"Damn, we've been discovered?!" Fletcher words were filled with anxiety and nervousness. Just 1 hour ago, there was an explosion of wireless communications in the area. The Germans' communication bands are flooded with a large amount of information, and although it is impossible to decipher, the sudden increase in the volume of communication already indicates that the other side is going to take action! Fletcher can also be sure that the target of the other side is not the Cunningham fleet that has just left, (the aircraft carrier Darius) but his own main fleet! The reason is simple, the Darius target is to the southwest, and if the opponent is targeting it, then the radio signal source should be concentrated in the southwest direction and not around itself, knowing that at this time its own fleet is sailing in the opposite direction. And judging from the data obtained from the current radio side, the signal source has been found in all directions of his fleet!

"The Germans have woven a big net, we have been in the middle for a long time, but the other side does not know where we are, and now, they have decided to close the net!" Su Mo said calmly. During this time, although the fleet in his hand repeatedly escaped from the encirclement and suppression of the Germans, Su Mo knew very well in his heart that under the reconnaissance of the opponent's front position, the enemy could find him sooner or later. The contact of carrier-based aircraft between the fleets of both sides is not terrible. Because the reconnaissance planes of the two sides are far from the actual attack distance, even if they can secretly follow their own reconnaissance planes to find the location of their fleets, the distance between the two fleets is very huge. The Iranian fleet could have relied on the cover of night to retreat into the fog of war. Moreover, when the opponent's reconnaissance plane is tracking itself, its own reconnaissance plane can also use the same method to determine the opponent's position.

But then the situation changed, and the opposing carrier-based aircraft rarely appeared again, replaced by a large number of seaplanes, long-range reconnaissance aircraft, camouflaged reconnaissance ships and submarines. It was as if the main fleet of the Germans had suddenly disappeared. Su Mo and the others lost information about the location of the opponent's main fleet. The Germans could still find themselves by other means, and although they repeatedly evaded their opponents by taking advantage of the advantages of night and radio technology, the speed of the ships was forced to decrease as fuel was consumed, and the time spent at high speed was limited to minutes. The theoretical mobility could not be used, and the entire fleet ran out of energy in the long chase like a wild sheep stalked by wolves!

Fortunately, before Cunningham left, the USS Darius distributed some of its fuel to the other ships. Let the endurance of these warships be improved, and they can run faster when necessary. The other party is already about to close the net, and he only has 1 aircraft carrier and 1 aviation cruiser here, so if he fights, how can he fight and lose! At this point, the situation has reached a very dangerous point. The opposing side's reconnaissance planes have already departed, and as soon as they are discovered, then the strikes will follow.

"The Qom released the fighters and drove away the opposing reconnaissance planes, and the Persia prepared to depart. The first wave of 15 Spitfires and 15 Seagull fighters, all airborne mounts. Su Mo ordered. After discovering the target, the reconnaissance plane also needs to continuously track and guide the group of attack planes behind it to attack. In the absence of radar, reconnaissance aircraft must track the adversary at a visual distance. So Summer ordered the Qom to release the fighter jets in order to disrupt the other side's continuous tracking. The Persia, on the other hand, was fully prepared to meet the enemy.

30 fighters is almost the largest number of aircraft that can be released in a wave of the Persia, and this combination was also chosen to balance the time in the air and combat effectiveness. The Seagull was called the Chinese version of the pirate by Xu Jie, but before the appearance of the R2800-level engine, the combat effectiveness of the Seagull aircraft was not high, and it was not as good as the Spitfire of the period. After all, the weight of the aircraft and the windward area of the air-cooled engine are there, and in the absence of a big advantage in engine power, the combat effectiveness of the Seagull is very average. However, this aircraft has strong firepower, a long stay in the air, and a relatively fast speed. It can compensate for the Spitfire's short range. So Summer took this mix-and-match approach.

The Germans did not keep Summer and the others waiting too long. Soon the reconnaissance aircraft of the Germans appeared on the radar screen. Their number is so great that it even exceeds the number of fighters released by the air cruiser Qom! JU90 dive bombers carrying auxiliary fuel tanks and a large number of seaplanes entered the battlefield from both high and low altitudes at the same time. Although they are not equipped with radar, they can still determine the general direction of the opposing fleet with the help of simple radio sideways devices. These reconnaissance planes flew towards their targets like piranhas smelling blood, and even if they had combat power to intercept them, they could not stop the opponent from approaching!

"There are too many of them!" A Seagull had just smashed a JU90 dive bomber into a fireball, while two other JU90s had already flown over their heads. The plane that had just been destroyed knew that it could not escape, so it deliberately flew to a low altitude. Lead interceptor aircraft to low altitudes. The dozen or so planes sent by the Qom could not prevent the reconnaissance planes of the opposing side from approaching one after another, and even under the guidance of radar, a small number of planes would still slip under the noses of the interceptors.

The distance between the two sides is only about 240 nautical miles. At this time, the maximum speed of the three warships of the Iranian fleet did not exceed 26 knots. And when Count Luknall discovered the target, the main attack force, led by three aircraft carriers, abandoned the slower battleship and decisively increased the speed to 32 knots! The speed difference between the two sides is as high as 6 knots! Plus the Germans knew the route of the Huaxia fleet, so they could adjust their course to chase it over with the shortest possible path. According to Count Luknar's calculations, in a maximum of 3 hours, they will be able to enter the limit attack range of 220 nautical miles!

"It seems that no matter what, there is no way to escape this knife today!" Su Mo looked at the reconnaissance planes that appeared in his field of vision from time to time, and couldn't help but smile bitterly. The number of reconnaissance planes of the opposing side was beyond his imagination. So much so that the first wave of interceptor planes released by the USS Qom could not drive away the opponent after running out of fuel. It's already afternoon, but it's still more than four hours before it gets dark. Although he constantly changed course, it is an indisputable fact that the Germans are getting closer and closer, because at this time reconnaissance planes in the air appear more and more frequently, and there are even individual BF109 fighters carrying auxiliary fuel tanks! Even such short-legged planes have appeared, then it means that the distance between the two sides is quite close!

"220 nautical miles! It's a bit far away! "Two and a half hours later. The straight-line distance between the two sides has been reduced to 220 nautical miles, which is 400 kilometers when converted into kilometers. This distance exceeds the internal fuel range of the BF109, and it is not surplus, carrying a 300L fuel tank. In order to ensure that the first blow is fatal, Count Luknall wants to shorten the distance to within 350 kilometers!

"Your Excellency, Commander, it's too late, look at the weather, the sun will set in about 3 hours. We have to take into account the time of containment of carrier-based aircraft. And according to the forecast of the meteorological department, the weather may be bad in the future, and if we give up this opportunity, there is a good chance that the other party will slip out of our hands! "The commander of the fleet aviation recommended an immediate sortie. Anyway, the German fleet had an overwhelming superiority in air power. Even if part of the fleet did not find a target, the remaining carrier-based aircraft would still have enough power to destroy the small fleet.

"Then let's start, two aviation cruisers provide direct guard fighters, and three aircraft carriers release attack aircraft groups in full force." Count Luknall agreed to his men's suggestion, and the two 30,000-ton aircraft carriers Moltke and Austria first entered the upwind direction to release the huge fleet of aircraft lined up on deck. Each aircraft carrier will release 10 fighters, 15 bombers and 15 torpedo planes in the first wave. After the two first-class fleet carriers released half of their aircraft, the second-class aircraft carrier Blucher also went headwind, and the medium aircraft carrier will release 20 fighters and 10 dive bombers. In just a quarter of an hour, 110 planes took to the skies one after another, starting the first actual combat of German naval aviation against the sea!

At the same time, Su Mo and the others were also making final preparations for battle, and the three capital ships were gathered together. The air cruiser USS Qom no longer drove away the reconnaissance planes, but contained all the fighters, and then began to intensify their preparation. An aviation cruiser and a medium aircraft carrier had 10 and 30 fighters parked on the deck, respectively. This is already the largest number of aircraft that this fleet can release. Below deck, ground crews are still busy refilling and refueling fighter jets inside the hangar. Theoretically, this is not allowed. But by this time, conventional means were no longer able to stop the opponent, and Su Mo had to give it a go!

At the same time as the main battleships were huddled, the other four destroyers were cruising 25 nautical miles behind the fleet, using each other's radars to form a huge radar early warning network, although it was not tight enough, but the opponent's aircraft group was too large, so it was not difficult to find the long-distance aircraft group. And this is also specially arranged by Su Mo, when it comes to the moment of life and death, Su Mo repeatedly scrutinizes every detail, hoping to achieve perfection. And it is precisely because of these details. In the interaction, it played a great role in the later battles.

Along with the recovery of the Huaxia carrier-based aircraft unit, the German reconnaissance planes became more and more emboldened, and eight reconnaissance planes of various kinds were circling over the main fleet at the same time. It's like a flock of vultures waiting for their dying prey. In the eyes of the German scouts, the survival time of this fleet could probably only be calculated in minutes, because just now, the fleet had already launched the first wave of attacks, and according to the speed of 300 kilometers per hour, it could enter the range of the reconnaissance planes after an hour. There are 8 reconnaissance planes to guide it. You won't lose sight of your goals! The Germans really couldn't think of any way to stop this attack!

"Enemy aircraft spotted, at an altitude of 12,000 feet, 75 nautical miles from the sentry ship!" After the intelligence officer had just finished reporting, Su Mo, who had been closing his eyes and recuperating, bounced up from his chair violently! "The fighter unit was ordered to take off immediately, and after the release of all the fighters, the second batch of fighters was immediately lifted from the hangar, and all the aircraft were used! Launch all the planes in the shortest possible time! The electronic warfare group immediately turned all jammers to the maximum, covering all known frequency bands! In addition to the communication bands we have reserved, give me all the communication bands! ”

Su Mo's decisiveness shocked Fletcher on the side, he didn't expect that when the opponent's war knife was about to cut his head, Su Mo would actually be able to throw out tricks! However, after thinking about it carefully, I found that Su Mo's calculations and layout were really accurate! 75 nautical miles away from the sentry ship, which means that the distance from the main fleet is about 100 nautical miles, which is 200 kilometers, and at this distance, the opponent's attack aircraft group and reconnaissance aircraft group can only communicate with long-range radios, which is easy to be interfered with, and if it is interfered with, although the other party knows its general direction, it will take about 40 minutes even if it takes about 40 minutes to go to the nearest straight line, considering that the battleship has been moving, the other side must rely on its own reconnaissance force to search if it wants to find itself, which disperses the opponent's forces.

Not only that, from now on, the fleet will release the first wave of aircraft, and the remaining 40 minutes to 1 hour will be enough time to release the second wave of prepared aircraft, so that the number of fighters stranded in the air will directly increase to about 70 aircraft! The quantitative gap between the two sides is not so big! Su Mo's arrangement first interfered with the opponent's guidance and reconnaissance through the advantage of electronic warfare, distracted the opponent's strike strength, and at the same time used this time to release all the aircraft, under this plus and minus, the number of aircraft with a huge gap between the two sides became not so large! With this arrangement, Fletcher would never have been able to do it himself!

"Damn it! They seem to have interfered with all the bands! Even their own frequency bands interfered! "The invisible radio waves spread out in the air like a large net enveloping all radio equipment, and the Germans soon found that their long-range communication stations were full of noise, and it was impossible to communicate with the headquarters and the fleet, and the radio operators tried other frequency bands, but whether it was the communication band reserved by the Germans in advance, the international frequency band, or the communication frequency band of the other party, they could only receive a piece of noise! The other side made such a resolute decision that this sea area became a forbidden area for radio communications. Naturally, the communication equipment of ordinary reconnaissance aircraft could not do anything with the large jammers on the battleship, and in an instant, the air guidance system of the Germans was paralyzed!

While the German reconnaissance planes were in a panic, the Qom and the Persia also began to release carrier-based aircraft, although they had just interfered with the communication of the countermeasures, but if these reconnaissance planes withdrew some distance, the effect of the jamming could be neutralized. Therefore, the safest way is to use fighter jets to destroy all the reconnaissance planes over the fleet! In addition to the fact that Su Mo took back the group because the fighters ran out of fuel, another reason was to attract as many enemy planes as possible and eat them in one bite!

Thanks to the book friend zhouyu1976, hukaikaka for the reward~~~, and the book friend crazy and declining monthly pass support ~~~. (To be continued.) )