It was not until about one o'clock in the evening that the sonar crews of the submarines listened to the sights of the enemy fleet, and a large number of the enemy had reached Guò from a channel about four nautical miles away. Due to the strict lighting control imposed by the Japanese army, the enemy ships could not be seen in the periscope at all, and occasionally the enemy could be seen flashing light signals when making contact.

"How many enemies are there?" Qin Haiming said.

"Listening to the sound should be around twenty, sir, but I can't tell the exact number." The sonar man in charge of the echo detector replied.

Now the project 1026 submarine is sitting in the sludge on the bottom of the sea, and does not dare to turn on the radar at all, if the enemy captures their position with the help of radar waves, it will really die. Now only sonar crews can judge the size and number of enemy ships based on experience. The ventilation on the submarine was turned off, the inside of the boat seemed even more dull, and the outside was louder: the ping-pong sound of sonar, the sound of propellers spinning in the water, it was now obvious that the sound was coming from the front.

The enemy fleet rumbled over the channel ahead, with about 22 warships, but sonarmen reported the sound of a large number of high-speed propellers in the rear.

About half an hour later, another group of enemies passed in front, this time about 18 or so warships.

Project 1026 submarine had been lurking, and at about 3:10 a.m., another group of enemies passed in front of it, this time about 30 ships or more, half of which were the sound of low-speed propellers, which should have been the enemy's convoy of transports.

At 3:40 a.m., sonar corps reported that no further enemy signs had been found.

"Alright, now the negative groove is drained, and it starts to float, let's sail back to the fairway!" Qin Haiming re-issued the battle order, and the hull of the boat began to shake. Slowly emerging from the sludge to the surface, but always working with a static motor, slowly heading towards the channel.

"Turn left 35 and the host starts!"

The diesel engine on the submarine was activated, and the familiar noise of the crew sounded in the cabin, and the submarine was heading in the opposite direction of the enemy. Start sailing at full speed towards the Java Sea.

"Report to the fleet: at 1:23 a.m., the first fleet of the enemy, about 22 warships, was spotted and sailed south through the Krakatoa channel; At 1:55, about 18 warships of the enemy's second fleet were spotted heading south through the Krakatoa channel; At 3:02, about 32 ships of the enemy's third flotilla sailed south through the Krakatoa channel, including about 15 transports. Repeat the report after 10 minutes, and continue to report half an hour later! Qin Haiming said that unless there is an emergency, the reconnaissance report of the submarine force is generally repeated three times.

The movements of the Japanese fleet were actually discovered by the Axis submarine forces that were watching after leaving port. A report had already been made to the fleet, but the report of the Project 1026 submarine could confirm that the Japanese were sending reinforcements to Bengkulu, which was under attack.

By this time, the Japanese had a clear idea of the location of the Axis fleet that was landing in Bengkulu and the German fleet providing fire support for it, and would certainly have thought that there might be reinforcements behind this fleet, but the problem that bothered Nagumo was that he had no way of knowing the size and specific location of the Axis support fleet.

One of the reasons why Nagumo hesitated was that the strength of his mobile fleet had been weakened, and the aircraft carrier Zuizuru, the strongest in the Japanese Navy, was slightly damaged by Axis bombers at Changi Naval Base in Singapore, but it did not prevent the operation. However, the Naval Command Department ordered the 5th Air Fleet to be relocated to the mainland for repairs. This greatly weakened the aviation power in Nagumo's hands.

At 3:20 a.m. on July 7, a loudspeaker on Vice Admiral Nagumo's flagship, the Akagi, announced that pilots on an air raid mission were ready to go out. The ground crews on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier are already preparing to fly. The plane's engine kicked off, and a deafening roar of the motor rang out.

Now Nagumo needs to make a decision, whether to attack the enemy's landing fleet first or attack the fleet escorting the landing fleet? The Axis landing force had been landing from Bengkulu since yesterday afternoon, and the Japanese Army, which had only one brigade on garrison, had been asking for reinforcements incessantly. By the evening, the Army's communications had been cut off and nothing had been heard from again. It is estimated that this brigade has been "broken".

Now the air fleet is about to take off for an attack, and Vice Admiral Nagumo is still in the dark about the movements of the enemy fleet. The enemy has a landing fleet and an escort fleet, but it is not clear whether there is a reinforcement fleet behind the opposing side. He misjudged the enemy's situation: the enemy was not yet aware of his intentions and had not discovered that the mobile forces had been dispatched.

Therefore. Nagumo decided to first launch an air attack on the Axis landing fleet to support the army's counterattack operations, and then go all out against the escorting Axis fleet.

This decision ultimately destroyed all the main forces of the Japanese Navy's mobile forces.

July 7 is a very special day, which happens to be the fourth anniversary of Japan's launch of a full-scale war of aggression against China. In the pre-dawn darkness, in waters about 40 nautical miles southeast of N'Gano Island, the first strike wave was preparing to take off from the aircraft carriers of the Nagumo Force to attack the Axis convoy that had landed in Bengkulu.

At 4:30 a.m., although there were large clouds in the sky, the southeast wind and calm sea provided ideal conditions for the plane to take off. The eastern sky is slightly white, and the water antenna is faintly visible. About 40 minutes before sunrise, five aircraft carriers of the Japanese mobile unit, including the "Akagi," "Kaga," "Flying Dragon," "Soryu," and "Xiangfeng," began to turn into the wind, and the engines of the planes started and blue-white gas was spewed out of the exhaust pipes of the planes. On the flight deck, there was a deafening noise.

A "Zero" fighter led by the "Zero" took off from the aircraft carrier amid the cheers of the crew of the "Akagi" deck. With the roar of the engines, one fighter plane after another rose into the dark sky, and then the eighteen dive bombers quickly all rose into the air. In the sky above the Japanese fleet, red and blue lights were neatly arranged, indicating that the "Zero" fighters had formed a formation.

At 4:55, the first batch of one hundred and eight planes that completed the formation flew to the northwest sky after completing the formation.

At the same time, Wilhelm, who was tasked with attracting the enemy to attack? Admiral Marshall also ordered two waves of 16 combat reconnaissance planes to be sent in the direction of the Sunda Strait.

On the flight decks of the four German aircraft carriers, there were fighters equipped for combat, while dive bombers and torpedo planes were still in hangars, not ready for an attack.

The tactics used by the Axis navies were very simple: use a few aircraft carriers to attract the enemy's attack, use carrier-based fighters to intercept and defend with all their might, and at the same time another ambushed air fleet first attacked, and then the air fleet in the open began to launch a counterattack.

This tactic can only be established when the strength exceeds the opponent's, and if the strength is similar, of course, it is to strike first and launch the first wave of attacks against the opponent with all its might, in an effort to inflict heavy damage on the opponent's air fleet first.

Admiral Marshalle was very determined, and the four aircraft carriers of the German air fleet under his command had a total of 10 fighter squadrons and nearly 200 fighters, which were fully capable of intercepting the vast majority of Japanese bombers. This was the result of taking into account Japan's strongest Fifth Air Force "Shozuru" and "Zuizuru," and it was surprising that the Japanese Navy had actually weakened the strength of their mobile forces before the battle.

Now all the personnel on the aircraft carriers of the warring sides are nervously busy, and the dawn is dawning, the eastern sky has turned white, and there is no room for rest. (To be continued......) R1292