Although it is not clear how many aircraft carriers the Americans sent, there are only five of them.

In any case, the naval battle strength is seven against five, and the advantage is mine!

The brisk atmosphere made Zhou Changfeng's anxiety even worse, and this level of nervousness had never been felt before for him, not even in the fierce battle environment of Demagi, which had just crossed over.

If you don't think about tea, you don't want to eat, and it's hard to sit still.

The Ziwei Zuoyuan has a luxurious catering service no less than that of a battleship, but in the face of sumptuous dishes, Zhou has no appetite, the hot white rice tastes like chewing wax, and the fragrant plum cabbage and meat taste like chicken ribs.

In order to let himself rest well, he asked the military doctor for a tranquilizing pill and went to bed early.

It was a night that kept countless people on both sides awake at night.

At 5:05 local time, there is still an hour and a half before sunrise.

On the Ziwei Zuoyuan, the pilots who were ordered to carry out reconnaissance missions were woken up in a deep sleep, and one by one they were sleepy-eyed, rubbing their eyes and walking outside the cabin.

As for the rest of the pilots, they were able to sleep for an extra hour.

After everyone finished washing, they came to the separate pilot restaurant in a hurry to enjoy the special small stove that belongs to the pilots of carrier-based aircraft.

The pork skin is boiled in soup and seasoned, the shrimp are fried in the shrimp line until golden brown and crispy, the two are put into the empty eggshell together to cool, each half of the eggshell is stuffed with three shrimps, a total of twelve, and then accompanied by a small dish of garlic paste, the name of this dish is "Golden Rooster Dawn".

There are also dishes and fruits such as crispy fried spring rolls, jade sea bass, crystal grapes, and more.

Later, everyone went to the Situation Room to be briefed on the operation.

“…… It flew 600 kilometers in the direction of 85, then turned to the direction of 195, flew 100 kilometers, and finally returned in a straight line, with an estimated total distance of about 1,100 kilometers and a total duration of five and a half hours. The weather is very good, there are few clouds, it is recommended to fly level at an altitude of 4,000 to 4,500 meters......"

A captain's staff officer, holding a wooden stick, pointed to the small blackboard and briefed the two pilots and two rear-seat machine gunners on the course of the mission.

This time, the Ziwei Zuoyuan will take off two reconnaissance-type 37 dive bombers to carry out the search mission, and two more will take off three hours later, but the route will be the same.

At 6:02 local time, half an hour before sunrise, all seven aircraft carriers of the second formation turned on their floodlights in unison.

The flight deck was instantly illuminated, as if it were daylight, and the two planes that had been warmed up had slowly moved to the back of the deck.

"No problem, let's go."

"Okay."

With a bang, the hatch was shut.

The ground crew raised their right hand and made a few circles, only to see the pilot in the cockpit raise his right hand and stretch his five fingers to indicate that he was ready.

The ground crew guiding the take-off waved a small flag to signal permission to accelerate the take-off.

Because this is not a combat operation, the aircraft carrier did not sail at top speed in order to facilitate the take-off of carrier-based aircraft, and still maintained a cruising speed of 14 knots.

The two planes rushed out of the bow one after the other, and then slowly pulled up, flying towards the east, which had already revealed the whiteness of the fish's belly, and soon disappeared into the night.

At the same time, the rest of the aircraft carriers and light cruisers also flew reconnaissance planes and flew towards the search areas for which they were responsible......

The most offensive means of aircraft carriers in this era was dive bombers, and torpedo planes were difficult to achieve their first hit because of their slow speed and low survivability.

Normally, the dive bomber first hit the target, and then the torpedo plane had a chance to deliver a heavy blow to the target and destroy it.

Therefore, it is harmless for the torpedo aircraft to be inferior in performance, but the performance of the dive bomber should be achieved to the extreme at any cost.

The Type 37 carrier-based dive bomber, designed by Guangzhou Itanium Aircraft Company, is an all-metal aircraft with a conventional configuration of one wing.

The Model A in service today is equipped with a Crane 5 14-cylinder star engine with a nominal power of 1050 hp, a maximum speed of 400 km/h at an altitude of 2000 m, and a range of 1600 km when mounted on a 250kg bomb.

The biggest feature of the Sanqi Ship Bomb is its unique dive speed brake, which is different from the wing speed brake used by other countries, and the Ordnance Bureau of the Ministry of War rejects this design and prohibits its its use.

According to the Ordnance Bureau, this will affect the aerodynamic shape of the aircraft, resulting in reduced handling, increased drag and fuel consumption, and may lead to turbulent wing and uncontrolled fall when damaged.

Therefore, Itanium has designed a kind of speed brake located on both sides of the fuselage, one on the left and one on the left.

The US aircraft carrier is responsible for carrying out reconnaissance missions by a squadron of reconnaissance bombers, which is also equipped with dive bombers and also serves as reconnaissance and attack missions.

Moreover, they will also carry a 500-pound aerial bomb when conducting reconnaissance, and if they find a target, they will throw it down if they have the opportunity, so it is actually combat reconnaissance.

The Ming aircraft carriers also had a separate search fleet, but they were equipped with special reconnaissance aircraft - dive bombers with the wings and nose machine guns removed, and only the self-defense machine guns were retained. The size of the search fleet is small, and if it is not enough, then it will be relegated to the next best thing to make a temporary cameo appearance of carrier-based bombers.

At the same time, they will naturally not carry aerial bombs when conducting reconnaissance, but will mount auxiliary fuel tanks to increase the range, which is actually a more pure reconnaissance operation.

Historically, the offensive-obsessed Japanese despised tactical reconnaissance in the early stages of the war, viewing reconnaissance as a defensive action in disguise and unwilling to spend too much resources on reconnaissance missions.

In many cases, the IJN uses only a very small percentage of its aircraft for reconnaissance and then reserves the rest for offensive purposes. Moreover, the IJN did not have a special reconnaissance unit at first, and the reconnaissance mission was usually given to the seaplane ejected by the cruiser or the aircraft carrier aircraft made a temporary cameo.

Half an hour later, it was dawn.

The officers and men who did not need to get up early were also preparing to enter their respective posts, and the officers, non-commissioned officers, and soldiers' canteens were full of people, and there was a lot of whispering in it, but no one made a loud noise.

Since the canteen could not accommodate all the officers and men, it was stipulated that the meals must be finished within a quarter of an hour to make room for others.

"I slept okay last night, Zhou waited?"

"Tsk, how can I say it, I'm still a little flustered."

"Hahahaha, I've always heard that Zhou Zhizhao is calm and calm, why are you so nervous at this time?"

As far as Zhou Changfeng's feelings are concerned, Ouyang Zhanghua is a person full of personal charm.

There is a big difference between middle-aged men and young people who have passed the age of confusion, but this is not obvious in Ouyang Zhanghua, he still has a sense of youth when he is middle-aged and an official or at least a general.

He was born in a small merchant family in Suzhou Prefecture, and his father was stingy and picky, so Ouyang Zhanghua's childhood life was rich and rich, but it was not close to wealth. He didn't like the intriguing businessmen, and he also hated his father's calculations, so he applied for the Hangzhou Military Academy after graduating from the arts and sciences high school and started his career in the Ming Navy.

Ouyang Zhanghua learned to fly the plane in his free time when the aircraft was just equipped and was still a novelty, and since then he has been the pioneer of the Ming Naval Aviation Department, and when the aircraft carrier was born, he firmly chose to explore this road that does not know the depth and the future is uncertain.

"In fact, naval warfare is more of a 'gambling' nature than land warfare, and after making up one's mind, it will be a one-shot deal, depending on whether you can make up your mind at the right time."

"The current situation is favorable to our side, the enemy planes of Makin and Tarawa cannot pose a sufficient threat to our fleet, so we must calm down......"

Ouyang Zhanghua seemed calm and calm, not impatient or impatient, and introduced the current situation to Zhou while replying to the requests of all parties.

Intelligence shows that the US military has only four types of aircraft deployed in the Majin Atoll and Tarawa Atoll, namely PBY, B-17, SB2U, and TBD, and these planes have their own limitations and pose little threat to the Ming fleet.

The only potential danger is to be discovered by them, which would lead to an attack by an unknown U.S. task force.

Zhou Changfeng groaned, "Hmm... Is the next thing to do is to bomb these two islands first? ”

Ouyang Zhanghua nodded and said, "That's right, unless we are exposed now, we have to kill them before they are discovered." ”

If they've all been discovered, there's no point in bombing them again.

Ouyang Zhanghua was very optimistic about his judgment of the current situation, and he carefully reviewed the operational arrangements and felt that there was no negligence.

First of all, it has an advantage in both quantity and quality.

Secondly, the enemy has not yet discovered its own main fleet.

Finally, the bombing of Makin and Tarawa can eliminate the threat of enemy land-based aviation, and after clearing the obstacles to the landing operation, you can easily destroy the enemy fleet that attempts to counterattack.

At 6:50 local time on February 17, Ouyang Zhanghua, the chief officer of the second formation, approved the attack order.

As the order for the air raid was given, the signal flags were waved and the signal lights flashed, and soon the announcements sounded in the hangars of the other six aircraft carriers, except for the Rikuri.

The hangar of the Ziwei Zuoyuan issued such a loading order broadcast: "The upper auxiliary team is mounted with aerial bombs, Class A Type II; The second lieutenant team is mounted with aerial bombs, Class A Type II, and it is over!"

"Get moving, get moving!"

"Go over in turn, come over and take a hand!"

The hangar was busy, and everyone was working hard as far as the eye could see.

The ground crew members worked hard to push the trolley with two 100kg aviation anti-personnel blasting bombs to carry the aerial bombs for each aircraft on duty.

Torpedo bombers can also carry bombs, and they can carry more, and each Type 36 carrier-based torpedo plane can easily carry one 250kg bomb and two 100kg bombs.

Unlike the Tianshiyuan-class, Taiweiyuan-class, and Beiluoshimen-class that use open hangars, the Ziweiyuan class adopts a closed hangar design as an armored aircraft carrier, and does not support the operation of warming up and warming up in the hangar.

The two large elevators in the front and rear operated repeatedly, and two carrier-based aircraft with folded wings could be lowered at a time, and in this way, one aircraft was lifted to the flight deck.

Preparations for the sortie were in full swing, and the perimeter wind, standing on the bridge, looked at the planes lined up half of the runway for a few seconds.

The prospect of being ready to go gave him the illusion of a dream.

The same was true for the others, and the officers and soldiers and the reporters accompanying the army were all excited.

Such a vibrant, competitive situation is really exciting, and I can't help but want to recite poetry.

But at this moment, a roar that seemed to burst his throat came from the platform next to the bridge.

"Enemy aircraft !!"

In an instant, Zhou Changfeng only felt cardiopulmonary arrest, as if an invisible big hand was gripping his heart, and then lifted it up hard.

"There are enemy planes! There are enemy planes! The lookout was still shouting.

"What are you shouting about?! Directions! An officer scolded.

"At three o'clock, the angle of sight is twelve degrees!"

Everyone looked around, and saw that there was indeed a small black dot in the blue sky over there.

Zhou Changfeng, like several other officers, held up his binoculars, and then saw the twin-engine, upper monoplane, boat-shaped fuselage.

Is that... Katerina!

"It's still flying towards us!"

"Didn't the vigilant destroyer see it?"

The Katarina, who had taken off from the seaplane base at Makin Atoll, spotted the second formation and immediately sent back a telegram.

It then flew towards the Ming fleet for another four minutes and sent a second telegram before turning around and hurrying away.

"Report! I heard that there was a code being sent, and it should be the plane. ”

The radio listening team of the Ziwei Zuoyuan intercepted the two telecommunications in the frequency bands commonly used by the US military.

Later, they intercepted a number of telecommunications from longer distances, which radio direction finders indicated were presumably coming from the direction of Majin Atoll.

There was silence in the bridge, and only a few people whispered.

Ouyang Zhanghua was still calm, "Pass my order, stop the radio silence, stop the ships from flying, recover the bombers to the hangar, and mount them on Class A Type 1." A quarter of an hour later, the destroyers took off in turn. ”

The adjutant repeated the order aloud, "Commander-in-chief's order, stop radio silence, and all ships ......"

Category A type 1 mount, which is used for ship attack with bomb matching scheme.

Five minutes later, a telegram was sent.

"Qiming has been aware and has given up fishing."

Ouyang Zhanghua smiled at Zhou Changfeng and explained indifferently: "It takes four hours to bomb the two islands, it takes more than an hour to assemble and return to land, and it takes more than two hours to reorganize the fleet. ”

The latter bowed his head to show understanding.

If the U.S. task force was nearby, that would be enough time for them to attack.

Therefore, at the moment, we cannot act rashly, and we can only wait quietly for the reconnaissance planes sent before to successfully detect the nearby enemy fleet.

At the same time, air defense measures should be prepared to deal with the next possible air raids.

More than two hours later.

At 9:44 a.m. local time, a Type 37 ship driving circling over the fleet spotted a group of US planes flying due east.

"It's so slow, it's a torpedo machine."

"Let the left law enforcement team stay, and the rest will follow me and intercept them."

"Roger!"

Four fighters belonging to the Taiwei Zuoyuan remained over the fleet, while the remaining two dozen fighters quickly formed four formations and pounced head-on on the invading enemy from multiple directions.

The fleet that took off from the Tarawa base included 13 TBD torpedo aircraft, 10 SB2U Defender dive bombers, 6 F2A Buffalo fighters.

After discovering the second formation, the Tarawa base immediately sent the strongest lineup that could be put together at the moment, hoping to weaken the Ming aircraft carrier formation as much as possible.

But this is destined to be like a moth to a fire.

"Lieutenant! Twelve o'clock! ”

"They're diving! They're coming to us! ”

A dark blue-painted Type 37 ship drove the first battle, and it swooped head-on from a height of 2,000 meters.

A 12.8mm machine gun in the nose and two 7.36mm machine guns in the wing set a TBD torpedo machine on fire in just one shot!

(End of chapter)