While waiting for the official start of the operation, the main task of the Japanese "special support fleet" was to recuperate. The 2 Kongo-class and 2 Tone-class were basically at home, and the Kakumi Abukuma and the other 11 destroyers only went out for a walk every day, and most of the rest of the time was resting.

The arrival of these shipwives has added a touch of beautiful scenery to the "coral" mining area where they docked.

The "Army and Navy Corps (Engineer and Ship Units)", which are also stationed here, are very envious of the "ships" and "mothers" of the Navy. If you compare the two phases like this, the army's small gunboats are not to mention those 10,000-ton big warships, and even the navy's destroyers can crush them and they can't raise their heads.

It is worth mentioning that in the world the Japanese destroyers were much more famous than their battleships. This is not only because the Japanese destroyer has tried a lot of bold designs, but also because of its "extravagant" style in the application of the god core!

The naval warships of most human countries generally use the god core with an ideal value equivalent to about 120% of the tonnage of the hull, because under this ratio, the performance of the warship and the state of the ship's mother are the most ideal.

The navies of various countries have found that when the ideal value of the divine core exceeds 20% of the tonnage of the hull, the performance is about 15% higher than that of the equivalent assimilation. Further up, more than 40% of the tonnage can be increased by 25%, 60% of the tonnage can be increased by 30%, 80% of the tonnage can be increased by 32%, and 100% of the tonnage can be increased by 35%, showing a gradual decreasing trend.

In order to pursue the performance advantage of a single ship, the Japanese Navy often "stuffs small ships with big cores", which is especially obvious in the destroyers they started building 39 years later. Like the Yangyan-class destroyer with a hull displacement of just over 2,000 points, some of the later ships used a 4,000-ton god core, so the appearance of the ship mother is relatively mature.

For example, of the 11 destroyers of the Special Support Fleet, 9 of them are the latest cutting-edge Yangyan class of the Japanese army, and the appearance of these girls is close to the level of 12~14 years old. Especially the 17th destroyer flotilla. In addition to the Gu Feng, which is a 3,500-ton god core, the other three are already the limit of 4,000 tons, which can be called "traitors among elementary school students"!

Their existence not only frustrated the self-esteem of the light cruiser Abukuma, who is the flagship of the reconnaissance fleet, but also made the 18th destroyer fleet, which is all 3,000 tons, feel very unhappy.

It's also Yangyan-level, why is the gap between the ships so big!?

During the docking at the mining area, Rear Admiral Sentaro Omori, who was in charge of commanding the vigilance troops, learned of the conflict between the destroyers, and once tried to mediate the discordant relationship between the two groups of young girls, the 17th and 18th drives, but in the end it ended in failure because the oil and salt of both sides did not advance.

In desperation. Rear Admiral Omori could only adopt the "isolation method" and rotate the two destroyer fleets out on duty.

As the saying goes, "out of sight and out of mind", less time to meet, naturally less conflict.

On 23 November, about two weeks before the arrival of the expeditionary carrier mobile unit, it was the turn of the 17th Destroyer Fleet to go out on patrol. After all, the support fleet is ostensibly a defense force stationed in the Shattered Star Zone, and if the nest does not come out of the port, it will attract unnecessary suspicion from the surrounding forces.

Since Japan is currently the closest national power to Zhao's territory in the Shattered Star Zone, they are aware of the existence of Star Castle and are also worried about the Kii, but they suffer from insufficient intelligence. He never dared to act rashly, so before the departure of the 17th Destroyer Fleet, Rear Admiral Omori strictly ordered the captains of all ships not to trespass into dangerous areas.

After the departure of the 17 destroyer fleet, 4 destroyers divided into two teams and went to patrol different areas.

Among them, the team of Isokaze and Hamakaze is responsible for the side that is close to the "danger zone". The Japanese army deployed several communication ships in this area. It is used to increase the maximum range of radio communication, and if the patrolling ships find themselves suddenly unable to contact the base, it means that they have strayed into enemy territory.

As the other day, the two ships, the Isokaze and the Hamakaze, patrolled their spheres of influence. In the radio channel. On average, a base confirmation question is sent every five minutes, allowing patrol vessels to determine if their current position has crossed the line.

For the ship's mother. Patrol duty is one of the easiest errands, as there is usually no fighting, so they can hand over control of the hull to human sailors. Whenever this is the kind of leisure, Isokaze will take out his own fold-out deck chair to sunbathe on the deck, while Hamakaze will run to the bow of the boat to watch the scenery in a daze.

Both Yangyan-class destroyers were new ships that began construction on Europa after the Great Migration, and they were in service for less than three months. Because of the excellent performance of the hull and the fact that most of the sailors were veterans, they were selected to participate in this surprise attack that would determine the fate of Japan in the future.

But at this time, most of the sailors on board, like their mothers, did not know what the real goal of the operation was, so they generally lacked the tension they deserved, believing that they were just carrying out ordinary assignments.

The two ships had been roaming around the patrol area for most of the day, and the situation around them seemed to be as calm as usual. But just when they thought it was another "peaceful day," the observers of the Isokaze suddenly spotted what appeared to be a submarine flashing in their direction at two o'clock, which immediately alerted the two ships.

In the current space age, the early dimensional submarines generally played the role of "scouts", and later there were torpedoes that could threaten large ships, so the "assassin" attribute was added. But even so, the submarine itself is still a very weak role in naval combat ships.

Due to the small tonnage of the general, most submarines are not able to dive for long periods of time, so submarines will sail like ordinary ships before entering combat status, and at slower speeds. At this time, submarines are very vulnerable, and once they are discovered by hostile forces, they can easily be destroyed.

So when Isokaze and Hamakaze spotted a suspected submarine target, the captains of the two ships decided to catch up and take a look. The Japanese army, like most ordinary countries, lacked anti-submarine equipment in the true sense of the word, and it was better to quietly kill the other side than to let the other side wander around near their own doorstep.

So Isokaze and Hamafeng immediately turned around and chased in the direction where the submarine had just flashed. And the two ships didn't realize until this time that they were approaching the danger step by step! (To be continued......)

PS: But the Japanese destroyers, they are fantastic!