Tan Renhao didn't know that he had taken the wrong and most critical step at the most critical time. He had been absolutely right to send the fleet north to evade it the previous afternoon, and if he had stayed north of Necke Island, Spruance would have had to use the bombers of the Fifth Fleet to fight Task Force 1, and the shore-based bombers on Necker Island would not be able to exert their strength at all.

In other words, Tan Renhao's adventurous move to sail the fleet in the southwest direction was not only completely unnecessary, but also completely wrong, and placed the First Task Force within the cross-strike range of the two forces of the US military.

Similarly, Tan Renhao did not expect Spruance to use the tactic of "shuttle bombing", at least, in the early morning of the 26th, he did not expect this, because no one had ever thought of this tactic before, let alone anyone had used this tactic. He only felt that Spruance would have some special arrangements, but he never imagined that the First Task Force would need to face the threat of 300 tactical bombers and hundreds of fighters of the US army.

At 8:50 a.m., the reconnaissance planes that had set off before dawn returned to the fleet one after another, and the reconnaissance planes still did not gain anything. According to Tan Renhao's arrangement, the "Gaoyouhu" aircraft carrier broke away from the formation and began to receive these returning reconnaissance planes. Because of the large number of reconnaisance planes returning home, and the fact that only one aircraft carrier accepts them, the landing frequency is very large, and the success rate of landing must be guaranteed, so the aircraft carrier has no choice but to sail against the wind. At that time, the southeast wind was blowing on the sea, and the fleet was sailing in a northeasterly direction, so the "Gaoyouhu" aircraft carrier battle group had to break away from the fleet, and its distance from the other two aircraft carrier battle groups increased at a rate of about 20 knots per hour.

"If all goes well, they'll probably catch up with the fleet around half past ten."

Tan Renhao glanced at the aircraft carrier that was sailing in a southeasterly direction. He knew very well that if the US bombers arrived at this time, then the "Gaoyou Lake" aircraft carrier would definitely be finished.

"Arrange for a squad of fighters to come over. Increase the air defense patrol radius by 10 nautical miles! ”

Hao Dongjue nodded, this is also the only way they can help the "Gaoyou Lake" aircraft carrier battle group now.

The order has just been given. As soon as the two fighter squadrons that had been on the west side of the fleet began to fly toward the "Gaoyou Lake" aircraft carrier battle group, the air defense sirens sounded.

"It was the 'White Tiger' cruiser that sounded the alarm, and the enemy planes were coming from the southwest, about 60 nautical miles away from the 'Gaoyouhu' aircraft carrier, and they were rapidly approaching!"

Tan Renhao and Hao Dongjue were both surprised. Could this be a shore-based bomber flying from Necke Island, but the question is, the fleet is 400 nautical miles away from Neck Island, could it be that the American pilots are going to make suicide attacks? Or, the Fifth Fleet is in the southwest, but how did Spruance get to the waters near Necker Island? Could it be that he was returning from Gardner's southern route? A series of questions immediately filled Tan Renhao's brain, and he was a little confused.

"Immediately let all the fighters concentrate on it, don't ......" Hao Dongjue reacted faster than Tan Renhao, "leave two squads." The fighters of the other seven squads have passed, what is the size of the enemy group? ”

"There are at least a hundred bombers, and. It was supposed to be a tactical bomber. ”

Hao Dongjue nodded, let the staff officer leave, and he looked at Tan Renhao.

"We don't have reconnaissance planes over there."

Hao Dongjue sighed. "This is the direction we least expected."

Tan Renhao also calmed down, and he glanced at the navigation clock. "U.S. bombers can arrive within twenty minutes. When will the reconnaissance aircraft fully land? ”

"It will take at least half an hour."

"Immediately divide a group of reconnaissance planes to land on the other two aircraft carriers, and within 15 minutes, the 'Gaoyouhu' aircraft carrier must enter the core of the formation and prepare to resist the US bombing!"

Although this order was a little late, it won valuable time for the "Gaoyouhu" aircraft carrier battle group to prepare for battle. By the time those reconnaissance planes landed on the aircraft carriers "Xingkaihu" and "Hongzehu," the air defense fighters had already concentrated in the southeastern direction of the fleet.

The new radar on the "Rui Beast" class cruiser played a huge role at this time. In the past, radars on Imperial Navy warships could only detect swarm targets at a maximum of 50 nautical miles away, which provided the fleet with about 15 minutes of preparation time. And now the radar detection range has increased by 10 to 25 nautical miles, which buys the fleet a few more minutes, if not more than ten minutes, to prepare for air defense. These few minutes may not be very important, but in a life-and-death naval battle, these minutes can certainly play a very crucial role. In a few minutes, the air defense fighter can move in another direction, accelerate to the maximum flight speed, and climb to a favorable combat altitude. In addition, the fleet can use these few minutes to improve the air defense fleet, improve the combat efficiency of anti-aircraft guns, and so on.

"The fighters went up, about 120 or so bombers, divided into 3 large groups, all tactical bombers, mostly SBD."

Tan Renhao nodded slightly. "Hopefully, those 80 or so fighters will be able to provide enough interception."

"It shouldn't be a big deal." Hao Dongjue also sighed, "Huang Xiaotian can intercept more than 100 bombers with 60 fighters, and we should be able to do it." ”

Tan Renhao laughed, he didn't know why he was still laughing, but he could only believe in the ability of a group of aces led by the two aces, Ann Shile and Yao Boyan.

Ahead, the first to fly up was the fighter of the squad led by Ellsler. It was he who first judged the number of bombers of the US military and the specific size of the three groups. This time, he did not rush to kill, but was responsible for guiding other fighter squads that came one after another to intercept the US bombers before Colonel Yao Boyan arrived. In this kind of large-scale air battle, the rational and effective use of force is the most important, if all the fighters are concentrated on attacking a group, then even if they shoot down all the enemy planes in this group, the result will definitely be disastrous.

"Lao An, have you noticed?"

"Notice what?" Ellsloth was busy arranging other fighter jets. The situation inside the fleet of US military aircraft was not carefully observed.

"It seems to be all bombers, no escort fighters!"

Ann Shile was startled, and immediately looked at the group of enemy planes that were approaching at high speed in front of and below. "Yes.

It is true that there are no escort fighters, immediately contact the fleet. Report this back. Brothers, it's time for us to go, and leave the rest to Colonel Yao Boyan to arrange! ”

When Ellsler led his men into battle, the news came back. Two minutes later. Yao Boyan also provided the same report, there are only bombers in the US military fleet, and there are no fighters!

Tan Renhao and Hao Dongjue were a little incredulous at first, if this was the early stage of the United States' entry into the war, they would not be surprised, but by now, any fleet commander should know that bombers are very vulnerable if they are not covered by fighter planes, unless they have to. There will never be any fleet commander who leaves a bomber alone to die. The Fifth Fleet had at least 80 fighters, and with 120 bombers sent this time, Spruance wanted to preserve the Fifth Fleet. Under the cover of shore-based fighters, how could he have to arrange at least half of the fighters to escort the bombers?

"Immediately let all the fighters go up, resolutely block the US bombers, and never allow the enemy planes to reach the skies over the fleet!" Hao Dongjue made a quick decision. Since it was a US bomber that came to send them to death, they could not be soft-hearted.

"Wait a ......minute," Tan Renhao called out to the staff officer who was about to give the order, he hesitated, "The two squads left behind are concentrated in the northeast direction of the fleet, and the other squads are going all out to intercept the American bombers." ”

The staff officer in charge of the air defense of the fleet furrowed his eyebrows and looked towards the chief of staff.

Hao Dongjue was also a little surprised, but he didn't disobey Tan Renhao's order, nodded at the staff officer, and asked him to give the order according to the commander's wishes.

"More than 86 fighters should be enough."

"The problem won't be huge, at least we have more than 40 air combat aces, as well as the two super aces of An Shile and Yao Boyan." Hao Dongjue was still a little puzzled, "Ren Hao, do you think there is a problem?" ”

Tan Renhao nodded, but did not rush to say his guess.

The air defense battle of the fleet was very fierce, and Ellsler was always active in the most fierce battle, and within five minutes, he knocked out four US ground bombers.

"Lao An, didn't you find a problem?" Ellslor's partner has also shot down three U.S. bombers.

"What's the problem?" Ellor shouted, the fighter began to dive, and he aimed at another target.

"Isn't the quality of these Yankees a little too bad, as if they are similar to those of shore-based aviation?" When the Ellor landline spat out tongues of fire, the machine gun on the wingman also fired.

"Damn, don't fight with me for the results, let's come one by one." An Shile was anxious, now that Jiang Wenhan was recovering from his injuries in the rear, this was his best chance to close the distance. "What did you start saying? The quality of the pilots of the US military is poor? ”

"yes, you didn't find out? They didn't even know how to evade the interception of fighter jets. ”

At this time, Ellsler also woke up. "Brothers, do your best to intercept enemy planes, don't give the enemy a chance!"

"Lao An, what are you going to do?" Seeing Ansler flying towards the periphery of the battlefield, the wingman pilot shouted.

"Let's go and find out, maybe the enemy has more bombers behind."

At that time, many fighter pilots discovered this, and the vast majority of US bomber pilots seemed to have just stepped on the battlefield, and they did not know how to break through the fighter interception in the fierce battle. This information is quickly aggregated and processed by the officers in charge of intelligence and air defense operations at the fleet command before being submitted to the fleet commander and chief of staff.

In fact, Tan Renhao and Hao Dongjue also quickly discovered this. When the US bombers approached about 8 nautical miles from the "Gaoyou Lake," that is, the edge of the fleet's antiaircraft gun vitality network, they were already less than 20 nautical miles away from the "Xingkai Lake" aircraft carrier.

"There is indeed a problem, they don't seem to know how to evade the interception of anti-aircraft guns!"

Tan Renhao was nervously watching the battle in the southeast direction, and less than one-fifth of the US bombers were able to break through the interception of fighter planes and finally enter the fleet's anti-aircraft artillery fire network, and these bombers were scattered and could easily be killed by anti-aircraft guns one by one. And those fighters who were responsible for the air defense of the fleet did not even rush into the net of fire of anti-aircraft guns, which is enough to prove that the bombers of the US army did not threaten the security of the fleet!

"Renhao, what are you thinking?"

Tan Renhao turned his head. "The quality of the US pilots is so bad, but it stands to reason that the Fifth Fleet should have the best pilots in the US military, and all of them have a certain amount of combat experience, and they don't even know how to break through the fleet's air defense network, right?"

Hao Dongjue nodded slightly, the pilots of the Fifth Fleet have already experienced several actual battles, so they should have some experience.

"It's weird." Tan Renhao sighed, "Perhaps, this is not a carrier-based bomber of the Fifth Fleet.

"But ......"

"I know it's too far from Necker Island, and most of the people who come are SBDs, and most of the ones in the Fifth Fleet are SBDs. But the question is, don't you think it's weird? ”

Hao Dongjue shrugged his shoulders. "It's kind of weird indeed."

"Contact Ansler and Yao Boyan and ask them to let go of a few US bombers that dropped bombs, and pay attention to the direction of return of these bombers." Tan Renhao made a decision at this time, "In addition, let the bombers on the 'Xingkaihu' and 'Hongzehu' prepare to take off, and then arrange for two reconnaissance planes to fly along the return route of the US bombers, fly at the fastest speed, and only search for a 250-nautical-mile route." ”

Hao Dongjue immediately called an aviation staff officer over and arranged the task.

"Perhaps, the 'Gaoyou Lake' should be able to escape this catastrophe. Wait, let it quickly return to the fleet. Tan Renhao hesitated, "In addition, arrange for a group of fighters with the least fuel and ammunition to land on the aircraft carrier, and the other fighters that can last flying for more than an hour and still have half of the ammunition will continue to patrol in the air." ”

The attack of the American bomber group was quickly routed, perhaps, the only thing worthy of respect in this battle was the bravery of the American pilots, in the twenty-five minutes of the battle, only 11 American bombers escaped, and the dropped bombs did not hurt a single battleship!