The C173 submarine, which belongs to the South China Home Fleet, tracked the actions of the US destroyer formation 330 kilometers northeast of the Solomon Islands and lasted only one and a half hours, so Sun Xiao did not find anything more except for observing the two Vickers-class destroyers and the 2 Caldwell-class destroyers, and after nightfall, the US destroyer formation turned off almost all the lights and quickly disappeared into the night.

After Sun Xiao carefully observed the surrounding environment, he chose to continue to sail in the opposite direction for nearly an hour, and then cautiously ascended, and quickly raised the long-range wireless telegraph line, and the news was transmitted to the Tang Zhen fleet that was searching more than 400 kilometers northwest of Nauru at 9 o'clock that night, and Tang Zhen, who had been searching on the sea for nearly 30 hours and still had no clue, immediately realized that his judgment of Abel had been wrong.

I roughly judged Eber's intentions, but I didn't anticipate Eber's patience, this American with a long naval experience, obviously understood the difficulty of opening up the situation in the Pacific Ocean, so Eber's fleet chose a route to advance in a north-easterly direction, in order to get rid of the Chinese Navy's control of the Asia-Pacific waters.

Even in order to ensure that he could escape the detection of the Chinese navy, Abel chose to abandon Nauru, which has the most geographical advantage, and was more willing to pay the risk of sailing an additional 500 kilometers to the northeast to bypass the possible interception of the Chinese navy......

"Abel chose to detour the Marshall Islands...... "When Tang Zhen made the tactic of sailing north to seek the enemy and take the initiative to engage in battle, the staff officers of the South China Theater Command, which received the reconnaissance information of the C173 submarine almost at the same time, began an extremely fierce debate because of this information.

"It is highly likely that the Abel fleet will attack the base in Guam, once the operation is successful. The Americans achieved the operational goal of cutting off the shipping lanes from South China to Central America. That's the case. We will have to expand the range of escorts and the range of the battlefield of engagement, and we will spend more military resources in the Pacific, unless we can destroy the American and British bases in Australia! ”

"The U.S. fleet is more than 4,000 kilometers away from Brisbane, and I think this is a rare opportunity, we should let the second fleet go all out to contain it, and then gather forces for a decisive battle!"

"Will Abel really prepare to attack Hawaii or return to the west coast to assist in the attack on the Panama Canal?"

“……”

Obviously. Edward? Abel has achieved some of his goals, and he has at least proved that the U.S. fleet can be quietly thousands of kilometers away in the Pacific, and as long as this fleet exists, China will not be able to ensure the security of this vital sea lane, which also makes Chen Ming, who is sitting in the position of chief of staff, look grim at this moment.

Suddenly, there was a rush of footsteps outside the door, and Lu Han appeared in front of him neatly dressed, obviously he had just received the news and hurried over. He stood in front of the chart and looked at the positions of the three fleets plotted on it and the formation of battleships moving nearby, and was silent for a moment. Only then did he turn his head and ask, "Lao Chen, don't you think it's strange?" Something always seems to be wrong with this Alber! ”

Although Chen Ming didn't know exactly what Lu Han was referring to, he obviously had an opinion, "Commander, the route of the Abel fleet is beyond our expectations, and we don't seem to have a better way to delay him from playing like this next time for the time being, and the top priority now is that I must go all out to defeat any intention of the Americans!" He doesn't want to play, I suggest letting Tang Zhen find a way to hold off the Abel fleet! ”

Lu Han nodded, he also had this feeling, but the Americans chose the location of the Marshall Islands, I think it is no accident, it is 3,000 kilometers away from Guam, 3,500 kilometers away from the Hawaii base, the question is, isn't Abel worried about us attacking him on both sides...... Moreover, the Yankees ran so far away, and they didn't worry about being cut off by us?

The two of them stayed at the theater staff headquarters for more than an hour, and in the face of a situation thousands of kilometers away, it was obviously not suitable for the theater command to carry out any direct intervention...... Obviously, all strategies have a moment when they can really make a big move.

At 9 o'clock on the morning of 23 July, the Tangzhen fleet sent the latest battle report, which immediately made everyone tense their nerves -- after carrying out intense replenishment on the outskirts of Nauru, the fleet was about to go north to intercept the US Navy that might infiltrate from the Marshall Islands, but the No. 17 reconnaissance plane, which took off from the Shandong aircraft carrier early in the morning, unexpectedly discovered a US destroyer formation in the northeast sea less than 100 kilometers away from the fleet.

When Chen Ming, who was holding a porridge steamed bun, heard the news, he immediately rushed to the nautical chart of the war zone, and after simply mapping the coordinates of the course of Ebel's fleet last night, he immediately realized that Abel had played a little trick again......

"General, reconnaissance aircraft No. 12 has spotted a formation of American battleships 100 km north-east and observed at least 3 battleships and 6 destroyers, heading towards us!" On the battleship Guangzhou, Tang Zhen was holding a purple sand teapot and staring at the chart officers who were nervously surveying and mapping, and after the light rain last night, the entire sea area was shrouded in mist, making the reconnaissance effect of taking off early in the morning not good.

However, the No. 12 and No. 17 reconnaissance planes still transmitted back important information in a very timely manner, and at this moment, the US battleship fleet was coming at full speed in the sea area on the right front, which means that the other side was obviously prepared, and it was obviously not the Chinese Navy that used aerial reconnaissance methods......

However, to Tang Zhen's slight surprise, Abel obviously did not deliberately detour the Marshall Islands, this move may even be an inducement made by Eber, in order to attract himself to the north to track the other party, according to the original prediction of the Abel fleet, the other party will complete the fuel supply in the Marshall Islands overnight, and then cross the Marshall to Guam waters to launch the predicted attack.

However, this prediction was clearly mistaken again, and Abel should have changed course and pounced on his own fleet no later than midnight, which means that when the Chinese naval reconnaissance plane spotted the Yankees yesterday, the Yankees actually discovered their own fleet...... This Abel is really quite cunning!

"Enter the first level of alert and watch out for enemy reconnaissance aircraft over the fleet!"

"Immediately remove flammable materials from the deck and reinforce the bunkers......"

One after another, the battle orders were issued layer by layer, the second squadron was already in full combat readiness, and the two supply ships accompanying it also began to turn around with full rudder, and turned around and left under the escort of one destroyer, and on the destroyer that was ordered to escort, a group of officers ran to the stern of the ship with reluctance and waved their hands to greet their colleagues who rushed to the battlefield!

"General, at the speed of both sides, we will engage the US fleet in a sea area of 70 degrees north-east and 45 kilometers over, and according to the feedback of the reconnaissance planes, there are no islands in that sea area, and we can give full play to our speed and firepower!" The chart officer had already plotted the battlefields of both sides on the chart and proposed a battle plan to Tang Zhen.

"Report, reconnaissance aircraft No. 17 reported that no trace of the enemy was found on the right flank!"

"Report, reconnaissance aircraft No. 8 reported that the left flank has also found traces of the enemy, and the search area is expanding!"

"Report, the No. 11 reconnaissance aircraft has taken over the No. 12 and continues to conduct an expanded search in the northeast direction, and no more American fleets have been found!"

"Report, telegram from the theater command!"

Tang Zhen, who was thinking about how to start, was obviously surprised by the telegram from the theater command at this moment, as the commander of the detachment, he had already obtained Lu Han's authorization, and there was no need to wait for the instructions of the theater command, and he immediately waved his hand, "Read!" ”

“…… Continuous reconnaissance of Australia, Gu Xin, the Royal Navy Fast Fleet has disappeared from the Australian coastline, and it is highly likely related to the actions of the Abel fleet, it is recommended to immediately disengage from the battle and launch a full-fledged maritime reconnaissance! The First Squadron is rushing to the Marshall Islands, ready for camera attack! ”

I'll it! With this sudden news, Tang Zhen almost immediately understood some important tricks, Abel would rather take a detour to get rid of the eyes of the Chinese Navy, it is obvious that it is not a simple preparation for the attack, but more likely, it is to provide the time lag for the Royal Navy under the command of Lord Dieters to keep up with the fleet.

This means that it is not only the American battleship formation that is cruising around him, but the British are taking advantage of the big movement set off by Ebel, quietly waiting for this opportunity to make a move! (To be continued.) )