After marveling at the bravery of the Tang Empire's pilots, Spruance immediately ordered the fleet to go north at full speed and get out of the limit strike range of the Tang Empire's bombers first, and at the same time asked the fleet staff to immediately count the losses and transfer all the wounded to the undamaged battleships.

The losses of the 51st task force were not very large. Of the 130 fighters that participated in the operation, only more than 30 did not return, and a few were knocked out in the air defense of the fleet, and there are still about 90 fighters available. In addition, a light cruiser was seriously damaged, two destroyers were also "bombed", one of which has already sunk, and the other is still under repair. The "Belauwood" was also successfully rammed by a torpedo bomber, but fortunately the torpedo was not released before the impact, so it did not break out, and the aircraft carrier suffered only minor damage, and its speed was not affected. In total, the fleet lost more than 300 officers and men, including several dozen pilots, and more than 500 wounded.

While the staff officer was doing the loss count, Spruance was thinking about how to retreat. It's a headache for him. Judging by the reports sent back by the bomber pilots, the bombing operation was basically successful, at least a dozen landing ships and transport ships were sunk, and some others were damaged, and the landing fleet of the Tang Empire had lost the ability to continue fighting and was still evading to the south (in fact, it had turned at this time). The task of Task Force 51 is basically complete, and now Spruance has to lead the fleet out of the way. Mobile station ap.

How to return? Spruance was not careless, and received news early in the morning that Midway had been attacked by two waves of bombers in succession. The airfield has been destroyed. Then, the Tang Empire's ground warships began shelling Midway, but the bombers never appeared again.

Apparently. Task Force 1 continues to operate.

Judging by these operations of Task Force 1's bombing and shelling of Midway, Spruance had to worry. Tan Renhao's purpose is twofold. One is to blow up Midway, and the other is to annihilate Task Force 51. Now that he has completed one task, he will definitely go to the second one.

Task Force 1 must have released bombers from 200 to 250 nautical miles from Midway. If the artillery fleet is arranged to go up only after the departure of the bomber group. Then the shelling will begin only a few hours after the end of the bombardment, and the prudent commander will certainly replenish the bombardment once during this period to ensure the safety of the shelling fleet. But the problem was that the shelling began almost immediately after the bombardment was over, which only shows that the shelling fleet was heading for Midway hours before the bombers departed. This also explains why there were two waves of bombers in succession that reached the skies over Midway. In order to ensure the destruction of the airfield, Tan Renhao arranged two groups of bombers in a row, which was enough to ensure that the shelling fleet would not be hit by the bombers on the island.

It was a bold and well-organized crackdown. Tan Renhao's arrangements for bombing and shelling were very well placed, after two rounds of bombardment, plus shelling that lasted for several hours.

The two airfields on Midway have been completely destroyed. As long as he continues to destroy the island's defensive base, then Tan Renhao can let the Marines land on Midway. During this period, there was practically no need for the aircraft carrier fleet to bomb the ground, as long as there was enough ammunition to replenish it. Then the shelling fleet can complete the preparation of artillery fire before the landing. Spruance bet that Tan Renhao had several fast combat support ships in his hands, and these support ships were loaded with ammunition. And the three aircraft carriers of Task Force 1 must be waiting for him somewhere.

Thinking of this, Spruance was not even more worried about whether he would be able to escape. In other words, can he smoothly retreat to a safe sea.

The best route for retreat is to sail east, returning to the Hawaiian Islands from the waters north of Midway and then back to Pearl Harbor, or to stand by in the waters east of Midway. But this route is also the easiest to think of by the opponent, if the first task force wants to ambush on this course, the 51st task force will take the initiative to send it to death.

Spruance then searched the charts as he searched, and soon he saw another route. After pondering for a while, Spruance himself picked up a scale and pencil and sketched and calculated on the chart for a while. Spruance laughed as he mapped out the entire route, looking at the numbers marked on it.

"General, the report is out."

Spruance turned, then nodded slightly. "Go and call the nautical staff."

Soon, the fleet navigation staff ran over.

"How many of our ships are not able to reach 24 knots?" Spruance asked, the nautical staff officer was a little dazed.

"About three, a wounded cruiser, a wounded destroyer, and a destroyer with a faulty engine."

"Immediately form these three battleships into a formation, leaving only the most necessary crews, and call their captains over." Spruance sat down, and as the seafaring staff was about to walk away, he added, "The fleet speed has dropped to 12 knots, stop going north, destroyers pay attention to anti-submarine." ”

"General, now ......"

"Go quickly, don't delay the time, and transfer the wounded to the aircraft carrier as soon as possible." Spruance didn't allow the staff officer to speak, and waved his hand to let him out.

Fifteen minutes later, three captains arrived at the bridge of the commander of the "Independence", one major and two captains.

Spruance first inquired about the three warships. The wounded light cruiser could only reach a speed of 16 knots, while the speed of two destroyers could reach 18 knots. More than 200 officers and men on the three ships were killed or wounded.

"If necessary, a third of the officers and men will be able to operate the battleship, which will lead to the inability of the battleship to carry out combat missions."

"I will leave you a third of the officers and soldiers, and you will choose for yourselves." Spruance stood up, "You follow the previous route, north of Midway, back to Pearl Harbor, and if you're lucky, we'll meet at Pearl Harbor." ”

"General, then you ......"

"Go ahead and prepare, in half an hour. Let the redundant officers and men be transferred to other warships. Spruance turned, "For the safety of the entire fleet, someone has to sacrifice now." And all I can give you is prayers and blessings. ”

The three captains didn't look good, because they knew. This time they were going to sacrifice ground.

The fleet was busy, and after the three captains left, Spruance gave the nautical staff a new order, using the new route and navigation parameters. Within half an hour, the redundant officers and men on the three battleships that continued to sail north were transferred to other nearby warships. Then. The three battleships went north alone. After Spruance watched the three ships leave, Task Force 51 wandered around the area for about half an hour before turning around and embarking on a new voyage.

In the waters northwest of Midway, Task Force 1 was also moving fast, and Tan Renhao reduced the fleet's speed to 18 knots during the night, and at the same time began to arrange reconnaissance missions. In the second half of the night, Hao Dongjue returned to the command position, and then began to deploy reconnaissance missions.

"Every pilot knows their purpose and mission." Hao Dongjue returned to the command cabin after finishing his work, "The first batch of reconnaissance planes took off at half past five. The seaplanes were also arranged, and they departed at six o'clock. The second group of reconnaissance planes departed at eight o'clock, and the third group at half past ten. As per your requirements. I left only one wave of bombers, and all the others were sent out. ”

"The air defense of the fleet should also pay attention to the fact that after the first reconnaissance aircraft took off, let the fighters also take off.

The patrol time is set at three hours. Tan Renhao raised his head, "I received several more telegrams in the evening, confirming that there were only about 30 downed US fighters, which means that Spruance actually has a powerful strike force in his hands, which still poses a huge threat to us." ”

"I've arranged for three squadrons of ground fighters to take turns on air defense missions, one on air patrol, one on deck, and the other for rest, maybe we need escort fighters as well."

Tan Renhao smiled and nodded. "Okay, I'll go rest for a while, and call me again when there's news."

After five o'clock, the first batch of reconnaissance planes were towed onto the flight deck, and Hao Dongjue clarified their mission for the last time to the pilots of those reconnaissance planes. At 5:25 a.m., the first batch of 36 reconnaissance planes left the flight deck of the aircraft carrier one after another. Half an hour later, the escort cruiser's surface seaplanes also took off. By the time the last seaplane left the skies over the fleet, it was already dark.

The atmosphere in the fleet was a little tense, and many officers and men knew about the battle that took place in the northern waters of Wake Island yesterday, and many people knew what the purpose of the fleet's current sailing to the northwest was. At eight o'clock, after Hao Dongjue arranged for the second batch of reconnaissance planes to set off one after another, the fleet turned due west and increased its speed to 22 knots. This was the route that Tan Renhao had already arranged during the night, and the navigation staff was just directing the fleet to move forward according to the plan.

Before Tan Renhao returned to the command cabin at noon, the fleet received the latest telegram from the theater command. The concrete results of all aspects have been counted, and the shore-based air force on Wake Island has lost more than 150 warplanes, and only a quarter of the pilots have been rescued. In addition, the landing fleet and convoy are heading in the direction of Midway, and the landing time is still on the morning of 14 July. There was also an order in the telegram that if Task Force 1 was unable to locate Task Force 51, it should rendezvous with the landing fleet on the night of the 11th and cover the landing fleet's rush to Midway.

After reading the telegram, Tan Renhao sighed, they had to turn around at four o'clock in the afternoon, otherwise they would not be able to rendezvous with the landing fleet at night.

"What now? Continue the search for Task Force 51, or turn around? ”

Tan Renhao didn't rush to answer, he looked at the chart for a while and asked, "Nothing was found in the morning?" ”

"No, it was quiet on the radio, and the first batch of reconnaissance planes had all returned, and the seaplanes had also returned, and the second batch of reconnaissance planes had returned in about an hour, and we had not received any news."

"And where did Task Force 51 go? If they had sailed according to our guesses, we would have found out this morning. Tan Renhao smashed his fist on the chart table, "When will the third batch of reconnaissance planes return?" ”

"Three hours later." Hao Dongjue glanced at the navigation clock, "Do you want to arrange another reconnaissance operation?" ”

Tan Renhao shook his head, after three hours, the fleet would have to turn. "The fleet will stop moving westward, and in addition, let the reconnaissance planes search the sea areas to the southwest and south as much as possible."

Hao Dongjue hesitated for a moment, could it be that the 51st Task Force would appear in the south of the fleet, not in the west?

"In addition, let the navigation staff design a new route according to General Liao Hanxiang's orders." Tan Renhao smiled and shook his head, "Now we have no choice, we must ensure the safety of the landing fleet, if we can't find the 51st task force today, then we can only wait for the next opportunity." ”

Hao Dongjue also sighed secretly, he had been busy all day, and the officers and soldiers had been nervous all day, but it turned out that he was drawing water with a bamboo basket.

At this time, on the small aircraft carrier "Independence", Spruance also ordered to send more than 10 SBDs on reconnaissance missions, and half an hour earlier, he had lifted the more than a dozen F4U into the air, and the fleet was also put into combat readiness.

The officers and men of Task Force 51 were taking turns to rest, and all were overwhelmed with nervousness during the night's voyage. Spruance's route was to head southeast, passing through the waters between Wake Island and Midway, reaching Johnston Island before turning to Pearl Harbor. On this route, the closest point to Wake Island is only about 450 nautical miles, and the patrol radius of the Tang Empire's night reconnaissance aircraft is at least 600 nautical miles. Thousands of American officers and men couldn't sleep all night, and as long as the 51st Task Force was discovered, the bombers of the Tang Empire would arrive at dawn.

Spruance wasn't too worried, he judged that Task Force 1 was most likely northwest of Midway, and if he took the northern route, he would definitely crash headlong and be crushed. And taking the risk of taking the southeast route, taking advantage of the fact that the Tang Imperial Air Force on Wake Island did not have the opportunity to recover, and passing through the most dangerous sea area at night, then the 51st Task Force was out of trouble. The plan is risky, but it makes a lot of sense.

Of course, Spruance didn't know that while his adventure was successful, he actually missed a great opportunity to completely annihilate the landing fleet of the Tang Empire!