The news of the bombing of the Second Task Force was delivered to Tan Renhao at 10 o'clock after 9:00, and this was a telegram sent by Lei Shaoqing when he boarded the large air defense cruiser "Changsun Wuji."

"The 'Hulun Lake' is almost finished, and now the officers and men are making every effort to rescue the aircraft carrier, and Lao Lei has already asked the aircraft carrier to move towards the nearest Tawonji atoll, striving to run aground near the atoll, so that it can still be saved." Hao Dongjue sighed, "The 'Bell Lake' is south of the fleet, has escaped the blow, and is now heading south at full speed. ”

"To the south?" Tan Renhao was startled, glanced at Hao Dongjue, and his eyes returned to the telegram.

Previously, they had received a telegram from Yang Qinkai, although it did not say that two American aircraft carriers had been sunk, but at least one aircraft carrier was about to finish, and the other aircraft carrier had also been heavily damaged and was withdrawing north from the battlefield. Tan Renhao was quite satisfied with Yang Qinkai's attack, and judging from the information sent by the pilots, the two aircraft carriers were "9" and "10", that is, "Essex" and "Yorktown", and according to the information provided by the Intelligence Bureau, these two aircraft carriers belonged to the 51st Task Force, that is, the fleet under the personal command of Spruance.

"We still don't know where the US bombers are, and it makes sense for Lao Lei to let the 'Lake Bell' battle group retreat, and if the US military still has a wave of bombers to deal with the second task force, then the danger of the 'Lake Bell' remaining behind will be too great."

Tan Renhao nodded slightly, he also hoped that Spruance would be able to use three-quarters of his strength to deal with the second task force, so that the force used to attack them would be reduced by half, but how likely is this? Even if Spruance uses half of the bombers, it is all the bombers on both aircraft carriers. Judging from the contents of the telegram, the US bombers entered in two batches, with an interval of nearly 50 minutes between arrivals, and this must have been bombers that took off from the two task forces separately. And this coincided with the previous telegram sent by the reconnaissance plane about the location of the 52nd task force. Is it necessary for Spruance to send another bomber group against Task Force 2?

If the bombers of Task Force 51 were to carry out this mission, they would have reached Task Force 2. And Spruance should not have any use for Task Force 52 to arrange a second batch of bombers on the maximum strike radius.

Do you want to let the USS Lake Bell aircraft carrier battle group go on an adventure? Tan Renhao glanced at his partner, and then made a decision. "Immediately telegraph the Second Task Force to let the 'Lake Bear' aircraft carrier battle group return to the fleet, and at the same time try to receive the returning bombers and carry out a supplementary bombing of the 51st Task Force!"

"Isn't that too risky?"

"Even if it's a risk, it's valuable. If Spruance dared to use the remaining bombers against Task Force 2, then our threat would be much less. After Yang Qinkai and the others returned, they immediately set off to carry out supplementary bombing. Tan Renhao sneered, "However, in my opinion, Spruance left half of the strike force for us." Then he didn't arrange any more bombers to deal with the second task force, and now the dozens of bombers received by the 'Bell Lake' will determine whether we can sink the two aircraft carriers of the 51st Task Force, and if we kill these two aircraft carriers, then even if we lose the 'Bell Lake' aircraft carrier, we will have an advantage in strength. ”

Hao Dongjue sighed. It's a one-for-two opportunity. But he felt that Tan Renhao was a little cold-blooded.

"Go quickly, don't delay the time, the aircraft carrier 'Lake Bell' will return to the battlefield one minute earlier. Then the two aircraft carriers of the 51st Task Force will have one less chance of escaping! ”

Hao Dongjue didn't have much to say, when he was in operational command, no one could question the commander's orders.

Just as Hao Dongjue was looking for a communications staff officer to send a telegram to the Second Task Force, a communications officer (the fleet staff headquarters only has a formal communications staff officer, and there are many communications officers under it) ran over and delivered a battle report from Qiu Gengbo and Zhang Zhitao.

The news that the two aircraft carriers of the 52nd Task Force were severely damaged, and that the 52nd Task Force was withdrawing from the battlefield at full speed did not surprise Tan Renhao, the only thing that surprised Tan Renhao was that the losses of Qiu Gengbo and Zhang Zhitao's aircraft group were so huge, and. Zhang Zhitao's plane was shot down (in fact, it was not shot down, but fell, and in the melee, the other pilots did not know whether their captain was shot down or fell).

Hao Dongjue also quickly ran over. "Damn, I'll immediately arrange for a search and rescue plane......"

"Let those seaplanes go over and look for the pilots who have fallen into the water, and if there is not enough fuel, return to Wake Island to replenish the fuel, and then immediately go to the warring waters to salvage all the pilots who have fallen into the water." Tan Renhao touched his forehead. "In addition, let Qiu Gengbo and them return as soon as possible, don't delay the time, maybe we need to organize a supplementary bombardment."

Hao Dongjue also had time to delay, so he immediately asked people to contact the seaplanes that had previously carried out reconnaissance missions, and as soon as possible, they refueled and went to the active sea area of the 52nd Task Force to look for the pilot who had fallen into the water.

Tan Renhao sighed, Yang Qinkai's group of bombers returning to the sea was only about 40, while Qiu Gengbo's side only had 20 at most, and this also included damaged bombers, and there would be no more than 50 bombers that could be organized to carry out supplementary bombing missions. Then, Tan Renhao smiled bitterly, Spruance must have sent bombers to deal with them, whether they can withstand the Yankees' counterattack is still a question, why do you want to do so much now?

Before Tan Renhao could breathe down, the air defense alarm in the fleet sounded. Located to the north of the fleet, the radar on the heavy cruiser "Baoding River" detected a suspicious target. Two fighters immediately flew over, and it was an SBD bomber on a reconnaissance mission. The bomber came not from the northwest, but from the north.

After taking off, the SBD bomber flew along the set route, but did not find the Tang Imperial fleet, and then repeatedly searched the nearby seas. When it was moving from the north to South Africa, it finally crashed into the fleet of the Don Empire. Originally, Spruance arranged very few reconnaissance planes, and the sea area to be searched was too wide, and it happened that the location of the first task force was exactly in the middle of the route of the two reconnaissance planes, and if this SBD did not fly to the south, but to the north.

That would be a complete missed opportunity to discover Task Force 1.

Two minutes later, the radar of the heavy cruiser "Fenhe" located south of the fleet also detected a suspicious target, which was another SBD bomber on a reconnaissance mission. At that time, the fighters were patrolling in the northwest direction, although the previous two fighters shot down the SBD in the north in time, but they could not immediately intercept the 03a in the south - the first task force was exposed.

By 9:20 a.m., the radar on the heavy cruiser "Han" in the northwest direction of the fleet had spotted a group of American bombers. The radar screen was almost full of "flashing spots," and the radar operator initially judged that the size of the US military aircraft group was about 100 planes, and this was the US bomber flying from the 51st Task Force. Because the reconnaissance aircraft in front have not yet found the target. Therefore, after taking off, these bombers flew at the optimal cruising speed to prolong the time in the air. Gaining more opportunities has also led to a considerable increase in the flight time of the fleet. From eight o'clock to now, it took a full hour and twenty minutes to reach the sea above the sea 50 nautical miles from the 1st Task Force.

Tan Renhao gave the order for the air defense of the fleet, but he also knew that luck had passed to the enemy, and he could only pin his hopes on those air defense fighters and the anti-aircraft artillery of the battleships. Maybe. The only thing that Tan Renhao should be thankful about is. He had already deployed his fighters in advance to the northwest direction of the fleet, that is, to the place where the US bombers flew up, so that the fighters could intercept the US bombers in the first place.

At this time. In addition to the four fighters that were previously sent to intercept reconnaissance aircraft. All 32 air defense fighters were concentrated in the north-western direction of the fleet. Combat patrol missions are carried out in small units at a distance of 35 nautical miles from the fleet. The "Xiaohan" radar found that the distance of the US bomber was 50 nautical miles, and the distance from the air defense fighter was 20 nautical miles. That is, these fighters are still 30 nautical miles away from the US bomber group.

Receiving the news, the fighter group immediately rushed towards the bomber group of the American troops. In air defense operations, the most important thing is to keep the enemy's bombers out of the fleet, and increasing the interception distance is the most effective, which can increase the interception time of fighters against bombers. The commander of these fighters was Lieutenant Colonel Yao Baiyan. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel with An Shile, and Luo Jinming also talked to him, and he also faced the trouble of being transferred to the reserve force.

Yao Baiyan In addition to 24 SBDs and 24 TBDs, there are also 24 "pirates". The 51st Task Force bombers had the largest number of escort fighters. In other words, Yao Baiyan after they dealt with 24 "pirates". In fact, the number of fighters that can be used to intercept bombers is very limited.

There is no conclusion as to how many fighters will be needed to escort the bomber group, and how many fighters will be needed to effectively protect the fleet. In fact, throughout the Great War, there was no theory in this regard. Judging from the combat efficiency of air defense at that time and the performance of the fighters, in fact, the fighters of the fleet were simply unable to take care of escort and air defense operations at the same time, and at most they could only guarantee one aspect and abandon the other. And this is determined by the experience of the commander of the fleet. If the fighters are evenly distributed, the real result is that neither end can be taken care of.

In fact, by this time, the biggest mistake Tan Renhao made was to take care of both aspects, and there was a problem in the arrangement of fighter jets. If he gives up the air defense of the fleet and sends more fighters to escort the bombers, I am afraid that the four aircraft carriers of the 51st Task Force and the 52nd Task Force will either sink or be half dead. On the other hand, if he takes care of the air defense of the fleet and leaves more air defense fighters, I am afraid that the air defense situation of the first task force will be greatly improved.

Later, Tan Renhao himself admitted that it was not until after this naval battle that he completely realized that under the circumstances at that time, the number of fighters carried by the fleet simply could not guarantee the needs of both offensive and defensive directions, either offensive or defensive, and the middle choice would mean defeat. And it was this battle that made Tan Renhao firmly remember this, which can be regarded as the lesson and experience he gained in actual combat.

32 fighters against 24 fighters, the numerical advantage is not obvious, and Yao Baiyan's main task is to intercept bombers, it makes more sense to shoot down one bomber than to shoot down ten fighters, and all pilots are well aware of this, so in battle, the defending side does not have an advantage. The US escort fighter pilots also knew very well that their mission was to protect the bombers, and to protect the bombers, they had to intercept the opposing fighters. The air battle was extremely fierce, and the fighters of both sides shuttled through the air like meteors, as if a swarm of locusts were dancing in the air.

Tan Renhao's change in the air defense formation of the fleet has brought about results. He pushed the fleet air defense circle outward by 5 nautical miles, which bought the anti-aircraft artillery at least two minutes to intercept it. In addition, the large-caliber anti-aircraft artillery on the cruiser on the outside of the aircraft carrier with its back to the direction of the American bomber's attack also has a place, at least those bombers have to consider the shells fired from behind the butt when they break through this last layer of air defense net.

In the entire air defense operation, only 14 US bombers were shot down by air defense fighters (and another 8 US fighters were shot down), and at the distance between the US fighters from 25 nautical miles from the aircraft carrier to the final breakthrough of the fleet's air defense fire network, a full 22 US bombers were beaten down by 120-mm anti-aircraft guns. As a result, only 12 bombers broke through the interception of the cruiser and destroyer and began to charge towards the carrier, and of these 12 bombers, 5 were hit by anti-aircraft guns on the other side of the cruiser and failed to drop bombs and torpedoes.

Seeing one US soldier after another being hit, dragging black smoke to the sea, or exploding into a fireball in mid-air, the stone in Tan Renhao's heart gradually fell to the ground. The effectiveness of VT shells and new anti-aircraft formations has been proven, and the extended air defense range of 5 nautical miles makes the VT bombs even more effective.

But the problem is that in the end, a few bombers broke through the interception net and are attacking the "Daihai" aircraft carrier to the north of the fleet.