If anything, Spu's worries are actually a bit unnecessary.

Cunningham was indeed stubborn, but his judgment of the battle situation was not too far off, and the expeditionary fleet rushed ahead in the lead, and there was also the weather factor.

In the Southern Hemisphere, January is summer.

Although it is not yet hot at high latitudes, near the far corner, it is stormy, and the average wind strength during the day is generally above level 8.

This means that carrier-based aircraft cannot take off and land on aircraft carriers at all!

Crucially, as long as you sail a few hundred kilometers to the northeast, the weather will improve after leaving the westerly wind belt, and the wind speed will drop to about level 5.

Obviously, the Liangxia fleet, which is hundreds of kilometers away, will definitely be able to dispatch carrier-based aircraft normally.

If the Expeditionary Fleet and Task Force 61 were attacked south of the Cape of the Far, they would have to be beaten because they could not dispatch carrier-based aircraft!

It was in this way that Cunningham decided that the two fleets should go their separate ways.

Even if one is attacked, the other can be evaded.

Besides, if the expeditionary fleet successfully enters the Fanyan Ocean, it can cover the 61st Task Force in front.

If you can spare the south of the Liang Xia fleet, or the southeast direction, there is even hope to launch an attack first, and the Liang Xia fleet will be caught off guard.

In any case, it would be extremely stupid for the two fleets to enter the Fanyan Ocean together.

According to the plan, after sending the telegram, the expeditionary fleet went into radio silence and never made contact with Task Force 61 again.

Not for fear of revealing their whereabouts.

The radio monitoring stations of the Liangxia Empire were thousands of kilometers away, and there is reason to believe that the Liangxia Navy did not send submarines to Fanyan Ocean to operate.

With the use of radio, the fleet will not be exposed.

In Cunningham's view, he just didn't feel the need.

Although Cunningham did not deny Spur's ability, he always believed that the Newland general, who was only a colonel before the war, was simply an upstart, lacking the demeanor of an admiral, and in many ways like a cowboy in a navy uniform.

With this kind of person, Cunningham didn't think there was much to say.

As for whether Sp could figure out his good intentions, Cunningham didn't think much about it.

He was the commander-in-chief of the expedition, and Sp only had to do what he was told.

Nothing to say all the way.

On the evening of January 25, the expeditionary fleet reached the sea south of the Far Lookout Point and entered the Fanyan Ocean.

In fact, there is no boundary between Sunset Ocean and Fanyan Ocean at all.

At dinner, Cunningham told all the officers and men on the radio that the expeditionary fleet had entered Fanyan Ocean and was about to engage the Liang Xia fleet.

That night, there was nothing important other than to give the pilot a good rest and be ready for takeoff in the early hours of the day.

At 4 o'clock in the morning of the 26th, the "Brilliant" and "Terrible" were lively.

After half an hour of intense preparations, the "Swordfish" carrying out reconnaissance missions took off one after another.

Summer in the Southern Hemisphere is still at high latitudes, so it will dawn after 5 o'clock and the sun will rise around 5:30 o'clock.

According to Cunningham's arrangement, the two aircraft carriers each dispatched eight "Swordfish" to carry out reconnaissance missions.

In fact, this is also all the torpedo machines carried by the two aircraft carriers.

Because against the Liangxia fleet, the primary target was the fleet aircraft carrier, so before the expedition, only the old bombers were replaced with SBDs.

The most important thing to replace is the bomber, and the Royal Navy of Bran did not have a dive bomber in the real sense of the word.

In addition, the "Tejour" class can only carry more than 40 carrier-based aircraft at most. Because they had to sail through the harsh climate of the Nanxi Ocean and the Nanfanyan Ocean, the two aircraft carriers carried only 32 carrier-based aircraft, and all the carrier-based aircraft were placed in the hangar and not tethered to the flight deck.

As a result, after removing 12 F4Fs and 12 SBDs, only 8 "Swordfish" can be crammed.

In fact, the small number of aircraft carriers has always been a common problem of the Bran aircraft carrier.

Fortunately, the Royal Navy had already made arrangements and deployed a number of carrier-based aircraft to the Nanxuan area, including more than 40 "Swordfish".

After leaving the westerly wind belt, it can be replenished.

Counting the seats on the flight deck, it can carry more than a dozen aircraft.

16 reconnaissance planes are not sufficient, but the search area is not very open.

As mentioned earlier, the westerly wind belt can be ignored, and the focus is on the sea area north of the westerly wind belt.

To this end, Cunningham sent all 16 "Swordfish" to the northeast, and the search range was expanded to 800 kilometers, almost reaching the farthest flight radius of the "Swordfish".

In addition, Cunningham made a second preparation.

Each of the two aircraft carriers had 4 SBDs ready for takeoff.

If by 8 o'clock in the morning, when all the "Swordfish" have reached the farthest reconnaissance radius, and the Liangxia fleet has not yet been discovered, immediately let these SBDs take off, expand the fan-shaped reconnaissance area to both sides by 30 degrees, and send 6 SBDs to focus on searching the sea area close to the Xuan Continent.

In this way, when the "Swordfish" returns at noon, they can go out again.

All in all, the first task is to find the Liang Xia Task Force.

To this end, the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force deployed in the Namgen region will also go all out to send out all the aircraft that can be dispatched.

Including the air force on the side of the island, a total of about 30 patrol aircraft can be mobilized.

Among them, there are also some "Sunderland" long-range patrol planes that have displayed their might in anti-submarine warfare in the North and Sunset.

According to Cunningham's judgment, unless Bai Zhizhan did not bring the fleet over, he would definitely be discovered.

It is precisely because of this that he also deployed attack missions in advance, made the pilots ready for combat, and even refueled the carrier-based aircraft carrying out attack missions in advance.

If anything, this is also one of the great advantages of the Bran aircraft carrier.

Because of the frequent activities in the north sunset in the harsh climate, the Royal Navy of Bran requires that at the critical moment, the carrier-based aircraft can complete the preparations before take-off in the hangar, and send them to the flight deck in a fully loaded state, so as to shorten the stay on the flight deck as much as possible.

There is definitely a risk, it's just never apparent.

As for the benefits, they are very prominent.

To put it bluntly, when the Liangxia and Nulan aircraft carriers, which use open hangars, are unable to dispatch carrier-based aircraft, the Bran aircraft carriers can continue to fight.

To say that the number of aircraft carriers on the Bran aircraft carrier is on the small side, and the use of a fully enclosed hangar is the first reason.

Of course, unless the tonnage of aircraft carriers continues to be expanded, a trade-off will have to be made between aircraft carrying capacity and seaworthiness, and it is impossible to have both.

From another point of view, the Liangxia Navy continues to increase the tonnage of aircraft carriers, also in order to improve the seaworthiness of aircraft carriers.

The most striking feature of the "provincial" class is that, on the basis of appropriately increasing the number of aircraft carriers, the stability of navigation in high sea conditions has been greatly improved.

It is also due to the use of a wide hull configuration, which leads to a reduction in the maximum sailing speed.

Objectively speaking, it was only at the "provincial" level that the Imperial aircraft carrier surpassed the Bran aircraft carrier in seaworthiness, and it was not even able to match it before.

Once everything is arranged, all that's left is to be patient.

It's just that this wait is a whole day.

In the afternoon, when the "Swordfish" took off again for the second and third round of reconnaissance missions of the day, there was still no news.

Subsequently, the SBDs that took off in the morning returned one after another.

Until evening, the radio channel was still quiet, and even the patrol aircraft deployed in the Nanxuan area did not send a message.

Could it be that the Liangxia special fleet didn't come?