On the Chinese Pacific Fleet's side, the final sprint was made for the attack. On the Japanese Combined Fleet's side, Yamaguchi, with a have-not mentality, ordered his men to call the U.S. Pacific Fleet and inform them that they had found the specific location of the Chinese fleet and would arrive tomorrow morning. Launch an attack on the Chinese fleet.
Yamaguchi's telegram was very skillful in wording, and did not include any similar statements such as requesting the U.S. fleet to come for battle. In doing so, he obviously took full consideration of the current delicate relationship between the two fleets, and in his opinion, with the Jin was so sophisticated that he would never fail to see his true intention behind sending this telegram.
The war is about to break out. Just as Chen Ce and Bai Chongxi had pinned their hopes on support from the Chinese Supreme Command, Yamaguchi is also fully mobilizing all available conditions.
There is no doubt that tomorrow's decisive battle will be at the national strategic level for both China and Japan. In other words, neither side can afford to lose anything.
As for why Yamaguchi did not consider that the Chinese fleet would take the initiative to launch an attack, or even launch a night attack, some military historians in later generations made incisive judgments in hindsight. This person was originally from the United States, and later became a Chinese national named Shi Ming Some military historians believe that Yamaguchi made this mistake not because of lack of ability, but because of the perspective of the times. To put it simply, it was not that Yamaguchi could not have thought of it, but that there had never been a similar incident in the history of war before, so he did not think so. It is believed that the Chinese fleet has the capability in this regard.
After the naval battle entered the aircraft carrier duel, it is true that the combat radius and depth of the naval battle were greatly extended, but at the same time, at least for a certain period of time, corresponding restrictions also appeared.
The use of aviation forces to launch night attacks on enemy targets is not uncommon in the history of World War II. However, these were based on fixed targets and ground guidance. As for launching night attacks on moving targets at sea, there is currently a lack of Professional positioning systems and night vision systems are basically an impossible task for fighters of this era.
Yamaguchi is not worried at all that the Chinese fleet will launch a night attack. He is more concerned about whether he can lock the position of the Chinese fleet. The Chinese fleet has a certain speed advantage over the Japanese fleet. In the long night, if the Chinese fleet wants to escape far away If so, it would be a real trouble for the Japanese. Of course, for Yamaguchi, whose will to fight is not firm in the first place, this is actually a good thing.
At this time, the Japanese still have high hopes that the Americans can end the fighting on Guam as soon as possible and arrive in time.
Another reason why Yamaguchi did not consider the possibility of being attacked by the Chinese fleet at night was that he believed that if such a thing really happened, he would have plenty of means to deal with it.
To deal with this situation, the simplest way is to implement a fleet's collective lights and silence; secondly, you can adopt a mixed approach, such as letting the frigates brightly light up to attract the enemy's attention, while the main ships collectively turn off their lights.
Yamaguchi thought that the battle would happen after dawn, and Koizumi Minichiro also believed that the high-profile expedition of Xu Kai's South China Sea Fleet might affect the outcome of the decisive battle of Gan Bang. At this time, in comparison, he was concerned about Xu Kai's South China Sea Fleet and even To surpass Chen Ce's Pacific Fleet.
The Japanese all thought that the battle would take place during the day the next day, and so did the Americans. However, perhaps because the plot succeeded, the Americans were much more excited than the Japanese. Both the United States and Japan had liaison officers in each other's fleets, and early on Before Yamaguchi decided to inform the United States, the liaison officer of the U.S. Pacific Fleet returned relevant information to King through his own means. At that time, the squadron led by King was still about 300 kilometers away from Guam. Originally, his plan He launched an attack on Guam two days later. After receiving this information, he felt that attacking Guam in advance would strengthen the confidence of the Chinese fleet in a decisive battle with the Japanese fleet and mislead the Chinese. So he decided to advance to Guam overnight and try to win the battle at dawn. Then he immediately launched an attack. That night, after receiving the notification telegram from Yamaguchi, he called Li Mei and told the latter that he would launch an attack on Guam immediately after dawn, asking King to pay attention to the rhythm and strengthen his cooperation with Johns ( Chief Liaison Officer of the U.S. Combined Fleet in Japan), "From the intelligence we have, the Chinese obviously do not realize that you are following the Japanese fleet. This is an excellent opportunity for the United States to regain control of the Pacific. Remember, you must seize the right opportunity to attack. It is true that Japan is our ally now, but through past events we know that this ally of ours is not worth cherishing too much. I hope you can understand what I mean."
The exact time when Li Mei received Jin's telegram was 8:53 pm. Push forward ten minutes, which is 8:43. At the point of 137° east longitude and 5° north latitude, the Chinese fleet's A reconnaissance plane discovered traces of the Japanese combined fleet.
At this time, the Japanese combined fleet was advancing steadily from east to west at a speed of about eighteen knots per hour.
The Chinese pilot who flew this reconnaissance plane was named Li Hao. He was a young man who was only twenty-three years old. When the dense lights of the Japanese fleet suddenly came up from below the sea level and fell into Li Hao's eyes, he didn't react immediately. Come over, and a few seconds later, as the lights became more "brilliant", he suddenly realized his mission, and immediately exclaimed: "Japanese fleet." Then, he immediately pressed the call button, excited shouted: "003 calls tiger shark, 003 calls tiger shark."
"Tiger Shark" was the codename of Xia Quanyong's plane. This night attack was of great importance, so Xia Quanyong insisted on leading the expedition in person despite the objections of Chen Ce and Bai Chongxi. Xia Quanyong was flying a Golden Eagle with equipment characteristics that were biased toward a command plane. Hearing Li Hao's call, he immediately realized that Li Hao must have discovered something, so he immediately responded: "Tiger Shark received it, Tiger Shark received it."
"003 report, target found, target found."
"Tiger Shark received it, very good, specific location, report specific location."
In the general headquarters located on the Huangdi aircraft carrier, Bai Chongxi was okay and could still divert his attention by analyzing the enemy's situation, but Chen Ce was already a little out of control. The first batch of golden eagles responsible for the reconnaissance mission arrived at 7:05 They took off and took off. At the speed of the Golden Eagle, if the Japanese fleet was heading towards each other, they should have discovered something in about half an hour. But now an hour has passed, and there is still no news coming back from the front line. Could it be that Chen Ce was a little anxious when he said that the Japs were not approaching at all. Suddenly, a communications officer on the left behind him stood up from his seat and shouted loudly: "Here we come, Tiger Shark reports that our 003 reconnaissance plane has found the target. "
"The Japanese fleet has been found," Bai Chongxi straightened up from the sand table and asked before Chen Ce could.
"Yes."
Bai Chongxi turned around and looked at Chen Ce. They both found a certain light shining in the other's eyes. Chen Ce said: "Call back and tell Tiger Shark to launch an attack immediately."