In just half an hour, Li Yunxiang completed the pre-war briefing, and then asked the pilot to prepare.

Thanks to his early deployment last night, several squadron leaders were also very active and arranged the crews for the attack mission before going to bed.

In addition, the so-called pre-war briefings, which were mainly aimed at reminding pilots of the issues that need attention.

Tactics?

Ammunition must not be wasted on other ships until the two small fleet carriers of the Third Air Force have been taken out.

In addition, after the escort fighters swept the air defense fighters over the enemy fleet, they had to kill back to cover the torpedo planes and bombers.

What we really need to pay attention to is to find the right target.

Those were two small fleet aircraft carriers, very different from the two that attacked yesterday, and they might not be immediately recognizable from the air.

Fortunately, Li Yunxiang was prepared.

Last night, he asked his staff officer to photocopy dozens of three-view projection drawings of the aircraft carriers of the small fleet of the Narrow Navy, and distributed them to the captains of the crew during the briefing.

Then came the long wait.

By half past seven, Li Yunxiang couldn't help it.

However, there was still no news from a reconnaissance plane, and the radio channel was quiet, and even the seaplanes sent out by the home fleet did not send a report.

At that time, Bai Zhizhan was still persuading Li Yunxiang to be patient.

At eight o'clock, even Bai Zhizhan couldn't help it.

Not surprisingly, all the reconnaissance planes dispatched by the Third Air Task Force had already flown through the reconnaissance area, and they were all on their way to Ashishima at this time.

Still not a single reconnaissance plane has sent a message!

The 3rd Air Force is not on the east side of the Overwatch Strait?

How can it be!?

There was no nearby airfield where fighter jets could take off and land, and the range of the 96 Ship Battles was not enough to allow it to fly from the local airfield of Sagi.

Or is there some negligence?

The odds aren't very likely, either.

The pilots of the reconnaissance planes are all old birds, and no matter whether they are intercepted or have an accident, they will send a telegram to inform the flagship as soon as possible.

Li Yunxiang personally made the arrangements, and he repeatedly told him before leaving.

What the hell went wrong!?

Approaching half past eight o'clock, Li Yunxiang went to the aviation operations center and made adjustments to the deployment, asking a group of pilots who had been scheduled to carry out escort missions to immediately take off in the air to replace the air defense fighters whose fuel was about to run out, and to let the returning air defense fighters prepare for the escort.

One way or another, the air defense of the fleet must not be lax.

For more than an hour, Bai Zhizhan stood by the porthole in front of the commander's bridge, looking intently outside, and seemed to be able to see enemy ships hundreds of kilometers away.

Of course, others don't have it so easy.

Li Mingbo didn't sleep until lunch, but he came back before eight o'clock, and Zhou Yongtao was also transferred to the fleet headquarters to be in charge of aviation operations.

"Report!"

Without waiting for Bai Zhizhan to turn around, Li Mingbo took the telegram from the telecommunications officer's hand.

"From Ashshima," Li Mingbo sighed, handed the telegram to Bai Zhizhan, and continued, "Sixteen reconnaissance planes have arrived, and three of them were intercepted by enemy fighters near the second main force and were wounded, but the crew members were not in serious trouble. ”

"None?" It was Zhou Yongtao who asked the question, he had been standing next to the chart table, and only looked up when Li Mingbo was speaking.

"That's all, nothing else."

At this time, Bai Zhizhan also finished reading the message.

After handing over the message to Li Mingbo, he rubbed his forehead vigorously.

There is nothing surprising that the reconnaissance plane was intercepted near the second main force, since the narrow-range fighter pilots would certainly not let go of the torpedo attack aircraft.

Besides, isn't sending fighters over to provide air defense cover for the second main team?

No matter how bad the performance of the 96 ship battle is, it is not difficult to destroy the torpedo machine.

But the question is, where exactly is the Third Air Force?

Shortly before nine o'clock, the telecommunications officer delivered a telegram from the home fleet.

The seaplanes sent out by the four heavy cruisers had already completed their search mission, and all but two that had been shot down southeast of the Watchman Strait, near the second main force, had all returned, and no enemy ships had been found, let alone the narrow-minded aircraft carriers.

In fact, these fourteen seaplanes did not even encounter enemy aircraft.

The first round of investigation has ended, and nothing has been found!

At this time, not only Li Yunxiang and Li Mingbo, but even Bai Zhizhan, who had always been very calm, was a little panicked.

A second round of investigation must be carried out immediately.

It's just that the problem is also very prominent.

There are not so many "reconnaissance aircraft" available!

As a rule, a carrier-based aviation brigade has a reconnaissance aircraft squad, generally four Exocets. However, the "Exocet" equipped with a long-wave radio station can carry out reconnaissance missions. The problem is that only the captain's landline has long-wave radios, and there are more than a dozen in total.

Because there are at least two aircraft carriers in an aviation task force, there are more than 20 "reconnaissance planes," which can cope with most situations.

In addition, there are spare airborne long-wave stations on the carrier, only not so much that they can equip all torpedo machines.

When Bai Zhizhan proposed to conduct a second round of reconnaissance, Li Yunxiang explicitly told him that even if all the spare long-wave radio stations were used, only eight "Exocet" would be able to carry out reconnaissance missions, and two command planes would have to be left, so there would be only six reconnaissance planes at their disposal.

This is clearly too little.

For this reason, Li Yunxiang proposed that several elite crews of the "Wasp" be arranged to carry out reconnaissance tasks to fill the vacancy caused by the shortage of "flying fish."

However, it is necessary to narrow the scope of the reconnaissance and search area as much as possible.

In Li Yunxiang's words, even if there were enough 16 reconnaissance planes, because there was no assistance from the home fleet, the search area would have to be narrowed down to be sure that the enemy ships could be found. Otherwise, it is possible that the reconnaissance planes are too scattered and the opportunity to spot enemy ships will be missed again.

Is it necessary to return the reconnaissance aircraft to the fleet?

If the previous tactics are still followed, then after this reconnaissance, the remaining carrier-based aircraft will only be able to launch one attack.

Sure of taking out two small fleet carriers of the Third Air Force in one attack?

And what about after taking out those two small aircraft carriers?

The first main team and the second main team are all there, and the third air task force has no carrier-based aircraft, so it can only stare dryly in the face of the two main teams.

Think bigger.

After seizing sea supremacy, what will be done to assist the home fleet in controlling the North and South Sadou Islands?

The transport fleet of the Saja Navy did not stop, carrying tens of thousands of officers and men to the Sadou Islands in the north and south, preparing to go ashore somewhere. If it is too far from the Watcher Strait and the home fleet cannot reach it, it will have to rely on the Third Air Task Force, or carrier-based aviation to be precise.

No matter how good Bai Zhizhan's psychological quality is, he may not dare to run wildly over the Guia Ocean with two aircraft carriers without carrier-based aircraft.

To put it figuratively, what is the difference between this and Guoben?

Of course, the key is to find the Third Air Force, otherwise everything will be in vain.

Li Yunxiang raised these problems, but did not propose solutions, such as how to arrange the flight route of the reconnaissance plane, that is, to search the sea area.

The decision-making power is in the hands of Bai Zhizhan, and only Bai Zhizhan has the right to make such a major decision.

From another point of view, this is actually a test of the White Stop.

After more than ten years of fleet exercises, and so many times against Liu Xiangzhen, all these efforts should now play a role.