This telegram, from the command of the Navy.

The shore-based air force stationed on the island will be dispatched before three o'clock to attack the second main force that had been discovered by patrol planes earlier, and it is planned to send 30 bombers and 20 fighters.

The message concludes by mentioning that the Third Air Task Force has the discretion to decide whether or not to participate in the attack.

The Navy Command did not give a direct order, and there was no way to do it, because it was not known at all the current location of the Third Air Task Force.

Besides, according to the operational doctrine of the Imperial Navy, even the commander-in-chief of the Navy did not have the right to command the fleet remotely.

On the battlefield, the fleet commander is the only decision-maker, and only the fleet commander is responsible for all decisions made.

It was 2:40 a.m., and 20 minutes before 3 o'clock.

Bai Zhizhan did not delay, and immediately issued an order, asking Li Yunxiang to arrange tasks for the pilot, and asking the ground crew to immediately refuel and reload the carrier-based aircraft.

This is the white stop war, shoot when it's time to strike.

Subsequently, the "Imperial Capital" took the lead in turning.

As for the attack tactics, Li Yunxiang had already planned them.

In the first round of attacks, 30 "Typhoons", 16 "Wasps" and 16 "Exocets" were dispatched. The escort fighters were divided into two formations, the front and rear formations, the 14 in the forward formation were responsible for diverting the air defense fighters, and the accompanying 16 were bombers and torpedo planes to provide close cover. The "Wasp" and "Flying Fish" are mixed, each with a squadron forming an attack group, led and commanded by a group leader and a squadron leader respectively. The first round of attacks was dominated by the paralysis of aircraft carriers, so the two strike groups each dealt with one carrier.

In fact, the tactical intent can also be seen from the composition of the formation.

Although the Third Air Task Force had not yet fought against the Sayi Navy, according to the battle reports received before, the huge losses in several battles yesterday made Bai Zhizhan and Li Yunxiang have to admit that the carrier-based fighters of the Imperial Navy were too bad to compare with the Zero Battle.

What's more, more than half of the pilots of the 3rd Carrier-based Aviation Wing are novices!

Even the so-called "old birds" are also on the battlefield for the first time.

It was precisely because of this that Li Yunxiang arranged for a full 30 fighters, accounting for almost half.

According to Li Yunxiang's assumption, the first round of assault will be able to penetrate the Fifth Air Force and inflict heavy damage on at least two aircraft carriers and achieve a decisive victory.

The next second round of attacks was divided into two batches by Li Yunxiang.

At least, that's how he had arranged it.

According to his original arrangement, the deck rotation operation was carried out immediately after the first round of attacks was launched, so that the orderly personnel could prepare for takeoff for eight fighters, eight bombers, and eight torpedo planes as quickly as possible, form an attack formation, and immediately take off into the air.

In total, there are only twenty-four carrier-based aircraft.

That is, an aircraft carrier only needs to prepare twelve carrier-based aircraft.

This number is the number of sorties that can be dispatched in the shortest time, or to be precise, with the highest efficiency, after the first round of attack aircraft have been flown at the highest intensity.

To put it simply, more than 12 and less than 12 will reduce the efficiency of the flight deck and supply points.

According to this arrangement, the first group of planes in the second round of attacks actually set off half an hour late.

It's just that the next thing is trouble.

In view of the possible attack and the fact that the air defense fighters that would take off at noon would definitely have to return to the aircraft carrier for refueling, priority was given to strengthening the air defense of the fleet.

Here's the key!

The two "Imperial Capital" class aircraft carriers carried a total of fifty fighters, two of which were captains' standby aircraft, which were semi-disassembled when not in use, and took several hours to assemble, so there were forty-eight fighters actually available, and thirty-eight had already been dispatched for the attack!

In addition, there were eight on air patrol.

That is, after the first group of aircraft in the second round of attacks was dispatched, only two remained on the aircraft carrier!

As a result, a lot of time will be spent on the maintenance and overhaul of the returning air defense fighters, during which it will certainly not be possible to do anything else.

Even if one goes well, the problem is not over.

The remaining ten fighters, will they be sent out to escort the attack aircraft group, or will they stay for air defense?

Obviously, this is a problem!

It is precisely because of this that Li Yunxiang initially made two preparations, waiting until the end of the first round of attacks, and then deciding which set of tactics to choose according to the results of the attacks.

Obviously, this simply won't work.

The first round of attacks starts before three o'clock, and it will be after half past four at the earliest, and it may not be until five o'clock to get the battle report. Even if the second batch of fighters for the second round of attacks was immediately dispatched at this time, there was no delay during the period, and it was half past six o'clock when they flew over the Fifth Air Force.

At this point, it's already night.

What's more, the Fifth Air Force is in the southeast, and it gets dark a little earlier.

As a result, Bai Zhizhan personally made adjustments.

Immediately after the first round of attacks, eight anti-aircraft fighters were sent back and eight fighters were dispatched to replace them to maintain a basic air defense intensity. Next, preparations for a second round of attacks began, and only eight fighters were sent to escort them, leaving two more.

In fact, it is to let the eight fighters who previously performed air defense missions go to the escort mission after maintenance.

In this way, it would take only an hour at most, that is, before four o'clock, to get sixteen dive bombers and twelve torpedo attack planes on the second attack mission to take off, and eight fighters on escort duty to take off before half past four.

Of course, escort fighters will definitely need to accelerate to catch up with bombers and attack aircraft that have departed ahead of schedule.

To say, just before half past four, before four o'clock to be exact, the air defense of the fleet will be very vulnerable.

However, if you don't even dare to take this risk, what kind of battle will you fight?

As for the rest, I can't do that much now.

Shortly before three o'clock, the first two "Exocets" were ejected from the "Imperial Capital" one after another, and the first round of attack operations officially began.

To be precise, it's just that carrier-based aircraft began to sortie.

In addition, the "Exocet" all took off with an overload.

In fact, this is exactly one of the advantages of the "Imperial Capital" class, and the ejection power of the hydraulic catapult has increased by 15 percent compared with that of the "Longjiang" class.

It is in this way that the Exocet can take off overloaded, that is, after hanging the torpedo, it can still fill the internal fuel tanks.

Because the power of the catapult was insufficient, it took off on the "Longjiang" class, and after the "Exocet" was hung with a torpedo, it had to carry about 200 kilograms of fuel less. Group leaders and squadron leaders had to take part of their armor off and overload their engines during takeoff in order to gain a longer range, that is, to bring more fuel.

The same goes for the "Wasp".

Although it is lighter than the Exocet, the engine of the Wasp is also worse, and it can only take off with overload after the power of the catapult is increased.

The overloaded fuel can allow the "Exocet" and "Wasp" to fly hundreds of kilometers more.

In battle, this increased range allows pilots to complete the attack more calmly, rather than hurriedly dropping bombs and torpedoes in order to return home.

In less than half an hour, the "Imperial Capital" sent all 31 carrier-based aircraft. The same was true of the "Companion Jing", which completed its dispatch within half an hour.

The next thing I have to do is wait patiently.