Is it bad luck?

Spu was very surprised, the key is that the report was sent by a seaplane, not a carrier-based reconnaissance plane.

The Liangxia Navy did not acquire new seaplanes, and as far as Spu knew, the Liangxia Navy had always paid little attention to seaplanes carried by escort warships.

As a rule, the patrol radius of those seaplanes does not exceed 400 kilometers.

That is, the Liangxia fleet will not be more than 400 kilometers away from the expeditionary fleet.

Judging by the telegrams received, the expeditionary fleet was still southeast of Task Force 61, and the distance had been reduced to less than 300 kilometers.

In other words, if the Liangxia fleet was to the north of the expeditionary fleet, it would not be too far from the 61st task force.

Of course, this is not what Spu cares about.

The point is that the seaplane actually spotted the expeditionary fleet shortly after dawn and sent a telegram unknowingly.

Could it be that the lookouts in the expeditionary fleet were all blind and did not see the approaching seaplanes?

Also, both radars of the "Prestige" class are not working?

It can be inferred from this that the distance between the Liangxia fleet and the expeditionary fleet is probably less than 400 kilometers.

The reason is also simple: the seaplane is on a reconnaissance mission, and the battleship on the surface can only be seen after dawn, so it will not fly the entire range at night.

Let the seaplane search the enemy fleet on the way back?

Tactically, it's not impossible, it's just that it's very difficult to implement, and it requires enough seaplanes, because it reduces the efficiency of reconnaissance by half.

Obviously, the Liang-Xia fleet could not have enough seaplanes.

All in all, the expeditionary fleet has been exposed, and the next blow will be.

At 5:45 a.m., Spark gave the order to put the F4Fs on escort duty at the front of the deck, and all of them hung up the auxiliary fuel tanks.

This arrangement is to ensure that these fighters can be dispatched immediately to provide cover for the expeditionary fleet when necessary.

Of course, whether there is a need or not depends on whether Cunningham calls for help.

In any case, Cunningham has 2 fleet aircraft carriers, as well as dozens of F4Fs, and if all of them are sent, there should not be much of a problem with air defense.

Sp knew in his heart that it would be useless to say anything from a distance of several hundred kilometers.

Waiting for Cunningham to send a request, immediately let the F4F take to the air, and no matter how full speed it flies, it will definitely not be able to arrive in time.

In this way, it is also a show.

Don't forget, in Task Force 61, there is also a Bran destroyer.

In fact, this also shows that Sp has not given up the idea of attacking Liang Xia's fleet.

If the reconnaissance aircraft discovers the Liangxia fleet, then let the F4F carry out escort missions. Because the drop fuel tank was hung, there was no problem with taking off early.

For this reason, Spu also asked the communications staff officer about the situation and whether he had received a report from the reconnaissance plane.

Spu's focus is on four SBDs in the 20 degrees south-east to 30 degrees north-east area.

After receiving the telegram from the expeditionary fleet, Spu decided that the Liangxia fleet was in this sea area, and the distance would definitely not exceed 400 kilometers.

Well, the reconnaissance plane will send back a telegram before 6 o'clock.

If anything, it has to do with the seaplane.

According to Spu's speculation, in order to ensure its own safety, the Liang Xia fleet has been operating in the open sea far away from the Xuan Continent, so it has to use carrier-based reconnaissance planes with a long enough range to monitor the sea areas close to the Xuan Continent, so it can only search the sea areas near the fleet by water planes.

The Liang Xia fleet only has 2 fleet aircraft carriers, and it is engaged in battles with the Nuland fleet and the Bran fleet at the same time, and the carrier-based aircraft are definitely not enough.

Besides, those 2 Liangxia aircraft carriers may not be carrying enough carrier-based aircraft.

If the weather is affected and the carrier-based aircraft cannot be tethered on the flight deck, and can only be placed in the hangar, then the carrier-based aircraft on board will be even more insufficient.

By 6 o'clock, there was still no news.

Because no new orders were issued, those SBDs have turned to return home.

That is, in the first half of the flight, the Liang-Xia fleet was not spotted.

It's just that Spu still doesn't give up.

The key point is that the flight path of the reconnaissance plane in the second half, that is, when returning home, is different from the first half, so it is possible to spot the Liangxia fleet on the way back.

Actually, this is also something that can't be helped.

In a sector of sea with a width of nearly 400 kilometers at the end point, there are only 4 SBDs in total, and according to standard tactics, 12 should be arranged!

As a result, the SBDs have to deviate about 40 kilometers to the south when they return.

Theoretically, if the Liangxia fleet were still in the area and sailing southwest after dawn, it would most likely be hit by the returning SBD.

All in all, Spu didn't give up and didn't want to give up.

However, it was only about half an hour.

At 6:35, a telegram was again received from the expeditionary fleet, and the radars of the "Prestige" and "Counterattack" simultaneously detected a group of enemy aircraft flying from the north.

Fifteen minutes later, Cunningham sent another telegram that the expeditionary fleet had been bombed.

The enemy planes were divided into two formations, as many as dozens, and only more than 10 fighters came out, and the tactics adopted had a clear purpose.

Two formations attacked the "Brilliant" and "Fearful" separately.

As in previous battles, before taking out the aircraft carrier, the carrier-based aircraft of the Liang Xia Navy did not attack the escort warships, to be precise, they did not waste bombs and torpedoes on the escort warships.

From beginning to end, torpedo planes and bombers were headed for aircraft carriers.

The whole attack operation can be said to be clean and neat, typical of Liang Xia style.

In Tian Shi's words, this is the key to the victory of the Liang Xia fleet. From the commander of the fleet to the ordinary sailors, all officers and men knew what they were doing. As soon as it entered the combat state, the fleet of dozens of warships and tens of thousands of officers and soldiers was completely fused together, becoming a terrifying and powerful war machine that could crush all obstacles and defeat all enemies.

Since then, a number of telegrams have been received, but they are all from escort warships, and most of them are reporting the situation of the engagement, such as the shooting down of enemy planes.

About 20 minutes later, near 7 o'clock, I received a telegram from Cunningham.

However, not from the "Brilliant", but from the "Prestige".

After a bitter battle, the expeditionary fleet's air defense fighters and warships shot down more than 20 incoming enemy planes.

However, both the "Brilliant" and the "Fearful" were severely damaged and lost their combat capability.

The officers and men on the two aircraft carriers are still struggling to repair them.

In addition, the "Prestige" and "Counterattack" were also attacked, but all bombs and torpedoes were avoided and were not damaged.

After saying so much nonsense, the last sentence only mentions the key.

All enemy planes that completed the attack were heading north.

Based on this, Cunningham concluded that the Liangxia fleet was to the north.

In addition, judging by the timing of the attack, the sortie distance of enemy aircraft will not exceed 300 kilometers.

The reason is that the cruising speed of bombers and torpedo planes will not exceed 300 kilometers per hour when fully loaded, and it will take time to lift off in formation.

If the attack aircraft group had been dispatched only after receiving a reconnaissance report from the seaplanes, the distance would probably have been less than 200 kilometers.

This inference must be biased, after all, it is impossible to accurately judge how much time Liang Xia's fleet will need to spend preparing for the attack, that is, how long the fleet will have to delay before taking off.

It's just that Spark didn't take Cunningham's judgment seriously.

。 m.