December 20, 1942, at half past four in the morning.

It was still dark, but the ground crews on the five aircraft carriers of the Combined Fleet hurriedly used up the rice balls and then plunged into frantic work, making full preparations for the operation of all the carrier-based aircraft -- fuel, bombs, and torpedoes were arranged in an orderly manner.

Such high-intensity preparations were carried out for four consecutive days after breaking into the main theater of operations in the early morning of the 16th, preparing for war every day, but not actually engaging in battle every day. If you had to measure morale numerically, it would be 100%.

The main force of the Combined Fleet in this battle did not change much compared to the Battle of the South Solomon Sea, and Horiyoshi still led all the best of the Combined Fleet to pour out of the nest: the Musashi replaced the injured and repaired Yamato as the general flagship, and after the sinking of the Fuso and the transfer of the Yamashiro to the remaining fleet of Mikawa Gunichi near Rabaul, two battleships of Ise and Hyuga were added, and after the sinking of the aircraft carrier Flying Eagle in the mobile fleet, the light air carrier Ryuho was urgently completed in late November and took the place of the Flying Eagle.

Although most of the nearly 1,000 officers and men and pilots of the whole ship are veterans, the cooperation of the ship, the aircraft, and the personnel is completely new, and after more than half a month of training, training, and running-in, it has finally basically met the operational requirements. The commander of the mobile fleet, Vice Admiral Tsukahara 243, and Hori Iyoshi's hanging heart was relaxed.

On the whole, of course, the number of carrier-based aircraft in this sortie was somewhat less than in the South Solomon Sea, because the Flying Eagle carried 53 aircraft. There were only 31 aircraft on the Dragon Phoenix, and the total number of carrier-based aircraft in the mobile fleet dropped from nearly 300 to 278. Although there are a little fewer aircraft, the average quality of carrier-based pilots has increased a lot.

More than one-third of the elite pilots trained before the war and who have participated in all five large-scale aircraft carrier battles (including Pearl Harbor, the Coral Sea, Ceylon, Midway, and the South Solomon Sea) since the start of the war between Japan and the United States have participated in all five large-scale aircraft carrier battles (including Pearl Harbor, Coral Sea, Ceylon, Midway, and South Solomon Sea), 65 percent have participated in more than three operations, and 85 percent have participated in at least one battle. In particular, in the last battle of the South Solomon Sea, the overall losses were very small and the results were great. Many pilots who went to combat for the first time had accumulated experience, and most of the pilots who suffered losses of various kinds in combat were novices, and less than a quarter were veterans. Thus, the essence of carrier-based aircraft pilots of the entire United Fleet was preserved.

The day before yesterday was the most stressful day after setting sail from Singapore to carry out the Indian Ocean Raiders. After sinking the merchant ship at about 10 a.m., the atmosphere suddenly became tense to the extreme, but for some reason, there were no British planes to check until the sun went down. Everyone called it lucky.

The area where the accident occurred was not unexplored. After the Kenyan escort command issued an order, the Maldives Island, where the British had recently stationed a reconnaissance force, had taken off walrus seaplanes to inspect them, but the accident site was too far away from the Maldives, more than 1,200 kilometers, and more than 1,500 kilometers from the Kenyan coast, so when the slow seaplanes arrived at the accident site, the combined fleet had already run nearly 100 nautical miles northwest direction, and the pilot in charge of the search was in charge of the search except for the empty sea. Nothing else, considering that it is not safe to fly after dark. The pilot hurriedly observed and then returned to the base, but found no sign of the Japanese fleet - which confirmed the suspicion that the enemy submarine had done it.

At 5:15, the eastern sky gradually brightened, and the water reconnaissance planes of the combined fleet were ready to take off. Caolu has demarcated a key search area for them -- a sector in the western half of the area from 180° to 360°, and two planes are arranged every 15° sector to conduct a second-stage search for the enemy. Since the naval battle at Midway Island was caused by a leak in intelligence because the reconnaissance planes did not take off on time, the fleet has attached great importance to the reconnaissance force, not only increasing the number of water reconnaissance planes, but also developing high-speed, long-range shipboard reconnaissance planes -- the internal code name Caiyun.

At present, the main force of the combined fleet is less than 600 kilometers away from Socotra Island on the outskirts of the Horn of Africa and only more than 500 kilometers away from the coast of Somalia, and it is completely under the reconnaissance range of the British side.

"Sir, where do you think the British Rapid Fleet will hide?"

"Probably hasn't come up yet."

"What if they don't go down this path?" "We've ventured so close that the British can't find us, I'm afraid they've actually discovered us, and they're deliberately gathering strength to give us a fatal blow." ”

"It's also possible, just hope that the cover fleet will work." Horikichi looked at the carrier-based fighters that were taking off one after another on the aircraft carrier in the distance, and after a deep sigh, he said slowly: "If they don't take this road, then they can only go to the Persian Gulf - unless they don't go north at all, and judging from time, no matter how fast the enemy is, he will not turn the Horn of Africa." ”

As long as the main force of the Combined Fleet occupies the middle position on the southern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, whether it is more than 200 nautical miles from the mouth of the Red Sea or the mouth of the Persian Gulf, it is completely under the close control of the fleet, and the British do not have air power in the south of Arabia except for a few planes on the island of Socotra, and the nearest airfield is also more than 1,500 kilometers away from the sea area, which is a very safe and ideal place.

"Sir, what if...... I mean, what if, the British have noticed us and are afraid to go north? ”

"It's a problem, but it's not difficult to deal with, and if they don't come, we'll keep waiting......"

"Wait?"

"Yes! It is in the designated sea area, etc. Horikichi's attitude is very resolute.

"But this is not the ...... of letting the enemy fleet go"

"You want to fight them?" "But you have forgotten that our strategic objective was to hold the mouth of the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, to prevent all British and American naval forces from entering there, and to facilitate the German invasion of Arabia and the Middle East -- we are not here to engage the British and the Americans, we are here to eliminate the interference of the British and American navies from Germany." They will fight with us, and we will accompany us; I don't dare to come, and I don't have to bother looking for them. ”

"Yes."

Horikichi looked at the slightly disappointed Kusaka Yi, and patted the latter's shoulder with a smile: "Wouldn't it be good to wait a few more days without fighting to get a large amount of supplies and equipment from Germany for nothing?" ”

"This ......" Grass Deer smiled strangely, not knowing how to continue.

In the early morning, the main force of the rapid column led by Cunningham was slowly moving north, and according to the predetermined plan, the fleet would pass through the sea area between the Horn of Africa and Socotra Island in another day, that is, on the 21st, and then enter the famous Gulf of Aden and head for Egypt. But because the escort command reported the news of the infestation of the submarines, he did not dare to be careless, and signaled the fleet to slow down and take a zigzag course - he was afraid that a bunch of submarines were waiting for him in front.

Judging from the situation received so far, the situation of the war is very unsatisfactory, and bad news is coming one after another: Montgomer led the Eighth Army to surrender, Rommel commanded the German army to occupy Alexandria and the Canal Zone and encircle Cairo on three sides; The main forces of the combined German-Italian fleet swaggered into the canal zone and took complete control of the canal entrances and exits.

Although the news from the reconnaissance plane yesterday evening was that the enemy fleet was still staying at Suez Pass, and the specific position was about 150 kilometers east of Cairo, it would take at least three to four days for the rapid column to reach the designated position, and he did not know whether it would first fight with the German and Italian navies before landing.

His mind was full of the shadow of the German-Italian Mediterranean fleet, and he did not know that a fleet three or four times stronger than him had touched him, and he did not know that although his current route to the north did not intersect with the other party's route, because of the speed difference between them, the distance between the two sides was gradually shrinking at a speed of 6 knots per hour.

At 6 o'clock in the morning, Cunningham flew a reconnaissance plane, and his reconnaissance direction was also in the western half of the region, and he was to carefully observe the situation of the enemy fleet in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. At 6:55 a.m., before the reconnaissance plane had sent back the relevant information, British Navy Lieutenant White Shaw, who had taken off from Socotra Island for a routine patrol flight, suddenly spotted the mighty fleet on the sea, and he was immediately a little surprised.

He asked his partner in the back seat suspiciously: "Didn't the boss tell us that the fleet is off the coast of Somalia?" How did you get here? ”

"Who knows, maybe we're lost."

"It can't be." White denied on the spot, "I'm not stupid. ”

"That's not necessarily, the meter and compass will also be wrong." The back seat reminded, "Don't trust them too much, you forgot the lesson from last time?" ”

Last time, White had already suffered a loss, and the amount of fuel showed that there was still one-fifth of the fuel, but the plane suddenly ran out of fuel and entered a state of engine standstill halfway through the flight, and he was brave enough to successfully make a forced landing on the surface of the sea, otherwise he would have to be killed.

Convinced that he was right, he deliberately lowered his altitude and began to look more closely at the surface of the sea, and to his surprise, the fleet seemed to be a little smaller than the intelligence bulletin, but the ships were much larger, and there were no transports in sight. Looking at it, he realized that something was wrong, there were 5 flat-deck ships in the fleet - that was clearly the characteristic of an aircraft carrier, but the reinforcement fleet was obviously only 1 aircraft carrier, how could Admiral Cunningham conjure up the other 4?

When he looked closely, he saw the red-lit Rising Sun Pill again - this was the Japanese fleet! (To be continued.) )