What the hell is a private enterprise?

Chapter 388 The attack gradually subsided over six days

Thanks to the existence of Gaijin Network, the Internet is gradually evolving into the form that Tang Wen is familiar with:
Three months ago, the initial version of the search engine was first used in BBS, using internal resources to correct the algorithm, and a web version was launched shortly afterward.

Although the number of web pages is growing rapidly every month, there are not many valuable and information-rich web pages at this time. Personal blogger knowledge in the form of Q&A is not available, so it is easy to cover most of the online content.

Tang Wen even personally named it: 123 Search.

123搜索已经覆盖了从95年到现在的大多数信息，搜索海浪97关键词就跳出来了七八个网页，全都是1到3月份的报道。

In the original timeline, this fleet, centered around the Invincible-class "Illustrious," set sail from Portsmouth in January, displaying its might all the way to the coastal waters.

However, in January of this world, the 011, which was several times larger than the Illustrious, had already appeared when the Sea Wave 97 Group was being formed. Coupled with the threat from the Second Fleet, the crew was reluctantly sent only a small, monkey-sized fleet consisting of 11 destroyers/frigates.

In March, there were rumors that the UK wanted to send another aircraft carrier, but for some reason, the plan was ultimately abandoned.

Due to various factors, although the Sea Wave 97 Fleet in this world followed the same route, it did not make much of a splash, to the point that Tang Wen had no recollection of it.

This is certainly a great thing.

Although an agreement was signed with the British more than a decade ago to hand over Hong Kong, there have been various underhanded tactics and delays throughout the process.

The purpose of dispatching the Hailang 97 fleet was to send a message to the outside world and to the domestic audience:
Even if it withdraws from Asia, Britain still has the ability to ensure that Hong Kong's order and system remain unchanged.

But now, with the massive reduction in fleet size and the huge number of domestic parade participants, this slogan has already failed before it even had a chance to be shouted:

On the 25th, state media released the schedule for the naval review on July 1st, which will take place outside Victoria Harbour. More than 30 warships will participate in the review, including the only aircraft carrier and two battleships.

When the narrow bay is filled with countless warships, both local residents and foreigners will only see white warships with flags flying like small mountains. Will they still believe Dai Ying's nonsense?

If the 97th Fleet were to arrive, the effect would be even better, intensifying this distrust.

……

South Atlantic Ocean.

After discovering the main fleet's location through reconnaissance aircraft, U69 remained submerged and silent until 6 p.m. when it cautiously launched another aircraft.

Because other submarines were deliberately not allowed to assist, the main fleet's position had now become a wide area, but fortunately, this was not a problem for "Gnat".

Although the radar was removed, Fern's large fleet maintained frequent radio communication, making it easy to locate them by following their general direction and guessing their movements.

At 18:30, the gnats discovered the main fleet's coordinates, finding that although it was still heading south, it had moved eastward approximately 220 kilometers away from the coast, and was now nearly 500 kilometers from the shore, and was still increasing in distance.

If there really is an air force base in Lamei, 500 kilometers is the combat radius limit for most small aircraft.

Even for a suicide attack, considering factors such as target acquisition, ammunition load, and maneuverability, a range of 1000 kilometers is relatively safe.

But he also had another guess in his heart:
Since there are air force bases, what if a fleet suddenly appears in Lamei?
We should wait until the Enterprise is ready and gathers intelligence before we can turn back to searching.

This time, the gnawing flies retreated immediately after discovering the coordinates. Before the F-14s launched from the Enterprise could catch up, the flies rapidly descended and disappeared into the sea surface clutter—in fact, they simply plunged into the water. "We drove away a reconnaissance plane, and the IAA has taken control of several air force bases along the coast. No suspicious personnel have been found."

When the situation was summarized to Fern, the latter simply snorted coldly:
"Those countries that rely on football and bananas can't even control their own territory. The IAA would be better off sending an SR-71 to fly around and take some aerial photos instead of hiring them."

The plane that was shot down this afternoon was probably also searching for us. We can't let them succeed. I ordered:
The fleet turned and continued sailing eastward. EA-6Bs and E-2s maintained alert, and fighter planes rotated shifts, preparing for night combat. The enemy hadn't given up!

Fern is under immense pressure now, facing an enemy he has never encountered before who is fearless and elusive.

The enemy was waiting for night. Not only does darkness naturally weaken the air force, but more seriously, the probability of errors during nighttime takeoffs and landings is much higher than during the day, and search and rescue are also very difficult in the event of an accident, especially in combat.

The reason why U-boats wait for nighttime is even simpler:
Let the sun set.

Although the designations AIM-9 and "Rattlesnake" were used for almost a hundred years, the early AIM-9B and the future AIM-9X were completely different things.

Early infrared air-to-air missiles had very rudimentary circuitry and a simple design philosophy:
The seeker head will automatically lock onto the fighter jet's engine exhaust and guide the missile to its target.

The idea is correct, but here's the question: in real air combat, is the engine exhaust the hottest thing?
No, it's the sun.

In early AA air combat, both sides would fire a bunch of infrared air-to-air missiles at each other, and then watch helplessly as all of each other's missiles flew toward the sun and eventually crashed and destroyed themselves.

Back then, the common evasive maneuver against close-range infrared air-to-air missiles was to immediately fly a distance toward the sun, causing the infrared seeker to become disoriented and mistarget.

So much so that at that time, the US preferred to use the "low-flying" semi-active radar-guided AIM-7 Sparrow rather than the AIM-9 Sidewinder.

This problem wasn't fully solved by Raytheon until the late 60s or early 70s, but it still took many years to resolve before it gradually disappeared after the advent of powerful chips and the addition of various filtering algorithms.

Unfortunately, the AIM9B used by the "gnats" is of this type. During the day, this thing is worse than a fire poker and is only good for the Enterprise to perform the "Kuafu chasing the sun" show.

Moreover, since it is an early, substandard guidance head, other jamming methods, such as heat decoys, will also be very effective, so this problem cannot be overcome by technology alone.

“A fighter jet can carry hundreds of heat decoys. Even if we use numbers to suppress them, it would be too wasteful, especially the time it would take to sortie.”

On the deck of U69, Tang Wen sat on a small stool, enjoying a massage from the ship girl while explaining Lütjens's combat strategy:

"A submarine can only launch one Gnat per minute. Considering the impact of loiter time, it is best to form a squadron after launching 15 Gnats, which means there are at most 60 missiles."

Five squadrons, consisting of three aircraft each, will be dispersed in five directions, skimming the sea at an extremely low altitude of 5 meters throughout the entire mission. Tonight, their sole objective will be to raid destroyers and frigates, destroying their electronic facilities and depleting their ammunition; the aircraft themselves can be ignored.

The attack, launched at 2:00 AM, is expected to end before 4:00 AM. Tonight, only... 30 aircraft are needed, with two waves arriving at no more than half an hour apart; that should be sufficient.

Tang Wen knew very well that the EA6B and E2 were under heavy protection. Having these two climb to high altitudes to dogfight with the F-18 and F-14 would be nothing more than sending them to their deaths and giving the pilots a chance to rack up kills. It would be better to use them all as carbon-based guided supersonic missiles and cut off the wings of the Enterprise first.

There were still six days left, and he didn't want to launch a full-scale attack tonight. Instead, he planned to first test the main fleet's combat strength and create the illusion that there were indeed a few shore-based air bases.

(End of this chapter)