The combined fleet was in vain on Ocean Island, and Taniguchi Naozhen, who was holding back his anger, decided to enter the Bohai Bay directly from the Laotieshan Waterway.
As a precaution against possible pincer attacks from Dalian and Penglai, he ordered the battleships "Ise" and "Fuso" to suppress the Dalian waters, and the heavy cruisers "Hiei" and "King Kong" to deploy defenses at the center line of the Bohai Strait. Cover the Third Fleet with the "Izumo" armored cruiser as its flagship and a large number of light cruisers and destroyers heading into the bay.
The Laotieshan Waterway is the passage in and out of the Bohai Bay. The straight-line distance from Dalian to Penglai is 122 kilometers. Such a long distance is beyond the range of Chinese artillery. Even if we count the artillery on Beihuangcheng Island, which is closest to the waterway, it is still more than 40 kilometers away from the southern entrance of Dalian. This distance is still beyond the reach of China's artillery force.
The maximum range is 22 kilometers! If the Chinese shore artillery units had not lured the enemy deeper into the oceanic islands, they would have only allowed the Japanese ships to launch long-range bombardments beyond their 22-kilometer range.
This is something the Japanese army felt they could take advantage of. After understanding the advantages and disadvantages of shore guns on ocean islands, they believed that they could abandon shore guns and use warships. Drive directly to the cities of Tianjin, Qinhuangdao, and Yingkou, and see if your fleet can still be a tortoise! And as long as the Chinese warships cannot help but come out to challenge, it will be a one-sided massacre and nothing else.
This is also the weakness of the Chinese Navy.
In any case, the Bohai Bay, as an inland sea and surrounded by important places such as Chinese industry, shipbuilding, railways, and military centers, is the largest artery in northern China. If the Japanese fleet interferes here, although it will not cause chaos, it will definitely lead to a smoky atmosphere. Yes, it will also have a certain psychological impact on China's war against Japan.
To be honest, when the Chinese reconnaissance plane discovered the Japanese ship's attempt, the entire Bohai Fleet headquarters fell into silence.
The flagship "Hai Chen" of the First Destroyer Fleet has actually sunk. The other destroyers with insufficient strength can only hide in the Changdao Islands with dense shore artillery and wait for opportunities. It is impossible to rely on them to hit the ground;
The Second Destroyer Fleet is not used for decisive battles at sea, and an old light cruiser "Haiqi" ??and 15 gunboats of several hundred tons can only be targets for Japanese ships, and they are now at Qingdao's home port and serve as offshore for defensive purposes;
The only thing we can count on is the three ships "Hairong", "Haichou" and "Yingrui" that were refitted at Huludao Shipyard. They are all based on the blueprint of the Young Marshal's new navy, which updated the old coal-fired boilers to oil-fired boilers. The purpose is to enable them to run faster and keep up with the pace of the new destroyers.
The switch to using all petroleum products as fuel for warships began in the 1920s. Until now, some relatively large conventionally powered warships still use this fuel - heavy oil, which is petroleum refined into light oils such as gasoline, diesel, and kerosene. The heavy oil obtained will be refined later, and then it will become asphalt.
Although coal has advantages in content and price, it is not as good as heavy oil in critical performance aspects such as volume, transportation and handling, combustion value, and burning speed. Therefore, battleships using heavy oil have fast speed, good acceleration, long range, and carry capacity. The ammunition capacity is large and the advantages are obvious.
This advantage was adopted by Zhang Hanqing when he first developed the navy: new destroyers burned oil, and large-tonnage old cruisers were gradually replaced to keep their combat effectiveness advancing with the times.
This is crucial to the future development of the Chinese navy, which means that China is directly standing at a relatively high starting point. These ideas, like the decision-making of aviation as the main force, are the bridge for the Chinese navy to achieve leapfrog development.
The gradual improvement of China¡¯s oil exploration capabilities and total volume is the economic basis for the transition from coal to oil.
The original plan of the Navy was to wait until these three ships were refitted before updating the "Haichen", "Haiqi" ??and other ships. However, the war started early, and only the lonely "Haichen" was watched. The Japanese warships were brutally slaughtered, and the "Haiqi" ??was hiding in Qingdao Port in isolation.
After the war started, the three ships all accelerated their modifications and completed their tasks ahead of schedule. However, even if three ships join, can they prevent the Japanese ships from entering? The Navy also counts on them as training ships to train captains.
At this time, Huang Shewang, who had already shown his talent, asked for help again: "Commander, the only one we have an asymmetric advantage is the naval aviation. It's time to let these young people show their faces again. As far as I know, there are less than 100 people on the Japanese aircraft carrier." There are 40 carrier-based aircraft, and we have a superior air force composed of a water wing and two bomber groups, with a number of no less than 200 aircraft.
And we also have the advantages of range and bomb load. Against dense warships, Army bombers can also assist in threatening them. If a large-scale attack was carried out against Japanese ships, it is still unknown whether they would dare to go deep into the narrow Bohai Sea. "
Submarine commander Wang Chuanjiong expressed support:"According to the young marshal's vision for the development of the navy, air, submarine and speed are the mainstream at this stage of our life. There are people who can fly in the sky, and it would be even better if there are people who can swim underwater, and it can also test our training results in previous years. . As the main force in the attack war, the submarine force should also take action."
This is a way. Because the Chinese naval aviation, especially the Yuh-1, all take off from land, they inherently carry more fuel and bombs than the aircraft taking off from the narrow deck of the Japanese aircraft carrier. Even in later generations, carrier-based aircraft are still slightly inferior to land-based aircraft with the same configuration.
Coupled with submarines, if something is gained, the Japanese warships will be worried about going deep. Anyway, the fleet can't be counted on. If the Japanese ships break in, the north will definitely be shaken. What's the point of keeping the aviation force at that time? So Shen Honglie and Song Changzhi looked at each other and nodded solemnly.
"It is said to be an attack, but in fact it is to delay or deter the Japanese army from entering with death. Considering the wooden fuselage and slow speed of the Chinese aircraft, in front of the Japanese fleet armed to the teeth, it is probably a matter of life or death, right? Otherwise, for the cost of one warship, at least hundreds to thousands of such aircraft can be produced. If they are easily defeated by such cheap aircraft, why bother spending so much money to build warships?
This theory has its flaws. The main reason is that it cannot see the prospects for the rapid development of the aviation industry and the huge progress in aircraft technology. Comparing already mature warships with nascent and relatively primitive aircraft, one would naturally come to the conclusion that aircraft are inferior to warships.
But after aircraft evolve to a certain level, within ten years, the balance of the world's military community will rapidly tilt towards aircraft. Of course, the cost ratio between aircraft and warships at this time has been greatly reduced.
When a single aircraft, or even a single squadron, competes with any Japanese warship, it will be an egg against a stone. Therefore, the Naval Aviation Command of the Bohai Fleet mobilized almost all water jets - 126 in one wing - to disrupt the sight of the Japanese warships. The real trump card is the two Yuh-1 brigades, a total of 82 aircraft equipped with torpedoes. (Remember the website address: www.hlnovel.com