Empire Conquest
Chapter 183 - 179: Spurring the Horse

Chapter 183: Chapter 179: Spurring the Horse

The last bomb exploded in the sea behind the "Imperial Capital," and after a while, once Bai Zhizhan confirmed the bombing had ended, he sighed deeply.

Level bombing from high altitude, isn’t that a joke?

The Empire Navy had conducted tests long ago, letting dozens of ship-borne aircraft drop bombs from altitudes of 3000 meters, 5000 meters, and 7000 meters. The target was an area roughly the size and shape of a carrier’s flight deck, and the average accuracy rate was still less than one percent.

Even when the bombing altitude was reduced to 2000 meters, the accuracy rate didn’t significantly improve.

Considering the carrier would be moving rapidly and might turn to evade during the bomber’s drop, the accuracy rate in actual combat would definitely be even lower.

It was basically impossible to hit the target.

That was exactly why the Navy had always been uninterested in bombers equipped with multiple engines and had never even considered purchasing a few for trial. In the Empire Navy, except for transport planes, the only aircraft equipped with multiple engines were those primarily used for long-range patrols.

Relief was one thing, but Bai Zhizhan did not let his guard down.

After the battle ended, Bai Zhizhan immediately ordered four light cruisers to return at full speed and tasked the Wei Jun with leading four heavy cruisers to finish off the fleeing Saiyi warships.

In the initial battle, one Saiyi heavy cruiser was sunk by a torpedo, one was crippled after severe damage, and the other two turned and fled after being hit.

Bai Zhizhan made this arrangement not only to completely eliminate the threat but also to alleviate the combat load on the Air Force.

Subsequently, Bai Zhizhan personally issued an order to Li Yunxiang.

After the carrier completed its turn, bombers and torpedo bombers were to take off immediately, with the first two bombers equipped with auxiliary fuel tanks replacing reconnaissance aircraft that would definitely have to turn back before nine o’clock because they were running out of fuel, ensuring that the following ship-borne aircraft could successfully find the transport fleet.

This arrangement was also a necessity.

Previously, considering the need to guide the Attack Aircraft Group to launch an attack after dawn, the reconnaissance torpedo bombers were all equipped with auxiliary fuel tanks and took off overloaded. Even so, these torpedo bombers would still have to return before nine o’clock; otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to make it back.

There was also a very important unforeseen factor.

To avoid the four heavy cruisers coming from the north, the two carriers had sprinted south for over two hours, traveling over a hundred kilometers.

This meant that the reconnaissance aircraft’s flight distance back would increase by over a hundred kilometers!

This also impacted the ship-borne aircraft carrying out the attack missions.

The critical thing was that the Saiyi Navy’s transport fleet was moving toward Nagiu Port, that is, in the northwest direction.

At dawn, the distance between the two sides was less than three hundred kilometers.

Now, it had exceeded four hundred kilometers!

Even if "Typhoon" was not needed for bombing missions, the distance still seemed a bit far for "Flying Fish" and "Wasp."

The only option was to have the fleet turn northward.

Of course, this would be after the ship-borne aircraft had taken off.

Since the speed had already been reduced to twenty-four knots and the engine room chief strongly advised against increasing the speed, they had to sail into the wind to enable overloaded takeoffs for the ship-borne aircraft.

Fortunately, it was still a north wind blowing.

Every year in deep winter, it was almost always a north wind over the West East Ocean.

Indeed, this was also the reason why Bai Zhizhan had sent the Wei Jun with four heavy cruisers to clean up the Saiyi warships.

The two carriers had to turn north, therefore it was necessary to eliminate those few Saiyi Navy heavy cruisers.

Luckily, there were no other threats for the time being.

Now, the only ones capable of catching up to the Third Aviation Mixed Fleet and capable of defeating the four Wuzhou-class were the four High Bear-class from the Fourth Cruiser Corps, albeit several hundred kilometers away. Besides, the High Bear-class weren’t necessarily a match for the Wuzhou-class, at most they could be considered equals. The real threat, or rather the ones who actually could overpower the Wuzhou-class, were the four Jingang-class Fast Battleships. However, when the four Jingang-class could leave the Flame Sea and whether they could leave at all was still unknown.

As for aerial threats, they were non-existent as well.

About a hundred Type 96 land-attack aircraft had arrived, and fewer than ten had made it back. Even if the Saiyi Navy was financially robust, they couldn’t deploy more medium bombers in the short term. Just re-planning and organizing an attack would take several hours, and the bombers would need several more hours to fly over.

According to Bai Zhizhan’s assessment, there would be no danger before nightfall.

The real issue was after dark.

As expected, all enemy ships on the West East Ocean had received the message that the Third Aviation Mixed Fleet was here and about to turn back.

Now, the Third Aviation Mixed Fleet was like a damsel who had wandered into a desolate wilderness at midnight.

Even cloaked in a greatcoat, holding two large sabers, she couldn’t guard against a sudden shot from the dark.

How many Saiyi Navy submarines were lurking nearby?

During the day, the now reinvigorated destroyers posed a considerable threat to submarines, deterring them from acting rashly.

But at night, that changed.

It was also considering this issue that Bai Zhizhan felt they should press on top speed, aiming to end the battle by the morning and refuel in the afternoon, primarily allowing several destroyers to get fuel from the heavy cruisers, while carriers could seize this opportunity to service their engines.

If all went well, they would be able to increase their speed before nightfall.

The few hours in the afternoon were crucial.

Don’t forget, the Third Aviation Mixed Fleet’s warships were known for their sustained high-speed cruising capability, truly deserving their title as champions of long-distance running.

Actually, this was also a major characteristic of the Imperial Navy’s warships.

Compared to Newland Navy’s same-class warships, the Imperial Navy’s large warships often had faster cruising speeds, although their endurance was somewhat lacking, not enough to be considered outstanding.

If they could fully utilize the few hours in the afternoon, they could leave the dangerous waters before dark.

As for how to return to the Imperial mainland and which route to take back, Bai Zhizhan hadn’t considered that yet, and this issue was mainly a test for Li Mingbo.

Don’t forget, Li Mingbo was the Nautical Advisor of the Special Mixed Fleet.

Busy until about nine o’clock, the shipborne aircraft tasked with the attack mission began to take off.

Different from previous attack operations, these aircraft, once airborne, headed directly to the battlefield in squads, led by the first two Wasps.

The target was transport ships, no need to assemble a large Plane Group for a coordinated attack.

Although the transport ships also had High-altitude Guns, there surely weren’t many, mainly consisting of small-caliber machine guns, and the gunners’ skills were hardly impressive.

Through the battles of these few days, the pilots had already observed that there weren’t many High-altitude Guns on the Saiyi Navy’s warships, and the gunners’ skills were very poor.

Moreover, on a few warships, there were even high-altitude machine guns.

Even the 25-millimeter machine guns performed terribly, like their rate of fire was only two hundred rounds per minute, and they used a five-round clip. It’s worth noting that the Imperial Navy’s 25-millimeter machine guns fired at six hundred rounds per minute and used a hundred-round drum magazine.

The warships were like that, so how could the transport ships be any better?

Busy until about ten o’clock, the last few aircraft finally flew away.

The hardest working were the flight service personnel.

Unfortunately, they couldn’t stop yet because the Reconnaissance Aircraft would soon be returning, and before eleven, dozens of fighters from the First Shipborne Air Force Wing would arrive.

Perhaps, the afternoon would be much better.