Half an hour later, the telegram was sent to Count Su Xiong's desk, and the unexpected discovery of the Allied seaplanes here really surprised the Germans. It was nothing for the Japanese to load a few seaplanes on the Kasuga number, but with a few planes, they could keep track of a target for a long time while reconnaissing, which would be different. This shows that the other party's number of planes is quite large! Otherwise, they would not be tracking an uncertain target for at least half an hour.

"Our guests came to the door, and the Swordfish was sailing eastward. If the Japanese warships were eastward, they should be able to see each other's smoke pillars soon. After all, the latter is a large fleet, and they are all coal-burning ships. Now we can consider transferring the remaining fleet to the west, with both submarines and auxiliary cruisers! Pull out a cordon and search for the Japanese fleet."

"The Japanese seaplanes have already set off, and from the moment, there is no radio communication, which means that the distance between their planes and the fleet will not be far. Without radio, the opponent's pilots can still find their way home!" said Major General Rodhart, who is proficient in aviation operations.

"Can our reconnaissance plane go out to find the target?" asked Lieutenant General Su Xiong.

"This, it may be possible to find the target, but we probably don't have time to deal with them today. Our two main battleships are at least 100 kilometers away from each other, and it is already afternoon, and it is only 4 hours before sunset. We want to chase and destroy our opponents. "Major General Rodhart said.

"And if the Japanese reconnaissance aircraft are large, they are likely to discover us at a long distance. In this way, if the battleship guns cannot participate in the battle, things will be difficult to deal with." Radell, as before, tends to launch attacks at dawn at such critical moments, with plenty of time and if it is in the east of the enemy fleet, there is still cover.

Just as the bosses of the German fleet were considering how to accurately locate the Japanese fleet, the Japanese exposed their location at a critical moment! The Japanese seaplane that monitored the Swordfish had some failures when they returned, so they sent a telegram for help, which was not only intercepted by the nearby German submarine U289, but also completed the decipherment!

"What a pity, if we could get a few hours ahead of time, we would be able to bite the Japanese fleet!" At this time, the submarine u289, which was in a semi-submersible state, was invisible in the afterglow of the setting sun. Less than 6 kilometers away, a Japanese destroyer was transferring the pilot of the seaplane to the warship. After dark, the submarine could not catch up with the Japanese destroyer!

However, what the Germans did not expect was that just when the Germans thought that the destroyer had directly destroyed or abandoned the seaplane after recovering the pilot, a new warship appeared in front of the Germans in the distance. Moreover, the captain on u289 confirmed that from the appearance of the ship, it was definitely not any Japanese ship mentioned in the previous information.

"This hull is slender, so it is unlikely to be a civilian ship. There seem to be a lot of seaplanes on it? This should be a seaplane mothership! Oh my God! The Japanese have equipped this fleet with an additional seaplane mothership!" After magnifying the imaging magnification of the periscope and seeing the row of drained water planes on the warship, the captain of the u289 submarine exclaimed.

The Japanese would not discard seaplanes that cost thousands of pounds each! Small destroyers could not recover the plane at all, so after the destroyer rescued the people first, the personnel checked that the plane had a recycling value, so they asked the Takachiho seaplane mothership to come over and prepare to bring the plane. However, after the Japanese fleet evacuated, after confirming that there was no danger around, the submarine u289 surfaced, opened the antenna, and sent a report to the main fleet with a brand new communication frequency under the cover of night.

"Now, things are becoming more and more interesting. The order of our first wave of attacks needs to be changed." When we received the information, it was during dinner. So the senior German fleet, who didn't care about the meal, held a meeting again. In addition to the original 4 warships, there was also a seaplane mothership. This is not just a matter of one more boat. This seaplane mothership directly improved the Japanese fleet's reconnaissance ability by two levels! It is more troublesome than a light cruiser!

"The order of the first wave of attack targets is adjusted. First, hit the seaplane mothership. Although it is equipped with seaplanes, it can still put pressure on our bomber formation. In addition, does the J-3s, which we use to play a guest role in bombers, give up the bombing mission to deal with the Japanese seaplanes?" Raidel asked.

"The four J-3s fighters can completely solve this problem. They can even be solved with reconnaissance aircraft. Our attack group members can remain unchanged, but because there is an additional battleship, the margin of the Constellation aircraft carrier may be problematic. The reconnaissance may have to be handed over to the battleship troops." Rodhart thought for a while and said.

"You can deal with the attack matters, and leave the reconnaissance matters to me." Earl Suxiong said that the two fast battleships, Schánhorst and Gneisenau, carried a total of 10 seaplanes, two of which were spare parts. In addition, there was also a camouflage cruiser accompanied by the fleet, which also carried 4 seaplanes, a total of 14 seaplanes. If you are not particularly unlucky, you can find the location of the Japanese fleet. After all, the German fleet now knows the approximate location of the Japanese fleet, and it takes about 8 hours at night. It is good to be able to walk 80 nautical miles at the speed of the fleet. The fleet controls the course and speed, and it should be able to get some distance shorter in one night.

"Tomorrow my Gneisenau is close to the Japanese fleet. If the carrier-based aircraft cannot independently solve the battleship of the Kasugabata in the end, I can send it on the road." Raidel said.

"Yes, there's no problem." Su Xiong nodded, quite satisfied with this plan.

"By the way, there is one question I have always wanted to confirm, that is, can Japanese seaplanes carry weapons?" said Lieutenant Colonel Kimmel, who had not spoken.

"If they can carry bombs or even torpedoes, that would be awful." Lieutenant Colonel touched his nose and said. After all, the earliest carrier-based attack aircraft was a seaplane, which the French had done in 1914 in history. Therefore, in the era of World War 1, seaplane motherships should not be underestimated!
Chapter completed!