At 10:40, French received the first reconnaissance report. Unfortunately, the reconnaissance plane sent only a telegram with a bit confusing content. Then the US Military Command in Australia sent a message that the reconnaissance pilot had reported being intercepted by Chinese fighters.

This scared France because it meant that the first Chinese Navy fleet had entered the Coral Sea.

The question is, was the first fleet or the second fleet discovered by the reconnaissance plane? [..com]

Because the content of the reconnaissance report is very chaotic, some places are even contradictory, and they cannot contact the reconnaissance aircraft, there is no way to make a judgment.

French was a little restless, but he could only wait patiently.

At this time, the US military command had arranged other reconnaissance planes to go to the site of the incident, striving to obtain accurate information as soon as possible.

Because the focus search area of ​​the Frenchnapai is very limited, the concentration of reconnaissance aircraft is very high, and there are several reconnaissance aircraft near the site of the incident.

Before 11 o'clock, the three reconnaissance aircraft sent back reconnaissance reports almost at the same time. The content of the report of only one reconnaissance aircraft was a bit confusing. The other two reconnaissance aircraft clearly mentioned that they had discovered the Chinese fleet and were definitely the second fleet without super aircraft carriers. However, the three reconnaissance aircraft were intercepted by Chinese fighters, and two of them must have been shot down, and the other one was also in danger.

There is nothing to doubt. The Second Fleet is sailing towards the southern waters of the Great Barrier Reef.

The problem is that the First Fleet must be nearby, otherwise it would not be possible to provide air defense cover for the Second Fleet.

What worries France even more is that the straight-line distance between the Second Fleet and the US Fleet is less than 1,400 kilometers, and it is shortening at a speed of 50 kilometers per hour. That is to say, in another four hours, the Second Fleet can attack the US Fleet. Fortunately, the route of the Second Fleet points to the southern waters of the Great Barrier Reef, and the US Fleet has entered the Great Barrier Reef and is sailing northward.

This made French believe that the Chinese fleet commander did not expect the US fleet to penetrate deep into the Great Barrier Reef.

In fact, going deep into the Great Barrier Reef is an adventure in itself. Although the US military has opened up a deep water channel, the narrowest part of this channel is less than 500 meters, so it can only allow large warships to pass alone. If the route is slightly deviated, the warships will hit the reef. Shortly after dark, the multi-purpose destroyer of the USS Grant aircraft carrier battle group almost rushed to the sandbank in the northeast corner of the Swan Group Reef because the route was deviated twice to the left. In order to ensure that the super aircraft carrier can pass safely, France also made special arrangements, that is, to let a 200,000-ton tanker use seawater as ballast, so that the draft depth exceeds fifteen meters, and then lead the USS America aircraft carrier.

At that time, French was a little hesitant.

There is no problem in attacking the second fleet. The key is that the first fleet has not been found yet. If the first fleet has arrived, then attacking the second fleet is likely to miss the first fleet, and it is even possible to be ambushed by the first fleet when attacking the second fleet.

More importantly, with the relative speed of the two fleets, the second fleet could not catch up with the US fleet.

By about 1:00 a.m. on the 17th, the distance between the two fleets will reach the closest, about 1,250 kilometers, and then the distance between the two fleets will slowly increase, reaching 1,400 kilometers by about 5:00 a.m. on the 17th. That is to say, unless the Second Fleet turns before the early morning and sails northwest, the Second Fleet will not threaten the US fleet, and there is no need to pay attention to the Second Fleet.

After thinking about it, French decided to hold his troops still.

There is no doubt that this was the most wrong decision he made in this naval battle, because the First Fleet was still 2,600 kilometers away and it was not until the early morning of the 17th that it could attack the US fleet. In other words, as long as the Second Fleet was attacked before 4 a.m. on the 17th, there would be enough time to reorganize the air force and attack the First Fleet entering the battlefield around 8 a.m. on the 17th.

Objectively speaking, French did this right.

First, he did not know that the maximum strike distance of the Second Fleet was 1,600 kilometers, not 1,200 kilometers. If he knew this, then at 11 o'clock on the night of the 16th, that is, when the fleet that was 1,400 kilometers away was confirmed as the Second Fleet, he would immediately launch an attack and would never hesitate. Secondly, the US reconnaissance plane did not discover the squadron led by Jing Wenhui. If the Second Fleet was found to divide the troops, French would not hesitate even more, and would definitely launch an attack immediately, and kill two fleets at the same time. Finally, and the most critical, in French's eyes, the most threatening is the First Fleet. Therefore, before finding the First Fleet, unless it is directly threatened, he would definitely not attack the Second Fleet, but would continue to search for the First Fleet.

In fact, even if someone else was replaced, the same decision would have been made.

Later, in the Battle of the Hawaiian Islands, Tong Shaoyun also made the same mistake, and the objective conditions were exactly the same as French's situation at this time.

At this time, Tong Shaoyun and Gong Jifei had another disagreement.

After being discovered by the US reconnaissance plane, Tong Shaoyun immediately broke the radio silence and sent a telegram to Gong Jifei, asking Gong Jifei to dispatch reconnaissance planes immediately to search the Great Barrier Reef waters. The problem is that before receiving Tong Shaoyun's telegram, Gong Jifei had already received a report of air defense fighter jets and concluded that the US military would immediately attack the Second Fleet, so the first deployment he made was to send additional air defense fighter jets to the Second Fleet.

After receiving Tong Shaoyun's telegram, Gong Jifei did not adjust the deployment, that is, did not dispatch reconnaissance planes.

You should know that the First Fleet still has about 2,200 kilometers to Kern Reef, the eastmost part of the Great Barrier Reef, and about 2,500 kilometers to the Swin Reef. If reconnaissance aircraft are dispatched, some fighter jets have to be arranged to perform partner refueling missions. At that time, the fighter jets used to cover the Second Fleet were not enough. If reconnaissance aircraft were dispatched, the number of fighter jets sent to the Second Fleet would be reduced to 140 each time.

Obviously, Gong Jifei was confused again.

If one hundred and seventy fighter jets are not enough to cover the Second Fleet and the number of thirty fighter jets is sent, what will the impact?

To put it bluntly, if the US military decides to concentrate its efforts to attack the Second Fleet, there is no difference between sending 170 fighter jets and sending 140 fighter jets.

If it were someone else, the ending of this battle would definitely be very different.

Not to mention, as long as Gong Jifei dispatched a reconnaissance plane at 11 o'clock, the possibility of finding the US fleet before 0:30 am is as high as 90%. The reason is very simple. The US fleet is not only unable to maneuver and avoid, but also has to reduce its speed to less than 30 knots. Because there is a large oil tanker ahead, the actual speed of the US fleet was only 24 knots at that time. In other words, the US fleet could not escape the search range of the reconnaissance plane, and it was even more difficult to regulate after being discovered by the reconnaissance plane.

Avoid. You should know that the reconnaissance aircraft arranged by France would not be able to find the First Fleet before 0:30, so France did not intend to attack the Second Fleet at this time. The most likely result is that after the reconnaissance aircraft of the First Fleet discovered the US fleet, France still might not pay attention to the Second Fleet because he believed that the Second Fleet did not pose a threat. In other words, until the large-caliber electromagnetic gun of the Second Fleet showed its power, France would not react, but it was obviously too late at this time.

It can be seen that the most important problem at that time was to find the US fleet as soon as possible.

Tong Shaoyun has a very clear understanding of this issue, but Gong Jifei is confused.

What's more serious is that the First Fleet still remains radio silent and cannot contact the Second Fleet with the directional communication system that is not easy to be discovered by the enemy. Therefore, Gong Jifei did not inform Tong Shaoyun of the specific situation, and Tong Shaoyun did not know that the First Fleet did not dispatch reconnaissance aircraft.

At this time, there was a serious problem with the command system arranged by Mu Haoyang.

Afterwards, it was precisely because of this incident that Gong Jifei was punished.

The reason is that according to Mu Haoyang's arrangement, when he had already contacted the US fleet and the second fleet first contacted the US fleet, Tong Shaoyun's command was above Gong Jifei, that is, Gong Jifei had to obey Tong Shaoyun's command, but Gong Jifei did not do so at that time.

Interestingly, Tong Shaoyun thought that Gong Jifei would obey his command.

In this way, the extremely precious two hours were wasted.

At one o'clock in the morning of the 17th, the distance between the Second Fleet and the US fleet was shortened to 1,250 kilometers, reaching the close point of the two fleets.

Tong Shaoyun waited for two hours, but still did not wait for the reconnaissance report.

This annoyed him because he had asked the staff to contact the reconnaissance plane, but it was not rewarded and no reconnaissance planes came to the vicinity of the Second Fleet.

Although Tong Shaoyun was a little unbelievable, he had to believe that Gong Jifei was likely not dispatching a reconnaissance plane.

Just when Tong Shaoyun was a little at a loss, a ship-based early warning aircraft that changed shifts sent the latest news, that is, the first fleet is still 1,200 kilometers away from the rear, and there is no way to send reconnaissance aircraft to search the Great Barrier Reef waters, and the second batch of air defense fighters will arrive at 1:15.

At that time, Tong Shaoyun was so angry that he cursed and greeted Gong Jifei's ancestors for the eighteen generations.

However, after calming down, Tong Shaoyun realized that the first fleet was unreliable, and whether he could find the US fleet could only rely on himself.

After one tenth, Tong Shaoyun ordered the tilt rotary wing anti-submarine patrol aircraft to be dispatched.

Like his actions in the Battle of the Solomon Islands, these aircraft removed anti-submarine equipment and installed as much fuel as possible to ensure they could fly to the Great Barrier Reef waters, and returned to the fleet after performing half an hour of search missions. Each aircraft was equipped with reconnaissance equipment.

According to Tong Shaoyun's arrangement, after the reconnaissance aircraft discovers the US fleet, it must report immediately, and the fleet will immediately shell the US fleet based on the information provided by the reconnaissance aircraft.

At that time, Tong Shaoyun had absolute certainty in attacking the US fleet, because the Second Fleet was less than 1,600 kilometers from the shallows in the western part of the Great Barrier Reef.
Chapter completed!