After 4 a.m. on January 28, it was already busy on the "Entertainment".

After watching the first SBD performing a reconnaissance mission fly away, Spear returned to the commander's bridge and sat on the chair that belonged to him.

The quiet Spear is like a stone Buddha.

Most of the time, I am in a quiet state.

Tian Shi also joked about this, saying that if Spear was born in the Naoyi Empire, he might become a Taoist monk.

It was not until the last SBD flew away that Tian Shi rushed over, and it was 4:30 in the morning, about an hour before dawn.

It was Sppe's idea to let the reconnaissance planes be dispatched an hour before dawn, and Tashi did not object.

The main reason is that both of them believe that Baizhi Zhan will make full use of the advantages of the new carrier-based aircraft's large combat radius, maintain sufficient distance from the Newland Fleet and the Bran Fleet to avoid premature contact, ensure that they always move in safe waters, and take the initiative to approach the battle after discovering opportunities.

A bit conservative, but it is in line with the actual situation.

The key is that Liang Xia's fleet is likely to take the initiative to retreat for a certain distance at night, turn back during the day, and send reconnaissance aircraft to search for the target.

According to this analysis, even if the 61st Special Mix Fleet sails northeastward overnight, it may not be able to get close to Liang Xia Fleet.

Besides, after the fleet's oil tanker was sunk, Bai Zhizhan would definitely consider the issue of anti-submarine, which would be possible to expand the fleet's retreat distance at night.

In addition, he may even make a decision to return in the near future.

In short, before dawn, the distance with Liang Xia fleet is probably still above 400 kilometers, and it may even exceed 500 kilometers.

In this way, even if the SBD's cruise speed is close to 300 kilometers per hour and takes off one hour ahead of schedule, it may not be possible to discover the Liang Xia fleet after dawn.

Of course, it is not a bad thing to spend half an hour, because it takes at least an hour and a half to prepare the carrier-based aircraft that performs attack missions.

On the flight deck, air service personnel were busy preparing for the carrier-based aircraft sent.

There are still a little fewer reconnaissance aircraft, with only 8 total.

It’s not that Spur is unwilling to dispatch more reconnaissance aircraft, but that there are no more SBDs available.

The Endeavor only carries 24 SBDs in total, allowing 8 aircraft to perform reconnaissance missions, and the remaining 16 aircraft can form two squadrons.

This is the minimum number of 2 aircraft carriers attacking at the same time in a dial.

According to the Northwest and East Naval Battle, the SBD of 2 squadrons is actually far from enough. To deal with two fleet aircraft carriers at the same time, at least 3 squadrons of SBD are required.

The key is that the number of carriers of the Endeavour is not enough.

When departing from Zhenbao Port, the "Enjin" carried 84 carrier-based aircraft. However, when passing through the corner, the wind and waves were too big, and the number was reduced to 56. In other words, it was not tied on the flight deck, and only the carrier-based aircraft stored in the hangar was retained.

After that, it increased to 75 more in the Nanxi Louyang.

During the voyage to Fanyan Ocean, when passing through the westerly wind belt, several carrier-based aircraft tied to the flight deck were damaged, and the total number was reduced to 68.

Four of them are spare machines, which were only assembled a few days ago. Whether they can be used normally is a question.

It can be seen that the harsh climate has had an impact on all aircraft carriers.

From this perspective, we can see that the Royal Bran Navy insists on using fully enclosed hangars on aircraft carriers, which is not unreasonable to do anything.

Among the 68 carrier-based aircraft available, in addition to 24 SBDs, there are 28 F4Fs and 16 TBFs.

The latter is also manufactured by Grumman, which produces F4F. It is a pre-production type. Almost every one is different and has defects in performance.

However, it is definitely much better than the TBD I used before.

To be honest, it is precisely because the performance of TBD is too bad that there is almost no possibility of breakthrough when fighting against Liang Xia's fleet that the Newland Navy purchased dozens of pre-production TBFs in advance for ship-based aviation, and gave priority to meeting the needs of the "Entertainment".

With this little carrier-based aircraft, at most one attack can be organized.

If Liang Xia's fleet can be found in time and launched an attack first, even if there is only one chance to take action, it will be better than being beaten.

As usual, after sending out the reconnaissance plane, you have to wait patiently.

But this time, Spear will only wait for an hour and a half at most.

According to his requirements, all reconnaissance planes set the search radius at 450 kilometers, and then turned back after flying to 450 kilometers.

This distance is the maximum combat radius for SBD and TBF to carry out attack missions with bombs and torpedoes.

No matter how far away it is, even if Liang Xia’s fleet is discovered, it can only allow carrier-based aircraft to perform one-way missions.

Not to mention that I can't guarantee that I will be able to annihilate Liang Xia's fleet, even if I have enough confidence, Spoo will not let the precious pilot die.

After the Northwest-East Naval Battle, Endeavour has been operating in the waters east of the Hovayi Islands, with its main task being to train pilots of carrier-based aircraft.

In fact, during the Northwest and East Naval Battle, Spear clearly realized the value of a pilot.

The great victory of Liang Xia Navy is directly related to the pilot's rich practical experience.

In Tian Shi's words, after a year of fierce battle with the Navy, Liang Xia's Navy had the best quality and most experienced pilots in the world.

The invincible victory of Liang Xia's Navy is inseparable from the outstanding team of officers and soldiers.

From another perspective, isn’t Bai Zhizhan the most typical representative?

This is also related to the fact that the Liangxia Empire has been preparing for the war.

Before the outbreak of the war, Liang Xia's Navy held a fleet exercise every year, or the daily training of the fleet was carried out around the annual fleet exercise.

The most direct impact of this move is to keep officers and soldiers ready for combat.

Although the Newland Navy followed Liang Xia's Navy and also conducted a fleet problem exercise every year, in terms of strength, strength and breadth, are far inferior to Liang Xia's Navy.

In Tian Shi's words, it's a bit like Dong Shi's imitation.

The key is that while the reconnaissance planes discovered Liang Xia's fleet, Liang Xia's fleet would also find the reconnaissance planes and judge that the Newland fleet was nearby.

In short, if Liang Xia's fleet was not discovered half an hour after dawn, that is, around 6 a.m., he had to turn to retreat.

This time is very critical.

It is not to avoid possible attacks, but at this time, in addition to the eight air defense fighters, other fighters will be released one after another.

In this way, within the next 6 hours, that is, the entire morning, all 28 F4Fs will carry out air defense patrol missions over the fleet.

Even if it is attacked, there are enough fighter jets for air defense operations.

Although the performance of the "wildcat" is not as good as that of "Xiaotian", as long as there are many, it will definitely be able to suppress enemy aircraft and force enemy aircraft to throw away bombs and torpedoes in advance.

If the reconnaissance aircraft discovers Liang Xia's fleet, the carrier-based aircraft carrying out the attack mission will be launched before 6 o'clock.

In this case, fleet air defense is a secondary issue.

In terms of tactics, it has been arranged long ago.

But this time, I didn't wait for an hour and a half.

Shortly after dawn, at less than 5:40, the communications consultant sent the telegram that Cunningham had just received from the flagship "Glory" of the Expeditionary Fleet.

The Expeditionary Fleet intercepted a radio signal, and after comparison, it was confirmed that it was sent by the radio station of Liang Xia Navy's seaplane.

In other words, the expeditionary fleet has been exposed.
Chapter completed!