Rear Admiral Ji Xiaobin, who was leading the cruiser formation of the First Task Force and was rushing to the Kerama Channel, received the news of the return of the group, and after learning that the six battleships of the Japanese First Battlefleet had been severely damaged, he immediately became happy, which was arguably the best news he had received in a day.

Ji Xiaobin is not the kind of ambitious admiral, and at the same time, he is very easy-going, and he never doubts about employing people. I am afraid that this has a lot to do with his experience of "jumping ship" in the navy with General Liao Hanxiang. When they first came to the navy to "learn from experience," Liao Hanxiang, Wu Xianyu, and Ji Xiaobin, who had the "traces" of the Sixth Army, were not taken seriously, and it can even be said that they were not welcomed. If it weren't for the fact that Liao Hanxiang single-handedly established the naval aviation and was the founder of the Fifth Fleet, then they would have been excluded by the navy long ago. It is precisely because of this unpleasant experience that Ji Xiaobin attaches great importance to the relationship with his subordinates, and also attaches great importance to his subordinates, believing in the ability of his subordinates. This is clearly reflected in his support and trust in Tan Renhao. From the beginning of Tan Renhao's assignment to the Fifth Fleet Operational Staff, Ji Xiaobin has always vigorously supported him and cultivated him. Now that Tan Renhao is the chief of staff of the First Task Force, Ji Xiaobin, as the commander of the fleet, does not have the frame of a commander at all, and as long as Tan Renhao makes a decision, he will not easily revise it. In the eyes of many people, Tan Renhao is more like the commander of the First Task Force, while Ji Xiaobin can probably only be regarded as the logistics staff officer of the First Task Force. Of course, if we underestimate Major General Ji Xiaobin's ability on this basis, it would be an absolute mistake.

Ji Xiaobin was not happy for long, and the news that a night water reconnaissance plane sent by the cruiser "Rain" took him aback, and at the same time, his nerves also developed. All six battleships had withdrawn from the battle, the Japanese First Battlefleet had not returned to the ports of the Japanese mainland, and the huge fleet of several heavy cruisers continued to attack in the direction of the Ryukyu Islands, and there was no intention of turning around.

"There is no way for the reconnaissance aircraft to determine the exact size of the Japanese fleet, only to be sure that there were several heavy cruisers in it. And quite a few destroyers. "The one in charge of intelligence is a young staff officer," and now we have sent several other seaplanes to reconnoiter and follow the Japanese fleet. ”

"It seems that the Japanese don't want to give up halfway." Ji Xiaobin gritted his teeth and said, "Then let's prepare for battle." Now the Japanese fleet was left without battleships. What else do we have to fear? ”

At this time, Ji Xiaobin really has nothing to be afraid of. Although the five heavy cruisers under his command have undergone anti-aircraft transformation and strengthened anti-aircraft firepower, the main guns on the battleships have not changed. Except for the "Li Jing," which was not designed with torpedo tubes, the torpedo tubes on the other four "Trotto" class heavy cruisers were all dismantled during the renovation. The anti-aircraft gun was replaced and the stability of the battleship was also increased. More importantly, three of the five heavy cruisers in the fleet at that time were equipped with radars, which could spot Japanese warships more than ten nautical miles away and attack first. Though. The main guns of these heavy cruisers could not threaten the battleships at this distance, but there were not many problems in dealing with the Japanese heavy cruisers. The power of the 2oo mm armor-piercing projectile can easily penetrate the armor of Japanese heavy cruisers with weak protection at a distance of 12ooo meters. And at this distance, I am afraid that the Japanese battleship has not yet reached its target.

With these advantages, Ji Xiaobin really has nothing to worry about, but he forgot one point, that is, the Japanese fleet's ability to fight at night is very strong. Before the war, the Japanese Navy placed great emphasis on night combat training, believing that only night combat could defeat the enemy when it did not have sufficient strength. And in the night battle. The most important thing is not the power and range of the main guns, but the torpedo attack. As a result, Japan installed torpedo tubes on its heavy cruisers, and its destroyers had the most torpedoes of any destroyer. Even more troublesome was the fact that the Japanese Navy used the "Spear" torpedo, even at the maximum degree. The range is all over 2o km. This torpedo is not only powerful, but also extremely difficult to find. In the Battle of Jeju Island. The "Taizu" was torpedoed by a "spear" torpedo, and I am afraid that Ji Xiaobin has not forgotten this lesson.

Ji Xiaobin did not underestimate the enemy. After confirming that the Japanese fleet was still advancing towards Ryukyu Island, Ji Xiaobin immediately ordered the fleet to advance in full direction towards the Kerama waterway, and it was necessary to block the waterway before the Japanese fleet arrived, and protect the northern Deng-6. There are hundreds of ships of all kinds moored there, and all of them are defenseless ships, and there are also a large number of war materials on the beach, and the troops of the 6th Army are ashore, and the engineers are rushing to build temporary docks. If you let the Japanese warships kill you, it will become a hell there. Ji Xiaobin must not let such a thing happen, even if he fights out the last battleship and the last shell, he must persevere.

Soon a battle alarm sounded in the fleet. Ji Xiaobin asked the staff officers to connect to the radio channel of the whole fleet, and then he picked up the microphone. "Ladies and gentlemen, a fleet of Japanese heavy cruisers is now coming towards us, and behind us are friendly forces on board the 6th field, hundreds of defenceless transport ships. This is our last line of defense, from now on, every officer and sailor of the Imperial Navy must stick to their posts, we cannot retreat, we cannot retreat, even if we die, we will die here......"

Five heavy cruisers lined up in columns, with the guns of the battleships pointed to the southeast, while eight destroyers patrolled about two nautical miles behind the fleet. In battle, five cruisers were to form a battle line, and the task of these destroyers was to torpedo the local fleet and deal with the Japanese destroyers. This is a regular naval battle, and it is also the most brutal naval battle.

After finishing his speech, Ji Xiaobin asked the communications officer to keep in touch with the water reconnaissance plane at any time. According to the advance of the Japanese fleet, there is less than half an hour left, and more than a dozen Japanese warships will appear on the radar screen. Maybe the officers and men of the Imperial Navy were not afraid of such a battle, but Ji Xiaobin was a little nervous, the reason was very simple, he had never fought such a battle, and he was not sure about the outcome of the battle.

At this time, Tan Renhao's side is a mess. When Deng Zi's group returned, the three fighters that did not land successfully collided directly with the previous landing. It hasn't had time to be towed into the hangar. Several pilots and aviation service personnel were sacrificed, not to mention that there were problems on both aircraft carriers, and the delay lasted at least fifteen minutes, causing the pilots who were about to run out of fuel to curse on the radio. What was even more annoying was that the flight deck of the aircraft carrier was already very chaotic, and the aviation crew had to push some of the damaged fighters directly into the sea in order to allow other fighters to land. So as to free up the flight deck.

Finally recovered the Deng Zi group, although more than a dozen fighters were lost, but the recovery work was completed. Now Zhang Nai's Dingdi aircraft group has also reached the sky above the fleet. One after another, there was not much fuel left, and the fighters were anxious to land on the aircraft carrier. And in night operations according to the orders of the Imperial Navy. The fleet had to be light-controlled, so the navigation lights on the aircraft carriers were not turned on, and the fighters had to land on the flight deck in the faint moonlight, which was as dangerous as having an acrobat walk a tightrope with his eyes closed.

"There are twelve fighters with less than five minutes left of fuel. They have to land immediately! Lei Shaoqing's words were very fast, "But according to the current degree." They simply couldn't land ...... completely"

"Let the aircraft carrier turn on the navigation lights to guide the returning bombers to land!" Tan Renhao made a bold decision: if there were Japanese ground reconnaissance planes or submarines nearby at this time, the aircraft carrier would not only be exposed, but would also become the best target for attack.

"But ......"

"What are you hesitating about? Immediately go and give the order, we can no longer lose pilots! ”

Lei Shaoqing gritted his teeth, and he immediately went to issue this order, which violated the naval combat regulations.

The navigation lights on both aircraft carriers were immediately turned on. This time. The pilots on the fighter planes saw the flight deck of the aircraft carrier clearly, and also saw the light signals of navigation, and the degree of landing naturally improved a lot, and at the same time, the safety also improved a lot.

Watching the fighters land on the flight deck, Tan Renhao also breathed a sigh of relief. Pilots are the most important personnel on board an aircraft carrier. He would rather lose his fighters than his pilots. This is a very simple truth.

"The telegram from the Chief of Staff and the Commander just came, the Japanese fleet has not returned, and it is still advancing towards the 6th of the Shoden!"

Tan Renhao was startled, immediately took the telegram from the communications officer's hand, and then read it quickly. "Damn, it looks like the Japanese are dead determined to play to the end, so we'll play with them to the end!"

Lei Shaoqing took the telegram and read it quickly, and said, "Are you going to attack at night again?" ”

Tan Renhao suddenly hesitated, at this time, Zhang Naiding's landline landed on the flight deck of the "Taizu", and he was the last pilot to land, which was also the rule. Night bombing was too dangerous for the pilots, and all the pilots in the fleet had carried out three missions in a row in the past 12 hours, and they were very tired from even having time to rest, and if they attacked again, I am afraid that not only would they not be able to accurately drop bombs on the Japanese warships, but they would also have to make a forced landing on the sea when they returned.

"Renhao, we can't take risks, the pilots need to rest, and the state of the fighters is also very bad, we can't continue to send bombers at all!" Lei Shaoqing is also very aware of the difficulties in front of him.

Tan Renhao nodded, and just as he was about to speak, there was a sudden sharp whistling sound. Tan Renhao and Lei Shaoqing were both taken aback, and the two of them immediately heard that this was the sound of the battleship's main gun shells breaking through the air when they fell, and they had heard this sound when they were sailing practice.

"Shelling!"

Before the staff officer could utter his words, a shell landed on the sea less than 200 meters away from the "Taizu," and then a huge column of water rose up.

"Immediately turn on the radar and search the surrounding sea area, and the fleet immediately disperses and avoids it in the northwest direction!" Tan Renhao gave several orders in an instant, and the explosion that started made him extremely frightened, but it also woke him up.

In order to ensure the concealment of the fleet, the radar in the fleet has not been turned on. Moreover, the failure rate of the radar equipped with the navy at that time was very high, almost every two hours, which made the radar operators very annoyed. In order to make the radar play a key role in the operation as much as possible, the Imperial Navy at that time also stipulated that the radar could only be turned on when it was certain that the enemy fleet was present or bombed, and the radar was usually turned off.

The last battleship in the fleet to be equipped with radar was the heavy cruiser "Gu Yu". As soon as the radar was turned on, the radar operator on the battleship was startled, and there were more than ten strong reflected signals more than ten nautical miles south of the fleet, and it was definitely not a battleship of the Imperial Navy, because the Imperial Navy did not have such a huge warship in this sea area!

The First Task Force, which had more than 20 warships, was also evacuated quickly, and the warships that received the order began to increase to the northwest to evade. Fortunately, all the warships of the First Fleet had passed the maximum voyage of 33 knots, otherwise they would definitely not have escaped.

It was also when Tan Renhao was very puzzled about the shelling that he had been subjected to that communications staff officer received a piece of information. However, this information came two days late.

"!" Tan Renhao scolded in a low voice, and then gave the telegram to Lei Shaoqing.

Lei Shaoqing also smiled bitterly when he saw it. The Japanese Second Battlefleet had left Leyte Gulf two days earlier and was heading north as fast as it could. And the spy officer who was now in the attack of the Japanese Second Battlefleet was two days late to bring back this extremely important information.

"That's the Second Japanese Battlefleet?"

Tan Renhao nodded and said: "The Japanese Second Battlefleet has four Kongo-class battleships (the Japanese call them battle cruisers), and they will definitely want to trouble us when they suddenly go north!" ”

It couldn't be more obvious. Although the Kongo class was built by Japan before World War I, it had already undergone several modifications, especially during the last refit, when a new power unit was installed, and the stern was modified to 3 knots. If it is other battleships, Tan Renhao has nothing to worry about, his fleet is faster, but compared to the "King Kong" class battleships, the maximum degree of the two aircraft carriers is only 3 knots faster, how to escape?

。 All come to read m.