afterglow

Chapter 650: A sleepless night; one plane every four seconds, follow me to attack!

The Ming fleet received the intelligence at 16:00 in the afternoon. At that time, the straight-line distance between the two sides was about 410 km. In theory, they could launch an attack formation before sunset.

However, it would be too difficult to attack at this time. The distance is at the limit of the combat radius of carrier-based aircraft, and it is likely to be empty-handed. The limited bombs and torpedoes will have to be discarded when returning, and there is a great risk of night landing accidents.

Ouyang Zhanghua did not do so, but led the fleet to turn northwest for a tactical maneuver to improve its position.

This is roughly the same as Raymond Spruance's guess.

After all these years of war, several major naval and air battles, and several games between generals and commanders, they naturally got to know each other better.

The Ming army deployed Type 40 large seaplanes equipped with high-power decimeter wave radar, and the US military also deployed some experimental Hellcats equipped with airborne radar.

At the same time, the US military also learned a lesson - several naval battles exposed the serious problem of "the signals sent back by reconnaissance aircraft were not received."

Different paths lead to the same conclusion. Overall, the reconnaissance capabilities of the Ming and American armies have made great progress compared to the early days of the war.

This means that the tactical significance of hiding from place to place has become much smaller.

The situation of sea and air battles is rapidly evolving towards the trend of "attack is greater than defense, search is greater than concealment".

少量装备AN/APS-4雷达的F6F地狱猫战斗机在出发前交给了星座号的VF-16中队和萨拉托加号的VF-3中队，分别为3架和4架。

This is an advanced centimeter-wave radar with a total weight of only 109 kg. With a peak power of 0.7 kW, it can detect aircraft formations at a distance of 8 km or fleets at a distance of 60 km.

Because it is so small, it can be installed on the wing of a single-engine fighter like the Hellcat.

Of course, this is also the most powerful airborne radar currently carried by the US fast aircraft carrier task force.

In terms of technology, the US military is undoubtedly far ahead. It is not difficult to develop a decimeter wave airborne radar with a frequency of 500~1000MHz and a detection distance of 250~300km.

However, they lacked a medium-sized carrier-based aircraft that could carry high-power long-range search radar, nor did they have a high-speed seaplane carrier, so they failed to fully utilize the leading advantages of electronic industry technology.

midnight.

The vast ocean is so deep and frightening that the faint starlight is swallowed up completely. Only the bright moon hanging high in the night sky can dispel a trace of darkness.

The Xihu and Taihu each carried two Type 40 seaplanes, one of which had been lost, and the remaining three were originally carrying out search missions to the east and southeast.

In order to notify them, the Ming fleet broke the radio silence and gave them several instructions to change the search route.

When the three seaplanes received the order, they were more than a thousand kilometers away, and it would take six hours to immediately change course and fly to the final location of the US fleet.

At the same time, the TF-58 task force also released the seven precious Hellcats one after another, using airborne radar to conduct night searches to the west and northwest.

The roar of the engines had become a monotonous background sound, and such nighttime searches were exhausting.

The sky in the east was already turning pale, and an anxious and sleepless night passed. By dawn, neither side had gained anything.

At 10:14 in the morning of October 5, Ouyang Zhanghua ordered the implementation of the original search plan.

The First Air Attack Squadron launched 13 reconnaissance Type 700 carrier-based bombers to conduct a fan-shaped search of the northeast with a depth of km. The more than a dozen routes of these reconnaissance aircraft were like the skeleton of a folding fan.

The Second Air Attack Squadron also launched 12 reconnaissance planes to conduct a fan-shaped search to a depth of 700 to 750 km in the southeast.

On that day, the sea conditions in the sea area where the main fleets of both the Ming and the United States were located were good. The Beaufort wind force scale was level 3, with wind speeds of 3.6~4.8m/s. Except for cumulonimbus clouds in some sea areas, the visibility was still good.

At 5:52, the Cormorant 3, located in the northeast direction, suddenly sent back a message, reporting that the airborne radar had discovered an unidentified fleet, including 5 to large echo signals, which were suspected to be the main fleet of the US military. Now with little fuel left, it began to return.

At 6:10, after evaluation, Ouyang Zhanghua found that the route of the first batch of reconnaissance planes that had departed earlier could cover the unidentified fleet. Therefore, he did not easily order them to temporarily change their route, but instead dispatched a second batch of four reconnaissance planes into the air.

At 8:08, ZH-CG-1-2, one of the first dozen or so reconnaissance planes, approached the US fleet - the one detected by the Cormorant radar.

When weather conditions are good, the crew can see the fleet forty to fifty kilometers away with the naked eye.

In addition, if the fleet is speeding, it will be easier to be discovered because the black smoke emitted from the chimneys will increase and the white trail will become longer.

The US fleet's warning radar can detect aircraft more than 200 kilometers away, so there is enough time to guide carrier-based aircraft to intercept.

If the reconnaissance aircraft could be shot down at visual range, the fleet would remain undetected.

Faced with the fierce pursuit of two Hellcats, pilot Jin Kui and rear-seat machine gunner Long Rangyong realized that the US fleet was likely nearby.

Jin Kui performed aerobatics in his plane to avoid the continuous bullets, while Long Rangyong operated the self-defense machine gun to fire continuously to drive away the Hellcat that was chasing him.

"Track!" Jin Kui suddenly shouted, "Nine o'clock! In the distance! The enemy fleet!"

I saw many long white tracks and many tiny black dots in the distance.

At 8:15, Long Rangyong sent a telegram to report: "We have found a large enemy fleet heading west with good visibility and a cloud height of 3500 meters."

Due to the dire situation, the reconnaissance plane was unable to calmly send back detailed information, and Long Rangyong subsequently went into shock due to excessive blood loss.

The Type 37 reconnaissance carrier-based bomber that was intercepted was severely damaged. Thanks to Jin Kui's superb flying skills, the two Hellcats ran out of bullets but were unable to shoot it down.

Seeing another Hellcat coming from a distance, Jin Kui chose to retreat.

He returned home in a plane riddled with bullet holes, and on the way he dived to intimidate a US submarine that was sailing and charging on the sea. The latter hurriedly dived, not knowing that the reconnaissance plane was unarmed except for its self-defense machine guns.

The seconds kept ticking by, and to the admirals these hours seemed longer than weeks.

Throughout the morning, various reconnaissance intelligence was sent back one after another.

As of 11:15, the Ming army had learned the approximate locations of the four fleets under the US TF-58 task force, but the specific ship types were still unknown.

However, there was a big mistake here - TF-58.2 and TF-58.3 were very close to each other, and Ouyang Zhanghua and others mistakenly thought that they were the same fleet.

Therefore, they suspected that the US military still had a detachment consisting of several aircraft carriers lurking in the dark and not exposed.

The intelligence they have is:

The enemy's No. 4 fleet has 440 aircraft carriers, which are about 58.1 km away from our side (it is TF-).

敌二号舰队有3~4艘航母，距离己方530㎞左右（混淆了TF-58.2和TF-58.3）。

The enemy's Fleet No. 4 has 490 battleships, which are 58.4 km away from our side (it is TF-).

"Okay, let's eat the big one first. Pass my order, Taizuo and Changgeng ships prepare for battle, attack the enemy's No. 1 fleet. Send more reconnaissance planes to the east, and then strengthen the airborne alert forces." Although he said yesterday that he would wait and see what happens and strike back, Ouyang Zhanghua keenly realized that now is a good opportunity and it is worth seizing.

Therefore, he immediately launched an attack to take the initiative.

On the bridges and flight decks of the two aircraft carriers, the officers and sailors looked solemn and had expectant eyes.

"Don't worry, I guarantee you'll get off to a great start."

The commander of the formation was none other than Fan Sizhi, the deputy captain of the carrier-based aircraft detachment of Taiwei Youyuan. He led his team to sink the Ranger and Yorktown, and later abandoned the plane and parachuted on the return voyage. After being rescued, he "attended his own funeral."

He was promoted as a hero by the Ministry of War and given speeches everywhere. It was not until this year that he returned to the front line with the rank of colonel.

The Taiwei Zuoyuan and Changgeng increased their speed. Since the wind was very light today, they simply decided not to turn into the windward direction.

After finishing their hearty but small lunch, the pilots sat in the cockpit and waved to the ground crew under their watchful eyes.

Soon, amid the roar of engines, one carrier-based aircraft after another roared out of the flight deck and climbed leisurely into the sky.

At 12:00, after completing the formation, the aircraft fleets of the two aircraft carriers, one in the front left and the other in the rear right, flew towards the northeast in a neat formation.

The two aircraft carriers, one old and one new, launched the first wave of attack formations within half an hour, totaling 57 dive bombers and 42 fighters.

The Taiwei Zuoyuan launched 31 Type 19 carrier-based bombers and 26 Haidongqing; the Changgeng launched 23 Type carrier-based bombers and Haidongqing.

Almost at the moment when the Ming army fleet took off, the Tianshu of the Second Air Attack Fleet, dozens of kilometers away, issued an early warning, reporting that two unidentified aircraft were approaching from different directions.

The Tianshu has not yet formed combat effectiveness, and taking her along to enhance air detection capabilities has now proven to be a correct decision.

This must be a US military reconnaissance plane!

The Ming army fighter jets performing patrol and surveillance missions in the sky were then guided to intercept.

Since the meter-wave early warning radar cannot detect altitude, the pilots still have to rely on their naked eyes to search for the enemy after approaching the target. One of the Helldivers cleverly used the clouds to conceal itself and discovered the Ming Army's second air strike fleet.

"Enemy fleet detected. 3 aircraft carriers and at least 10 screen ships. Course 125 degrees. Coordinates..."

At 13:23, the first wave of attack formations of the Ming army arrived at the target location - which was the coordinates last updated by the reconnaissance aircraft, but it was empty.

Because Cormorant No. 24 had already set off yesterday morning and had flown for more than twenty hours before the deadline, its fuel tank was empty and it had to return for resupply.

Two hours is enough for the fleet to travel dozens of kilometers, beyond the visual detection distance. At this time, the attack formation faces a difficult choice between two options.

The first option is to split the formation into three and search in three directions. The advantage is that the target can be found with a high probability; the disadvantage is that there is unlikely to be extra time to wait for the merger after the discovery, so only one-third of the aircraft can attack, and the entire army may be destroyed without gaining anything.

The second option is to search in one direction together. The advantage is that once found, they can attack together; the disadvantage is that there is only a one-third probability of finding the target. If not found, they can only return, and must drop bombs and torpedoes into the sea before landing, and the bombs and torpedoes stored in the aircraft carrier's ammunition depot are limited.

The experienced Fan Sizhi decided to disperse the search and find the enemy first, and then give up the attack if the enemy was well guarded.

Ten minutes later at 13:40, more than 58.1 carrier-based aircraft searching northward saw a series of tracks and then discovered the TF- task force speeding northward.

The commander estimated that the time it took for the US military to launch thirty or forty fighter jets would be enough for their side to attack, and the losses from the breakthrough would be huge, so he gave up the attack.

At this time, the attack formation had consumed more than half of its fuel and returned home at the same time.

"Is the big airship ready?"

"Reporting to the commander-in-chief, everything is ready and we will take off on time."

"The Second Fleet is ready to attack."

"Order!"

The large seaplane flies slowly. The Cormorant 24 just flew back, but the Cormorant 28 belonging to the West Lake returned an hour ago and completed the resupply immediately.

Afterwards, the Cormorant 28 slowly sailed on the sea and moved away from the West Lake, then gradually accelerated and took off smoothly.

In the south, the Qiming and Gouchen of the Second Air Attack Fleet of the A-120 Special Forces Fleet immediately became busy.

The Qiming was considered to be quite experienced, but the Gouchen was a complete rookie. The crew had not yet become well familiar with this aircraft carrier which had only been in service for over a month, and the intensive intensive training before setting sail had only barely enabled them to have the capability to attack.

It took the Qiming ten minutes to recover six patrol fighters, but the Gouchen took a quarter of an hour to recover four, and a landing accident occurred, resulting in two deaths and seven injuries.

At 15:05, the second wave of attack formation, consisting of 44 dive bombers and 40 fighters, was released from two ships and then rushed to the north.

The Chang Gung launched 25 Type 24 carrier-based bombers and 19 Khesar Nagpur; the Gou Chen launched 16 Type carrier-based bombers and Khesar Nagpur.

At 15:24, Cormorant detected a large number of aircraft appearing at the three o'clock position, tens of kilometers away from itself, and they were flying towards its own fleet.

At 15:45, this large US attack formation was discovered by Tianshu's long-range warning radar. It can be said that Cormorant inadvertently gained precious reaction time.

Unlike the first wave that returned empty-handed, the second wave, with the help of seaplane search radar, accurately captured the location of the US fleet and rushed over in a mighty manner.

The shrill sound of air defense sirens swept across the TF-58.1 task force, and the ground crew was busy trying to send more F6F Hellcats into the sky.

"Enemy situation update, bearing 195 degrees, distance 97 nautical miles, about 80 Vampires are approaching us."

It has been more than half an hour since the radar detected the approaching Ming army aircraft. Three Essex-class ships and one Independence-class ship have given the fleet more than 60 fighter jets.

At this time, small black dots appeared from under the white clouds in the blue sky in the south.

At 16:37, an air battle broke out in the sky about 45 km south of the US fleet!
Since the US military aircraft have a numerical advantage of half, the breakthrough process is very difficult. The only thing to be thankful for is that the US military has not yet equipped its carrier-based fighter squadrons with Corsairs. Now the Hellcat can only fight the Saker Falcon on equal terms.

More than 20 Type 37 carrier-based bombers broke through the encirclement and flew towards the US fleet, which had transformed into an anti-aircraft wheel formation.

Although their formation was disrupted by strong interference and it was difficult to merge into a large team, they still temporarily formed three small teams, shuttled among the gray and black smoke clouds, and tried their best to concentrate their attacks.

"Hold on, one plane every four seconds, follow me to charge!" The squadron's deputy Zhong Fu was the first to pull the joystick to flip into a dive posture.

Hundreds of Mk12 dual-purpose guns of the entire fleet were roaring, hundreds of 127mm conventional shells exploded in mid-air, and the damaged dive bombers fell into the sea with black smoke and flames.

The Yorktown was the first to suffer, with five Type 37 carrier-based bombers diving and dropping bombs on her.

The first 500kg armor-piercing bomb got off to a good start, hitting the target on its first launch, smashing through the front flight deck and penetrating the 63mm thick hangar deck armor, exploding deep inside; the second 500kg armor-piercing bomb hit the rear elevator joint obliquely, crashing and igniting a Helldiver, and finally exploding in the cafeteria.

(End of this chapter)