When Wei Dongbei was complaining and cursing Yan Shiqi, Tan Renhao was also complaining, he didn't curse anyone, he just cursed this damn god in his heart.

"Damn, you don't want us to live!" Hao Dongjue expressed the curse in his heart verbally, and he tightened the seat belt fastened around his waist, "I don't know how long this ghost weather will last, if it doesn't improve before five o'clock in the morning, we can only go home!" ”

Tan Renhao didn't wear a seat belt, and for those who were used to living on the boat, this bit of wind and waves would not make him feel painful.

"Renhao, should we send a telegram out and ask about the weather?"

Tan Renhao glanced at his partner, then shook his head. "Unless we want Halsey to send bombers first, we can't send any signals."

"But the problem is, according to this situation, Halsey probably also sent all the bombers on his aircraft carriers into the hangar, such a big wind and waves, let alone take off the bombers, it is very difficult to sail!"

"The weather was all the same for us!" Tan Renhao sighed, "I hope the situation on Halsey's side is worse, and it's better to let those three small aircraft carriers go home, then we will have a greater advantage." ”

"But if the weather doesn't improve, we can only organize the cruisers, and then let them charge, and we'll see the excitement in the back, I don't know if the 24o mm shells can kill the American aircraft carriers." By the way, and the torpedoes on the destroyer, maybe we can really have an artillery battle! ”

Tan Renhao almost didn't laugh out loud, if he sent an escort warship to fight bayonets and the aircraft carrier watched the excitement in the back, then this must be a big anecdote in the history of naval warfare, and it was a great miracle that no one had ever come before or since.

At this time, a telegram was sent by the communications staff officer. This is a weather forecast from the island of Nauru. In the afternoon, the air station on Nauru Island dispatched a fleet of meteorological aircraft, which returned around the evening. Meteorologists make new forecasts based on the information gathered.

"There is no sign of improvement. Damn! Hao Dongjue sent the telegram to Tan Renhao, "It seems that we really have to consider whether we should let the cruisers and destroyers be killed." ”

Tan Renhao didn't pay attention to his grumbling partner, he quickly read the telegram and said: "The cyclone is forming in the sea north of the Solomon Islands, and it is estimated that it will move to the northeast, that is, it is very likely to be coming towards us." ”

"Yes. We're definitely not going to be able to do anything with Halsey. Hao Dongjue felt out the cigarette on his body, and struck a few matches before lighting the cigarette.

"If the cyclone arrives here tomorrow morning......" Tan Renhao glanced at his partner, "Halsey must have also received the relevant weather forecast, and it seems that we have to consider changing the battle arrangement." ”

"What do you mean?" Hao Dongjue glanced at his partner a little puzzled.

"There's no way to take out Task Force 32." Tan Renhao walked quickly to the chart table, "If Halsey also receives the weather forecast, he will definitely leave the fleet in the waters east of the Solomon Islands, at most in the northeast near Malaita Island, like this." They will be able to send out reconnaissance planes after dawn tomorrow. ”

Hao Dongjue also staggered over. Then he quickly grabbed the armrest on the chart table.

"You're saying that Halsey will transfer the maneuvering sea?"

"Definitely, in the midst of a storm. None of our carriers are functional, and Halsey still has three small carriers in his hands, a third of his bombers, and more than a third of his fighters. The ability of these three small aircraft carriers to resist the storm is definitely not strong, even if he does not consider the operation, considering the safety of these three aircraft carriers, he will choose to leave the storm area. ”

"The problem is, he can leave the small carriers behind, or let the three small carriers go south alone. If the storm passes over us tomorrow afternoon, he can attack with two fleet carriers! ”

"But here's the problem. The storm may not move the day after tomorrow! Tan Renhao hesitated, "It is impossible for the battle to drag on until the day after tomorrow, at most until noon tomorrow." We'll all know what's going on on Kuah Island by then. Halsey would surely have thought that we would not be able to deal with Task Force 3. ”

Hao Dongjue nodded slightly, this possibility must be there, and Halsey has the ability to make such a judgment.

"Then he will definitely move the fleet to the vicinity of Malaita Island, and tomorrow morning, the only place in the eastern waters of the Solomon Islands where the aircraft carrier can take off reconnaissance planes and bombers. Unless Halsey sails the fleet into the inner waters of the archipelago. Otherwise, he would only be here. If he hadn't been here, we'd have to consider the straits in the eastern part of the archipelago. ”

"He shouldn't have time to enter the strait between the archipelagos, unless he's completely sure of Task Force 3. If he didn't have this certainty, he wouldn't dare to eat the 3rd Task Force's plate. ”

"Then, let's immediately go south and arrange for reconnaissance planes to search this sea area as soon as the storm has passed!" Tan Renhao clicked on the chart, "If the 31st Task Force appears first, we will attack first, and if Halsey is not here, he will not pose much threat to us, and we can bomb the 32nd Task Force with all our might!" ”

Hao Dongjue laughed, and then said, "How do you contact the Fourth Task Force?" ”

"This ......" Tan Renhao was stunned, he hadn't taken this into account yet.

"Send a destroyer over, no one can predict the weather, we'd better stay in hiding for now."

"Alright, send a destroyer over, and we'll head south at a cruising degree, so that Task Force 4 can catch up with it."

In fact, at this time, Tan Renhao and they could only go south with a cruising degree, and in the case of bad sea conditions, the aircraft carrier could not sail at full speed. The main reason is that the center of gravity of the aircraft carrier is relatively high, and the wind area is large, and the wind has a very strong impact on the aircraft carrier. Even if the fully enclosed bow is adopted, which effectively reduces the occurrence of waves on the bow, the aircraft carrier is still vulnerable in the face of storms.

After the destroyer, which was responsible for the liaison mission, left the formation, the fleet turned south. At the same time, at the other end of the sea. Halsey was also looking at the weather forecast from the weather station on Malaita Island. There is not much difference between the weather forecast of the US military and that of the Tang Army, and US meteorological experts also judge that the weather will not improve immediately, and that the center of the storm is forming rapidly, and if the fleet remains in the open sea to fight, it will be very dangerous, and it is very dangerous, and it is recommended that Halsey return to the offshore sea to avoid the center of the storm.

Halsey, who received the telegram, also had a headache. He was sure that the Tang Empire's task force was somewhere northwest of him, and the reconnaissance plane he sent before dawn would definitely be able to find the Tang Empire's task force, but this damn god actually came out at this time to stir up the situation, so that not only could he not arrange the reconnaissance plane before dawn, but also the fleet was in danger now.

Even before the telegram was received, two destroyers had already been forced to leave the fleet due to a failure of the power system due to a long-term overload of the power system (in order to resist the wind and waves, the power system of the battleship was easily overloaded). Limp south back to Port Vila. The number of destroyers in the fleet was already small. This time there are two less, which is simply worse. The condition of the two fleet aircraft carriers is not bad, after all, they are big. The ability to resist wind and waves is much stronger than that of destroyers that are dozens of sizes smaller.

However, the situation is not so rosy for the three small aircraft carriers.

"General, those carrier-based planes can't be tied at all, should we let them throw the planes away?"

"Absolutely not!" Halsey roared, he didn't lose his mind, "Let the captain make his own decisions, and if there is a threat to the safety of the battleship, let them deal with it themselves!" ”

The problem with the "Independence" class aircraft carrier is obvious, because it is a modified place, so the capacity of its hangar is very limited. No matter how hard they tried, they could only fit 3o fighters, and the other 15 had to be tethered to the deck (which is why the standard number of aircraft carriers on these carriers was later reduced to 3o). In addition, the aircraft carrier has a small displacement and low freeboard, and the waves can easily rush onto the flight deck, so the aircraft tethered to the deck is not safe. What's even more troublesome is that the center of gravity of these aircraft carriers is on the high side (to fit so many things in a 10,000-ton hull). As a result, the center of gravity will be higher), and the ability to withstand wind and waves will be lower. Perhaps Halsey should also be glad that all three aircraft carriers were in good condition when they set sail, otherwise perhaps two would have sunk.

Within fifteen minutes, several carrier-based aircraft on three small aircraft carriers of the "Independence" class were thrown away. Halsey also made a decision at this time, ordering the fleet to turn southwest and leave the storm zone. His decision was the same as Tan Renhao's. The Tang Empire's aircraft carrier fleet must also be enduring the storm and will definitely avoid the center of the storm, and the Tang Empire's fleet has the same choice, which can only sail south, or southwest. Therefore, Halsey made the same decision, if he could find the Tang Empire's aircraft carrier task force, then kill its aircraft carrier task force first. If they can't find it, then arrange for fighters to support Task Force 32 after dawn to ensure victory in the Battle of Kuah.

The fact that the bad weather caused the commanders on both sides to change the battle schedule was only a small aspect of the weather's impact on the battle, and manpower was too thin in the face of the forces of nature. In fact, on this battlefield, natural factors have much more to do than that.

There are two other people who are also worried about the weather, and that is Huang Xiaotian and Jiang Zhongmin.

The cooperation between Huang Xiaotian and Jiang Zhongmin is not tacit, but it is not bad either. Both have their strengths and weaknesses. For example, Huang Xiaotian is proficient in aviation tactics, decisive and fast in making decisions, and his judgment is very accurate, and he shows a pungent side when commanding the fleet. Jiang Zhongmin's ability in navigation is far greater than Huang Xiaotian's, after all, he is from a regular academic class, while Huang Xiaotian is from an aviation army, and he only learned some basic navigation knowledge in the training class, which is far from Jiang Zhongmin in this regard. In addition, Jiang Zhongmin is also more stable and more comprehensive. And this is exactly Huang Xiaotian's shortcoming. From the position of the two, Huang Xiaotian has only just been promoted, so he needs to accumulate credit, while Jiang Zhongmin can be said to be guilty of meritorious service, and he needs credit even more, both of them are eager to win, which has become the basis for the two partners.

The two were also distressed by the tropical storm. Task Force 4 was to the north of Task Force 1, slightly to the west. According to the assignment of tasks, the fourth task force is the main attacking force. But the problem is that the storm simply makes them unable to wave out the combat power of the aircraft carrier, and they don't even have the ability to dispatch reconnaissance planes, so how can they fight this battle?

When Tan Renhao made a decision, Jiang Zhongmin suggested that the fleet move south, and deduced that the first task force would get out of the storm area as soon as possible and strive to arrange for reconnaissance planes to go out before and after dawn. Huang Xiaotian also happened to think of this, so after the two discussed, they immediately decided to shorten the distance between the two fleets first, and at the same time arrange a destroyer to find out the arrangement of the first task force.

As a result, the destroyers of both sides staggered through the night, and neither of them showed the other. Huang Xiaotian and the others received the news at about eleven o'clock, at this time, the Fourth Task Force had moved south for about 50 nautical miles, and the First Task Force had moved south for at least 8o nautical miles, that is, the distance between the two sides had not only not been shortened, but also opened up 3o nautical miles.

The biggest problem is not here, because the storm is moving northwestward, so the winds in the sea area where Task Force 4 is located are much stronger, and the fleet can only barely sail to the degree of Task Force 1, and Task Force 1 will be out of the storm at least a few hours early. In other words, the distance between the two task forces actually continues to expand, and there is a good chance that the fourth task force will be in the storm zone before dawn!

Huang Xiaotian and Jiang Zhongmin have also noticed this problem. If the fleet continued to maintain its original course, the result would be a disconnection from the 1st Task Force, and it was very likely that the 1st Task Force alone would face the second round of bombardment when the 4th Task Force arrived. This is obviously too bad to be a bad outcome.

Now, the two of them have to think about finding a new way to solve this problem, and they must not face the more powerful Task Force 31 alone!