On the "Hornet" aircraft carrier, the bombers have been sent to the flight deck, the aviation service personnel are busy doing the final inspection, and the pilots have also gathered in the aviation war room to make the final preparations before leaving. Bombs and torpedoes were being hung on bombers, and there was a busy scene on the battleship.

"General, a telegram from the 17th Task Force, the bombers of the Tang Army are flying from the northeast!"

Spruance took the telegram, glanced at it, and immediately walked to the chart, and the staff officer immediately marked a red line on the chart, which was the route on which the Tang Empire bombers entered.

"This is consistent with the intelligence we received before, and it can be determined that the aircraft carrier fleet of the Tang Empire is in this sea area!"

The staff officer circled a range on the chart, and the radio position was only able to determine an approximate range. "The bombers that are now bombing Task Force 17 must have come out of this fleet, and judging by the size, there are at least two aircraft carriers, maybe three."

Spruance didn't rush to conclusions, he was still looking at that place on the chart. According to the sortie rate of US aircraft carriers, nearly 100 bombers can be driven at one time, and two aircraft carriers will certainly not be able to do it. However, the aircraft carrier attendance rate of the Tang Imperial Navy was much higher (the quality of the soldiers, as well as the quality of the catapults had a great influence), and the two aircraft carriers could send a large fleet of hundreds of bombers. Then, at this time, this Tang Empire aircraft carrier fleet in the northeast direction of the 17th task force should be the first task force, not the second task force.

Thinking of this, Spruance suddenly smiled. The rear admiral of the Tang Empire, surnamed Tan, was indeed bold, and in order to avoid the storm, the First Task Force should go west, not east. And now Task Force 1 is clearly in the east, not in the west. Obviously, the other side has mastered the whereabouts of Task Force 17, but there are also problems with this deployment. If Task Force 1 was just to take out Task Force 17, they should have headed west. Or move in a southwesterly direction, so that you can avoid the storm in advance, hurry up and prepare for the attack, and bomb the 17th Task Force at about ten o'clock, instead of now!

Why? Why should the other side choose to maneuver to the east instead of the west? Spruance was puzzled, this was clearly putting himself in a position to be beaten, and no clever fleet commander would make such a mistake. Then why did this rear admiral of the Tang Empire, who had already defeated several powerful opponents and won several brilliant victories, make such a mistake? No, it's definitely not a mistake!

"General, we are going to send reconnaissance planes ......"

"Arrange the bombing mission according to the operation against the first task force of the Tang Empire."

Spruance glanced at the staff officer next to him, "Go, in ten minutes, I'll give the order for the pilots to get ready." ”

The staff officer immediately walked away, and although he had not been working with the new boss for a short time, he knew it well. Major General is thinking about the problem. When judging the enemy's situation, he never wants anyone to interrupt his train of thought.

If it wasn't a mistake, then why did he do it? Spruance pondered as hard as he could, trying to find Task Force 1 and not hide westward. but to come east to suffer the cause of death. It dawned on him when he saw the symbol representing Task Force 2 on the chart (an icon made of transparent plastic foil and pinned to the chart).

Previously, Spruance judged that if Tan Renhao commanded this naval battle, he would definitely leave the second task force behind, and the second task force would be able to play the most important role at the most critical moment by maintaining the second task force with the first task force. According to this reasoning, then Task Force 2 should be to the west of Task Force 1. That is, the operation of a certain sea area between Task Force 1 and Agrihan Island.

Now, Spruance has reversed that judgment. If the First Task Force came out to block bullets, and it was used as a decoy to block bullets, then Tan Renhao must first ensure the safety of the Second Task Force and must not let the Second Task Force be attacked first. Therefore, now the 1st Task Force will first dispatch bombers to deal with the 2nd Task Force, and the 16th Task Force can be forced out!

If Task Force 2 is to the west of Task Force 1, then Task Force 1 should be southwest to avoid the storm. This will allow you to stand between Task Force 2 and Task Force 17 and complete their task of shielding the arrow. Now, the first task force appears in the northeast direction, which can only mean that the second task force is not to the west of the first task force, but to the northwest, or to the north!

This judgment from the north is certainly incorrect, if it is in the north, then the position of the second task force is too far ahead, and it is easy to be attacked from the northeast. Then, it is only possible to the northwest of the 1st Task Force, which is exactly the extension of the 1st Task Force line!

At this time, Task Force 16 was not in the northeast of the sea, but was about 18o nautical miles away from Task Force 17. Spruance also made a rather risky move, with the two task forces moving behind the 17th Task Force to the east. This would allow Spruance to attack the enemy fleet attacking Task Force 17 at any time, and it would be easier for the two fleets to communicate with each other! It can be seen that Tan Renhao's preliminary judgment is actually wrong, although Spruance is very calm, but his courage is not small!

"General, the bomber is ready to take off!"

Spruance clicked on the chart and asked, "Do we have any reconnaissance planes operating in this area?" ”

Seeing the sea area pointed out by the commander, the staff officer frowned slightly and said, "No, this is not the sea area that we focus on reconnaissance. ”

"Then, immediately send a group of reconnaissance planes over."

"However, we don't have reconnaissance planes now, and the bombers are all parked on the deck, so they don't ...... at all."

"Then replace those bomber bombs with auxiliary fuel tanks and let them take off immediately and carry out reconnaissance missions!"

Spruance did not give the staff officer a chance to distinguish at all, "first send four reconnaissance planes to repeatedly search this sea area." It is possible that a second fleet of the Don Empire existed here. Immediately after the reconnaissance planes took off, the first batch of bombers took off to strike at the fleet of the Tang Empire, which had already appeared. ”

The staff officer gritted his teeth and did not dare to say anything more, and immediately went to convey the order.

The distance between the two fleets is now only about the first task force, and the relative position of the 1st and 16th task forces commanded by Kincaid is like an equilateral triangle, and the first task force is storming the first task force, and then dealing with the second task force, it depends on whether this wave of bombers can receive miraculous results.

The four sBcs roared out of the carrier's flight deck first. These four bombers were originally loaded with bombs, but after receiving a new mission, they immediately unloaded the bombs, replaced them with a large auxiliary fuel tank, and went on reconnaissance missions (unlike the naval aviation of the Tang Empire, the US naval aviation generally used dive bombers to carry out reconnaissance missions). And not with torpedo bombers for reconnaissance missions) subsequently. The bombers with bombs and torpedoes6 took off one after another, and the last to take off were the escort fighters.

Spruance prepared 48 dive bombers and 32 torpedo bombers for the bombing of the 1st Task Force. As well as 36 escort fighters. The size of the fleet is not small, but it is not too large. There are a total of 1o8 dive bombers, 54 torpedo bombers, as well as 1o8 fighters, 36 reconnaissance aircraft on board the three aircraft carriers. The Spruance ground bombers were actually less than half of the bombers carried by the fleet. He left the most important forces at the rear. According to his thinking, it would certainly be much less difficult to deal with the first task force with two aircraft carriers than with the second task force with three aircraft carriers. Keeping an extra batch of bombers would actually allow for supplementary bombing of Task Force 1. Of course, this will depend on the situation to make a decision.

The bomber group left the skies above Task Force 16 at 1:08 a.m., and Spruance received a telegram at 12:35 a.m. and gave the order to attack at 12:46 a.m. It took only twenty-two minutes for the entire fleet of 116 bombers to take off and assemble, and then set out on the road to attack Task Force 1. Relatively speaking. The air sortie rate of the US aircraft carriers was really not very good (the "Saratoga", which had the most bombers taking off, released a total of 42 planes, while the aircraft carriers of the Tang Empire released 58 bombers in 22 minutes, and the average degree was also about 45 planes). This is a new order from Spruance to lift two squadrons of fighters (12 in one squadron) into the air, and three squadrons of fighters to stay on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier, ready to take off at any time. If they were not attacked before finding the Tang Empire's second task force, these fighters would be on escort duty, if attacked. then perform the task of air defense of the fleet.

In the hangars of the three aircraft carriers, the US aviation service personnel were busy refueling the other bombers and hanging bombs and torpedoes. No one can guarantee that the first wave of bombing will be able to destroy the first task force (the air defense capability of the Tang Imperial Navy fleet has caused the US naval aviation to suffer a lot of losses) If necessary, supplementary bombing will be carried out (the leader of the first wave of bombers will determine whether the enemy fleet has been destroyed, and if not, the fleet commander will decide whether to supplement the bombing) Of course, these bombers may also carry out the task of bombing the second task force.

Watching Fighter 6 continue to take off, Spruance let out a sigh. At the moment, he has seized the opportunity to take out Task Force 1, but the question is, will he be able to take out Task Force 2? While the staff officer was busy, Spruance walked over to the chart again.

Now the distance of the first task force is about the distance behind the first task force, and the distance of the second task force is 27o nautical miles! The maximum strike radius of the bombers of the Tang Empire was within the strike range of the Second Task Force. On the contrary, the maximum strike radius of sBc and TBd is only 25 nautical miles, and the bombers of the US army are simply unable to deal with the second task force of the Tang Empire!

Thinking of this, Spruance hesitated a little, what should I do? If this guess is correct, then the distance between the fleets must be shortened, and the fleet should turn to the northwest. But the problem is that it is easier to enter the enemy's strike range (for the "Kingfisher" and "Osprey", 25o nautical miles is a relatively ideal strike radius, if it is to be extended to 3o nautical miles, then the flight time, as well as the bomb load, and the choice of route will be greatly limited) In addition, the reconnaissance aircraft of the Tang Empire must have been sent, if it goes to the northwest, will it plunge into the opponent's reconnaissance network? If the location of the 16th Task Force is revealed, then the bombers of the Don Empire will swarm in!

The contradiction between the two could not be resolved, and Spruance hesitated for about five minutes before calling the staff officer in charge of navigation. "The fleet turns to 3oo, ready to add."

"Turning?"

The staff officer was taken aback, this is not a trivial matter.

"Yes, turn now!"

Spruance glanced at the staff officer.

"Do you need to contact the bomber group and tell them a new direction of return?"

Spruance hesitated, and at the same time quickly did the math. It takes at least 100 minutes for a reconnaissance plane to fly 27o nautical miles to the northwest (a reconnaissance aircraft can only fly at a cruising degree on this flight radius, while the cruising degree of sBc is about 17o knots), and a bomber bombs a target at a distance of 15o nautical miles, and it takes about 15o minutes to reach the range fleet.

"Don't use it yet, the reconnaissance planes will contact the returning bomber group after they have results."

Spruance didn't think long this time, "If there is no news of the reconnaissance planes, then contact the bomber group in two hours and let them come to a new rendezvous point!" ”

The staff officer said no more, and immediately went to order the fleet to turn. Spruance also fell silent, he rarely gave orders when directing operations, but every order he gave was crucial, which may be his characteristic!