Chapter 1522: The Ambition of the Maritime Self-Defense Force

Ten hours later.

In the waters near Manila Bay, evening.

Inside the bridge of the Hyuga, the captain of the Hyuga, First Lieutenant General Yamada Yuki, came behind the commander of the escort fleet, Oe Michiyama, and reported in a deep voice, "Sir Oe, we have passed through the Mindoro Strait and are about to enter the preset forward warning area."

The latter nodded slightly, a hint of joy flashed across his tense expression, but it was fleeting:

"Increase the speed to 24 knots, change the single column to a fluttering formation, and quickly leave the busy waterway."

Modern ships no longer need to ring bells or shout to convey the commander's orders. The working status of the engine can even be directly controlled from inside the bridge.

In just a few minutes, the fleet's speed had reached three times that of when it had just crossed the strait, and the other two destroyers that were originally following behind also came to the sides of the Hyuga and broke through the waves together with the latter.

This formation is not conducive to evasive maneuvers in emergency situations, but its advantage is that it is very photogenic.

Especially from an aerial perspective.

Soon, several slow-moving bulk carriers around were left out of sight, which also meant that the three warships officially entered the South China Sea.

"Mr. Oe, please allow me to express my concerns again." Yamada Yuki turned to Oe Michiyama who was standing in the middle of the bridge, and lowered his voice to ensure that no one else on the bridge could hear the specific content of the conversation. "It is very risky for us to carry out the forward alert mission..."

Halfway through his speech, he carefully glanced at the other person's expression, and after making sure there was no change, he continued to explain:

"Both the Takanami and the Mayuyu are general-purpose destroyers. Their air defense capabilities are limited to plane search radars and ESSM missiles. The detection distance for typical air targets is within 100km, and the interception distance is less than 40km. Although our Hyuga is equipped with an FCS-3 phased array radar, its main function is still fire command rather than long-range search, and it does not have regional air defense capabilities..."

Until this moment, Yamada's words were finally interrupted:

"So, Yamada-kun." Oe Michiyama turned his back to him, crossed his hands behind his back, and looked out at the sea reflecting the afterglow of the setting sun. "You think my proposal this morning was too reckless, right?"

This kind of question, of course, cannot be answered directly.

But silence has revealed the answer.

But unexpectedly, Dajiang Daoshan was not annoyed by this, but continued calmly:

"We are far from the sensitive waters. Considering the response speed and combat radius of shore-based aviation, we will not be threatened unless they send an aircraft carrier here—" He chuckled. "And as far as we know, the Liao Province was still in the port this morning. It is impossible for it to fly over thousands of miles."

"So, we just need to ensure that we are at peace with the surface ships sent by China."

Obviously, Dajiang didn't consider the life and death of the two allied warships at all.

Anyway, according to past experience, they would not be actually sunk. At most, they would just roll back in disgrace.

But Yamada Yuki was still not reassured: "Then... at least ask the USS Washington to launch an E2C early warning aircraft to provide us with some advance warning?"

"Alas..." Dajiang Daoshan felt helpless at his subordinates' insistence.

Thanks to the Self-Defense Force rank system in the trench, although the two of them are of different ranks, they hold the same rank of First Lieutenant Colonel, so there are some things he cannot do on his own.

"Yamada-kun, do you know why we chose these three ships to form the forward formation?"

This sudden question caused Yamada Yuki to freeze for a while, and after a while he tentatively answered: "Because... the four Kongo-class ships are undergoing Aegis system upgrades?"

"That's just the superficial reason." Dajiang turned and took a few steps closer, lowering his voice. "Before leaving the port, the Joint Staff Office gave me two secret missions... First, to verify the aviation dispatch capability of a full-deck ship far away from the mainland waters, and to accumulate data for the construction of a real aviation battleship in the future."

Yamada's eyes widened slightly.

But if you think about it carefully, it seems to be reasonable.

The Hyuga looks like a serious light aircraft carrier, but both its hardware design and combat assumptions are inherited from the Haruna-class and Shirane-class. Such a large ship of nearly 6 tons can only accommodate 7- medium-sized helicopters in the hangar.

From a practical point of view, the front deck should be reserved for the installation of other weapons, or a dock should be set up under the hangar.

Since the tonnage was wasted to design it into this weird and weird appearance, there must be a bigger conspiracy behind it.

But if that were the case, there didn't seem to be any need to leave the fleet.

At least there is no need to go to such a high-risk place to test the release ability.

"What about the second item?"

"According to the plan, the Soryu, which left the port half a month ago, should have arrived nearby and is preparing to continue westward, deep into the vicinity of the Zhongsha Atoll, to survey the hydrology and seabed environment." Yamada Yuki answered slowly, "Our mission is to protect it from being discovered, especially when it crosses the Luzon Trough."

Yamada quickly felt a chill running up his spine.

"I see." He took a deep breath, "So we need to create a reasonable reason to leave the fleet while maintaining sufficient mobility to protect the Cang Long."

"That's right." Oe nodded. "So, even if there hadn't been an accident this morning, I was going to find a reason to let the Hyuga leave the formation and sail alone for a while."

After saying that, he turned and looked at Yamada:

"Now, let's start verifying the first mission. I need you to get all the helicopters airborne in the shortest possible time and form a search formation in the northwest direction."

"All 10?" Yamada asked in surprise, "This exceeds our normal maximum number of sorties."

"That's why it's a verification." Dajiang raised a smile, "Go ahead, let me see where your limits are."

Yamada saluted, turned around and walked quickly towards the air tower.

Soon, the three helicopters moored on the deck completed all preparations before launch.

Dajiang Daoshan had already arrived at the CIC at this time. Through the panoramic camera, he could see that the deck crew was guiding the first helicopter into the take-off position.

The orange-yellow deck lights stretched out the busy figures as the mechanics were doing their final checks.

For a moment, he seemed to have returned to the Akagi decades ago. In front of him were no longer the current helicopters that had no air control and anti-ship capabilities, but the Type 97 carrier-based attack aircraft and Zero carrier-based fighters ready to go.

"Aircraft tower, this is the bridge." Yamada's voice came through the ship's communication system, pulling Oe Michiyama out of his reverie. "The wind on the deck is stable, and aircraft No. 1 is allowed to take off."

The preparation for launching a helicopter is much simpler than that for a fixed-wing aircraft, but the aviation department of the Hyuga referred to the Nimitz class and added a lot of extra drama.

As the roar of the turboshaft engine gradually increased, the rotor of the first SH-60J began to rotate faster.

The guide on the deck half-crouched, holding his helmet with his left hand and making a clear take-off gesture with his right arm. The helicopter left the deck lightly, hovered over the bow for a moment, and flew northwest.

"Planet two is in position..." the air traffic controller's voice sounded again.

The full-deck design of the Hyuga has indeed greatly improved the efficiency of aviation operations. If it were not for simulating the takeoff rules of fixed-wing carrier-based aircraft, it could even prepare four more helicopters while launching four helicopters.

But in the final analysis it is still equivalent to the eunuchs' self-entertainment.

It is fundamentally different from a real aircraft carrier.

There are no catapults, no arresting cables, and no fixed-wing fighters.

In contrast, after the Liao Province was officially put into service in December last year, China became the only country in East Asia to own an aircraft carrier.

The thought made him clench his fists.

"One day..." Dajiang Daoshan whispered to himself.

But he quickly shook his head.

He is certainly a radical rearmament supporter, but that doesn't mean he's brainless.

During the Liao Province renovation, many people brought up old events from decades ago, claiming that the Chinese Navy was extremely lacking in experience in the use of aircraft carriers, so it was no big deal.

However, Dajiang knew very well that this idea was completely self-deception.

The old Japanese Navy's aviation command and training systems had long been lost, and modern aircraft carriers were completely different from their World War II predecessors in terms of both technology and command.

Instead, they need to start from scratch and rebuild this capability step by step.

Even when Americans may not fully support it.