Empire Conquest

Chapter 462 - 458: Shooting Arrows with Both Hands

Having the Attack Aircraft Group turn during their flight was a common tactic, nothing to be surprised about.

In fact, the real thrill lay earlier than that.

Around 4:50 AM, when it became known that there was an Enemy Fleet to the southeast and the Seaplanes had yet to locate the enemy carrier, Bai Zhizhan hesitated whether to start preparing the ship-borne aircraft for the attack in advance. It was a Reconnaissance Aircraft flying from the southeast that dispelled his hesitation.

It was an enemy carrier’s Reconnaissance Aircraft!

Although the lookout hadn’t spotted the enemy aircraft—after all, Reconnaissance Aircraft flew at no small altitude, and it was night—they could hear it. The lookout even determined it to be an SBD.

Upon receiving the lookout’s report, Bai Zhizhan took a sharp intake of breath.

Fortunately, the Reconnaissance Aircraft did not discover the Battleships on the water.

One had to admit, it was indeed luck.

Before this, Bai Zhizhan had told Zhou Yongtao that he hoped to complete the preparations for the attack as soon as possible, ensuring that the ship-borne aircraft could take off after daybreak.

Zhou Yongtao asked the Aviation department for an update, reporting that preparations starting at 5 AM would be in time.

The reason was simple; the flight decks of both Peijing and Longjiang were already cleared, with all aircraft residing in the Hangar. Due to high winds, it was not feasible to conduct maintenance on the flight deck; instead, as much preparation as possible had to be done in the Hangar to greatly reduce the time spent on deck.

Moreover, the absence of aircraft on the flight deck meant higher efficiency and a shorter time was needed for take-off operations.

What once took an hour now only required thirty minutes; there was no need to move the aircraft to the flight deck in advance.

Because of this, the Special Mixed Fleet remained under light control when that SBD flew by.

Of course, the appearance of that SBD also confirmed that at least one of the enemy’s carriers was in the maritime area southeast of us, as reported by the Seaplane.

However, it was impossible to determine which Fleet it belonged to.

But that didn’t matter.

Once the Reconnaissance Aircraft flew away, Bai Zhizhan immediately gave the order for Zhou Yongtao to personally handle the preparations for the first wave of ship-borne aircraft assigned to the attack mission.

It was just after 5 AM when another report from a Seaplane flying in a different direction came in.

It was a Seaplane dispatched northwestward.

Since the Fleet had been sailing southwestward, the Seaplane was nearly directly north of the Fleet by now.

The Seaplane reported sighting an enemy aircraft flying in from the west and identified it as an SBD on a solo reconnaissance mission.

Just minutes later, another Seaplane in that area sent the same report.

Clearly, two Seaplanes wouldn’t make the same mistake.

These SBDs were all flying from west to east, approximately 200 kilometers from the Special Mixed Fleet, undoubtedly not from the Enemy Fleet to the south.

There was another Enemy Fleet in the northwest!

The key point was that this Enemy Fleet was not too far away.

Reconnaissance Aircraft would carry out their reconnaissance missions after daybreak, and even if they set out before dawn, they had to minimize their flight distance during the night as much as possible.

Bai Zhizhan didn’t hesitate for a moment and immediately had Zhou Yongtao adjust the deployment.

After the first wave of Attack Aircraft took off, the second wave of ship-borne aircraft would be brought onto the flight deck and, once preparations were completed, they would take to the sky in succession.

Wait for more reconnaissance reports?

Bai Zhizhan wasn’t foolish to that extent.

The Seaplane pilots aboard the Xu Sea had abundant combat experience, and chances were they had already taken off and were currently flying westward.

Perhaps, they would soon locate the Enemy Fleet.

Even if it’s not necessary, it’s not a problem.

So close by, there’s no need for advanced reconnaissance.

According to Zhou Yongtao’s arrangement, the second Plane Group set off by squadron, with slight variations in their courses, to perform the attack in a reconnaissance-search manner.

Since the lead aircraft of each squadron is equipped with long-range radio, operational within about 200 kilometers, as long as one squadron finds the Enemy Fleet, it can inform other nearby squadrons via radio, so there’s no possibility of missing the Enemy Fleet due to the Plane Group being too concentrated.

It could be said that this was a new tactic derived by pilots after the widespread installation of long-range radios.

Of course, it presupposes the use of ship-borne aircraft with sufficient range.

While it hadn’t been tested in actual combat, the feasibility and value of this tactic were proven during training exercises.

Under the influence of this tactic, the Imperial Navy placed greater emphasis on the range of the ship-borne aircraft, leading to increasingly larger designs.

The first Attack Aircraft Group began to take off before 5:30 AM.

By 5:45 AM, the second Attack Aircraft Group was on the flight deck, and within minutes, they too had taken off from the carrier.

Essentially, it was almost like launching two waves of attack at the same time.

A report had been received from the seaplane dispatched by the "Flame Sea," confirming that what was previously spotted to the southeast was the Bulan Fleet.

The key point was that there were two Fleet carriers.

Given the situation at that time, even without the seaplane’s report, there was sufficient reason to believe the Bulan Fleet might be ready to attack.

By calculation, the attack launched by the Eleventh Special Mixed Fleet might not arrive in time.

In other words, the Bulan Fleet could potentially launch an attack in time!

Moreover, after sending the telegram, the seaplane had lost contact, which caused Bai Zhizhan much concern.

If quick about it, in an hour, the Bulan Fleet could dispatch dozens of ship-borne aircraft, enough to form an Attack Aircraft Group.

Therefore, Bai Zhizhan made a snap decision to keep a squadron of fighters to strengthen the Fleet’s air defense.

Don’t forget, both enemy Fleets had dispatched Reconnaissance Aircraft before daybreak, and those were ship-borne!

This indicated that Cunningham and Spur both guessed Bai Zhizhan was nearby; otherwise, they wouldn’t have used their limited ship-borne aircraft for reconnaissance missions.

Bai Zhizhan wasn’t very familiar with Cunningham but knew Spur quite well.

In his opinion, if Spur concluded the Eleventh Special Mixed Fleet was nearby, he would definitely make preparations for an attack in advance and launch immediately upon receiving the Reconnaissance Aircraft’s report.

Indeed, the second Attack Aircraft Group comprised only five squadrons, including just one squadron of fighters.

Along with the first group dispatched to engage the Bulan Fleet, the Eleventh Special Mixed Fleet had deployed a total of 88 ship-borne aircraft, with an additional 16 fighters assigned to air defense duties.

There was no need to consider the retrieval of returning ship-borne aircraft for the time being.

In Bai Zhizhan’s view, using 40 ship-borne aircraft to attack the Newland Fleet was almost a sure bet to at least severely damage the "Fenjin," if not sink it.

Regardless, the Newland Fleet only had one carrier.

With 16 "Vermilion Birds" and 16 "Thunderbolts," they could launch two full-scale, successive assaults on the "Fenjin."

However, what Bai Zhizhan hadn’t counted on was that Spur would have all fighters take to the sky, and at that time, all of them were near the 61st Special Mixed Fleet.

The consequence was that the eight escorting "Xiaotians" were up against twenty-eight air defense "Wildcats."

Even more unexpected for Bai Zhizhan was his proximity to Spur, at less than 200 kilometers!

For the shipborne air force, this distance was nearly close-quarters combat!

After the ship-borne aircraft took off, they couldn’t form up in time and encountered enemy fighters while heading north; the arranged tactics were completely unfeasible!