At that time, the U.S. Third Fleet had largely existed in name only. Although MacArthur insisted that the Third Fleet be retained to the west, the Third Fleet was no longer in any combat force, and before Noumea was lost, the headquarters of the Third Fleet was transferred to Wellington, New Zealand, and Nimitz transferred Mitchell back to Pearl Harbor, leaving a commodore general in Wellington to preside over the meaningless administrative work of the Third Fleet.

Nominally, Mitchell is still the commander of the Third Fleet, but in reality, he is no longer in charge of the affairs of the Third Fleet. Nimitz gave Mitchell a new title: Chief of the General Staff of the Pacific Fleet. Because the US Navy has very few troops in the Atlantic Ocean and is mainly responsible for escort operations in the North Atlantic, the "Chief of the General Staff of the Pacific Fleet" is actually equivalent to the second person in the US Navy's combat forces, the third commander of the US Navy, and is only below Admiral King and Admiral Nimitz.

Originally, the position of "Chief of the General Staff of the Pacific Fleet" was reserved for Spruance, but under the circumstances at that time, it was impossible for Spruance to leave the Fifth Fleet and take up this post without actual command of the front. If Spruance had left the Fifth Fleet, Turner would have been the commander of the Fifth Fleet, and Mitchell would have been the commander of the Third Fleet, so it would have been impossible for him to be the chief of staff of the Fifth Fleet. In addition, Nimitz was not at ease with handing over the Fifth Fleet, the only fleet of the U.S. Navy, to Turner. Under these circumstances, Nimitz had to promote Mitchell and keep Spruance in the Fifth Fleet. Nominally, Mitchell's authority was above Spruance's. But in fact, Mitchell himself knew that Spruance was Nimitz's "chief of staff," and that he was only temporarily taking over the role in order to get him out of the Third Fleet and serve in the Fifth Fleet. At that time, the US Navy's "Pacific Fleet" was almost equivalent to the "Fifth Fleet."

Nimitz gave Spruance enough authority to take full charge of the fleet counterattack operations in the Central Pacific theater, from planning operations. to the execution of the battle plan. Spruance was solely responsible for many of this. In addition, Nimitz gave Mitchell full responsibility for supporting Spruance's counterattack. Therefore, it was not Nimitz himself who planned the counterattack of the American fleet. It's Spruance, Mitchell, and Turner.

With Nimitz's authorization, Spruance deployed the work at the end of May. The training tasks of the Fifth Fleet were set by him, and at the same time, Turner was responsible for the day-to-day management of the fleet, as well as related logistical support. Mitchell was mainly responsible for providing the necessary supplies for the Fifth Fleet. In addition, he was also responsible for collecting naval intelligence of the Tang Empire. In the end, both Turner and Mitchell reported directly to Spruance, who planned a specific counterattack.

In addition to the training work of the fleet. The first step in the counterattack operation was to clarify the situation of the Tang Imperial Navy, that is, the direction of the Tang Imperial Navy's operations in the next stage, as well as the specific deployment of the Tang Imperial Navy's fleet, its overall strategic policy, and the specific situation of each fleet. And all this information is coming one after another. However, at that time, most of the intelligence network in the areas controlled by the Japanese government-in-exile was destroyed by the counterintelligence agencies of the Tang Empire, and the remaining intelligence personnel in the areas were also hidden, and did not dare to come out immediately to operate, so the information obtained by the US military was not so timely.

Until early June, that is, in the Tang Empire, the navy had already made clear the direction of the next operation. After completing the deployment of the fleet, Spruance got a rough idea of his opponent's actions. Moreover, the information he received was very incomplete, with many loopholes and even contradictions.

At the end of May, for example, Spruance received information that Task Force 1 would be deployed to the Central Pacific in June, and that Task Force 4 would work with Task Force 1 against the Fifth Fleet. However, in early June, another piece of intelligence indicated that the Fourth Task Force was likely to go to the Southwest Pacific Theater, and only the First Task Force was active in the Central Pacific Theater. It was not until the end of early June that Spruance received more accurate information that the First Task Force would go to the Southwest Pacific theater and that the First Task Force would operate in the Central Pacific.

The three pieces of information were contradictory, and as a result, Spruance simply did not dare to fully trust any of them. What made him even more troubled was that the time difference between the three pieces of information was only a few days, so there was no way to prove which information was correct. It was not until the end of June, that is, when the Tang Empire's marines landed on the Australian mainland, that MacArthur sent him a definite piece of information that the First Task Force had appeared in the Southwest Pacific Theater, and that the Second Task Force, the Third Task Force, the Fifth Task Force, and the Theater Fleet consisting of at least six small aircraft carriers were operating in the Southwest Pacific, and only the Fourth Task Force did not appear in the Southwest Pacific Theater. It was only at this time that Spruance finally figured out that it was Task Force 4 that had been operating in the Central Pacific!

This alone is enough to see how chaotic the intelligence system of the United States was at that time. And the United States has always relied on the intelligence agencies of the Japanese government-in-exile to collect intelligence on the Tang Empire. However, the intelligence network of the United States in the Tang Empire was not developed enough, and it mainly relied on those immigrants who returned to the Tang Empire from overseas to establish intelligence agencies in the Tang Empire. For example, after the outbreak of the war, at least 150,000 Mexicans with Tang Empire blood returned to the Tang Empire and joined the Tang Empire army to fight. In addition, tens of thousands of descendants of the Tang Empire in Africa returned to the Tang Empire. It is impossible for these immigrants who returned to the Tang Empire and their descendants to enter the upper echelons of the Tang Empire, so it is impossible for the United States to obtain enough and important enough intelligence from the spies planted among these immigrants.

At the beginning of June, Spruance formulated several sets of combat plans in response to the information that had been sent back three times. Although the training of the fleet was far from complete, Spruance knew that he wanted to win. Then he had to formulate different battle plans for different opponents. And what worries him the most is that if it is really the First Task Force that appears in the Central Pacific, I am afraid that he will have to fight with Tan Renhao again, and what the result is, he does not dare to make any guarantees at all. It can be said that after experiencing the fiasco of the "Battle of Necke Island", Spruance was very scruples about talking about Renhao, and he even judged. Tan Renhao after winning the "Battle of Necke Island". Having gained the confidence to defeat him, and will defeat him in the next battle, this is what Spruance has the most scruples.

Even if it is not the First Task Force that operates in the Central Pacific. It was the Fourth Task Force, and Spruance still didn't dare to be careless. Judging from the situation of the land he obtained at that time, the combat effectiveness of the Fourth Task Force would not be below that of the First Task Force, and more importantly, the Fourth Task Force was the only fleet among the four aircraft carrier task forces of the Tang Imperial Navy that had not suffered a major blow. In addition, Huang Xiaotian's unfamiliar opponent also made Spruance feel a little headache. He knew Tan Renhao very well as an opponent, but he didn't know much about the commander of the Fourth Task Force.

Spruance spent a lot of time "researching" Huang Xiaotian, and the personal information he obtained about Huang Xiaotian at that time was relatively complete. What Sspruance valued the most was Huang Xiaotian's background and the significant contribution of the Fourth Task Force in the Southwest Pacific Theater.

Not the same as the Imperial Navy. Spruance does not think that Huang Xiaotian's background in the aviation is a serious problem, in his opinion, it can even be said that it is a big advantage for Huang Xiaotian. The performance of the Fourth Task Force on the battlefield also proves this, especially in the battle against Halsey, the Fourth Task Force can be said to be very good, after withstanding two rounds of bombing by the 31st Task Force in a row, not only killed the 32nd Task Force, but also finally sent bombers to "solve" Halsey.

Spruance studied the "Battle of the Coral Sea" thoroughly. From the perspective of a bystander, the "Battle of the Coral Sea" is a classic example of the joint operation of the three major task forces of the Tang Imperial Navy. Lure the enemy from Task Force 4. to Task Force 3 blocking Task Force 33 at night, to Task Force 4 bombarding Task Force 32. Task Force 31 counterattacked Task Force 4, and in the end, Task Force 1 suddenly appeared on the flank of Task Force 31 and launched a fatal blow. During the entire combat operation, the coordination of the three task forces of the Tang Empire's naval ground was quite in place, and Halsey was hardly given any chance of victory. Fundamentally, the first task force's position grabbing was the key to a major victory in the entire campaign. But again, Task Force 3's interdiction was indispensable, otherwise Task Force 1 and Task Force 4 would not have had a chance after dawn. More importantly, the 4th Task Force not only annihilated the 32nd Task Force in one fell swoop, but also successfully attracted the attention of the 31st Task Force, forcing Halsey to dispatch bombers to attack the 4th Task Force. For this alone, the credit of the 4th Task Force is not lower than that of the 1st Task Force. At that time, even if Task Force 1 had not taken a position, but had acted according to the old tactics, Halsey would have been doomed, and the only difference was whether Task Force 1 would have paid the price. From this point of view, it is not an exaggeration to say that the Fourth Task Force was the number one contributor to the "Battle of the Huhai Sea."

Spruance's assessment is relatively fair, at least he is evaluating the "Coral Sea Sea Battle" from an objective standpoint. It is precisely because of this that Spruance attaches great importance to the Fourth Task Force and the commander of the Fourth Task Force, Huang Xiaotian. Moreover, he also carefully studied the combat experience of the Fourth Task Force in the Southwest Pacific, and finally came to the conclusion that if the First Task Force is the pillar of the Tang Imperial Navy, then the Fourth Task Force is the most important beam on this pillar, the most powerful fleet of the Tang Imperial Navy in the Southwest Pacific Theater, and the only fleet that can replace the First Task Force in any battlefield and perform the most important combat missions!

Spruance's evaluation will not let Huang Xiaotian get one more medal, and Huang Xiaotian doesn't know Spruance's evaluation of him, let alone Spruance's evaluation of him, and it can even be said that Huang Xiaotian hopes that Spruance will treat him as an ordinary, easy-to-eliminate opponent, so that the Fourth Task Force will have more opportunities. But from the other side, the opponent's evaluation is often the fairest, and it is also the most valuable. This is what many fleet commanders of the Imperial Navy said about Spruance. This also reflects Huang Xiaotian's abilities from one side, perhaps these abilities are not discovered by Huang Xiaotian himself.

At the time, Spruance's biggest problem remained unsubstantiated intelligence. At the beginning of June, he didn't even know whether Task Force 1 or Task Force 4 was operating in the west, or rather, he was not sure what it was. This also reflects the problems of the United States in terms of intelligence, because at this time, the warships of the First Task Force are still being repaired in Guangzhou, and Tan Renhao has not had time to leave Zhoushan and go to Guangzhou to take over his fleet!

In any case, Spruance could only do his best to formulate different battle plans for various possible scenarios. For Spruance, the better the battle plan, the more options he has in the actual battle, and the more likely he is to defeat the opponent, so these tasks are also necessary.

At the same time that Spruance was formulating the relevant battle plan, the intelligence agencies of the Tang Empire and Germany were also seizing the time to collect information about the Fifth Fleet and send it back to the naval headquarters of the Tang Empire. After screening and screening, this information will be sent to the Pacific Theater Command, and Huang Xiaotian and Liao Hanxiang are waiting for this information, and will use it to formulate the battle plan of the Fourth Task Force and other units in the Pacific Theater.

For Huang Xiaotian and Liao Hanxiang at that time, they encountered the same problem as Spruance, that is, they did not know much about the activities of the US Navy fleet, and this forced the two to be cautious when considering relevant combat operations, and had to be more and more fully prepared!