force Base in Hainan four hours later. Because Mu Haoyang only camouflaged the aircraft carrier, only twelve transport aircraft took off with four sets of camouflage equipment.

At 10 o'clock on the night of the 26th, twelve transport planes arrived over the landing fleet.

At this time, the landing fleet had left the South China Sea and reached between Grand Natuna Island and Subi Island. In order to salvage airdrop materials, the fleet stopped sailing. More than ten warships formed a circular formation, and all lighting equipment on each warship was turned on to indicate the airdrop area for the transport plane.

Five minutes later, the airdrop began.

Twelve transport aircraft entered in turn, and cast sealed and wrapped camouflage equipment at a height of 200 meters.

In order to facilitate salvage, the total mass of most pallets is about two tons, fixed with an inflatable float, and a fluorescent reflector light is installed on the top.

The airdrop lasted for ten minutes, and the transport plane that completed the mission left long.

Hundreds of floating pallets appeared on the sea.

The salvage operation began immediately, mainly carried out by the Marine Corps' heavy transport helicopters, and only a few large-scale cargo pallets needed to be salvaged by the landing craft.

Before twelve o'clock, the salvage work was over.

The whole operation went very smoothly, with only three pallets slightly damaged and the goods did not have much impact.

After letting the communications officer send a signal of smooth operation, Pang Yuelong asked the landing fleet to resume its navigation formation, and then accelerated to the twenty-two joints and headed to the rendezvous sea area.

Among this fleet, the most eye-catching are two amphibious assault ships.

These two warships are Mu Haoyang's masterpiece when he was in charge of naval equipment construction in the General Staff.

Although the Marines have become independent troops, their relationship with the Navy is still inseparable. For example, all amphibious ships are organized under the navy's name and are only used by the Marines.

Compared with the amphibious assault ships of Western countries, especially the United States, the Chinese Navy's amphibious assault ships are much shabby.

The displacement of these two warships is about 20,000 tons. Although they use direct flight decks, they do not have a jump deck. The Chinese Navy does not have vertical take-off and landing fighter jets, so they can only carry helicopters and cannot carry fixed-wing aircraft, so they do not have real attack capabilities.

Compared with small aircraft carriers with a tonnage, the biggest difference between amphibious assault ships is internal, that is, the hangar is smaller, and most of the internal space is used to carry Marines' combat equipment and amphibious landing crafts to deliver Marines. The narrow hangar can only accommodate a few helicopters.

From the perspective of combat use, these two warships are not so much amphibious assault ships as well as troop delivery ships. The helicopters they carry are mainly used for vertical landing, that is, transporting combat troops to beachhead positions. Because there is no anti-submarine combat system on the warships, it is meaningless to carry anti-submarine helicopters.

Because the modular design is not adopted, these two warships cannot be converted into small aircraft carriers.

For the Chinese Navy, which already has medium-sized nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and is building large nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, there is no need for small aircraft carriers.

If you use appropriate camouflage, such as using lightweight prefabricated parts to increase the deck area and disguise it as an oblique deck, it does look like an aircraft carrier from the outside. As for reconnaissance satellites that deceive the enemy, especially radar-based satellites with low resolution, it is even more difficult.

There is only one thing that cannot be disguised, that is the basic performance of the warship.

Amphibious assault ships do not have very high requirements for speed, and can reach up to twenty-two knots, while any aircraft carrier has a speed of more than twenty-two knots. Even the French "Charles Charles de Gaulle" can reach twenty-seven knots, while most aircraft carriers, especially nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, can reach about thirty-three knots.

Fortunately, this problem is not serious.

When the fleet passes through the narrow strait, it will definitely not advance at full speed, but will advance at a relatively safe speed. Twenty-two knots are enough.

In addition, there is a more obvious appearance feature, that is, the amphibious assault ship is conventionally powered and has a very eye-catching large chimney, while the "Yangtze River"-class aircraft carrier is nuclear powered and has no smoke exhaust pipes. Fortunately, there are special components in the camouflage system to cover the chimneys on the amphibious warships.

At this time, Imai Yoshimura had already boarded the "Verat" aircraft carrier.

Although the joint fleet has been destroyed and thousands of surviving officers and soldiers are waiting for repatriation. Without warships, it is useless for them to stay in Port Blair, India and Japan have long reached an agreement on command. Imai Tatsumura is still the commander of the fleet, and Indian generals are obeying his command.

At this time, Imai Rimura had received news that the Chinese Navy's landing fleet had left the South China Sea and was sailing south. The transport fleet was about 150 kilometers behind the landing fleet. It was very large in scale, with at least more than ten landing ships and more than twenty military transport ships. Although the Chinese authorities have not announced the dispatch of fleets to enter the Indian Ocean to fight, nor have they claimed that they would open a second battlefield in the Indian Ocean, but so many amphibious combat forces have very obvious combat intentions. The Chinese Navy will definitely attack the Andaman-Nicobar Islands.

This is not just for support of Pakistan, but for more significant strategic purposes.

Like Japan, China also relies heavily on maritime routes, especially strategic routes to the west. According to data released by China, 85% of China's imports and 90% of exports each year need to be transported by sea, 60% of which need to pass through the Indian Ocean. If the routes on the Indian Ocean cannot be defended, China will face the same problem, namely economic collapse.

Over the years, China has been working hard to acquire strategic strongholds in the Indian Ocean.

In addition to the Gwadar Port in Pakistan, China is in contact with Myanmar, hoping to obtain the right to use the Danlao Port in Myanmar through investment. Last year, China also sent a military delegation to visit Sri Lanka, visited Trincomali, and contacted the top leaders of Sri Lanka. However, China's strategic layout in the Indian Ocean is still not perfect, because there is still a lack of an important military port that can guard the Strait of Malacca and Sunda Straits.

Geographically speaking, Port Blair is an excellent choice.

As long as Singapore still turns to the United States, China must take over Port Blair, otherwise there will be no capital to compete with the United States for control of the Strait of Malacca.

After taking over Port Blair, China can at least gain the same influence as the United States.

It can be said that the strategic value of Port Blair exceeds that of Port Gwadar, and China has long been salivating.

Taking advantage of this conflict to capture Port Blair is definitely the main reason why China actively participates in the war.

The strategic issues are not complicated, but the tactical issues make Imai Tatsumura very troubled.

The "Akagi" cannot participate in the war, which will reduce the strength of the Indian-Japanese joint fleet by more than one-third. If the early warning aircraft carried by the "Akagi" is included, its combat effectiveness is equivalent to the entire Indian fleet. After the destruction of the joint fleet, Imai Tatsumura lost his flexibility in tactical choices. No matter which strait the Chinese fleet enters the Indian Ocean, the "Verat" cannot stand alone, and the other two Indian aircraft carriers cannot support the overall situation. If you want to defeat the Chinese fleet, you must concentrate on using three aircraft carriers and keep a close eye on a certain strait.

The question is, which strait will the Chinese fleet take?

A day ago, this was a problem, but now it is not a problem.

After the Thai government issued a strong protest, Imai Rimura had to believe that the Chinese fleet did not enter the Indian Ocean in the early morning of the 26th, but was active in the Gulf of Thailand. The attack aircraft group entered the Indian Ocean through Thailand, and the attack distance was exactly within the combat radius of the carrier-based fighter jets.

Since the Chinese fleet can invade the airspace of other countries, why can't the Indian fleet?

In this way, fleet deployment is no longer a problem.

As long as it can fly over Sumatra, the fleet can attack the Chinese fleet entering the Indian Ocean in the Andaman Sea and southwest of Sumatra.

So should we let the fleet go to the Andaman Sea, or to the southwest waters of Sumatra?

Judging from the previous deployment, the former is a better choice, and it can also be covered by the Andaman-Nicobar Islands with backing back to the Andaman-Nicobar Islands. But from a tactical point of view, this is not the best choice. If the Chinese fleet travels through the Malacca Strait, the Indian fleet will be the first to be hit. If the Chinese fleet walks through the Sunda Strait, it can quickly maneuver eastward, orbit the Andaman-Nicobar Islands beyond the strike range of the Indian fleet, and then bomb Blair Port, forcing the Indian fleet to maneuver southward and fight to the decisive battle on the battlefield chosen by the Chinese fleet.

This problem can only be solved by deploying to the southwest of Sumatra.

In this way, the Vikramadia and the Vikrat aircraft carrier must move south and meet with the Vikrat aircraft carrier battle group.

However, the Indian fleet commander firmly opposed doing so.

In this tactic of Imai Yoshimura, there is a very prominent feature, which is that it emphasizes the decisive battle of the fleet, and seizes the power of sea control through the decisive battle of the fleet. That is to say, the Indian fleet must defeat the Chinese fleet entering the Indian Ocean without relying on shore-based aviation forces.

There is no doubt that Imai Takami's tactical thinking is not wrong.

In naval battles, it is crucial to take the initiative. Any fleet can only win by attacking, and no fleet exists for defense.

The problem is, the Indian fleet commander thought it was too risky to do so.

In the final analysis, it is the Indian generals who have no confidence in their own strength and believe that they cannot defeat the Chinese fleet and should not fight the Chinese fleet without the support of the shore-based aviation force.

According to the Indian fleet commander's idea, he should retreat to the Bay of Bengal, operate under the cover of shore-based aviation, and use carrier-based fighters to cover the Port of Blair. As long as the Indian fleet is still active at sea, the Chinese fleet will not have the power to control the sea and will not dare to attack Port of Blair.

This tactical idea is correct, because the greatest value of the existence of the Indian fleet is to defend the Port of Blair. Even if the Chinese fleet blows the Port of Blair into ruins, as long as the Chinese Marines do not land, the Port of Blair is in the hands of India, and the Chinese fleet will have to stay in the eastern Indian Ocean.

Obviously, the biggest difference between the two commanders was on the purpose of the battle.

What Imai Rimura wants is absolute victory, while what Indian generals want is limited victory.
Chapter completed!