Empire Conquest
Chapter 53 - 49: Restarting Fleet Exercises

Chapter 53: Chapter 49: Restarting Fleet Exercises

December 14th of the 99th year of the New Calendar, northeastern Flame Sea, the flagship of the First Aviation Mixed Fleet, "Longjiang" number.

Staring at dozens of neatly arranged ship-borne aircraft on the flight deck, Bai Zhizhan glanced at his watch.

There were five minutes left until 2:00 PM.

This was already the thirteenth day of the annual Fleet exercise, and if today still yielded nothing, they might need to drag it on for another half month.

Thinking about the incidents that had occurred over the previous more than ten days, Bai Zhizhan couldn’t help feeling a bit agitated.

Seventeen years ago, in the 82nd year of the New Calendar, after obtaining Cabinet approval, the Navy had reinstated Fleet exercises that had been interrupted for eight years due to the great war.

The official name was "Exploration and Discovery of Fleet Tactics and Contrasting Exercises with Existing Issues in Real Combat," but hardly anyone used this designation.

Prior to this, at the end of the 81st year of the New Calendar, the mother ship "Sea Dragon" officially entered service.

This was the Empire’s Navy’s first aircraft carrier, similar to the "Langley" of the Newland Federation, converted from a ten-thousand-ton fast freight ship. Since it was primarily for training without real combat capabilities required, it only took four months to convert, and then several months were spent on acceptance testing. By the end of the 80th year of the New Calendar it was delivered to the Empire’s Navy, although the personnel training was not completed until the following year.

Mainly, it involved a significant amount of time training ship-borne aircraft pilots, which couldn’t be hurried.

With the "Sea Dragon," a new era of Fleet exercises began.

This was precisely the focus after the resumption of Fleet exercises, exploring ways and means of aerial combat through exercises, and establishing a new tactical system.

For the first five years, from the 82nd to the 86th year, the "Sea Dragon" and its shipborne air force were almost idly involved in the exercises.

It wasn’t a surprise, because during those five times, there was only the "Sea Dragon" as an aircraft carrier.

In order to make the exercises more realistic, or to mimic fleets with several carriers, the Empire’s Navy also used several seaplane mother ships, using seaplanes to substitute for ship-borne aircraft to perform some low-difficulty tasks. It was during this period that the Empire’s Navy officially named warships equipped with conventional takeoff and landing aircraft as "aircraft carriers," to differentiate them from seaplane mother ships and other types of mother ships.

In those five Fleet exercises, the shipborne air force primarily performed reconnaissance missions. During the last two exercises, they had a few opportunities for anti-air combat.

During these five exercises, battleships still remained the main characters of naval battles.

Not to mention anything else, the outcomes of all five exercises were ultimately decided by "gun battles" between main battle ships.

It was not until the seventh Fleet exercise held in the 87th year of the New Calendar that carriers and shipborne air forces really became the main focus, because that year two genuine carriers were added to the combat sequence of the Empire’s Navy, the "Longjiang" constructed in Puzhou and the "Heng River" constructed in Cizhou.

These two carriers were launched in the same month, and their completion dates were only a few days apart.

The reason was straightforward: the former was supervised by the Domestic Fleet, and the latter by the Southern Fleet. The Navy headquarters had already made it clear, after completion they would belong to two different fleets. Thus, during the construction phase, the two fleets were secretly competing, each wanting to get the Fleet’s aircraft carrier ahead of the other.

Because their combat power was extremely strong, far surpassing that of the "Sea Dragon," the Empire’s Navy devised the concept of "Fleet Aircraft Carrier," and by setting limits on speed, tonnage, and the number of aircraft carried, established a threshold to promote and publicize this type of warship.

Nevertheless, the "Longjiang" and "Heng River" were not the largest aircraft carriers of the time.

Two years earlier, the Newland Federation’s "Lek" and "Sara" had already been launched, both completed and in service by the 87th year of the New Calendar.

In terms of tonnage, the "Lek" and "Sara" were forty percent larger.

Additionally, the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom’s "Chicheng" also entered service in the 87th year of the New Calendar, and the "Jiahe" in the 88th year of the New Calendar. Both warships’ tonnage similarly surpassed that of the "Longjiang" and "Heng River," and were comparable to the two giant ships of the Newland Federation.

The Fleet exercises that year were the most complex, lasting nearly three months, with three confrontation exercises based on different hypothetical scenarios.

As for the method and outcome of the confrontation, that was the top secret of the Empire’s Navy.

Of course, for Bai Zhizhan, who participated in the exercises from start to finish, it was no secret at all.

It was these Fleet exercises that established the aircraft carriers and shipborne air force within the Navy, setting the course for aviation-centric development.

That year, Bai Zhizhan was promoted to Navy Major for his accumulated achievements and entered the ranks of senior officers.

Over the next three years, three Fleet exercises all revolved around two mother ships.

By the year 91 of the New Calendar, which was the tenth Fleet exercise since the restart, the addition of two brand new battleships brought the exercises to a new peak.

These were the "Mo River" and "Ling River".

Like the previous two sister ships, "Mo River" and "Ling River" were also respectively assigned to two major Fleets, which then formed separate Air Sub-fleets based on these ships to strengthen the status of the carriers and improve their tactical flexibility.

That year’s Fleet exercises again broke the record for duration and were filled with exciting moments.

Also that year, after the Fleet exercises, Bai Zhizhan was appointed as the Chief of Staff of the Domestic Fleet Air Sub-fleet and was exceptionally promoted to Navy Lieutenant Colonel.

That same year, the Empire’s Navy began a comprehensive reform.

Despite facing great resistance and unable to dissolve the two major Fleets, Zhu Shijian stood firm against the pressure, consolidating all carriers under the Navy headquarters and forming a separate Aviation Mixed Fleet. This move took a piece of the pie from the two major Fleets, and even could be said to cut flesh from their bodies, thus Zhu Shijian indisputably took charge as the Commander of the Aviation Mixed Fleet, retaining the original organizational structure.

Simply put, the Air Fleet was divided into the first and second Aviation Mixed Fleets, which were the original crews of the Domestic Fleet Air Sub-fleet and Southern Fleet Air Sub-fleet, respectively, even the Commanders remained unchanged; they were just nominally under the direct command of the Navy headquarters.

Looking back, before launching the reforms, Zhu Shijian knew there would be opposition, thus he adopted a high-low strategy.

Now, from the Sub-fleet Commanders to the rank-and-file soldiers, all were direct members of the Navy headquarters.

However, the actual weight of this direct lineage was yet to be determined.

Bai Zhizhan was a staunch supporter of the reform.

Not just because he was a key beneficiary, but also because the reform could more effectively utilize the combat power of carriers and the air force, which was the general trend.

Not to mention others, the Saiyi Navy and Newland Navy had undertaken similar reforms, organizing Fleets around carriers.

Clearly, time was of the essence, waiting for no one.

Delaying a few more years would render the reforms unnecessary.

In the following years, the Fleet exercises focused on integration training, allowing officers and soldiers from the two Fleets to understand each other better and perform more seamlessly in exercises.

For this purpose, Zhu Shijian even ordered the cancellation of the confrontational part.

Not until last year, when Bai Zhizhan was promoted to Navy Colonel and appointed as the Chief of Staff of the first Aviation Mixed Fleet, and Liu Xiangzhen, who was also promoted to Colonel, took the position of Chief of Staff of the second Aviation Mixed Fleet, did Zhu Shijian lift the ban and reintroduce confrontational elements into the exercises.

In fact, this year is when the main event takes place.