Chapter 1506: 1507 amphibious ship
"Captain Cao Fei! Welcome aboard the Qingluan 3 amphibious assault ship." After checking the ID of Marine Corps sniper ace Cao Fei, a young sailor stood at attention with a smile on the sniper whose record was so exaggerated. salute.
"Thank you." Cao Fei returned a military salute, and then with the help of the other party, he lifted up his equipment and placed it on the luggage rack above the bed.
His rank is high enough, so he can live in a four-person cabin. Ordinary Marines do not have such good treatment. They have to sleep in a crowded 16-person cabin, which is like a sardine can.
In fact, the Marine Corps did call the crowded cabin in the landing ship a "sardine can." Fortunately, the ventilation in the Tang Army's cabin was fairly good, otherwise the stinky feet of a group of strong men could have caused huge casualties.
Because the operation was kept secret, all troops boarded the ship at night, and boarded the ship in batches. At the same time, after entering the cabin, they were not allowed to move around easily.
With a breathing trip to the deck at night, you have to do it in batches and abide by time limits—the treatment is worse than jail, but fortunately it only lasts a few days, so everyone can tolerate it and get over it.
Senior officers boarded the ship relatively late. When Cao Fei boarded the ship, almost all the troops were on board: the corridors and aisles on the lower deck were filled with all kinds of things, including food and life-saving equipment.
In order to carry more people and equipment, comfort is not so important. In addition, when everyone was loading the materials, they discovered that there were actually a lot of messy and detailed materials, which greatly exceeded the original estimate.
“Seasickness medicine!” There were sailors in the corridor distributing seasickness medicine, and there were also people responsible for collecting everyone’s personal belongings such as suicide notes and letters from home.
The instructor following these people finally took the trouble to explain to each soldier the safe passage, the placement of life-saving equipment, and distributed the copied floor plan: "This is a confidential document! Destroy it immediately after getting familiar with it, and it is not allowed to be taken ashore. !”
He kept emphasizing, but the army soldiers didn't take it seriously. Cao Fei's roommates were sitting together playing cards. He was the last one to come. He didn't join the game. Instead, he leaned against the hatch without a door and looked into the distance of the corridor. Busy sailor.
At regular intervals, there are watertight hatches with green passage lights on them. This is an environment he is familiar with, an environment familiar to the Marine Corps.
Over his head, the spacious flight deck was already filled with helicopters. These helicopters were fixed by steel cables to prevent them from sliding into the sea due to the rocking of the ship.
Due to time constraints, the Navy was unable to equip a dedicated ground attack helicopter, so the Black Hawk utility helicopter became their only option.
A large number of modified Black Hawk helicopters can hang rockets and can also install heavy machine guns on the sides. In short... it is enough to provide air suppression, but if you are not professional, don't expect it.
Anyway, as long as a piece of land is captured and a field airport is established, the army's armed helicopters will immediately station. This is all planned.
At Cao Fei's feet, Liu Guozhu looked at his tank in a new type of equipment called a hovercraft, feeling a little nervous.
He heard from the sailors that this thing that looked like a plane or a ship could send his tank directly to the beach, but he couldn't believe it. Our own tank is close to fifty tons, which is really much heavier than the equipment called tanks in the past. It would be a great thing to be able to get this thing directly ashore.
What made him even more unbelievable was that there were two small turrets on both sides of the hatch directly in front of this new equipment called a hovercraft, which could provide fire cover before going ashore... It seemed quite reassuring. .
Everyone is busy because this Qingluan-class giant ship is about to set sail. After leaving the port, it will join the aircraft carrier fleet at the anchorage and form a formation to sail to the open sea together.
Their route will deflect to the north, joining the No. 1 supply formation that first set sail from Qingluan Port, then the No. 2 supply formation that set sail from Nanshan Port, and then joining the Empire's Second Landing Fleet that set sail from East Bay. , then merged with the Empire's main fleet that sailed from Dragon Island, and finally merged with the No. 3 supply fleet that sailed from Great South Bay of the South Island, forming the most powerful maritime fleet in the history of this planet.
The entire fleet has 11 modern aircraft carriers, equipped with 300 Shark fighter jets, 500 Intruder attack aircraft, 35 early warning aircraft, and 40 other service aircraft.
The landing fleet has 12 Qingluan-class landing ships, equipped with 400 helicopters and Black Hawk helicopters. Almost all the newly manufactured and specially processed naval Black Hawk helicopters are piled on these attack ships.
Escorting these big guys are 25 missile cruisers, 50 destroyers, and 41 high-performance comprehensive supply ships. Following the command of such a large fleet is the command ship Marshal Bernard, which is also the only dedicated command ship in the world.
Supporting the entire combat fleet are more than 200 satellites orbiting the planet in the universe. These satellites provide intelligence support including weather, pictures and other information.
The three supply fleets operating together with the fleet have more than 600 ships, including hospital ships and transport ships, with a wide range of categories and an astonishing number.
If the amphibious assault ship is the kick that kicks open the opponent's door, then the traditional landing fleet is the giant that enters the house. The transport fleet has thousands of transport ships transporting more than 150,000 troops. They travel in mighty formations and can almost cover the entire sea horizon.
In order to provide sufficient and comprehensive fire support, the Tang army even launched the four battleships that surrendered after the Chu Kingdom was attached.
These old antiques are slower in speed and were equipped with advanced equipment such as radars after the Tang Empire took over. Now they are used as artillery support ships in the supply fleet.
In addition, the Chu State also had two cruisers pulled out by the Tang Army. Together with some miscellaneous small destroyers, the Chu State's fleet's wealth was not wasted at all. These warships were basically unused by the Chu State. Rounding off, they equaled to 90% new for the Tang Army’s own use.
In order to make these old warships adaptable to modern warfare, the Tang Army focused on modifications to enhance the communication capabilities of these warships, so that they can maximize the role of these old warships in coordinated operations.
After all, the Tang Army did not like similar artillery battleships at all, but the support of modern warships for landing operations may not be timely, so they simply pulled out the artillery battleships and let these veterans shine for the last time...