Spruance's carrier-based fighters did not reach the Fifth Fleet until about eight o'clock, and in order to meet these fighters, the Fifth Fleet turned before seven o'clock, and did not continue south, but sailed east. It took nearly an hour to receive the planes, and as Spruance had predicted, the planes that were replenished to the Fifth Fleet arrived one after the other, not all together.

By about 8:10, the position of the Fifth Fleet was 20 degrees east-south, about 110 nautical miles from Nihua Island, and it was sailing eastward, but because it had to receive the arriving fighters, the fleet had to turn from time to time, and its average speed to the east was less than 20 knots. Computer station.. cN

To the north of the Fifth Fleet, it was the supply fleet that had fled east after being alerted. Immediately as the Fifth Fleet left, the fleet began to accelerate, fleeing eastward at the fastest speed of 24 knots, leaving the strike range of the First Task Force. As for the unfinished supplies, the commanders of the flotilla will not take into account, and if they can't escape, then how can they supply the Fifth Fleet?

In other words, at this time, the average eastward speed of the supply fleet was higher than that of the Fifth Fleet, and the supply fleet was about 30 nautical miles north of the Fifth Fleet (this distance would vary depending on the Fifth Fleet's special reception of fighters, and 30 nautical miles was just an average). The distance was too close, too close for Spruance to feel unsafe.

By 8:50 a.m., the supply fleet had sailed about 50 nautical miles east, and was already northeast of the Fifth Fleet, about 40 nautical miles from the Fifth Fleet. It was at this time that Spruance received an astonishing message. The carrier-based reconnaissance aircraft of the Tang Empire appeared near the supply fleet, and the supply fleet must have been spotted!

This message was sent by the last group of fighters to reach the Fifth Fleet, and it had already driven the carrier-based reconnaissance plane of the Don Imperial Navy out of the sky over the supply fleet. And is pursuing the re-home reconnaissance plane. As a result, Spruance was given a very important piece of information. The reconnaissance plane was heading west to return home. And he made an important judgment from the time of arrival of the reconnaissance plane, as well as the direction of return, that is, the first task force was to the west of Nihua Island, or even to the southwest. And it's fast approaching!

Spruance also inferred that since the landed shore-based reconnaissance plane spotted Task Force 1, he had also received information from the Theater Command that radio listening stations on Niwa and Necke Islands had intercepted the radio signals from Task Force 1. The problem was that there was no other information on the whereabouts of Task Force 1 since then. It is not known whether the First Task Force, after being exposed, will continue to pursue southward, withdraw from the battle to the north, or advance in another direction. Spruance's inference is based on two bases, one of which is the time of arrival from the opposing reconnaissance plane. and the direction on the way back. Another inference is his understanding of Tan Renhao. Now that the reconnaissance planes of the First Task Force have found the Fifth Fleet, Tan Renhao will definitely continue to attack and will not retreat easily. Otherwise, all his efforts to persist in the past few days, as well as to bomb Nihua Island and Necke Island, would have been in vain.

But the problem is that now the Fifth Fleet is not able to immediately let the bombers go. The bombers who had just arrived in the fleet would be able to take off before half past nine at the earliest, which was already quite good. Perhaps, by 10 o'clock, it will be a question of whether you will be ready for takeoff. And before ten o'clock, the bombers of Task Force 1 will definitely be able to set off again, and even have already flown over. What to do?

Spruance hesitated for only a minute, and he quickly gave two orders. The first is to have the first SBD to arrive immediately set off to the west and southwest of Nihua Island in search of the 1st Task Force.

The second order was that the fleet immediately sail eastward at full speed and continue to distance itself from the First Task Force, and that if the reconnaissance planes could not return to the fleet, they would make a forced landing on Nihua Island without returning to the fleet.

It can be seen that even at this time, Spruance was still very calm, and he made the most correct decision based on the situation that he had already mastered. He would not rush into a decisive battle with Task Force 1 until the Fifth Fleet regained its air strike capability, and he had to do everything possible to avoid a surprise attack by Task Force 1, so he let the fleet flee eastward. In addition, he did not give up his efforts to annihilate the First Task Force, and he knew very well that the planes lost by the First Task Force could not be replenished in time, that is, the remaining fighters of the First Task Force were not enough to complete the tasks of air defense and escort at the same time, and if he could seize the opportunity, he could use the carrier-based bombers of the Fifth Fleet to take out the First Task Force.

Spruance was not wrong in his decision, the problem is that there are too many unpredictable factors on the battlefield, and the impact of these factors is huge. For example, the reconnaissance plane that was returning to the sea at that time did not receive the news of the turn of the first task force, so it returned according to the original plan.

If the news had been received, then the reconnaissance plane should have returned to the north-west, because Task Force 1 was already heading east, not south!

Another point is that Spruance did not take into account that the bombers of the first task force would fly so quickly, and he did not expect that Tan Renhao would let the first batch of bombers go first, and then arrange for the second batch of bombers to land. Therefore, the departure time of Yang Qinkai's group was nearly forty minutes earlier than previously planned, and he only received the exact news after departure, but this was also a wrong message.

At 9:50, just as Spruance was anxiously waiting for news from the reconnaissance plane, the supply fleet sent a message that the bombers of the Tang Empire had arrived, and the supply fleet had suffered a devastating blow! It was the bomber group led by Yang Qinkai who bombed the supply fleet!

The group of planes led by Yang Qinkai caught up with the US supply fleet before 9:50, and at first, Yang Qinkai also misjudged those supply ships as large warships, but when he led the group to fly closer, he found that this was not the Fifth Fleet they were looking for. It's the supply fleet of the U.S. military, and the dozen or so fast supply ships are indeed huge, but they are comparable to the Fifth Fleet. These supply ships are of little value. But the problem is, at that time. The U.S. supply ships are already on the limit of the bomber's strike radius, and even if Yang Qinkai and them fly directly to the new rendezvous point, the remaining ground fuel will only be for them to return to the fleet and land on the aircraft carrier (because the group of planes arrives at the same time, there must be some bombers who have to hover over the fleet for a certain amount of time and need a certain amount of surplus fuel).

If it was in the past, Yang Qinkai would definitely let go of these supply ships and those destroyers and continue to search for the Fifth Fleet, but the problem now is that there is not enough fuel for him to continue to search for the Fifth Fleet, he must drop the bomb as soon as possible and then return home.

And these bombs are impossible to bring back to the aircraft carrier site, in order to ensure the safety of the aircraft carrier, the bomber when returning home. You have to drop the bomb or torpedo!

In desperation, more than 100 pilots could only vent their anger on the hapless American supply ships and the escorting destroyers. Within fifteen minutes. All the bombers dropped bombs and torpedoes, and An Shile, who escorted Yang Qinkai, also led fighter jets to strafe the American warship. Although the U.S. military's rapid supply ships were large, they were facing a large striking force that was far from planned to be used against the Fifth Fleet. Yang Qinkai's fleet of bombs and torpedoes is enough to destroy the four aircraft carriers of the Fifth Fleet, but is there any hope for the fragile U.S. supply fleet? At the time of the departure of the fleet. Fourteen fast supply ships and eight escort destroyers were all sunk or destroyed, none of them escaped the blow, and in the entire bombing operation, only six bombers were shot down by the anti-aircraft guns of the American ships, and another five returned home wounded.

Tan Renhao received Yang Qinkai's report at 9:45, and he and Hao Dongjue were both taken aback.

"This is impossible, the report of the reconnaissance aircraft mentions the presence of fighters, is it ...... The Fifth Fleet is definitely nearby. "This is what Tan Renhao was worried about before, because the report of the reconnaissance plane only mentioned the presence of US fighters, but did not explicitly mention the discovery of US aircraft carriers." Are there any entry and exit routes for those fighters in the reconnaissance report? ”

"No, the reconnaissance plane was already on the limit of the patrol radius at that time, and it returned immediately after discovering the US fighter plane, and there was no way to confirm the direction of the entry and exit of the opponent's fighter plane."

Tan Renhao did not blame this, the pilot had done his best. At this time, only the Fifth Fleet was able to dispatch fighters on the battlefield. Although it is a bit ridiculous for Spruance to send fighter jets to cover the operation of the supply fleet, after all, the Fifth Fleet's own air defense capabilities are insufficient, and he has no reason to jeopardize the security of the Fifth Fleet for the sake of a dozen supply ships. However, there is no doubt that the Fifth Fleet is nearby, otherwise, the fighters of the US military will not be able to fly over at all!

"Do you want to let the Qiu Gengbo group set off now?" Hao Dongjue glanced out of the porthole, and Qiu Gengbo's group of planes was taking off one after another.

"No, let the bombers all stop taking off and come back, drop the bombs and come back." Tan Renhao sighed, "Immediately go and arrange twelve reconnaissance planes, let them prepare for takeoff, and give me a few minutes." ”

Hao Dongjue nodded, and didn't say anything more. The bombers who received the order dropped their ammunition into the nearby sea and returned to the fleet. Qiu Gengbo landed on the aircraft carrier first, and after jumping out of the plane, he cursed, and when he saw Hao Dongjue, he didn't dare to lose his temper.

At this time, Tan Renhao was also full of doubts, he had discovered the Fifth Fleet, but now he had lost the Fifth Fleet, and it was only the supply fleet of the US military that was defeated, which was an innocuous loss and did not pose the slightest threat to the Fifth Fleet. But the question is, where is the Fifth Fleet?

If the Fifth Fleet had been discovered and had retreated south, it would now be at least 150 nautical miles away from the supply fleet, and what reason would Spruance have to provide air defense cover for an innocuous fleet 150 nautical miles away? Obviously, this is not a possibility, unless Spruance goes crazy and sends valuable fighter jets 150 nautical miles away to protect a fleet that cannot decide the outcome of the battlefield.

Well, the Fifth Fleet must be near the supply fleet, and it must be very close, otherwise, Spruance would not have been stupid enough to send fighters far away. But in which direction and how far is the Fifth Fleet from the supply fleet? 50 nautical miles, or 80 nautical miles? If the radius of 50 nautical miles is calculated, then the range that needs to be searched is wide and wide enough, and part of it is within the limit of the fleet bombers.

Tan Renhao suddenly thought of a point, could those fighters be fighters that departed from Kauai Island and replenished the Fifth Fleet? This probably won't be very big, unless Spruance and Nimitz are out of touch, otherwise, the fighters that Nimitz replenished to the Fifth Fleet should have arrived one after another after dawn, and the reconnaissance planes were intercepted more than two hours after dawn.

"The fleet turned to 135 degrees, maintaining full speed." Tan Renhao made a decision, "In addition, go and call the chief of staff, there is a new task." ”

Hao Dongjue quickly rushed back, and he had just arranged the departure of the reconnaissance plane.

"Let our reconnaissance planes fly to the south of the US convoy and expand the search range to 100 nautical miles."

"Isn't that too far? The reconnaissance plane simply could not fly back. ”

"The fleet will sail in this direction, so that the patrol radius of the reconnaissance aircraft can be expanded by 50 nautical miles, and when the time comes, the reconnaissance aircraft should be able to return to the fleet, at least to the waters near the fleet." Tan Renhao circled a range on the chart, "To comprehensively search this sea area, you must find the Fifth Fleet!" ”

Hao Dongjue glanced at the map, and then left the command cabin.

Tan Renhao also calmed down, this may be the last chance, if he can't find the Fifth Fleet again, he can only be sure of one thing, that is, Spruance must have escaped, and the First Task Force will not be able to catch up with the Fifth Fleet that fled at full speed. But then, he thought of a point, now the U.S. supply fleet has been blown up, and judging from the first reconnaissance report, the Fifth Fleet was still resupplying at that time, if the Fifth Fleet escaped without the replenishment was completed, then Spruance would definitely try to return to Pearl Harbor, at least return to Kauai Island, otherwise, the fleet would not be able to get supplies, then the Fifth Fleet would definitely have to sail east!