Volume 1: The Empire Awakens Chapter 23 Friendly Exercise (Part 2)
On the fourth day after the Southwest Combined Fleet of Japan arrived at the Naha Naval Port, the exercise with the Imperial First Fleet as the yellow side and the Southwest Combined Fleet of Japan as the blue side officially began.
The two huge fleets left Naha Port one after another at around 2 a.m. According to the plans of both sides, in addition to the joint maritime search and rescue exercises, the fleets of both sides will also conduct confrontational offensive and defensive exercises.
Of course, no training ammunition will be used in the exercise, let alone live ammunition.
This is like two martial arts masters sparring with each other, at most they just touch on the subject and can't go any deeper.
On this day, Tan Renhao also put down the remaining work in his hands and rushed to the Fifth Fleet's headquarters operations center.
The operations center was located in a large conference room on the first floor, which was temporarily converted.
Because the Fifth Fleet did not participate in the exercise, it could only watch the entire process.
However, it can be said that it enjoyed the treatment of "landlord" as the entire exercise process was open to the Fifth Fleet.
To this end, Chief of Staff Wu Xianyu specially arranged more than 20 staff officers in charge of communications, intelligence, etc., and set up a huge sand table in the middle of the conference room, using some warship models to represent the fleets of both sides. Then, based on the information received, the entire exercise process was reflected on the sand table.
By the time Tan Renhao and the other three arrived, most of the staff officers of the Fifth Fleet had gathered here, and finally even General Liao Hanxiang came over.
The exercise will only last for one day, with several joint search and rescue exercises to be conducted in the morning, while the confrontation exercise will begin around 12 noon.
To this end, Chief of Staff Wu Xianyu even sent people to the canteen to reserve hundreds of boxed lunches so that staff officers would not have to rush to the canteen to eat.
Tan Renhao did not squeeze to the sand table like Hao Dongjue did. He stayed in the corner on the left side of the entrance to the conference room.
To be honest, Tan Renhao felt a little nervous.
After he submitted that report, the fate of the Fifth Fleet actually depended on this exercise.
If the First Fleet could completely defeat the Japanese Southwest Combined Fleet, the Fifth Fleet would face an extremely embarrassing situation and might even be disbanded.
Of course, deep down, Tan Renhao didn't want the Imperial Navy to lose to a former opponent, and an opponent that had once been defeated by the Imperial Navy.
However, from another perspective, Tan Renhao hopes to see the wonderful performance of the air force in this exercise, even if it is the Japanese air force.
Someone suddenly patted him on the shoulder, and Tan Renhao trembled in fear.
Only when he saw that the person standing next to him was Colonel Ji Xiaobin did he breathe a sigh of relief and then smiled awkwardly.
"Are you nervous?"
Ji Xiaobin could tell Tan Renhao's mood from the layer of cold sweat .
Tan Renhao nodded awkwardly.
"Yes, for a little while, but it will be over soon."
"There's nothing to be nervous about. Trust your own judgment!"
Ji Xiaobin patted Tan Renhao on the shoulder a few more times before going to find other staff officers.
The joint search and rescue exercise ended at around ten o'clock, and the main fleets of the two fleets then went to the designated locations respectively.
Obviously, such an arrangement is not fair. If a combat exercise is to be simulated, the exercise area cannot be specified at all. This will only make it easier for the First Fleet to find its opponent, and put the Japanese Southwest Combined Fleet, which has only two main battleships, in an extremely passive position.
At the very least, the two fleets were less than a hundred nautical miles apart, leaving the Japanese Southwest Combined Fleet with insufficient time and space to deploy, and even insufficient time to release bomber groups.
At twelve o'clock, the exercise officially began.
More than ten radios located by the window on the right side of the conference room began to tick, and more than twenty staff officers became busy.
The communications staff was responsible for reporting the situation on the front line to the intelligence staff, and the intelligence staff used the warship models representing the fleets of both sides in the sand table to move according to the information received.
In the first ten minutes, the officers in the room were a little nervous. After all, this was the first confrontation exercise between the naval fleets of the two countries since the end of the First World War.
However, the tense atmosphere was soon broken by some whispers.
Ji Xiaobin came to Tan Renhao again.
"Lieutenant, would you like to make an estimate?"
Tan Renhao was stunned for a moment, then laughed awkwardly. He then looked at his watch and said, "It's been 25 minutes. If everything goes well, the first wave of bombers of the Southwest Combined Fleet of Japan has completed takeoff and formation, and should be heading towards the First Fleet now."
Ji Xiaobin frowned slightly and motioned Tan Renhao to continue.
"If I were the commander, I would send out the second wave of bombers in half an hour."
Tan Renhao let out a long sigh, "This way, the two waves of bombers can land one after another when returning, without having to rush to land on the deck before the fuel runs out. Of course, this situation does not exist now, after all, the engagement distance is too short. In addition, the first wave of bombers is enough to tear open the air defense network of the First Fleet. Even if it fails to severely damage the main force of the First Fleet, it creates an opportunity for the second wave of attacks and slows down the advance of the First Fleet."
"Then what?"
Ji Xiaobin took out a cigarette.
"Then I will decide whether to organize a third round of attack based on the actual situation, based on when the first wave of bombers returns, which is also roughly when the second wave of bombers begins to attack."
Tan Renhao took the cigarette from Ji Xiaobin and said, "If the first round of attack is not ideal, and the second round of attack fails to completely damage the First Fleet, I will immediately organize the first wave of bombers to return to refuel, hang bombs and torpedoes, and launch a third round of attack before the First Fleet approaches.
This was also the last round of attack. If it failed, the shells from the First Fleet's battleships would have hit the aircraft carriers of the Japanese Southwest Fleet.
Of course, the premise is that the Japanese Southwest Fleet cannot leave the designated exercise area."
Tan Renhao smiled bitterly. This was not a drill at all, it was a show! Ji Xiaobin did not ask any more questions. He lit a cigarette.
The entire exercise process was almost the same as Tan Renhao's analysis.
When news came that the Japanese Navy bomber formation had broken through the First Fleet's anti-aircraft firepower network, Tan Renhao realized that everything was over.
If this was a real naval battle, the First Fleet would have been at the mercy of others, and the large-caliber guns on the battleships would not have had any chance to be used.
The exercise ended around five in the afternoon. Although the final result saved the face of the Imperial Navy, everyone with a discerning eye knew that the Imperial Navy had already lost, and lost in a very shameful way!
