A Navy Aviation transport plane was circling overhead, flying very low, making a lot of noise.

Seeing Han Yu's impatient expression, Chief of Staff Zhang explained with a smile: "With so many fishing boats transporting troops, the superior is surely not very assured. Sending planes to check is quite normal."

"What's the use of sending a transport plane to check? Sending two fighter jets or two escort ships to provide real protection is what matters."

"I don't know if there are fighter jets escorting, but there are definitely surface vessels escorting, they're just quite far away and we can't see them."

"Really?"

"Definitely."

Han Yu wanted to verify this, turned and said: "Village Chief Li, have Jiangyu 211, 280, and 301 sail 5 nautical miles further east to see if there are any surface vessels escorting from the east."

Li Mingsheng was stunned for a moment and then smiled, asking: "Is it necessary?"

"The fishing boats have limited horsepower, the main fleet's speed can't be increased, they're idle anyway, so let them go see if there are any warships to the east."

"Alright."

...

Meanwhile, many Army officers on the fishing boats began vomiting again.

The feeling during sailing is completely different from anchoring, it's a lot bumpier, feeling like being on a roller-coaster. Sometimes when a wave hits, the spray can splash onto the bridge. Without safety ropes and nets, you might really be thrown far away by the waves.

Some officers have better adaptation; they vomited heavily at night, had severe headaches but quickly recovered, now they don't have much seasickness.

They were extremely excited seeing the warplane circling overhead and wanted to wave a greeting, but could only think about it without action.

The ship travel precautions last night clearly stated that in any situation during navigation, identity must not be exposed, and they must remain covered by fishing nets like "fish," viewing aircraft through the nets.

The fishing net's camouflage isn't very effective, but covering with the net is better than nothing and ensures safety.

However, the smell of the fishing net isn't pleasant; there's a fishy stench, with sticky dead fish and rotten shrimp.

"Sergeant, the plane flew away."

"Oh."

"Sergeant, where are we now, how long are we staying on this boat?"

"Don't talk to me." The sergeant's seasickness was severe, head spinning and stomach churned violently, and grabbed a convenience bag to cover his mouth.

The young warrior feared being vomited on by the sergeant, quickly moved aside, held onto his gun and asked the deputy: "Deputy, how far do you think we are from the coastline?"

"I don't know."

"Which direction is the boat heading?"

"South, can't you see where the sun is?" The deputy's butt was numb, gently shifted his body, poked his head through the net to look, weakly asking: "I have a bad headache, don't you?"

"No."

"Alright, you're in better shape than me."

Most officers on the fishing boats experienced seasickness, and the leaders on tugboats were also affected.

Ding Commander spent a while at the "Joint Command Center" but couldn't stand it, found an excuse to return to the crew cabin, laid down pressing his temples.

Deputy Commander's seasickness was more severe, started vomiting from departure and kept it up till now.

Ding Commander listlessly asked: "Old Yang, are you alright?"

"I'm fine."

"Always thought the Navy had it good, and now after thinking about it, the privilege is deserved, sitting on a ship is really tough, until you face the seasickness you can't understand how awful it is."

Deputy Commander Yang forced himself to keep up his spirits, worriedly asking: "Commander, how are the warriors faring?"

"Not too well." Ding Commander sighed lightly, helplessly saying: "Village Chief Li said many warriors vomited bile out, given current conditions, two or three days of rest wouldn't suffice."

"No regular training in this area, failing at critical moments."

"Even if we wanted to organize, there aren't the conditions, besides, it's not just us affected by seasickness, the superior shouldn't say anything when we arrive."

"What about Captain Chen, did he say anything?" 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

"No, he's equally seasick, currently vomiting in the crew cabin."

...

Such small winds and waves really aren't much to Han Yu and Chief of Staff Zhang, sitting in the Command Center eating watermelon while chatting about the ongoing military exercise.

"Fishing boats have small tonnage and poor stability, heavy pitching, it's normal for participating officers to get seasick. Actually, the superior should have thought of that, why not organize them to take landing ships."

"Landing ships have relatively large tonnage, taking them is more comfortable compared to fishing boats, but do you know how many landing ships our East Sea Fleet has?"

Han Yu threw the watermelon rind into the trash, curiously asking: "How many?"

Chief of Staff Zhang whispered: "There are only four Type 072 ships."

Back ten-plus years ago, Han Yu read magazines about ships, not unfamiliar with Type 072 landing ships, clearly knowing they were 1970s designs, built in the 1980s, curiously asked: "Four landing ships, how many officers can they transport at once?"

"Including tanks and other heavy equipment, they can transport a maximum of one division at a time."

"Why not requisition more roll-on-roll-off ships?"

"You're the Chief Officer of offshore vessels, you should be aware of the total number of roll-on-roll-off ships domestically. Not to mention it's not easy to requisition, even if possible without proper modification they can't be put into battle."

Landing ships are specifically designed and built for landing operations, the tank compartments are very robust, ordinary roll-on-roll-off ships aren't the same, though they can carry many vehicles, the deck may not withstand a tank's weight, tanks weighing tens of tons after all.

More importantly, roll-on-roll-off ship doors can't be opened at will, needing specific dock access to open doors, lower the deck before vehicles onboard can disembark. Opening like landing ships at sea can likely cause sinking.