On the afternoon of February 3, in waters roughly five hundred kilometers northwest of Ponape Island, a massive fleet was sailing southeast at twenty knots. This fleet was composed of the Island Nation Navy's Combined Fleet's 1st, 3rd, and 4th Capital Ship Squadrons. Their target was unmistakably Ponape Island.
Of course, if the German Navy did not dispatch a fleet to intercept them, this fleet would attack the airfields on Ponape Island and destroy them. But if the German Navy sent its main fleet to intercept them, the Island Nation Navy's Combined Fleet intended to seize this opportunity to wipe out the German Navy's Capital Ships in the Pacific Ocean in one stroke. Perhaps because they had immense confidence in the performance of their own Capital Ships, the Combined Fleet's senior officers all believed they could win this confrontation.
On board the battleship Kii, Lieutenant General Yoshida Zengo wore a grave expression. This time, he had been ordered to lead three Capital Ship Squadrons into battle, and naturally hoped to secure victory. Yet he also knew how great the risks were. Should anything go wrong, the consequences would be too dreadful to contemplate.
"How much longer until nightfall?" Lieutenant General Yoshida Zengo asked.
For this fleet of Capital Ships, German aircraft were their greatest enemy. Only after night fell would those aircraft be unable to take off and fight. Only then would they truly be safe.
"General, there are four hours until nightfall. By my calculations, if the Germans intend to send aircraft to attack us, it should happen within the next hour. Any later, and it will already be dark by the time their aircraft return," Captain Fukudome Shigeru, Chief of Staff of the 1st Capital Ship Squadron, reported.
Lieutenant General Yoshida Zengo nodded. "How are the anti-air search