Watching the fighters and bombers fly off the deck one after another, cheers were everywhere on the ship, and the orderly and sailors waved their hands excitedly, "the flag is victorious", "triumphant return", "victory", "long live", and so on.

Compared to these simple people, the two people on the bridge were not so happy, and the two stern faces even had a kind of uneasy worry.

"Teramoto-kun, my intuition tells me that the Germans will never let us attack so easily, and I am worried that the fleet is a decoy that the other side has deliberately placed there, but if we turn back......

Alas! The older admiral seems to have a pessimistic personality by nature, and his name is Kamiyo Goji, a Japanese rear admiral, who is the captain of the aircraft carrier USS Awaji and the commander of the aircraft carrier squadron of the First Fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy.

Standing beside him, Takeji Teramoto, with the same rank of rear admiral, was the flight wing commander and aviation tactical commander of the "Awaji" aircraft carrier, and he and Rear Admiral Kamiyo were originally old acquaintances and had similar interests, and they became comrades-in-arms and confidants during the two years they served together on this aircraft carrier.

Looking at the carrier-based planes that took off one after another, Rear Admiral Teramoto's eyes had a little more expectation, after all, this was the first time that his own air force had attacked an enemy fleet in actual combat, and its significance could not be compared with attacking a single merchant ship in Oceania.

"Kamidai-kun, whether that is a German conspiracy or not, we will know when these planes we send fly over that fleet. No matter how bad it is, our planes can desperately send back the alarm! If the Germans are going to hold back, then let our aviation units eat that fleet in one bite! Hum! ”

"It seems that Teramoto-kun trusts these aviation fighters quite a lot, but have you ever thought that when our attack aircraft group flies over that German fleet, the air defense strength of this fleet will be greatly weakened!" Major General Kamiyo turned his face away, "I still think that it is more appropriate to send no more than 1/3 of the aircraft at a time, and the insufficient part can be made up by the planes sent by the army, Lieutenant General Tachino really shouldn't be so greedy!" ”

Teramoto did not directly refute, but persuaded: "God Dai-kun." The so-called not in his position, not seeking his job, since the two of us are in this position, try our best to do our duty! ”

Major General Kamiyo stared at Teramoto for a few seconds, and said with a wry smile: "What Teramoto-kun said is also very reasonable, maybe it's really a mediocre person who disturbs himself!" ”

Within a few minutes, the carrier-based planes hovering in the air finally flew away in formation, and at the same time took with them nearly half of the carrier-based planes on the "Awaji" -- 24 Type 85 carrier-based fighters and 24 Type 86 carrier-based bombers, plus 10 reconnaissance planes carrying out reconnaissance missions outside. There are only 42 carrier-based aircraft left in the fleet, of which only the 22 Type 85 fighters can be used for the air defense of the fleet.

Vice Admiral Tokujiro Tachino, who intended to give full credit for the pursuit of the German fleet, only reported his plan to the Navy Headquarters without asking for support from the Army, and for reasons of secrecy, the Navy Headquarters did not report the situation to the War Department, believing that even if the Germans had any conspiracy, the German Spee fleet, which was only half the strength of the Tachino Fleet, would not be able to make any waves. From the beginning of the war to the present, what has made the Japanese Navy headquarters most angry is that the main force of the German fleet stationed in Qingdao has still not been able to avoid the war, but German submarines have frequently attacked Japanese merchant ships in the waters between Southeast Asia and the Japanese mainland, and in just half a month they have sunk 86 Japanese ships transporting important supplies. The total tonnage is close to 160,000 tons. Japan's oil and ore transportation lines were under unprecedented threat, and even ships transporting troops and munitions in the narrow Korean Strait were often attacked by German submarines, but the Japanese Navy never had a good solution.

Shortly after lunch. The second group of carrier-based planes on reconnaissance missions landed on the deck of the "Awaji", and two of the reconnaissance planes equipped with aerial cameras brought back aerial photographs that Rear Admiral Kamishiro desperately needed.

After carefully studying the photos with a magnifying glass, the cautious major general finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Teramoto-kun, did you notice something strange about that aircraft carrier in the German fleet? Look at this, and this photo, look at its deck! ”

"Hmm!" Teramoto looked carefully at the photos that Kamiyo said, "Judging from the appearance, it should be a 110,000-ton Leopold-class aircraft carrier, with a carrying capacity of about 25 to 30 aircraft, but it only has eight planes on its deck!" It stands to reason. An aircraft carrier on alert should leave at least half of its fighters on deck, and it is reasonable to keep a dozen of them on the scale of the Leopold-class! ”

Kamiyo nodded, but quickly added: "But the German plane that attacked our reconnaissance plane did take off from this aircraft carrier!" It's weird! ”

Teramoto stroked his smooth chin, "Could it be that its carrier-based aircraft are insufficient?" Or something else! ”

"It's possible, but it's hard to say!" Kamidai looked at his watch again, it had been nearly half an hour since the attack group had been set off, but according to the distance between the two sides, it would take another half an hour for them to catch up with and attack the German fleet.

"Could it be ......" At this time, Teramoto suddenly remembered something.

"Huh?" Kamidai looked at his colleague with a look of anticipation.

"It was injured when it was in Vladivostok! Therefore, it can only stay and sail with the convoy of transports. And that battleship was there to protect it! "Teramoto's eyes are shining, and if that's the case, that fleet will undoubtedly be the best target for his carrier-based aircraft. Based on these aerial photographs, they were already able to confirm the identity of the large battleship - one of the German Kaiser Fitley III class battleships, according to the battle sequence of the German Pacific Fleet, it should be the "Caesar Barbarossa".

"It's really interesting to use a new battleship to escort an old medium-sized aircraft carrier!" Kamiyo commented lukewarmly, and then he summoned the communications officer, "Report to the flagship that there may be something wrong with the aircraft carriers in the enemy fleet, and ask Vice Admiral Tateno to send a telegram to ask the War Department whether the Kwantung Army aviation unit had damaged a German aircraft carrier during an air raid on Vladivostok!" After giving the order, Kamiyo continued to bury himself in the photographs, hoping to see any more clues from them, but the aerial photography technology of this era was still very limited, and these slightly blurry photographs could not provide more detail.

On the sea about 150 nautical miles from the southern mouth of the Tatar Strait, a fierce naval and air battle was inevitable, and the new battleship "Caesar Barbarossa," equipped with the Hawkeye I detection radar, issued an early warning that "the enemy plane group is approaching." On the screen of that classified instrument, the number and formation of the opposing side were clear. Soon. As the Japanese Navy has the information, the displacement of this class of aircraft carriers is just over 10,000 tons, and the number of carrier-based aircraft is usually about 25, but because it was damaged by several bombs dropped by Japanese planes during Vladivostok, its hangar was seriously damaged, and only one elevator was available, so most of the carrier-based planes on the ship flew directly to Kuye Island. Only 10 fighters and 2 fighter reconnaissance aircraft remained, but fortunately their anti-aircraft firepower, speed and maneuverability were not affected.

When 48 Japanese carrier-based aircraft appeared in the southwest sky, 10 Heinkel II fighters were already in the skies above the fleet, although this kind of fighter was equipped with the navy before the German-American war, but at present it still has advantages in speed, firepower and defense over the main carrier-based aircraft of the Japanese Navy, and the Japanese 85 type carrier-based fighter entered service two years later than the Henkel II, although it learned from some air combat experience in the German-American war, but due to engine technology and alloy technology, the speed is still 20 kilometers per hour slower than the Heinkel II, the endurance is also slightly lacking. The 4 7.7mm machine guns were also inferior in firepower to the 4 7.92mm machine guns and 1 20mm gun in Heinkel II. However, the 85 style also has its own characteristics, that is, it is light and flexible, and it has been rigorously trained for several years. The Japanese Navy also has a number of high-quality carrier-based aircraft pilots.

The formation of German fighters rushed towards the rapidly approaching Japanese group, a formation of 10 fighters unwittingly transformed into a small two-plane formation, and as the distance approached, the German pilots could almost hear the shouts of the Japanese pilots before entering the battle. At the same time, the German fleet on the sea was also rapidly making preparations before engaging the enemy, the light aircraft carrier "Blinkik" quickly broke away from the transport fleet and sailed to the open sea that was conducive to sea maneuver and evasion, the battleship "Caesar Barbarossa" was still on the left side of the fleet, the light cruiser "Chiriwitz" and the remaining two destroyers were lined up in the front, right and rear of the fleet, and the anti-aircraft guns on all the battleships were pointed high at the sky, in those transport ships and merchant ships. The few high-level dual-purpose guns are also ready to be put into battle at any time.

Although the German fighter group waited for a while, the Japanese fighters, who had a huge numerical superiority, easily entangled them, and the accompanying bombers took the opportunity to sneak over the German fleet, and the German fleet began to roar before the battle began.

Heiji Kurooka is a veteran navy veteran who has been in service for more than 10 years, and six years ago he turned from a sailor to a carrier-based pilot, and since last year he has been flying this Type 86 naval bomber. The bomb load is 800 kilograms, which is more than the German main carrier-based bomber, and the Type 86 can maintain a high stability regardless of whether it is a horizontal bombing or a dive bombing mission, for the bomber, the stability of the bomb is good, which means high bombing accuracy, so the pilots who fly this kind of bomber are quite satisfactory in ordinary training, which to a certain extent also caused many Japanese naval generals to have an overly optimistic estimate of the destructive power of their own air forces.

The German fighters could not be separated because of the entanglement of their own fighters, at this time the only thing that could pose a threat to Kurooka and his bombers was those anti-aircraft shells fired by German ships, and the black smoke could be seen everywhere over the fleet, that is, the traces left by the explosion of anti-aircraft shells, and this trace was the most dense in the airspace of 1500 to 2000 meters, it was obvious that the Germans did not want to be bombed by Japanese planes, and usually, the accuracy of this bombing was far higher than that of horizontal bombing.

After scanning the sea below, Kurooka quickly targeted the German aircraft carrier, which was "escaping", and according to the pre-war rules for naval aviation, in the absence of special instructions, enemy aircraft carriers would be the first target by default, followed by large ships such as battleships and battle cruisers, and then medium and light warships and auxiliary ships. Kurooka looked around him, and it seemed that the vast majority of the 24 bombers had chosen the same target as him.

After flying to an altitude of 3,200 meters to his satisfaction, Kurooka began to look for the best position to attack, at this time the aircraft carrier and the destroyers on both sides of the sea were firing desperately, and from this height, the sporadic firelight was constantly jumping, and the sound of banging was endless, and bursts of dense artillery fire seemed to want to completely clear the airspace.

Kurooka was unhurriedly preparing for the dive bombing, but although this Type 86 was the pride of the Japanese Navy, it was far from being able to do a high-angle bombing close to a right angle like the legendary Stuka - the Type 86 would fall like a stone into the sea, and previous tests proved that only dives at speeds of 75 degrees and 500 kilometers per hour were safe.

As an older pilot in the navy, Kurooka chose the maximum dive angle without hesitation, which made his plane have a more graceful track than others during the dive, but just when the altitude was rapidly reduced from 3000 meters to 2000 meters, Kurooka suddenly appeared in front of his eyes, it was not an illusion caused by weightlessness, but a barrage that suddenly formed! Although this sudden situation made Kurooka feel bad, he still comforted himself in his heart: it was impossible for the German anti-aircraft artillery to react so quickly, it must have been the shells of the German ** ships that accidentally hit in this direction, and when his plane passed through the barrage, what was left there was not shrapnel but a thin layer of black gunsmoke.

However, his eyes were telling himself that the barrage not only did not dissipate with the wind but continued to thicken, and after a while, the sound of the explosion at close range made Kurooka's ears begin to ring, in this case, he couldn't even hear the sound of the shrapnel piercing the body, but he felt that the shaking of the plane was getting more and more intense, and the plane seemed to be scattered by this storm, oh, not as if, but as if!

Since the radar was put on the warship, the German Navy has not only gained the ability of early warning and observation beyond the horizon, but also the combination of radar, mechanical antiaircraft gun aiming system and large-caliber antiaircraft gun, the effect of using it is multiplied and multiplied compared with pure optical aiming, and mechanical aiming is only the beginning, once the electronic antiaircraft artillery aiming system matures, the effectiveness of air defense operations will be greatly improved. (The first in history to develop artillery aiming radar was the United States, in 1938 they were able to use the SCR-268 artillery aiming radar to guide anti-aircraft artillery to fire at targets, and 5 years later there was a microwave artillery aiming radar SCR~584 with automatic tracking capabilities).

At the end of the fierce battle, only 27 Japanese planes were able to embark on the way home, and half of them were injured to varying degrees, but their results made their own commanders happy - they shot down 7 German fighters and bombed the German light aircraft carrier "Blinknik" to the point of dying, and several other German battleships were also somewhat damaged, because the flight deck of "Blinkik" was no longer usable, the remaining 3 German Heinkel II had to leave the fleet and fly to the northwest. That direction is not Kuye Island.