Task Force 3 broke away from the First Fleet late at night on the 21st. The Third Task Force broke away from the First Fleet in the middle of the night of the 21st. The Third Task Force broke away from the First Fleet in the middle of the night of the 21st. The Third Task Force broke away from the First Fleet in the middle of the night of the 21st. The Third Task Force broke away from the First Fleet in the middle of the night of the 21st. The Third Task Force broke away from the First Fleet in the middle of the night of the 21st. After Ren Hao sent the combat order from the "Longganhu" aircraft carrier, Chang Jianxin knew that his mission this time was to block the US Atlantic Fleet in the port of San Diego and create an opportunity for other task forces to send bombers to take out the Atlantic Fleet at dawn. Maybe many people think that the Third Task Force is going to be a supporting role again this time, but Chang Jiexin never thinks that he is a supporting role, especially after arriving in the Atlantic, the performance of the Third Task Force and the combat exploits obtained are above the other task forces, so how can it be said that the Third Task Force is a supporting role?

On the morning of 22 July, just as the 3rd Task Force was heading at full speed toward the port of San Diego along the nearest route, fighters sent by the 1st and 2nd Task Forces began to provide air defense cover for the 3rd Task Force in turn. At this time, there were already new changes in the air defense tactics of the fleet. Based on the experience gained in the "Battle of the Bahamas," reconnaissance planes were deployed in the direction where enemy bombers and reconnaissance planes were most likely to appear, about 100 to 150 miles from the core of the fleet. If enemy reconnaissance aircraft are to be dealt with, then at least four fighters are deployed at an equal distance of 203 nautical miles behind each reconnaissance aircraft. In this way, as long as the reconnaissance plane discovers the enemy plane, the fighter can quickly go to intercept it, and the enemy plane will not be given the opportunity to get close to the fleet, and thus the enemy will not be able to accurately judge the position of the fleet.

At this time, this tactic was used to cover the ground fighters of Task Force 3. At that time, the main precautionary force was the US military reconnaissance plane. There are several major loopholes in this set of tactics: First, it is necessary to dispatch a large number of reconnaissance planes, thus increasing the attendance intensity of carrier-based reconnaissance planes, and at the same time leading to a sharp decrease in the number of planes capable of carrying out reconnaissance missions, if they are in offensive combat operations. The problem was quite acute, and the commander had to weigh the importance of the defense of the fleet against the offensive, and in this way distribute the number of reconnaissance aircraft performing different tasks. Second, it is necessary for the reconnaissance plane to have the ability to guide fighters to intercept enemy planes, while the "reconnaissance eagle" has only one navigator on board, and can only guide a few fighters or several formations of fighters at most. If the number of enemy aircraft at the same time is too large, it will not work at all. Third, the covered fleet must communicate with the reconnaissance planes, and if the fleet is too close to the enemy, then the high-frequency radio waves emitted may expose the position of the fleet.

Because this set of tactics had just begun to be used, and because of the technical limitations at that time, Hao Dongjue had not yet found a solution to these problems. There's no denying it. The new air defense tactics have a great advantage in dealing with the enemy's reconnaissance aircraft, and can more effectively ensure the concealment of the fleet. As for the ability to deal with the enemy's massive bomber fleet. I am afraid that even Hao Dongjue was not very sure, after all, the ability of reconnaissance planes to command air battles was quite limited, and no plane had the ability to command air battles at that time.

Shortly after the planes arrived, a seaplane from Task Force 1 sent over the full battle plan. Chang Jianxin also immediately made arrangements and deployments in accordance with the battle plan determined by Tan Renhao, and made minor adjustments to some details of the battle plan in light of the situation of the Third Task Force itself. For example, Task Force 3 was not equipped with radar reconnaissance aircraft, and the seaplanes it carried were very slow, so in the early morning of the 24th. The departure time of the seaplane must be advanced, and it cannot be dispatched at the same time as the reconnaissance planes of the 1st Task Force. In addition, the number of sorties must be increased so that all the waters around San Diego can be searched so that the U.S. fleet does not slip away.

According to Tan Renhao's plan, at dawn on 24 July, the reconnaissance planes of the 1st and 2nd Task Forces will arrive at the port of San Diego to determine the specific situation of the Atlantic Fleet. The bomber will arrive only half an hour late, and then the reconnaissance aircraft will guide the target for it. Of course, the prerequisites are: The Atlantic Fleet did not leave the port of Santiago. If the Atlantic Fleet has already left the port, then. You'll have to use a backup plan.

Standby plans are larger and highly variable. At that time, Lei Shaoqing would dispatch a reconnaissance plane at an interval of two hours before the night of 23 June to continuously monitor the situation in the port of San Diego. If the Atlantic Fleet had not left the port of San Diego before the evening of the 23rd, it would not have gone far by the dawn of the 24th. In this way, it was called to expand the search area and find traces of the Atlantic Fleet as soon as possible. Because the reconnaissance planes of the 1st and 2nd task forces had to cover the 3rd task force and at the same time reconnoiter the situation in the port of San Diego, the task of searching the Atlantic Fleet in the open sea was entrusted to the three task forces of the Third Fleet. In order to discover the Atlantic Fleet in a timely manner, the reconnaissance planes of the Third Fleet will also set off at the same time to be responsible for conducting a search off the coast of San Diego, and the search radius will be subject to the last piece of information provided by Lei Shaoqing on the night of 23 July.

In other words, Tan Renhao made two preparations for the two possible situations at that time. The best result was that the Atlantic Fleet remained in the port of Santiago while being hit by heavy bombers and could not leave the port before dawn. In this way, he could concentrate the bombers of the five carrier task forces, as well as the heavy artillery of the third task force, and destroy the Atlantic Fleet in the harbor. The worst-case scenario is that the Atlantic Fleet left the port during daylight on 23 July, and then it is necessary to conduct a comprehensive search of the surrounding waters, and the sea area that needs to be searched may exceed 100 square kilometers, which is already difficult to ensure that the reconnaissance planes can find the Atlantic Fleet in time. Tan Renhao can only hope that the situation is a little better than this.

In order to make up for the shortcomings of the aircraft carrier task force in terms of reconnaissance force, the Third Task Force, which had come out to intercept at that time, also had to undertake part of the reconnaissance mission, that is, to arrange seaplanes to search the waters near San Diego. Although the reconnaissance capability of seaplanes is relatively weak, the third task force has dozens of seaplanes and is very close to each other, and this reconnaissance force cannot be ignored.

Chang Jianxin arranged for the 36 seaplanes in the fleet to reconnoiter and launch 6 seaplanes in the afternoon of the same day, and the purpose of this was to use these seaplanes to guide the warships to shell the enemy ships in the harbor!

At the speed of the 3rd Task Force at that time, it would definitely be able to do it before dawn