The first round of attacks by the US military used tactical anti-ship missiles.

The so-called "tactical anti-ship missile" is just a relative concept, not that this kind of anti-ship missile has a very close range and cannot launch an attack outside the defense zone.

As the fleet's regional air defense range expands, the range of anti-ship missiles has also increased.[]

Before the outbreak of World War III, except for some very few models, the other anti-ship missiles were above 500 kilometers.

Compared with heavy anti-ship missiles, the biggest difference between tactical anti-ship missiles is the cruise speed and warhead power.

In other aspects, especially in range, tactical anti-ship missiles are not worse than heavy anti-ship missiles, or they also have the ability to launch attacks outside the fleet's regional air defense network.

Of course, there are substantial differences in combat effectiveness between these two missiles.

For example, the cruise flight speed of heavy anti-ship missiles is about Mach 8, and it only takes six minutes to fly 500 kilometers, while the tactical anti-ship missile takes forty minutes. Therefore, the time when the tactical anti-ship missile is exposed to the regional air defense missile interception stage is seven times that of the heavy anti-ship missile. In addition, thanks to the faster flight speed, the warhead of the heavy anti-ship missile can fly at more than Mach 10 in the penetration stage, while the warhead of the tactical anti-ship missile is only Mach 4, which is 60% lower.

The result is that tactical anti-ship missiles are less efficient than heavy anti-ship missiles.

At that time, the US Air Force dispatched 600 fighter jets, not 400, but about 200 escort fighter jets, and only 400 fighter jets were performing attack missions. This is the tactical experience provided by the US Navy, that is, escort fighter jets must exceed the target air defense fighter jets, otherwise the attack effect will not be much better. The US military believes that the attack is the main fleet, so it arranged the escort fighter jets accordingly.

Later, many people believed that if the US military made a correct judgment, the Second Fleet would be finished.

Of course, this is just speculation.

You should know that the air defense force of the Second Fleet is equivalent to two aircraft carrier battle groups, and one aircraft carrier battle group has the ability to fight against more than two thousand anti-ship missiles. Even if the tests conducted by the Chinese Navy are moist, that is, the air defense warships are in an ideal state, and it is equivalent to the air defense force of the two aircraft carrier battle groups, and it is not a problem to deal with more than one thousand anti-ship missiles. More importantly, because there is no need to cover the aircraft carrier, the air defense formation of the Second Fleet is in the best state, and can put the combat effectiveness of the forty-eight sets of last-stage defense systems on eight large integrated warships to the limit.

Of course, the Second Fleet also has its flaws, that is, the eight large comprehensive warships are all ground strike configurations.

Interestingly, actual combat proves that whether there are regional air defense missiles, or how many regional air defense missiles, has little impact on intercepting anti-ship missiles.

The reason was very simple. At that time, there were no early warning aircraft over the Second Fleet.

In other words, large comprehensive warships can only use their own radar to detect and lock targets, while the radar on the warship has a maximum locking distance of anti-ship missiles flying over seas of only 40 kilometers, while the range of medium-range air defense missiles, as the main force, can reach 60 kilometers.

At that time, the fourteen warships of the Second Fleet had medium-range air defense missiles.

In fact, medium-range air defense missiles are not very effective, because tactical anti-ship missiles will separate the warheads when they are about 30 kilometers away from the target and accelerate the warheads to Mach 4, so the combat time left for medium-range air defense missiles is only about thirty seconds.

During this period, each warship can only conduct missile interception at most once.

Immediately afterwards, we entered the final anti-missile operation stage.

At this time, the last defense system on eight large comprehensive warships began to show its power.

At that time, the scale of the US attack aircraft group was too large, and the Air Force's fighter jets were scattered on more than ten airports. Therefore, when launching the attack, it was divided into more than ten batches. Not all attack aircraft groups dropped missiles at the same time, and not all attack aircraft groups had the same distance from the target. This resulted in a result. The approximately 1,700 tactical anti-ship missiles dropped by more than 400 US fighters arrived in more than ten batches within five minutes, giving the Second Fleet sufficient interception opportunities.

If all anti-ship missiles arrive at the same time, the Second Fleet will definitely die without a burial place.

You should know that even the warheads flying at four Mach speeds can break through the ten-kilometer final interception area in less than ten seconds. At that time, the last interception system could only fire at most six times within ten seconds. In theory, a warship could only intercept thirty-six warheads at most, but in reality it was only about half, because not all the last interception systems were heading towards the missile.

Only when missiles arrive in batches can the last interception system work.

Fortunately, in 2053, it was almost impossible to get thousands of anti-ship missiles to arrive at the same time because there were difficult technical problems. It would take three years before communication technology has made a major breakthrough before it can organize anti-ship missiles to arrive at the same time within seconds.

For the Second Fleet, five minutes is definitely enough.

You should know that there are three hundred seconds in five minutes, and a set of end defense systems can fire 150 times. In the direction of the missile attack, at least four warships can engage in battle, and each warship has at least three final defense systems that can fire, that is, twelve final defense systems can intercept incoming missiles, and a total of 1,800 fires can be fired. Even if some anti-ship missiles break through the defense line, they will be intercepted by the last defense system on nearby friendly ships and intercepted by the rear anti-submarine warships before approaching the target.

At that time, there were also final interception systems on the six anti-submarine warships, but one only had two sets.

Although it is not as good as a large comprehensive warship, it is more than enough to deal with fish that misses the net.

In these five minutes, in addition to using about 300,000 70-mm electromagnetic cannon shells, the Second Fleet only allowed the terminal defense system on four large integrated warships in the direction of the missile to run for five minutes, causing eight final defense systems to malfunction due to overheating.

Fortunately, the Chinese Navy has learned its lesson and provided repair equipment for warships.

What the Second Fleet needs to do is to immediately replace the liquid nitrogen cooling system for the faulty final defense system after the battle is over, and then conduct firepower tests. If the cooling system fails due to excessive combat, this move can eliminate the fault.

In fact, half an hour later, the Second Fleet solved the failure of eight final defense systems.

As for ammunition, it is not a problem, because there are two fast combat support ships in the fleet.

This air defense battle like a target shot not only made Tong Shaoyun feel relieved, but also made the US pilot who was observing the attack results in a distance take a breath.

It was not until the battle ended that the US pilots believed the facts they saw.

You know, in the past five minutes, the Second Fleet was like a huge hedgehog, using dense spikes to dismantle the US missile attack.

When the smoke of gunpowder dissipated, the sixteen warships were still sailing southeastward at a speed of forty-five knots.

The attack failed completely, and the US pilot immediately reported the situation.

At that time, the commander of the US Air Force could not believe it at all. It was not until the fighter plane responsible for identifying the attack results sent back high-resolution battlefield images that the US military commander had to admit that the attack operation did not receive any results, and the Chinese fleet unsurprisingly dismantled the US missile attack.

Of course, at this time, the US military also discovered that they were not attacking the main fleet with aircraft carriers as the core, but an ordinary fleet with only eight large comprehensive warships, six anti-submarine warships and two fast combat support ships. There was no aircraft carrier in the fleet at all.

The news was delivered to the U.S. Third Fleet, and Nixon immediately took a breath of air conditioning.

For a moment, he couldn't even understand what the Chinese Navy wanted to do.

Send a fleet without aircraft carriers to a place less than a thousand kilometers away from the Solomon Islands, whether to fight or demonstrate to the US military?

Judging from the attack results, it was more like a demonstration.

Of course, Nixon immediately realized a more serious problem, that is, the whereabouts of the main fleet of the Chinese Navy were unknown, and perhaps it was not far away.

Now, Nixon hesitated even more.

At 1:20, the US military command of the Solomon Islands sent another telegram, and the fighter jets and reconnaissance aircraft sent to the Chinese fleet encountered carrier-based fighters of the Chinese Navy and had been driven away by Chinese fighters. In other words, the Chinese main fleet must be nearby.

Ten minutes later, the US Air Force commander sent another telegram to Nixon asking the Third Fleet to launch an attack.

Although Nixon did not obey the obligation to order the US Air Force, French had long authorized him and said that he only obeyed the orders of the Pacific Fleet Command, in this telegram, the US Air Force mentioned one thing, that is, it was actively mobilizing strategic bombers deployed in Australia, and it was expected to attack the Chinese fleet at 6 pm, so the third fleet needed to launch an attack during this period.

To be precise, it is to let the Third Fleet launch an attack to weaken the air defense power of the Chinese fleet.

More importantly, the whereabouts of the Chinese fleet must be monitored, because in the next few hours, the Chinese fleet can sail about 400 kilometers. If the third fleet does not undertake the surveillance mission, the US Air Force will have to arrange reconnaissance missions again before using strategic bombers.

Obviously, this will definitely delay the evening attack.

In fact, this telegram did not convince Nixon because he felt that even if he wanted to attack the Chinese fleet, it should be arranged behind strategic bombers.

The reason is very simple. Strategic bombers can only use heavy anti-ship missiles to attack the Chinese fleet.

Regardless of whether the heavy anti-ship missiles pose a threat to the Chinese fleet or not, the subsequent use of carrier-based fighter jets to launch an attack will definitely achieve good results.

It was not until 1:50 that the order from Pearl Harbor made Nixon decide to launch an attack.
Chapter completed!