Hundreds of years ago, Yuan Haoyi, the youngest marshal in the history of the Imperial Navy, said: The sea is an unpredictable battlefield. At that time, it was still the age of sails, and the unpredictable sea threatened battleships even more than the enemy's artillery. But even hundreds of years later, when warships no longer need to rely on sails and rely on mechanical power, this sentence is still true.

Whether it is a land war or a naval war, any form of war is based on natural conditions, especially geographical conditions, and any commander must first consider the influence of geographical factors when commanding an army to fight. In essence, however, there is a big difference between land warfare and naval warfare in terms of their dependence on geographical factors.

In land warfare, there are many factors that affect the army's operations, mountains, rivers, swamps, deserts, lakes, etc., and even the weather will have a decisive impact on the army's actions. When the army entered mechanized warfare, roads, bridges, railways, etc., became the basis of land warfare. Throughout the continental theater, the armies of both sides actually revolved around road foundations. This is characteristic of land warfare, but in naval warfare, it is not limited by this factor.

The ocean is an unobstructed road, and the islands in the ocean are like strongholds. The routes on the map are actually thought to be drawn, and on the sea, there are no signs of the routes.

Perhaps, the fleet will move along the course, which will shorten the voyage, avoid danger, and reach the destination as quickly as possible. But the fleet will never sail according to the route on the map. Because the task of the fleet is not to deliver supplies, but to take out the enemy. This is decided, on the battlefield of the sea. As long as the water depth is sufficient, the fleet can sail at will. There are no geographical conditions to limit the actions of the fleet. And it is precisely because of this that naval battles pay more attention to suddenness, and decisive battles at sea are of greater significance. Especially after the appearance of aircraft carriers, naval battles almost always began suddenly, often deciding victory or defeat within a few hours. Before the reconnaissance planes discovered the enemy's ground fleet, it was difficult for the commander to know the enemy's position, and it was even more difficult to organize forces to launch an attack.

This is also the difference between naval warfare and land warfare, naval warfare is less limited by geographical factors, troops (fleets) can be more flexible and can have more options, unlike fighting on the ground, where the restrictions on the movement of troops by road traffic systems must be taken into account. And any officer of the Navy will be clearly informed of this when he is studying at the academy, that is. On the ocean, the enemy may come from any direction, so don't expect to be able to spot the enemy too soon.

Spruance didn't just work as an academy. He also worked as a faculty member at the Naval Academy. He was well aware of the suddenness of the naval battle. And when he left Pearl Harbor with the Fifth Fleet, he knew that this time he was going to win. Then you have to strike a surprise blow and you can't give your opponent any chance to fight back. Like Tan Renhao, it is not difficult to find the key to the problem, but how to solve the problem and how to realize his campaign intention. In addition, Spruance was also limited by a limitation, that is, the task of the Fifth Fleet was not only to kill the First Task Force, but he also had to help the American troops on Gardner Island to block the attack of the Tang Imperial Marines, and this was a direct order from Nimitz, this task was even before the annihilation of the First Task Force, and the task of holding Gardner Island was more important than the annihilation of the First Task Force.

Spruance would not directly disobey Nimitz's orders, but he knew very well in his heart that if he could not take out the First Task Force, then even if he helped the defenders of Gardner Island to repel the Tang Empire's marines, the Fifth Fleet would be finished, and the Tang Empire would organize new marines to attack Gardner Island. Therefore, the real key should be to defeat the 1st Task Force and seize sea supremacy, and when the time comes, the offensive of the Tang Empire's marines will naturally collapse. Therefore, from the very beginning, Spruance knew that his first task was to annihilate the 1st Task Force, and not to deal with the Don Empire marines who did not have bombers!

But the question is, how to kill Task Force 1? Tan Renhao regarded Spruance as his number one opponent, and Spruance also regarded Tan Renhao as his number one opponent, especially after Halsey was killed by Tan Renhao, Spruance no longer dared to underestimate the young commander of the Tang Imperial fleet. Thirty hours after the Fifth Fleet left Pearl Harbor, Spruance still hadn't received any information about Task Force 1, and he was a little embarrassed.

In the event of a close contest with the First Task Force, I am afraid that the result will be a defeat for both sides. Perhaps, in terms of tactics, the Fifth Fleet can still take advantage of a little, but the problem is that the US Navy now only has this bit of the main warship of the Fifth Fleet, and the Tang Imperial Navy still has the Fourth Task Force, and its Second Task Force is also being restored, and the warships of the Third Task Force are also being repaired. In other words, if a lose-lose battle is fought, the result will not be of any benefit to the US Navy, and even if the Fifth Fleet is used to replace the three fleet aircraft carriers of the First Task Force, it will still be the US Navy that suffers.

Spruance saw this very clearly, he not only wanted to win, but also to win beautifully, just like in the battle of the second task force, he had to take out the first task force with no losses of his own, at most only slight losses. It's easy to say, but it's hard to do, how can you achieve this goal when you don't even know where the First Task Force is?

Spruance did not doubt the purpose of the First Task Force, this time Tan Renhao must have come to deal with the Fifth Fleet, and the landing on Gardner Island was just a bait to lure the Fifth Fleet into battle, and the First Task Force would definitely withdraw from the battle after covering the landing of the Marines, and then search the Fifth Fleet with all its might, preparing for a decisive battle with the Fifth Fleet. From this point, Spruance quickly judged that it was very likely that Task Force 1 was operating somewhere south of Gardner Island, waiting for the Fifth Fleet to appear. At the same time, the shore-based long-range reconnaissance planes and patrol opportunities of the Tang Imperial Naval Aviation patrolled the waters north of Gardner Island, and the Fifth Fleet suddenly came out from this side. Arguably. The opponent has already laid a wide net, waiting for the Fifth Fleet to go and die.

It was when Spruance was hesitating whether to go up to the decisive battle. An important piece of information was sent, and on the 20th, long-range patrol planes redeployed to the upper ground of Lysan Island discovered that the landing fleet and transport fleet that had been assembled near Midway Island had left the assembly area and were heading for Gardner Island. On the same day, Task Force 1 launched a heavy bombardment of Gardner Island. At this time, Nimitz also sent a message that the Fifth Fleet must prevent the landing of Marines on Gardner Island. At the very least, they had to assist the defending troops to resist the attack of the Tang Imperial Marines.

At this time, Spruance had only one choice, to go directly to Gardner Island, preparing to intercept the landing fleet of the Tang Empire, but he also knew that the first task force must be guarding somewhere nearby, waiting for him to go up. What to do? Spruance didn't choose to die, if he wanted to prevent the Tang Imperial Marines from landing on Gardner Island, the price would be too heavy, and he could only find a way to get the Tang Imperial Marines ashore. so that it could not quickly capture Gardner Island.

With this in mind, Spruance sent a seaplane back to Necke Island to report his campaign intentions to Nimitz. The Fifth Fleet then headed south at full speed. As Tan had predicted, while the First Task Force was still hovering near Gardner Island, Spruance led the Fifth Fleet around a large bend and passed south of Johnston Island. Directly went to the southwest waters of Gardner Island, and finally arranged bombers here, using the ground intelligence provided by the defenders of Gardner Island, accurately bombed the landing fleet and transport fleet of the Tang Imperial Marine Corps, and also destroyed a large number of war materials hoarded on the beach and did not have time to evacuate, resulting in the temporary loss of offensive capability of the Tang Imperial Marine Corps. This not only bought the US troops on Gardner Island a few days to adjust their defenses, but also bought a few precious days for the Fifth Fleet. At least, now Spruance doesn't have to worry about the safety of Gardner Island, and can rest assured that he can boldly deal with Task Force 1. In addition, Nimitz will not rush him to support Gardner Island.

At the time of the disengagement, Spruance had realized that his position was exposed. He didn't think of the bombers that didn't come back, but thought that Tan Renhao would definitely guess that he was in the southwest direction of Gardner Island, because only there were no Tang Empire reconnaissance planes active here. It can be said that choosing the return route is a big test for Spruance.

While Tan Renhao was guessing the movements of the Fifth Fleet, Spruance was also guessing about Tan Renhao's movements. In his opinion, Task Force 1 had two courses of action at that time. The first is to return to the vicinity of the landing site and provide cover for the landing force, which is a conservative plan, obviously, this is not in line with Tan Renhao's command characteristics, and at the same time, Tan Renhao's purpose is to take out the Fifth Fleet, not to attack Gardner Island, then, he will not do this. Another option is to wait on the return route of the Fifth Fleet, and let the Fifth Fleet take the initiative to send them to their deaths. And this is exactly in line with Tan Renhao's adventurous spirit.

Based on this judgment, Spruance believed that if Task Force 1 had been operating in the waters south of Gardner Island, Task Force 1 would have rushed to the waters southwest of Necker Island, where it would have waited for the Fifth Fleet. If he had chosen the two routes south of Gardner Island, there was no doubt that he would have run headlong into Tan Renhao's gun. Therefore, in the end, Spruance decided to take the risk of taking the route north of Gardner Island, heading north from the sea near Lysan Island, and then quickly turning eastward to avoid the long-range reconnaissance planes of the Tang Empire at night. On the morning of Tan Renhao's arrival in the waters northwest of Necker Island, the Fifth Fleet had reached about 180 nautical miles north of Gardner Island, about 400 nautical miles from Task Force 1, and 750 nautical miles from Necker Island.

It was in the afternoon that Spruance received a telegram from Necke Island. But this telegram surprised him as well, and the First Task Force appeared in the northwest direction of Necker Island. Although the telegram only mentioned that a reconnaissance plane had been intercepted and shot down, and did not mention the 1st Task Force, Spruance knew very well that the only one who could shoot down the reconnaissance plane northwest of Necker Island was the carrier-based fighters of the 1st Task Force!

Spruance also had to marvel at Tan Renhao's boldness, and affirmed that Task Force 1 had been operating in the waters south of Gardner Island before. If the 1st Task Force was operating in the waters north of Gardner Island, then it would not be necessary for the 1st Task Force to be so close to Necker Island and intercept the 5th Fleet in the northeast and even north of Gardner Island.

At this time, Spruance also had a little headache, to put it bluntly, what he was most worried about still happened, Tan Renhao actually ventured through the patrol area of the shore-based reconnaissance plane at night, rushed to the northwest sea of Necker Island, and waited here for the Fifth Fleet, and this is the necessary route for the Fifth Fleet to return. At this time, the Fifth Fleet has no way to retreat, if it retreats, then it will be discovered by the long-range reconnaissance aircraft of the Tang Empire's naval aviation, and if it goes north, it will be driven out of the battlefield, then before it rushes back, the Tang Empire Marines may have taken Gardner Island. What to do?

If it were another general, he might choose to flee at this time, or simply bomb Gardner Island to complete a combat mission. But Spruance did not panic, he quickly realized that the First Task Force would definitely withdraw from the battlefield first to avoid being attacked by shore-based bombers, and then return at night to continue to wait for the Fifth Fleet and prepare for a decisive battle with the Fifth Fleet.

This was the opportunity that Spruance was waiting for, and if he fought Task Force 1 near Gardner Island, it would be of great benefit to him. So, in the afternoon, Spruance made a big decision.

Since there is no way to dodge the enemy, then you must fight the enemy seriously and concentrate all your forces to take out the opponent!