On Liu Xiangzhen's side, the 43rd Task Force was thrown into battle, which made him embarrassed.

Although the task force 21 was originally tasked with providing cover for the 42nd and 43rd task forces, Liu Xiangzhen did not intend to participate in the battle between the capital ships, and in his opinion, the most effective cover was to attack actively.

Otherwise, Task Force 21 would not have come forward.

After receiving the telegram sent by Zhang Guodong from the "Longxing", Liu Xiangzhen was not worried at all.

In the case of four to four, the 42nd Task Force has an absolute advantage, even if it cannot completely destroy the enemy fleet, it will definitely be able to destroy four Newland battleships.

The "Longxing" class has always been known as the "strongest in the former treaty" battleships.

In the Newland Navy, the "Kola" class is the benchmark of the "Longxing" class, and it only barely catches up with the "Longxing" class in terms of firepower and protection, and the speed is still much slower.

To deal with the "Binfa" level and the "Tenna" level that are a grade worse, the "Longxing" level is handy.

At that time, Liu Xiangzhen did not consider the 43rd Task Force.

In his judgment, it was likely that the other battleship task force was further east, providing direct cover for the carrier task force.

The main task was to intercept fast battleships that were attacking at night.

Because its own speed is not fast enough, when deploying, it will definitely get as close as possible to the aircraft carrier task force to narrow the scope of mobile operations.

If you get too far ahead, you will most likely be bypassed by a fast battleship.

In addition, Liu Xiangzhen speculated on the tactics of the Nuland fleet.

Drag the 42nd Task Force with the four battleships that came out of the front, and lure the 43rd Task Force to appear, and then the carrier task force will attack after dawn.

Although it was possible to lose four battleships, it was possible to take out eight battleships of the Imperial Navy in one fell swoop while ensuring the safety of the aircraft carrier task force.

In this way, by the afternoon or evening, the transport fleet of the Nuland Navy would be able to continue sailing towards the Narrow Empire, under the cover of six battleships.

Due to the lack of direct cover from battleships, and the fact that carrier-based aviation could not operate at night, and that attacking the transport fleet during the day could also reveal its whereabouts, the only option for Task Force 21 was to turn back without support and cover.

Of course, to get cover, you have to send Task Force 41 out.

Or let Task Force 41 attack, with Task Force 21 providing cover.

In any case, the two carrier task forces would have to be dispatched together to be sure enough to intercept the convoy and respond to possible air strikes.

If this is the case, then it will not be difficult to find two aircraft carrier task forces.

Liu Xiangzhen also concluded from this that the 43rd Task Force would not encounter the Nuland Fleet, so the 43rd Task Force was not considered when making the deployment.

Who would have thought that the six battleships of the Nuland Navy were actually near the 43rd Task Force!

After receiving the news, Liu Xiangzhen immediately thought that the Nuland Navy was desperate and planned to exchange the Imperial Navy's task force with old battleships of little value.

To put it simply, it was to force Task Force 21 to attack first.

If Task Force 21 had immediately dispatched carrier-based aviation to attack four old battleships, there would have been no way to attack the aircraft carrier task force.

No matter how bad the four old battleships are, it will not be a problem to withstand two waves of bombardment.

In fact, even if it was just to provide air defense cover for Task Force 42 and Task Force 43, it would have to use up the few fighters that were already available.

So, do you want to cover Task Force 42 and Task Force 43?

To be precise, it was to arrange fighter jets to cover Task Force 43, because the fighters covering Task Force 42 had already departed before dawn.

Now, the 43rd Task Force is to the east of the 42nd Task Force, which is closer to the Newland Carrier Task Force, and the value of the four fast battleships cannot be underestimated, so if the Newland Carrier Task Force wants to pick one to fight, it will also deal with the 43rd Task Force first.

Perhaps, the Nuland aircraft carrier is already dispatching carrier-based aircraft.

Before dawn, Liu Xiangzhen had already sent all the reconnaissance planes.

According to his arrangement, the reconnaissance planes were divided into two groups. The four planes flew eastward, in fact, following the route of Task Force 43, and then dispersed after passing Task Force 43, searching the waters east of Task Force 43 at an interval of about 30 kilometers. The other four flew in a southeasterly direction, supported by six seaplanes from escort warships.

The mission of these reconnaissance planes was to search for the Nuland aircraft carrier task force.

If Task Force 42 had carried out the mission arranged by Liu Xiangzhen, it would have sent seaplanes carrying heavy cruisers to search the waters northeast of it in the early hours of the morning.

In addition, Liu Xiangzhen prepared the carrier-based aviation in advance, so that it could be dispatched immediately after discovering the Nuland aircraft carrier task force.

Because it is mainly to attack aircraft carriers, the combat radius will definitely be large, so the first wave of attacks will be dominated by the "Wasp", and 250 kg of aerial bombs will be used.

It is precisely like this that on the flight decks of the two "Longjiang" classes, there are 16 "Wasps" on each.

As for the "Exocet", there are 8 of them each, and two of them are the lead planes, and the other 6 also use internal soft fuel tanks that are not usually used.

In the mission briefing, the attack aircraft carrier was also the main focus.

The target identification atlas distributed to the captains focused on the five fleet carriers of the Nuland Navy, especially in terms of details.

If you want to deal with battleships, you have to focus on the "Exocet", and you must also hang 500 kg of aviation armor-piercing shells on the "Wasp".

So, is there a need to make adjustments?

If needed, it would take more than half an hour just to replace the ammunition, and it would take quite a few more hours to prepare more torpedo planes for takeoff.

In addition, who can guarantee that the reconnaissance aircraft that went out before dawn will not detect the fleet aircraft carriers of the Nuland Navy?

After a brief hesitation, Liu Xiangzhen made a decision.

Actually, it's just doing nothing.

Ten old battleships are not a cause for concern at all, and as for eight battleships of the Imperial Navy, even if they have some value, they are not decisive.

Crucially, the anti-aircraft firepower of all eight battleships was strengthened, especially those four fast battleships.

The main value of the fast battleships of the Imperial Navy is to provide anti-aircraft cover for aircraft carriers, and the anti-aircraft firepower is not ordinarily powerful.

To say, the anti-aircraft firepower is superior to that of the "Beihe" and "Xuhai" class warships have not yet been born!

The two "North Carolina" class ships under construction by the Nuland Navy are not very powerful, at least in the design stage, and they are much worse than the "Xuhai" class.

It can be seen that if the Nuland Navy targets the 43rd Task Force, it will be a good thing.

Sending carrier-based aircraft to attack Task Force 43 will definitely hit your head and suffer heavy losses.

After losing most of the carrier-based aircraft, what will the Nuland Aircraft Carrier Task Force use to engage Task Force 21?

At that time, the 21st Task Force will pick up the leaks again, won't it be twice the result with half the effort?

Of course, if the Nuland Navy's fleet carriers can be found in time and attack in time, then the 42nd Task Force and the 43rd Task Force will definitely be able to defeat the Nuland battleships in front of them. Even if it is not defeated, Task Force 21 will be able to provide support.

In that case, what is there to worry about?