At five o'clock, Turner sent a telegram to the fleet, and the 15 SBDs that were on reconnaissance missions at the same time, as well as the seaplanes on the escort cruisers, departed one after another. After sending a telegram to the Marines, Turner also sent a telegram to Task Force 51, reporting on the current location of Task Force 52 and the actions taken. Soon, the first bombers were sent to the flight deck, and at 5:50 a.m., the bombers began to take off one after another.

Three hours before the attack, Turner revised the details of the combat operation, mainly by advancing the time for the reconnaissance planes to take off to 5:10 and extending the reconnaissance radius to 300 nautical miles.

Instead of returning the planes to the fleet, Turner went directly to the airfield on Midway to refuel and refuel after completing the reconnaissance mission, and then returned to the fleet or went on another reconnaissance mission. These reconnaissance aircraft can patrol within 150 nautical miles southwest of Midway for an hour before returning home. The loss of 15 SBDs in Task Force 52 does not have a great impact on the fleet's combat effectiveness, at least Turner does not expect these 15 SBDs to allow him to defeat Task Force 2.

Spruance received a telegram from Turner at 5:35 a.m., and five minutes later, the Theater Command also forwarded the telegram, mainly to prevent Task Force 51 from delaying the fighters from F4U because it did not receive the telegram and was not aware of Task Force 52's actions.

Spruance stood by while the staff officer followed the telegram to trace the location of Task Force 52 and the route to be taken by Task Force 52 after the bombing mission had been completed. He knew Turner better. How can the two have worked together for so many years, and what he didn't expect was that this time Turner would choose to avoid the war!

"General. It's all marked. ”

Spruance nodded, then glanced at his watch. Stopped the staff officer.

"The fleet turned as planned, and the reconnaissance plane came to call me five minutes before departure."

The staff officer nodded, and walked away.

Spruensto, standing in front of the chart with his chin tapped, suddenly laughed. As commander of the Fifth Fleet, Spruance chose Turner as Fleet Chief of Staff at the time of his selection. He knew that this major general was an extreme general. On many occasions, Turner would be very belligerent, such as in the "Second Battle of Wake Island", when Turner's command of Task Force 52 was very active and brave. But at some point, Turner can come across as a little too cautious. For example, when planning this combat operation, Turner hinted that he was against launching a counterattack in the Central Pacific without winning a victory in the southwest Pacific, or even before launching an attack, which would only lead to the rapid transfer of the main fleet of the Tang Empire, and then the Fifth Fleet would have a hard time. This extreme personality makes it difficult for the enemy to feel his pulse on the battlefield. But at the same time, it was difficult for his companions to know what he was doing. The problem is that the Don Imperial Navy has not regarded Turner as its main adversary, as long as Spruance is still the commander of the Fifth Fleet. Then Spruance is the number one enemy.

Turner's placement of Task Force 52 in an area of about 180 nautical miles 20 degrees south-east of Midway, and the fact that it turned immediately after sending out its bombers, only says a thing. That is, Turner believed that Task Force 2 was to the west or southwest of him, and he wanted to avoid the bombardment of Task Force 2 and not want Task Force 52 to be wiped out. This intention couldn't be more obvious, Spruance could see it at a glance, but the question is, can't Lei Shaoqing see it at a glance?

Most seriously, Turner's action was incompatible with the tasks of Task Force 52. The task force of the 52nd Task Force is to force the Second Task Force out, but he is now actively avoiding the battle, if the Second Task Force is not southwest of Midway, it will not appear at all, then the 51st Task Force will not be able to seize the opportunity!

Spruance wasn't too surprised by Turner's actions, and perhaps he would have made the same decision in his position as commander of Task Force 52, as fleet commander the first priority was naturally to preserve the fleet, and Turner was doing so now. Thinking of this, Spruance's gaze fell on the waters near Midway.

If Task Force 2 is in the waters southwest of Midway, then Turner's reconnaissance planes should have something to gain. Spruance's gaze quickly left this area of the chart. It has always been believed that even if Lei Shaoqing is a very cautious commander, it is unlikely that Task Force 2 will appear in the waters southwest of Midway.

If Task Force 2 is to avoid a surprise attack, it should be closer to Wake Island. None of the fleet's bombers have been in the airspace over Midway for several days, so it is unlikely that Task Force 2 will still be operating in the waters around Midway. If Task Force 2 were to appear in the waters southwest of Midway, their mission would have been to support the Marines on Midway, rather than to engage Task Force 52.

On the contrary, if Lei Shaoqing chooses to face the battle, he will definitely judge that the US fleet will appear north of Midway Island, not south of Midway, then the second task force should maneuver to the west of Midway, or even the northwest sea, and wait for an opportunity here, and it will never appear on the sea southwest of Midway.

Based on this judgment, Spruance believes that the possibility of the second task force appearing in the sea southwest of Midway Island is almost zero, that is, even if the 52nd task force bombs the Tang Imperial Marines on Midway, even if the approximate location is exposed, Lei Shaoqing's fleet is not within the scope of attacking the 52nd task force, then Lei Shaoqing has two choices, one is to quickly approach, strive to close the distance with the 52nd task force, and then kill the 52nd task force. Either stay hidden and wait for Task Force 51 to appear.

There are two possibilities in the situation, if Lei Shaoqing knew about the existence of the 51st Task Force and probably guessed the strength of the 51st Task Force, it is very likely that he would have retreated to the waters near Wake Island, at least within the patrol radius of the long-range reconnaissance aircraft on Wake Island. In this case, Task Force 2 was probably more than 800 nautical miles away from Task Force 52. If Lei Shaoqing wants to raid the 52nd Task Force, it will be tomorrow, and whether he can find the 52nd Task Force. And when the time comes, it's a question of where Turner will take the fleet.

Another possibility is that Lei Shaoqing did not know about the existence of the 51st Task Force. Or to judge Task Force 52 as Task Force 51, so that he is unlikely to avoid the waters off Wake Island. It is very likely that at this time it was west of Midway, and after the bombing of the Tang Empire Marines on Midway, the position of Task Force 52 was roughly determined. Well, if the second task force sails east at full speed. And Turner stopped eastward after retreating to the cover of shore-based fighters on Gardner Island, and the battle could have broken out in the afternoon.

Spruance quickly made a judgment and trade-off between these two possibilities. If the former is possible, then Task Force 51 must now move south at full speed, intercept Task Force 2 as soon as it catches up with Task Force 52, and destroy Task Force 2 in one fell swoop. If the latter is possible, then Task Force 51 will have to take advantage of it, and intensify its search force in the sea area about 120 degrees to the south, find Task Force 2 as soon as possible, and kill Task Force 2 before it leaves the bomber strike range!

Thinking of this, Spruance immediately called the nautical staff over. "The fleet accelerated southward.

The course was adjusted to 75 degrees, and the speed was increased to 30 knots. In addition, the aviation staff officer was asked not to send reconnaissance planes for the time being. Let him come over immediately. ”

Two minutes later, the aviation operations staff officer, who was arranging a task for the reconnaissance plane, came running.

"Arrange an extra batch of reconnaissance planes." Spruance didn't wait for the other party to speak, and directly gave the order, "The search range in the south has been expanded to 120 degrees." Two reconnaissance aircraft are guaranteed on each route, and the maximum distance on each route does not exceed 15 nautical miles. ”

"This requires the addition of at least 30 reconnaissance aircraft." The aviation operations staff officer immediately reported an approximate figure.

"No matter how many reconnaissance planes are added, they must be sent out immediately." Spruance hesitated, "Part of the SBD from the second batch of bombers was transferred to carry out reconnaissance missions. After the reconnaissance planes went out, the air defense fighters were to be lifted into the air one after another, and the first batch of bombers had to be ready to take off within an hour. According to the information we have received earlier, the pilots are assigned tasks according to the standard of striking four aircraft carriers and three carrier battle groups escorting warships. ”

The aviation combat staff officer nodded, immediately turned around and prepared to leave.

"Also, remember to tell the pilots to send a telegram back after confirming that there are aircraft carriers in the enemy fleet, remember that!" Spruance added.

The staff officer turned. "General, is there anything else you would like to add?"

"No, no, let's go and arrange it, and let the reconnaissance plane set off at a predetermined time."

After the staff officer went out, Spruance looked at his watch, and it was only more than ten minutes since 5:50. Then he sat down on the barstool in front of the chart and continued to think.

For Lei Shaoqing, the fleet commander of the Tang Imperial Navy, Spruance has always regarded him as the second opponent. After the "Second Battle of the Marianas", Spruance once felt that Lei Shaoqing was not an excellent commander, but in the "First Battle of Wake Island", Lei Shaoqing beat Fletcher to pieces with a beautiful hook, and from here on, Spruance did not dare to underestimate this opponent. By the time of the "Second Battle of Wake Island", not only did one of the aircraft carriers of the Second Task Force escape the attack, but also turned around and sent the two fleet aircraft carriers that could have escaped back into the sea, and Spruance did not dare to underestimate this opponent.

In combat operations, Lei Shaoqing is often not as adventurous as Tan Renhao, but at critical moments, he can always have some amazing performances, which can be said to be a flash of inspiration, which will bring some unexpected results. This time, the Tang Imperial Navy replaced the First Task Force that had been operating in the waters of Midway Island with the Second Task Force, and the purpose was obvious, the First Task Force would be dispatched to the Southwest Pacific Theater, and the Second Task Force would guard the East Gate. Judging from this deployment adjustment, the Tang Imperial Navy has always used the Second Task Force as the No. 2 Main Fleet.

From these aspects, it can be proved that Lei Shaoqing is an excellent fleet commander, then, he will definitely find out, and will not act blindly, let alone take risky actions without any need. So where would he be now? Did they really return to the waters of Wake Island, or did they already appear on the battlefield?

Reconnaissance planes began to take off one after another, and the first reconnaissance plane to leave the fleet departed at 5:54 a.m. More than 50 reconnaissance planes on the three aircraft carriers took off one after another, and seaplanes on those cruisers were also taking off one after another. The intensity of the search operation in the 120-degree sector is very high.

Spruance set a search radius of 30 nautical miles for SBDs and 200 nautical miles for seaplanes. In terms of the ultimate search radius, the length of an arc of 120 degrees is more than 600 nautical miles, and if the distance between two adjacent reconnaissance planes is 15 nautical miles, then 40 reconnaissance planes are needed. And this does not guarantee that the opportunity to spot the enemy fleet will be missed if it is blocked by clouds on the way. Therefore, for the sake of insurance, one more reconnaissance plane will be arranged on every three routes.

53 reconnaissance aircraft, which is already more than the number of reconnaissance aircraft on the aircraft carriers of the three fleets, had to arrange a batch of SBDs to carry out reconnaissance missions. In fact, during the war, no country had enough specialized reconnaissance planes on its aircraft carriers, and it was a normal arrangement to use bombers with better communications equipment to carry out reconnaissance missions when carrying out combat missions. In addition, the monitoring of the inner sea by water aircraft can be regarded as a means of defense.

If these seaplanes can meet the enemy's bomber fleet, they can also provide the fleet with enough warning time.

These dozens of reconnaissance planes did not leave the sky over the fleet until after 10 o'clock, about 10 minutes later than the time set by Spruance, mainly because it took enough time to rearrange the reconnaissance mission. Spruance stood behind the porthole of the Commander's bridge and saw all the reconnaissance planes depart, and then he turned around.

Skynet had been cast, Spruance didn't make any other adjustments, all he needed now was to wait, wait for the news of finding Task Force 2 back, and then get the bombers on their way.