The Caribbean Sea is one of the largest marginal seas in the world, with an area of 2.75 million square kilometers. The average water depth is nearly 2,500 meters, with the maximum water depth being 7,100 meters in the Cayman Trench." "Caribbean" is actually an Indian tribal name, meaning "brave", that is, the Caribbean Sea is also called "the sea of the brave". It is the largest inland sea in the world, and is known as the "Mediterranean of the Americas" in the Gulf of Mexico to the north.

The first Western explorers to discover the Americas first arrived in the Greater Andres Islands in the northern Caribbean, followed by Spain, Portugal, England, and the Netherlands. French and other colonists followed the Explorer's Route to the Americas and also to the Caribbean. Originally. Even small countries like Denmark have established their own colonies in the Caribbean. It can be said that at the same time that the Tang Empire opened up colonies on the west coast of the American continent, the Western colonists opened up more colonies in the eastern part of the American continent and the Caribbean.

As a land surrounded by continents and islands. The complex geography of the Caribbean is one of the most headaches for military strategists. In the Age of Sails, it was once a pirate paradise. Many of the islands were even directly authorized by their kings to plunder the sea. And the dense islands of the Caribbean give the islands plenty of hiding places. Even now, it is still the most popular area for piracy, and it was perhaps only during the Second Global War that piracy was not the most formidable maritime force in the Caribbean.

After the United States declared independence, the Tang Empire's influence in the Americas rapidly declined. The United States soon replaced the Tang Empire and became the hegemon of the Americas through several wars, including for supremacy in Cuba and the Caribbean. The fight with Spain was not large. And soon ended the local war. After the Spanish-American War. The United States became the de facto ruler of the Caribbean, although there were still many islands controlled by other countries, such as Britain and France, and many colonies in the Caribbean.

The first Allied force to enter the Caribbean was not the First Fleet of the Imperial Navy led by Tan Renhao, but the German Navy submarines. From the end of 24, also after the United States announced its entry into the war. The German Navy designated the Caribbean Sea as a submarine ambush zone, and its ocean-going submarines entered the Caribbean Sea many times, sinking many British and French warships here, and attacking several convoys from South America to the British. Subsequently, the United States, Britain, and France strengthened their anti-submarine forces deployed in the Caribbean, and now some of the information in Tan Renhao's hands is provided by Germany.

To make the fleet and fleet safe to navigate in the Caribbean. It was necessary to sweep the military bases on the surrounding islands, especially the French fleet in Port-au-Prince. There is also the Caribbean Fleet of the United Kingdom and the Caribbean Detachment of the Fourth Fleet deployed by the United States in Guantanamo. The most important thing is to sweep the military airfields along the route and seize air supremacy.

If you launch multiple attacks. Then the fleet can easily be counterattacked by the enemy, and the US military can quickly dispatch air forces from the country to deal with the First Fleet, and the US tactical air deployed on the island of Cuba can pose a deadly threat to the First Fleet. In order to successfully seize sea and air supremacy, it is necessary to launch a surprise strike and strive to destroy the enemy's military infrastructure in a single day.

When planning the place of combat operations, Tan Renhao's biggest problem is the location of the fleet's deployment. If it's too deep. It is very likely that the fleet will be detected by enemy ground reconnaissance aircraft or patrol ships before it reaches the attack area. If it is too far behind, then it will not be possible to get the suddenness of the strike, let alone bomb several important targets at the same time. After much deliberation, Tan Renhao decided to let the fleet enter the heart of the Caribbean first, and then advance northwest at night, that is, towards the Yucatan Strait, in order to maneuver in place at night, and then bomb several of the most important airfields and ports at dawn. Because the intelligence was not complete, Tan Renhao had to leave a part of the aviation strike capability. In order to cope with new goals that may arise at any time. In addition, in addition to the two aircraft carrier task forces . The third task force also needs to take on a part of the ground combat mission. Instead of staying behind to watch the excitement.

On the night of the 28th, that is, Long Zhen ordered the artillery to shoot all the artillery shells out of the ground fleet, and the three task forces of the ground fleet reached the turning point on the route, and after a day of sailing, the fleet had reached about 120 miles east of the Serrana Shoal, and then the fleet turned to the direction of 31 degrees on the spot, heading northwest.

"Task Force 3 has also turned."

Tan Renhao looked in the direction of starboard, and in the night, the huge battleships of the Third Task Force were just gray shadows, and they looked small and blurry. The night sky was clear, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to see that far. This made Tan Renhao feel a little worried. The bright moon may make the fleet look unusually obvious on the sea, and if there happens to be a US military plane flying by, even if it is not a reconnaissance plane, the pilot is very likely to find the ground fleet on the sea.

"General, there's a light signal from Task Force 3. They said......" The communications staff officer looked up at the lookout on the mast, "and they said: Have a nice trip, see you in three days."

Tan Renhao smiled and shook his head. Send a reply signal in accordance with the regulations."

The lookout on the mast immediately sent a condolence signal to Task Force 3 with a communication light.

"Let the officers and men seize the time to rest, in a few hours, they should be busy." Tan Renhao turned around, "I'll go sleep for a while, and then come back later, if there is nothing else, don't bother me."

Soon after Tan Renhao returned to the cabin, the speed of the fleet reached 24 knots, and the line was pre-set, and the navigation staff was responsible for the specific navigation work. Zhu Rongzhe did not go back to sleep, but rested on his stomach on the chart table in the command cabin for a while.

It's past three o'clock in the morning. The aircraft carrier got busy. The officers and soldiers did not turn on the lights according to the requirements, only the lamps and lanterns in the hangar were all turned on, and the lights came out of the cracks in the elevator, which looked very strange. Tan Renhao also returned to the command cabin at this time.

"The bomber is being inspected, until now . There haven't been any surprises yet." Zhu Rongzhe yawned as he spoke, he hadn't rested since the fleet left Limon Bay.

Task Force 2 didn't send any news from that, did it? Tan Renhao went to make a cup of coffee, he was not used to getting up in the middle of the night to command the fleet to fight.

"I didn't hear from them, and according to the plan, Task Force 2 wouldn't have contacted us before the bombing began, if there had been no accident, and now we were less than 250 miles from the nearest U.S. airfield. And it's less than 200 nautical miles from the nearest U.S. military port.

Tan Renhao took a sip of coffee, which was a little hot." That's good. Act according to the plan and if there are any unexpected circumstances. Hao Dongjue will take the initiative to contact us. By the way, where is Task Force 3 now? ”

When Tan Renhao walked to the chart table. The Navigation Staff has marked on the chart the route of Task Force 3 and the approximate location of its current location.

"If they don't change routes at short notice. If they haven't changed their speed, then they should be here." Zhu Rongzhe clicked on the chart, "Now they should start to speed up, in three hours, they will be outside Port-au-Prince, I hope those French are not very vigilant, no patrol boats have been arranged at night."

"As long as Task Force 3 arrives on time, even if the French patrol boats find them, it won't be a big problem." Tan Renhao looked at the chart and thought for a moment. On the contrary, it is more tricky to operate on our side, and you have deployed all the combat missions, right? ”

"Not yet, the pilot doesn't get up until four o'clock, I'll go to the aviation operations center at half past four."

Tan Renhao glanced at the navigation clock, it was only 3:40 now, in order to ensure that the pilot had enough energy during the day. They're all the last to get up." Then you have to explain the task clearly, nothing else, you go and rest for a while, I'll watch here."

"It's fine. Anyway, it's not bad for these dozens of minutes." Zhu Rongzhe yawned again.

Tan Renhao glanced at this very strong chief of staff, and then called a staff officer over. asked him to make Zhu Rongzhe a cup of coffee, and this was Zhu Rongzhe's third cup of coffee in less than 4 hours.

At 4:20, Zhu Rongzhe left the command cabin, and Tan Renhao also came to the gangway on the left side of the island. Aviation crews are sending the first bombers to the flight deck, these bombers are full of fuel, and the ground is a drop tank, this is the first plane to take off and go to the target for a reconnaissance mission, not a bombing mission aircraft. Because this mission is to surprise ground targets, rather than concentrating on sea targets, the fleet of ground bombers will set off in several batches, and the number of each group will not be too large. This may be a good thing for aviation crews, at least it will reduce the intensity of their work without them having to eject half of the bombers in a short period of time.

At 4:35 a.m., the pilots on the reconnaissance mission walked out of the aviation operations center and boarded their landlines. Then. Each aircraft carrier landed 12 reconnaissance planes on the ground and was bombed one after another, and the noise on the ground was very loud when the planes took off. Tan Renhao turned around and just saw the communications staff officer walking out.

"Task Force 2 has sent a message that their ground reconnaissance plane has departed."

Tan Renhao nodded slightly, he glanced at his watch, the reconnaissance planes departed five minutes later than scheduled, this is not a big problem, these reconnaissance planes only need to be a little faster on the road to chase back these five minutes. Obviously, the ground reconnaissance aircraft of the 2nd Task Force were on time.

By this time, the first bombers had already been sent to the flight deck. Each "Falcon" bomb bay was hung with two 500-kilogram aerial bombs, and two 250-kilogram bombs, four 100-kilogram bombs, and four rockets were hung on the pylons under the wings. This is the maximum bomb load of the Falcon when it takes off from the aircraft carrier. In order not to exceed the catapult ground limit, the bomber will be able to carry only three-quarters of the ground fuel, and its range will be reduced to 700 nautical miles. That's enough, it's only about 300 miles from the fleet's farthest target, and the bombers have a much lower fuel consumption rate after dropping the bombs, enough for them to return to the fleet after completing the bombing mission.

At the time when the first bombers began to take off. Task Force 2 sent another message that their ground bombers were on their way. At this time, it is 5:25 a.m., the aircraft group will reach the target around dawn, the first take-off ground group will be responsible for striking the farthest target, and the last take-off ground group will hit the nearest target, so as to ensure that all the ground aircraft group can reach the target at the same time to achieve the effect of a sudden strike.

"Prepare for the radar to kick in." Before the first group of bombers had left, Tan Renhao returned to the command cabin, "After the bomber group departs, let the fighters rise into the air as soon as possible."

"General—"

Tan Renhao turned his head to look at the communications officer.

"Task Force 2 telegraphed, they found the US military ground reconnaissance plane!"

Tan Renhao frowned slightly, this time the fleet will go deep into the dangerous sea area, so in the battle plan, the battleship's ground radar will be turned on when the bombers take off, so as to ensure that the fleet will not be suddenly attacked by the enemy, and the second task force must have just activated the radar to find the enemy aircraft.

"General, unknown target, 5 miles away, speed 140,800, approaching at high speed!"

"Which direction?" Tan Renhao looked at the staff officer with an ominous report.

"'Phoenix' to starboard. Ask if you fired."

"What are you hesitating about? Shoot it down now! ”

Almost all the anti-aircraft guns on the starboard side of the cruiser "Phoenix" were simultaneously guided by radar and opened fire on the approaching unidentified plane, and the night sky was immediately illuminated.

"The target has disappeared, and the unidentified plane has been shot down."

"Arrange for the nearest destroyer to go over to confirm the target situation." Tan Renhao gritted his teeth, but he was still discovered, "Ask the Second Task Force. How's going on with them?"

The destroyer in charge of confirming the situation quickly sent back a report, it was a US military long-range maritime patrol plane, probably "Katarina", but the plane had sunk and it was impossible to determine its specific model. The second task force also quickly sent the news, and they also shot down the US maritime patrol plane that was almost flying above the head of the aircraft carrier, and confirmed the enemy plane. After receiving these messages. Tan Renhao couldn't be happy at all. Perhaps these two US reconnaissance planes discovered the fleet very early!