Munitions Empire-Chapter 1204: Target New Island 1124

In fact, during this naval operation, the Great Tang Empire also identified many issues within its forces: Despite the absence of submarine threats and minimal aerial threats, the Great Tang Empire Navy’s support for the landing operations was still subpar.

The Tang Navy’s carrier-based aircraft were delayed in providing support for ground combat, and their assistance was indeed very limited.

First of all, the Great Tang Empire Navy lacked a sufficient number of battleships and cruiser artillery ships. The scarcity of large-caliber naval guns inherently weakened firepower support for landing operations.

Across the entire Great Tang Empire fleet, only two battleships and about a dozen cruisers could be assembled, and even then, these warships could not all be deployed at once for supporting the landing operations.

Battleships had to act as the shield for the aircraft carriers, positioned at the forefront of the fleet. As a result, they were often reassigned elsewhere, leaving landing support unfulfilled.

The same logic applied to cruisers: As some of the Tang Army’s rare "heavy warships," they were also required to operate alongside battleships to maintain the fleet’s overall strength.

As a result, for most of the time, the primary source of landing support came only from destroyers. However, the Tang Army’s artillery destroyers were mainly equipped with 127mm main guns, which were not particularly effective against heavily fortified defense structures.

In fact, the two Tang Army battleships collectively carried only 1,900 rounds of ammunition, averaging slightly over 100 rounds per main gun. During one landing operation alone, 60 salvos were fired, leaving the ammunition nearly depleted.

Moreover, the main gun barrels of the Tang Army battleships had a lifespan of about 200 rounds, meaning that after two sets of ammunition were expended, the two Bismarck-class battleships would need to return to port to replace their barrels, rendering them temporarily inoperable.

The situation for the battleships was bad, but the cruisers fared little better. Although their gun barrels had a longer lifespan, the cruisers too needed downtime for maintenance and resupply. Destroyers were even worse off: Many destroyers ran out of missiles and were forced to return to base, leaving the remaining destroyers focused solely on securing the route between South Island and Beiyuan Port.

This explains why, after capturing South Island, the Great Tang Empire’s fleet almost entirely returned to port, leaving only a few destroyers stationed near South Island on standby.

Fortunately, the Great Tang Empire had already annihilated the Mirage Country’s fleet. If the enemy had retained any fleet capable of appearing near South Island at this time, the Great Tang Empire’s occupying forces on the island would have found themselves in a highly passive position.

The fleet’s aircraft were in need of extensive repairs, the pilots needed rest, and the carrier fleet’s ammunition and fuel supplies were completely depleted, leaving them nearly incapable of further combat.

At the same time, the battleship fleet also needed to replenish their ammunition and undergo barrel maintenance and re-equipment: The Navy’s sustained combat capability was not nearly as strong as imagined.

The carrier-based aircraft faced similar issues: First and foremost, they had to ensure the safety of their fleet before carrying out ground support missions.

Normally, the priority order for carrier-based aircraft missions was as follows: Eliminate enemy fleets ＞ Destroy enemy airfields ＞ Attack other land-based targets.

Only when the fleet’s safety was assured could the aircraft carriers provide air support for the landing, significantly restricting the speed and scale of carrier-based air support for the landing forces.

Another issue was that the Great Tang Empire’s carrier-based aircraft were somewhat outdated: Continuing to use Stuka Dive Bombers was itself a compromise, and the performance of these aircraft no longer met modern combat requirements.

In terms of speed, the Stuka was far too slow. It struggled to survive against concentrated anti-air defenses or attacks from advanced enemy fighter jets, and its attack efficiency was unacceptably low.

The Stuka could only carry a single 500-kilogram bomb, whereas many high-quality carrier-based attack aircraft were capable of carrying bombs weighing 800 kilograms or more.

Although the naval version of the Stuka could carry torpedoes, its slow speed made it highly vulnerable when used as a torpedo bomber, risking substantial interference from anti-air defenses and leading to poor overall performance.

While the Mirage Country’s main fleet was indeed struck by multiple Stuka-deployed torpedoes, pilots generally reported that torpedo attacks with this aircraft were far less effective than dive-bombing runs.

Thus, in the Great Tang Empire Navy’s future air fleet, the Stuka Dive Bomber would be the first aircraft to face complete retirement.

The Navy planned to entirely replace the Stuka with a new jet-powered attack aircraft, for which Tang Mo had provided the design: the A6 "Intruder" Attack Aircraft.

This aircraft’s concept completely revolutionized the operational approach of dive bombers like the Stuka, evolving ground support missions into the era of electronic signal warfare.

It could utilize early-generation guided bombs to strike targets with improved accuracy. With the addition of "missile" technology, the risky dive-bombing tactics were entirely abandoned.

However, it was true that this aircraft could not perform dive-bombing: Firstly, it was too large, and secondly, it was not even equipped with onboard cannons.

As a result, the Intruder Attack Aircraft was only suitable for high-altitude support and could not swoop across the battlefield like the A-10, raining destructive fire upon targets.

While this diminished its visual impact in providing ground support, it effectively took over all the roles previously performed by the Stuka.

Additionally, thanks to its massive airframe and payload capacity, it could utilize Harpoon Anti-Ship Missiles to attack enemy surface warships, eliminating the need for close-range penetration to launch fleet attacks.

With the capabilities of anti-ship missiles, the Intruder’s inability to carry torpedoes became less significant: Torpedoes had far shorter attack ranges and lacked the penetration efficiency of anti-ship missiles.

In essence, the Tang Navy’s future air arsenal would likely include only one model of attack aircraft: the Intruder-6 Attack Aircraft. As for the equally iconic A7 Corsair II, equipped with large-caliber cannons and seemingly better resembling an attack aircraft, it likely would not see deployment.

Going forward, the Great Tang Empire Navy’s carrier-based aircraft would rely on "guided bombs" and "missiles" to fulfill both ground-attack and naval-attack missions.

The iconic image of an aircraft roaring downward in a dive for ground support was destined to become a thing of the past. The brutal yet heroic tradition of dive-bombing would begin its decline with the Navy.

The only real question was when the Intruder-6 Attack Aircraft would be ready for service: To accommodate the latest carrier-based aircraft, the Navy had already begun constructing state-of-the-art steam catapult aircraft carriers.

The new aircraft carriers featured modern angled flight decks and four steam catapults, capable of handling heavy carrier-borne aircraft like the F-14 Tomcat! With four elevators extending beyond the deck edges, this design ensured deck strength while enhancing operational efficiency!

It was none other than the renowned Kitty Hawk-class conventionally-powered aircraft carrier. It could sustain operations at sea for up to 45 days thanks to its capacious reserves—a remarkable feat. Additionally, it could reach a staggering speed of nearly 60 kilometers per hour, powered by an impressive 280,000-horsepower propulsion system and nearly 8,000 tons of fuel!

This aircraft carrier boasted a flight deck length exceeding 320 meters and a width of over 76 meters! With a full load displacement of over 80,000 tons, it could house more than 80 aircraft! Although Tang Mo had not yet equipped it with Sea Sparrow anti-air missiles or CIWS systems, it was still the world’s most formidable warship!

Approximately 5,500 crew members would serve aboard this carrier, which had over 2,000 compartments—it was essentially a floating city! If you served on the bow, you might retire without ever meeting a fellow crew member stationed at the stern!

While this aircraft carrier appeared incredibly modern, its actual construction dated back to the late 1950s, and it entered service as early as 1961.

Should naval versions of the F4 Phantom and the A6 Intruder begin operating from the brand-new Nanshan-class (Kitty Hawk-class) carriers, the global naval landscape would likely split into two distinct eras.

On one hand, there would be the jet-powered aircraft and modern carriers of the Great Tang Empire. On the other hand, you’d still see relics from World War II: "Shokaku, Zuikaku," or "Lexington, Enterprise."

That contrast would indeed be quite fascinating. One could only imagine how demoralized other nations’ aircraft carrier fleets (with combat radii of less than 300 kilometers) would feel in the face of the Great Tang Empire Navy’s fleets, boasting operational radii easily exceeding 700 kilometers.

With over 2,000 casualties among the Navy Marine Corps and more than 1,000 fatalities among the Air Force paratroopers, Bernard formally submitted a review to the General Staff after returning to Beiyuan Port.

Frankly, Bernard could not be entirely blamed for this. After all, it was the first time he—or anyone in this world—had commanded an aircraft carrier fleet for an amphibious landing operation, especially one conducted over such a long range. Inevitably, certain issues arose.

It must be understood that the battlefield conditions at the time were extremely complex: There were threats from enemy land-based aircraft as well as their naval fleets. Bernard had to ensure the absolute safety of his own fleet, a responsibility he could not shirk.

The presence of his fleet was crucial for the continuation of the landing operation. If his fleet were to suffer a devastating defeat, the landing operation would have completely failed.

Thus, the General Staff received Bernard’s review without initiating an inquiry into his decision-making as commander.

Beyond summarizing the various problems encountered during this landing operation, the Navy was actively preparing for the next one! They could not wait for Mirage Country to fully fortify their positions and complete all their preparations before making their next move.

This time, the Navy would conduct the landing operation independently. The essence of airborne operations lay in achieving surprise, and with Mirage Country already on alert, deploying paratroopers hastily into combat would be far too risky.

The Navy decided to deplete the battleship main gun barrels while capturing New Island, after which the battleships would return to Dragon Island for barrel replacements.

Meanwhile, a large number of Orc soldiers would be sent to New Island to prepare for the offensive on Ben Island. Since it had already been decided to gift Ben Island to the Orcs, it only made sense to let them fight for their "homeland," didn’t it?

After a two-month "ceasefire," the Great Tang Empire Navy was once again on the move. This time, their target was New Island!