.Chapter 46 Go north at full speed

After receiving the submarine's reconnaissance report, Yang Yufang was frightened.

You should know that the Joint Fleet is more than 500 kilometers southeast and has dispatched reconnaissance aircraft. Subsequently, the news sent by the reconnaissance aircraft made Yang Yufang realize that the Joint Fleet had long known that the First Fleet was near Iwo Huang Island, and it was for the First Fleet.

The first thing Yang Yufang thought of was to organize fleet air defense operations.

Judging from the situation at that time, his choice was not wrong at all.

The First Fleet has just sent reconnaissance aircraft and has just added air defense fighter jets. The ground crews on the two aircraft carriers have not yet prepared for other fighter jets to take off. What's more, the "Kunlun Mountain" and "Tianshan" have not been in service for a while, and the fleet officers and soldiers have not experienced actual combat tests, and their quality is far inferior to the fleet officers and soldiers of the "Yangtze River" and "Yellow River" and it is impossible to achieve the most ideal state.

In fact, Mu Haoyang's choice of the Second Fleet, rather than the First Fleet, is also related to the quality of the fleet officers and soldiers.

Given the situation at that time, it would be great that the First Fleet could complete the preparations before the attack within one hour, so it would take around 10 o'clock to launch the attack at the earliest.

Before this, the possibility of the First Fleet being attacked was very high.

If it is attacked suddenly while organizing an attack, the fleet's air defense operations will definitely be affected, and the two aircraft carriers may even be completely destroyed.

You should know that when dispatching attack aircraft groups, a large number of fighter jets have to stay on the flight deck.

These fighters were hung with ammunition and filled with fuel, and each was a time bomb, which was likely to cause unpredictable disasters.

More importantly, if the attack aircraft occupy the flight deck, it will be difficult to send additional air defense fighters.

In addition, Mu Haoyang's campaign deployment also had a great impact on Yang Yu's tactical decisions, because according to the news received by Yang Yu's side, the Second Fleet could arrive as early as the early morning of the eighth day, and it was impossible to attack the joint fleet at night in the seventh day, and it would not be possible to assist the First Fleet in combat.

In other words, even if an attack was launched in time, the First Fleet could only fight alone.

With two aircraft carriers missing, the first fleet may have the ability to severely damage the joint fleet, but it will definitely suffer a heavy blow in the counterattack of the joint fleet, or even completely lose its combat capability. In this way, the joint fleet will likely escape before the second fleet arrives.

From Yang Yufang's standpoint, the best choice is to adopt conservative tactics.

Of course, Yang Yufang did not forget the most important thing: sending more reconnaissance planes to the waters where the joint fleet is located to obtain more accurate tactical intelligence.

By 9:30, there were forty-eight air defense fighters over the First Fleet.

In order to command so many fighter jets, four carrier-based early warning aircraft were also dispatched.

Because it was not discovered by the reconnaissance aircraft of the Joint Fleet, the first fleet still remained radio silent, and the radars of all early warning aircraft worked passively. The problem is that when the passive operation, the detection efficiency of the early warning aircraft was greatly reduced, and it was impossible to ensure that the approaching enemy aircraft could be discovered 100%. For this reason, after Yang Yu's side issued an air defense warning order, the escort warships in the fleet immediately dispersed and entered the highest combat readiness state. After the early warning aircraft discovered the incoming aircraft group, all escort warships could activate the air defense radar within thirty seconds.

Of course, early warning aircraft are likely to miss enemy aircraft flying alone, but they will never miss group of enemy aircraft.

At 9:35, four J-32s carrying out reconnaissance missions took off from the Kunlun Mountain and the Tianshan Mountain to search for the joint fleet.

Because there are only twenty-four j-32s on each aircraft carrier, in general, reconnaissance missions are undertaken by j-25m. Only in special circumstances will the fleet commander use j-32. Compared with j-25m, the advantage of j-32 is not the range, but more complete stealth technology.

Relying on active stealth technology that interferes with the surrounding electromagnetic fields, j-32 can deceive most early warning aircraft.

Information has proved that the Japanese Navy's e-2f is likely to have passive detection radars. Although it is not a passive radar in the true sense, it already has some special capabilities of passive radars, such as being able to discover stealth fighters through magnetic field changes.

After the reconnaissance plane set off, Yang Yu considered whether to attack the joint fleet.

Although there were only 120 fighter jets left on the two aircraft carriers of the First Fleet at that time, and the air defense fighter jets had to take turns landing, so they could only dispatch up to 60 fighter jets to perform attack missions. In Yang Yu's view, such a fighter jet could not break through the air defense network of the Joint Fleet, but when the Second Fleet was about to arrive, the Joint Fleet was likely to evacuate the battlefield, and active attack was the only way to drag the Joint Fleet. If this opportunity was missed, the Joint Fleet would likely escape before dawn.

By this time, Yang Yufang had nothing to worry about.

The flight deck has long been cleared, and the hangar has also been vacant. Ground crews can prepare for the fighter jets performing attack missions in the hangar, without risking on the flight deck, nor occupying the flight deck. Moreover, fighter jets that do not perform attack missions can take off to fight in an emergency to face incoming Japanese fighters. The preparations before the attack will not have a negative impact on the fleet's air defense.

That's right, at 9:45, Yang Yufang ordered sixty fighter jets to be prepared for attack.

However, the attack aircraft group will not be able to take off after 10:30 at the earliest.

While Yang Yufang was busy dealing with various possible situations, Mu Haoyang was speeding up his way.

The discovery of the submarine proved Mu Haoyang's judgment that the joint fleet did not pass through the middle of the Mariana Islands, but went to Iwoyu Island to find the first fleet to fight to the decisive battle.

In terms of time, Mu Haoyang's judgment is also very accurate, that is, both sides will encounter each other on the seven-day night.

The problem is that at this time, the Second Fleet was still about 2,600 kilometers south of Iwo Huang Island, about 2,000 kilometers away from the exposure site of the Combined Fleet.

This distance exceeds the maximum attack range of the two carrier-based fighters.

At that time, Yan Yingbo suggested launching an attack immediately because it allowed fighters to land in the First Fleet after completing the attack mission. If the First Fleet also launched an attack, the carrier-based fighters of the First Fleet could go south and land on the aircraft carrier of the Second Fleet. In this way, the combat flight distances of the two batches of fighters were within 3,000 kilometers, and did not exceed the maximum range of the fighter.

The problem is, Yan Yingbo is not sure where the first fleet is.

You know, Yang Yufang has been keeping radio silence and has not reported the situation at all.

Although the First Fleet was active on the west side of Iwo Huang Island before this, who can guarantee that during the seventh day, the First Fleet did not transfer to the north side of Iwo Huang Island.

If the First Fleet is north of Iwoyu Island, the Second Fleet's fighter jets cannot fly over before burning out the fuel.

More importantly, the First Fleet is likely to be attacked during this period, and the airport on Iwoo Island has been destroyed. Therefore, the fighter jets sent by the Second Fleet can only land on Iwoo Island, and it is impossible to perform attack missions again. The Second Fleet will also lose its attack ability.

To put it bluntly, it is just a desperate act, and the risk is too great.

After losing most of the fighter jets, even if the Second Fleet did not lose warships, it would not be able to fight the joint fleet in a decisive battle, and had to return to the vicinity of the local area.

For Mu Haoyang, the best choice is to continue to go north at full speed.

Yang Yufang kept the radio silent, which not only caused trouble for Mu Haoyang and prevented him from launching an attack immediately, but also made Mu Haoyang believe that the First Fleet was not attacked and was trying to find a way to attack the Joint Fleet, at least entangled the Joint Fleet and buy time for the Second Fleet.

Otherwise, Yang Yufang would have broken the radio silence long ago.

If the First Fleet can hold the Joint Fleet, then the Second Fleet will have to fight to launch an attack in the early morning of the 8th and end the battle before dawn.

The problem is that in the next few hours, it will definitely not be able to navigate five hundred kilometers.

To put it bluntly, the distance with the joint fleet will be shortened to 1,500 kilometers until dawn on the 8th, and there is no time to launch an attack at this time. Of course, there is another premise, that is, the joint fleet will not be able to avoid it after it is exposed.

Obviously, this premise is unlikely to be true.

Whether it is actively seeking the First Fleet to fight to the final battle or escaping after realizing the danger, the Joint Fleet cannot stay near the exposed location.

In this way, the whereabouts of the joint fleet must be made first.

Based on the situation at that time, there is only one thing that can be confirmed, that is, the joint fleet will not go north, because the north is Iwo Huang Island, and the joint fleet is close to Iwo Huang Island, so it is impossible to remain hidden. You should know that Japanese cruisers only destroyed the airport and did not destroy the Marines on the island. Even if the anti-submarine patrol planes cannot take off, the Marines still have many helicopters, and these helicopters must have taken off after the shelling began.

Of course, it is impossible to avoid the west, because Dongxiang Zuwang could not know that the Second Fleet was not moving in the west.

So, is it possible for the Joint Fleet to evade south?

In Mu Haoyang's view, this is unlikely, because at this time, Dongxiang Zuwang would definitely realize that the joint fleet had exposed its whereabouts a few days ago, and the second fleet was likely to intercept it, and it was possible that it would appear south of Iwo Huang Island. To avoid it southwards means to take the initiative to die.

The only thing left is to avoid the east.

Of course, this is not necessarily a bad thing, because it means that as long as Yang Yu's side is a little cautious, the First Fleet will not fight the Joint Fleet.

More importantly, to the east is the vast Pacific Ocean and there are not many islands.

If the operation is timely, the Second Fleet is likely to intercept the Joint Fleet in the north of the Marshall Islands and catch the Joint Fleet off guard.

After careful consideration, Mu Haoyang made a decision: continue sailing north at full speed, turn east after dawn, and then dispatch reconnaissance planes to search for the joint fleet on the night of the eighth day.

If the Joint Fleet evades eastward according to his judgment, then the Joint Fleet will be discovered in the first half of the eighth day.

Of course, we must contact the First Fleet and let the First Fleet chase eastward after dawn and attack the Joint Fleet together in the first half of the night of the 8th.
Chapter completed!