Although Zhang Chi did not order the fighters to attack, the fleet continued to move closer to Iwo Jima. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

On the one hand, the purpose of this is to reduce the reaction time of the fighters...... Time is equal to distance divided by speed, and the shorter the distance, the shorter the time it takes for the Wildcat to reach Iwo Jima and fight.

But that's not the main reason.

You must know that the speed of the "Wildcat" fighter is more than 500 kilometers per hour, and the distance of more than 100 kilometers is only a matter of more than 10 minutes for the "Wildcat" fighter.

The problem is ...... At this time, the US anti-aircraft radar can detect a distance of only more than 100 kilometers, that is to say, if the fleet is still more than 100 kilometers away, then it will only be discovered when the Japanese aircraft group reaches the sky over Iwo Jima, and then it will be too late for the "Wildcat" fighters to take off in formation and then fly over Iwo Jima to intercept them.

Therefore, Zhang Chi shortened the distance to fifty kilometers. In this way, the Chinese fighters could rush over Iwo Jima almost at the same time as the Japanese army.

At the same time, this distance should not be too close, and if it is close, it may be discovered by the Japanese fleet or submarines and expose the target in advance.

As it turned out later, Zhang Chi's concern was correct, and Naoto Ohara, the commander of the Japanese fleet, was also a commander with rich combat experience, and it was impossible for him to rely on the information provided by Taro Shiina and Tadamichi Kuribayashi to confidently treat this battle as if the enemy had no naval and air forces at all...... This is a mistake that even a non-commissioned officer who has just graduated from a naval school does not make.

Therefore, Naoto Ohara sent two seaplanes and three submarines to reconnoiter around the fleet...... The two seaplanes took off from the cruiser, and the three submarines were the "Shenmu" special attack team that had originally sent reinforcements to the "Chigusa" special attack team, but by the time the three submarines of the "Jimmu" special attack team arrived, the "Chigusa" special attack team had been completely wiped out.

Of course, it was impossible for the "Jimmu" special attack team to return home, and they soon joined Naoto Ohara's fleet and took on reconnaissance missions.

Merely......

With only two seaplanes and three submarines, it is a bit difficult to reconnoiter the sea area within a radius of 50 kilometers around Iwo Jima.

After all, it is an airplane flying in the air, and it is the so-called standing high and seeing far away, plus the sea is empty, and the enemy fleet has almost no place to hide, and the seaplane has a speed of more than 400 kilometers per hour, so the reconnaissance range is very wide...... This is also one of the reasons why seaplanes are often used as reconnaissance planes in naval warfare, and they are no worse than fighters and bombers when used for reconnaissance, and they can land on the sea at any time to communicate with destroyers and submarines.

But the problem is that seaplanes are also easy to be found in the sky, especially since the Chinese army also has radar, which can clearly see the flight trajectory of the Japanese water reconnaissance planes on the radar, so it can easily avoid the reconnaissance of the Japanese seaplanes.

For reconnaissance of Japanese submarines...... To be honest, there's really no good way to avoid it, and there's a lot of luck involved.

It took luck for Japanese submarines to detect the Chinese fleet, and luck for the Chinese fleet to avoid Japanese submarines.

However, it is clear that the advantage of the Chinese fleet will be greater.

On the one hand, China has a radar on the sea, and if a Japanese submarine sails on the surface of the sea, it will be detected by radar, and if the submarine is sailing underwater, the speed will only be a pitiful six knots (the speed of the "Shenwu" special attack team is affected by the speed of the "Huitian torpedo"), and the speed of only six knots is impossible to complete the reconnaissance cruise within a range of 50 kilometers.

On the other hand, if the submarine is under the sea, the submarine can only be observed through the periscope, and the observation range is limited to a large extent.

So it's really not easy for both sides to bump into each other.

At this time, Zhang Chi couldn't help but sigh in his heart about the benefits of radar.

The reason why the Chinese fleet was able to do this step was largely because the US radar system was relatively perfect, while the Japanese radar was very primitive, and this gap allowed the Chinese fleet to approach without the enemy knowing anything, thus occupying a commanding heights strategically.

When the time reached 6:30, Zhang Chi calculated the time...... It is more than 500 kilometers from Hachijojima to Iwo Jima, and the maximum speed of Japanese fighters is more than 500 kilometers per hour.

However, Zhang Chi thought that the Japanese army might not wait so long, because the battle on Iwo Jima required that the Japanese fighters should arrive as soon as possible, and it was best to be able to enter the battle as soon as it was dark.

So Zhang Chi immediately ordered the fighters to take off and assemble...... The Chinese army's fighter planes took off from the aircraft carrier one by one, which also took more than ten minutes, and Zhang Chi was worried that he would miss the opportunity.

This incident really made Zhang Chi guess right again.

Japanese land-based reinforcements took off before dawn, although this was quite dangerous for the Japanese reinforcements...... This danger does not refer to the danger of taking off, in fact, the danger of fighter planes taking off from the airport is not great, because the airport space is easy to dispatch, and there are many lighting equipment.

The danger lies in flying on the surface of the sea...... In the dark of night, the sea and the sky were colorful, and there was pitch black everywhere ahead, and it was easy for a Japanese pilot with little piloting experience to lose his way and fall headlong into the sea.

However, Kuribayashi Tadamichi felt that it was worth the risk, because if there were any remnants of fighters in the Chinese army, it would appear at dawn, and it was during this time that the Japanese army was in dire need of support. For this reason, the Japanese fleet also paid the price of two Zero fighters and one Type 100 transport aircraft.

Later, the Japanese found that the price they paid was completely unworthy, because the sooner the Japanese army arrived at Iwo Jima, the sooner they would fail.

"Master!" Just as the fifth "Wildcat" fighter took off on the "Pinghai", Zhang Junhua reported to Zhang Chi: "The enemy plane group has been discovered, at a distance of 120 kilometers and at a speed of 415 per hour!" ”

Perhaps because of today's good weather, the radar has a detection range of twenty kilometers farther than usual.

As for the speed of the Japanese fleet, which was only more than 400 kilometers, it may have been to take care of the relatively slow transport aircraft or the old bombers.

At this time, Zhang Chi couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, and half of his hanging heart was also lowered.

Because this shows at least two things: one is that the Japanese did not realize until this time that they were stepping into a trap. Second, the Chinese Navy still has plenty of time to prepare, and the "Pinghai" has time to send all 38 "Wildcats" out, and even has time to send a few bombers out to fight a good battle.

(To be continued.) )