After the first "Flying Fish" took off, Bai Zhizhan finally breathed a sigh of relief. After admonishing Zhou Yongtao again, he returned to the commander's bridge.

It was 8:40 a.m.

Subsequently, other "Flying Fish" took off one after another.

Like Task Force 21, Task Force 41 faced the problem of too long a sortie and insufficient range of torpedo planes and bombers.

However, in terms of the solution to this problem, the two task forces are completely different.

In order to extend the combat radius, the "Exocet" dispatched by Task Force 41 did not carry machine gunners in the back seat, and also removed the twin machine guns in the back seat, but inserted two wooden sticks painted black to pretend to be machine guns. In addition, a soft fuel tank was placed in the machine gunner's position, which was loaded with an additional 150 liters of gasoline. In this way, the "Flying Fish" can fly about 200 kilometers more, but it lacks self-defense capabilities.

The lead plane commander directly removed the machine gunner, and the navigator sat in the back, with a large voice radio and soft fuel tank installed in the middle.

It has long been proven in actual combat that as long as you are targeted by fighters, then it is almost the same with or without a machine gunner in the back seat.

By the time the staff officer brought breakfast, the aviation crew had already begun to lift the "Wasp" into the air.

Because it is against aircraft carriers, dive bombers are the main force, and with the 250 kg bombs hung on it, the range problem of the "Wasp" is not prominent.

Each of the two aircraft carriers dispatched two squadrons of "Wasps".

Because fighter planes were to be sent to cover the 41.2 detachment ahead, the "Imperial Capital" dispatched only 4 "Roaring Heaven" planes, and the "Companion Beijing" dispatched 12 planes.

At the beginning, Bai Zhizhan went to tell Zhou Yongtao that he should organize air defense fighters to take off as soon as possible, and not to delay too much time.

Detachment 41.2 broke the radio silence, and may have been spotted.

If Spu had been in front, he might have been getting the carrier-based aircraft to take off.

The point is that it was a seaplane that was shot down, so it was reasonable for the heavy cruiser of the 41.2nd detachment to send a telegram. After intercepting the telegram sent by the "Wuzhou" and pinpointing it, it is possible that Spu determined that Task Force 41 was in the exposed waters of the "Wuzhou".

In addition, the relationship between the Nuland Federation and the Narrow Imperial State may have already obtained intelligence information related to the "Wuzhou".

"Wuzhou" is famous.

At the beginning, on the east side of the Shuangche Strait, there were four heavy cruisers led by the "Wushu", which scared Takano who was sitting in the first main battle team.

Comparing the signal characteristics of the radio, it can be concluded that it is the "Wuzhou".

In addition, as long as Nuland's intelligence agencies were not too bad, they should have known that the "Wuzhou" and other four heavy cruisers had been incorporated into the 41st Task Force.

Tactically, finding the "Wuzhou" is almost the same as finding the 41st Task Force.

The problem is that the attack doesn't have to come from the east.

For Detachment 41.2, the number one threat was actually the carrier task force to the north.

When he received the second report, Bai Zhizhan suddenly understood and found that everyone, including him, had made a mistake that he had taken for granted.

Before that, everyone thought that the Nuland Navy had organized five aircraft carriers into two task forces!

It's also easy to understand.

All the exercises conducted before the war proved without exception that the combat effectiveness of a single aircraft carrier is actually very limited, and many tasks require two aircraft carriers. The key is the efficiency of sorties of carrier-based aircraft, and this problem cannot be solved by increasing the displacement of the aircraft carrier and expanding the deck area.

That's right, except for the battle against Commander Lan Yun's permanent fleet, the Imperial Navy has always let two aircraft carriers form a task force.

This feature even affected the number of aircraft carriers built.

To say that even the number of capital warships built in service with aircraft carriers is based on an even number.

This is clearly not the case with the Nuland Navy.

The seaplanes sent out by the 41.2nd detachment first found a "Lek" class, and then found a "York" class in the sea less than 50 kilometers apart, and there must be a deviation in the positioning of the seaplanes, so the actual distance between the two sea areas may not be 50 kilometers.

Even if it's fifty kilometers, it's definitely not two task forces.

All in all, that's two aircraft carriers in a task force.

One "Leke" class with one "York" class?

Then, it is likely that the other two "York" class ships form a task force, and the remaining one "Leke" class operates alone.

At about 7:30 a.m., the seaplanes of the 42.2nd detachment discovered that it was actually the "Lek" class that was operating alone.

As a result, two more ships of the "York" class did not appear.

In fact, this also just explains Bai Zhizhan's doubts.

The positions of the two Newland aircraft carrier task forces discovered successively were too far forward and too far apart, and there was almost no way to cover each other. If the two task forces were originally operating separately, then the task force operating in the south was obviously emboldened.

As expected, another task force consisting of two York-class ships was not far behind.

From the location, it is to the east of Task Force 41.

It's just not too close, maybe more than 500 kilometers, but it's certainly not too far from the 41.2th detachment.

According to the judgment of Bai Zhizhan, it was about 200 kilometers east or northeast of the 41.2nd detachment.

If the commander is bold enough, he will not even be more than 150 kilometers from the 41.2nd detachment.

Only in this way will it be possible to cover the two aircraft carriers in front.

As for the two aircraft carriers that were discovered, they may not have been directed at Task Force 21.

If this is the case, the reconnaissance planes of the Nuland fleet have already discovered the 21st task force, but Liu Xiangzhen has not realized it for the time being.

After the last few escort fighters took to the air, Zhou Yongtao returned to the commander's bridge.

Above the flight deck, aviation crews are preparing for anti-aircraft fighters.

Because the front was an "all-deck sortie", the carrier-based aircraft participating in the attack took up all the positions, and there was no way for the air defense fighters to prepare in advance.

However, the fighter was mainly loaded with fuel and did not take much time.

"I have already arranged for the second wave of aircraft to be put on deck immediately after the air defense fighters have risen into the air to prepare for the next round of attacks."

"Send all the fighters out first."

Zhou Yongtao nodded and said, "This time the fighter is to take off first, and the few planes that will be lifted off before dawn will return at noon." ”

Bai Zhizhan didn't say much, he never had to worry about these things.

"The problem is that if we immediately dispatch a second wave of attacks, then by noon, when the second wave returns, I am afraid that the first wave will still be recovered."

"As long as you can seize the opportunity, it doesn't matter if you lose some carrier-based aircraft, just protect the pilot."

The speed at which the recovery of carrier-based aircraft is slower than the speed at which carrier-based aircraft are dispatched is an unsolvable problem, at least for now.

"That's it."

"What I'm thinking about now is whether I need to warn Liu Xiangzhen." Bai Zhizhan let out a long breath, looking like he didn't know what to say.

"The telegram sent by the seaplane must have been intercepted by Task Force 21. In knowing the southeast direction......"

"That's what I'm worried about."

"You mean ......"

"Those two aircraft carriers are too far away from us, and judging from the current situation, it is not a task force commanded by Spu, Liu Xiangzhen may think that we will not attack."

"How is this possible, this ......"

Halfway through his words, after noticing Bai Zhizhan's expression, Zhou Yongtao closed his mouth.

Bai Zhizhan said polite words, Liu Xiangzhen will not misunderstand, but to grab credit!

.。 m.