The 3rd Task Force reached the waters east of Kuah at about 10 o'clock, and then the fleet turned around and passed through the strait between Kuah and Makila according to the predetermined route. The narrowest part of the strait is only about 20 nautical miles, and the US military has radars on both islands, mainly on Makila Island, which has been monitoring the movement of the strait. In order to avoid the radar on the island, the fleet sailed as close to Kuah as possible.

At half past ten, the cooks of the fleet began to deliver supper to the various positions. The battleship had already rounded Kuah Island and turned again, heading south. Yan Shiqi knew very well the strength in his hands, the fleet's radar had been running for half an hour, and it was searching the southern seas. But in the case of four to six, the odds of victory are really not great, even if there are two advantages of radar and speed, in this case, it is difficult for the fleet to guarantee victory. In order to give full play to the superiority of radar, it is necessary to ensure that the combat distance is not too close, and to hit the enemy, but not to be hit by the enemy. However, if you want to give full play to your speed advantage, you must move the fleet closer to the south, so that the fleet has enough room to turn. Therefore, Yan Shiqi set the interception line about 30 nautical miles south of Kuah Island, and he had to get there before eleven o'clock to turn the fleet into a battle queue. The fleet is only about 15 nautical miles south of Kuah Island.

The fleet soon entered a state of full speed, the wind and waves on the sea surface weakened a lot, the storm did not have a great impact on the strait between the islands, the islands played a great shielding role, and the storm was moving north, and the sea surface between the Solomon Islands was not too wave. But the effects of the weather are still evident. The cyclone blew the clouds to the periphery, which caused clouds over the Solomon Islands to be as low as 300 metres and nearly 1,500 metres thick.

"Looks like it's going to rain." Yan Shiqi glanced at the dark clouds that were almost pressing overhead, and the faint light from the battleship made the surroundings gray and a little weird.

"The weather forecast is for rain the day after tomorrow and the clouds will start to weaken around noon tomorrow."

Gu Zhenyun wrote down the news of the weather forecast, "The humidity of the air is very high, it seems." The gunner had to pay attention to it, and hopefully the wind direction would not change much. ”

"Let the staff officer arrange it." Yan Shiqi is very clear about what factors will affect the artillery battle, "How far is the detection range of the radar?" ”

"At most, 15 nautical miles, maybe not this distance, but it is enough to direct artillery battles."

"Can't get to 20 nautical miles?" Yan Shiqi furrowed his eyebrows slightly.

"At least not in this weather." Gu Zhenyun shrugged his shoulders, "Otherwise, arrange a few cruisers to go to the front." This increases the detection distance a bit. ”

Yan Shiqi pondered for a while and said: "Let the cruiser formation go forward for five nautical miles, but don't easily engage the enemy, the destroyer still stays, and we must try to distance ourselves from the US fleet." ”

"This can only be achieved, and in this environment, there is no way to guarantee that the radar will be able to find the target 100 percent."

"Try your best, and, let the fleet turn around at eleven o'clock and enter the battle queue as planned." Yan Shiqi glanced at the chief of staff. "Maybe Kincaid is very close to us.

Let's get ready, tonight, let's see how powerful those US battleships really are. ”

The fleet reached the predetermined interception line at about 10:55. Immediately turning due west, the four battleships lined up in order, with the destroyers remaining about five nautical miles behind the right rear of the battleship formation. Four heavy cruisers were sailing about eight nautical miles to the front right of the fleet, while the other four heavy cruisers were speeding south, and they were to be on alert duty about five nautical miles south of the battleship formation. The provisional designation of these four formations was the 31 Battleship Formation, the 224 Sector Ship-by-Ship Formation, the 33 Cruiser Formation and the 34 Cruiser Formation. This is an establishment that Yan Shiqi has set up within the Third Task Force, and it does not belong to the regular establishment of the Navy, and its main role is to facilitate command.

The wind and waves on the sea are abating, and Task Force 32 under the command of Kincaid is sailing at full speed. Kincaid had already given the order to turn on the radar. Unfortunately, the radar has a range of just over 10 nautical miles. Now the fleet is approaching the island of Kuah, moving forward step by step according to Kincaid's plan.

Kincaid glanced at his watch, it was exactly eleven o'clock, and there was still half an hour left, and the fleet could get close to Kuah Island, and then use the cover of Kuah Island to get close to the enemy fleet, but the problem was that there was still no trace of the third task force of the Tang Empire. That's a good thing, right? This at least proves that the Third Task Force of the Tang Empire has most likely not discovered them.

"General, there are still 18 nautical miles, turn in half an hour."

Kincaid glanced at the navigation staff, and then said: "According to the plan, when turning, let the cruisers and destroyers be behind, the enemy is very likely to be in our southeast, the fleet is advancing in a single column, pay attention to the search for the situation in the southeast, and prepare for engagement." ”

The battle alarm sounded in the fleet, and the officers and men of the US Navy, who had already refreshed their spirits, were sticking to their posts. The night was not peaceful, and everyone had a premonition that a fierce battle was about to begin.

The Southwestern Task Force under the command of Wei Dongbei was still running wildly south of the New Georgia Strait at this time, and at half past ten, one of the destroyers had a problem with its boiler and was forced to withdraw from the formation and return to the Bouin anchorage alone. Now there are six cruisers and seven destroyers in the fleet, and the fleet is about 80 nautical miles from Kuah, and it takes at least three and a half hours to reach the southwest of Kuah. That is, the fleet can only arrive at half past two at the earliest.

"Is there any news from Task Force 3?" Wei Dongbei looked very impatient, for ten hours, the Third Task Force was stunned and did not send a telegram back, he didn't know what Yan Shiqi wanted to do.

"No, if the third task force has already maneuvered to the southern waters of Kuah Island, the radar in the fleet must have been turned on, but the question is, why didn't Yan Shiqi send a telegram? Does he think he's still in seclusion? ”

Wei Dongbei sighed and said to the staff officer next to him: "Forget it, we don't know what Yan Shiqi is thinking, we can only rush over as soon as possible, maybe, Kincaid is already about to arrive at Gua Island, and they have already fought." ”

"Then he should send the message."

Wei Dongbei smiled bitterly and shook his head, who could know what Yan Shiqi was thinking? He really wanted to use a month's allowance to bet on what Yan Shiqi was doing, maybe. The 3rd Task Force is lounging on the sea, and it has not encountered the 32nd Task Force at all, so Yan Shiqi will definitely cause big trouble this time.

In the waters near Kuah Island, the three fleets are maneuvering rapidly, and the battle is about to break out. For Task Force 3 and Task Force 32, the most important thing at this time is to find Task Force 32 and not be caught off guard by the enemy. Similarly, Task Force 32 was about to maneuver into position. The biggest fear is also that the opponent will be discovered, if the 32nd Task Force is exposed first, then the opponent can quickly defeat them with the advantage of radar and artillery range, and not give them a chance to engage at close range.

At 11:18 a.m., the 33rd cruiser formation of the 3rd Task Force maneuvered into position and discovered a bright "flashing point" for the radar on the "Hanlu", which was at the forefront of the formation. However, the radar operator on the battleship judged it to be a radar wave reflected back from the Popo Manaxiu Mountain on Kuah Island, and did not pay attention to it.

Mount Popomanahue is the highest mountain in the Solomon Islands, with an altitude of more than 2,000 meters, and the signal was transmitted in the direction of the "Hanlu" towards Mount Bobomanaxiu. When the 3rd Task Force was fighting in this area before. Radar often judged the reflected signal from Mt. Bobo Manaxiu to be an enemy warship. At that time, the sea search radar was a binary coordinate radar, and the anti-jamming ability was extremely poor. The radar waves reflected from Mount Popomanahue obscured all other reflected signals, so it was difficult to tell that there were warships moving in the direction of Mount Bobomanaxiu.

Kincaid's plan was almost successful, and the six battleships he commanded were indeed in the line between the 33rd cruiser formation and the Popomanahi Mountain. But Kincaid forgot a point, he left his cruisers and destroyers behind, and the fleet advanced in columns, and the 32nd Task Force had more than twenty warships at that time, and if these twenty or so warships were sailing at 20 chains apart, then the length of the whole formation reached several nautical miles, and then there would always be a part of it that would not be able to hide in the signal reflected from Mount Popomanaxiu.

At 11:25 a.m., the radar on the "Hanlu," which sailed northwest for about three nautical miles, spotted two faint radar signals. This time, the radar operator did not again take these two signals as interference waves reflected from Mount Popomanaxiu, because they were too weak and were not on the line between the battleship and Mount Popomanaxiu. The discovery was immediately reported, but by the time the officers on the battleship arrived, the two signals had disappeared from the radar screen!

In fact, these were the two destroyers at the rear of Task Force 32, and these two destroyers followed the fleet at 11:28 a.m., and were only exposed to the radar on the "Cold Dew" for about three minutes. The intelligence officer on the battleship was not very convinced at first, but he remembered that the "Washington Express" had often used the cover of the island to avoid radar. Quietly approaching Kuah Island, he did not dare to be careless, and at 11:31 he sent the news to the flagship "Guangzhou", at this time, the "Guangzhou" was at the forefront of the 31 battleship formation, about 8 nautical miles away from the "Hanlu", and was still sailing westward.

After receiving the telegram from the "Cold Dew", Yan Shiqi was a little suspicious at first, after all, after fighting with Kincaid for several months, Yan Shiqi still attached great importance to this opponent, but then he didn't believe it very much. The reason is very simple, Kincaid used to command the "Washington Express" composed of light cruisers and destroyers to reinforce Kuah Island, and it was a matter of course to avoid the powerful Third Task Force, but this time Kincaid had six battleships in his hands, so why hide in the hiding ground? What's more, according to the morning's findings, Task Force 32 should now be south of Task Force 3, not to the northwest, and Kincaid is unlikely to be in that direction.

After pondering for a while, Yan Shiqi ordered the fleet to turn according to the plan. The fleet sailed in a straight line on the interception line, and after about twenty nautical miles to the west, it was now supposed to sail east. The order to turn the fleet was given at eleven forty-three minutes. The four battleships in the battleship formation quickly pulled away and turned separately, so that the "Chengdu" was at the front, and the flagship "Guangzhou" was at the rear. The cruiser and destroyer formations were turning en masse. The 33rd cruiser formation received the order at forty-five minutes, and then the "Hanlu" made the first left turn, followed by the "Frostfall", "Lidong", and "Xiaoxue" followed it one after another.

At 11:54 a.m., the radar on the battleship USS North Carolina at the front of Task Force 32 commanded by Kincaid spotted a target in the southeast direction, but the target appeared on the radar screen for less than ten seconds before disappearing. The radar operator on the battleship will go to judge it as a huge wave, not an enemy battleship. In fact, this was the radar signal emitted by the "Xiaoxue" at the rear of the 33rd cruiser formation, and at that time the "Xiaoxue" had already completed its turn, and was speeding eastward about three nautical miles behind the "Lidong", and the distance between the two ships was eleven nautical miles, so the radar on the "North Carolina" only found the battleship at the beginning, and then the distance was widened, and the target disappeared from the radar screen.

The radar of the "Xiaoxue" was not turned on at this time, and only the radars on the "Hanlu" and "Lidong" were working in the 33 cruiser formation, while the "Frostfall" and "Xiaoxue" were working

The radar on the ship was turned off, mainly because the stability of the radar was not good enough, and the two radars were enough, leaving the radars on the two cruisers as backups, so that if there was a problem with the radar in use, it would not deprive the fleet of the opportunity to detect the enemy. It was precisely for this reason that the "Xiaoxue" did not detect the battleship "North Carolina" about eleven nautical miles northwest of it, and in fact, even if the radar on the "Xiaoxue" was working at this time, it would not necessarily be able to detect the American fleet.

At this time, both sides are sailing eastward, and the distance is still widening. Because neither was able to detect the other, or neither was sure of the radar detection, so both sides missed the opportunity to encounter for the first time. But this night will never be quiet.