It was getting light, and Spruance had been standing outside the bridge of the commander of the aircraft carrier all night, he had been looking at the sea to the south, and he had already released the last and most important bait, whether it would succeed or not would depend on the next few hours.

One by one, the reconnaissance planes left the flight deck of the aircraft carrier "Franklin." There were 12 specialized reconnaissance aircraft on board the USS Franklin, and Spruance did not arrange more carrier-based reconnaissance aircraft. When he looked at the nearby cruisers, the reconnaissance planes on the cruisers were also taking off one after another. In addition to 12 carrier-based reconnaissance aircraft, more than 20 seaplanes will carry out reconnaissance patrol missions.

After all the reconnaissance planes had left the fleet, Spruance returned to the Commander's Bridge, where the staff officer had prepared a cup of coffee, a cup of hot milk, and a breakfast.

He didn't touch the breakfast, just picked up the coffee cup, and his cold hands felt warm. He walked over to the chart, where the staff officer on duty at night had already marked some of the necessary information on the chart.

"General, the liaison plane has departed." The newly reappointed staff officer came over.

Spruance nodded. "Let them wait for news, and hopefully we can find Task Force 2 soon."

The staff officer didn't say much, he knew that Spruance had a bad appetite, so he didn't bother the commander anymore.

The charts show the routes of the two fleets, as well as their locations. The newly reassigned staff officer is marking the new coordinates. Among them, the fleet in the north that is heading south at full speed is the 51st Task Force, which consists of three small aircraft carriers. Immediately after the last bombardment of Midway, the three small carriers headed south as fast as they could. To the south, the fleet on standby in the waters east of Wake Island is the USS Franklin aircraft carrier battle group. Spruance has been waiting here for more than a dozen hours.

Judging from the actions of Task Force 2 in the past few days, Spruance accurately judged the actions of Task Force 2. If Task Force 2 were to attack this time, they would only choose to come from the Marshall Islands. That is, from the south side of Wake Island. And if Task Force 2 were to intercept the convoy before it reached Wake Island, and Task Force 2 had only one aircraft carrier. Then Task Force 2 had to consider two rounds of bombardment, so the interception area had to be located at least 100 nautical miles east of Wake Island, so the possible sea area of Task Force 2 was basically determined.

These inferences were made after careful consideration, and Spruance was confident that his judgment would not be in question. Right now. All he had to do was find Task Force 2 and take out Task Force 2. However, there is also a problem, that is, the escort force of the second task force is extremely strong, and judging from the results summed up by Spruance after the "Battle of Midway", there are at least seven or more cruisers in the second task force, including at least three large air defense cruisers, and nearly twenty destroyers. So many escort warships are enough to provide separate anti-aircraft cover for two aircraft carriers, and now only one aircraft carrier needs to be protected, and the density of its anti-aircraft fire can be imagined. If Spruance had two aircraft carriers in his hands. He didn't need to worry at all, but he only had an aircraft carrier and more than 100 combat planes on it!

"Franklin" has only 36 F4Us. 48 SBDs, 24 TBDs, as well as 12 SBDs on reconnaissance missions. This is the largest number of aircraft carried by the "Essex" class aircraft carrier, and the more than 20 fighters that have been replenished are all placed on the flight deck. And all the spare planes were not brought. 12 SBDs have been sent on reconnaissance missions now, and the remaining 72 bombers may be able to inflict heavy damage on the aircraft carrier of Task Force 2, but it is very likely that they will not be able to sink the sturdy carrier.

Spruance finally made an extremely bold decision, that is, after finding the second task force, he immediately sent bombers, and at the same time telegraphed the 51st task force to the north, let all the bombers on the three small aircraft carriers fly over, land on the "Franklin" aircraft carrier, replenish fuel, and then go to bomb the second task force. At this time, the first wave of bombers will return home, and then a third round of bombing will be carried out, and the bombers transferred from the three small carriers will decide whether to return to their own carriers or stay and organize a fourth round of bombing after refueling. In other words, the USS Franklin helped the bombers on those small carriers to land and refuel, and used as a temporary "airfield".

This is an extremely bold and creative idea. Immediately after confirming this idea, Spruance sent a seaplane to Wake Island and asked the island's marines to help him contact Task Force 51, so Task Force 51 immediately headed south after completing the bombing of Midway. According to Spruance's calculations, if the 51st Task Force moves south at a speed of 31 knots, it will reach a sea area about 550 to 600 miles away from the "Franklin" aircraft carrier in the early morning of the 25th, and if the reconnaissance planes sent by the "Franklin" aircraft carrier battle group can find the second task force between 7:30 and 8:00, then the 51st Task Force can close the distance by a few dozen nautical miles. Bombers on small carriers can fly over with bombs attached (bombs are the most troublesome thing to do, which is why Spruance sent reconnaissance planes after dawn).

It can be said that this plan requires a lot of cooperation between the two fleets, and in order to ensure that the bombers of Task Force 51 can arrive in time, Spruance has a huge loophole in his plan, that is, he must send a telegram as soon as he discovers Task Force 2, at which time it is too slow to send seaplanes to Wake Island, or any other means to contact Task Force 51. After sending the telegram, it took an hour to an hour and a half for the bombers to reach the skies over the Second Task Force, and during this period, if the intelligence agencies of the Tang Empire were fast enough, perhaps the Second Task Force would be able to roughly determine the approximate location of the "Franklin" aircraft carrier. If the bombers of Task Force 2 had not yet departed, or had not yet bombed the convoy, then the aircraft carrier "Franklin" would have been bombed. And it turned out. All the bombers sent by Spruance had to be lost, and there was a good chance that the bombers sent by Task Force 51 would not be able to fly back.

This loophole Spruance is very clear. He did not doubt the speed of reaction of the naval intelligence of the Don Empire. In the previous naval battles, the intelligence department of the Tang Empire had calculated the approximate location of the fleet within half an hour, and this time it would definitely not be an exception. The only solution, then, is for Task Force 2 to bomb the convoy first.

In this way, the bombers of Task Force 2 could not pose a threat to the "Franklin". But the problem was that if this purpose had been told directly to the commander of the transport fleet, there would have been a second Turner, and Nimitz would not necessarily agree, so Spruance came up with an "ingenious" solution.

On the night of the 24th, he sent a seaplane to the convoy about 100 nautical miles to the east, and asked the commander of the convoy to send him a message when he reached about 150 nautical miles from Wake Island, asking him to arrange fighter jets to escort the convoy. This is obviously a lie, but it is a very effective solution. It was about six a.m. when the convoy reached about six nautical miles east of Wake Island. And the reconnaissance planes of the Second Task Force must be preparing to depart, so combined with radio positioning, it is very likely that the Tang Empire's ground reconnaissance planes will spot the transport convoy between seven and eight o'clock. Then, the bombers of the Tang Empire would bomb the convoy between half past eight and half past nine, while the reconnaissance planes of the USS Franklin aircraft carrier battle group would find the second task force between half past seven and half past eight. By this time, the bombers of the 2nd Task Force had already departed. Then when the bomber group departing from the "Franklin" arrives, Task Force 2 will not have any ability to return fire on the "Franklin" aircraft carrier battle group!

The purpose of this arrangement was known only to Spruance, and all the other staff officers did not know the real purpose of the commander for sending a telegram from the convoy, and really thought that the commander would send fighter jets to escort the convoy, otherwise, what would the "Franklin" aircraft carrier battle group do in the waters east of Wake Island?

Spruance's series of planning can be said to be extremely ingenious and extremely accurate. The first wave of bombers consisted of 72 aircraft, and another 36 fighters escorted it (Spruance would not keep air defense fighters for himself, but to do this, then the distance between the two sides must be within 150 nautical miles, otherwise there would not be enough time for all fighters to take off from the carrier, and the escort fighters took off first, and the bomber group arrived about half an hour late). The second batch of 78 bombers (in fact, will also be divided into two parts, with an interval of about 40 minutes).

If the return rate of the first batch of bombers is fifty percent, then the third batch of bombers has 36 units. Three bombings before and after, 180 sorties of bombers. If the return rate of the second group of bombers was a little higher, then Spruance still had more than 40 bombers to carry out the fourth round of bombing. In other words, Spruance prepared more than 220 sorties of bombers to deal with the second task force, not to mention that the second task force is only an aircraft carrier battle group, even if there are three aircraft carrier battle groups, they will definitely be defeated!

Later, when Tan Renhao learned about Spruance's campaign planning, in addition to lamenting Spruance's luck, he also had to admire Spruance's unparalleled talent in the detailed planning of the campaign, as well as his desperate courage and firm belief in victory. At that time, even if Tan Renhao was transferred to Spruance's position, it would be impossible for him to make such a battle arrangement. Spruance thought of all the methods he could think of, and used all the forces that could be used, while he used the aircraft carrier "Franklin" and nearly 200 bombers to bet on the turning point of the entire Pacific theater and on the smooth progress of the US military's strategic counterattack!

In fact, it was also the least stacked of all the battles Spruance had commanded up to this point, and it was also the craziest he had ever been. Not to mention Renhao, at that time, even any fleet commander in Spruance's position could not have made the same decision, let alone made the same tactical arrangements. If it was Tan Renhao, he would choose an attack rationally, even if he couldn't sink the aircraft carrier, he could win a few months with heavy damage. If it was Halsey, he would have taken three small aircraft carriers and rushed over to fight the second task force in one go. At that time, only Spruance could make such a battle arrangement!

The reconnaissance plane has already departed, and the fighters are being transported to the flight deck. Spruance did not arrange air defense fighters. The fighters of an aircraft carrier are all used to carry out air defense combat missions, and they are not enough to block the bombing of more than 70 bombers, so it is not of much significance to keep the air defense fighters, and Spruance also knows that if the position of the "Franklin" aircraft carrier battle group has been exposed at this time, then the second task force will definitely not choose to attack, but to retreat.

Aviation crews were busy on the flight deck, and while the fighters were being towed to the middle of the flight deck, the bombers in the hangar were brought up and parked at the back of the flight deck. The bombers were refueled, bombs and torpedoes were hung, and the pilots were on standby on the flight deck, less than ten paces away from their planes. As soon as the reconnaissance planes send back a message, they will set off immediately, and as for the exact location of the enemy fleet, the fleet will inform the pilots after the bombers have departed.

After Spruance finished his coffee, he asked the communications staff officer to come and inform him as soon as the reconnaissance plane had news. Then, he came outside, and Spruance was very touched by the busy officers and soldiers on the flight deck. He is under a lot of pressure at this time, he has put all his hole cards, even other people's hole cards, on the table, as for the result, no one can be sure now. Even Spruance wasn't sure he was hungry for victory, but he knew that anything could happen before the battle was over.

At this time, on the southwest side of the "Franklin" aircraft carrier, on another fleet aircraft carrier, Zheng Guanhua also began to order the bombers to prepare for departure.