LRAB Chapter 1406: Confrontation Exercise Begins
Chapter 1406: Confrontation Exercise Begins
There is still a lot of work to be done for the four sisters who have completed the ship breakthrough, and specific detailed tests must also be arranged.
However, the schedule arranged by Yang Sikang for them was quite tight. Immediately after completing these tests, there would be a three-party confrontation exercise, and after that there would be a series of things arranged by Yang Sikang, including the construction phase.
With such a schedule, Anshan also felt the urgency of time, so he worked harder to urge his sisters to train and test together.
Time passed day by day, and as Akashi, Ingraham and others finished adjusting the training grounds, the first round of three-party confrontation exercises finally arrived.
The joint fleet composed of White Eagle and Royal was just as Yang Sikang expected. This time, White Eagle only dispatched fleets from other sea areas, and the Royal was responsible for the main command.
Warspite also did not personally participate in the war, but this was not necessarily a good thing, after all, the flagship in charge of the command was the Prince of Wales.
Well, it is very suitable, and it feels a little too suitable. After all, all the mass-produced ships on site were provided by White Eagle.
In order to make the exercise as close to actual combat as possible, the three parties used special practice bullets improved by Ingraham on Yang Sikang's side. Although it is still a practice bullet, it is still quite painful when it hits the body, and the parameters in all aspects are closer to real bullets than previous practice bullets.
Yang Sikang's fleet sent out a fleet headed by Huayuan. None of the ship girls with Type II ship equipment took the field. The destroyers were mainly Allen Sumner class, and the light cruisers were directly Cleveland class.
Because Helena's SG radar was too powerful, she was also excluded from the list of participating ships. As for the heavy cruisers, there were Wichita and Baltimore, as well as Fog City and Minneapolis. New Orleans did not participate in the battle.
The aircraft carriers were extremely restrained, with only one main carrier, the Dreadnought, plus three light carriers, the Independence, Princeton and San Jacinto.
In terms of battleships, apart from the Garden, there is only the South Dakota and the battlecruiser Constellation, and then there is the submarine team's trio of bluefin tuna, archerfish and snapper.
Such a personnel composition is already a significant relief for Yang Sikang's fleet. Compared with his opponents, Yang Sikang has far fewer ship girls.
But judging by objective strength, Huayuan believes that such a fleet composition is sufficient.
Since Yang Sikang handed over the power to Huayuan, he naturally would not interfere with her judgment.
"By the way, we are actually using mass-produced ships here as well."
On the training ground, Wichita, who was standing there bored, couldn't help but sigh and patted the mass-produced ship next to him.
In the past, when they fought, they did not bring mass-produced ships, and the fleets composed of pure ship girls fought with great enthusiasm.
"HuaZanZhong said that the most important thing about this exercise is to show how we fight without the advantage of hard power. In order to be close to actual combat, mass-produced ships are necessary. And the commander also has a plan to let mass-produced ships join our battle. It's only a matter of time."
Baltimore adjusted her gun position as she spoke, and she was excited and ready to show her skills.
"Hmph, anyway, as long as we give it our all, right?"
Wichita said as she looked at the sea ahead. The exercise area this time was very large, and the obstacles on the sea surface and other factors had been rearranged. It was said that Ingraham and his team also applied some special techniques.
Although Wichita didn't know the specific changes, she felt that as long as she tried her best to win, there should be no problem.
Anyway, winning is better than losing!
"Ah, that's right. Just go all out and show your full strength as if it were a real battle!"
In the fleet at the back, as the only regular aircraft carrier on their side in this exercise, Fearless was not nervous but rather excited.
"Finally, it's finally time for me to show off my skills! Without other ships of the same class to fight with, and without Yorktown seniors, my luck won't always be bad!"
The Independence team was also on standby, and as the flagships of this mission, Garden and South Dakota were also making final preparations.
Because they want to be close to actual combat, they don't know when the war will start.
Yang Sikang said that he would inform the public of the start of the exercise in a special way, but he did not explain the corresponding situation.
Both sides feel helpless about this, but it is also reasonable.
After all, in actual combat, your opponent will not tell you in advance when he or she will appear, which is normal.
However, what they didn't know was that while they were still making their own preparations, the White Eagle and Royal Fleet's joint fleet had actually already begun to take action.
"You actually let us, your opponents, take the lead. Commander Yang, you really have confidence in your fleet."
"You don't have to aim for victory in an exercise. Even if you lose the exercise, it's enough as long as you can show the problem."
Yang Sikang smiled and said calmly:
"Since we want to get close to actual combat, we must of course get as close as possible. The enemy suddenly appears within the radar range. Isn't this a special way to announce the start of the battle?"
Through the surveillance network composed of drones and fixed nodes, Yang Sikang was able to watch the development of the situation in the entire sea area with others in the observation room.
The process of White Eagle and Royal moving cautiously and then starting to search after realizing that their opponent does not seem to have appeared is very clear.
After waiting for an hour, both sides, which had not yet met, responded.
The Combined Fleet began to focus on searching, but this side, which had not received the start order, also sensed that something was wrong.
Huayuan decisively ordered the action as the flagship and no longer waited for the signal from Yang Sikang.
Yang Sikang curled his lips happily. This was one of the reasons why he wanted to make Huayuan the flagship of this first round.
Huayuan did not take any large-scale action right away. Her arrangements were quite restrained. The Independence-class carrier-based aircraft took the lead in searching at high altitudes, and three submarines were also dispatched in advance.
But Garden did not stick to conventional tactics. She ordered Wichita and Baltimore to board the production ship, and then let the Allen Sumner-class production ship follow the destroyer fleet forward, while she herself and South Dakota stayed with the aircraft carrier, and Constellation served as a flexible support force.
The first contact between the two sides occurred three hours after the start of the exercise. The carrier-based aircraft of each other met in the air. Although one side independently and decisively shot down the other side's carrier-based aircraft, the Unicorn controlling the carrier-based aircraft on the other side immediately discovered that its own carrier-based aircraft had been shot down.
Both sides responded decisively, and with this as the starting point, the first conflict between the two sides finally began.
In the observation room, Lexington and Warspite were very satisfied watching this process.
"This is really... Both sides reacted very quickly and accurately."
Yang Sikang smiled.
Although the two sides had begun to clash, neither side sent their fleets to the sea area where the conflict occurred. Instead, they tried to find other means and search for other enemies from other directions.
Once a clue is found, they will focus on it. This kind of low-level mistake often occurs in exercises of inexperienced commanders. However, this problem does not exist at all in confrontation exercises at their level.
Until the evening, after a whole day of fighting, the fleets of both sides had completed the contact, conflict, fighting and then retreat. The brief local small-scale conflict ended with the advantage of the Garden side, but they were unable to retain the ship girls of the Combined Fleet, and only sank a few mass-produced ships.
Garden's action of hiding the heavy cruiser on the destroyer caused an unexpected impact on the Combined Fleet. After all, when a mass-produced destroyer broke into the fleet and several full-status heavy cruisers suddenly jumped down from it, they were really caught off guard.