The radars on the warships of the Third Task Force were activated one after another between two and ten o'clock, and at that time, the radar equipment of the Third Task Force was arguably the best among the many task forces.

When the five battleships were undergoing repairs, they were replaced with the latest radars, and there were two radars on the ships, one for air search, and the other for sea search. This was the latest sea-to-sea search radar equipped by the Imperial Navy, and it was also the world's first dedicated sea-to-sea search radar at that time. The navy of the Tang Empire was also the first country to refine the radar function.

The problems to be solved by radar in performing sea search and air search are different, relatively speaking, air search is much simpler, which is why all countries were the first to develop air search radars (in fact, it is precisely because of the needs of air detection and surveillance that radars are developed). When the radar is searching in the air, it encounters relatively little interference and generates clutter, especially when it is searching for high-altitude targets and the weather conditions are not too bad, there is almost no need to consider the interference problem. On the contrary, when performing a search mission, it is necessary to consider the problems caused by interference and the impact on radar performance.

The sea surface itself can reflect electromagnetic waves, especially in the case of rough sea conditions, when the height of the waves exceeds three meters, the interference to the radar is quite serious. This is also the reason why the sea detection capabilities of the first ship radars were quite poor. And with the development of naval warfare, the influence of radar on naval artillery warfare is increasing, and its role is becoming more and more obvious. The requirement for the development of a special sea search radar naturally arises.

Initially, surface-to-sea search radars were not installed on warships, but on anti-submarine aircraft, and were first used to search for submarines. Then. Large-scale equipment began to be equipped with night reconnaissance planes, so that reconnaissance planes could also detect warships on the sea surface at night. It is also these practical applications. Let the engineers gradually summarize the problems that need to be solved in the sea search, and what kind of land performance the sea search radar should have.

At the beginning of the 25th, the Imperial Navy put forward a request for the development of a special sea search radar, and the task was soon assigned to several electronic research institutes. At that time, the Guangzhou Institute of Physics and Electronics, where Colonel Pan Zekang worked, also undertook related research tasks. By the middle of the 25th century, the first experimental surface-to-sea search radar was born. Performance testing began immediately, and extensive experimentation was carried out to solve problems that were not originally designed with in mind. By October 25, the experimental work was completed and accepted by the Navy, which was also satisfied with the performance of the new radar and immediately issued an order contract. When the first radars were produced, they were first supplied to the five battleships of the 3rd Task Force. When installing the radars on the battleships, engineers also integrated the radars with the ship's fire control system, so the new radar also has fire control capabilities. This is much more advanced than the previous construction of a ground radar fire control system by assembling it. This is one of the secret weapons of Task Force 3. … Ａp．

With the exception of these five battleships, which had special ground-to-sea search radars, no other battleships were equipped with dedicated ground-to-sea search radars at that time.

However, Task Force 3 has another advantage. That is, one-third of the destroyers were also equipped with radar, which was a precedent for the navies of various countries at that time.

In fact, it was not the Imperial Navy that first proposed to install radars on destroyers, but the Persian Navy. The Persian Navy at the time of ordering the first large destroyers of the "City" class from the Empire.

It was clearly stated that radar should be installed on these destroyers, which would not only increase the radar detection capability of the Persian Navy's fleet, but also avoid the trouble of having the capital ship be renovated in the shipyard. At that time, the Imperial Navy also met the requirements of Persia, and radars were installed on part of the destroyers sold to Persia. However, at that time, the radars installed on this destroyer for sale were all simplified, and their performance was much worse than the same type of radar used by the Tang Imperial Navy itself.

In the early days of the war, due to the influence of radar production, performance (mainly large size, huge power consumption), and a large number of warships damaged in battle, the Tang Empire and the US Navy only installed radar on warships of the cruiser level and above, and most destroyers did not have room to install radar at that time. And with the increase in radar production, the enhancement of performance (the size of the new radar has been reduced a lot), and a large number of new destroyers are in service (the "City" class destroyers of the Tang Empire were originally designed to consider the need for radar installation in the future), so the Tang Empire also began to consider installing radars on destroyers. At that time, a number of destroyers were equipped with radars and supplied to several main task forces.

The biggest advantage of installing radar on destroyers is that it allows the fleet to expand the range of air defense more flexibly (not for anti-submarine, and the use of radar on destroyers in anti-submarine is not obvious). In the past, heavy cruisers equipped with radars carried out forward air defense alert missions.

There are certainly many disadvantages to having a heavy cruiser perform this task, such as the limited number of heavy cruisers, which are the main force of the fleet's air defense, and if they are assigned to carry out alert duties, the fleet's air defense will inevitably be weakened. Therefore, it is obviously the most appropriate for destroyers to carry out air defense alert tasks, which is the main reason why the Tang Imperial Navy first installed radars on destroyers. Of course, the radar installed on the destroyer also has the ability to detect the sea, and it can not only perform air alert missions, but also sea alert and search missions!

At that time, the first target was discovered by a destroyer running at the front of the fleet. Five minutes later, the sea search radar on the "Nanning" also spotted the fleet to the south, and by this time the battle alarm had sounded. Chang Jiexin was a little incredulous at first that the enemy fleet appeared so quickly, and then, he ordered the fleet to accelerate immediately, and at the same time turned left, and the battleship quickly separated from the other battleships.

At this time, the British Expeditionary Fleet was about 20 nautical miles from the destroyers of the 3rd Task Force and about 30 nautical miles from the battleship formation of the 3rd Task Force. It was also when the radar on the "Nanning" spotted the battleship in the British expeditionary fleet, and the radar on the ground radar of Cunningham's flagship "King George V" also detected the destroyer. Initially. Cunningham had not yet realized that the battleships of the 3rd Task Force were not far to the north, and when the 3rd Task Force began to turn, the wide frontal of the battleships was facing the British Expeditionary Fleet. And when the distance was shortened to 25 nautical miles, the radar on the "King George V" detected the battleship formation to the north. Now Cunningham didn't dare to have the slightest doubt. He also immediately gave the order to turn right and sounded the battle alarm.

The sudden encounter surprised both fleet commanders, and Chang Jianxin did not forget to send the news to Tan Renhao, warning the First Task Force not to get too close. And prepare for the bombing of enemy fleets. But then, do you want to fight head-on, or try to deal with the enemy? Chang Jiexin only knew that there was a powerful fleet to the south, but he didn't know that it was only the British expeditionary fleet, and the French expeditionary fleet was returning to Cape Town! And his concern is understandable, there are still four hours before dawn, if the opponent has eleven capital ships, these four hours are enough to bury the third task force, maybe he can also catch the first task force behind. Therefore. Chang Jianxin's first reaction was to delay the exchange of fire with the enemy fleet as long as possible. Buy more time for Task Force 1 to dispatch bombers!

After making this decision, Chang Zhixin ordered the fleet to turn into a vertical course with the enemy fleet, and let the destroyer formation distance from the cruiser formation, if necessary. He even had to move a destroyer formation to entangle the opponent, and at the same time use a cruiser formation to block the opponent's destroyers. Anyway, the first consideration of Chang Xinshi was to delay time and wait for the dawn to arrive.

Cunningham in the south was no less shocked than Chang Zhixin, and his first reaction was that this was a complete set set for him by the commander of the Tang Imperial fleet. The fleet to the north was clearly Task Force 3, and the five large targets detected by the radar were the five battleships of Task Force 3.

And in the first telegram he received from the ground spies, the ships of the Third Task Force were damaged, and even if the Third Task Force had not returned to Colombo, it would not have appeared more than 100 nautical miles south of the island of Great Comorro for no reason. Therefore, this could only be a trap set for him by his opponent, and besides, Task Force 1 was not far to the north, between 150 and 250 nautical miles, perhaps somewhere near the island of Gran Comore, and had received the news that bombs and torpedoes were being hung on the bombers, and that the bombers in Task Force 1 would fly over as soon as dawn!

When Cunningham came to this conclusion, his first thought was not a decisive battle with Task Force 3, let alone rushing forward to kill Task Force 1 after killing Task Force 3. Therefore, after he gave the right turn of the fleet, he ordered the fleet to continue to turn to the right. In other words, Cunningham was thinking of fleeing for his life, and the British Expeditionary Fleet had already begun to pick up, and its maximum speed would not be much slower than that of Task Force 3. There are still more than 20 nautical miles between the two sides, which is completely beyond the range of naval guns, and it is not difficult to dodge the shelling of the 3rd Task Force, but the difficult thing is that it is necessary to escape from the range of the 1st Task Force before dawn!

After three o'clock, Chang Jianxin first noticed that something was wrong, the enemy fleet did not catch up, nor did it have any intention of closing the distance, but was continuing to turn, and was accelerating, and the course was already facing south. At this time, Chang Jianxin was a little puzzled, Cunningham ran to the north of the channel, did he want to show off in front of the Third Task Force to show his existence? Or is it specifically for the demonstration? Unless Cunningham has something wrong with his brain, otherwise, he will make a special trip north, and he will never be able to see the third task force, just like a mouse sees a cat, turn around and run!

Chang Zhixin's patience has also reached the limit, the third task force is already the second encounter with the enemy fleet, and the two sides have been circling around the island of Madagascar for so many days, for a decisive battle! At 3:15 a.m., Chang Jianxin gave the order to pursue, and the destroyer formation was the first to kill, and then, the battleship formation began to turn to the right, and gradually dispersed into a horizontal formation, and began to pursue southward at full speed, while the cruiser formation that followed closely behind the battleship formation also began to accelerate. When the fleet completed the turn and regrouped, Chang Jianxin sent the new situation to Tan Renhao, and emphasized that the Third Task Force began to pursue the enemy fleet south.

After Tan Renhao received the telegram, he first felt the same way as Chang Jianxin, and Cunningham's reaction was too strange. But then, he felt the danger, and the 3rd Task Force went south at full speed, could it be what Cunningham needed to achieve? Previously, Cunningham had used the British Expeditionary Fleet to besiege Cape Town, forcing the Fifth Task Force to rush to the aid of Cape Town, only to crash headlong into the ambush circle of the French Expeditionary Fleet and be beaten to the ground. And this time, will Cunningham repeat his old tricks? If so, then the French Expeditionary Fleet may be somewhere nearby, and when the 3rd Task Force distances itself from the 1st Task Force, and the 1st Task Force is unprepared, it will be attacked by the French Expeditionary Fleet suddenly, and then the two aircraft carriers will have to face the four battleships of the French, which is not a good thing!

Tan Renhao did not stop the actions of the Third Task Force, if it could entangle the enemy fleet, then at dawn, the First Task Force could send bombers out. However, he did not let Task Force 1 continue south, but turned in the direction of Moroni. Then, he activated the radars on the two "Rui Beast" class cruisers with the best radar performance in the fleet, and placed the two cruisers fifteen nautical miles away on the east and west sides of the fleet, and they were responsible for guarding them.

If the French expeditionary fleet was nearby, then he would have to be prepared to flee for his life.

At that time, Tan Renhao's actions were also understandable. The enemy fleet to the south was about 100 nautical miles away from Task Force 1, and even if the relative speed of the two sides reached 50 knots, at dawn this distance would be within 300 nautical miles, which was completely within the range of bombers. Therefore, Tan Renhao is not worried about the expansion of the distance, what he needs to worry about is the safety of the First Task Force itself!