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.
