readx; Before the reconnaissance planes sent out by aircraft carriers, only the reconnaissance ships of the 24th and 25th Squadrons could carry out reconnaissance missions, and due to the influence of the night and the relatively bad sea conditions, the search and reconnaissance could only be carried out through the sea search radar. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

There are currently two kinds of sea search radars in the Chinese Navy, one is the early 39B series of sea search radars, which is also China's first microwave radar, and there are multiple models after improvement, namely 39B-1, 39B-2, 39B-3, etc., with a working frequency of between 2 GHz and 3 GHz, which can detect large ship targets from 13 nautical miles to 15 nautical miles. Since 1939, it has been widely equipped with this series of sea search radars on all large surface vessels, including ships in retrofit and under construction.

After the successful research and development of microwave radar in China, microwave radar has been widely used in sea search, fire control radar, ultra-low altitude alert, and airborne radar. However, because China's microwave radar is still in the early stage at this stage, some microwave radars developed and finalized in the early stage have large technical defects, but due to the rapid technological progress, many radars have gradually matured after many improvements, and the 39B radar has been improved as many as three times, and the surname of the 39b-4 radar has reached a fairly mature and stable stage, with a working frequency of 3 gigahertz, which can detect large surface ships of 15 nautical miles. Of course, what is more important is that it has a vital stability surname, and it is no longer prone to failures like the previous ones.

This radar is also the most important maritime search radar of the Chinese Navy, and almost all warships built before 1943 or should be captured are equipped with this radar.

After the 39B-4 radar, the Chinese Navy did not stop the development of radar, and then launched the 42G sea search radar, the detection range was greatly increased to more than 25 nautical miles, and it can still maintain a good working ability in complex sea conditions.

Most of the ships launched in 1943, including the Zipan, were equipped with 42G sea search radars.

However, even though it was equipped with an advanced sea search radar, it was still unable to detect the main fleet of the navy in previous operations due to various conditions.

So much so that it was not until after the 21st Squadron took off after the 21st Squadron took off that the reconnaissance planes discovered the main fleet in the distance.

Vice Admiral Lu Jian frowned and looked at the chart, which at this time clearly marked the position and course of the enemy and our fleets, and the chart fully showed that "a high-speed main fleet of this navy is rapidly heading towards the 25th Squadron."

"Now the 25th Squadron is engaged in a battle with the enemy's escort fleet, the Fuliang has been heavily damaged, and the Shiguang has also been injured, although there is the support of the 24th Squadron in the southern seas, but when the main fleet of this navy arrives, they will definitely not be able to resist." The colonel's combat staff officer next to him also frowned:

"Now the first wave of attack planes sent by the 21st Squadron is close to attacking the enemy fleet, so let them adjust their direction and then say: 'It's too late for this high-speed attack fleet, so the plan for today is to launch a second wave of attacks as soon as possible, and in addition, it is necessary to send some fighters to the 24th Squadron to take up air defense missions to intercept the enemy fleet's attack on the 24th Squadron!"

Vice Admiral Lu Jian said: "When will the 21st Squadron be able to launch a second wave of attacks?" ”

The colonel said: "The Taishan and Huashan of the 21st Squadron have already sent out the first wave of attacks before, and the Songshan has also released fighters to serve as the fleet's air defense mission, and the next wave of preparation work is expected to be completed at 6:30, when it can take off about 100 aircraft groups." ”

In the current aircraft carrier operation, it takes more than an hour to prepare a fleet of aircraft to send out a wave, and of course, the preparation work in advance is not counted. In addition to sending out attack aircraft groups on the way, it is also necessary to take up fighter planes to take up air defense tasks to prevent enemy aircraft groups from attacking.

After all, the Chinese Navy can find out where the main fleet of the Chinese Navy is, then it can also discover the existence of the Chinese Navy, although there is a time difference, but it is generally difficult to maintain concealment, and this mutual transparent combat state is also to force the aircraft carriers to pursue the take-off of more carrier-based aircraft to the greatest extent in the engagement between aircraft carriers, and then use the maximum attack force to destroy the opponent's aircraft carrier, by attacking instead of defending.

Only by destroying the enemy's aircraft carrier can the safety of one's own aircraft carrier be guaranteed.

"What about the 22nd Fleet, where are they now?" Lu Jian said: "How long will it take for them to reach the warring sea area if they take up a group of planes?" ”

"Our 22nd Squadron is far away from us, and given the range, it is impossible for their fleet to stay in the skies over the engagement for too long!"

Lu Jian frowned when he heard this, although his Second Mobile Fleet was huge, the area of operations that the Second Mobile Fleet needed to be responsible for was very wide, almost including the north of Taiwan to the coast of the country, and the basic deployment was that the 21st Squadron was located about 150 nautical miles east of the Amami Islands, while the 22nd Squadron was about 300 nautical miles away. As for the 23rd Fleet, it is even further away, and the 23rd Fleet is still in the waters southeast of the country, heading towards Tokyo, preparing to carry out blockade operations in the waters of the southeastern part of the country.

After all, the Second Mobile Fleet was carrying out a blockade operation, and it was impossible to concentrate all the main fleets together, so in the vicinity of the Amami Islands, Vice Admiral Lu Jian was actually able to concentrate only the 21st Fleet, the 24th Fleet, and the 25th Fleet, of which the 24th Fleet rushed to the 25th Fleet after discovering the enemy's traces.

Under such circumstances, Lieutenant General Lu Jian did not have many troops available at his disposal.

Vice Admiral Lu Jian did not hesitate for too long after frowning, and soon gave an order: "Let the 21st Squadron prepare its fleet as soon as possible, and then launch an attack on the main fleet, and also order the 22nd Squadron to take off fighters to arrive at the headquarters to carry out air defense missions, and send attack aircraft groups to the skies above the 24th Squadron and the 25th Squadron to carry out support combat missions." ”

Due to the distance between the two fleets at this time, it is not appropriate for the 22nd Squadron to send a group of planes to attack the longer fleet, saying, 'This main fleet, but it is still possible to let the 22nd Fleet raise a group of planes to support the 24th and 25th Fleets, while the 21st Fleet, which is closer, is to prepare more planes and directly attack the main fleet of this navy!'

Lu Jian wanted to separate these two battlefields, and let the 21st Squadron be responsible for the attack on the main fleet, and the 22nd Squadron would be responsible for supporting the 24th and 25th Fleets.

Lu Jian's order was quickly issued, and at this time, on the Songshan in the 21st Squadron, the elevators continued to lift the planes from the hangar to the deck, and the combat planes on the deck began to warm up and make final preparations for lift-off, and the long deck was full of planes.

"Quick, the first wave of planes is about to return, and these planes must be taken off before the first wave returns, so as to make room for the returning planes!" Rear Admiral Zhao Zidong of the 21st Squadron looked serious, at this time he also got the information that the enemy's main fleet had been discovered, and even more from Vice Admiral Lu Jian, his 21st Squadron must take off the second wave of attack aircraft in the fastest time, and then launch an attack on the main fleet, and the priority attack targets are naturally found to be two aircraft carriers.

The second wave of the 21st Squadron's attack group was dominated by the Songshan, supplemented by the Taishan and Huashan. The Songshan successively took off 16 dive bombers, 12 torpedo bombers and 8 fighters, a total of 36 carrier-based aircraft, and the reason why it was able to take off so much was mainly because the previous Songshan did not participate in the first wave of attacks, and the preparations were also very sufficient, and many planes could take off in a short time. The Taishan will send twelve torpedo planes and twelve fighters to assist in the battle, and the Huashan will send twelve dive bombers and ten fighters.

In order to take off more planes in the shortest possible time, the three aircraft carriers of the 21st Squadron were busy everywhere, and the ground crews in the hangars and on the deck were busy and sweating.

Although the operation of the aircraft carrier is in the rear, it may be a hundred nautical miles away from the front line, but the operation of the aircraft carrier is extremely complicated, the crew of thousands of people fills every corner of the ship, if it seems to outsiders, the Songshan at this time is almost chaotic, there are piles of ammunition and staff running around, the officers are also walking around, some are still shouting loudly, the small flags with various symbols in the gray fog in their hands, and the ground staff and crew in various uniforms fill the entire hangar and deck.

Compared with battleships and cruisers, aircraft carriers in a state of combat are much more chaotic, and the tension of battleships occurs more in the internal compartments, except for a large number of anti-aircraft gunners on the outer decks and bridges during air defense operations, there are no people outside during ordinary artillery battles, and most of them are busy in the internal cabins and turrets. As a result, there was no one to be seen outside the battleship engaged in an artillery battle with the enemy ships, only the black holes of the guns and the balls of fire set off by the muzzles. Aircraft carriers, on the other hand, are full of people.

This confusion did not last long, and soon the rear deck of the Songshan was lined up with all kinds of aircraft, and some of the aircraft propellers in front of it were already rotating rapidly, and soon an F8G fighter in front of it was quickly sliding and jumping on the front deck, and then when it was about to reach the end of the deck, the F8G fighter left the deck and then went straight into the air.

As soon as the F8G fighter left the deck, an F8G fighter in the rear was also sprinting on the deck, and one F8G fighter after another quickly rose into the air, followed by the B18 dive bomber and the B14 torpedo bomber. The time interval between the take-offs of the planes is very short, almost one after another, and it will not take long for the planes that originally stayed on the rear deck to take off, and at this time the ground crew on the deck has not given even a breath of rest, because at this time, the air defense fighters that took off at dawn have almost enough fuel and need to land and refuel.

The Songshan's hangar and deck operations have hardly stopped since dawn, and the process of preparation, take-off, and landing has been repeated. And because the Songshan is an old aircraft carrier, it does not have the same landing and take-off process as the newly built inclined deck aircraft carriers.