The Air Force Chief of Staff of the General Staff of the Naval Resistance Force, who had just taken office, made this air battle plan by Yuan Yin, who had just taken office. After this battle, Yuan Yin, the chief of staff of the Air Force, made a brilliant debut.

The battle plan was almost perfect, but there was still a great regret that the bombers did not come in handy.

The range of the dreadnought bomber was long enough to catch up with the Japanese aircraft carrier, but the P40 fighter had a short range and had no way to escort it. In the face of the main fleet of the Japanese army, which had more than 300 fighters, it was too dangerous for the six bombers to break through the defenses and attack, and it was not possible.

The most important thing is that at this moment, the naval resistance army does not know the location of the Japanese fleet, and if it is really to determine the location of the Japanese fleet, it still needs the information transmitted back by the British army. If he really knew the location of the Japanese aircraft carrier, Yuan Yin did not refuse to take risks.

It is worth mentioning that in this air raid, Yuan Yin sent all the elite pilots and personally led the team. During the battle, Yuan Yin shot down a Japanese bomber, and Yuan Yin, who had been responsible for training recruits, finally had the opportunity to go to the battlefield to fight against the Japanese army, and he had the first result.

Not to mention, the Naval Resistance Army continued to prepare for the next Japanese air raid. The Japanese troops on the surface of the sea discovered a new situation.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, reconnaissance planes of the Japanese fleet spotted two British battleships in the waters south of Ceylon. If we say that the victory of the naval resistance army in the air battle is a change directly caused by Li Guang. These two battleships are the indirect changes caused by Li Guang.

Sir Somerville was a good master of tactical planning, and he showed a ruthlessness in specific battles. Although Somerville will not admit it, not even the British Royal Navy, according to the analysis of the officers of the Naval Resistance Force---- these two old battleships are the bait thrown by Somerville.

Early on the morning of the 5th, Somerville led the fleet on sail. The Far Eastern Fleet was previously lurking in the Maldives, more than 900 kilometers south of Ceylon.

That is, about four hundred kilometers from the Japanese aircraft carriers. At the moment, neither side knows the location of the opponent.

At the beginning of the attack on Colombo by Japanese fighters, it was six o'clock in the morning. The Japanese fighters had crossed the coastline of southern Ceylon and had already been known to Somerville.

So Fleet A, the battleship Atlantic, the two capital aircraft carriers of the British army, and two heavy cruisers immediately set sail from the vicinity of the Maldives. Fleet B, the battleship USS Warweary, followed with two old ships and a small aircraft carrier, the Athletic.

Somerville did not know where the Japanese aircraft carriers were. Also at six o'clock, Somerville gave the order: two old battleships of the Royal Monarch class, which were at this time temporarily docked at a small port at the southern tip of Ceylon, set sail to move closer to the main team.

This order doesn't seem to have much of a problem, the devil is coming, and the two warships that don't have much combat power naturally have to be close to the home team to be safe. But the question is why Somerville did not order the two battleships to act together with the home team, and why did they not act after the discovery of the Japanese fleet yesterday. However, it set sail in the early morning of the 5th.

Somerville's projected position of the Japanese fleet was in the waters south of Ceylon, and the two battleships seemed to be about to converge with the main team, but in fact they were ramming into the Japanese guns.

If it weren't for Somerville's intention to use these two battleships as bait, there would be no other reason to explain.

The two battleships used as decoys in history were two heavy cruisers of the British. But now thanks to the addition of the battleship Atlantic, the A fleet can quite well reach the desired speed. The two old heavy cruisers could barely reach thirty knots, so they were also incorporated into the A fleet.

And two old battleships, which were already garbage, were thrown out by Somerville.

These two old British battleships did not know their fate at all. For several hours it had been sailing at its own maximum speed of sixteen knots. If it was two heavy cruisers. It will be discovered, as in history, at one o'clock in the afternoon. However, the speed of these two old battleships was only sixteen knots, and it was only at two o'clock that they entered the reconnaissance range of the Japanese reconnaissance aircraft.

At this time, the fighter formation on the Japanese aircraft carrier, which was responsible for striking the second round of Colombo, was ready to attack. You must know that these Japanese fighters are loaded with high-explosive shells for ground attacks, and there are no armor-piercing shells.

Nagumo Tadaichi's tactics are quite conservative, or rather quite safe. According to Nagumo Tadaichi's plan, when the fighter planes that attacked Tang Port returned. This wave of fighters will depart. Although Nagumo Tadaichi was not familiar with air combat, his command did not have many problems and was very safe. He did not scatter all the fighters at once, but divided them into two groups, the Second Air Force and the Fifth Air Force, which took turns to strike. The Akagi of the First Air Force was responsible for security guards, so that its fleet would always be on deck with fighters and would ensure the strength of self-defense.

Even the famous Japanese Navy Admiral Yamaguchi, who claims to be the best in naval warfare, could not raise any opinion on such a battle plan. Rear Admiral Tawen Yamaguchi is now commanding his own aircraft carrier, and he is still angry and sad. You must know that the wave of blows to Tang Port is the aircraft group on the Canglong and Feilong aircraft carriers under his command.

Major General Yamaguchi Tawen, who has always praised himself as a famous general, felt a little dull at this time. The three aircraft carriers of the First Air Force, Akagi, led by Nagumo Tadaichi, and the Shozuru and Zuizuru of the Fifth Air Fleet, lost only seven fighters and at least 27 British fighters in the attack on Colombo. Moreover, all seven of them were of the Fifth Air Force, and not a single fighter of the First Air Force suffered losses.

In the Japanese Navy, the First Air Force and the Second Air Force are the elite of the elite. The Fifth Air Force is the second elite. It's a pity that Yamaguchi Tashi encountered hard stubble. In the first battle, 22 fighters were shot down and three more were wounded. According to the report of the commander-in-chief of the air raid, Takashi Egusa, not a single fighter plane of the Naval Resistance Army was shot down. This comparison of results is how Yamaguchi can swallow this breath.

Yamaguchi was sulking. Nagumo Tadaichi issued an order, and the fighters on the Akagi changed their uniforms. That is, to change the bomb. In this way, the ground crew of the little devils on the Akagi were busy, and after a lot of tossing, fifty-two fighters took off.

The speed of changing the armament of the fighters on the Akagi aircraft carrier is not slow, but it takes an hour to disassemble and assemble. Fortunately, the task of the Akagi was to be on alert, and only a dozen fighters needed to change the torpedoes used to fight against the ship, so it did not take much time, and all the actions of changing the armor were completed in more than 20 minutes.

It's fast enough, though. There are also sequelae. The deck was littered with freshly replaced high-explosive bombs, but this minor problem did not notice the Japanese officers and men. You can't just dump the fighter plane in the hangar and change the uniform. If you want to be fast, it's best to change directly on the deck.

The two old British battleships were at a dead end at the moment. More than 20 minutes later, the two British battleships were tortured by 52 Japanese fighters before they could even use anti-aircraft fire. In fact, even if there is anti-aircraft fire, it is inevitable to be sunk.

Fifty-two shots, 46 hits, and a shooting rate of 88 percent.

This is an impressive achievement.

The strength of the First Air Fleet and the First Air Force of the Japanese Navy can be seen. The Akagi served as the flagship of the fleet commander, Vice Admiral Nagumo Tadaichi. Pilots are undoubtedly the best of the best.

Such an accuracy of strikes, not to mention such an old battleship, is another British battleship, the Prince of Wales, which was sunk after 46 bombs and torpedoes. The two battleships of the British Empire, which were nearly thirty years old, were removed from the list.

What's even worse is that the pace of the Japanese strikes is too fast. From the time the two battleships were hit by Japanese fighters to the time they sank, they did not have time to send a single telegram. Elite pilots of the Japanese army during this period. In all respects, the quality is far superior to that of the United Kingdom and the United States. Whether it was a dive bomber or a torpedo machine. Or a horizontal bomber, whose level of hit rate is simply amazing.

Knowing this result, any naval officer would tremble in his heart. If Somerville had known that the two battleships were sinking so quickly, he might have immediately withdrawn his fleet.

Unfortunately, he didn't know.

If there were satellites, it would be discovered. At this moment, the Somerville fleet was no more than one hundred and twenty kilometers away from these two battleships. And the nearest Japanese aircraft carrier is only 320 kilometers away.

The reason Somerville did not know was that he believed that the Japanese fleet should be about 300 kilometers south of Ceylon, and it was too early to release the reconnaissance planes at this time. And this is actually a fatal mistake.

The first leg against both sides. The Japanese fleet was victorious. Somerville did not receive news of the sinking of the two battleships, and the bait was devoured by the Japanese in vain and did not work as it should.

But Nagumo Tadashi then made a fool of himself and leveled the situation between the two sides again.

At this distance, if Nagumo Tadashi paid attention to reconnaissance, he would definitely find out if he sent a few reconnaissance planes. It's a pity that Nagumo Zhongyi felt that the results were very good at this moment, and he killed the two battleships of the British army, although they were old, but they were also battleships, and they were very proud.

Nagumo Tadaichi did not have the slightest sense of making mistakes, because all his thinking was accustomed to a decisive battle with naval guns, not an air battle. For the decisive battle between battleships, even if the opponent is found, there is still time to arrange a sumptuous combat meal. Therefore, Nagumo Tadaichi, who has been deeply rooted in the bone marrow of the giant ship artillery doctrine, did not think deeply, is there an aircraft carrier around the battleships of the British army? As the commander of the air fleet, subconsciously, he actually thought that two or three hundred kilometers was a long distance, but forgot about the fighters.

At this moment, he was full of joy, and the fighters on the Akagi had also returned, and immediately ordered Mitsuo Fukuda to lead the pilots of the Fifth Air Force, the Shozuru and Zuizuru, to strike Colombo in a second round.

Miracles can happen at any time in war, and Somerville did not know that the distance between the two armies was only three hundred and twenty kilometers at this moment. What's even worse is that at two o'clock, Somerville intuitively changed the course of the fleet at will, and this course was the direction of the Japanese fleet.

The Japanese fleet was also not stationary on the seas and was also on the move. Somerville was not entirely right if he was commanding the direction of the fleet at will, he was judging by the direction of the wind. When an aircraft carrier takes off a fighter, it must be against the wind.

In this way, at two o'clock in the afternoon, the two armies were actually heading in parallel directions, both going against the wind, separated by 320 kilometers. (To be continued......)

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