When the chief of staff of the fleet arrived, the officers and men in the command cabin were already busy, and Hao Dongjue couldn't believe that he had encountered the US fleet so quickly, and at first he thought that the reconnaissance plane had sent back an erroneous report, but after several other reconnaissance planes also sent back the same report, Hao Dongjue had to believe that the Atlantic Fleet had arrived.

"Judging from the time of the encounter, and the sea area where the Atlantic Fleet is located, the speed of its southward movement should not be 16 knots, but between 20 and 24 knots." The nautical staff officer made an analysis of the situation. "Now the speed of the Atlantic Fleet is about 22 knots, and if we do not turn, the distance to the enemy fleet will not exceed 100 nautical miles at dawn, and if we accelerate forward, we will have a direct encounter with the Atlantic Fleet before dawn."

Everyone looked at Hao Dongjue, and now it was up to the fleet commander to make the decision.

Hao Dongjue was faced with two choices, one was to fight an artillery battle with the Atlantic Fleet at night. As long as the fleet accelerates to 30 knots, and the Atlantic Fleet continues to maintain this speed, then about 4 hours before dawn, the two sides will meet, and the winner will no longer be decided by the bombers on the carriers, but by the heavy guns on the escort cruisers. Because the 21st Task Force of the Atlantic Fleet has been annihilated, and its main escort warships are also heavy cruisers, the cruisers of the two sides have the same artillery combat capabilities, and the aircraft carriers cannot help much, while the Third Fleet has three task forces, and the Atlantic Fleet has only two task forces, and the number of escort warships of the two task forces is comparable, that is to say, the Third Fleet has an advantage in artillery battles, and if it really fights, it should be able to take advantage. But the problem is that if the Atlantic Fleet has found itself exposed, it will inevitably slow down, or even turn to distance, and then it is impossible for the two sides to meet at night.

Another option is to keep your current distance. Then send bombers before dawn so that the bomber group reaches the enemy fleet or air by dawn, and use the bombers to deal with the Atlantic fleet. From the point of view of aviation combat capabilities, the Third Fleet still has a decisive advantage, and has mastered the whereabouts of the Atlantic Fleet, which allows bombers to arrive at the first opportunity. On the contrary, the fact that the Atlantic Fleet has not shown any signs of turning so far proves that the Atlantic Fleet does not yet know that it has been discovered. And the US military does not have night reconnaissance aircraft. Therefore, it is unlikely that the approaching Third Fleet will be discovered at night, and the reconnaissance planes can only be dispatched before dawn, and by the time the US reconnaissance planes find the Third Fleet, the bomber group of the Third Fleet has already reached the skies over the US fleet.

With this in mind, Hao Dongjue made a decision. "Arrange for other reconnaissance planes to prepare for takeoff, continuously monitor the whereabouts of the US fleet, and try to find out the size of the US fleet. In addition, an order was given for combat mobilization, the bomber group was ready to take off before five o'clock, and the pilots were assembled at four o'clock. ”

The order was swiftly given. The staff officers also knew that the commander was ready to use bombers to finish off the enemy.

"Immediately arrange for the passage of several reconnaissance aircraft. Tell the pilots to report the whereabouts of the enemy fleet every ten minutes. Hao Dongjue called the navigation staff officer aside, "According to the reconnaissance plane report." Adjust the course of the fleet at any time and ensure that the distance between 300 and 350 nautical miles from the enemy fleet is maintained, and the nearest cannot exceed 250 nautical miles, and the farthest cannot exceed 350 nautical miles, so that our bombers can exert their maximum power. You are solely responsible for this, and you are in charge of the navigation of the fleet, and you do not need to ask me again. ”

The navigation staff officer immediately took over this task, and Hao Dongjue was not the kind of fleet commander who was good at navigation operations, and in the fleet, the status of the navigation staff officer was very high.

Forthwith. Hao Dongjue went to the aviation staff officer again and arranged the relevant tasks, mainly to assign the strike mission to each squad and even to each pilot in combination with the report of the reconnaissance plane, so that the pilots could grasp the specific situation of the enemy fleet, so that when carrying out the bombing mission, each pilot would know what the primary target was and what the secondary target was. Previously, these things were usually assigned by the captain after the captain had reached the skies over the enemy fleet. Deploying well in advance can effectively improve the efficiency of bombing, shorten the bombing time, and obtain the results of the bombing as soon as possible, and Hao Dongjue can decide whether to arrange the next round of bombing as soon as possible.

"It's all arranged?" It was only at this time that the chief of staff came over.

"It's arranged, it looks like it's not Spruance commanding the Atlantic Fleet this time." Hao Dongjue walked out of the command cabin, and then he breathed a sigh. "It's coming too quickly, if it were Spruance, he wouldn't be so eager to fight us, but would have waited and seen for a while, and then looked for an opportunity to sneak up on us, rather than coming to us head-on for trouble."

"You mean, it's Kim who commands the fleet?"

Hao Dongjue nodded slightly. "The actions of the Atlantic Fleet are reckless, although Kim has a high reputation in the US Navy, but he has not commanded a decent battle, especially in this war, Kim has not commanded aircraft carrier operations, how much experience does he have? Maybe he doesn't know how to command the aircraft carrier to fight at all, and he can't even judge our heartbeat, otherwise, he wouldn't have directly hit our guns. ”

"But won't Spruance remind him?"

Hao Dongjue was stunned for a moment, and his expression immediately became nervous.

"We all know that Kim trusts Spruance a lot, and now that Spruance is still the chief of staff of the Atlantic Fleet, Kim has made such a serious mistake, won't Spruance remind him?" The chief of staff paused slightly, "Maybe there was something else that Spruance couldn't remind King, or maybe King didn't take Spruance's advice." ”

Hao Dongjue nodded slightly. "Either Kim didn't use Spruance's advice, or Spruance wasn't with Kim and there was no way to give Kim's advice. If I had to choose, I would trust the latter, after all, King still trusted Spruance, and it would be impossible not to take his advice. ”

"That is, the two of them are not together!"

"Yes, the Atlantic Fleet has two task forces, and maybe Kim and Spruance each command a task force." Hao Dongjue glanced at his partner, "This time we found the task force commanded by Jin, and the task force commanded by Spruance is not over there, I'm afraid we can't make a judgment yet." ”

"Then we have to strengthen reconnaissance and search."

Hao Dongjue did not hesitate, immediately returned to the command cabin, sent someone to call the aviation staff officer, and immediately arranged for more reconnaissance planes to take off. At the same time, these reconnaissance planes were ordered to determine the specific size of the US fleet and to expand the search area to determine whether there were any other US fleets nearby. Because he wanted to ensure the concealment of the fleet, Hao Dongjue did not use a telegram to contact the reconnaissance plane in front, and he could only wait for the reconnaissance plane from the new place of departure to send a telegram back.

The wait was nearly three hours. It was not until the early morning of 19 June that the reconnaissance plane in front sent back a report.

"It seems that our judgment is not wrong, Spruance and Kim are not together."

Hao Dongjue took the message and quickly glanced at it. Reconnaissance planes have determined that only a task force was spotted. The three aircraft carrier battle groups sailed south in a zigzag formation, and the speed had been reduced to 16 knots, but there was no turn. In addition, because the patrol range of the US warships escorting the escort has been expanded, there is no way for the reconnaissance planes to continue to maintain radar contact with the US aircraft carriers, so they can only judge the number of aircraft carrier battle groups by the formation of the US fleet. Unless the U.S. military compresses and organizes the other three aircraft carrier battle groups, it will only be a task force that will be discovered.

"The U.S. fleet did not turn, and it seems that it is trying to force us to fight a decisive battle with it first. And Spruance's fleet waited on the periphery for an opportunity. ”

"Or maybe it's coming in from another direction. Managed to sneak up on us. Hao Dongjue sneered, "How many reconnaissance planes do we have now?" ”

"72 have already been sorted, and now only 36 reconnaissance aircraft are on standby on the carrier. And they are all undergoing maintenance, and it will take at least an hour and a half before they can be dispatched. ”

"Send out these reconnaissance planes as soon as possible, focusing on the east and west. Even if the U.S. fleet were to move south at full speed, it would reach at most our east and west, and if Spruance wanted to attack us, he would have to enter from these two directions. ”

"Or follow King," the chief of staff added.

"Yes, but we will maintain a distance of about 300 nautical miles from Kim, and after our reconnaissance aircraft expands the search range, we can guarantee at least 450 nautical miles from Spruance." Hao Dongjue circled several sea areas on the chart. "If Spruance really wants to use gold to attract our striking power, and at the same time wants to sneak up on us, he won't be unaware, we'll keep a reasonable distance and not get too close, then he won't stay behind gold, but will come out of our flanks, so the east and west directions are the most dangerous right now. Let those reconnaissance planes be dispatched as soon as possible, and 18 of them will be arranged to be responsible for the search work within 90 degrees, and before dawn, it must be ascertained that there is no activity of the US fleet within 90 degrees of us from east to west and within 400 nautical miles. ”

The relevant reconnaissance tasks were quickly arranged, and Hao Dongjue had not yet issued a battle order at that time, but most of the officers and soldiers consciously entered their posts.

By about 1 a.m. on 19 July, the reconnaissance planes in charge of expanding the search had sent back reports one after another that no other fleets had been found within 150 nautical miles north of the US fleet, that is, another US task force had not appeared north of the Third Fleet. Hao Dongjue's speculation was confirmed, and Spruance was not following Kim, but was approaching from other directions.

Before two o'clock in the morning, the last 36 reconnaissance planes took off one after another, and by this time more than 40 reconnaissance planes had already returned to the aircraft carrier. These reconnaissance aircraft all need time to be maintained, mainly the on-board radar, which has been working for several hours, needs time to cool down, and it is also tested to ensure that it will work properly on the next reconnaissance flight. This is also the most time-consuming maintenance work, and it is also a more obvious disadvantage of the "Scout Eagle". In the past, reconnaissance planes were able to continue to be dispatched as long as there were no mechanical problems, and the time between missions was very short.

In order to ensure that the US fleet's whereabouts were constantly monitored, at least six reconnaissance planes were hovering around the US fleet all the time, and they sent back reports at five-minute intervals one after another, so that the fleet could quickly adjust its course and speed according to changes in the US fleet's whereabouts and keep a reasonable distance from the US fleet.

By this time, the U.S. fleet had slowed down and did not continue to sail due south, and the direction of sailing was about 30 degrees eastward. Obviously, the US fleet has found itself exposed, and it is impossible for the frequent communication radio waves emitted by the reconnaissance planes to completely escape the listening stations in the US fleet, and these telegrams are enough to tell the US commanders that their location has been exposed, and that the enemy's reconnaissance planes are operating nearby, but there is no way to kill these reconnaissance planes or drive them away.

This was also the first time that the "Reconnaissance Eagle" closely monitored the actions of the enemy fleet at night. This operation proved the great value of the "reconnaissance eagle", that is, during night reconnaissance, the whereabouts of the timely reconnaissance aircraft were revealed, and the enemy fleet had no way to drive them away, let alone shoot them down. When the maximum speed of the fleets of both sides is not much different, and when they are within the strike range, as long as they are discovered by the "reconnaissance eagles", then they cannot escape the fate of being beaten. On the contrary, it was impossible for the US fleet to know the opponent's position before dawn, so it was unable to send bomber groups in time, thus losing the opportunity to attack first. The Imperial Navy fleet could use the information provided by the "Reconnaissance Eagle" to arrange for bombers to take off before dawn and launch an attack at the first opportunity, so as to seize the tactical initiative. And before the advent of the "Scout Eagle", such tactics did not exist.

By 4 o'clock in the morning, the US fleet had turned to 120 degrees and began to accelerate at the same time, and the Third Fleet also turned to 120 degrees, maintaining a distance of 300 nautical miles from the US fleet, which was a reasonable strike distance from which the "Falcon" could exert its full combat effectiveness. At the same time, the pilots on the aircraft carriers of the Third Fleet have already begun to prepare for battle. Combat missions are transmitted through ultra-short-wave radio stations within the fleet, which do not exceed 100 nautical miles, but also ensure that these radio signals cannot be detected by enemy listening stations.

At 4:45 a.m., after the departure of the last reconnaissance planes on a surveillance mission and also on a guidance mission, the bombers were successively sent to the flight deck, and the pilots began to board the plane. The departure time of the bombers was five o'clock, and each carrier dispatched only half of the bombers, with a small squad of fighters, and the fighters of each task force were organized into a group, so that there were three bomber groups, which was enough to take out a task force.

Just as the bombers began to take off, the reconnaissance planes in front sent a report that the reconnaissance planes in the US fleet had also taken off!