The sky gradually brightened, and Tan Renhao returned to the command cabin at half past five. After getting used to life at sea, no matter how big the wind and waves, he can sleep peacefully. This is completely different from his performance on the plane, perhaps, this is the so-called "naval potential", if he will get seasick, then he is not worthy of joining the navy.

"General Liao Hanxiang has sent the news to the Second Task Force, and now the storm is weakening."

Hao Dongjue stayed up all night, and he handed the folded telegram to Tan Renhao, "I just received it, the weather plane of Hainan Airlines will strive to take off at about 10 o'clock, and the reconnaissance plane will strive to take off before 11 o'clock." The center of the storm changed direction last night and is now moving eastward, which means that we will stay in the storm zone for a better half hour! ”

Tan Renhao quickly skimmed through the telegram and said, "When can our reconnaissance plane depart?" How many reconnaissance aircraft did you arrange? ”

"Aim to take off at half-past nine, but it depends on whether the weather improves."

Hao Dongjue yawned, "There are 24 reconnaissance planes on two aircraft carriers, and I also arranged two squads of bombers, a total of 48 reconnaissance planes." Of these, 30 focused on searching the southwest seas and flew behind the storm. The other 18 planes focused on searching the northeast seas, and if the main US aircraft carrier formation appeared, by the way, Liao Hanxiang received the news that the code name of this formation was the 16th task force. ”

"Task Force 16?"

Tan Renhao was taken aback, and immediately sneered, it seems that it is not that the enemies do not get together, the Americans like to use the old number, and now they are bumping into each other again.

"Yes, this one in the south is the 17th Task Force, and I don't know how the intelligence department got this information."

"Is there any information on the commander of the American fleet?"

Tan Renhao took out a cigarette, the aircraft carrier was already shaking less violently, and the storm was indeed weakening.

"The commander of Task Force 16 is Rear Admiral Spruance, and here is his basic resume."

Hao Dongjue pointed to the telegram in Tan Renhao's hand, "However, this person seems to have been the commander of the cruiser formation before. Suddenly promoted to such an important position, it seems that there is really no one in the US Navy to choose from. ”

Tan Renhao frowned, he didn't think so. Nimitz was able to cause so much trouble for the Tang Imperial Navy, and he would definitely not be too risky in terms of employing people. Halsey is a vivid example of this. But when he saw the resume that was only a few hundred words, even he was a little afraid that Nimitz would use a major future who had never even been on an aircraft carrier to serve as the commander of the aircraft carrier task force. Then, he immediately noticed a few of them.

"He's Halsey's subordinate?"

"It used to be, but now Halsey is still in bed. I'm afraid it doesn't count. ”

Hao Dongjue took a cigarette out of Tan Renhao's cigarette case, and then lit it.

Tan Renhao shook his head slightly, and carefully read the resume of this US rear admiral named Spruance. Looking at it, Tan Renhao laughed.

"What, you know him?"

"Of course I don't know, I'm afraid there aren't many generals in the Imperial Navy who know this opponent."

Tan Renhao put the telegram on the chart table, "I'm over fifty years old, I'm still a major general, and I've done everything, all sorts of things." It's almost a generalist. ”

"Nimitz isn't old and confused. To use such an elderly major general? ”

Hao Dongjue also laughed.

"Definitely not!"

Tan Renhao's expression immediately became serious, "He partnered with Halsey twice, and the most recent one was the battle that severely damaged the second task force. He commanded the escorting cruiser formations. You also know that Shaoqing's counterattack only severely damaged two aircraft carriers, but did not sink two! ”

"You mean ......"

"It must have been Halsey who recommended this major general to Nimitz!"

Tan Renhao also lit a cigarette, "A person who can get Halsey to recommend to Nimitz, do you think it will be worse?" ”

Hao Dongjue nodded slightly, he was able to inflict heavy damage on the commander of the second task force while fighting more with less, which was already very powerful. And he will definitely not be far behind when he recommends candidates to his superiors.

"Alright, you go and rest!"

Tan Renhao grabbed his partner's shoulder, "Show me your reconnaissance plan, and I'll arrange specific reconnaissance operations." If nothing else. In these two days we will have a decisive battle with the American fleet. You go and take care of your spirits, don't wait until you are too tired to get up! ”

"Okay, then I'll go sleep for a few hours!"

Hao Dongjue couldn't hold on anymore, and he couldn't stand it after a night of jolting on the aircraft carrier.

After Tan Renhao saw Hao Dongjue go out, he asked the staff officer to bring over the reconnaissance deployment plan. Hao Dongjue's work in aviation is impeccable. As a naval admiral from the air force, Hao Dongjue's ability in tactical aviation can be said to be second to none among the young generals of the Imperial Navy. After watching it for a long time, Tan Renhao didn't see any problems, so he asked the staff officers to deploy reconnaissance operations according to this plan.

Around half past seven. Tan Renhao had just gone to breakfast and came back, and new news arrived. HNA has forcibly dispatched more than 10 long-range reconnaissance planes, but there is no guarantee that these reconnaissance planes will be able to gain something. The weather department also sent a message that the center of the storm is still moving eastward, and the center of the storm is weakening and will leave in the afternoon.

Seeing these news, Tan Renhao also had a feeling that he wanted to laugh, he felt that the storm was weak, and he still needed a weather forecast?

At nine o'clock, Tan Renhao received a message from Liao Hanxiang that Luo Yunchong's reconnaissance plane had already taken off from Iwo Jima, but the problem was that even if these planes landed on the islands of the Mariana Islands on the time of return, they could only provide the fleet with a maximum of 350 nautical miles of forward reconnaissance, and the effect would never be much better.

It can be said that by this time, Tan Renhao had still received some bad news, or irrelevant news. At this time, the wind and waves are much lighter, which is probably the only good thing.

"Commander, can the plane take off now, do you want to send a reconnaissance plane immediately?"

Tan Renhao glanced at the navigation clock, it was already nine forty o'clock. He nodded and said: "Let the reconnaissance plane go, and in addition, contact the cruiser and ask if the seaplane can take off?" ”

The staff officer quickly went to contact the cruiser in the formation, but the reply he received disappointed Tan Renhao. Before entering the storm zone, the seaplanes on the cruiser all flew back to the island airfield, not on the cruiser at all (seaplanes were moored in the open air on the cruiser. It's easy to be destroyed in a strong storm) And now the fleet is silent, and it is impossible to get those seaplanes to fly back, and even if they do, it will be a few hours later.

Tan Renhao's plan to strengthen the reconnaissance force by water plane fell through, and then he smirked. Hao Dongjue did not mention the matter of using water planes in the reconnaissance plan at all, and it was obvious that Hao Dongjue had long known that the seaplanes were no longer in the fleet. A good staff officer is perhaps no worse than a fleet commander.

Tan Renhao still had to continue to wait, waiting for more news. While waiting, he had already ordered. Let the fleet aviation be ready to go at any time. The pilots have gotten up and are doing acclimatization training, while the aviation crew is busy inspecting the aircraft. Because the capacity of the hangar is limited, some of the aircraft are tethered to the flight deck. In particular, the aircraft carrier "Xuanzong" had at least 24 fighters placed on the flight deck. Not to mention the inspection, after the inspection, the service personnel were all frightened, at least 14 of the 24 planes left on the flight deck of the "Xuanzong" were seriously damaged, and the other 10 were also damaged to varying degrees (all of which could be repaired). The aviation crew has something to do. They had to repair all the damaged planes as soon as possible so that the bombers could depart in time.

When it was almost eleven o'clock, Tan Renhao received new news. HNA sent another batch of reconnaissance planes, and the group of bombers deployed to the Mariana Islands under Luo Yunchong also took off. The storm had already left the skies over the islands, and the planes rushed to take off without waiting for the airfields to be repaired (the storm also caused great damage to the airfields on the islands). This is an "order" directly issued by Liao Hanxiang: The US fleet is almost at the door of "home," and the number of reconnaissance planes in the fleet is limited, so it is necessary to make use of the strength of shore-based reconnaissance planes!

After reading the newly received telegram, Tan Renhao glanced at the navigation clock, after eleven o'clock, the reconnaissance plane should have reached the maximum reconnaissance radius, if the US fleet has indeed arrived. Then there should be news soon. Thinking of this, Tan Renhao walked to the chart table, and the staff officer had already marked the scheduled flight route of each reconnaissance plane on the chart. Every reconnaissance plane has a number, that's the old rule. The length of the course of those 20 reconnaissance aircraft flying in the southwest direction was 250 nautical miles, "Commander, urgent telegram!" ”

Tan Renhao was taken aback, and immediately took the telegram, and as soon as he saw the word "urgent" on it, Tan Renhao immediately quickly scanned the content of the telegram.

"Go and call the chief of staff immediately!"

Tan Renhao didn't hesitate. "In addition, let the bomber group prepare for departure, and the pilots will immediately go to the aviation war room to concentrate on standby, and wait for the chief of staff to give a mission briefing!"

Five minutes later, Hao Dongjue, who had fluffy hair and hadn't even put on his clothes, rushed in.

Tan Renhao sent the telegram to Hao Dongjue and said, "I just received it, the radio monitoring station we set up on the island has discovered the activities of the radio station of the enemy warship. ”

"Where?"

Hao Dongjue only glanced at the telegram.

Tan Renhao pointed on the chart. "Approximately within this range, now it is only possible to determine the approximate range, and there is no way to confirm the precise location of the enemy fleet."

Hao Dongjue glanced at the message again. "Fifteen minutes ago?"

Tan Renhao nodded and said, "We have three reconnaissance planes flying in this direction, or they are moving nearby. ”

"Then do you want to send a new reconnaissance plane?"

Hao Dongjue hesitated for a moment, and then said, "Or contact these three reconnaissance planes and let them immediately expand the search area?" ”

At this time, Tan Renhao hesitated. The radio signal came from about 150 nautical miles southwest of the fleet, and all that can be judged now is the military radio station of the US Navy, and of course, the radio stations that can transmit the signal here must be on the battleship. The signal appeared only once, and it was short-lived. So, is it possible that this was a signal from an American submarine after it surfaced? This may be for sure. Now, the ground reconnaissance planes flying in this direction have reached the maximum flight radius of 250 nautical miles, and they will also carry out a half-hour lateral reconnaissance patrol mission, and maybe they will discover the US fleet when they return home, but that will be more than an hour later, and more than an hour is enough to decide the life and death of the fleet! But the problem now is that the fleet has no extra reconnaissance planes, and it will take more than an hour to send bombers in the past, and if you contact nearby reconnaissance planes, then you will have to wait at least half an hour (the reconnaissance planes will return as quickly as possible) Moreover, the position of the fleet will definitely be exposed!

When talking about Renhao's thinking, Hao Dongjue did not interject. This is a tacit understanding between the two. Hao Dongjue can provide reference advice to Tan Renhao, and many times, his opinion will be adopted. At the critical moment, Tan Renhao didn't want others to interfere with his thinking, let alone be influenced by others. This can be regarded as a major feature of the Imperial Navy Fleet Commander, the fleet commander with a bit of personality will not be influenced by the chief of staff on major issues, and the commander of the Imperial Fleet has more or less personality.

"Immediately contact the reconnaissance planes, let them return, and search for the sea area where the radio signal appeared!"

It only took less than three minutes for Tan Renhao to go from thinking about the problem to making a decision, "In addition, the bomber group immediately set off, arranged two squads of escort fighters, and sent out all the bombers as much as possible!" ”

"All sent out?"

"Yes, don't think about the next battle for the time being!"

Tan Renhao glanced at his partner, "I'm going to contact General Liao Hanxiang, and at the same time contact the second task force, and tell Lei Shaoqing that we have made contact with the American fleet and are launching an attack, it may be the 17th task force as a decoy, the whereabouts of the 16th task force are unknown, but there will be news soon, let them prepare for the attack immediately!" ”

Hao Dongjue sighed, and Tan Renhao began to attack desperately.

"As soon as the bomber group takes off, all the fighters are released, focusing on the two directions of the northeast and the south!"

Tan Renhao marked the key patrol range of the air defense fighter on the chart, "In the next few hours, the outcome of this naval battle will be decided!" ”