Empire Conquest
Chapter 348 - 344: Eager to Make Achievements

Chapter 348: Chapter 344: Eager to Make Achievements

Bai Zhizhan’s concerns were not unfounded.

At 8 o’clock, "Longjiang" intercepted a telegram sent by a seaplane from the 41.2 Subsquad and then received a telegram from "Wuzhou," learning that the 41 Special Mixed Fleet had already spotted the Newland carriers and was verifying the reconnaissance findings, with the next step being to launch an attack.

The issue was, the two Newland carriers were even closer to the 21 Special Mixed Fleet.

At just 400 kilometers away, "Flying Fish" and "Wasp" could take off fully loaded, and there was no need for the carriers to change course; they were just to meet the returning ship-borne aircraft.

However, the dilemma now lay before Liu Xiangzhen.

By the time he had received the message, the 21 Special Mixed Fleet had just dispatched the last of its plane group on an attack mission, also in a full-deck launch configuration.

This meant that, for a short period, not many ship-borne aircraft could be sent into the air.

Moreover, a choice had to be made between focusing on offense or air defense.

If air defense was the priority, they had to first get the fighters onto the flight deck, with the fighters positioned at the front end of the deck, ready for catapult launch after preparations were complete.

Otherwise, they would need to place the bombers and torpedo bombers at the forefront.

In fact, before receiving the message, the carriers’ deck crews were prepared for air defense, meaning sending the fighters up to the flight deck.

At 8:30, after receiving a telegram from the second seaplane of the 41.2 Subsquad, Liu Xiangzhen ordered a tactical adjustment.

He was right to instruct the aviation crew to arrange for an attack operation.

Of course, the fighters that were already prepared would still take off first, only now on escort duty, requiring a large external fuel tank.

But then preparations had to be made for the bombers and torpedo bombers.

Liu Xiangzhen’s decision was based on one premise: the 41 Special Mixed Fleet would not attack the two Newland carriers, and not because they were out of range.

In fact, Liu Xiangzhen was completely unaware that the 41.2 Subsquad and the 41.1 Subsquad had split apart.

That is, if "Wuzhou’s" position was considered, the 41 Special Mixed Fleet was actually closer to the two Newland carriers.

The misconception that led Liu Xiangzhen to this incorrect conclusion was actually the telegram sent by "Wuzhou."

"Wuzhou" was the escort battleship of "Imperial Capital" and had even taken the place of a Fast Battleship, surely the absolute main force protecting "Imperial Capital."

In case of any accident, especially a severe one, why would they break radio silence?

The long-wave radios on battleships could send signals that could be intercepted thousands of kilometers away and could certainly be located by triangulation.

And then, why was it "Wuzhou" that sent the telegram?

According to Liu Xiangzhen’s judgment, Bai Zhizhan intentionally had "Wuzhou" send the message, rather than "Imperial Capital," as a means to confuse the enemy.

Subsequently, they had to strengthen the fleet’s air defense; after all, sending out the telegram could result in becoming a target for the enemy.

Not to mention, two "York" class vessels had yet to appear.

In fact, at the time, some staff members pointed out that the sightings reported by the seaplanes from the 41.2 and 42.2 Subsquads were contradictory.

There were only two "Lek" class carriers in the Newland Navy, so how could three appear at the same time?

Yet, Liu Xiangzhen was inclined to believe that there was an issue with the 41.2 Subsquad’s discovery, that the seaplane pilot had mistaken the "York" class for the "Lek" class.

Furthermore, in the sea area reported by the 41.2 Subsquad’s seaplane, there was only one carrier, not two.

What if Bai Zhizhan made a similar assessment?

Clearly, he would try to lure the other two carriers out while preparing to launch an attack, ensuring an immediate strike upon discovery.

In other words, Bai Zhizhan was actually enticing the enemy, drawing their attention, and leaving the chance to Liu Xiangzhen.

Newland’s carrier mixed fleet had set its sights on Bai Zhizhan, naturally leaving them unable to deal with Liu Xiangzhen, which allowed Liu Xiangzhen the chance to reap enemy heads.

In light of this, the 41st Special Mixed Fleet would certainly not launch an immediate attack.

At that moment, Liu Xiangzhen overlooked a very crucial issue.

If all his conjectures were correct and Bai Zhizhan had indeed prioritized the bigger picture and set aside personal grievances, willing to play a supporting role,

then why not send the telegraph directly from the "Imperial Capital"?

Even if the "Wuzhou" was right beside the "Imperial Capital", communicating by voice radio and relaying telegraphs was a very troublesome matter.

Moreover, even if they let the "Wuzhou" send the telegraph, why not speak directly?

Was it a matter of losing face?

Since he had already decided to be the greenery, was there any face left to speak of?

At 8:30 AM, Liu Xiangzhen issued the command.

As planned, the aviation ground crew first launched the fighters that had been sent to the flight deck and then began preparations for the bombers and torpedo bombers.

At the time, the "Longjiang" and "Mo River" each deployed 8 "Xiaotian".

The two carriers prepared 8 fighters each, actually because the 16 fighters launched before dawn were each assigned to escort and protect the 42nd and 43rd Special Mixed Fleets. In addition, for the first wave of attack, 16 fighters were arranged to undertake escort missions.

After dispatching these 16 fighters, both carriers still had a squadron of fighters each.

Regrettably, they did not manage to launch these fighters into the sky in time.

What’s more fatal is that, because preparation was needed for bombers and torpedo bombers for the attack, these fighters could not be on standby on the flight deck.

Normally, they would only launch these fighters after the second wave of the Attack Aircraft Group had all set off.

Around 8:40 AM, the "Longjiang" launched the last "Xiaotian".

At this time, the 21st Special Mixed Fleet was less than twenty minutes away from being attacked.

Just as Bai Zhizhan worried, the 21st Special Mixed Fleet had already been discovered.

Shortly after sunrise, more precisely after 7 AM, a Newland Navy seaplane spotted the "Xuncheng", a Light Cruiser, sailing twenty kilometers ahead of the "Longjiang". Because it was flying very low, the "Lu River" escort battleship did not detect the seaplane with its radar. More importantly, the pilot of the seaplane promptly saw fighters coming from the northwest.

Yes, these were the fighters sent by the "Longjiang" to protect the 42nd Special Mixed Fleet.

Those two air defense fighters were climbing and the pilots did not pay attention to the low east side, failing to spot the Newland seaplane flying at low altitude.

Subsequently, the Newland seaplane turned to return to base and sent a telegraph after flying more than 100 kilometers, at around 7:30 AM.

Fatal indeed was that none of the battleships in the 21st Special Mixed Fleet intercepted the radio signal sent by the Newland seaplane!

It was probably because of their reliance on radar that they felt they could rest easy.

Around 7:35 AM, Hal aboard the "Lek" issued the attack order.

To save time, the "Lek" first deployed bombers and torpedo bombers, more precisely, allowed the slower torpedo bombers to take off first.

The escort mission fighters were, instead, left to the end.

By 8 AM, all torpedo bombers and bombers had taken off, with part of the fighters also in motion.

It was one of the escort mission "Wildcats", which had launched and was hovering nearby waiting to form up, that discovered a seaplane sent by the 41.2 Subsquad. This seaplane had successfully approached the "Lek" due to flying at low altitude and was promptly shot down.

Before being shot down, the pilot was unable to send a message that the enemy fleet had already dispatched the Attack Aircraft Group.

From the timeline, the first wave of torpedo bombers to take off would arrive over the 21st Special Mixed Fleet before 9 AM.

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