Munitions Empire

"Have the fighter jet units patrolling above the fleet disperse! Increase the search range! Use the fleet as the center and expand the search towards due south, due north, due east, due west, as well as southeast, southwest, northeast, northwest in eight directions!" John Cleves, already somewhat at a loss, issued the order.

He had a suspicion that the attack his fleet just suffered might not have been anti-ship missiles launched by the Tang Empire's fleet.

After all, he was very familiar with the Great Tang Group's modus operandi. Generally, the Tang Empire would reserve some trump cards for itself, and this was almost a regular practice.

This time, the Tang Empire's trump card... might very well be air-launched anti-ship missiles! John Cleves was not stubborn. After confirming that there was no Tang Army fleet in the suspicious direction, he had similar doubts.

If the missiles were launched by Tang Country's aircraft, then many issues would be explained: why he couldn't find the near-at-hand Tang Empire fleet, and why the Tang Empire navy commander would be so bold as to let his anti-ship missiles initiate the attack first.

The first question is easy to explain; the enemy sent aircraft, so of course they couldn't be found. The second question is also easy to explain... Damn, the enemy commander didn't even deploy his own fleet, so there's no issue of being bold or not. They didn't take any risks, so where does boldness come from?

But following this inference further, John Cleves found he couldn't analyze any deeper: if the enemy's carrier-based aircraft could launch anti-ship missiles, then the enemy fleet's position would be difficult to determine.

He grabbed the report from the submarine troops he had inadvertently received before the battle broke out, which read that they had seen Tang Empire's aircraft...

What kind of aircraft was it? What was the opponent doing by launching aircraft from over 600 kilometers, close to 700 kilometers away? This was yet another confusing question.

Which aircraft carrier would launch carrier-based aircraft to fly behind itself? So two hours ago... the enemy's aircraft carrier group was still over 600 kilometers away?

Something's not right, the enemy's carrier strike range exceeds 600 kilometers? How could that be possible? If true, then what's the point of fighting this battle?

At this point, John Cleves suddenly realized a serious problem: Damn, how could this Tang Empire fleet so accurately determine the position of his combined fleet?

Logically speaking, the opposing forces, coming from afar, shouldn't have been able to so accurately pinpoint the location of the combined fleet. Even if they knew the general location, they would need continuous reconnaissance to determine the fleet's movements.

After receiving the telegram from the submarine, he changed his course, yet the opposing forces launched the first wave of attack in such a short time, which doesn't make sense!

Are there submarines following his fleet? Not likely... how can submarines keep up with surface ship formations? That means... there's very likely an aircraft continuously tracking them.

But with dozens of Pirate Fighter jets patrolling overhead, they still couldn't find that Tang Country aircraft? Is the opponent invisible?

Chances are... that aircraft isn't overhead of his fleet! It might have radar! This was the only explanation John Cleves could think of!

Thinking of this, he realized that the Tang Empire's radar had become so small it could be mounted on an aircraft? This was terrifying! The opponent could continually monitor his fleet from over a hundred kilometers away and easily avoid the searching aircraft... Just thinking about it was terrifying.

The problem now was that even if many things had been speculated, there was actually no method to break the deadlock. Even with the most conservative estimates of Tang Country's technology, the combined fleet couldn't lock onto their opponent.

With no option, he could only blindly expand his search range in hopes of quickly locating the enemy's troops, be it aircraft or fleet, to make a decision only after seeing something, right?

At this point, he felt a bit nostalgic for his fleet's radar: originally, these radars could provide accurate intelligence within dozens of kilometers nearby, and could even detect incoming missiles... But now, his fleet's radars were all a flurry of snow, unable to see anything clearly.

"Report anything you see immediately! No need for engagement, just ensure the message gets back!" John Cleves supplemented a few minutes later.

He didn't order the Stukas in formation to head towards the original direction, as it had been proven to be empty. However, he couldn't wait too long, as the Stuka's loiter time wasn't long either; he needed to make a quick decision.

Clenching his teeth, the combined fleet's commander continued to issue orders: "Arm the ground crews with missiles! Prepare the second wave of attack aircraft for takeoff!"

He worried that Tang People's fleet couldn't be found in a short time, so he had to prepare for the second counterattack. If the first batch of attack aircraft ran out of fuel, then the second wave of carrier-based aircraft would carry out the attack! After all, he had enough aircraft to arrange for more waves of attack.

While John Cleves was showing off his micro-management to the air, the Great Tang Empire Navy's second wave of carrier-based aircraft had already taken advantage of their speed superiority, changed directions, and formed the attack formation.

Guided by the early warning aircraft, they easily avoided the aimlessly searching combined fleet Pirate Fighters.

The direction in which the combined fleet deployed a large number of fighters to search was completely opposite to the direction the Great Tang Empire's second wave of attack took, keeping the Great Tang Empire's assault formation calm and composed.

There's no help for it, the technology they possessed far exceeded the opponent's estimated level, so their advantage was indeed immeasurably large.

In modern warfare, the advantage of a technological gap was becoming apparent, and strategies based on force and numerical superiority could no longer compensate for a qualitative advantage in naval and aerial combat.

In the sky, one Harpoon Anti-Ship Missile after another left a white contrail, while over a hundred kilometers away. Like the first wave of attack, Tang Army's aircraft returned after deploying all their carried anti-ship missiles, and on the other side, the combined fleet's warships, countless sailors were unaware that the enemy had already launched an attack on them.

They heard that several warships had been damaged and sunk in another direction, but that was just hearsay; they hadn't seen it with their own eyes nor experienced that state of despair.

These captains and their sailors hadn't even seen Dorne's aircraft carrier being sunk because they were on the outer edge of the fleet and in a relatively rear position.