Bai Zhizhan had not allowed the pilot to take off, and the situation was becoming increasingly perilous.
Just past seven o'clock, under Bai Zhizhan's non-opposition, Li Mingbo ordered the Communication Advisor to issue a combat readiness order to the Destroyer squadron moving to the right front and southeast direction of the carrier. Next, he inquired with the chief engineer of the "Imperial Capital." If the boilers were to operate at overload, how long could they maintain that? Implicit in his question was that when the Destroyer squadron launched its assault, the carrier would need to accelerate to get away from the enemy ships behind.
When Li Mingbo had made these arrangements, it was already ten minutes past seven.
