"It was the 'Jiaxing' destroyer that sounded the alarm." When Tan Renhao came over, the staff officer in charge of the fleet's anti-submarine operations had already marked the location of the destroyer on the fleet's sailing formation drawings. "Here, it's about 10 nautical miles from us."

The "Jiaxing" belongs to the "City" class destroyer, which is assigned to the "Hongzehu" aircraft carrier battle group, and its main task is to carry out the fleet's antisubmarine mission. At that time, the "Hongzehu" aircraft carrier battle group was in the northwest direction of the "Longganhu" aircraft carrier battle group, while the "Jiaxing" destroyer was in the southeast direction of the "Hongzehu" aircraft carrier, which was very close to the "Longganhu" aircraft carrier. That is, the submarine discovered by the destroyer has already entered the anti-submarine circle of the fleet, which is already an extremely serious threat.

Tan Renhao quickly walked to the porthole on the left side and looked in the direction of the destroyer that was wandering on the sea, and after a while, he saw several water columns exploding on the sea, and the other two destroyers were rushing over at high speed to seize the direction of the submarine's escape, and it was obvious that the captains of these three destroyers had rich experience in anti-submarine warfare and knew how to deal with submarines under the surface.

A staff officer ran over. "General, the telegram from the 'Jiaxing' confirms that it is a U.S. military's 'Little Shark'-class submarine."

Tan Renhao nodded slightly, his face had sunk.

"This submarine must have spotted us a long time ago and stopped, otherwise it would have been discovered by our destroyer long ago." It seems that Zhu Rongzhe is analyzing the reasons for being entered into the fleet by US submarines, and is actually exonerating the destroyers responsible for the fleet's anti-submarine missions. "The destroyer discovered the submarine in time and prevented the American submarine from firing torpedoes, otherwise, we would have been torpedoed by now."

"We're still far away, ask the 'Hongzehu' aircraft carrier, have they been torpedoed?"

Zhu Rongzhe immediately looked at the communications staff officer, and at least now there was no indication that the "Hongzehu" aircraft carrier had been attacked.

"Also, did our radio station receive an unknown signal. Ask about the other ships. ”

"It's hard to judge." Zhu Rongzhe directly answered Tan Renhao's question this time.

"Why?" Tan Renhao turned his head.

"We are communicating with other task forces, and the internal communication of the fleet is also very frequent, and now the fleet has not entered a state of radio silence, even if the US submarine sends a telegram, it is difficult for our radio monitoring station to judge which one is sent by the US submarine from the many radio signals."

Tan Renhao hesitated for a moment, then nodded. Although now all the long-wave stations in the fleet have stopped transmitting signals, the short-wave stations in the fleet are in working condition and according to the plan. Radio silence will not be entered until late in the evening, when the fleet is approaching Kauai, and before then, Task Force 2 will send specific bombing plans to the task forces.

The communications staff officer walked over. "General, the 'Hongzehu' aircraft carrier was not torpedoed, and other warships in the surrounding area did not find the torpedo's track."

"It seems that the timing of the discovery of the American submarine by our destroyers was timely." Zhu Rongzhe added another sentence without losing time.

"Tell the captain of the 'Jiaxing' that I will not pursue the previous responsibility, but no matter what method is used, I will sink that US submarine!" Tan Renhao gritted his teeth. "Also. Contact the other task forces and send the news that we have been discovered by a U.S. submarine. In addition, the fleet is ready to turn. Tell Hao Dongjue to let him revise the bombing plan, we must bomb Kauai before the US military makes an accurate judgment! ”

The relevant telegram was quickly sent, and in fact, when the 1st Task Force was discovered, the 7th Task Force, which was running at the forefront, was also discovered by an American submarine. Both of these US submarines sent telegrams, but the captain of the US submarine that discovered the Seventh Task Force did not think of sneaking up on the aircraft carrier that was sailing and was closely protected by anti-submarine destroyers, so he was not besieged by the destroyers, and quickly dived before being discovered by the destroyers, and then maneuvered by diving. Doom was averted. The U.S. submarine that entered the inner anti-submarine network of the First Task Force was not so lucky, and after being besieged by three destroyers and attacked by hundreds of depth charges, it was never able to surface again.

The fleet's whereabouts had been revealed, which could only be regarded as a small setback, and at that time, the US military deployed more than a dozen submarines in the waters east of Midway, and the main task of these submarines was to monitor the fleets and fleets passing by. It is almost impossible for the First Fleet and the Third Fleet to pass through the US submarine cordon without being aware of it. In addition, the fleet was not attacked by US submarines. This is already a blessing in disguise. Tan Renhao did not pursue the duties of the captain of the anti-submarine destroyers because of this, each aircraft carrier battle group has only six destroyers, and counting the destroyers in the shelling formation, the entire First Task Force only has 24 destroyers, and these destroyers have to form two anti-submarine routes, patrol within a range of several hundred square nautical miles, and be able to detect submarines in a timely manner and prevent US submarines from firing torpedoes, which is quite good, and it is simply impossible to completely prevent US submarines from entering the inner anti-submarine network of the fleet. In the internal exercises of the Imperial Navy, it has been proved that the fleet's anti-submarine network is relatively fragile, as long as the submarine has enough luck, and the captain has enough patience, and has the courage to fight to the death at the last moment, the success rate of the submarine sneak attack on the aircraft carrier is quite high. Of course, not all submarines have such good luck, and all submarine captains are prepared to die, so on the whole, it is not much easier for submarines to successfully sneak up on a fleet with sound anti-submarine forces than it is to ascend to the sky.

It was precisely because the fleet's whereabouts were exposed that Hao Dongjue had to temporarily revise the combat operation of bombing Kauai Island. Fortunately, Hao Dongjue had already considered that the fleet's whereabouts were likely to be exposed during the crossing, so he made preparations in advance, and finally sent the aviation combat missions of the task forces only two hours later than the scheduled time. Tan Renhao also adjusted the route of the fleet in the evening of the same day, and after issuing a new route, all task forces entered a state of radio silence. The 7th and 8th task forces, which were at the front, still maintained a cruising speed of 18 knots, while the fleets that followed behind began to accelerate, with the speed of the first task force increasing to 22 knots, and the second task force behind increasing the speed to 24 knots, and the third task force did not participate in the daytime bombing operations, but only had to rush to the vicinity of Kauai in the evening, so it still maintained a speed of 18 knots.

Then. There are more than 120 airports on Kauai, large and small, including six regular airports, eight large field airports, and some small field airports that do not station combat aircraft and are only used for temporary landing of combat aircraft. These airfields are the first category of targets. In addition, Kauai has three aviation command centers, three forward commands, and several temporary commands. These goals are also priority goals. Besides. Ammunition depots, fuel depots, barracks, radar stations, anti-aircraft artillery positions, artillery positions, and important transport hubs are among the key targets. According to the bomber's words determined by Hao Dongjue, all first-class targets must be destroyed in the first round of bombing, that is, all airfields must be destroyed in the first round of bombing the next day, that is, on the morning of 30 April. or incapacitate it. At least eighty percent of the key targets were to be destroyed in the first day of bombing. to ensure that in the next bombardment, the U.S. military will not be able to organize effective resistance.

After getting Hao Dongjue's bombing plan, Tan Renhao asked Zhu Rongzhe to arrange specific tasks for the fleet aviation. He himself rushed to sleep for a few hours.

Hao Dongjue's plan was only implemented in each task force, that is, the five aircraft carrier task forces had a list of targets to be destroyed and destroyed as much as possible. From this point of view, Hao Dongjue's ability in commanding aviation operations is indeed beyond the reach of others. Among the hundreds of targets, Hao Dongjue distributed the bombing tasks of each task force as evenly as possible. At the same time, for some key targets, such as the six regular airports, as well as the aviation command center. Radar. There are also targets that are difficult to destroy, such as underground ammunition depots, fuel depots, and anti-aircraft gun positions. These were arranged for repeated bombing, so that if something went wrong with one task force, the other task forces could make up for it and ensure the success of the bombing operation.

In the second half of the night, Tan Renhao returned to the command cabin. Zhu Rongzhe is still busy. He spent only two hours of his free time in the evening resting on his stomach on the chart table in the command cabin.

"That's what I just delivered." Zhu Rongzhe gave Tan Renhao a plan, "General Hao Dongjue sent a plane to send a supplementary part of the bombing plan." ”

"What supplements?" Tan Renhao flipped through the papers.

"Mainly considering that our whereabouts have been exposed, it is very likely that the US military is ready to meet the battle, and according to the plan, we and the second task force will attack the most difficult US regular airfield. Therefore, General Hao Dongjue asked us to strengthen the escort force of the bomber group. ”

Tan Renhao nodded slightly. "Let's arrange it, are there no other adjustments?"

"The other adjustments don't have much to do with us." Zhu Rongzhe hesitated for a moment and said, "The bomber group of the Third Fleet will depart half an hour earlier and strive to reach the sky over Kauai Island at the same time as us to strengthen the surprise density of the first round of bombing. In addition, if the U.S. air defense is very strong, then we will have to get the second group of bombers to leave after dawn. Task Force 3 had already begun to speed up and would reach the waters off Kauai in the afternoon, three hours ahead of schedule. ”

Tan Renhao pondered for a moment. "No problem, this bombing operation is under the command of each fleet separately, and the problem should not be very big. You should arrange the relevant tasks as soon as possible, let the aviation service department seize the time, and after the first group of bombers takes off, first let the fleet air defense fighters take off, and the escort fighters of the second group of bombers do not have to think about it for the time being. ”

"I've arranged all this, the aviation crew is checking the bomber," Zhu Rongzhe glanced at the navigation clock, "There is about an hour and a half, and we will prepare for the bomber to depart." ”

Tan Renhao nodded, and didn't ask anything more. He walked over to the chart table and looked at the seafaring staff who were marking the current position of the fleet, which was about 300 nautical miles from Kauai, and that distance would be reduced to about 250 nautical miles by the time the bombers departed. If all goes well, then the fleet will be able to get the bombers to take off before they are discovered by the US night reconnaissance planes, and as long as they can blow up the US airfields and blow up the US shore-based bombers on the ground, then the fleet will not be threatened.

When he was talking about Ren Hao's thoughts about these things, he was startled by an air raid siren, he didn't react at first, and then he heard that it was a long and three short air raid sirens.

"Reconnaissance plane, approaching!"

Tan Renhao immediately ran to the porthole, the anti-aircraft guns on the two cruisers in front of the fleet had already fired, and the flash of the shells when they exploded in the clouds of the night sky was very faint, and the dull explosion sound that followed, it was like the thunder of a summer night.

"General, the telegram from the 7th and 4th task forces, they have also been discovered."

"Damn it!" Tan Renhao scolded secretly, "It seems that the Yankees have known that we are coming for a long time, and now they are greeting us!" ”

"We have to get the bombers to take off early!"

"Are our bombers ready to go?" Tan Renhao looked at Zhu Rongzhe.

"Within half an hour, the first bombers will be ready to go." Zhu Rongzhe looked a little nervous.

"Contact Task Force 2 and Task Force 4 to advance the bombing time by an hour and a half." Tan Renhao gritted his teeth, "The other two task forces are acting according to plan, and they don't have the ability to bomb at night. In addition, according to Hao Dongjue's backup plan, the bombers of our three task forces focused on bombing the airfield! ”

Zhu Rongzhe nodded, and wiped the sweat from his forehead when he turned around.

"Xiao Zhu", Tan Renhao called his partner, "Don't be nervous, there are still three hours before dawn, the US bombers do not pose much threat to us at night, as long as we can destroy the US airfield before the US bombers take off, we can ensure the safety of the fleet." ”

Zhu Rongzhe glanced back at Tan Renhao, and then nodded with a reluctant smile. Now that the fleet has been exposed, and there are thousands of bombers on Kauai, so many bombers are enough to drown a few task forces, it is strange not to be nervous.