In the evening, Lei Shaoqing and Chang Jianxin took turns to rest for four hours, and at about five o'clock, both of them came to the command cabin. The officers and men of the fleet also rested for several hours at night in two shifts, and now all the officers and men went to their posts. The pilot got up at 4:50 a.m.

"Report to the commander, the reconnaissance plane is ready to take off!"

Lei Shaoqing nodded, and then glanced at his partner next to him. … computer station.bsp; "Let's act according to the plan, and let the reconnaissance plane get out before half past five."

Chang Jianxin gave an order instead of Lei Shaoqing. "Including all the water reconnaissance aircraft on the cruiser, they must be sent out together."

After sitting in his place, Lei Shaoqing looked up at the navigation clock, five o'clock.

"The reconnaissance missions have all been arranged, the pre-war missions have been arranged, the pilots will gather at about half past five, and then wait for new information, as long as the reconnaissance planes have found their targets, the bomber group can go out immediately."

Chang Jianxin also walked over, "What do you want to eat?" I asked someone to buy it. ”

"Whatever, I don't have much of an appetite."

At this critical juncture, no one will have a good appetite.

Lei Shaoqing's decision actually made the second task force take a risk. Now the fleet is less than 3oo nautical miles from Wake Island, and after dawn, it is up to 25o nautical miles from Wake Island. Although most of the reconnaissance aircraft on Wake Island were sent to the northwest, who can guarantee that there will be no reconnaissance opportunities to fly northeast? In addition, Task Force 2 is now only about 8o nautical miles away from the airway between Wake Island and Midway, and if any transport plane deviates from the course and flies over the fleet, it will become a reconnaissance plane! As the fleet passed through the sea below this air route, several US transport planes appeared on the lookout. These planes did not dare to go out during the day, and could only fly at night, but thanks to the strict light control of the fleet, and the transport planes flew at an altitude of several thousand meters, it was almost impossible for the pilots to see the battleships on the ground in the dark sea.

Lei Shaoqing only has one chance in his hands. That is, to find Fletcher after dawn, and immediately organize a bombing, and then lead the fleet to withdraw from the attack of the American shore-based bombers, or immediately organize the remaining bombers to blow up the airfield on Wake Island, so as not to give the American army a chance to counterattack.

When Chang recommended the new staff officer to arrange the task, Lei Shaoqing walked to the chart table, and then pondered. This opportunity will determine the outcome of this naval battle, as well as the fate of Task Force 2. More will decide his fate. If he wins, then Task Force 2 will be the hero, successfully opening the door for Team 6 to land on 6 Wake Island, and the doubts he received before will also disappear. On the contrary, if he fails, not only will Task Force 2 face the threat of destruction, but his naval career will surely be over.

"This is your favorite Lantern Festival, you didn't eat much last night, so you have to eat something, otherwise you will faint from hunger." Who will command the fleet to fight? ”

Chang Jianxin handed over the lunch box containing the Lantern Festival. "Everybody's looking at you, do you want to add a little tension?"

Lei Shaoqing smiled reluctantly, and then took a few bites. "Usual. How many bombers will we be able to take off in twenty minutes? ”

"Two aircraft carriers?"

Lei Shaoqing nodded, and then put down the lunch box.

"Up to three squads of dive bombers, three squads of torpedo bombers, and three squads of ground escort fighters."

Chang recommended Xinxun replied, being able to take off 1o8 fighters in twenty minutes, which is already the limit of two aircraft carriers, and this is still the new aircraft carrier's sortie, if it is a previous aircraft carrier, it will take at least 25 minutes.

"That is, we still have half of our air force that cannot be put into operations against the American fleet?"

"The opponent has only one aircraft carrier. Judging from the information obtained last time, the total number of warships in Fletcher's hands is only about a dozen, and 72 bombers are enough to deal with this fleet. ”

"No, I mean, we've got half the strength left!"

Lei Shaoqing laughed, "Then why don't you use this half of the aviation force as well?" ”

"It's a waste ......"

Chang Jiexin glanced at his partner, "You mean, bombing Wake Island at the same time?" ”

Lei Shaoqing nodded. "Bombers from the USS Enterprise aircraft carrier battle group were dispatched first, and then the remaining ground bombers were immediately dispatched to bomb Wake Island. If Fletcher were 2oo nautical miles away from us. Then the return time of these two groups of bombers will be staggered by about half an hour, and there will be enough fuel left on the bombers to ensure that they hover over the fleet for half an hour, and we will have enough time to recover these bombers. And the best way to ensure the safety of the fleet is to blow up the airfield on Wake Island so that American bombers cannot take off. ”

Chang Jianxin pondered for a while and said: "I think that the U.S. military on Wake Island will mainly defend against incoming bomber groups within 18o degrees to the west, so their fighters will definitely focus on patrolling in this direction and will not notice the east." If this judgment is correct, it can have the effect of a surprise attack. ”

"Then send out all the fighters, let the fighters also hang bombs, and the fighters will drop the bombs first, and then carry out the air combat mission!"

"You're going to bet all your bets on yourself and leave no way out?"

Chang Jianxin glanced at Lei Shaoqing in surprise.

"If we can't blow up the airport on Wake Island, what's the use of keeping our own hand? Could it be that these warships of ours are even faster than American bombers? ”

Lei Shaoqing sighed, "If we can take out Fletcher's fleet in one fell swoop and blow up the airfield on Wake Island at the same time, then we will ensure victory, and we can organize two more bombings in the afternoon to completely destroy the US defense base on Wake Island, and send an artillery formation at night." In this way, the 6 team will be able to go ashore smoothly tomorrow morning! ”

"So, let's bet on this, win it all, or lose it all!"

The two laughed, and it seemed that Chang Jianxin gradually agreed with Lei Shaoqing's adventurous tactics. Subsequently, Chang Jianxin went to give the order, and the other half of the pilots were organized and began to listen to the briefing on the bombing of Wake Island. Now they still need to wait patiently, they must first find the "Enterprise" aircraft carrier battle group before they can attack, if they do not find the "Enterprise" aircraft carrier battle group. Then you can't bomb Wake Island rashly.

At 5:15 a.m., reconnaissance planes 6 left the flight decks of the two aircraft carriers, and at the same time, the water reconnaissance planes on the cruisers in the fleet were also ejected. Because the aircraft carrier carries a relatively fast reconnaissance plane, it will be responsible for searching in the sea area at a distance, while the seaplane on the cruiser will be responsible for the search work in the sea area at a relatively close distance. These planes will probably arrive over the search area around dawn, and then start repeatedly searching the area they are responsible for.

The waiting time of more than two hours is hard to get. More than a dozen communications personnel in charge of communicating with the reconnaissance plane were sitting in their positions, and they all had a radio station in front of them. Each of these stations has several indicators, and when the indicators change from red to green, it indicates that a signal has been received that the reconnaissance plane has returned. The communications staff officers stood behind these communications officers, ready to report the information they received to the fleet commander and chief of staff.

Lei Shaoqing forced himself to calm down. The maximum patrol radius of the reconnaissance aircraft this time is 2oo nautical miles, so that the reconnaissance aircraft can patrol in the designated patrol area for at least an hour. The fleet sent a total of more than 5o reconnaissance planes (of which more than 3o were seaplanes) to search for a range of 6o nautical miles from east to west and 12o nautical miles wide from north to south. It can be said that using so many reconnaissance planes to search this sea area is enough to ensure that there is any surface ship on the sea, let alone a ground fleet with more than a dozen warships. Lei Shaoqing trusts his judgment very much. There's no way Fletcher could go far. He had to cover Wake Island, so he had to stay in the waters near Wake Island. Therefore, Lei Shaoqing firmly believes. He's sure to be able to grab Fletcher's tail this time and take him out!

When the morning dawned, Lei Shaoqing stood up and stretched his waist, and then looked up at the navigation clock, at 6:25, at this time, the reconnaissance plane was almost at the scheduled search area. He glanced at Chang Jianxin, who was standing next to the communications staff officer, the atmosphere in the command cabin was already tense, and in the next hour, it would be decided whether to attack or not, and the outcome of this battle would also be decided.

It's actually a race against time. US reconnaissance planes may also appear at any time, and there are also some small US ships (mainly pT boats) and anti-submarine patrol planes in the vicinity, and the fleet may be exposed at any time, and Lei Shaoqing's opportunity is to show the enemy before he is exposed, and then attack, seize the slim opportunity, and expand this opportunity into a final victory.

"Often, I'll go out for a cigarette. If you have any news......"

Before Lei Shaoqing finished speaking, the red light on a radio station suddenly turned into a green light, and before the communications officer could call out, the communications officer who had been observing the radio station immediately rushed over and connected the channel on the radio to the horn of the command cabin.

"Eagle's Nest, Eagle's Nest! This is the Eagle 18, the current enemy fleet, confirmed to have one aircraft carrier, eight escort warships, ...... away"

The command cabin suddenly fell silent, everyone's eyes turned to the horn, and when the pilot of the reconnaissance plane began to repeat the distance, direction, and scale of the enemy fleet, the eyes of all the staff officers were focused on Lei Shaoqing again.

"The bomber group is out in ten minutes, the fleet continues to maintain radio silence, and the second group of bombers is out later!"

Lei Shaoqing clapped his hands, "Everyone, let's act cleanly, we have no time to waste!" ”

Within five minutes, the aviation operations staff conveyed the news to the pilots on the "Hulun Lake," and then the pilots rushed to the fighters parked on the flight deck. Almost at the same time, the pilots on board the "Bear Lake" began to board the plane (the aircraft carrier also received the signal of the reconnaissance planes coming back at the same time), and after the "Hulun Lake" gave the flag signal from the bomber group, the bombers of the "Bear Lake" also began to take off.

It took only 18 minutes for the bombers and fighters of the three squadrons to leave the flight deck. The aviation crews simply did not have time to wave goodbye to the pilots who had taken to the air, and they were to immediately clear the flight deck and send the second batch of bombers up. The pilots on the mission of bombing Wake Island had already received a list of targets at 6:50 a.m. and were on the flight deck at 6:55 a.m. The pilots boarded their planes as the first group of bombers began to fly south, and then the first fighter with bombs on it left the Hulun Lake, and the fighters on the Bear Lake took off.

When the bombers came out, Lei Shaoqing came to the outside of the command cabin. Looking at the first batch of bombers leaving, and the second batch of bombers that were taking off in 6 times, he let out a sigh, now he felt a little nervous, the arrows have been shot, whether they can kill the opponent, it depends on whether these two arrows are accurate enough, whether they are good enough.

"It seems that we didn't make a mistake this time!"

Chang Jianxin also came over at this time, "I believe that no one will accuse us this time." ”

"That will depend on the outcome of an hour and a half!"

Lei Shaoqing smiled at his partner, and he suddenly felt relaxed all over his body. "We have played both trump cards, whether we can win this battle depends on how much capital our opponent has in his hands and how much preparation he has!"

Chang Jianxin also laughed. "Yes, now we have nothing to do except for two empty aircraft carriers and more than thirty battleships with only artillery."

Lei Shaoqing shook his head, he had never felt so relaxed before, he didn't know if he would feel like this after Tan Renhao made a desperate decision.

"However, I believe that the final victory is ours. Shaoqing, do you want to bet with me? I'll bet twenty bucks and we'll get a nice win! ”

"I'm not Hao Dongjue, I won't make such a bet with you!"

Lei Shaoqing immediately laughed, "Now, let's go and wait for the results, I hope Deng Zi, Zhang Naiding, Yang Shihong and Jiang Wenhan, the best pilots in the empire, will not disappoint us!" ”

Chang Jiexin glanced south, then turned to the west, both groups had already left the sky over the fleet. Subsequently, he followed Lei Shaoqing back to the command cabin, and at this time, the victory or defeat was not decided by the fleet commander, but by those pilots.