Before dark, all the liaison planes sent out in the afternoon returned to the fleet, and two planes found Task Force 6 and confirmed that Task Force 6 was heading southwest and that its speed had increased to 24 knots. However, these two seaplanes set off before Chang Jianxin learned of the combat operations of the Sixth Task Force, so they were not able to send the news to Chang Jianxin, and Gu Zhenyun did not know that he was separating from the Third Task Force.

The actions of the Sixth Task Force made Chang Jiexin a little annoyed, to put it bluntly, he was a little annoyed with Gu Zhenyun's "partner". At the beginning, when the two were in the Third Task Force, Gu Zhenyun made Chang Jianxin not so satisfied. In terms of age, Gu Zhenyun is a few years older than Chang Zhixin, but in terms of ability, Gu Zhenyun is far inferior to Chang Jianxin. At the time of the "Battle of the Coral Sea", Chang Jianxin had a not small quarrel with Gu Zhenyun, and at that time, it was mainly Gu Zhenyun who did not agree with Chang Zhenyun's new battle plan, thinking that the third task force was risking to follow the actions of the first task force and the fourth task force, and the results proved that Chang Jianxin's judgment was correct, otherwise there would be no chance to defeat Kincaid, thus opening the prelude to the most critical naval battle in the Pacific theater and laying the foundation for victory.

The cooperation between the two is relatively pleasant, and there are a lot of quarrels, but they are basically the right things and not the right people, and they are not to the point of turning their faces. It is also through several years of cooperation that Chang Jianxin has a deeper understanding of Gu Zhenyun. In terms of ability, Gu Zhenyun is far inferior to Yan Shiqi, who commanded the Third Task Force back then, he is an extremely conservative fleet commander, and he has serious dogmatic tendencies, often blindly obeys orders, and lacks the ability to respond to changes on the battlefield. Arguably, this is the biggest flaw of a fleet commander, if not for the lack of battleship fleet commanders with sufficient qualifications in the Imperial Navy. Then Gu Zhenyun would definitely not be able to become the commander of the Sixth Task Force.

Thinking of this, Chang Jianxin also regretted it a little, he should have recommended his young staff officers to the Sixth Task Force. Maybe its performance was a little better, but at this point, regretting it now doesn't help.

"General, the destroyer has departed."

Chang Jianxin turned around and nodded to the navigation staff. The busy actions of Task Force 6 made him feel very bad, but he couldn't vent it to his junior officers, after all, those officers were dutiful.

"Still worried about Task Force 6?" The nautical staff officer took two steps closer.

Chang Zhixin nodded slightly, and then turned his head to look at the sea in front of him, if it weren't for the fact that the fleet was very close to the British mainland now. If it was exposed, it would be easy to be attacked by the enemy, so he really wanted to send a telegram to the Sixth Task Force and ask Gu Zhenyun what he was thinking.

"Actually, there's nothing to worry about, at least not yet, Task Force 6 hasn't gone far." The nautical staff officer looked like he wanted to say something.

"That's all I can think about." Chang Jian Xinchang breathed a sigh of relief, "First of all, do our own thing. You go in first, and in ten minutes let the main staff officers assemble, and we should be ready. ”

After the navigation staff officer left the gangway outside, Chang Jianxin lit a cigarette and looked at the gray sea in the moonlight. His mood gradually calmed down. Perhaps, from the very beginning, we should not pin our hopes on Gu Zhenyun, moreover, the strength of the Third Task Force is not bad, and the quality of officers and men is even higher than that of the Sixth Task Force.

In the evening, after knowing that the Sixth Task Force had left the battlefield alone, Chang Zhixin adjusted the battle plan, it can be said that the actions of the Sixth Task Force were completely unexpected by him, so that Chang Zhixin never expected that Gu Zhenyun would leave the battlefield at this time and act according to the original plan, if you really have a little brains. It must be able to think that the situation has changed, and there must be problems with the previous battle plan, so naturally he can't act according to the previous battle plan, but who would have thought that Gu Zhenyun would turn a blind eye to the new changes and act completely according to the plan that no longer works?

Thinking about it, Chang Jianxin smiled bitterly. He hadn't realized that in fact, after joining forces with the Second Fleet, he didn't have much hope for Gu Zhenyun. At that time, Tan Renhao asked him to contact Gu Zhenyun, hoping to unite the Sixth Task Force, with two battleship task forces as the main force, to deal with the British home fleet. At that time, Chang Jianxin was not very enthusiastic about this matter, or he didn't pay much attention to it, so he didn't talk to Gu Zhenyun. Now even Chang Jianxin himself realizes that he really has no hope for Gu Zhenyun, and if he wants to defeat his opponent, he has to rely on his own efforts. (Fastest update: n).

After Chang Jianxin returned to the command cabin, the staff officers were waiting for him, and the nautical staff officers marked various data on the chart, which was also the last meeting before the battle.

"There's a good chance we're going to meet Summerville tonight." The new recommendation is a direct explanation of the main point. "From what we have gathered from all sides of the ground, the British Home Fleet has been dispatched and its aircraft carriers have entered the Irish Sea. That doesn't have much to do with us, now Task Force 1 is guarding our flanks, Task Force 2 will provide us with direct air cover, and besides, our main guns won't be able to hit that far. Judging from all the intelligence, if Satmoville had the courage to pass through the Strait of Dover, we would be confronted by the evening at the latest, and all we had to do was to ascertain whether this inference was true, and if it did, we would defeat Sarmoville and destroy the last hope of the British! ”

The staff officers' expressions became serious, Chang Jianxin rarely said so many words in one breath, and everyone knew in their hearts that the commander's mood was not very good, so it was better to provoke the commander less.

Chang Jianxin glanced at everyone, and finally his eyes fell on the navigation staff officer: "Now, our destroyers have all set off?" ”

"According to the plan, the three destroyers that were on alert duty for the advance have already departed." The navigation staff officer clicked on the three red pins on the chart, "These three warships will reach the southern waters of the Strait of Dover within two hours, and the radar will be used to search to ensure that several warships passing through the strait can be found." ”

"You have to make sure that nothing goes wrong." Chang Jianxin looked at the chart, "Arrange two cruisers in the back, if the radar on the destroyer fails, then it can be remedied." ”

The nautical staff officer nodded and called over one of the staff officers standing behind him. A new task was given.

"In addition to these, our seaplanes should be sent out." Chang Jiexin was still thinking quickly, because he was very hasty when he made the battle plan, and many things were not arranged in place, and now he had to supplement the battle plan. "The sea area we need to search is only a few tens of kilometers wide, although the search ability of seaplanes at night is not strong, but it is better than nothing, if the British fleet sails close to the coastline, the radar on the battleship may not be able to detect it, so that the seaplane flies close to the coastline of the island of Great Britain......"

"You can get the seaplane to carry some flares."

Chang Jian Xinchao Navigation Staff glanced at it and felt that this proposal was a bit abrupt. The flares can be used for good and bad at night. In the past, when carrying out a pair of bombings, incendiary bombs were thrown first, which could illuminate the target on the ground. Instead, in night artillery battles, flares dropped by aircraft can illuminate enemy warships, so that the lookouts on the battleships can spot the enemy's warships in time. However, flares that explode in the air will prevent the pilot from observing the sea surface, and will also expose the aircraft to itself, so air-dropped flares are rarely used when carrying out night reconnaissance missions.

"It should help to use those incendiary bombs that were modified in the past and drop them directly on the surface of the sea." The nautical staff officer completed his words.

"If you can, then arrange it immediately." Chang Jianxin glanced at the navigation clock, "It's not early, the fleet will enter the combat state immediately, I want every officer and soldier to be at their posts, and in addition, the night snack will be sent an hour in advance." Let the kitchen be a little more prepared, maybe a lot of people will be exhausted tonight, and I don't want the officers and men to go hungry to fight. Do you have any questions? ”

The staff officers all shook their heads. The combat mission has been deployed for a long time, and they have been busy for hours.

"So, let's all get moving."

After the meeting, Chang Jianxin asked the adjutant to make him a cup of strong coffee, and then quietly watched the staff officers busy on the side. The absence of the chief of staff of the fleet made Chang Jianxin feel very unaccustomed. At the beginning, he originally wanted to leave Fenglingdu behind, but in the end, considering Fenglingdu's own development, Chang Zhixin did not make this somewhat "selfish" choice, when the chief of staff of the fleet was there. Chang Zhixin doesn't need to go through every detail, he only needs to focus on some key matters, and now, he has to shoulder the duties of commander and chief of staff at the same time, which makes him feel a little pressure. Fortunately, most of the staff officers of the fleet were quite outstanding. And they have been working with Chang Jianxin for several years, and there is no problem with it, and the abilities of several main staff officers are also quite outstanding, and there is almost nothing to be faulted with, which makes Chang Jianxin have a lot of things left.

After drinking coffee. Chang Jianxin has calmed down a lot and cleared his mind a lot. Seeing that everyone was busy, he also came to the chart table.

"Commander, what's the matter?" The nautical staff is depicting the route of the fleet on a chart.

"It's okay, you go ahead and leave me alone." Chang Zhixin nodded, and then lay on the chart table. He needed time to rethink the operation, and if there were any loopholes, it wasn't too late to add them.

There are two main questions now, one is whether the new inference is correct, that is, whether Samoville will take the Strait of Dover route. The second is whether it can discover the whereabouts of the British Home Fleet in a timely manner, and take advantage of the third task force's superiority in radar to seize advantageous fighters and annihilate the British Home Fleet in one fell swoop.

For the first question, there is nothing to think about. If Satsumville doesn't come from here, then Task Force 3 will have a thrilling night. The most important question is the second question. If Satsumville is really coming from this side, then finding the enemy first, and taking advantage of the opportunity that the enemy has not yet found himself, will be the key factor in fighting more with less and achieving victory.

The lack of effective means of reconnaissance at night was a common problem faced by all navies in the world at that time, and the first carrier-based reconnaissance aircraft equipped with radar had not yet been officially put into service, so the means of finding the whereabouts of the enemy fleet at night were quite limited, and sometimes even completely depended on luck. At the beginning, the warships of the German Navy made several trips in the North Sea, and finally escaped the encirclement and suppression of the British Navy, an important factor was the lack of effective reconnaissance means of the British Navy, even in the daytime, if the weather conditions were bad, it was difficult to find the warships on the sea!

In order to be on the safe side, Chang Jianxin could only adopt an extremely old-fashioned tactical arrangement, that is, to send a few destroyers to the front, which was really an advantage that the opponent Satsumville did not have. Radars were installed on every destroyer of the Third Task Force, and the ground radar on the destroyers was good, no worse than that on the cruisers, and more advanced than the radars used by the British Navy. In addition, the radar reflection signal of the destroyer itself is relatively small, and it is difficult to be detected by the enemy from a distance, so the use of destroyers as warning ships has become a common practice of the Imperial Navy.

Sending water planes for supplementary reconnaissance is a no-brainer. The space of the destroyer is limited, and the radar is installed during the overhaul or improvement, and the failure rate is naturally more than twice that of the cruiser. Therefore, according to the cruiser to form a second cordon in the rear, and to carry out supplementary reconnaissance by water aircraft, this can be regarded as an additional insurance.

It can be said that the ability to find an opponent at that time will be a key factor in whether the 3rd Task Force can defeat the British Home Fleet. Chang Jiexin was not worried about the "old ships" in Samoville, and the five "new provincial capitals" of the Third Task Force were much better than the battleships built by the British Navy during World War I in all aspects. As long as Samoville can be found, then Chang Jiexin will have full confidence to defeat the British Home Fleet!