At the invitation of the U.S. Navy, the Chinese expeditionary fleet, which set sail from the Constanta base in Romania and returned home, detached an aircraft carrier squadron and visited the U.S. Norfolk Naval Base for a military diplomacy. China's history of military diplomacy is actually very short. It only started visiting other countries with warships in 1922. However, due to Qi Yiming's weight gain, the Navy has a lot of wealth to show off, so every year the Navy visits ports in several countries. On the one hand, we are conducting diplomatic activities; on the other hand, we are also showing our strength to the whole world.
For example, this large-scale expedition fleet, on its way back, the Navy organized an aircraft carrier fleet headed by the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Shandong, and successively visited Greece, Yugoslavia, Italy, Algeria, Portugal and other countries, and the last stop was the Nobel Peace Prize in the United States. Fokker Naval Base.
The Americans¡¯ invitation to the Chinese aircraft carrier fleet to visit is definitely with bad intentions. In particular, the aircraft carrier Shandong is something that appeared suddenly. People had been paying attention to the Hebei built by Dalian Shipyard before, thinking that it was China's first aircraft carrier. But when the Shandong was put into battle, people exclaimed that China had something up its sleeve.
With such an idea, people will not only extend again, but also keep a few more hands after keeping one hand? In purely naval terms, the threat from the Chinese Navy is now much greater than that of the Soviet Red Navy. The Soviet Union chose the wrong technology tree in its naval development route. However, China is no longer just following the footsteps of the United States. They are even at the forefront of the world in many fields.
For example, in terms of the application of Aegis ships, China has the largest number of Aegis ships in the world. When the United States could only rely on one Aegis ship, the Ticonderoga-class cruiser, to provide an air defense umbrella for the fleet, China already had one 056 A lineup with 2-052 ships provides more impeccable air defense capabilities. Another example is the hull stealth design, low detectability, etc., which makes the whole world follow the trend and build similar warships.
Taking advantage of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the crisis of the Russian Civil War, China obtained aircraft carriers from Russia through kidnapping and fraud. The number of China's aircraft carriers is rapidly approaching that of the United States, leaving the Americans to admire themselves and at the same time worry about the pursuers behind them. fear. In particular, all of China's warships are particularly new. Except for the two purchased and modified amphibious assault ships, the main active warships of the Chinese Navy may be less than ten years old. Starting from 1922, the Chinese navy has grown explosively. Within six or seven years, it has built a huge fleet with a tonnage of nearly one million tons. This kind of production capacity was only available in the United States during World War II.
The United States has spent many years saving to build up its current wealth, so it cannot help but worry about these things. If China continues to grow at this rate, it may take ten years for the United States to have to accept that the Chinese navy will compete with theirs in terms of strength. Sitting on an equal footing.
At the Norfolk Naval Base in Virginia, the U.S. Navy is well-organized and has groups of warships to welcome "allies" coming from afar. Since they have invited China's aircraft carrier fleet to visit, the Americans will not let the Chinese dominate the United States. There are currently a total of aircraft carriers at the Norfolk base, including the Kitty Hawk-class USS America and USS Kennedy, and the Nimitz-class USS Nimitz and USS Eisenhower. At this naval base, there are also more than ten large amphibious ships, more than two dozen cruisers and destroyers, several frigates, and several attack nuclear submarines
Fleet Commander Zhang Lingzhong, standing on the Shandong aircraft carrier, smiled at his naval colleagues on the left and right: "The Americans want to show us power. The huge U.S. Navy has 14 aircraft carriers in active service, and four of them were specially used to welcome us. ¡±
A naval staff officer coldly snorted with some emotion: "The Americans must have deliberately asked us to visit Norfolk. Our navy has performed well over the years. The Americans feel threatened and want to show us that they are still powerful." ah"
Zhang Lingzhong, however, was not very alarmed. He just smiled and said: "So what if we saw it? Having said that, even if this is a battlefield and we are at a disadvantage in terms of scale, we can still fight. Our revolutionary navy has inferior equipment and training from the older generation." The fearless spirit that exists when it is insufficient should not be forgotten now. No matter how good a fleet is, it cannot win a war without brave sailors and competent commanders. In terms of size and scale, our navy is already studying new tactics and methods, and it has the fighting will to fight and win wars. It is the integrity and persistence of our Chinese navy to face difficulties.
The commander's words won the approval of all naval officers and soldiers. When the Chinese naval fleet, whose paint was obviously lighter, the Shandong aircraft carrier entered Norfolk with a cruiser, two destroyers, a frigate, and an attack nuclear submarine. At that time, the naval officers and soldiers performed the standing ceremony. Their full mental state was like the flying naval flag, which impressed the US Navy standing in the port.
U.S. Chief of Naval Operations Frank Purso was shocked and said: "It is indeed a fleet that has just fought. Even from such a distance, without even seeing the person's face, you can feel a sense of evil.
Rear Admiral Greene was quite disdainful and said: "Our young manWe have been teaching our enemies a lesson all year round. In terms of evil spirits, I am afraid we can scare the Chinese to death."
Kelso shook his head and said: "But we have never competed with the Russians, or our decision-makers have never had the courage to compete with Russia's enemies from the beginning, but the Chinese have, and they won."
Greeney still argued: "Today's Russia? A navy that is even hungry. The Chinese have picked a soft persimmon."
Kelso stopped talking. As the Chief of Naval Operations, he naturally would not look down on his enemies, but would magnify the enemy's advantages. The Chinese Navy is indeed relatively new compared to the U.S. Navy, but the U.S. Navy back then was equally new compared to the British Empire's Navy. At that time, the US military's ship design level, armed firepower, and personnel quality were far inferior to those of the British Royal Navy. However, it first relied on its own industrial capabilities to build a powerful naval fleet, and then gained experience through continuous bloody battles. Today, the United States The navy is already unparalleled in the world.
Kelso is not sure whether China will copy the same path. They are also building ships on a large scale and are constantly appearing in various sea areas with naval conflicts. Judging from the situation in the past few years, the Chinese navy has fought There are more battles than the U.S. Navy, especially in terms of the number of ships sunk. The Chinese Navy has completely destroyed the U.S. Navy in recent years.
The United States is now trying its best to learn more about China, a military power. In addition to the traditional way of obtaining intelligence through spies, the US military has also increased its reconnaissance of Chinese military assets. Last week, a U.S. military E-E took off from the Philippines to conduct reconnaissance activities in the "international waters" of the South China Sea (which the United States considers). Naturally, it didn't take long for an "ally" fighter jet to accompany it.
A B14CN Tomcat fighter jet stationed in Hainan made the U.S. Navy pilot open his eyes and recognize the Bayi Red Star logo on the fuselage before realizing that it was a Chinese fighter jet. The pilot of this Tomcat also chatted with the E-crew members in English for a while on the public channel in an unusually warm manner, discussing which tropical fruit tastes better and inviting American friends to come to China for dinner when they have time. The B14CN, which had no bombs attached, was about 100 meters away from the US aircraft during the entire flight. It was not until E- could not withstand the pressure that it returned.
This kind of activity is tacitly understood by everyone and has not been announced in the media. However, the Americans have generally passed flight tests and exited the air defense warning zone that the Chinese have not announced. Once they enter a certain range, the Chinese aircraft will definitely take off and follow you. They will not warn or expel, they will just follow you. Although these Chinese fighter planes would not hang bombs if they intercepted large patrol aircraft or anti-submarine aircraft, the Americans did not believe that there were no shells in their cannons.
In order to obtain more intelligence, the Americans used the excuse of strengthening military diplomacy, hoping to use such an occasion to visit and learn more about Chinese warships. Like this time, the Americans boarded China's most powerful aircraft carrier, the Type 62, for the first time.
Although photography is not allowed, most unclassified cabins are allowed to be visited by the US side. From the chief of operations like Kelso to some selected ordinary sailors, they were all lucky enough to spend an hour on this Chinese aircraft carrier. Long.
After the visit, an internal meeting was held within the U.S. Navy. Rear Admiral Greene curled his lips and said: "This aircraft carrier doesn't look very good. It can't even compare with the Enterprise class."
In terms of tonnage, the Type 62 is indeed not as good as the Enterprise class, but it is about the same size as the Kitty Hawk class. Kelso said aside: "To be honest, the design of this aircraft carrier is not bad. It has everything it should have, and there are no obvious flaws. From the perspective of the command and control system, the degree of electronic information is even higher than that of the Washington D.C. we just served. The number is incomparable. It seems that the Chinese are really good at electronic warfare and information command."
Kelso analyzed it to his subordinates: "And we thought that the Chinese would only let us see some living cabins, but the Chinese actually had the guts to let us see important things like hangars and combat centers. Department, it shows that the Chinese are very confident in their weapons, and the most important characteristic of a navy is self-confidence. If one day the Chinese become an opponent of the United States, they will probably be a difficult and respectable enemy. "
Another U.S. Navy general said: "The Chinese are very bold in the application of new technologies. I wonder where they get so much funding. This aircraft carrier has short-range terminal defense missiles used with close-in defense guns, and we The RIM16 has just entered service this year. Their bridge is equipped with four active phased array radars similar to those of the Aegis ship, which shows that the detection range of this aircraft carrier will be quite long, and its response capability will not be slow. The tonnage is 20,000 tons smaller than the Nimitz-class, but in actual combat, its effectiveness is probably no worse than that of the Nimitz. "