Chapter 208: Solomon Checkers

At 7 a.m., the engines of the 27 planes of the second attack wave — 12 shipboard fighters and 15 shipboard attack planes carrying torpedoes — roared, the windbreaks at the front of the deck had been lowered, and the take-off flags on the masts were flying.

A "Haiyundian" fighter at the very front of the group released the brakes of the wheels, accelerated suddenly, instantly ran over the red take-off line across the deck, and slid out twenty or thirty meters in the blink of an eye.

After that, almost every 30 seconds, a plane crossed the take-off line, and in less than a quarter of an hour, the huge flight deck was empty again, and over the entire mobile force, a total of 54 air raid formations had been gathered, including 24 ships (12 each for the Jinpeng and 12 Sakers) and 30 for attack (15 each for the Jinpeng and Saker).

The formation climbed in a neat formation toward the sea of clouds in the southeast, and the target was the US aircraft carrier task force 30 nautical miles east of Kirakira.

Pan Guochen, who was guarding the bridge of the Jinpeng, watched the formation gradually disappear above the sea and sky, rubbed his sour neck, and glanced down at the flight deck.

In addition to these three planes of the Jinpeng, the Saker will also allocate three ships to attack, and another 1 water plane will be ejected from the battle patrol Lightning Mine, the Haruna, the Light Cruiser, and the Chenghua, a total of 10 reconnaissance planes, and the reconnaissance range is 120 degrees southeast of the fleet, with a reconnaissance radius of 120 to 150 nautical miles.

The second batch of six ships of the air defense guard and three ships of the anti-submarine patrol force attacked and further strengthened the vigilance against air and submarines.

It seems that everything is going smoothly and orderly, and there are no particularly unexpected situations.

Even at 7:35 a.m., it was discovered that it was being followed by a four-engine heavy bomber, and the corvette was unsuccessfully intercepted, and the aircraft was intercepted sending a message of sufficient length; Or at 7:55 a.m., when the second attack wave was still taking off, the battleship successfully shot down a pontoon-type seaplane that was sneaking up on the ground—all of which were expected and uncertain.

But for what, my heart is still up and down, and I always feel that things will not be so simple?

Until there is no more information to refer to and prove, Pan Guochen's intuitive anxiety can only be buried in his stomach, drowning under the excessive coffee solution he drank at breakfast.

The reconnaissance report received at 7:25 a.m. initially startled Pan Guochen: the task force found east of Kirakira was much larger than had been speculated in previous intelligence, and in terms of the number of its backbone forces—eight battleships and two aircraft carriers—it was no less than our Solomon Raiders fleet.

The supplementary reports received subsequently showed that at least six of the eight battleships were super-dreadnought battleships equipped with 356-millimeter guns, and the other two "new battleships" that could not be identified were estimated to be improved versions of the "New Mexico" class of the US military, and it was very unlikely that they would be equipped with main guns of more than 356 millimeters, and the large number of cruisers and destroyers in the formation further confirmed the authenticity of the number of key troops.

In the face of the enemy's strength, which was far stronger than expected, the general of Dongfang High School did not have any fear, on the contrary, he was simply excited, and not only resolutely ordered the second attack wave, which had already been prepared, to take off to attack the enemy, but also immediately sent a telegram to the commander of the main force, Lieutenant General Yamaya, asking the main force to move south at full speed to prepare for an artillery battle.

"I imagine that the strong will bully the weak and torture the enemy army one-sidedly, but in reality, it will only be an evenly matched and dignified battle, so what is there to do?"

Dongfang Gao's remarks are not unreasonable, not to mention the superiority of the aviation combat power of the mobile forces, as far as the known intelligence goes, although the total number of capital ships of the mobile forces and the main forces is only six, and the main guns are all 350 mm caliber, they far surpass the US Navy's heavy-armored "iron turtles" that can only run to 21 knots in terms of mobility: the four Yangbo-class high-speed battleships can reach a speed of 25 knots, and the two Thunder-class battlecruisers can soar to 28 knots.

On the ocean, the capital ships face off, if the firepower and protection of the two sides are equal, the decisive thing is mobility.

The side with a faster speed will seize the initiative in the battle, and can seize a favorable position when it advances, and the enemy ships will be unable to pursue it if it retreats.

Moreover, if the opponent's aircraft carrier can be eliminated within two waves of air strikes, the mobile force will still have enough time to unilaterally torture and kill the US iron turtle that has lost air cover, and this will inevitably greatly weaken the enemy's superiority in the number of capital ships -- in this way, it seems to be a pocket copy of last year's naval battle in the Bay of Bengal.

Merely...... The premise for the above deduction to be established is, firstly, the successful suppression of the shore-based air force in Kirakira, and secondly, the strength of the enemy's forces in the theater of operations is limited to this.

What if in some place that has not yet been searched, another enemy aircraft carrier task force is waiting for an opportunity?

No, it can't be, even if the British can complete more than 3 new aircraft carriers within 6 months of the Battle of the Bay of Bengal, it is impossible to put them all into the Pacific theater, and according to the report of the Joint Air Force in Turkey, 1 Royal Navy "Brilliant" class fleet aircraft carrier was also discovered in the Aegean Sea last month.

And so on - in the second reconnaissance report, while identifying the specific types of most of the capital ships in that fleet, it failed to identify the types of two aircraft carriers, although it cannot be ruled out that these two aircraft carriers were really new models of the British, and another possibility is equally impossible to ignore: they are from the US Navy, like the eight battleships.

If the latter is the truth, then an even more terrifying hypothesis may be true: the second attack wave has just set off for air raids, in fact, it is actually a deliberately exposed decoy by the enemy, and another aircraft carrier task force from the British Royal Navy is hiding in the middle of nowhere, trying to launch a surprise attack on our troops.

But it has only been a year and a half since the start of the war, where did the US Navy get its aircraft carriers?

Could it be an auxiliary aircraft carrier that was urgently converted by a merchant ship or a cruise ship – so that it could be used as bait without pity?

That's right, even if an auxiliary aircraft carrier with very limited tactical and technical performance is mainly engaged in air defense missions, the number of fighters that can be carried is still quite considerable, and if the fighter fleet of the base aviation unit is assigned to duty in turn nearby, it is enough to form a continuous air defense shield.

According to the experience of the naval battle in the Bay of Bengal, the aircraft carrier task force, escorted by sufficient fighter planes and large and medium-sized ships fully equipped with anti-aircraft firepower, can greatly reduce the combat efficiency of the enemy's air attack troops and inflict losses on the other side that are difficult to sustain.

So it makes sense, worthless auxiliary aircraft carriers, a large number of battleships and cruisers with a lot of space to install various anti-aircraft guns - although they are decoys, they are full of stingers, and their deliberate exposure is not only to divert the attention of our troops, but also to take the opportunity to deplete our aviation forces

No, even if there is no tangible intelligence to prove this inference, at least we have to remind the commander of the East, not afraid of 10,000, just in case, at this time, I don't care what others will think, what if the hat of the "supervising army" is put on? Lao Tzu is the prison army, and he is not convinced to cry under His Majesty the Empress of our family

Having made up his mind, Pan Guochen got into the bridge in three steps and two steps, and was about to talk to Dongfang Gao, when a poignant and short alarm suddenly jumped out of the small loudspeaker overhead, and a calm bass then reported: "At 8:10, at 8 o'clock, my guard plane shot down an enemy plane, suspected of single-engine water reconnaissance ......."

……

At 8:30 a.m., on the east coast of San Cristóbal Island, after the first wave of air raids of the day, the Kirakira Air Base was surrounded by green smoke and 68 planes on three runways, but they were ready to go, and their target was the East Asian Army aircraft carrier task force 90 nautical miles away.

On the improvised tower overlooking Runway 1, Major General Westland, commander of the United Air Force Toucano, pulled the rope with his own hands and raised the signal flag.

Amid the sound of engines resounding through the sky, one after another warplanes laden with gasoline and ammunition taxied, off the ground, climbed high, formed formation, and went away, and in less than a quarter of an hour, the runway was empty.

The strength of the first attack wave was somewhat reduced by the 21 Royal Aircraft Factory 5 fighters in two squadrons, 30 T.1 "Cuckoo" torpedo bombers in four squadrons, and 17 Twin-engine medium bombers of the Handley Pedi or Martin type in three squadrons.

The Chinese again dropped a large number of cluster bombs - an air-burst incendiary shotgun that played a key role in the Singapore air war, but the tragedy in Singapore was not repeated, and the long-emptied runways and tarmacs had no targets that the enemy wanted to destroy, and the Chinese pilots had to drop the bombs seemingly blindly into the jungle around the runway.

Dense rainforests and well-camouflaged bunkers offset most of the shotgun's power – even so, 2 four-engine heavy bombers, 5 twin-engine medium bombers, 7 single-engine torpedo bombers, and 4 fighter jets, a total of 18 combat aircraft, were blown up on the spot or were rendered unable to be dispatched on the day.

In the fierce air battles before and after, 14 of the 48 fighters at the base were shot down by enemy planes in the air, one crashed during landing, and two of the fighters that returned safely were scrapped and two could not be dispatched that day

Although the corresponding results cannot be confirmed for the time being, judging from the losses on the ground, the effect of the fighter unit's interception is far from ideal.

On the contrary, the anti-aircraft artillery units on the ground reported a lot of exaggerated shot down figures - together these numbers were enough to shoot down an entire air strike team twice.

"The sword is out of its sheath, now it's up to Task Force 51."

Westland's thoughts were interrupted by the seemingly heroic words of his nominal boss, Major General Mitchell, who glanced at him sideways and ordered indifferently: "The second attack wave is coming, and also, bring me a cup of coffee, no sugar." ”

……