Volume XXIII Springboard to Progress Section 48 Civil Strife

After Spruance led the Atlantic Fleet out of Norfolk Naval Harbor, he first sought the support of the commander of the Army Air Corps, General Arnold, and then Arnold gave an order to the Army Air Forces deployed in Florida and Cuba to cooperate with the Atlantic Fleet first, and then to carry out other tasks. As a result, over the past few days, thousands of U.S. warplanes deployed in both locations have been actively assisting Spruance.

On the 13th, after making contact with the main fleet of the Tang Imperial Navy for the first time, on the 14th, the long-range reconnaissance planes of the US Army deployed in Cuba were dispatched again to continue to search for the main fleet of the Tang Empire, but on the 13th, the Third Fleet had already begun to move eastward to avoid the search of the US air force, so during the entire day of the 14th, although the US Army Air Force flew more than 200 sorties, it was not able to find the Third Fleet, nor did it encounter the air defense fighters of the Third Fleet. On the night of 14 July, the US military dispatched more than 40 night reconnaissance planes, but still did not achieve anything.

Similarly, on the 14th, the Third Fleet did not continue to bomb the Bahamas. The first is the need to make sure that most of the targets destroyed have been destroyed, and the bombers of the Third Fleet cannot find any targets in the Bahamas to drop bombs. Second, Huang Xiaotian was still a little worried about the US long-range bombers, if the fleet was exposed, even if it was not attacked by the Atlantic Fleet, the thousands of US heavy bombers deployed nearby would be enough for the Third Fleet to suffer a load-bearing blow, so Huang Xiaotian quickly left the combat sea area on the 13th. At last. When Huang Xiaotian received the news from Tan Renhao and knew that the First Fleet had been discovered by US submarines, he also began that the Third Fleet would be targeted by US submarines, so on the 14th, he maneuvered to the northeast again, and it turned out to be even farther away from the Bahamas.

It is precisely because on the 14th that the two sides were "at peace" that some people began to suspect that the main fleet of the Tang Empire had left the waters of the Bahamas. It is possible to prepare for the transfer mission on the U.S. Army Airlines. As we continued to deal with the military targets of Grand Cayman, the Little Andrés Islands, and the Don Empire in southern Mexico, Spruance's new "order" arrived, and as a last resort, the US military's long-range reconnaissance planes were dispatched again. Search continues in the waters southeast of the Bahamas. At that time, the Third Fleet had already left this sea area, and it is conceivable that during the day on 15 July, the US reconnaissance planes could not have gained anything.

At that time, the news sent by Spruance also quickly reached the hands of Admiral King. After receiving an update on the Atlantic Fleet and knowing that Spruance was actively looking for an opportunity to annihilate the main fleet of the Tang Empire, Admiral King went to General Arnold again, hoping that Admiral Arnold could provide more powerful support to the fleet and assist the Atlantic Fleet in defeating the enemy. Seize sea supremacy.

Before Admiral King approached Arnold, Arnold had already received several orders from Admiral Marshall, Chief of the Army Staff. And every order is related to the operation of the Atlantic Fleet in tandem. At that time, the actions of the Atlantic Fleet were directly related to the security of the eastern coast of the continental United States. It is related to the ownership of naval supremacy in the Atlantic Ocean and the last line of defense of the United States, and the most important thing must be the US President, and in the case where Admiral King has already taken action, the US President has also exerted a lot of pressure on Marshall, demanding that the US Army under Marshall's command do its best to cooperate with the actions of the Atlantic Fleet. The U.S. Army also had only the air force to cooperate with the fleet, in which case Marshall had to go to Arnold's trouble.

Under increased pressure. On 14 July, Arnold ordered the transfer of dozens of night reconnaissance planes originally deployed on the west coast of the United States for patrolling the Pacific Ocean. By the evening of 15 July, these reconnaissance planes had arrived at the airfield in southern Florida. In the evening, he participated in a search and patrol mission in the waters of the Bahamas. Thus, on the night of the fifteenth, more than 80 night reconnaissance aircraft took part in the search for the third move, instead of the previous 40!

The ground night reconnaissance planes of the US Army Air Force are basically heavy bombers equipped with radars, and the main force of the ground is a large night reconnaissance aircraft with the B-17 as the prototype, with a maximum range of 3,500 kilometers and can patrol within a range of 1,500 miles, and the radar equipped with it can ensure the detection of any warship within a radius of 20 nautical miles at night. In addition, there are also water patrol aircraft equipped with radar, which were previously mainly tasked with finding enemy submarines at night, and can also be used to search for enemy warships at night, but they are equipped with radar search capabilities that are poorer.

After doubling the number of night reconnaissance planes, on the night of 15 July, the US military reconnaissance planes covered almost the entire Bahamas, and three-quarters of them, or about 60 miles, flew to patrol 400,500 miles east of the Bahamas. At that time, the Third Fleet was operating about 350 miles east of Huatlin Island (San Salvador), about 700 miles from Miami, and no more than 750 miles from the nearest airfield of the US military, which was completely within the patrol radius of the US long-range reconnaissance planes!

More crucially, after the Third Fleet had left the battlefield in the east and northeast, the First Fleet had turned to the southwest and reached the sea area previously patrolled by the Third Fleet on the afternoon of the 15th. That is, at this time, the positions of the First Fleet and the Third Fleet were reversed, and the Third Fleet was in the northeast direction of the First Fleet. At that time, Tan Renhao was also forced to make this arrangement, and after contacting Huang Xiaotian, the two fleets were reversed. Therefore, the First Fleet is more likely to be discovered!

In the evening of the same day, Tan Renhao and Huang Xiaotian still believed that Spruance was on standby in a certain direction to the northeast or even to the east, so the reconnaissance planes of the two main fleets were mainly deployed within 180 of the east of the fleet to search. In addition, the fleet's reconnaissance plane unit had been flying continuously and at high intensity for several days, and at that time, 72 "reconnaissance eagles" of the First Fleet were blocked and could not be dispatched on the night of 15 July. 108 out of 12 "Scout Eagles" of the Third Fleet had problems and could not be dispatched. The pilots were also extremely tired, and as a result, the First Fleet arranged only two rounds of reconnaissance missions that night, with 28 sorties in the first and 22 in the second, and new reconnaissance planes were dispatched at dawn. The situation was similar for the Third Fleet, only two rounds of reconnaissance were arranged, 34 sorties in the first and 26 in the second,

Dispatched after dawn. At that time, no more than 10 reconnaissance aircraft were operating in the waters of the archipelago in two rounds of reconnaissance I sent by the two fleets, which did not at all guarantee the > of the island's waters and even the possibility of monitoring all the straits inside the archipelago. In other words, the reconnaissance and search capabilities of the First Fleet and the Third Fleet had obviously decreased considerably on the night of 15 July.

Tan Renhao and Huang Xiaotian have already discovered this situation, after all, the ability of carrier-based reconnaissance planes to continue to use is quite limited. The "Reconnaissance Eagle" has only been equipped with the troops for a short time, and the aviation service personnel are not very familiar with the maintenance methods of this new aircraft, especially the radar on the aircraft, and of the 26 reconnaissance planes that have problems, 21 are because of the radar. + The physical strength is also limited, and from the 12th, the pilots of the reconnaissance planes of the two fleets have to fly at least three times a day on average, for more than 4 hours at a time, and sometimes even up to 6 hours. Pilots are given a limited amount of rest. The pilot of the reconnaissance plane can also be replaced by the pilot of the bomber, but the navigator cannot be replaced, because the navigator on the bomber does not know how to operate the radar. Of the 21 aircraft with radar problems, 18 were caused by incorrect operation of the pilots in a state of fatigue. It is conceivable that under such high-intensity sortie pressure, it is quite difficult for the reconnaissance aircraft unit to hold out for three days.

At that time, Tan Renhao was already thinking about whether he should be temporarily on the battlefield so that the pilot had enough time to recover. At the same time, it can also allow the service personnel to seize the time to repair the malfunctioning aircraft. Huang Xiaotian also had the same idea, just because Han Shaofeng demanded that the landing operation be launched as soon as possible, and if the Atlantic Fleet could not be defeated before dawn on the 16th, then the Marine Corps could only adopt the next set of tactics, storm Jamaica, and then march into Cuba. As a result, in the afternoon of the same day, when the First Fleet staggered with the Third Fleet. After discussion, the two decided that if the US Atlantic Fleet was not found before dawn on 16 July, they would withdraw from the battlefield together and return to the Caribbean Sea along the route they had taken to carry out the second set of combat plans. Other words. If nothing was gained that night, they would not have had the opportunity to actively look for a decisive battle for the Atlantic Fleet.

It can be said that by this time, all Spruance needed was to wait, to wait patiently. According to the situation at that time, if Spruance did not take the initiative to go south, then Tan Renhao and Huang Xiaotian would take the initiative to retreat after dawn, and Han Shaofeng's Marines would not be able to continue to attack the Bahamas, and he would not need to continue to defend the Bahamas. Again, if Spruance had taken the initiative to go south. It is very likely that Tan Renhao and Huang Xiaotian sent reconnaissance planes to avoid them, and take advantage of the time difference between the reconnaissance planes sent by the opponent after dawn to discover the First Fleet and the Third Fleet. And quickly dispatched bombers to attack these two fleets, plus the shore-based bombers of the US military. As long as it is not counterattacked by the First Fleet and the Third Fleet, victory will basically belong to the Atlantic Fleet.

It was Spruance's best chance in the main battle. It can be said that his previous combat arrangements were all in the service of this opportunity, and his judgment was not wrong. After lingering outside the battlefield for several days, the fleet had succeeded in disrupting the opponent's battle schedule, and had caused the opponent to make wrong analysis and judgment, and finally take the wrong action. If Spruance's last-ditch attack had succeeded, perhaps the outcome of the North Atlantic Maritime Theater would have been rewritten. But. Spruance had been ignoring a problem that ended up being his fatal death.

It was about eleven o'clock that night, shortly after Spruance went to rest. On the night of the 14th, the senior staff officers, who had conspired with all their might, were reunited. This time, the communications staff officers, who had previously opposed the "rebellion", had to give in to the other staff officers, and finally agreed to contact Admiral King directly to seek orders from Admiral King, and then decide whether to obey Spruance's orders. Before 12 o'clock, the staff officers went to the telecommunications room together, and the communications staff officers sent a short telegram after taking the officers on duty away. Admiral King quickly replied with a harsh telegram asking them to obey the orders of the Chief of the General Staff unconditionally. At that time, several staff officers did not realize that their actions would have fatal consequences. And no one else knew that someone had sent a telegram, and as a result, no one reported it to Spruance!

It was this telegram that finally "betrayed" the Atlantic Fleet. At the time of the telegram, the Atlantic Fleet was already in the southern part of the Exuma Strait, passing through the strait between Concepson and Lamu Island, on a course of 210 and a speed of 16 knots. At this time, the First Fleet was operating in the waters northeast of Samana Island in the eastern part of the Crooked Island Strait, which was only about 150 nautical miles from Lamu Island and less than 200 miles from the Atlantic Fleet!

It couldn't be closer, and for whom, it's an extremely deadly distance. The reconnaissance planes of the First Fleet flying westward all circled after taking off, mainly to avoid being tracked by enemy planes and then searching backwards to find the location of the First Fleet. As a result, these reconnaissance planes all bypassed Laamu Island and were not able to detect the Atlantic Fleet that was approaching Laamu Island. And the Atlantic Fleet simply cannot send reconnaissance aircraft to look for the First Fleet at night, and can only rely on shore-based long-range reconnaissance aircraft.

The distance of 200 miles is enough for the listening radio stations on the warships of the First Fleet to receive the radio waves emitted by the US warships. At that time, the First Fleet had several radio monitoring stations monitoring several commonly used communication channels of the US Navy, so that the radio monitoring stations would not be interfered with by radar waves and other electromagnetic waves, and could accurately intercept the radio waves emitted by US warships. While this does not allow the First Fleet to determine the precise location of the radio signal, it does provide a rough indication of the direction in which it is coming. This point is enough for Tan Renhao to make a decision.

When Tan Renhao was woken up by the staff officer and came to the command cabin, the staff officer just finished processing the intercepted radio signal and determined that it was the signal sent by the radio station of the US warship, and used the measurement results on several warships to determine the direction in which the signal was sent. At first, Tan Renhao didn't believe that this would be a signal from the Atlantic Fleet, but this did not prevent him from sending a few reconnaissance planes to confirm it! Sea Soul Volume 23 Springboard for Progress Section 48 Civil Strife