When Ren Hao walked into the command cabin, all the staff officers inside were nervous and busy in an orderly manner.

"This is a telegram from reconnaissance plane No. 18, and the American task force is not to our south, but to the east, at a distance of about 180 nautical miles, at a speed of 21 knots, and heading due north. The two aircraft carriers, one large and one small, were visually judged by the pilots to be "Lexington" and "Wasp", which should be the 17th Task Force. Just ......"

Hao Dongjue handed the telegram to him to Tan Renhao, he hesitated, and then said, "The telegram was suddenly interrupted at the last moment, and the part of the escort warship behind did not receive it, maybe it ......."

"When will the bomber group be able to depart?"

Tan Renhao's expression was very cold, he didn't have time to grieve for the two pilots who had already died, and the reconnaissance plane suddenly cut off contact, and it was very likely that it would be shot down by the enemy's fighter plane.

"Preparations are underway, the pilot has boarded the plane."

Hao Dongjue glanced at the porthole on the left, "The fighter plane will take off first, do you need to take the air defense fighter back later?" ”

Tan Renhao was just about to speak, when a staff officer suddenly shouted, and pointed his hand towards the sky in front of the battleship. Tan Renhao and Hao Dongjue were both startled, and immediately rushed to the porthole in front, and when they looked up at the sky, a "Caterina" seaplane dragged black smoke behind its butt and fell towards the sea in front of the "Yangtze River" about several nautical miles.

"Did the enemy reconnaissance plane send a telegram?"

Hao Dongjue turned to look at the stunned staff officer.

The staff officer nodded a little alarmedly. "There is unidentified radio activity and ......"

"That's enough, get on with your work!"

Hao Dongjue was very dissatisfied with the performance of this staff officer.

Tan Renhao's face was pale, and he glanced at those staff officers who looked extremely panicked, most of these staff officers joined after he left the First Task Force, and he was also a little disappointed, the best staff officers were all asked by Lei Shaoqing.

"Go according to plan."

Tan Renhao's voice was very calm, he couldn't show any panic, everyone was looking at him. "After the bomber group leaves, let the air defense fighters land to refuel, and within an hour, all the fighters will be lifted into the air. Also, when will the first reconnaissance aircraft be able to return in full? ”

Hao Dongjue looked up at the navigation clock, it was already 9:50 a.m., and the reconnaissance plane group began to return at 9 o'clock, and it was the reconnaissance plane that discovered the US fleet that sent a telegram on the way back. "Return to the fleet in about seventy-five minutes."

Tan Renhao nodded slightly. At the same time, he was thinking quickly. The U.S. military must have received the information, and even if they immediately prepared for an attack and then sent a bomber group as quickly as possible (the U.S. aircraft carriers also have catapults, and the group of planes can be dispatched quickly), it will reach the skies over Task Force 1 in at least an hour and a half. If bombers were sent from Guam, it would have taken about an hour and 15 minutes. Of course, it won't actually be so fast. At this time, the reconnaissance planes were returning one after another, in other words, it was impossible for Task Force 1 to send a second wave of bombers before it was attacked.

"After the reconnaissance planes returned, they were all sent to the hangar. Do not rush to refuel with bombs. ”

Tan Renhao made a decision immediately. He did not think about the dereliction of duty in the air defense of the fleet at this time. "If we're lucky, we'll withstand the first round of U.S. bombardment before we continue the attack."

"But ......"

Hao Dongjue was stunned. According to his idea, after completing the first round of attacks, the fleet would have to flee, because it was only 120 nautical miles from Guam, and if the US shore-based bombers came up, then the first task force would not be able to escape.

Tan Renhao glared at Hao Dongjue, and then motioned for him to immediately go and make arrangements.

Hao Dongjue did not continue to argue, in battle, the commander of the fleet is the brain of the fleet, the soul of the fleet. The Chief of Staff must support the commander's decision. At the same time maintain the majesty of the commander. In peacetime, the chief of staff can argue with the commander on operational issues, but now it is absolutely not. Hao Dongjue is also very aware of this, if the commander and the chief of staff argue at this time, the impact will be too bad. He nodded to the two staff officers next to him, telling them to immediately make arrangements as the commander had ordered.

The fighters escorting the bomber group took off first. Tan Renhao took half of the fighters to carry out the escort mission, and he put the attack in the first place, which is a major characteristic of Tan Renhao's command of the aircraft carrier fleet, and the offense is always more important than the defense. And after several previous naval battles. Tan Renhao also summed up some experience and lessons, that is, in the first round of attack, the number of escort fighters must not be less than one-third of the number of bombers, and specific adjustments will be made according to the actual situation (mainly the strength of the enemy's air defense forces and the difference in the performance of the fighters of the two sides). If Tan Renhao had three aircraft carriers in his hands at this time, he might have arranged another team of escort fighters (the number of bombers would definitely increase a lot) Perhaps, the only thing that Tan Renhao should be happy about now is the absolute superiority of the "Falcon" fighter in terms of performance.

The first "Kingfisher" took off after the fighters were 48 "Kingfishers" (24 from each aircraft carrier, the limit at that time) and the first "Kingfisher" was piloted by Lieutenant Colonel Qiu Gengbo, who is now the captain of the 1st Air Wing and the 1st Brigade. After the establishment of the Second Task Force, the former three captains of the First Air Wing (Deng Zichao, Zhang Naiding, Yang Shihong) all went to the Second Air Wing, and Jiang Wenhan was also appointed as the acting wing commander (did not receive a promotion in military rank) Originally, Qiu Gengbo also applied for transfer to the Second Air Wing, but his application was rejected. You can't just take all the backbones out of the equation and leave only an empty shelf for Task Force 1. Soon after staying, Qiu Gengbo was promoted, first as the acting captain of the first brigade, and then as the official captain, but the military rank was not promoted.

The last batch to take off was 24 Ospreys, which were all the remaining Osprey torpedo bombers in the fleet at that time.

When all the bombers were in the air, Tan Renhao glanced at the navigation clock, and at 10:23, it took 25 minutes for the group to sort, which was a little slower than the previous speed, but it was also within the normal range.

The two carriers were still sailing at top speed, and the crews were nervously clearing the flight decks. Before the bomber group left the skies over the fleet, the fighters serving as air defense patrols returned home in small formations. These fighters have been on patrol duty over the fleet for more than two hours. There is not a lot of fuel left. At 10:25 a.m., the first fighter landed on the flight deck of the "Yangtze River" and was dragged aside, and the service personnel immediately began to refuel the fighter and make the necessary checks. The pilot also took the opportunity to drink some water, eat something, and flew for several hours, which was indeed exhausting enough.

At the time when the last fighter landed. Tan Renhao let out a sigh, and then said to Hao Dongjue: "Arrange for the radar alert ship, turn on the radar in five minutes, restore radio communication, and first send back to the Navy Headquarters the news that we have discovered the 17th US Task Force and the discovery by the US reconnaissance plane." When will the fighter be able to take off? ”

"Ten minutes later."

A staff officer answered the commander's question in place of Hao Dongjue.

Tan Renhao nodded at the staff officer, and then said: "Now, we don't need to keep the radio silent, after the fighter lifts off, normal air defense patrols will resume." Increased the patrol radius to 35 nautical miles. The focus is on the east, as well as the northeast. The fleet immediately switched to anti-aircraft formation! ”

Hao Dongjue nodded to the staff officer in charge of the fleet formation, and then walked to Tan Renhao's side. Whispered: "If we resume communication now......"

"Now that we have been discovered by American reconnaissance planes, we will not be able to continue to hide even if we maintain radio silence."

Tan Renhao understood what Hao Dongjue meant, "Moreover, this will hinder the command work, and it will not be possible to send the news back in time." Rest assured, even if the U.S. military detects our radio activity, they will need time to locate it, and even more so, it will take time to transmit intelligence. We're all going to spend at least two hours doing this, and the Yankees aren't going to move much faster. Two hours later, the winner was decided! ”

Hao Dongjue sighed. If the Yankees had moved fast enough, in two hours, Task Force 1 might not have existed.

"Actually, what worries me the most is the current situation of the fleet."

Tan Renhao glanced at the staff officers who were still busy, as if he was talking to himself, "There are only two large cruisers and four heavy cruisers in the entire fleet, and this bit of anti-aircraft fire can't resist the crazy attack of the bombers at all." Now we have only 36 fighters. If you really fight, you can't take much advantage. ”

"Then we should avoid it immediately."

Hao Dongjue took out a cigarette, and only then did he express his thoughts, "If it takes two hours for the Yankees to react, then we can sail 60 nautical miles, and we have a chance to avoid being attacked!" ”

"It's not that easy!"

Tan Renhao walked to the chart table, and then beckoned to Hao Dongjue, "Come and take a look." In which direction can we sail now? The only way to avoid it is to return to the northwest, but in this way, we are very likely to disengage from the American task force, and if the first wave of bombing is not successful, it will be difficult to carry out supplementary bombing, which is equivalent to ......"

"Then why don't you send out the remaining 24 Kingfishers at once?"

Hao Dongjue glanced at his partner obliquely.

Tan Renhao was stunned for a moment, and immediately pondered. He left 24 "Kingfishers" for only one reason, all reconnaissance planes are "Ospreys", if the second round of attacks is launched, it is impossible to rely on the "Ospreys", and only the two bombers can achieve the best results, so he left these "Kingfishers", but now it seems that whether or not the second round of bombing can be launched is a problem.

Tan Renhao looked up at Hao Dongjue, he hadn't made up his mind yet.

"Don't hesitate, it's a question of whether we can survive the Yankees' first blow."

Hao Dongjue was even more anxious than Tan Renhao, "Aren't you going to attack?" Then use all your strength to attack, leaving these 'Kingfishers' behind is a waste of valuable strike power, 24 bombs are enough to take out two aircraft carriers! ”

Hao Dongjue's last sentence was to the point, if he didn't send these 24 dive bombers and finally missed the opportunity to kill the two American aircraft carriers, Tan Renhao would definitely regret it for the rest of his life.

"As soon as the fighter takes off, let the Kingfisher take off."

Tan Renhao took out a cigarette, "Who is the captain left?" ”

"Yang Qinkai, the former squadron leader under Zhang Naiding, is now the captain of the third brigade, after the 'Taizu' was sunk, he ......"

"Immediately go and tell him that I don't have fighter planes to escort him, and whether or not they can successfully destroy the American task force depends on their performance."

Tan Renhao didn't bother to listen to the staff officer who reported the situation, "Maybe 24 bombs can't change history, but 24 bombs may change the fate of the first task force." Now, I will give him the last force in the fleet, and let him understand that we only need to succeed and not fail! ”

Hao Dongjue glared at the inexperienced staff officer and immediately asked him to convey the order.

At 10:58 a.m., the last air defense fighter left the flight deck of the "Yangtze River" aircraft carrier, and then the batch of "Kingfishers" stored in the hangar was sent to the flight deck. At 11:05 a.m., the pilots who had listened to the briefing came to the flight deck and boarded their landlines one after another. At 11:08 a.m., the "Kingfisher" piloted by Lieutenant Colonel Yang Qinkai was the first to leave the flight deck of the "Xuanzong" aircraft carrier. By 11:15 a.m., all 24 Kingfishers had taken to the air. These bombers did not form a formation over the fleet, and directly killed in the direction of the 17th US task force. By this time, the first group of returning reconnaissance planes had already reached the skies over the fleet, waiting for the aircraft carrier to vacate the flight deck so that they could land.

In other words, the interval between the two waves of bombers sent by Tan Renhao was only 47 minutes. But the focus is not here, Tan Renhao knows Qiu Gengbo and Yang Qinkai very well, they are both veteran pilots, and they are both very good, so they don't need to worry about the attack at all. Now, the big trouble is when the American bombing opportunity will come, and whether the fleet will be able to withstand the enemy's bombardment!