June 18, 7:30 a.m.

The morning fog has cleared, and the morning sun has dawned.

Colonel Liang Shuming's First Air Force suddenly received an order from Commander Lin Taizeng: Your unit will send planes to search for the enemy fleet in the south, searching for a fan of 120 degrees and a chord distance of 80 nautical miles.

A quarter of an hour later, two naval carriers with a standard displacement of 7,300 tons each -- the "Flying Eagle" and the "Sky Eagle" -- began to hoist the "Flying Eagle" seaplane into the sea, and in order to ensure the successful completion of the mission, Liang Shuming finally decided to dispatch 10 seaplanes, each responsible for the search sector at 12 o'clock and 5 degrees, and after the planes completed the search flight of more than 180 nautical miles within 3 hours. It can be refueled and ready to go to the sky again within 1 hour.

The 1001st aircraft belonging to the 1st Carrier-based Reconnaissance Squadron on the flagship of the squadron "Flying Eagle" first started its engine and began to taxi, and the fusiform main pontoon boat under the fuselage and the two auxiliary pontoons under the wing pulled out a snow-white water mark on the sea surface, and as the speed increased, the nose of the fuselage was raised, and at this moment, the slender tail was almost submerged in the water - at this moment, the front of the two auxiliary pontoons and the main pontoon boat were out of the water, and it seemed that the tail was about to be inserted into the water. The "Dian J", manufactured by Beiyang Heavy Industry Tianjin Aviation Factory, leaps into the blue-gray sky of the South China Sea bathed in the tranquil morning light with thin rectangular wings on both sides.

Then came the second, the third...... The officers and men standing on the side of the mothership raised their hats to each of the sailors that were taking off, which was a blessing and an encouragement, and it was their simple mood to "pray for your safe return and please complete your mission."

At the same time, Commander Lin Taizeng, who witnessed the dispatch of the sailor unit, also took off his white gilded dragon-edged admiral's hat on the bridge of the "Ruixiang".

"Before noon, we must find the Russian fleet, I need an afternoon to destroy them."

"Are you sure they're still heading north?" Sa Zhenbing on the side didn't seem to have unconditional absolute trust in his commander.

"I feel like they're nearby, and if they're not around, it just means they're going to have to suffer more." Lin Tai once had a confident mind.

The long wait began – for Linté and for Rozhestvensky. The long, adrenaline-pumping focus that exists in brain cells may have felt that every hour before the discovery of the enemy fleet was equivalent to a full day, and that Rozhestvensky might have felt that every hour before reaching the "safe" waters of French Indochina was equivalent to a month...... The difference in mentality between expecting the killer and the one trying to escape should be more than that......

When the "legendary flying monster" swept over the head of the Russian flagship "Duke Suvorov", Rozhestvensky seemed to have smelled the smell of molten steel and burnt meat, and then he gave a meaningless order: the auxiliary cruisers "Dnie", "Lyon", "Kuban" and "Terek" were out of the ranks, and sailed at full speed in the east-northeast direction of 70 degrees to confuse each other, and after nightfall, the four ships could sail to the port of Manila in the Philippines by their own choice.

At 9:30 a.m., the No. 1003 plane of the No. 1 Ship Reconnaissance Squadron on board the "Flying Eagle" spotted the Russian fleet sailing in a three-way column, and because the small radio on the "Sting-J" was only 30 nautical miles away, the No. 1003 plane had no choice but to return home at full speed.

At about 10:15 p.m., Lin Tai aboard the "Ruixiang" received a telegram from the "Flying Eagle": "Our ship discovered the enemy fleet 30 minutes ago, and it was at 7 o'clock (south-southwest) in the direction of our ship, 70 nautical miles, and headed 360 (due north). ”

"Commander, your judgment is completely correct, they really took the waterway to the west......" Chief of Staff Sa Zhenbing had to admire.

After some careful calculation, Lin Tai once announced the order: "Order, the whole team turns right to azimuth 210, the second battle speed, ready to meet the enemy!" ”

Judging from the nautical chart, the red boat model representing the main force of the East Asian Combined Fleet is about to pass diagonally through the blue boat model representing the Russian Second Pacific Fleet at a 60-degree angle.

In order to keep abreast of the movements of the Russian fleet, Lin Tai ordered Liang Shuming's air team to send the remaining two "Bolt" J to the area where the Russian fleet is located.

"Everything is ready, just wait for the cannon to go off. The order went down: first, the whole team changed to battle formation; Second, lunch was held early at 11:30 a.m. to tell everyone that everyone might not have time for dinner. After the deployment was completed, Lin Tai once went into the chart room and stared at the navigation staff officer using a small push rod to move the small boat model representing the position of the two fleets one centimeter by centimeter.

At about 10:45 a.m., the "Asahi," the flagship of the Japanese Light Patrol Squadron 1, which had been ordered to patrol west of the Anambas Islands and on the 5th parallel north latitude, also spotted the Russian fleet, and then sent a telegram calling the other three ships of the squadron to follow and follow the Russian fleet.

Upon discovering the Japanese ships trailing, Rozhestvensky immediately ordered the fleet to change from an escort formation to a battle formation, in which the first formation, as the main force of the fleet, was located on the left side of the fleet, and marched in a single column in the order of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd detachments; The remaining auxiliary fleet of 5 transport ships and 1 repair ship was located in the left side of the fleet, in front of which were the large cruisers "Bright" and "Oleg", behind which were the old armored cruisers "Dmitry & # 8226, Donsky & Vladimir & #8226; Monomakh", as well as the light cruisers "Aurora" and "Emerald", on the right side of which were 8 destroyers; The front of the fleet was flanked by the fast light cruisers "Diamond" and "Pearl", respectively, as "spearheads", who sailed almost parallel to the flagship "Duke Suvorov", at a distance of 2-3 nautical miles from the flagship.

At this time, the Combined Fleet had already finished changing its formation, and at a speed of 14 knots, it was breaking through the waves of the Russian Fleet more than 50 nautical miles away, and the East Asian Combined Fleet's combat formation that day was as follows: The First Squadron, personally commanded by Vice Admiral Lin Taizeng, was located on the left side of the fleet and drove in a single column, and the First Squadron was divided into the first detachment and the second detachment, the former under the command of Lin Taizeng himself, which had jurisdiction over three "Ruixiang" class battleships, and the latter under the command of Rear Admiral Dai Kangbo, which had jurisdiction over three "Feidian" class battleships; The second squadron under the command of Rear Admiral Ma Shengyu was behind the first squadron and also traveled in a single column, with the first detachment consisting of the flagship "Hangzhou" and five "Fukuun"-class armored cruisers, and the second detachment consisting of four Japanese "Fuji"-class armored cruisers; The 3rd Squadron commanded by Commodore Liao Shengzhen had 16 light cruisers at this time, of which the 4 fast light cruisers of the 3rd Squadron, "Gu Yu", "Fog Rain", "Winter Rain", and "Songyu", were separated from each other at a distance of 2 nautical miles and drove in front of the fleet as the vanguard, and the remaining 12 light cruisers drove in a single column in the position of dragging behind on the right side of the fleet; At this time, the Fourth Squadron under the command of Colonel Shu Shide still had 16 Yuezi destroyers left, and the other 16 Xuezi destroyers under the original jurisdiction of the Squadron had been sent to conduct reconnaissance and search missions before, and the Fourth Squadron with the "Haoyue" as the flagship was driving on the right side of the Third Squadron in a parallel double column.

At a relative speed of more than 20 knots, two large fleets gradually approached.

At about thirteen o'clock, at a distance of about 12 nautical miles, the avant-garde cruisers of both sides discovered each other almost simultaneously, and fifteen minutes later the flagships of both sides confirmed each other, and time was irreversible.

At this time, the course of the Second Pacific Fleet was 350 (northwest near north) and the speed was 11 knots, and the course of the main force of the Combined Fleet was 240 (west-southwest) and the speed was 14 knots.

"Turn right 20 for the whole team, maximum speed!" Lin Tai on the "Ruixiang" immediately ordered to prepare to lead the first and second teams to further cut the course of the Russian fleet and achieve the goal of seizing the T-head position.

Rozhestvensky on the "Duke Suvorov" was not willing to sit still, and when he saw that the situation was not right, he immediately ordered the fleet to turn right to the 80th direction and bend to the northeast at a right angle of nearly 90 degrees, with the aim of passing by the main force of the combined fleet at a relative speed of 25 knots, at which time the two sides could only engage in a brief exchange of fire with little effect, and the Russian fleet would have the opportunity to turn the battle into a rear-end melee, and until nightfall, the ships could be relatively safely dispersed and break through to the waters of French Indochina.

Witnessing the sudden change in the situation, Sa Zhenbing couldn't help but lean over to Lin Taizeng and ask, "Do you want to dispatch a destroyer to carry out a lightning strike?" ”

"No need, our destroyers are too small to play a big role, so it's more effective to stay and deal with the enemy's wounded ships."

"So do you want to take the second plan and assign the second team to attack?"

"This is the most effective method, and it has been skillfully used against the First Pacific Fleet...... It was decided, the order was given, the second team came out of the ranks, turned left to azimuth 170, and cut the enemy's current course at maximum speed, and the other teams maintained the formation movement with the flagship. "Lin Tai didn't have much time to think, partly because he didn't have time, and secondly because he was qualified to rely on intuition.

The order was quickly executed, and the 10 armored cruisers of the second coalition squad cut to the front of the Russian fleet at a maximum speed of 20 knots like sharp blades, at this time the distance between the two sides was less than 8,000 yards, and the coalition warships occupied the T-head position and could exert all the broadside firepower, and the Russian fleet was below the T-shape, and the follow-up ships could not give full play to their firepower due to the influence of the leading ship.

At 14 o'clock, the front main gun of the flagship of the first squadron "Hangzhou" made a loud noise, and a 305-millimeter huge bomb dropped sound waves far away, flying over the sea and air of seven or eight thousand yards in more than ten seconds, splashing water 300 yards away on the left side of the flagship of the Russian fleet "Duke Suvorov", and then exploding a snow-white water column dozens of meters high - although it was only a test projectile, it sounded the opening gong that shook the sky and the sea for the gorgeous steel battle curtain of the industrial age......