ps: Take a boat to Yichang today, and visit the Three Gorges by the way, or two watches, which have been set up to be automatically released. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

After the accurate position of the light air carrier formation was obtained, the entire US fleet breathed a sigh of relief: no matter what, there is now at least one target worth attacking.

But Fletcher didn't think so, and after a few minutes of hard thought, he turned to Cox and said, "Do you think it's possible that this is a target that the enemy deliberately exposed, and there aren't many planes on it?" Otherwise, the enemy would not easily reveal the position of the light air carrier and desperately intercept the reconnaissance planes near the fleet's aircraft carriers -- these two extremely contrasting behaviors are incomprehensible. ”

Cox thought for a moment, and finally said, "Your idea makes a lot of sense. Although it is still a matter of whether it is the enemy's decoy or not, I think that the judgment that there are not many planes is closer to the truth -- the enemy's carrier-based planes and ground aviation have been repeatedly engaged in battles, and they must have lost a lot of planes, and they may have concentrated all the available planes on those fleet carriers. ”

After initially determining that it was a decoy, Fletcher pondered again and tried to put his position from the perspective of the commander of the Axis Fleet: for him, it was impossible to completely evade the attack of the American army, and if the American army could only attack the unimportant target of his own side, it would invisibly waste an opportunity to attack.

Cox seemed to see through his thoughts and asked, "Do you want Puerto Rico's Army to attack this fleet first?" ”

Fletcher shook his head: "Don't worry, wait for the report from the reconnaissance plane." ”

"The reconnaissance of the enemy battleship formation did not go well, and reconnaissance aircraft No. 1-4 did not detect any possible positions of the enemy fleet at the intended enemy fleet, nor were they shot down or interfered with."

Now Fletcher is in a hurry, where did the enemy battleship formation go? Even more troublesome, what about the enemy's main aircraft carrier formation?

As the minutes ticked by, the attack aircraft group on the deck had completed all its operations, and the staff officers were nervously calculating the distance and time of the air strikes: the current fleet was 720 kilometers away from the enemy's light aircraft carriers, and Puerto Rico was 750 kilometers away from the enemy's light aircraft carrier formation, and all the pilots were impatiently waiting for the order to attack.

More than 700 kilometers is remote for aircraft carrier operations, but it is barely within the strike range, should we launch an attack now or continue to wait for the clarity of other situations? Fletcher and Cox find themselves in a tricky multiple-choice question.

The beads of sweat on Fletcher's forehead seeped out one by one, and finally he looked at his watch, gritted his teeth and said: "It's 7:05, wait another 5 minutes, if there is no more news, let the Puerto Rican Army Air Force attack the enemy light aircraft carrier formation first." ”

At 7:09, just one minute before he was about to give the order to strike the light aircraft carrier formation first, he suddenly reported that the enemy's main aircraft carrier formation was about 320 kilometers south-west of Grenada, and was advancing eastward at a speed of 23 knots, currently 790 kilometers away from the fleet and 730 kilometers from Puerto Rico.

It wasn't close, but at least it gave Fletcher a clear goal, and he turned to Cox and asked, "If we max out, can we close the distance to the enemy?" ”

"It can be reduced, but the amplitude is very slow...... Cox looked at the operation on the map, "assuming that the enemy's course and speed remain the same, we will only shorten the optimal course and speed by about 25 kilometers per hour, and after 4 hours we can reduce the distance between each other to less than 700 kilometers - this is too long!" ”

Fletcher pondered again and again, and finally made up his mind: "Don't wait, it's him, all attack!" ”

"Yes!"

"Tell the lads that the fleet will try to meet them as far as possible, and if you feel that it is difficult to come back, go to Venezuela to parachute after the attack, and leave the planes alone."

The staff officers immediately carried out intense operations on the map, and according to the assumption that it would take two and a half hours to fly to the airspace above the target, and in accordance with the simulated voyage of the enemy fleet, they demarcated the sea area where the carrier-based attack aircraft group and the Puerto Rican army aircraft group would meet -- the meeting point was set as point X, and then they were prepared to go to point Z, where air strikes on the enemy aircraft carrier might occur.

On the Shozuru, Kusaka Ryunosuke nervously asked Tsukahara, "Sir, we have been discovered, what should we do?" "Just now, the US military dispatched six B-25s to pounce on the suspicious sea area at once, and although the direct cover planes shot down four of them, two of them still managed to reach the skies over the fleet and sent out a long telegram before they were shot down. The B-25 was originally the safest type of aircraft, and the Axis group was not bothered to fight at all when carrying out air raid missions, but once it was converted into a reconnaissance aircraft, it became the target of public criticism, and it was eager to get rid of it as soon as possible.

"Don't panic, the sky won't fall......" Tsukahara calmed down and asked quietly, "Has the shelling formation been discovered by enemy aircraft?" ”

"Nope."

"That's good." He asked, "Have you shot down all the enemy reconnaissance planes in the vicinity?" Are there still enemy planes? ”

"Nope."

"Did the water detectives find anything?"

"Half of it has returned, and only a few sectors between 280 and 320 degrees are still being searched."

"Good!" A smile appeared on Tsukahara's face, "Order, the fleet will make a 180-degree U-turn and sail west at full speed!" ”

"What, U-turn?" Ryunosuke Kusaka heard the most unbelievable order, how could it be a U-turn? Shouldn't you speed up your escape as soon as possible, why turn around?

"Sir?!" He exclaimed, "Aren't you?" ”

"Turn around! Listen to me, yes! I'll explain the reasons for that later. ”

Kusaka Ryunosuke's mind was filled with a big question mark, but he still went to issue this order that made everyone feel stunned first. Seeing the flagship waving, Frank on the Aquila was stunned, and he nervously asked Ozawa, "Is this flag wrong?" ”

Ozawa was also full of suspicion, and said to the staff officer with a gloomy face: "Reconfirm the signal to the flagship." ”

After a while, the feedback signal returned: the flag was correct, and the ships followed the flagship to turn around!

Ozawa and Cranke saw it very clearly, not only did the flag fight like this, but the huge body of the flagship Xianghe had slowly turned around, and the Zuizuru and Hayabusa behind them were also turning around, and those escort warships were also turning around. The Aquila had to turn around in the end—if it didn't, it would have been left bare, and it would have been sunk.

At 7:23, the motorized fleet after turning around was galloping westward at top speed.

7:25: Tsukahara orders the release of the 4th and 5th Straight Cover Formations to replace the front cover planes released before dawn to provide cover for the battleships and decoy fleets, and then positions the Hayabusa attack group.

After watching one fighter jet after another fly into the sky, after thinking for a long time, in Krak's anxious eyes, Ozawa sighed: "Tsukahara-kun's strategy, I might as well ...... it"

"What does this mean exactly? What is the tactic? Cranke is still confused, and he urgently needs Ozawa's answer. (To be continued.) )