Compared with the highly anticipated ground war, the war on the ocean seems to have been "skipped away".

At 11 o'clock on the 24th, the Republic Marines began to attack Nanwei Island occupied by the Vietnamese Marines. The USS Republic aircraft carrier battle group was the one who was responsible for the support mission.

Nanwei Island is located in the middle of the Nansha Islands and is the largest island controlled by Vietnam.

The "largest" is only a mere c166 square kilometers, the size of about 30 sports fields. In the vast South China Sea, it can only be regarded as a veritable "small land".

On this 0,166 square kilometers of land, Vietnam deployed more than 2,500 Marine Corps officers and soldiers!

The attack still began with bombing. The 011th Air Brigade dispatched 84 combat aircraft during the day and threw 348~bombs and missiles at Nanwei Island, destroying all military facilities exposed to the ground.

At 13:35, the first land war battalion boarded Nanwei Island under the cover of air support.

Although the Marines also carried out the mission of occupying islands during the East China Sea War, the occupied deserted islands were all unattended. After more than half a century, the Republican team started landing operations again.

Compared with the "Yijiangshan Island Battle" in the 1950s, the "Nanwei Island Battle" is obviously much crueler.

As the island with the most tightly defended in the Nansha Islands, most of the fortifications on Nansha Island are built below the surface. According to statistics from the intelligence system over the years, from the "Shisha Islands Battle" in the 1980s to the present, Vietnam has transported tens of thousands of tons of cement and steel bars to Nansha Island, not only expanding the land area from c13 square kilometers to c166 square kilometers, but also building a very complete underground defense system.

When we got ashore, the Marines did not encounter much trouble.

After the ground battle started, the problem was exposed.

Before dark, there were only 2 land battle camps on the island. The total force was less than 800. Heavy equipment was only 8 amphibious tanks and 12 amphibious armored vehicles. Ammunition and drug supplies were even more scarce.

The real battle started at night. The Vietnamese army launched a fierce counterattack when they avoided the bombing in underground fortifications.

The whole night was filled with smoke on Nanwei Island and the fire was rising into the sky.

Facing more than 2,000 enemies who were "not afraid of death". They had just rushed to the beach and had not yet established a foothold. They were limited to less than a square kilometer. The officers and soldiers of the mainland Marine Corps experienced the most tragic night since the founding of the Republic Marine Corps.

On the narrow beach, no location is considered safe.

More than 700 Marine officers and soldiers must defend the defense line in three directions and use limited heavy weapons to attack the enemy that is frantically counterattacking.

The problems exposed during the battle are very serious.

First of all, the Marines lack effective suppression weapons. Although the 00mm cannon of amphibious tanks is not weak, it can only be used as direct firepower; the 30mm machine cannon of amphibious armored vehicles has a significantly lower lethality on solid fortifications and firepower points, and the explosion killing power is very limited; the cannons on landing ships and landing crafts are relatively small and have very few numbers; the automatic grenade launchers equipped with Marine infantry units have a suppression effect not as good as heavy machine guns; the small-caliber mortars equipped with landing battalions have limited power suppression tasks.

Like the Army's rapid assault forces, the Marines lack "heavy firepower".

The second is the lack of support force. During the entire battle, in addition to the artillery on the landing ships and landing crafts, the only one that can provide support to the Marine Corps is the "Republic" aircraft carrier battle group that is far away from thousands of meters away. Although Lin Xiaolei tried his best to ensure that at least fighter jets were hovering over Nanwei Island and bombing the Vietnamese army on the island according to the Marine Corps' calls, carrier-based fighters lack appropriate suppression ammunition. The power of ordinary bombs is too great and it is easy to injure adjacent Marine Corps officers and soldiers. The power of machine guns and rockets is too small to have a suppression effect. Throughout the night, the most common task of the carrier-based aviation corps was to block the bombing and prevent the Vietnamese army from advancing to the landing ground, rather than the close-range air support that the Marine Corps needed the most.

The limited number of carrier-based aircraft is also a big problem.

On the 24th, Zhu Ronghui flew a total of 12 air support to the Marine Corps. All carrier-based fighter pilots dispatched more than 2 flights, of which one third were dispatched more than 3 times. According to general circumstances, the number of dispatches for carrier-based pilots should not exceed 3 times in 24 hours, and it is best to be controlled less than 2 times.

Finally, there are limited supplies and support methods. Although the landing ship sent a company of reinforcements to the ashore at night, the most needed combat supplies, especially ammunition. Late at night, Lin Xiaolei had to request long-range reinforcements. The Navy's shore-based aviation force dispatched transport aircraft and water patrol aircraft to airdrop a batch of ammunition for the Marine Corps. As a result, most of the airdrop supplies fell into the sea, and only a small part was sent to the hands of the Marine Corps.

If the carrier-based fighter of the "Republic" had not carried out a carpet bombing on the Vietnamese-occupied area on the Nanwei Island at dawn, and used nearly 100 tons of incendiary bombs and napalm bombs to drive the Vietnamese troops on the ground back to the underground fortifications, I am afraid that before the reinforcements arrived, the Marines that were onshore would be driven into the sea by the Vietnamese troops.

Although in the night battle, more than 1,200 Vietnamese soldiers were wiped out, and 1 Marine Corps killed and 288 injured, and the record was ideal, the performance of the Marine Corps still disappointed Peng Maobang, and the exposed problems far exceeded those of the Lu who was fighting in Laos.

Assault Force.

Compared with the battle in Nanwei Island, the "Republic" also experienced a thrilling scene on the night of the 24th.

The alarm was issued around 211 o'clock. Hua Jianfeng contacted the shore-based patrol aircraft that provided anti-submarine cover for the "Republic" as quickly as possible, and then the battle alarm was sounded.

At that time, the Navy Air Force dispatched 12 anti-submarine patrol aircraft, divided into three squadrons, and took turns to cover the "Republic".

The Vietnamese Navy has at least two "Kiro"-class submarines in the South China Sea. The war has been outbreak for almost two days. Even if these two submarines were active in the offshore of Vietnam before, they should now be not far from the "Republic".

The first place to issue an alarm was the anti-submarine patrol aircraft patrolling 250 degrees.

Subsequently, the anti-submarine patrol aircraft hovering about 150 kilometers south of the fleet also issued an alarm.

2 The magnetic anomaly detectors on the patrol aircraft found that submarines were active in nearby waters, but the passive sonar dropped was not discovered.

Hua Jianfeng did not take it lightly. He knew too well the submarine's ambush tactics.

The performance of "Kilo" has lagged behind, but when it is sunk into the seabed or suspended statically, the noise is very low, and passive sonar is difficult to detect.

In the shortest time, Hua Jianfeng issued an order, one was to order the anti-submarine patrol aircraft to place active sonar buoys to suspicious seas, the second was to order HNA to send an additional anti-submarine patrol aircraft immediately, the third was to order the carrier-based anti-submarine helicopter to take off immediately, and the fourth was to order contact the attack nuclear submarines that accompanied the aircraft carrier battle group activities.

After the anti-submarine patrol aircraft dropped the active sonar buoy, they first discovered a Vietnamese submarine located 170 meters west of the fleet.

It was indeed a "Kilo". The two anti-submarine patrol aircraft divided the work and cooperated. The patrol aircraft that first discovered the Vietnamese submarine was responsible for tracking and surveillance, and the patrol aircraft that arrived was responsible for deploying anti-submarine torpedoes.

At 211:25, the first batch of 2 carrier-based anti-submarine helicopters arrived and joined the attack ranks.

Five minutes later, the second batch of 2 anti-submarine helicopters arrived.

Under the encirclement of 2 anti-submarine patrol aircraft and anti-submarine helicopters, the Vietnamese submarine did not even have the chance to launch missiles to attack the USS Republic aircraft carrier battle group, and was blown into pieces by six anti-submarine torpedoes that were dropped in succession.

At this time, a Vietnamese submarine ambushed south launched an anti-ship missile at the "Republic", which was 150 kilometers away.

As soon as the missile came out of water, it was discovered by a patrol plane hovering over the sea.

The "Republic" aircraft carrier battle group immediately sounded the air defense alarm.

The outcome of the second Vietnamese submarine was not much better, and it was strangled by two anti-submarine patrol aircraft and carrier-based anti-submarine helicopters before 211:55.

Anti-ship missiles do not have much threat to the USS Republic aircraft carrier battle group.

When the anti-submarine patrol aircraft issued an alarm, the hj200 early warning aircraft, which was hovering 1 kilometer south of the fleet, discovered the missile flying over the sea. Then the j-15b fighter aircraft carrying out the fleet's air defense patrol mission rushed over. Before the missile could enter the kill range of the fleet's long-range air defense missile, it was shot down by the interceptor missile launched by the j15b fighter.

At 211 o'clock, the air defense alarm was lifted.

Hua Jianfeng didn't feel relaxed. Who can guarantee that there is no third Vietnamese submarine in the nearby waters?

It was not until the second batch of anti-submarine patrol aircraft of HNA arrived and expanded the anti-submarine search range that more than 1c anti-submarine helicopters in the fleet searched the sea area within a range of 120 kilometers that Hua Jianfeng breathed a sigh of relief.

As the best submarine captain of the Republic's Navy, Hua Jianfeng knew that the anti-submarine patrol aircraft made great contributions.

If the anti-submarine patrol aircraft did not detect the lurking Vietnamese submarine in time, the "Republic" would enter the torpedo attack range of the Vietnamese submarine without any alertness. It is much more difficult to intercept the torpedo than intercepting anti-ship missiles. Any excellent submarine captain will first consider using torpedo to attack surface warships, and will only use anti-ship missiles without a choice.

The early exposure of Vietnamese submarines must be related to poor maintenance.

If the submarine is demagnetized according to strict requirements, it will be difficult for the magnetic anomaly detector of the anti-submarine patrol aircraft to detect the "Kilo" class submarines. In previous battles, the submarines of the Republic's Navy have never been discovered by the enemy's ground abnormality detector. This is why the US Navy's anti-submarine patrol aircraft have cancelled the magnetic anomaly detector. Because considering that many surrounding countries have conventional submarines, the Republic's Navy has not yet cancelled the geomagnetic anomaly detector on the anti-submarine patrol aircraft.

This one-sided battle shows that no navy can defeat much stronger opponents with a few ships.

The problems exposed by the USS Republic aircraft carrier battle group are also very obvious. Without a carrier-based fixed-wing anti-submarine patrol plane, the USS Republic aircraft carrier battle group can only effectively deal with enemy submarines under the cover of shore-based anti-submarine patrol planes. If it leaves the cover of shore-based anti-submarine patrol planes, the anti-submarine power will be greatly reduced.

Later, Hua Jianfeng wrote a report specifically for this, requiring the development of a ship-based fixed-wing anti-submarine patrol aircraft as soon as possible.

The smoke in the South China Sea did not dissipate due to the disappearance of the two Vietnamese submarines, because there are still many islands occupied by other countries!

damn it**

In November, the minimum guaranteed 3 updates will be continued every day, and a chapter will be added for every 30 monthly tickets. (To be continued,)

First release
Chapter completed!