When the Tang Imperial Navy judged the direction of the US military's counterattack, there were also differences within the US military, and like the Tang Empire, the US military had completely different opinions on whether to invest its main forces in the southwest Pacific or the central Pacific.

According to Nimitz, the Central Pacific will always be the focus of the battlefield. This is directly related to the security of the Hawaiian Islands, and the Hawaiian Islands are the western gate of the United States, if the Hawaiian Islands fall, then the Tang Empire will definitely continue to advance eastward, attack the United States, or land on the Central American continent, pull Mexico into the water, and then the United States will face the threat of ground war. More importantly, after the fall of the Hawaiian Islands, the Tang Army can take advantage of the situation to move south and sweep the islands in the entire South Pacific, as a result, the United States will completely lose contact with the Australian mainland, and no matter how many troops are deployed on the Australian mainland, it will be trapped to death sooner or later. Therefore, in order to accept the Australian mainland, it is necessary to hold the Hawaiian Islands, which are the key to the entire battlefield.

Nimitz's judgment was not wrong, and he had to admit Nimitz's strategic vision. In fact, this is also the common view of most naval generals, including Halsey, Spruance, Admiral King and others, that the Hawaiian Islands are the bottom line of the U.S. Navy's defense in the Pacific Ocean, and now that the Tang Empire has captured Wake Island, as long as it has enough ability, it will attack Midway Island and then land on the Hawaiian Islands. Even if we do not consider counterattacking the Mariana Islands, we must first consolidate the situation in the Central Pacific and lay the foundation for a counterattack, and then try to move in other directions.

But this does not represent the attitude of all US generals. MacArthur-led army generals insisted that they should step up their efforts in the Southwest Pacific. MacArthur's reasoning was also correct. First, this was the direction of the Tang Empire's key offensive, and the Tang Empire invested heavily in the southwest Pacific. If the Tang Empire's offensive in the southwest Pacific can be severely damaged, it will be able to turn the entire tide of the war, lay the foundation for a strategic counterattack, and start the strategic counterattack. Second, it is necessary to invest in consolidating Australia, an important ally, although Australia's military power is not strong, but it is one of the most important allies. Australia's attitude has a big impact on the alliance as a whole. Third, the Australian continent is rich in resources. If these important resources fell into the hands of the Tang Empire, it would greatly boost the Tang Empire's war strength, which was the main reason why the Tang Empire would attack the Australian continent before attacking the United States.

Combining these reasons, MacArthur insisted on putting the main forces into the Southwest Pacific theater, first thwarting the Tang Empire's offensive in that direction, and then launching a counterattack to regain lost territory. This will lay the foundation for future expansion into the Nanyang region. The vast majority of Army generals also expressed their support, and Marshall, the chief of the US Army General Staff, also sided with MacArthur.

The US Navy and Army have been arguing for a long time over the direction of the counterattack, and even saber-rattling over it. The reasons put forward by both sides are very sufficient, and they also use their respective influences to fight openly and secretly, and they want to be superior. Of course, fundamentally, this is also due to the commanders of the two theaters. And the representatives of both sides were Nimitz and MacArthur, and neither of them budged and demanded the acquisition of new aircraft carriers to strengthen the combat forces in the theater.

By October, the President of the United States could not sit still. Everyone knows that if the army and navy have contradictions, it will be the United States that will suffer. In order to calm the contradictions between the two armies. The President of the United States also arrived at Pearl Harbor in mid-October, specially called MacArthur back from Brisbane, and invited Nimitz to have lunch with MacArthur. At the dinner table, the president of the United States tried his best to reconcile the differences between the two generals and tried his best to bring together the naval and land forces to fight together, rather than causing conflicts. Thanks to the efforts of the American president, Nimitz and MacArthur each made concessions and finally reached a compromise agreement.

The four new aircraft carriers and two battleships will first be integrated into the Fifth Fleet, which will be commanded by Nimitz to launch a counterattack in the direction of the Central Pacific. At the same time, the US military will focus on providing troop support to the Southwest Pacific Theater. Strengthen the ground defense forces in the Southwest Pacific Theater. And the aircraft carrier task force after completing the counterattack operation in the Pacific theater of operations. Will be immediately transferred to the Third Fleet to launch a counterattack in the Southwest Pacific theater of operations.

After this agreement was reached. MacArthur returned to Brisbane satisfactorily with the promise of 20 divisions, 1,000 combat aircraft, and a large amount of war materiel. In fact, MacArthur also had his own little abacus. He also knew that Nimitz would not give in easily, and if this matter was so troublesome that the president needed to intervene to coordinate, then the president would definitely take Nimitz's side. Therefore, MacArthur proposed an unobtainable price at the beginning, and then gradually lowered the asking price through coordination to obtain the troops and aviation that he needed more to consolidate the defense line in the Southwest Pacific theater.

It can be said that MacArthur was very sophisticated, like an old fox. Now, the question is in the hands of Nimitz, there is a fleet, there is a counterattack force, but who will command the attack, and where to attack, how to form a new task force, how many ground forces need to be invested, how much war materials need to be prepared, specific battle plans, and so on, all of these need to be determined, and each of these problems is directly related to the success or failure of the counterattack.

Perhaps, Nimitz had to thank him for that good chief of staff. Spruance was not only an excellent fleet commander, but also an excellent chief of staff. As a cautious, careful, and very steady general, Spruance was actually better suited to the role of staff officer. Spruance had already guessed this outcome before it was determined that the main fleet would be incorporated into the Fifth Fleet, and he drew up a series of battle plans for various situations. When Nimitz brought back the good news, Spruance presented the plans to the theater commander, highlighting the benefits of taking different lines of attack, as well as the inevitable drawbacks.

Like Nie Renfeng, Nimitz did not immediately decide on the direction of the counterattack, but asked the intelligence department to provide information on the Tang Emperor's mobilization and deployment as soon as possible, and then determine specific tactics for the Tang Empire's military movements and deployments, while Spruance was responsible for perfecting these plans.

The relevant orders were immediately arranged. For example, the need for concentrated marines, the need to hoard combat materials, and the mobilization of relevant troops were all quickly arranged. The vast majority of orders were given to Spruance by Nimitz, which also shows the characteristics of Nimitz's use of personnel, as well as Spruance's ability to deal with details. But there is still a question that cannot be solved, that is, who will command the fleet to fight?

At one point, Nimitz wanted to transfer Halsey back from the Southwest Pacific theater. Let Halsey be the commander of the fleet, but there are problems with this every second. First. There is no more suitable candidate for the commander of the Third Fleet other than Halsey, and only Halsey (who has been promoted to vice admiral) will dare not buy MacArthur's account if he has replaced those rear admirals who have not been eaten to death by MacArthur. The second is that after Halsey returns, his position with Spruance will be reversed, and Spruance is now the chief of staff of the major general's theater of operations. At that time, there will be an embarrassing situation in which a major general commands a lieutenant general.

These two problems caused Nimitz to abandon the decision to bring Halsey back, but the problem was that he only dared to put the fleet under the command of Spruance except Halsey. Fletcher is finished, and the newly promoted fleet commanders in other places lack actual combat experience, and the significance of this counterattack is extremely significant, and failure is equivalent to losing the last weight in the Pacific theater and losing the initiative within half a year. The U.S. military cannot afford any defeat. As a result, Nimitz had no choice but to remove Spruance from his position as theater chief of staff and transfer him to the Fifth Fleet as commander and commander of the 51st Task Force, under his command of the fleet.

After arranging a new place for Spruance, Nimitz had to choose a partner for Spruance. Pick another task force commander.

As a matter of fact, at that time, the US Navy had already realized that a task force could include a maximum of three aircraft carriers, and if the number was further increased, it would only reduce the fleet's combat efficiency, and the ideal number of aircraft carriers would be two or three aircraft carriers in a task force and one aircraft carrier, and the strength would be too thin. This time, the US Navy has a total of four aircraft carriers in service, and it is inappropriate to assign a task force, which will only increase the burden on Spruance. At the same time, it reduces the combat efficiency of aircraft carriers. The other task force commander had to be chosen from among the newcomers.

At last. Nimitz chose Major General Turner, a newcomer of no small age. This is also the same as in the tradition of the US Navy. To become a general, it is impossible not to be forty or fifty years old, and Turner is still a relatively young one among these people, and it should not be a problem for him to cooperate with Spruance. In fact, Turner's command of the 52nd Task Force must also be under the command of Spruance, that is, Spruance coordinates the command of the two task forces, and Turner's command authority is only within the 52nd Task Force.

After the two fleet commanders were identified, Nimitz had another difficult problem to solve, and that was the combination of the two task forces. In the end, two aircraft carriers will be arranged, or three aircraft carriers of the 51st Task Force and one aircraft carrier of the 52nd Task Force. This made it difficult for Nimitz to make a decision for a while.

According to Nimitz's idea, Turner had no actual combat experience, and it was more difficult to command the two aircraft carriers to fight on the battlefield, and if he did something out of his way, it would lead to the failure of the entire attack. Therefore, Nimitz prefers to let Spruance command three aircraft carriers and only give Turner one aircraft carrier, which can ensure that Spruance has enough troops in his hands, and second, he can let Turner practice his skills.

As a result, Spruance took the initiative to raise objections, arguing that it was not possible to put eggs in one basket and that the aircraft carriers should be distributed equally. Spruance also made two proposals, that the two task forces should act together and stay within mutual support, and that the two battleships and their escort ships should be formed into a separate formation under the command of Task Force 51.

Nimitz adopted Spruance's three proposals, with Task Force 51 and Task Force 52 each having two aircraft carriers, with Task Force 51 maintaining a distance of 80 to 100 nautical miles from each other during operations, and battleship formations under the command of Task Force 51.

After the relevant arrangements were completed, Nimitz also received new information about the new deployment of the Tang Imperial Navy. This immediately strengthened Nimitz's determination to attack. As Tan Renhao had predicted, Nimitz saw at a glance the loopholes in the entire direction of the Tang Imperial Navy. But at this time, Spruance made another suggestion.

Nimitz's initial decision was to target the counterattack on the Marshall Islands, with the main hope that he would be able to take out Task Force 1 first, and then take advantage of the time difference between the arrival of Task Force 2 and Task Force 4 to defeat each of the two fleets. If these three crucial steps can be completed, then the US Navy will gain sea supremacy in the Pacific Ocean, and the subsequent battle will be extremely smooth, and the US military can even hit the Mariana Islands in one go, and if the Tang Army cannot quickly adjust its deployment, it will even have the possibility of attacking the Ryukyu Islands and Japan. Nimitz viewed this offensive arrangement from a grand strategic point of view, and it can be said that his ambition was not small.

Spruance's suggestion is also very direct, his reason is only one point, the first task force may not be the largest fleet in the Tang Imperial Navy, but it is definitely the most powerful fleet, its commander is the Tang Imperial Navy's undefeated famous general Tan Renhao, it is very difficult to kill the first task force, if you can't fight the snake, but be bitten by the snake, the first task force will successfully maneuver for a few days, and wait until the second task force and the fourth task force arrive at the battlefield. Then Spruance will have to use two task forces to meet the three task forces of the Tang Empire, and Tan Renhao will definitely coordinate and command the three task forces to fight, and at that time, the hope of victory will be extremely slim.

After weighing all the factors, Nimitz once again took Spruance's advice and chose to attack Wake Island instead of the Marshall Islands or Gilbert Islands. In fact, Nimitz still had a problem at that time, that is, he did not have enough marines to sweep the Gilbert Islands and the Marshall Islands for the time being, and the primary purpose of this attack was to kill the Tang Imperial Navy, regain the disadvantage in strength, and prepare for a larger-scale strategic counterattack.

Once the battle plan was finalized and the Marines had completed their build-up, all that remained was to wait for the fleet to arrive. At this time, Tan Renhao was organizing a fleet to train a new air defense formation near the Kaping Amalei Atoll.