At 3:40 a.m., shortly after Chang Zhixin decided to speed up the pursuit of the fleeing battleship "Jean Bar" and asked the First Task Force not to interfere in the decisive battle between the Third Task Force and the French Expeditionary Fleet, the results of the Autumn Gengbo group were reported back, and the second round of bombing was successful, but the remaining four capital ships were not completely sunk, one aircraft carrier was not sunk, and a large number of cruisers and destroyers did not suffer much damage, and a third round of bombing was requested.

At this time, the bombers of Yang Qinkai's group had just finished landing, and the aviation service personnel on the aircraft carrier were busy doing basic overhauls for the returning bombers and fighters, confirming that those fighters could continue to take to the air to fight, and which ones had to stay, or had no repair value at all, and could be directly discarded.

While the officers and men on the aircraft carrier were in full swing, Tan Renhao basically had a plan for the next bombing operation. The time spent on bombing by the Qiu Gengbo group was about twenty minutes less than expected, and the group was relatively close to the fleet, so it could increase its speed when returning to the fleet, and strive to return to the fleet after Yang Qinkai's group departed. In this way, the group should be able to return to the fleet at about five o'clock, complete the basic overhaul, and be able to set off again after half past five.

According to Qiu Gengbo's report, the British Expeditionary Fleet was not completely destroyed, and it was absolutely necessary to carry out a third round of bombing before dark, and after the third round of bombing, there was basically no need to bomb the British Expeditionary Fleet again. Therefore, when the time comes, it is time to consider using the bombers in the Qiu Gengbo group to deal with the remnants of the French expeditionary fleet.

Before four o'clock, the intelligence report of Yang Qinkai's group was sent over, and it was among the bombers returning home. There are also 20 "water birds", 24 "sea eagles" and 17 "Golden Eagles" that can take off and continue bombing missions. Zheng Guanhua had already assigned new tasks to these fighters according to Qiu Gengbo's battle results report, and Tan Renhao also immediately gave the order. Let these fighters all hang bombs and torpedoes and bomb the British expeditionary fleet again.

Four twenty minutes. Yang Qinkai was the first to leave the flight deck of the "Hongzehu" aircraft carrier with a 500-kilogram aviation armor-piercing bomb re-attached to the "Shooting Waterfowl." At the same time, the aircraft carrier's ground aviation service personnel were busy hanging torpedoes for the "Sea Eagle" and 250 kg aviation armor-piercing shells for the "Golden Eagle". By 4:45 a.m., all 60 fighters in Yang Qinkai's group had left the flight deck of the aircraft carrier, and only one "Golden Eagle" had broken down before takeoff. Forced to stay on the aircraft carrier and not able to participate in the third round of bombing.

Tan Renhao didn't have anything to worry about the third round of bombing, Yang Qinkai has always been a very steady commander, otherwise he wouldn't have spent nearly an hour dropping bombs in the first round of bombing. This time, let Yang Qinkai clean up the mess, and he still has 60 combat aircraft, that is, 60 bombs and torpedoes, the British expeditionary fleet will definitely not survive to get dark, and the only ones that can escape will definitely be those destroyers whose speed can reach more than 37 knots, and they are destroyers that have not been found.

And at this time. The fleet has already received a forced landing of the pilot in the sea area, therefore, after the departure of Yang Qinkai's group. The seaplanes on the cruisers that escorted the aircraft carrier set off again.

Rescuing overboard pilots is one of the most important tasks in the fleet, in addition to preserving the fleet's aviation combat strength as much as possible, and at the same time letting the pilots know that the fleet has not abandoned them. In this way, the pilot will not have to worry about the rear when fighting.

The officers and men on the aircraft carrier did not stop, especially the ground service personnel of the aviation department, in peacetime, these service personnel have almost nothing to do on the aircraft carrier, and the maintenance of aviation equipment is not a high-intensity work, and when the fleet is fighting, they are the most important part of the fleet, it can be said that in the few hours on the combat ground, at most more than ten hours, the aviation service personnel are the busiest and most tired in the fleet!

The group of planes is returning at high speed, and in order to save time, these bombers are returning at the fastest cruising speed. Just after five o'clock, the first bombers returned to the skies over the fleet, and then began to land. At about 5:20 a.m., all the 48 "Shooting Birds," 26 "Sea Eagles," and 21 "Golden Eagles" returning from the Qiu Gengbo group landed on the aircraft carrier. As in the Yang Qinkai group, several returning bombers were seriously injured, and it was already very good to be able to fly back, and there were several pilots who landed on behalf of the injured. When these bombers landed, it can be said that there was a lot of danger, even Tan Renhao rushed behind the left porthole of the command cabin, and when he looked at the bombers that were swaying from side to side, like drunks, rushing towards the flight deck of the aircraft carrier, anyone would be so frightened that they closed their eyes, this was simply not landing, this was dancing with death! Fortunately, the whole landing process was thrilling, and several injured pilots were immediately sent to the hospital on the aircraft carrier and received timely assistance. As in every previous operation, Qiu Gengbo's captain's plane was the last to land on the aircraft carrier.

The aviation crew on the aircraft carrier was busy again, and by 5:40 a.m., the results of the overhaul were out. There are also 42 "Shooting Birds", 22 "Sea Eagles" and 17 "Golden Eagles" that can take off and continue their combat missions. After Tan Renhao saw the report, he immediately ordered the fighters to be refueled with fuel and ammunition, but he did not immediately give the order to attack. For five minutes before that, he had received a new telegram from the constant recommendation that the Third Task Force had caught up with the "Jean Bar", that the three battleships had begun to turn, and that the battle to encircle and destroy the "Jean Bar" had begun.

"General Tan, a new bombing plan has been drawn up, should it be issued immediately?"

"No, wait." Tan Renhao looked at Zheng Guanhua, "The Third Task Force has just sent a telegram, often recommending a new general to guarantee that they can annihilate the 'Jean Bar', we should not interfere now." ”

"However, the other warships in the French expeditionary fleet are escaping, and it will be dark in less than an hour, and if we do not organize the bombing in time, it is entirely possible that these warships will escape from our surveillance after dark."

"I know." Tan Renhao nodded slightly, "How many more seaplanes can we send out?" ”

"There are about 20 of them, and the rest are on their way to rescue the pilots."

"Leave five frames behind. Later, maybe we will have to arrange to rescue the pilots of Yang Qinkai's group. All the others were sent out to search for the routes of the escaped French warships.

Tan Renhao also felt that he couldn't delay any longer now, "Let Qiu Gengbo and them prepare to go." Two squads of bombers were left behind, and the rest were all sent to pursue the escort ships in the French expeditionary fleet. If Task Force 3 is not able to take out the Jean Bar by six o'clock. Then we're going to help Task Force 3 get rid of the battleship, and if they can do it, then we don't need to intervene. ”

Zheng Guanhua didn't say anything, and immediately deployed the combat operations of various units according to Tan Renhao's request.

At about 5:50, most of the bombers in the Qiu Gengbo group were ready to take off. Moreover, the first departing seaplanes had already searched for a part of the French battleships that had escaped in other directions, mainly south to the port of Cape Town. This time, Zheng Guanhua did not ask Tan Renhao's opinion, and after receiving news from the French battleships one after another, he arranged strike missions for each aircraft group individually, and then let the bombers take off one after another.

Tan Renhao also hesitated at this time, should he "help" the third task force? If so, then the other bombers should have taken off at once, and the bombing had to be completed before half past six, so that the group would have to reach the French battleships at six twenty o'clock at the latest, and the group should arrive at six twenty o'clock. Then you have to take off at 6:05 and fly as fast as you can. Then he had to give the order at six o'clock, and it was almost six o'clock now. Should we "interfere" in the actions of Task Force 3?

After hesitating for half a minute, Tan Renhao didn't think about it anymore, the focus was on ensuring the annihilation of all the enemy's warships, especially the capital ships. Therefore, the task of task force 1 and task force 3 is the same. Chang Jiexin has been fighting for an afternoon, and maybe, now he needs the help of Task Force 1. At about 5:55 a.m., he gave the order for all the planes to depart.

This time, the first to take off was Qiu Gengbo, after knowing that there was still a battleship in the French Expeditionary Fleet that was not finished, Qiu Gengbo immediately ranked his position behind, he had no interest in those small fish and shrimp in the French Expeditionary Fleet, if he could drop another bomb on the French battleship this time, then he would have caught the biggest piece of gold! As soon as Tan Renhao's order was issued, Qiu Gengbo was the first to jump into his bomber, and asked the aviation service personnel to arrange for him to take off first. At 5:58 a.m., Qiu Gengbo's plane left the "Hongzehu" aircraft carrier, and after making a half-circle over the fleet, he flew alone in the southeast direction without waiting for the bombers that took off late to catch up.

By the time Qiu Gengbo reached the airspace near the French battleship, there were already 8 other "waterbirds"

and 9 "Sea Eagles" caught up, but he was still a step too late, and when it reached the sky above the "Jean Bar", the Third Task Force had already sunk the battleship, and the "Jean Bar" was slowly sinking.

At this time, Tan Renhao also received a new report from Chang Recommendation. He didn't pay attention to the fact that Qiu Gengbo was a step late, for Qiu Gengbo, the thorn in the fleet, the basic principle of Tan Renhao was that he didn't take his words seriously, if he gave Qiu Gengbo two colors, he would dare to open a dyeing workshop!

Immediately, that is, at about 6:20, shortly before dark, Yang Qinkai's second battle report came back, all the aircraft carriers, capital ships, and most of the cruisers and destroyers in the British expeditionary fleet had been annihilated, and when the group withdrew from the battle, there were no more warships on the sea that could run or continue sailing. The British expeditionary fleet was completely finished, and there was no need to organize new bombing operations at night.

At this point, the combat operation against the joint Anglo-French expeditionary fleet ended, a perfect combat operation. However, the task was not over, and the work of salvaging the officers and men who had fallen into the water on both sides continued until after dawn on 22 July. Tan Renhao handed over the command of the fleet to Zheng Guanhua at night, on the one hand, Tan Renhao was also tired, he wanted to be lazy to sleep, and secondly, he could take this opportunity to let Zheng Guanhua get familiar with the aftermath after the battle.

When Tan Renhao returned to the command cabin before dawn, the results of the battle had been summarized in all aspects. But he was not concerned about this question, but about how much the fleet lost in battle. Therefore, before he called Zheng Guanhua to go to breakfast with him, he asked the staff officers in the fleet to have to bring out the preliminary battle damage report when he returned. By the time he returned to the command cabin alone, the report was already on the chart table.

The 1st Task Force suffered no battleship losses, while the 3rd Task Force suffered heavy damage to two cruisers, one of which was torpedoed. One destroyer was sunk, and the other two were heavily damaged. The four battered warships were not in danger of sinking, and they were still undergoing emergency repairs. In addition, the three battleships of the 3rd Task Force were damaged by shells, all of them lightly, and none of the battleships were seriously damaged. During the course of the engagement, 186 officers and men of Task Force 3 were killed, 479 wounded, and two others were missing.

The first task force lost all combat aircraft, including those scrapped after returning to the aircraft carrier, and in the entire combat operation, 34 "water birds", 29 "Sea eagles" and 38 "Golden Eagles" were lost, which is almost half of the fleet's aviation strike force! In terms of personnel, 31 pilots were killed and 57 wounded, of which 23 were seriously injured. In addition, three aviation crews in the fleet were killed (three died in an explosion while handling the injured aircraft) and five were wounded.

When Tan Renhao read the battle damage report in detail, he was a little relieved.

The relative losses in this operation were very few compared to every previous battle. Most importantly, not a single battleship of Task Force 1 was wounded in battle. This is a miracle, and if you compare the results obtained, it is a complete victory!