.Chapter 66: True and False Hero

Although Nixon insisted that he did not think about abandoning the Fourth Fleet, but launched a rescue operation as soon as possible, according to some clues provided by the Third Fleet Command staff after the war, Nixon had already planned to abandon the Fourth Fleet at around 7 o'clock on the 26th. Urban Rebirth Novel Ranking List

At that time, Nixon had arranged all the inclined rotary wing aircraft and helicopters in the fleet to rescue the officers and soldiers who fell into the water, and drafted an order to send to the attack nuclear submarines landing behind, requiring the evacuation of the fourth fleet to sink the warships that had not yet sunk after the fleet was evacuated.

However, before issuing this order, the Pentagon's order was sent over.

After receiving the telegram from Major General Reagan, General Jordan immediately issued an order to Nixon without thinking, asking him to do his best to save the Fourth Fleet, cover the damaged warships to Digo Garcia, and assist the Fourth Fleet in searching and rescuing the officers and soldiers who fell into the water during the battle.

Now, Nixon couldn't escape.

According to the Third Fleet Communications Staff, when receiving a telegram from Jordan, Nixon said: "The Third Fleet embarked on the road to no return."

There is no doubt that this sentence is not an exaggeration.

What led to this result was the telegram sent by Major General Reagan.

At that time, Reagan did not clearly state the situation of the Fourth Fleet, but mentioned that it was severely damaged and needed emergency support and assistance from the Third Fleet. In other words, Admiral Jordan was not aware that the Fourth Fleet had lost 80% of its escort warships, and all three aircraft carriers were severely damaged, so there was no possibility of escorting the battlefield. It can be said that even if the task force no longer took action, the Chinese Navy's anti-submarine patrol aircraft, or a Chinese submarine that happened to arrive, could kill the remaining warships in the Fourth Fleet, so these warships had no value to save.

After the war, many people believed that if General Jordan had learned about the actual situation, he would not have allowed the Third Fleet to stay.

Of course, this is all afterthought.

Judging from the situation at that time, even if General Jordan knew that the Fourth Fleet had lost its value of rescue, it was very likely that the Third Fleet would stay. The main reason was that General Jordan had to be responsible for this naval battle, and he definitely did not want to see such a tragic ending. In his opinion, as long as the Third Fleet still had relatively complete combat capabilities, he would have the opportunity to counterattack and turn the situation around in one fell swoop.

In other words, if Jordan is in charge of the Third Fleet in the future, he will stay.

Of course, his approach is definitely different from that of Brigadier General Nixon, because he will not take a defensive position, but will fight back against the Chinese fleet at the first time.

Interestingly, when the US War Commission investigated this naval battle, General Jordan deliberately concealed the fact that Reagan did not clearly state the situation in the telegram, but insisted that the Fourth Fleet had the value of rescue. As a result, after being lifted from the charge of ineffective combat, Brigadier General Nixon not only received a "Medal of Honor of Congress", but was also promoted to a Rear Admiral and continued to serve as the fleet commander. Read the full text of the Burning Ocean.

Obviously, General Jordan concealed the facts not to exaggerate Nixon, nor to make Nixon a hero.

Judging from the situation at that time, General Jordan was still afraid to take responsibility, because as long as the truth was announced, he would have to bear the highest responsibility for his defeat in the battle.

In other words, Nixon's award and promotion was just a result of Admiral Jordan's unintentional act.

Of course, this also pushed the Third Fleet into the abyss.

After receiving the order, Nixon gave up the idea of ​​retreating, but did not choose to fight back because he had already obtained a relatively accurate battle report and concluded that the Chinese fleet still had about 300 fighter jets. More importantly, the Chinese fleet's onshore-based fighter jets was within the cover range of the onshore-based fighter jets, so the air defense capability was definitely extremely strong, and the fighter jets of the Third Fleet could not threaten the Chinese fleet at all.

Nixon's tactic is: to strengthen air defense with all its might.

It can be said that this is a pretty wise decision, even if it is a timid and fearful battle.

You should know that, under the circumstances at that time, if Nixon decided to launch a counterattack, the attack aircraft group of the Third Fleet would be consumed by the fighter jets sent by the Chinese Air Force without any suspense. The speed of the Third Fleet was far less than that of the task force, and it would be impossible to escape from the task force's strike range in time. Next, the 280 fighter jets in Mu Haoyang's hand could kill the Third Fleet without any obstruction.

In fact, Gong Jifei later mentioned that Mu Haoyang refused to launch a second round of attack immediately, hoping that the US military could launch a counterattack in despair.

However, Gong Jifei's statement was not recognized by Mu Haoyang.

This rumor is just deliberately improving Mu Haoyang's status, or making his image bigger.

According to Mu Haoyang himself, he had already determined that the Third Fleet would not launch a counterattack, so he had no hope of the Third Fleet to launch a counterattack.

The problem is, in Nixon's view, it is not enough to strengthen air defense.

The strike capabilities of China's carrier-based fighter jets are obvious to all. Nixon will not have any fantasies, and the Third Fleet's air defense network may not be unbreakable.

As a result, he sent only four anti-submarine destroyers to the Fourth Fleet.

At 7:20, the Third Fleet turned south.

According to Nixon's deployment, the Third Fleet will pass from the south of the Fourth Fleet. Even if the Chinese fleet launches another attack, the attack fleet will first reach the air above the Fourth Fleet. In his opinion, as long as the Chinese fighter pilot finds that the Fourth Fleet's warship has not completely sunk, he will first attack the Fourth Fleet. To put it bluntly, Nixon blocked the paralyzed Fourth Fleet into a flesh shield. The novel rankings are completed.

The problem is that with the orders of Admiral Jordan, the Third Fleet could not leave.

In this way, after bypassing the Fourth Fleet, the Third Fleet still had to slow down and take the warships that had lost their combat capabilities to Digo Garcia.

At that time, Nixon issued an order to the staff: to clear the waterway for the Fourth Fleet.

This is reasonable, because the Fourth Fleet is almost paralyzed, in addition to considering air threats, they also have to consider threats from the sea. Because the Third Fleet also has relatively complete combat power, the Chinese fleet has to be wary of it, so the Chinese Navy is likely to use submarines to lead the Fourth Fleet. More importantly, if the Chinese Navy finds that the Fourth Fleet is retreating to Digo Garcia, it is more likely that the submarine will be finalized. To put it accurately, it should be to send the submarine to ambush on the route of the Fourth Fleet and then launch a sudden attack.

In this way, the Third Fleet had to shoulder the important task of expelling Chinese submarines in the front.

What's ridiculous is that Nixon was later considered to have made a major sacrifice for his friendly forces because of this incident similar to escaping, and he was also awarded the highest level of honor Medal of Beauty.

You should know that according to Nixon's arrangement, the Third Fleet can only reach the west of the Fourth Fleet at the early morning of the 27th.

In other words, at night when the third fleet will be most susceptible to air strikes and the most susceptible to submarine ambushing, the third fleet will stay south of the fourth fleet.

There is no doubt that this is much safer.

In short, Nixon's first consideration was not to protect the Fourth Fleet, but how to protect himself.

Of course, he also did some very important or very propaganda things.

After eight o'clock, the inclined rotary wing plane sent by Nixon took Major General Reagan, who was seriously frightened, but had only scratched his scalp. Nixon just went to visit Major General Reagan, who was unruly, and then arranged the Major General in a separate cabin.

At this time, the tilted rotary wing aircraft and helicopters sent by the Third Fleet were working hard to search and rescue officers and soldiers who fell into the water, especially those pilots who were shot down while defending the Fourth Fleet. However, Nixon did not send planes to rescue the attack aircraft pilots who were shot down on the way to the attack task force. As a result, most of these pilots were drowned or eaten by sharks. Only seven pilots were discovered by an anti-submarine patrol aircraft of the Chinese Navy three days later, and then rescued by the Chinese Navy's seaplane.

It is not only the officers and soldiers who fall into the water that need to be rescued.

In fact, what Nixon should do most at that time was to rescue the officers and soldiers on the warships that were destined to sink as much as possible.

You should know that officers and soldiers are priceless treasures of the navy, and warships are consumables.

Unfortunately, Jordan's order prevents Nixon from doing this. Supernatural Novels Ranking

On the night of the 26th, the inclined rotary wing aircraft and helicopter sent by the Third Fleet only took away the officers and soldiers on the three escort warships. Because the three escort warships had completely lost their rescue value, the captain issued an order to abandon the ship, and the officers and soldiers were waiting for rescue.

It was in the early morning of the 27th that the four anti-submarine destroyers sent by Nixon arrived at the Fourth Fleet.

Operation rescue begins immediately.

The three destroyers provided electricity to three aircraft carriers that had already seriously infiltrated water in a one-on-one manner, and also provided water pumps for the aircraft carriers.

Fortunately, the US destroyers are also nuclear-powered and are equipped with enough water pumps.

With the help of three destroyers, the water inlet of the three aircraft carriers has eased and the reactor has been restarted. The officers and soldiers are working hard to restore the aircraft carrier's navigation capabilities.

There is only one destroyer responsible for searching the officers and soldiers who fell into the water and rescuing other seriously damaged warships.

Obviously, the rescue efforts of the Third Fleet were very limited. Some captains of the Fourth Fleet later claimed that if the Third Fleet could send a few more destroyers, the results would be very different.

However, the calls of these captains were not valued by anyone.

Before dawn, seven seriously damaged escort warships had sank. Because the rescue planes were too busy, the officers and soldiers of four of the warships were transferred to the destroyers of the Third Fleet. The result was that Nixon had to send four destroyers to the Fourth Fleet again before dawn to replace the four already overcrowded destroyers. The problem was that the four anti-submarine destroyers would not be able to return until the newly dispatched destroyers arrived. That is to say, in the next few hours, the Third Fleet would have only one anti-submarine destroyer.

Although multi-purpose destroyers also have anti-submarine capabilities, they are certainly not as good as anti-submarine destroyers.

Nixon's arrangement brought the anti-submarine power of the Third Fleet to a very dangerous level. You should know that all the inclined rotary wing aircraft and helicopters of the Third Fleet used to perform anti-submarine missions were performing search and rescue missions. Apart from the one anti-submarine destroyer left behind, there were only three anti-submarine patrol aircraft on the aircraft carriers.

Volume 2 Crazy Prelude Chapter 67 New Attack Method

Chapter 67 New Attack Method

On the morning of the 27th, heavy fog broke out on the sea, and the visibility was less than 200 meters.

This is a very rare thing in the waters adjacent to the equator. It is only after global natural disasters that various abnormal climate phenomena are common. Climatologists have made a very pessimistic prediction that local climates around the world will not be fully restored until at least the end of this century.

The rare heavy fog has caused trouble to the rescue operations at sea.

The four destroyers filled with people had to get closer to the damaged warships that were in urgent need of rescue, and temporarily stopped searching for officers and soldiers who fell into the water. After a whole night of search, many officers and soldiers who fell into the water were still not found. The Burning Ocean Reading Online The activity area of ​​the Fourth Fleet is too wide, which increases the difficulty of search and rescue work, and also makes the officers and soldiers on the destroyers exhausted. Many people have been working for two consecutive days.

Before nine o'clock, a roar came from the air, and in an instant it disappeared into the thick fog in the south.

The officers and soldiers on the destroyer didn't care, because planes were wandering nearby all night, and from time to time there were tilted rotary wing aircraft full of officers and soldiers falling into the water to return to the third fleet. Although some officers and soldiers with more sensitive ears heard it, it was not the sound of the tilted rotary wing aircraft, which was very different from the noise of helicopters, and it was more like the roar of fighter planes, but they didn't care about it. They only knew that in three hours, the second batch of destroyers would arrive, and they could return to the safe rear and have a good rest.

At this time, the second batch of four destroyers sent by Brigadier General Nixon had left the Third Fleet.

On the way to the Fourth Fleet, the officers and soldiers on these destroyers also saw fighter jets passing by the nearby sea. However, the fighter jets were too fast, and the US officers and soldiers disappeared under the sea antenna before they could recognize them. The four destroyers continued to sail north, and the US officers and soldiers did not seem to feel anything wrong.

After nine o'clock, the early warning aircraft hovering over the Third Fleet discovered the fighter.

At first, the guides on the early warning aircraft did not feel alert because the Third Fleet dispatched a squadron's reconnaissance aircraft before dawn. Although in terms of time, the reconnaissance aircraft should return at around 10 o'clock, it is inevitable that some fighter jets will fail during the flight and have to return in advance. According to the scheduled procedures, the early warning aircraft sends an inquiry signal and requires the approaching fighter jet to indicate their identity.

It was at this time that the US military realized that the danger was approaching.

After five consecutive inquiries, the fighter did not answer and was still galloping south at an ultra-low altitude at a speed of nearly Mach 2.

At 9:15, the early warning aircraft issued an alarm.

But, it's too late.

Before the US air defense fighter arrived, the fighter had climbed to a height of 4,000 meters, and the Third Fleet was thirty kilometers ahead of it.

Here, there is no fog on the sea and the sky is cloudless.

At this distance, the pilot can see the fleet 30 kilometers away with his naked eyes, not to mention that there are advanced photoelectric detection equipment on the fighter jets.

Half a minute later, the US warship intercepted the radio signal sent by the fighter plane.

Immediately, the approaching air defense fighter discovered that it was a fighter of the Chinese Navy, and it was a j-33 that was only in large quantities after the Second Indian Ocean War.

The battle begins immediately, just intercepting j-33 is not easy.

After sending the telegram, j-33 rushed to the sea again, and increased the speed to about Mach 2 again, and completed a very difficult small radius turn at an ultra-low altitude, with a maximum overload of 18 g, and maintained the flight altitude, so it did not stall and fell into the sea.

Obviously, US fighter jets cannot do such maneuvering actions.

More importantly, the maximum flight speed of the US carrier-based fighter jet developed on the basis of the F-44 can only reach Mach 1.6, which is similar to the J-32 and much worse than the J-33. The result is that the US fighter jet does not dive, but pursues at an altitude of 5,000 meters, because only at this altitude can the flight speed of the US fighter jet reach Mach 2.

This height difference determines everything.
To be continued...