"Just a week ago, two new long-range patrol squadrons appeared over the Gilbert Islands. The force appeared very abruptly and unreasonable, because it was just a corner area on the American strategic board, and there was no reason for them to suddenly increase their air patrol strength." Betty said.

"Can you understand more clearly?" asked Shigetaro Yoshimatsu.

"We rarely send submarines in this sea area, because it is far away from normal routes, and there are almost no targets to be deployed here. Therefore, the maritime patrol aircraft are for the anti-submarine line to be removed. It is said that the Americans are preparing to launch an attack? Where are they attacking? Is it the Touloi Islands? Compared to now, the Americans would not have encroached on British colonies in the Pacific so boldly. Moreover, the only ones who came here were long-range patrol aircraft, not bombers, and the garrisons on the island seemed to have not changed, so this point can be ruled out."

"Well, let's think about the situation in the entire Pacific battlefield. If we assume that our whereabouts are not exposed, the only explanation is that the suddenly deployed maritime patrol aircraft here is actually targeting our maritime attack ships! Because the maximum speed of the armored cruiser we bought from the Italians can reach 23 knots! What does this mean? Even if a high-speed cruise ship encounters, it may be destroyed. In order to ensure the safety of nearly 10,000 people, the Americans believe that they need to improve the team's sea reconnaissance capabilities, and why is it for improving the reconnaissance capabilities? I think it is naturally to facilitate certain high-speed transport ships. If we find that our high-speed attack ships are nearby, air reconnaissance can at least allow high-speed cruise ships to avoid in advance!" Betty said.

So now a complete logical chain has been formed, and Shadow 42 chose to pass through the waters between the Gilbert Islands and the Toulouse Islands. Recently, there were Japanese high-speed attack ships in this sea area. In order to ensure the safety of Shadow 42, the US Navy decided to increase air reconnaissance forces to prevent accidents.

As for why the Shadow 42 fleet chose this route, it may be largely because of fuel issues. On the one hand, the so-called high-speed cruise ship, unless it is a certain sky like the Titanic, and the entire high-speed cruise ship is not likely to run wildly in order to obtain the blue ribbon. It is obvious that the distance from the west coast of the United States to New Guinea Island is far longer than the distance from Britain to the United States, so the Americans must find a balance between speed, time and distance. In addition to Shadow 42, there may be light cruisers following, and the range of light cruisers is even more problematic. Without supply along the way, the two ships must compromise. So under the influence of various factors, the Americans chose this route. In order to prevent accidents, the Americans' actions exposed the information of Shadow 42! In the end, all this was discovered by Betty! This is really a tragic story!

So, now the problem has been solved. Under the writings of the naval staff of the British and Japanese countries, the route of Shadow 42 has appeared on the chart. Then the rest is to set up an ambush. The joint fleet will directly choose a sea area to set up an ambush. When Shadow 42 passes by, it will cleanly solve the opponent!

"If this information is accurate, there should be no problem for us to kill Shadow 42. Now there is only one problem that needs to be solved. Should we use carrier-based aircraft or battleships?" asked Shigetaro Yoshimatsu.

"If you use carrier-based aircraft, it will definitely be the most efficient. 20 attack aircraft carrying torpedoes and bombs can completely break the transport ship into pieces. Even if there is a light cruiser next to it, it will be enough to add a squadron. The entire attack may end in half an hour, and the opponent may not even send a telegram. But the problem is that if we are exposed, it is likely that the US Navy will notice the existence of the aircraft carrier, which may have an adverse impact on our next breakup operations."

"If we attack with battleships, we can certainly hide the existence of the aircraft carrier, but this pursuit may take a long time. After all, the speed advantage of our so-called fast warships is also very limited, and the Americans can send telegrams almost 100%. If our luck is worse, then we may have to use carrier-based aircraft in the end." Shimamura Soo said.

"We're going to have carrier-based aircraft attacks. We're at least 60% sure to destroy Americans before they send out their intelligence." Betty said at the end. "Our ambush position is better outside the patrol range of the Gilbert Islands maritime patrol aircraft, so that we can avoid exposing ourselves, and our fleet can also be temporarily dispersed to form a wider front to prevent the opponent from leaking! The seaplanes on the battleship perform reconnaissance missions, and the carrier-based aircraft are responsible for the attack, so that's it."

In the last period before the attack was launched, the Japanese Combined Fleet was still making preparations. A total of 6 battleships seaplanes were undertaken for reconnaissance tasks. In order to expose their identity as low as possible, the Japanese Navy repainted each seaplane participating in reconnaissance. First, the color of the lower part of the fuselage was close to the color of the sky. In this way, when the aircraft was flying in the air, it would be more difficult to find the aircraft from the sea. At the same time, in order to confuse the Americans, the paint of all reconnaissance aircraft was as close to the American paint as possible. In this way, although several American painted aircraft appeared in the depths of the ocean, the shadow 42, which kept the radio silent, would not react at the first time. After all, warships above the American cruiser all had seaplanes. Who can guarantee that there would be no colleagues near the route?

In order to improve the suddenness of the attack as much as possible, all aircraft groups involved in the attack are required to assault at an altitude of about 200 meters above sea level. At the same time, the aircraft's paint is also set to paint with a similar background to the sea level. Generally speaking, the Japanese Navy's guided aircraft is aerial camouflage, while the aircraft group responsible for the attack is a sea surface camouflage.

"Although there will not be too fierce confrontation during this mission, it is also a challenge for the joint fleet, because we will use the fleet's own reconnaissance capabilities to obtain the opponent's position in the absence of sufficient intelligence. This is a very big challenge for our reconnaissance and guidance capabilities. Perhaps we will spend 95% of our time searching for opponents and only 5% of our time is spent on attacking." Shigetaro Yoshimatsu wrote in his diary.

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Chapter completed!