In the bright sunlight, the huge Japanese Navy's 3rd Fleet marched south in a long column, and since they were closest to their targets, they were the latest to set off, leaving the Truk base after 9 a.m. on November 2.

In the command tower of the Shozuru aircraft carrier, Rear Admiral Ryunosuke Kusaka, chief of staff of the Third Fleet, was also full of doubts, and in addition to being concerned about the future of the fleet, he was also very nervous about the power system of the Flying Eagle aircraft carrier. Twelve days ago, the Flying Eagle turbine in training broke down and could only travel slowly at a speed of 6 knots, and finally returned for repair accompanied by the destroyer. Originally, there were plans to return to the mainland for overhaul, but Vice Admiral Tsukahara 243 was still determined to take the risk of bringing the Flying Eagle out for use in strengthening the fleet's air force.

In addition to the hidden danger of flying eagles, the number of carrier-based aircraft on each aircraft carrier is also insufficient, and in the end, all the pilots and fighters in the base air force in Rabaul, Truk, and other places with the ability to take off and land on the aircraft carrier are given priority to be transferred to supplement -- some pilots in the base air force are also able to board the ship, but the difference is that the level is a little worse. Fortunately, both Tsukahara and Kusaka had been commanders of the Nanyang Base Air Force, and they were very familiar with the pilots, and in the end, they used all their resources to barely achieve the full number of aircraft carriers and carrier-based aircraft

They didn't know that the reason why carrier-based aircraft were still being drawn from the base air force was entirely due to Hoffman -- Cole's phrase "The plane can fly for five hours." What about people? The naval aviation faction was deeply shaken by this question, and it stopped sending Rabaul Air Force pilots to the airspace over Kuah Island to send them to their deaths earlier than in history. So the seeds were also left for the aircraft carrier.

"Why, are you still worried about the hidden dangers of the flying eagle?" Unconsciously, Tsukahara had walked behind Ryunosuke Kusaka and asked with concern.

"yes, I'm always worried that something will happen." Kusaka Ryunosuke turned his head and sighed, "The scale of this operation is too large, and it is basically a nest dispatch. If you fail, there is no room for redemption. ”

"I understand this concern, but there are many times when it takes courage to break through the cauldron and sink the ship, which I admire very much about Chief Horikichi - this kind of courage reminds me of the courage of Admiral Yamamoto before the war between Japan and the United States. As for the Flying Eagle. Tsukahara two-four-three pointed to the empty sleeve on his left, "We need to be prepared for a strong man to break his arm...... As long as he can successfully reach the battlefield and release an attack wave, it will be a victory, and don't expect too much else. ”

"Okay." Having said that, Ryunosuke Kusaka can only stop worrying about it. Historically, because of his entanglements, Nagumo Tadaichi was suffering. Thanks to Tsukahara 243, it is much more determined than Nagumo. If it were Ozawa, maybe he would be so entangled--from this point of view, Yamamoto Isoroku still has a good sense of people.

At 15 o'clock in the afternoon of November 3, an American Catalina water reconnaissance plane (PYB) reported to the flagship that it had spotted the Japanese fleet in the northwest direction of the aircraft carrier formation, and the greatly nervous Rear Admiral Kincaid immediately let the Enterprise release 48 attack waves, and carried out a 120-degree fan search within 200 nautical miles, but the result was a complete false alarm, and the formation not only found nothing, but lost 1 Wildcat fighter (F4F) due to misnavigation, improper operation, flight failure and other reasons when returning home. 3 dreadnought dive bombers (SBD) and 3 Avenger torpedo attack aircraft (TBF). The two aircraft carrier groups have not achieved any results since they received an order from Halsey on October 25, and the unnecessary losses have increased mercilessly. This frustrated him - the loss of the plane did not matter, and it was a pity that there was one less pilot.

Kincaid sighed. Looking at the charts again, his slightly trembling hands revealed his nervousness, his current situation was worse than that of General Spruance at Midway (at that time the Japanese and American aircraft carriers were 4:3), now he only had 2 aircraft carriers, but only 165 aircraft (originally 169), and according to intelligence, Tsukahara 243's mobile force had at least 2 large and 2 small 4 aircraft carriers - he did not know that the Japanese actually dispatched 5 aircraft carriers. In order to open up the situation, he decided to adopt the same tactics as Midway, reconnoitring and trying to spot the enemy immediately after sunrise tomorrow, and then sending out all the attack waves at once to attack first. However, today's daytime reconnaissance still could not be relaxed, he continued to release reconnaissance planes to search, and at the same time sent a telegram to the defenders of Kuah Island hoping that they would also cooperate with the reconnaissance -- this was doomed to be fruitless, and both the mobile fleet and the artillery fleet were at least 700 nautical miles away from Kuah Island at this time.

On the evening of November 4, after nearly two days and one night of sailing, Horikichi commanded the artillery fleet to move south at an economic speed of 15 knots, preparing to make a turn northeast of Kuah Island, cross the middle of Malaita Island and Santa Crustopal Island, and then pounce on Kuah Island from the northeast. This is completely different from the direction from which the northwestern island of Savo has been approached by the Tokyo Express. The defenders of Kuah Island did not know anything about this, and during the day they sent reconnaissance planes to the north and west to conduct reconnaissance in two key directions, but by 4 p.m. they still found nothing -- in fact, the mobile unit did not enter the search circle of the defenders of Kuah Island until 4:45 a.m., and the shelling formation in the northeast direction did not enter the search circle at all. By the same token, since Kincaid's fleet was located more southerly in the central Solomon Sea, neither the Japanese mobile fleet nor the artillery fleet could find him.

On November 3rd, nothing was found, and on November 4th, another day was spent in the South Solomon Sea during the day, and Kincaid, who led the American aircraft carrier group, was about to go crazy, but he couldn't retreat casually, what if the Japanese fleet came tomorrow? After careful consideration, in the evening of the same day he ventured north 60 nautical miles, approaching himself to a distance of only 250 nautical miles from Bougainville -- he was determined to take some risks and release a search group northward early tomorrow morning, and then lead the fleet south before the Japanese reconnaissance planes on Bougainville or Munda Island came out, and the distance between the fleet and the Japanese reconnaissance planes would be greater than 300 nautical miles, which he considered to be a safe enough distance, provided that the means were wise. Logistics officers have warned that, at the current rate of material depletion, the fleet will fall into the danger zone if it does not have a reliable position for the enemy fleet on 6 November, which means that it will have to retreat.

At 18:45 on November 4, Kuah time (Tokyo time is 2 hours behind Kuah Island, unless otherwise specified, the following time is subject to Kuah Island), night began to fall on Kuah Island, and the heart of Major General Alexander Vandergrift, commander of the 1st Division of the United States Marine Corps stationed on the island, also began to rise, because he had already received information that the Japanese army might counterattack, and the silence of the other party in the past two days made him have a very bad premonition.

The pointer had already crossed 8 o'clock in the evening, and Kusaka reported to Horikichi any time ago: "Sir, the fleet is still 35 nautical miles away from Kuah Island, and at the current speed, it will take about 2 hours to break into the waters of Kuah Island, and night has fallen, and it is impossible for the US military to detect us by plane, the only thing to worry about is torpedo boats and small ships." ”

"Is there a hint that the submarine is reporting on the nearby American fleet?"

"No, but we have 2 squadrons of destroyers deployed on the periphery, so we can detect the enemy fleet in time."

"Very good, speed up to 21 knots, and the whole army will ...... forward," Horiyoshi thought for a while and then ordered, "Break the radio silence and send a telegram to the mobile fleet, this team plans to attack Kuah Island at 20 o'clock tonight, and it is very likely that the enemy fleet will appear in the sea south of Kuah Island tonight and tomorrow morning, and our fleet will capture and determine the position of the enemy fleet at dawn tomorrow, and the mobile fleet will surprise at that time." ”

"Sir, the fleet has passed through the Syrak Strait into the waters of Kuah Island, and not far in front of it is Lunga Cape, according to the Army's prompt, not far from where the American airfield is located, and there is only this airfield on Kuah Island." Considering the convenience of command, Nobutake Kondo ended up staying on the Yamato as well, and after checking the charts and the actual sea area, he reminded Hori Yoshimichi.

"Very good, prepare for shelling."

"The army on the island is gradually disengaging from the U.S. forces and preparing to evacuate, and the sight is very poor in the dark, and it is impossible to provide accurate directions for the fleet's artillery fire."

"There is no need for precise instructions, and the shooting is covered with the checkered method prepared by the chief of staff of Kusaka, and the whole fleet starts with Yamato, with the participation of all naval guns of caliber above 203mm, and half of the high-explosive shells are shot." Horikichi said coldly, "Aren't the Americans going to fight with us for steel and consumption?" Tell them with artillery fire that although Japan has a little less steel, it is not nothing, and let them also taste the wrath of the United Fleet! ”

The so-called checkered method of covering shooting is similar to carpet shelling, in which the area of Kuah Island, which is not too large (the distance between north and south is only 45 kilometers at the farthest, and the whole island is covered by shelling), is divided into fixed grids, and naval guns carry out covering, indiscriminate and all-round shooting according to the geographical orientation and coordinate system.

"In addition, I told Vice Admiral Tsukahara that in order to strengthen the artillery force, four Kongo-class ships were temporarily dispatched to participate in the shelling, and they returned to the mobile fleet before dawn......"

At this time, the waters of Kuah Island were still shrouded in night, and the American troops on the island did not notice the arrival of the Japanese fleet at all.

"Report to the sir, the fire is ready, and the cannon can be fired."

"Report to the ships to shoot Zhu Yuan, and prepare for Yamato to fire first, Kondo-kun, please take full command."

Kondo shintake paused for a moment, then his face turned red, and he replied loudly: "Yes!" "Chief Horikichi still gives face!

"Priority targets, U.S. military airfields; The second priority target, the port, the beachhead! Ready, fire......"

"Boom ......"

With the issuance of Nobutake's order, the world's strongest battleship main gun, the 460mm Yamato naval gun, began to focus on speaking. (To be continued.) )