The non-stop rain that had been on the U.S. Combined Fleet on 19 November had stopped, but the sky was still overcast.

At 8 o'clock, Nagano Shushen and Liu Haijiang ordered Vice Admiral Takasu Shiro's alert troops to leave the main force and go to cover the Palikir battle.

Takasushiro's forces were supposed to be five hundred nautical miles south of Kiska Island on November 6, at which point the main forces of Nagano Shusei and Liu Haijiang would be five hundred nautical miles south of Takasushiro's forces in the position specified in the plan. The plan stipulated that the two forces should reunite in either of the two sea zones in which China launched a coordinated counteroffensive.

Less than an hour after Takasushiro's troops left the main force, Nagano Shusmy and Nimitz suddenly received a telegram from the USS Coral Sea, the flagship aircraft carrier of the 10th Task Force of the Japanese-US Combined Fleet, which was directly covering the Mariana Islands transport group, reporting that the transport group had been discovered by a Chinese search plane more than 600 nautical miles west of the Mariana Islands at 9 o'clock. The report also stated that enemy seaplanes had been following the transport group closely but were forced to disengage only after being subjected to heavy anti-aircraft fire from the ships following the Coral Sea.

This situation changed the entire operational situation. A part of the Allied forces must have been spotted by now, and it is very likely that Chinese reconnaissance planes have reported their location. Obviously, China could be expected to act against the Allied fleet, and soon.

That afternoon, nine bomb-laden Djinn bombers attacked the transport ship regiment, and the battle began. The transport ship regiment was lucky not to be shot and continued to move forward. Everyone in the Allied transport regiment breathed a deep sigh of relief.

However, in the early morning of November 10, another group of four Chinese Warhawk-2 alert aircraft carried out another low-altitude attack on the transport ship group. A torpedo fired by an enemy aircraft. Hit the bow of the American tanker "Dawn" at the end of the transport ship regiment. As a result, eleven people were killed and thirteen were injured. But some of this torpedo must have failed to explode, because the damage to the "Dawn" was very slight, and it only temporarily reduced its speed and did not fall behind.

These situations were immediately reported to the Montana, and Nagano and Nimitz began to show a worried look on their faces. Not long ago, they were smiling and optimistic about the upcoming battle, but now the situation does not seem so good.

They did not expect that the transport ship regiment would be discovered before the air raid on the Mariana Islands by the Nagumo forces, or rather. The discovery of the transport vessel was not contrary to their predictions. Rather, it is the opposite of what they want.

The Mariana Islands operational plan provided that the lower speed of the transport ship regiment departed before the mobile unit. Therefore, they are easy to be discovered prematurely by China. In order to avoid this danger, it is best to have the Nagumo Task Force depart a day earlier. In order to get to the Mariana Islands patrol range before the transport ship group reaches the patrol range of the Mariana Islands patrol aircraft. Nagumo's forces were able to attack the forces of the Chinese air force in the Mariana Islands.

The planners at the Joint Fleet Command did consider such a revision of the operational plan. And made this suggestion to Lieutenant General Nagumo. However, Nagumo Tadaichi made a counter-proposal, advocating that the departure date of the transport group be postponed by one day. But since the landing was scheduled for the last favorable day of the moon phase, it could not be postponed any longer. So Nagano Shusei and Nimitz didn't take this advice. As a result, people insisted on the plan with some concerns.

The discovery of a transport boat regiment of the Mariana Islands Raiders heralded the beginning of the battle to the south. At this time, the Allied fleet began a diversionary attack on the Palikir Islands.

In the early hours of 9 November, the Instad Force, the vanguard of operations on the Palikiel front, arrived at the position of the air raid on the Port of England.

At sunrise after 6 o'clock, taking advantage of the long glimmer of light before dawn in the north, all preparations for the attack were made forty-five minutes in advance. However, to the disappointment of the crew, the sky did not show the first morning light as expected.

On the bridge of the USS Franklin, which belongs to the 3rd Mobile Squadron of the 1st Task Force of the Joint Japanese and American Fleet, the captain of the ship, wearing a fur coat, is on the bridge of the USS Franklin. Kingston's U.S. Navy Colonel is giving the final order to the pilots of the strike team. Not only is the military situation of China unclear, but the pilots who have not fought in the North Pacific are not familiar with the climate change situation here.

The plane was on the flight deck ready to take off, and the commander of the warband, Rear Admiral Instadt, U.S. Navy, anxiously patted Lieutenant Admiral Aicles, an aviation staff officer, on the shoulder amid the rumble of engines to get his attention and ask him if he could attack now.

"Commander, we'll have to wait a bit." Aicles replied. He looked at his watch, it was 6:28, but it was not yet dawn.

Admiral Sean Mac, Inceda's chief staff officer, looked at the sky for a long time, and then said, "It looks like it's another thick fog." His observation was not wrong and explained why the sky could not light up.

Led by the aircraft carrier USS Franklin, this mobile force approached Holland Harbor at a speed of twenty-two knots. The temperature and cold watch refers to -7 degrees Celsius.

Akris frowned at the thought of the trouble with this attack. ―The problem is that the topographic map of the Port of England area used by the pilot is based on an old map from 30 years ago, and the other is a photograph that is equally old as this one.

There are several places along the coastline of the island that are dotted on the map, indicating that they have not been explored.

In fact, the Allies did not know anything about the general outline of the island. Will the pilot be able to find the target in such bad weather? If they can't find the target, then it will also be difficult to return to the aircraft carrier, and some planes may get lost.

But this is a war, and the Allied fleets have come all the way for victory, and now they must not waver in their determination. Despite the fog, as soon as visibility improved slightly, it was necessary to attack.

Akris looked at the sky with increasing anxiety.

At 6:38 a.m., the silhouettes of the other warships of the fleet began to be seen. It seemed that Insta was tempted to give the order for the plane to take off, but his staff officers remained silent.

At 6:43 a.m., the USS Hayabusa could be clearly seen thousands of kilometers away. Aicles shouted, "Commander, it's time to take off now!"

Insta nodded. Then he looked at the communications staff. The staff officer understood, and immediately gave a loud order: "All flight teams take off!"

A flash signal was emitted on the flagship.

The planes took off from the flight deck in turn and flew into the hazy fog. Twenty-one bombers and sixteen fighters took off from the Franklin, and twelve bombers and six fighters took off from the Falcon. All these aircraft were commanded by Senior Captain Shuo Shiga of the Japanese Naval Aviation.

The cloud height was only 500 to 700 meters, and it was impossible to maintain a formation flight, so each plane had to fly to the port of England, which was more than 180 nautical miles to the northeast.

It was dawn, but the sun had not yet appeared. As soon as one of the Franklin's bombers took off, they crashed into the icy sea, and an escort destroyer immediately rescued them, as a result of which the crew was miraculously all rescued.

The planes that attacked the port of England had just flown away. The enemy reconnaissance plane flew over the Insta unit.

There was an old Chinese patrol plane that followed the Allied fleet in the fog. And dropped a few bombs, but none of them hit.

The Franklin Flying Force, led by Masayuki Yamagami, braved bad weather to skillfully cut through the broken clouds and approach Palikiel Island. Fly over English Harbour.

This was the first wave of combat effectiveness of the 3rd Mobile Combat Force. The entire 1st Task Force. There are three warbands, each with two aircraft carriers. Except for a few warbands that consist entirely of American aircraft carriers, the rest of the warbands. Generally, the two armies take out an aircraft carrier. The third team has a USS Franklin, a Midway-class aircraft carrier belonging to the United States, and a small Japanese aircraft carrier, the Hayabusa.

At the moment, thankfully, there are no clouds over England Harbour. However, these Allied pilots also did not spot enemy aircraft or ships.

At 8:07, bombers attacked radio stations and oil depots, and fighters strafed a seaplane parked on the water. With the exception of one fighter that was shot down by Chinese anti-aircraft artillery, the rest of the planes commanded by Masayuki Yamagami all returned to the aircraft carrier.

However, the second wave of attackers, on the way to the target, encountered two Chinese Warhawk-3 aircraft. Four carrier-based aircraft were shot down by Chinese fighters. After the Chinese fighters left, they were delayed for some time, and the bad weather prevented them from reaching the port of England to attack any land targets before returning home.

In this way, the first attack did not achieve the expected results. However, the aerial photographs taken during the attack on British Harbour were truly astonishing. As you can see from the photos, the facilities at Port England are much better than expected, with modern warehouses. Barracks, docks, oil depots and a well-connected road network. The mere fact that the roads extend in all directions is enough to eloquently prove the strategic value of these facilities of the enemy.

On their way back from England Harbour, the flight team of the USS Franklin, led by Masayuki Yamagami, reported that five Chinese destroyers were anchored in the Bay of Pallique. Rear Admiral Instad, who was known for his ability to fight the enemy, ordered all aircraft to attack the enemy destroyers, and sent not only the flying groups of the two aircraft carriers Franklin and the Falcon, but also the seaplanes of the four heavy cruisers in the formation. A total of 44 aircraft flew to the target, but due to bad weather, most of them were forced to turn back.

Shortly after the plane on this third mission took off, the weather became so bad that sometimes even the neighboring ships were out of sight. The attacking planes could not maintain their formation, so they had to return in small groups close to the sea. Due to the extremely cold weather, most of the aircraft engines did not sound properly when they circled and landed over the aircraft carrier, making a ping-pong pop.

The people on board watched with concern as the planes landed on the flight deck one by one. After all the planes had returned to the ship, the Insta troops continued to advance to the waters about a hundred nautical miles from Paliquil.

During this period, eight two-seat water reconnaissance aircraft of four heavy cruisers continued to search in adverse climatic conditions. However, they were intercepted by a two-plane formation of Chinese Warhawk-3s, and six of them were shot down in the melee, and the other two were wounded in the process, and only had time to send the situation back to the heavy cruiser, and then they were forced to land and become duckweed at sea.

This was the end of the first day of fighting in the north. It was clear that China had air bases in and near the McLanesian Islands, but the location of these bases, as well as the location of the stars above the fog, was completely unknown to the Allies.

The attack on the port of England caused only minor losses to China. More importantly, since China was well aware that the main target of the Allied fleet was the Mariana Islands, this operation did not achieve the goal of containing China at all.

Far south, November 9th. The submarines sent to the Mariana Islands and the Philippines and the Ryukyu Islands to establish two cordons, A and B, finally arrived two days later than planned.

They dived day and night, nervously monitoring the enemy fleet approaching from the direction of the Chinese occupation zone. But they arrived too late, and their target, the Chinese Pacific Fleet, had already passed by here and sailed far west.

On the afternoon of 9 November, Nagumo's troops sailed at a speed of 24 knots in a south-east direction toward the Mariana Islands. The force traveled in a circular formation, with four aircraft carriers in the center, surrounded by the USS Massachusetts (one of four battleships of the South Dakota class in the United States) and the Japanese battleships USS Kirishima, USS Alaska, and USS Hawaii, plus six Japanese light cruisers and twelve American destroyers.

At 19:40, the heavy cruiser USS Alaska suddenly issued an emergency signal, and the radar crew reported the detection of about ten enemy aircraft at an azimuth of 260 degrees. Three fighters of the Akagi immediately took off to intercept it. But no enemy aircraft were found. Enemy planes also did not come to attack. Therefore, the report affirming the Alaska is false.

After this false alarm, the troops continued to advance without interference.

At 2:30 a.m. on November 10, a lookout post on the Akagi reported: "90 degrees to starboard. The high and low angles are 70 degrees. It was like the light of an enemy reconnaissance plane. On the cloud. Closing in on the fleet!"

The people on the bridge stared wide-eyed in the direction of the report, but saw nothing. However, the captain of the ship has not left the bridge since his departure. Immediately ordered to pull the combat alarm. The crew hurriedly took their own positions.

The stars in the sky shimmered brightly and dimly through the clouds, swaying as the ship swayed. After waiting for half a minute in vain, the captain called the lookout and asked if he still saw the reported light. The lookout post waited for a moment before replying, "Report to the captain, I can't see it." ”

The captain then warned all the lookouts that the ship was moving, and the stars were moving, and not to take the stars as a target.

"I'll report it after I've seen it clearly." The captain commanded.

"Hell yes!" The lookout whistle muttered for a while, but they knew about it, so Yi fell silent. The captain was about to give the order to lift the battle alarm, when the same lookout suddenly reported loudly:

"Still find the lights in that direction! Not the stars!"

The order to prepare for an air battle was immediately sent to the ships, but it turned out to be another false alarm.

At this time, the time for the air raid on the Mariana Islands was approaching.

At 2:45 a.m., the Akagi's megaphone announced that the pilots of the air raid mission were ready to go out. The ground crew was already preparing the plane, and the engines started to start, and there was a deafening boom.

The assault team is about to take off to attack the Mariana Islands. And Nagumo Tadaichi still knows nothing about the movements of the Chinese fleet.

A few years later, when I opened the thick wartime archives, I saw that before this attack, Nagumo Tadaichi made the following judgment -- or rather an erroneous judgment -- about the enemy situation:

(1) The Chinese fleet will probably come out to fight after the Allied Mariana Islands strategy operation begins.

(ii) Enemy air patrols in the Mariana Islands are mainly westward and southward, rather than north-west and north-west.

(3) The radius of the enemy's air patrol is estimated to be about 500 nautical miles.

(4) China has not yet become aware of the Allied attempts, nor has it discovered the Allied mobile forces.

(v) There is no indication that enemy mobile forces are in the vicinity of the Allied forces.

(vi) Thus, the Allies could attack the Mariana Islands, annihilate the island's shore-based aircraft, and support the Allied landing operations, and then the Allies could turn their heads and meet the enemy's mobile forces in front of them and annihilate them.

(7) Allied interceptors and anti-aircraft artillery fire will certainly be able to repel a possible counter-attack by the enemy's shore-based air forces.

This was the unfortunate miscalculation on which Nagumo Tadashi introduced his self-proclaimed Allied mobile forces into a defeated battle, although it was not due to his own fault.

At about 3 a.m. on Nov. 10, the rumble of the plane's engines woke up a number of soldiers in the cabins below deck.

With scarlet eyes, no one blames anything, even though they just lay down. Many people moved down from the crowded beds and silently looked at the iron sheet above their heads.

One by one, the engines started and gradually became a shrill hiss—the Akagi's plane was about to take off to attack the Mariana Islands.

There were also quite a few soldiers who were supposed to sleep, and they couldn't hold back the mood to go to the deck at the time of the plane's takeoff, and slipped out of the cabin.

At this moment, the waterproof doors of the various compartments inside the aircraft carrier are closed. Only a narrow passage remained, on which there was no one and the entire crew was on combat duty.

Due to the light restrictions, you can only see within a few feet.

The sky is dark, and it will take a long time until dawn.

The sky is cloudy, and the weather, although bad, is still flying.

The sea is calm.

At 4:30 a.m., the search planes of the Akagi and Kaga took off at the same time as the first wave of air strikes on the Mariana Islands. The seaplane of the Japanese heavy cruiser Haruna also ejected and took off at this time.

But the seaplanes of the Alaska and Hawaii, which were responsible for the central search sector, failed to take off on time. Quite a few people watched the two cruisers and saw that their last search aircraft took off just before sunrise, almost half an hour later than scheduled.

I found out later. The two search planes of the USS Alaska were delayed due to a malfunction in the catapult. At the same time, one of the Hawaii's search engine failed. The plane after takeoff. The engine failed again, and the weather was bad, so we had to return halfway through at 6:35.

Single-phase search, although not considered, is as if everything can be done by juice. Sending out a single-phase search half an hour before sunrise can still help.

But two search planes of the USS Alaska delayed takeoff. This incident became the fatal cause of the later defeat of the Allied fleet in this naval battle.

When looking back at the whole process of the two sides in this naval battle. Many people were annoyed because the search aircraft of the Hawaii happened to miss the Chinese Pacific Fleet.

According to the plan, the plane was supposed to fly exactly over the Chinese Pacific Fleet.

Late Alaska aircraft searching within the search sector south of the Hawaiian aircraft. It was only during the return search that the Chinese Pacific Fleet was discovered.

The disaster that would have been avoided would have been avoided if Nagumo had carried out the more planned biphasic search, if the Hawaii's plane had been more carefully observed on the outward search, or if the seaplane had ejected and taken off on time.

Again, the root cause of this failure was that the Allied navy had placed too much emphasis on attack and had not paid enough attention to search and reconnaissance.

The Allied Navy had placed too much emphasis on attack in the training and establishment of flight personnel, and reconnaissance was taught only as part of the regular curriculum, and there was no special training thereafter.

In terms of establishment, the Allied Navy did not have a sizable reconnaissance flight group at that time. When reconnaissance is needed, it is often modified by attack aircraft to carry out reconnaissance missions.

There are no specially designed carrier-based reconnaissance aircraft. During the attack on the occupied areas of China, bombers and torpedo planes from the six aircraft carriers of the Nagumo forces were used for the attack, and the reconnaissance mission was carried out by a dozen seaplanes of the battleships and cruisers of the Nagumo forces.

In fact, this is not without reason, in the past, when they were in the Indian Ocean, search planes often got lost when searching for the Chinese Indian Ocean Fleet in the Indian Ocean, and the aircraft carriers had to send radio signals to guide them back. But this also exposes its position to China.

Therefore, it is understandable that Nagumo Tadaichi and his staff will try not to send planes to search if they can. This was also the case in the Mariana Islands operation, and the misjudgment of the enemy's situation was the reason why Nagumo Tadaichi did not make a full search deployment.

Prior to this sortie on the Mariana Islands, a small measure was taken to remedy the weak search force of the Nagumo forces. After lengthy negotiations with the relevant authorities, Nagumo obtained two new carrier-based reconnaissance planes that had just completed test flights.

This type of aircraft was originally designed to be used as a dive bomber, and later changed to a search aircraft, that is, it was later called the Type 2 carrier-based reconnaissance aircraft or the "Comet" dive bomber. The Japanese air force had great hopes for the use of such aircraft to reconnoiter the Chinese Pacific Fleet. Before departure, the aircraft carrier Soryu carried two such aircraft.

On the morning of November 10, Nagumo Tadaichi and his staff did not know that the transport group had been spotted and attacked by planes in the Mariana Islands. Only one ship, "Dawn", was shot and was not seriously injured, but it was still able to sail; But the important thing is that China has fully realized that the Allied ships are approaching the Mariana Islands, and the Allies are not aware that China has found out.

The first attack wave takes off.

On November 10, in the pre-dawn darkness, in the waters of 240 nautical miles north and west of the Mariana Islands, the first attack wave was preparing to take off from the aircraft carrier of the Nagumo Force to attack the Mariana Islands. The southeast wind and calm sea provide ideal conditions for the take-off of the aircraft.

The eastern sky is slightly white, and the water antenna is faintly visible. Forty minutes before sunrise. At this time, the loudspeakers on all the aircraft carriers shouted the order: "Assemble the pilots!"

The pilots quickly ran to the pilot's standby room under the bridge. After a while, the pilots returned to the flight deck and ran towards their plane. The captain returned to the flight command post and began to issue a series of commands:

"Pilot in position!"

"Start the engine!"

"Captain, sailing against the wind, increasing speed, relative speed fourteen meters (refers to the speed of the wind per second, which is equivalent to nineteen.2 nautical miles per hour. )。 ”

The plane's engine kicks in, and blue-white gas erupts from the plane's exhaust pipe. On the flight deck, there was a deafening noise.

The wing lights of the vanguard bomber came on. Indicates that he is ready. The red and blue lights are on for all aircraft. Sparkling in the dark.

"All planes are ready!" A herald reported. The bright searchlights on the aircraft carrier were suddenly turned on, and the entire flight deck was lit up as if it were day.

"Planes ready to take off!" The flight captain reports to the captain.

All aircraft carriers have increased their horsepower output, increased speed, and sailed against the wind. The anemometer pointer at the flight command post pointed to the required speed.

"Start taking off!" The order to take off was given on the bridge. The captain waved his green signal light. Draw a large circle in the air.

A fighter leads this group of impatient pilots. First of all, add full horsepower. Amidst the thunderous cheers of the crew of the Akagi, it took off along the flight deck.

Under the intense lights on the flight deck, the ground crew on the deck waved their hats and arms feverishly.

The first aircraft were followed by eighteen Gale carrier-based aircraft, followed by dive bombers carrying two hundred and fifty kilograms of land bombs each.

Chihaya's lost canopy opened. The young squad leader waved to the cheering crowd on deck, and the plane roared into the dark sky. Eighteen dive bombers were also quickly lifted into the air. In the sky above, red and blue lights were neatly arranged, indicating that the Gale carrier-based aircraft had formed a formation.

About four kilometers on the port side, the Wyvern's plane was also taking off. One by one, dim lights rose from the brightly lit Wyvern's flight deck into the sky.

In fifteen minutes, a total of one hundred and forty aircraft flew from four aircraft carriers.

When the group was in formation in the sky, it flew in a large circle around the fleet.

Then it flew towards the south-east skyline at 4:45.

The commander-in-chief of the first attack wave was Captain Toonaga Sho Castle. He directly commanded 46 Type 97 horizontal bombers that took off from the Flying Dragon and the Canglong. To his left were forty-eight Type 99 dive bombers led by Admiral Shoichi Ogawa, commander of the Kaga flight detachment. The Soryu's battalion political captain led forty-six Gale fighters to escort the escort. In total, one hundred and forty aircraft.

Today is Tomanaga's first sortie in the Pacific War. He had just reported to the ship before the Flying Dragon's departure, but he was a veteran of the Japanese and American battlefields at the time, and he was a capable and experienced pilot who was fully qualified to lead the air raid.

Captain Ogawa was a brave pilot, and he participated in all the operations of the Nagumo Force, starting with the attack on Kuah Island. His technical proficiency and combat madness were unmatched in the Japanese Naval Air Force. He rode on more than a dozen shining gold stars, which is a testament to his strength.

Captain Yingbo, like most pilots, was a veteran of the war. He is highly skilled in air combat and is a standard fighter pilot. The other pilots are also well-trained, and most have actual combat experience. They can cooperate well with each other.

On the deck of the plane, the deafening noise was now silent. There were no planes, and the rumble of planes could not be heard anymore, only a few deck soldiers were running around, busy packing up their equipment.

However, the silence was again broken by the loud shouts of the megaphone: "Second attack wave ready!"

As the whistle sounded, the ground crew lifted the planes to the flight deck with a lift, and then pushed them to the take-off line. The forward lifts lift the fighters, and the midship and stern lifts the bombers. Ordnance crews dragged torpedoes out of the ammunition compartment with a car and loaded them onto the plane. All the personnel were busy nervously, and the dawn had begun to turn the eastern sky white, and there was no time for rest.

At 5 o'clock, a red sun rises over the water antenna in the east. The flight deck was filled with planes so that the Chinese Pacific Fleet could take off and meet it if it was spotted.

Dive bombers carried one 250-kilogram bomb each. Horizontal bombers carried one torpedo each.

The second attack wave also consisted of 140 aircraft -- 48 Type 99 dive bombers, 46 Type 97 torpedo planes, and 46 Gale carrier-based aircraft.

The commander of the dive bomber squadron was the Soryu's Captain Takashi Egusa. He has always been the number one expert on dive bombing by the Japanese Navy. Before that, when preparations for war began, his dive bomber fleet had trained tenaciously with the goal of annihilating the Chinese aircraft carrier force in one fell swoop.

When they attacked Pearl Harbor in the United States, they were unable to use their skills because there were no aircraft carriers in the harbor that day. But then, in the Indian Ocean, they showed their skill by sinking the British aircraft carrier USS Athletic, the heavy cruisers USS Dorset, and USS Cornwallshire. Now that the time has come to look forward to day and night, it is no wonder that their emotions are very high.

The commander of the torpedo fleet was Admiral Shigeharu Murata of the Akagi. When the attack on Pearl Harbor was being considered two years ago. It was thought that the harbor was too shallow to carry out an air-dropped torpedo attack, but Murata was able to solve the problem through hard work. He led the torpedo fleet to a brilliant victory in the attack on Pearl Harbor. Now. He hoped that this effective tool would be used equally on the sea.

The commander of the air supremacy was the Admiral Shigeru Itaya of the Akagi. He is also a seasoned flyer. He is a veteran fighter pilot in the Japanese Navy. Because of his brilliant achievements, he was considered to be an ace pilot who could enter the world and belonged to the Japanese Navy.

Indeed, these three captains are arguably the best people to carry out this task. And their pilots were also the essence of Allied naval aviation. In terms of training, experience, and ability, there was no better fighting collective than them in the entire Allied Navy. And many of these people are the original team members who attacked Pearl Harbor in the United States.

Nagumo had already concluded that there was no Chinese aircraft carrier fleet near where his troops were located, but in case the Chinese aircraft carriers appeared, he was careful to keep his first-class troops in his hands to deal with them.

Therefore, everything seems to be ready, and even preparations are made for the unexpected, just waiting for the signal to be sent after the discovery of the enemy ship, and after that, it is a matter of the second attack wave.

However, the situation is still somewhat worrying. Because the search planes had just been dispatched, it would probably take some time to find out if there was an enemy fleet nearby. Not only is this threat possible, but it is also necessary to guard against attacks by Chinese shore-based aircraft in the Mariana Islands. The fleet's proximity to the Mariana Islands makes it vulnerable to air strikes, and the flight deck is filled with aircraft, making it a naturally attractive target.

At this time, Nagumo Tadaichi's task force was like a man who was alone in the forest with a bag full of gold.

Naturally, it will attract the attention of the robbers, and whichever robber finds out first will pounce on him.

Although at this time, 18 fighters were already on air supremacy alert over the task force, and the radars on the two US heavy cruisers were on the highest level of alert, and as long as there was any disturbance, it would cause a strong reaction from the radar crews.

However, the strong performance of the Chinese aircraft still makes many people feel uncertain. It was the world's No. 1 air force with a brilliant record of practical combat, and the world's largest aircraft carrier was also in China.

It's best if nothing happens, and in the event of any accidents, there will be a total of eighteen fighters covering the entire mobile unit! Once attacked by enemy aircraft, these forces will absolutely not be able to resist.

But at this moment the formation has used forty-six fighters for the attack on the Mariana Islands, and the other forty-six fighters are left as a reserve in the second attack wave, so that only eighteen fighters are left as the air combat patrol force of the thirty-one warships of the formation.

After calming down, there were many fears that flexibility might be lost by leaving half of the force as a reserve. Until the Chinese fleet is discovered or the absence of an enemy in the vicinity is confirmed, half of the attack force of the formation must be retained for emergency purposes. Even if it is attacked by Chinese shore-based aircraft, the formation must maintain such a reserve force. So it seems that the operational flexibility of the formations was affected from the very beginning.

In fact, many people understand this war that has been going on here, but they don't dare to say it. Even if the naval battle ended with an Allied victory, the Allies did not have the strength to counterattack. China has tens of millions of land forces, and their army, like the air force, is synonymous with nightmares in the eyes of many Japanese and American soldiers.

On the battlefield today, both Japan and the United States are holding their breath, and if this breath is dissipated, the army will be defeated.

In this tone, the navy is the key, victory is bound to be a good thing, and defeat is to lose the victory of the war. (To be continued......)