Like those officers and men who were fighting in the front, the "Longganhu" aircraft carrier was also very anxious to talk about Ren Hao, especially after receiving the telegram that the Sixth Task Force had been attacked, he could not be quiet for a second, and he was not even in the mood to care about dealing with the British aircraft carrier fleet. If Task Force 6 is unable to safely withdraw from the ground, then the previous victories in the artillery battle will be in vain, at least the tactical victory will be greatly reduced!

After nine o'clock, Tan Renhao received the second telegram from the Sixth Task Force, and this was the telegram from Gu Zhenyun asking for reinforcements. Now, Tan Renhao is a little big.

At that time, the 1st Task Force was the main force against the British aircraft carrier fleet, and before dawn. The First Task Force dispatched two-thirds of the reconnaissance planes, and then at eight o'clock, when the first batch of reconnaissance planes had basically reached the maximum patrol radius, Tan Renhao dispatched the second batch of reconnaissance planes. Strengthened search capabilities in the Celtic Sea and the southern waters of the Irish Sea. After sending out the reconnaissance planes, the ground crews on the aircraft carrier prepared the bombers for take-off, and a squadron of ground fighters patrolled the skies over the fleet. Then. The weather in the waters where Task Force 1 is located is relatively clear, and its exact location is not revealed. In order to ensure the safety of the fleet, Tan Renhao had another squadron of ground fighters on standby on the flight deck. In this way, if necessary, this squadron of ground fighters can immediately take off to perform fleet air defense tasks. If the fleet is not in danger, then go on escort missions .

Meantime. The Second Task Force also left only one squadron of ground fighters to be responsible for the ground air defense mission of the fleet, and the two squadrons of ground fighters it sent out lost more than half, and the rest did not return to the Second Task Force, and the Second Task Force was unable to send fighters to continue to cover the Sixth Task Force at that time. Of course, Tan Renhao did not have much hope for the Fifth Task Force, and when Jiang Zhongmin proposed that the Fifth Task Force participate in combat operations against the British aircraft carrier fleet, he knew that Jiang Zhongmin wanted to take credit!

In this case. Tan Renhao had only one choice, that is, to immediately let the fighter planes of the squadron on the aircraft carrier take off and go to support the Sixth Task Force. The question is. This squadron of fighters takes off immediately. It would have taken an hour and a half to reach Task Force 6, but it was too late. The RAF will certainly attack Task Force 6 again within an hour. If you fly at full speed, although you can shorten the time to less than an hour, you can only patrol the sky over the 6th Task Force for 20 minutes, and then you have to return home, so that the 1st Task Force will have to arrange another squadron of ground fighters to take over, and at that time, the 1st Task Force will only have one squadron of ground fighters left. If the British aircraft carrier fleet is discovered during this period, then only escort fighters can be arranged. And it is not possible to leave air defense fighters for the fleet, or to leave air defense fighters . And it is not possible to arrange escort fighters for bomber groups!

Just when Tan Renhao felt that it was difficult to take care of the left and right, he hesitated. A telegram from the Fifth Task Force solved his troubles. This is exactly the telegram that Jiang Zhongmin sent fighter jets to cover the Sixth Task Force.

"Task Force 5 has already sent fighter jets?" When the telegram was received. Zhu Rongzhe was deploying the third round of reconnaissance operations, and he only learned about it after returning to the command cabin, and he was even more surprised than Tan Renhao." This is unlikely, isn't it unlikely, didn't Jiang Zhongmin always want to compete with us, and wanted the Fifth Task Force to complete the operation against the British aircraft carrier fleet? Now that he's sent fighter jets to Task Force 6, how can he still take part in the battle behind him? ”

Tan Renhao smiled and shook his head. Don't think so absolutely, even if I have a conflict with Jiang Zhongmin. But this can't deny Jiang Zhongmin's status as an imperial admiral, let alone his responsibility to the imperial navy, right? ”

"I don't think so. Maybe Jiang Zhongmin is a thief, so he took the initiative to stand up at this time."

Tan Renhao smiled and said nothing, as for why Jiang Zhongmin arranged fighters to go to the Sixth Task Force at this important juncture, he also felt strange, and he thought more than Zhu Rongzhe, but he didn't show it. Before, when the Sixth Task Force left the Third Task Force and withdrew from the Strait alone, Tan Renhao suspected that this was deliberately arranged by Jiang Zhongmin. If this is the case, then Jiang Zhongmin will be responsible for the losses in this battle. Later, the 6th Task Force returned to the Strait again, and successfully intercepted two wounded British battleships in the early hours of the morning, and Tan Renhao did not think about it anymore. But now he considered that maybe Jiang Zhongmin really wanted to put the third task force together at first, but later changed his decision. And now, the Sixth Task Force is in danger, and as the commander of the Second Fleet, Jiang Zhongmin will definitely be responsible for the Sixth Task Force. Originally, Task Force 5 was supposed to provide air defense cover for Task Force 6. If in the end Task Force 6 is taken out. Or if it is to suffer unbearable losses, then Jiang Zhongmin is also responsible. Therefore, at this time, Jiang Zhongmin took the initiative to send fighters to cover the Sixth Task Force, mostly to make up for it!

"At least, we don't have to worry about how to help Task Force 6 now." Zhu Rongzhe saw that Tan Renhao was not in the mood to discuss what Jiang Zhongmin had done in this battle, so he changed the topic, "Now, we can safely and boldly deal with the British aircraft carrier fleet......

"Did the reconnaissance plane find it?" Tan Renhao came back to his senses. He also felt that this was not the time to think about things that had nothing to do with the fight. Regardless of whether Jiang Zhongmin is a thief or making up for it, the ground fighters of the Fifth Task Force will soon reach the skies above the Sixth Task Force to provide cover for the Sixth Task Force, so now he should concentrate on dealing with the British aircraft carrier fleet.

"We have not received any reports from reconnaissance aircraft for the time being." Zhu Rongzhe sighed secretly, "The first batch of reconnaissance planes is returning, and the second batch of reconnaissance planes is about to reach the maximum patrol radius, and I have already arranged for the third batch of reconnaissance planes to let them go before the first batch of reconnaissance planes return."

Tan Renhao walked to the chart table. The staff officers have marked the patrol areas of two groups of reconnaissance aircraft on the chart. The red line encloses the sea area to indicate the search area of the first batch of reconnaissance aircraft, while the yellow line indicates the search area of the second batch of reconnaissance aircraft. Or maybe it's about to search the sea.

According to the ground reconnaissance plan carried out last night, the first reconnaissance planes were mainly responsible for searching the eastern part of the Irish Sea, that is, near the British Islands, where the British aircraft carrier fleet is most likely to appear. The second group of reconnaissance planes will be mainly responsible for searching in Kattingen Bay in the eastern part of St. George's Strait, and in Bristol Bay in the eastern part of the Celtic Sea, which is also the area where the British aircraft carrier fleet may be located. In order to ensure the detection of the British aircraft carrier fleet as soon as possible, both groups of reconnaissance aircraft will conduct repeated searches.

Looking at the reconnaissance ranges marked on the charts, as well as the route of each reconnaissance plane, Tan Renhao fell into deep thought. When formulating the plan for this campaign, Tan Renhao did not put the attack on the British aircraft carrier fleet in the most important position. In the North Atlantic theater, the value of battleships is much greater than that of aircraft carriers, and the British Navy attaches the most importance to battleships, on the contrary, not to aircraft carriers. The ultimate goal of this campaign was to defeat the British navy, dismantle the British naval defenses, and finally force the British to surrender. In order to achieve this goal, Tan Renhao put the attack on the British home fleet in the first place. Prior to this, Chang Jianxin and Gu Zhenyun had already completed this task very well. Similarly, when formulating the battle plan, Tan Renhao also took into account the possible combat actions of the opponent.

This has already been analyzed before. After learning that Sulmoville was intercepted by the Third Task Force on the way to the port of Portsmouth, Tan Renhao roughly understood the battle plan formulated by Sarmoville. The opponent must want to use the aircraft carrier fleet as a bait to let Tan Renhao be fooled, and then take advantage of Tan Renhao's concentration to deal with those three aircraft carriers. Dispatch the home fleet and defeat Tan Renhao and them.

According to this battle plan. Summerville will avoid fighting opponents at night, as aircraft carriers are inoperable at night, and the British Home Fleet is far inferior to Task Force 3. Then, the British ground aircraft carrier fleet should reach the Irish Sea on the evening of the 22nd. Then go out to the Celtic Sea before 23 a.m. Eventually, they met with Tan Renhao. In order to be able to achieve this goal, the British aircraft carrier fleet should appear in the early morning of the 23rd in the south of Haiti, Ireland. It's the eastern sea. It's near St. George's Strait. If then the news of Samoville's defeat spreads. Then the British aircraft carrier fleet should have turned north between half past five and half past six and left the battlefield, because the situation on the battlefield was completely different from the Shareville plan. The 1st Task Force ground reconnaissance aircraft departed before dawn and arrived over the Irish Sea at about seven o'clock.

In this case, the first reconnaissance planes should have discovered something! Come to think of this. Tan Renhao was a little confused. The reconnaissance aircraft did not send back a report, that is, the British aircraft carrier fleet was not spotted . If this is the case, then where is the British aircraft carrier fleet? Didn't get into the Irish Sea? Then, Tan Renhao thought of another possibility, that is, because the weather was too bad, the reconnaissance plane was not able to detect the fleet that was close at hand!

"What's the weather like on the other side of the Irish Sea?" Tan Renhao asked Zhu Rongzhe.

The Chief of Staff hesitated a little, and said: "The storm is coming from the northwest, after passing through the Cornwall Peninsula into the English Channel, and last night there must have been a strong wind and waves in Haiti, Ireland. The weather should be improving by now."

"We

Zhu Rongzhe shook his head. All the planes that can carry out reconnaissance missions have been dispatched, but our seaplanes can't fly that far."

Tan Renhao fell silent again. The weather is improving, which suggests that the weather conditions in Haiti, Ireland are less than ideal. Perhaps the visibility is only about 5 miles, and the distance between the reconnaissance plane and the ground is more than 10 nautical miles, if the reconnaissance plane flies a little higher. It will be difficult to spot the surface of the sea and the ground fleet.

It can be said that this is precisely the special environment of the North Atlantic Upper Earth. The western part of the Bay of Biscay, where the 1st Task Force is located, is calm and calm, with cloud levels above 2,500 meters and is not dense, so the weather is ideal. And just 200 nautical miles away, there are strong winds and waves. It is simply not suitable for aircraft carrier operations . Even if the British aircraft carrier is more resistant to wind and waves. However, it is difficult to dispatch bombers in 5 windy conditions. If this is the case, then it is quite possible that the British aircraft carrier fleet is not in the Irish Sea, or . Sailing north in the wind and waves, leaving the battlefield.

Thinking of this, Tan Renhao let out a sigh. If these assumptions are correct, then there is no point in Task Force 1's actions now. The British Home Fleet had been routed, and it was impossible for the three-ship aircraft carrier fleet to single-handedly take on any of the Tang Empire's task forces. Under such circumstances, even if the commander of the British ground fleet had the greatest determination, he would not blindly come and take the initiative to die. That is, there will be no battle with the British aircraft carrier fleet at all!

"Why don't we arrange a few of the third batch of reconnaissance planes to carry out meteorological reconnaissance missions?"

Tan Renhao nodded. In addition, the third group of reconnaissance planes should be dispatched as soon as possible, and if the number is insufficient, a group of bombers should be mobilized to carry out reconnaissance missions."

Zhu Rongzhe immediately called the aviation staff officer over and prepared to adjust the reconnaissance mission.

"Also, after the return of the first reconnaissance aircraft, the fleet turned southwest." Tan Renhao sat down, "At the same time, arrange fighter jets and prepare to go to meet the third task force. If the third group of reconnaissance planes still has nothing to gain, then we can roughly judge that the British aircraft carrier fleet has left the range of engagement and does not intend to fight a decisive battle with us."

"You mean, give up the fight?"

"It's not that I gave up, but I had to retreat." Tan Renhao looked at Zhu Rongzhe who was a little dissatisfied. We've reached the ground. The British Home Fleet was completely annihilated, and those three aircraft carriers could not turn the tide of the war. If necessary, we can continue to look for opportunities to take them out, but for now, there is no need for us to continue to wear down with the enemy, but we should first consider assisting the 3rd and 6th task forces to withdraw and avoid suffering greater losses. ”

Zhu Rongzhe nodded a little unwillingly, in order to deal with the British aircraft carrier fleet, he had been preparing for several days, but now he was going to give up combat operations, I am afraid that not only Zhu Rongzhe, but all the officers and soldiers who were preparing for this battle would be dissatisfied.

Tan Renhao didn't explain much, in fact, he didn't want to give up now, but from the overall strategic point of view, the highest goal of the battle site had been achieved, and there was no need for him to pay more for this battle, and at this time, the significance of protecting the third task force and the sixth task force was far more important than killing three British aircraft carriers!