At half past four o'clock in the morning, the seaplanes responsible for reconnoitring the outer perimeter of the harbor left the battleship of the first group, and half an hour later, the two seaplanes responsible for ascertaining the situation in the harbor were also sent to the catapult of the "Nanning." In the event of an engagement, the seaplanes on the battleship had to take off and could not remain on the battleship. Therefore, all the seaplanes at that time had to fly away before six o'clock.

By this time, Chang Jiexin still believed that the Atlantic Fleet was inside the port. The most important thing is that at that time, even Lei Shaoqing did not know that the two task forces in the Atlantic Fleet had actually left the port of San Diego. During the bombing, the pilots concentrated on dealing with the warships in the harbor and avoiding anti-aircraft fire, and the environment at that time made it impossible for the pilots to identify each battleship, and it was even difficult to identify the type of battleship. Of course, the aircraft carrier and the battleship must be recognizable, but the bomber group has just completed the bombing, many pilots are excited, and no one pays special attention to this issue, so when Chang Jianxin and them arrived outside the port, Lei Shaoqing didn't know that it was only the 21st Task Force left in San Diego, and Chang Jianxin couldn't know more before finding out the situation in the port!

At 6:15 a.m., the last bombers had just flown away, and the first two reconnaissance planes to take off flew over the harbor. At this time, the sky is already slightly bright, and although the visibility is still not high, you can basically see the situation in the port. But the problem was that there were still a lot of blocked balloons floating over the harbor at that time. In addition, the bombed warships and the smoke from the burning of the bombed materials in the harbor also hung over the harbor, and the pilots were not able to immediately determine the real situation in the harbor, but after discovering several large warships sailing to the south of the harbor. Just sent the report back!

At the same time, Chang Jianxin has already given the order to fight. According to the combat operations he deployed, the cruiser and destroyer formations would first be responsible for suppressing the US shore defense artillery positions near the harbor and covering the battleships rushing out of the harbor, and then the battleships would focus on shelling the battleships in the harbor. After receiving the report sent back by the seaplane, Chang Jianxin did not hesitate and immediately ordered the destroyer formation to accelerate first. to deal with the artillery positions of the US troops, and at the same time added an order, that is, if the US warships want to force out of the port, they will block the port with torpedoes and block the US warships back! At this time. The battleship formation at the command of Chang Zhixin was still 8 miles from the port, although it had already entered the range of artillery bombardment. However, in order to improve the accuracy of the shelling and ensure the destruction of the enemy battleships that pose the greatest threat, Chang Zhixin decided to close the distance even closer, at least to the sea before firing. That is, it will probably take him a few more minutes to reach the shelling position.

It was four Montana-class battleships that were leaving the port at that time, as well as five Miami-class heavy cruisers that were still capable of sailing. As the sky began to lighten, the commander of Task Force 21, fearing that it would be bombed again after dawn, decided to let the battleships and cruisers out of the harbor first, while the destroyers remained at the rear. This is the exact opposite of the normal order of departure. In addition, the blocking balloons and smoke over the harbor blocked the view of both the pilot and the watchman on the battleship, so the U.S. military was unaware that two seaplanes were hovering nearby.

Less than two minutes after the arrival of the first two seaplanes, the second group of two seaplanes also arrived. The mission of the two seaplanes was to find the US shore defense artillery positions and determine which artillery positions needed to be attacked, and one of them was tasked with finding artillery positions in the northwest of the harbor, that is, near the city of San Diego. The seaplane flew directly over the harbor, where the wind was blowing northeasterly and the smoke over the harbor was moving in a southwesterly direction. When the pilot saw the surface of the harbor through the gap in the blocked balloon, he was immediately surprised to find out. There are no aircraft carriers in the port at all, and there are not a few large warships. Except for the few large warships that had already been spotted preparing to leave the port, there were only a few destroyers in the harbor!

This situation was immediately fed back to Chang Jianxin, who was not only surprised, but also broke out in a cold sweat on his back. The American aircraft carriers were not in the port, that is, the main forces of the Atlantic Fleet had already left the port of Santiago, and they must have left on the night of the 23rd, or in the early morning of the 24th, before the arrival of the heavy bomber group. Could it be that Spruance accurately judged the time of the bombing, or was he going on another mission, or was Spruance deliberately luring the Imperial fleet over, and then transferring the carrier fleet overnight, waiting for the arrival of the Third Task Force, and then killing the Third Task Force first?

Just when Chang Jianxin was surprised and worried about being suddenly attacked by the US military air force, a telegram was sent. This is a telegram sent by Lei Shaoqing. At that time, the returning bomber group had just reported to the base. Lei Shaoqing got these reports at the first time, and he quickly discovered the problem, the pilot could only confirm that there were heavy cruisers and battleships in the harbor, and none of the aircraft groups confirmed the discovery of the US aircraft carrier. Lei Shaoqing did not dare to hesitate at all, and immediately sent this information to the six task forces that were fighting at the front through several radio stations.

While Lei Shaoqing's telegram confirmed that there was no aircraft carrier in the port, it also confirmed another point, that is, the US battleships were indeed in the port. The first report sent back by the seaplane was not wrong, it was the American battleship that was preparing to escape. At this time, Chang Jianxin's brain was running very fast, and it was these battleships that were still in the port of San Diego, so that Chang Jianxin was finally determined, this was by no means a trap set by Spruance, because Spruance could not take four battleships, and twenty cruisers and destroyers as bait, if this was a bait, then Spruance would be too willing to spend money.

The time when Chang Jianxin made this judgment was 6:23, and in only eight minutes before and after, the situation changed dramatically. At this time, the battleship formation was only 4 miles away from the exit in the southern part of the harbor, and the three seaplanes that provided the shelling parameters for the battleships were all in place, and had already sent back two sets of parameters, but because Chang Jiexin had not yet given the order to fire, the captains of the six battleships could only wait patiently.

"General, the U.S. fleet has appeared at the exit of the harbor, and our destroyers have already gone up." Recommend Xinmeng came back to his senses, and now he is still fighting, he will