Volume XXIV The Dominance of the Sea Section 39 Repeated Searches

The search for two days was fruitless, and Hao Dongjue's impatience was even more impatient than Tan Renhao's personal arrangement, and he even set a reconnaissance route for each reconnaissance plane, and according to Hao Dongjue's judgment, as long as Spruance's Atlantic Fleet was not more than 400 nautical miles away from him, his reconnaissance plane would find something. But the problem is that within two days, Hao Dongjue has sent thousands of reconnaissance planes, and conducted several rounds of repeated searches in a sea area of 500,000 square nautical miles without finding anything, which even made Hao Dongjue wonder if the warships in the Atlantic Fleet would all be submarines, otherwise, how could they have escaped such an intensive reconnaissance search?

When Tan Renhao followed the Third Task Force back to the landing ground, Hao Dongjue became the supreme commander of the two fleets. In the early morning of 4 July, Dongjue arranged another round of large-scale reconnaissance and search, dispatching several hundred reconnaissance planes from the five task forces to conduct a dragnet-style intensive search within 400 nautical miles around the fleet, but at 5 o'clock in the morning, that is, when most of the reconnaissance planes had completed their search mission, not a single reconnaissance plane sent a telegram back. This made Hao Dongjue, who was already a little impatient, almost burst out. He even wanted to send a telegram to Tan Renhao at this time, telling Tan Renhao that the Atlantic Fleet was not in this vicinity, so that the reconnaissance and search operation could be ended, and the fleet could go to support the Marine Corps in the operation, which was much better than doing some useless work on the periphery.

At that time, the pilots of the reconnaissance aircraft in the fleet were also exhausted, in high-intensity operations. Each reconnaissance plane sorties at least two sorties a day, and each flight lasts for more than four hours at a time, and each pilot needs to be busy for at least 10 hours a day, including mission planning time and other preparation time. Even twelve hours, with less than eight hours of rest, even the best pilots will quickly get tired in such a high-intensity operation. Hao Dongjue took this in mind, so he hoped to end the search work as soon as possible and not joke about the safety and lives of the pilots, but Tan Renhao gave him a clear task, that is, before the four days, the fleet must be in a combat state, and the search and reconnaissance work must not be slackened at all.

In desperation. Dong Jue arranged a new reconnaissance mission in the early morning of the 4th. This time, half of the "Reconnaissance Eagles" will be dispatched, and the main search direction will still be all areas except for the 170 to 240 range. The five task forces can dispatch a total of 90 reconnaissance planes, and with the exception of some that cannot take off due to malfunctions, at least 80 reconnaissance planes can be used, and the 290 that need to be searched are basically responsible for reconnaissance and search in three and a half degrees of azimuth. This reconnaissance density is quite enormous, even on a reconnaissance radius of 400 miles. The width of the sea area that the reconnaissance aircraft needs to search is also no more than 25 nautical miles. Under these circumstances, Hao Dongjue expanded the reconnaissance radius to 450 miles, which actually exceeded the communication distance between the reconnaissance plane and the fleet! Even at this distance, the lateral separation distance of the reconnaissance aircraft is within 30 nautical miles, that is to say, the radar on the "reconnaissance eagle" only needs to search the left and right 15 nautical miles of the sea area, while the "reconnaissance eagle" can detect large fleet targets at a distance of more than 30 nautical miles, and if the weather conditions are even more than 40 nautical miles.

The search density is quite enormous. As long as the Atlantic Fleet is within 450 miles, it is impossible to evade all the reconnaissance planes. A large fleet with six aircraft carriers and dozens of escort warships sails in dense formation, with a lateral width of more than 20 nautical miles and a length of more than 30 nautical miles. That is to say, no matter which direction the reconnaissance planes approach from, no matter which direction the Atlantic Fleet sails, at least two reconnaissance planes will "crash" into the Atlantic Fleet, and as long as one reconnaissance plane gains something, it will be impossible for the Atlantic Fleet to escape the bombers' blows.

Dong Jue sent every "Scout Eagle" he could send. All the forces at their disposal were used, if the Atlantic Fleet could no longer be found. That would only prove that Spruance had no intention of approaching the Combined Fleet at all, and that the Atlantic Fleet was not operating in the nearby waters, and that it might have been on its way back to Norfolk long ago.

The ground reconnaissance planes of the Second Task Force began to take off at 5:25 a.m., and the reconnaissance planes of the other four aircraft carrier task forces also set off. All of the 83 reconnaissance planes dispatched by Hao Dongjue have specific flight routes, and each aircraft carrier has several radio stations specially responsible for contacting these reconnaissance planes, and as long as one reconnaissance plane discovers the enemy fleet. However, Hao Dongjue ignored a problem at that time, that is, the maximum communication distance between the reconnaissance plane and the fleet was only a mile, and if the Atlantic Fleet was between 400 and 450 miles, then the reconnaissance plane would not be able to send a telegram back in time, and it would even be shot down by US fighter planes before it reached the distance of transmission.

Among the 83 reconnaissance planes, the pilot of the 44 "reconnaissance~" and "Lake Belga" aircraft carrier was Second Lieutenant Li Yaofang, and the radar operator was Sergeant Lien Tingwei. In the Third Fleet, and indeed in the entire Imperial carrier-based aviation, both were outright newcomers.

The two joined the Imperial Navy's carrier-based aviation on the same day, and have been partners ever since, and the first of their flights was a reconnaissance aircraft. At that time, the Eighth Task Force had just been established, and most of the pilots were novices who had just graduated from aviation schools, except for some key pilots who were transferred from other task forces. Second Lieutenant Li Yaofang's grades in the aviation academy were only average, but as a result, not only did he not fly on the fighter plane, but he was not even asked for the bomber unit, and he was finally assigned to the reconnaissance plane unit, and the first type of reconnaissance plane he flew was the "water bird shooting," and as a result, he carried out several bombing missions in the battle to attack the Hawaiian Islands. Up to now, his landline is painted with several battle mark marks, and this is the only thing that Li Yaofang and Lian Tingwei are proud of.

After the change to flying the "Scout Eagle", there was no opportunity to carry out bombing missions. The cost of the "Reconnaissance Eagle" is twice that of the "Falcon" (mainly because the radar and other electronic equipment are too expensive), and its bombing performance is not very good, and it is not as good as the "Peregrine Falcon" with bombs on it. The most important thing is that the training of the navigators, that is, the radar operators, on the reconnaissance planes is relatively difficult, and no fleet commander will arrange for the "reconnaissance eagles" to carry out bombing missions. Since then, Li Yaofang and Lian Tingwei have become real reconnaissance pilots.

Their reconnaissance plane took off at 5:48 a.m. and was the third reconnaissance plane to leave the aircraft carrier "Lake Belga." This

The sixth reconnaissance mission, which was carried out in less than 48 hours, did not add up to less than 15 hours of rest during this period. Like any other reconnaissance pilot, their worst enemy is exhaustion, not the enemy fighter they might encounter. In order to keep the pilots from falling asleep during the flight, the attendants filled their water bladders with bitter coffee instead of white water, or strong tea, which can probably be regarded as special "equipment".

The No. 44 reconnaissance plane was flying eastward, its flight course was 184 degrees, and by the time the sky was gradually brightening, the reconnaissance plane had already left the fleet about 100 miles. In fact, within a range of 250 miles, there will be almost no discovery, because less than an hour ago, the reconnaissance plane on a night reconnaissance mission had just returned to the fleet from this sea area, and if the American fleet had been here, it would have been discovered long ago. Therefore, it was not until about 7 o'clock, that is, after the No. 44 reconnaissance plane flew out, that Lian Tingwei activated the radar on the reconnaissance plane and began to search the surrounding waters.

The main reconnaissance equipment on the "Reconnaissance Eagle" is not the human eye, but the radar, so the reconnaissance method has also changed a lot. In general, the navigator is mainly responsible for keeping an eye on the radar screen, while the pilot intermittently scans the surrounding sea surface to avoid being detected by the radar because the enemy warship is too close, but this does not have much effect, after all, the radar has already gained something before the enemy warship approaches.

It is also because most of the reconnaissance missions are built on the navigator's ground, which will cause the navigator to suffer severe fatigue. After receiving a response from the troops. Hafei made a small modification to the "Reconnaissance Eagle", that is, a pair of headphones were connected to the radar's feedback signal, and as long as it received a strong radar reflection wave, the headset would make noise to alert the navigator. This prevented the navigator from falling asleep due to fatigue and missing the opportunity to spot the enemy's ground. But the problem is that this system has little practical value at all, especially in the densely distributed sea area of the islands, the noise in the headset will hardly stop, and as a result, many navigation people will not wear headsets at all, and some people even find service personnel to remove the headsets.

It's even more painful to keep staring at the radar screen than staring at the sea all the time. Lian Tingwei usually glances at the radar screen every two or three minutes, and then tries to recuperate as much as possible. It is inevitable that you will enter a trance state because of excessive fatigue. In addition, Li Yaofang will also chat a few words from time to time to remind Lian Tingwei not to fall asleep.

Time passed minute by minute, and the two had nothing to say, and in the past two days, the two talked about a lot of things. Almost everything that should be said was said, and he almost didn't entrust the other party to keep the suicide note for himself. Arguably. Reconnaissance patrol flights lasting several hours would wear down the will of every pilot, and it was a new problem for naval aviation at that time. Later, in order to change this situation, the Navy even first installed audio equipment on reconnaissance aircraft, so that pilots could relax when they were bored. Moreover, the "Reconnaissance Eagle" was later increased to three crews, probably precisely because the two pilots could not effectively complete the reconnaissance mission.

"Lao Li, how far have we flew?"

"It's only 400 miles." Li Yaofang has been paying attention to the schedule. "In ten minutes, we're going to turn, and I don't know when this boring thing will end."

"yes. What a damn mission, can't the Yankees be a little more refreshing? ”

"If you want the enemy to be happy, then you might as well be happy yourself!" Li Yaofang laughed, "I heard that you went home on a blind date last time, how about that girl, do you two have that?" ”

"What that? I'm a decent gentleman, and I haven't had a word yet, who knows if the other party is worthy of me. Lian Tingwei was very disgusted with the blind date, if it wasn't for his parents, he would definitely not go on a blind date.

"Come on. You're 23 too, right? In our parents' generation, when you were your age. There are several sons. ”

"You know how to blow, but what about you?"

"What's the matter with me? I look down on it, but it's not that I don't have the conditions, so I can't pull Lang to match, right? ”

"Isn't that enough, if you look down on it, then my vision will be lowered?"

Li Yaofang smiled and shook his head, it has not been a few years since he joined the army, and the two of them have learned the pride of the navy to the fullest.

"By the way, Lao Li, I heard that you still have a sister, don't you?" Lian Tingwei said as he glanced at the radar screen.

"yes, you don't have any ideas."

"I didn't mean that, I mean......" Lian Tingwei said halfway through, "there's contact!" ”

Li Yaofang was startled at first, and immediately looked up. "Could it be a mistake again this time, are you sure it's not an island?"

"Not quite like, wait, several targets, are there 35 nautical miles ahead of us

Li Yaofang has turned out the navigation map. "No, we have long passed the island-dense area, and there are no islands within a thousand nautical miles ahead."

"That's definitely the enemy fleet, prepare to lower the altitude, damn it, pay attention to the surroundings!"

Li Yaofang had already pressed down the joystick, ready to approach those targets, at this time they all knew that what they found must be the fleet, but until the specific size of the fleet was determined, they could not turn back yet. Even Tingwei raised his head from time to time to search the surrounding airspace, and if it was really the Atlantic Fleet, then the US ground air defense fighters could appear at any time, and although the speed of the "Reconnaissance Eagle" was very fast, he did not want to run into the US fighters.

Those few reflective points on the radar screen became more and more intense, and even Tingwei quickly judged that there were several cruisers among them, and there must be a target of the aircraft carrier, the brightest target. When he was about 30 nautical miles away from the target, Li Yaofang began to turn, and this was the closest distance that the enemy radar had found the "reconnaissance eagle." If it got any closer, it would be discovered and intercepted.

"Lao Li, prepare to return, it's sure it's an aircraft carrier!"

"Know, damn it......"

When Li Yaofang shouted, stepped on the accelerator violently, and pushed down the joystick, two "super pirates" came out of the clouds in front of them and pounced directly on the "Scout Eagle". Lian Tingwei had already connected to the channel of communication with the fleet, but at this time it was too far away from the fleet, and the signal was very weak. What's even more troublesome is that they have to get rid of those two fighters, otherwise, they may not last a few minutes. Sea Soul Volume 24 Overlord of the Sea Section 39 Repeated Search