While the fierce sons were studying the battle plan, the Japanese fleet escorted troop carriers and freighters, and went straight to the Lakshadweep Islands, where the accident occurred.

But when they arrived, there was no sign of the corpses and ships except for a few floating debris on the surface of the sea.

Looking at the oil stain on the sea, Yamamoto Fifty-six ordered to put down the stop and search carefully.

After some salvage, what belonged to the Japanese was salvaged, which shows that this is the location of the naval battle.

With the determination of the location, the aircraft carrier was divided into three formations, and the fan-shaped search in three directions advanced, and the seaplanes took off one after another, with a radius of 200 kilometers, and began a large-scale search.

But where can they find it? They also don't know what to say, this fierce man's fleet is busy in the predetermined sea area, busy laying mines.

Receiving a message from the surveillance submarine, Takeshi, with most of the work already done, ordered the group to leave and march south of Somalia, in the deep sea, leaving behind four destroyers to linger near Socotra Island.

Several mine-laying ships were busy and finally completed the laying of mines before dawn, and then began to evacuate and chase after the brigade of Mengzi.

The Japanese fanned out the search, found no enemy attack, and then rendezvous at dawn, sailed towards the Gulf of Aden, where they prepared to find a suitable position, the battleships were in position in advance, and the pursuit was stopped by naval guns for a few hours, and the army was expected to leave the land. You must know that this time they not only brought troop carriers and ships, but also small landing ships to facilitate the transportation of supplies and soldiers in the shallows. Achieve the purpose of fast pedaling.

Land early and build a defensive line to prepare all the vehicles on board. This is the work to be done by the 3 Ben 56 Fleet.

As long as the position is constructed and the enemy continues to pursue at this speed without knowing it, they are expected to march quickly, making it difficult for the enemy's long-range artillery to quickly follow up in the desert, and the blocked position, assisted by naval guns, will hold out for a day or two. It's all over.

Yamamoto didn't think that this plan would work, or else the army there would be driven to the lowest part of the Arabian Peninsula. The most reluctantly annihilated there.

In order to cover this plan, Hideki Tojo and Seishiro Itagaki each led a brigade, and one team stuck to the Red Sea, marching in the direction of the Gulf of Aden. All the way south along the Gulf of Oman. Marching in the direction of the Gulf of Aden, at the last of all, boarding ships at Mukala and Ayton, the puppet army in the middle of the desert area attracted another part of the enemy army, so that the strength of the enemy's pursuit had to be dispersed, and finally let the whole army flee.

After the fleet turn, the three aircraft carriers headed for Socotra with the fleet.

The seaplanes are still not idle. Or a flight full of skies, searching for the presence of enemy ships.

Just near Socotra. A seaplane spotted four British-flagged battleships, two of which were identified with torpedo tubes and two without, presumably torpedo destroyers and light cruisers.

As soon as the news reached the flagship, Yamamoto fifty-six intuitively thought that this was the fleet they were looking for. There will be no other warships roaming here except the British, because it is not far from South Africa.

"Surround it, don't let one go!"

Following his order, the three aircraft carriers quickly separated with a group of warships according to the established plan, blocked the Gulf of Aden in a fan shape, and outflanked the location where the enemy ships were found.

Li Rongbin, who commanded four destroyers, had already received news from the submarine that the fleet was approaching, so he ordered the battleships to sail in the direction of Mukara.

The seaplanes overhead bit them tightly under the clouds, reporting their directions every ten minutes.

Seeing their course heading straight for Mukara, Yamamoto Fifty-six couldn't help but frown.

Could it be that the enemy knows the rescue plan?

Not sure, but it was necessary to destroy this fleet, so he ordered to continue the encirclement, drive the four warships to Mukla, and sink them there.

Li Rongbin stood in the tower of the ship, listening to the radarman constantly reporting the position of the enemy ship, he stood there steadily, did not worry because the enemy ship was about to close in, put on a look that he still did not know what to do, and continued to approach Mukara.

When Yamamoto Isoroku was less than fifty nautical miles away from Mukara in the aircraft carrier formation on the left, he had already seen the other side telling the battleship and the aircraft carrier to be blocked. It is important to know that this is a battleship that has changed hands from Italy, with an average speed of thirty knots, and a destroyer reaching forty knots, which is much faster than their thirty-seven knots. At this speed, no enemy ship will be able to escape.

"Report, the enemy ship on the left is fifteen nautical miles away and at a speed of thirty knots. The enemy ship on the right was twenty-one nautical miles away and had a speed of twenty-eight knots. The enemy ship in the middle was twenty-nine nautical miles away and at a speed of twenty-six knots. ”

With the arrival of data reports one by one, Li Rongbin knew that it was almost time to go, but he was just about to give an order, when he suddenly asked: "What is the speed of the enemy ship group on the left?" Is there an aircraft carrier? ”

The adjutant stood up and repeated loudly: "Report, the enemy ship on the left has a speed of thirty knots, and there is an aircraft carrier. ”

Thirty-knot aircraft carriers? Could this be an aircraft carrier that Italy transferred to Japan?

Li Rongbin squinted his eyes and pondered, and then ordered: "All ships are ready for air defense, advance at full speed in the established direction, be ready to seize the T-position, and prepare for armor-piercing shells for the main gun and auxiliary guns, ready to meet the battle at any time!" ”

The plane had not yet taken off fifteen nautical miles, and Li Rongbin did not think too much about it, and quickly ordered the fleet to sail at high speed from the outflanked fleet head on the left to the depths of the Gulf of Aden.

As soon as he moved, the speed had only increased, and the radarman saw the enemy plane taking off.

Will this take off?

Li Rongbin didn't care, just a flash of thought, and then ignored it.

The battleship was still moving at high speed, getting faster and faster, gradually approaching forty knots.

At this moment, the alarm sounded on the battleship, followed by the roar of all the fire control anti-aircraft guns. The 127 anti-aircraft guns and the 75 anti-aircraft guns all opened fire, and in the midst of the flames, one shell after another flew into the sky.

Yamamoto 56 did not take off from a long distance to intercept the plane, in fact, it was nothing else, it was to be encircled. Their battleships were not capable of impressing the destroyer's main guns of caliber below 200, and there was no need to take off the aircraft too early. Let the other party escape again. Anyway, the other party doesn't have a plane, so he won't know that he has arrived.

The take-off plane was nothing more than a disturbance to the battleship, and the real combat strength was ready for him to use the battleship.

But the plane had just taken off. Before even the height of 500 meters had risen, a sudden explosion sounded in the sky, followed by a volley explosion one after another, and in just a few seconds, there was no plane in the sky except for scattered debris.

"Ahh

Yamamoto Fifty-six was taken aback. This air defense is too sharp!

Before he could turn from the shock routine, Li Rongbin had already quickly grabbed the head of the left fleet. The distance from the fleet is about 20,000 meters.

"Fire!!"

The moment he entered the T-shaped position, Li Rongbin yelled.

With his order, the four battleships erupted in flames. Shells whizzed towards the enemy ships moving at high speed.

"Yaga!!"

Yamamoto was furious over there, and before he could fire, he lost ten attack planes first, and it was a new type of flamingo!

"The fast battleship came out of the line and bit the other side. The aircraft carrier slowed down. Fighter planes take off!! Quick closing on the right side! ”

He did not lose his mind in anger, and calmly ordered.

Just as he gave the order and the ships reacted, but before they could complete the change of formation, a piercing scream suddenly came from the sky.

20,000 meters!!

All the Japanese soldiers who heard the whistling of shells froze. 20,000 meters, their naval guns can also reach it, but needless to say, the accuracy is purely artillery to fight mosquitoes. Accuracy is almost equal to zero.

As soon as their thoughts fell, a loud boom sounded around the battleship. Columns of water rose into the sky. Then the battleship was like a hurricane, and the roaring sea water splashed down, so that the soldiers on the love squad were immediately drenched, and there was nothing in front of them, and everything was blocked by the water curtain.

Straddle ......

Everyone was stunned. At such a long distance, it was still relatively high-speed driving, and there was a round of cross-fire, and it was full of shells from the front, rear, left and right, although several warships were not shot, but this was just their luck. There are also two shells that are only a few tens of meters away from the aircraft carrier, which will fall on the flight deck, so that the other side does not need to sink it, and the aircraft carrying bombs and torpedoes on the full deck is enough to send the aircraft carrier to the bottom of the sea.

"Aircraft carrier retreat !!"

Yamamoto Fifty-six was equally surprised. Although he was not on the aircraft carrier, he also saw a thrilling scene on the battleship.

With his order, two destroyers and two light cruisers rushed towards the front of the carrier at high speed, using their bodies to increase the protection of the aircraft carrier, and all the anti-aircraft machine guns and anti-aircraft guns opened fire at the same time, not to hit the target, but in the hope of blocking the shells in this way, so that the carrier could slow down and move away.

As luck would have it, the aircraft carrier slowed down sharply and began to make a looping maneuver, but the shells did not extend any further, but only landed on a few destroyers that were advancing and battleships at the point behind.

Clusters of fire rose, and then the battleship's upper pipe loss team dragged the water pipe and rushed up, and the water column immediately rushed towards the fire point.

The moment the shells fell, it became endless, and the four battleships, the main guns were all single-barreled, but Yamamoto 56 felt as if he was fighting against four battleships, and the opponent's main guns were all triple or quadruple.

The shells were as dense as rain, and several battleships were frequently shot, as were several destroyers and fast frigates that rushed forward, and the fires on the battleships flickered, and one of them had to be hit by at least two shots.

Even his flagship, the Yamato, was hit twice, only one hit the No. 1 main turret, which was blocked by a six-hundred-and-fifty-millimeter shield and blew up a crater. The other hit the side and opened a hole of more than a meter above the waterline, which was blocked by a watertight compartment and caused no damage.

How can the rate of fire of the opposing battleship be so fast?!

Yamamoto Isoroku tried to see the battleship 20,000 meters away through the smoke and water curtain, not to mention the low visibility, even if it was high, he couldn't see that far, only the rangefinder could see that far away.

But it would be impossible to back down, and it would be a shame for the Combined Fleet to be beaten by four destroyers and not be able to fight back.

Fortunately, the fast battleship that rushed forward had already soared to forty knots, and it was expected to entangle the enemy ship, and he only had one chance, as long as he could sink a battleship with one shot.

The planes, even more took off one after another, and this time they did not rush over, but assembled in the air, and after completing the formation, launched an attack on four warships on the scale of bombing aircraft carriers. (To be continued......)