Crank didn't know that his fleet had been at the gate of hell two days ago. In order to block and destroy him, all the main forces of the Atlantic Fleet were dispatched in full swing, and 7 aircraft carriers and 5 battleships came to the South Atlantic Ocean. If Hoffmann hadn't suddenly caught Britain and the United States off guard in the direction of the United Kingdom and forced Nimitz and Cunningham to return urgently, he would probably have been eaten now.????

But all the German officers and soldiers, including him, knew nothing about this. Not only did they not know that Nimitz led the fleet north of Puerto Rico, but they were not sure that the Spruenz fleet had actually tracked him in the South Atlantic and even waited on his way back to Buenos Aires. He still raided Brazil at an inherent rhythm and wandered around the periphery of Guyana. After no oil or water was available, he returned south to prepare to pick up the loaded transport fleet. In order to avoid aircraft reconnaissance along the Brazilian coast, the south return route he chose was closer to the African coast and a distinct vertical line. At this time, the return route from Spruenz to Cape Town was a diagonal line similar to connecting Buenos Aires and Cape Town, and there was a clear intersection between the two.

Of course, this intersection point is in a theoretical sense. Not only is it a considerable distance from the two fleets, but there is actually a great uncertainty. When it reaches the intersection point, Crank will turn to the southwest. If both are traditional battleship formations, they will not intersect or pass by, but they are all aircraft carrier formations, and the situation will change significantly in this way.

Although I don’t know that the British and American fleets were hiding on the side to shoot their own black guns, Crank, who had been working hard for many years and had a lot of results, was very cautious. He released the reconnaissance plane early in the morning on April 5th. He first checked whether there was any war or not, and secondly, checked whether there was any oil or water. By 11 o’clock noon, there was no special appearance in the other directions. Only aircraft No. 4 reported: "A plane was found during the reconnaissance. It is suspected that there were British and American fleets nearby, but they could not find the specific location. I plan to continue searching..."

The aircraft that was discovered by No. 4 was a reconnaissance aircraft sent by Spruens. The latter was also very cautious in his mentality. Even when he returned to South Africa, he paid great attention to search. The only difference was that his pilot did not show up in German aircraft. At this time, Crank did not know that this was the British and American fleet that was preparing to attack his British and American fleet, and thought that it was just a reconnaissance aircraft that the United States escorted the aircraft carrier to release from the transport fleet returning from South Africa. He thought that he had caught fat fish again, and while ordering the fleet to speed up the return of the south, the reconnaissance aircraft continued to expand its range. Anyway, the maximum range of the ar-352 can reach an abnormal 5ooo kilometers.

In fact, starting from last night, the distance between the two fleets was shortened by 20 kilometers per hour. After Krankga returned at noon, the closer the distance between them had become 25 kilometers per hour. By the evening, the actual distance between the two sides quickly shrank from the initial 14 oo kilometers to about 1 ooo centimeter. Although no aircraft finally had a positive conclusion, Krank insisted that the pilot's report deserves great attention. Because all three people on this ar-352 confirmed that they had seen the plane, the probability of making mistakes was extremely small. In this area, there were either no aircraft, and only British and American carrier-based aircraft, so he firmly believed that there must be British and American fleets, and perhaps the scale was not very large, or they might have been hiding for many reasons. He decided to release all reconnaissance planes the next morning and focus on strengthening the reconnaissance efforts in the south.

It was just bright on April 6th, and 12 ar-352s flew into the air for southward search. Each aircraft was responsible for a 15-degree fan-shaped search surface. After more than 20 minutes, the second batch of ar-372 water detection was also released. They were also responsible for a 15-degree fan-shaped surface, but they were just staggered by 5 degrees from the previous wave, forming a cross double search.

Spruins didn't know that Crank was determined to find him, but he still returned to Cape Town at the inherent rhythm...

At 9 a.m., Spruins was discussing with Rodick how to carry out the next Indian Ocean war, and suddenly the radio rang out loud: "Sir, we have a German reconnaissance plane, they should have a fleet..."

"What?" The two were shocked and hurriedly ran to the deck to check it out.

When saying this, four F6Fs on the protection mission had arrived to kill this bold reconnaissance aircraft. The German pilot did not hide, but was brave and swaying over the US fleet to investigate. On the one hand, he reported: "There is a large enemy fleet, including two fleet aircraft carriers, one medium aircraft carrier, one light aircraft carrier, one battleship, and more than two light ships, with a length of 18 knots and a route of about 105 degrees. It is suspected to be heading to Cape Town, South Africa. It is currently located 55 kilometers southwest of St. Helena Island..."

"Sir, we detected the enemy planes in telegrams, probably in the direction of notification."

"I get it!" Spruins's face turned pale. Now he could see clearly through the telescope. Faced with the encirclement of his fighter jets, the plane turned his head calmly and flew southwest. Four F6f fighters behind him chased him tightly. But after chasing for more than 10 minutes at the maximum, until he disappeared from sight, the distance between the two sides did not seem to be significantly shortened. In other words, the pilots' complaints have been right. The enemy reconnaissance planes are so close that they can't even catch up with the fighter jets!

The performance of Caiyun modification is of course impeccable. It is faster after changing to German motivation. Now German pilots who can act as reconnaissance aircraft are all veterans. They are familiar with the performance of enemy and us. They would rather see more clearly than rush to leave. Even when they left, the pilot even used a small trick, deliberately running southwest, trying to lure the other party to make a wrong judgment and think that he was coming from the southwest. In fact, after leaving the other party's reconnaissance circle and asking the f6f gate to pursue, he would turn around and fly a 5ooo kilometers to the correct direction of the mothership. This is how he used it!

"It seems that the enemy has been revealed. Did the Germans slip back to Argentina without knowing it?" Rodick expressed doubts about this. They have been waiting in that sea area these days, and it is logical that the possibility of letting the other party slip away is very small.

Spruins shook his head and told him intuition that the other side's fleet had not come back yet and was still in the north at this moment. As for the occasional collision of the reconnaissance plane running southwest, maybe it was just a panic act when he was fleeing just now.

"Let our reconnaissance planes fly for another wave and carefully search for where the enemy ships are!" Rodick immediately ordered the Unicorn and San Jacinto to quickly leave the formation and release the reconnaissance planes in the wind, and 24 SBDs flew into the air.

"Sir, do you want to take off the fighter to cover immediately?"

Spruins shook his head gently: "Not needed yet. The morning reconnaissance judged that there were no enemy ships around, which means that the opponent was still a little far away from us. Assuming that the enemy took off the attack aircraft group and attacked us immediately, it would take at least an hour later. Notify the young men to prepare, and we might have to fight a fierce battle today."

After releasing the reconnaissance plane, the TF44 fleet still maintained a 10-degree route, but Rodick knew that this was a stopgap measure. The commander must make targeted adjustments in the face of the facts exposed by the party. Now is the time to truly test a commander's ability, and every judgment and order from Spruins will determine the survival of the entire fleet.

"Until there is obvious counter-proof, I still tend to be the enemy fleet in the north..." Spruins pondered, "The route is adjusted to 14o degrees, and the overall increase is 23. Let's wait for the reconnaissance results first."

"Sir, I found the enemy fleet, about 60 kilometers away from us..." The staff officer excitedly handed the telegram to Crank, "It's just a big fish, with 4 aircraft carriers!"

When he heard the fleet of four aircraft carriers, Crank also jumped. When did the Americans drive the aircraft carrier formation to South Africa? But the reconnaissance situation is so obvious, he couldn't help but ponder: It is a good opportunity to first appear, but this opportunity can only guarantee that before the sun sets, as long as it gets dark, the fleets of both sides will be in a dark situation tomorrow. Moreover, from the enemy's situation, the number of aircraft carriers the enemy has is twice that of our own. This is an opponent with superior forces. If you don't take the initiative, you're afraid that you will be eaten by your opponent tomorrow!

This is Crank's independent aircraft carrier combat formation. Now no Ozawa can ask questions nearby. He was a little nervous and said, "The carrier-based aircraft is ready to attack, and the fleet continues to go south, and the degree is increased to 26 knots!"

After responding, the captain of the Ise ship, Taijiro Aoki, immediately ordered the Turbine to lose the Skyhawk in the Newfoundland Battle, and did not receive any criticism. Instead, he continued to serve as the captain of the Ise ship and promoted him to major general by the way. The latter was very grateful for this. The modified Ise flight deck length was 228 meters and the oblique part was 160 meters. However, the ship was relatively old, and after careful maintenance and replacement of the boiler, the German side could only make it reach a maximum of 26 knots. However, Aoki was familiar with the old ship of the combined fleet and ran steadily at the highest level.

The aircraft carrying the Ise aircraft with hangars and decks only includes 8 Ar-352, 26 Do-412 and 36 Ju-198. The other Savoy is a comprehensive aircraft carrier converted by a cruise ship. It has no conventional hangar and has a smaller capacity. It only has 4 Ar-352, 18 Do-412 and 24 Ju-198. The Americans used SBD as reconnaissance aircraft to weaken the reconnaissance performance, but at least it has saved the attack power. Now the two German ships have only 1O4 aircraft in total, and some of the defensive power must be retained. At best, it is only a little more than one Essex class...

The atmosphere in the bridge was very tense, and Crank paced back and forth, and after thinking for a few minutes, he made up his mind: "We have few ships and few planes. We must start the attack first anyway today, otherwise we will be in a disadvantageous situation tomorrow!" 8
Chapter completed!