The news of the bombing of Wake Island was like an adrenaline, and when Fletcher received the telegram, he immediately ordered the fleet to be ready for battle, but now he was still 450 nautical miles from Wake Island, and he could not help at all, even if the fleet had been sailing at a speed of 33 knots, it would not be possible to send fighter jets to cover Wake Island until about one o'clock in the afternoon. And for the sake of the fleet's safety, Fletcher would definitely not send out the only 30 or so fighters.

At about half-past eight, Fletcher received a second piece of information, which was very important. The radio listening stations located on Wake Island and Midway Island received a short radio signal almost at the same time, although the content of the telegram could not be deciphered, but it was certain that this was a signal sent by the radio on the warship of the Tang Imperial Navy (because the signal was sent out by the flagship "Hulun Lake", and this is a newly commissioned warship, so the US military does not have the code characteristics of this battleship) After triangulation, this radio signal is 60 degrees north-west of Wake Island, 250 nautical miles or so from the sea area (this measurement data is still very accurate) At this time, Fletcher hesitated, obviously, the radio signal was sent out by the Tang Empire's task force, and the characteristics of this radio wave signal were different from the radio wave characteristics emitted by the previous Tang Empire's warships, which proved that the Tang Empire's new aircraft carrier had joined the battle sequence. But the problem is that the sea area where the Tang Imperial Navy fleet appeared was not exactly the same as Fletcher expected. In Fletcher's prediction, the position of the Tang Empire's fleet should be a little more southerly, not northerly, why did the Tang Empire's fleet lean to the north?

Fools all know that the purpose of the Tang Imperial Fleet to the east as far as possible is to intercept the 51st Task Force (at that time, Lei Shaoqing did not know that the official number of the "Enterprise" aircraft carrier battle group was the 51st Task Force) If the Tang Imperial Fleet was still active in that area, the 51st Task Force would enter the range of the Tang Imperial Fleet's bombers at about 12 o'clock if it was to kill the enemy according to its current course, and if Fletcher wanted to counterattack, he would have to wait at least until about 1 p.m. This distance can be said to be fatal, if the reconnaissance aircraft of the Don Empire first discovered the 51st task force. That meant that the bombers would arrive soon, and Task Force 51 would not be able to withstand the bombing.

Fletcher had only one hope, and that was that the bombers on Wake Island could take off quickly and go to take out the Tang Empire's task force and clear the way for the 51st Task Force, at least to force the Tang Empire's task force to continue bombing Wake Island without the ability to deal with him. Fletcher's hope was quickly dashed.

Just after nine o'clock, a third telegram arrived. Although the airport on Wake Island was not completely destroyed. However, before the arrival of the bombers of the Tang Army, the bombers on the island had already taken off, and now they could only make a forced landing, and most of the bombers were damaged during the forced landing, which took time to repair, and it was difficult to organize offensive operations during the day. And the work to repair the airport will take at least 20 hours. In other words, the bombers on Wake Island could not be dispatched at all, and therefore could not attack the task force of the Tang Empire.

There was also a clause in this telegram that the reconnaissance planes that took off before the arrival of the Tang bombers did not find the Tang Empire's task force, although several reconnaissance planes were still rushing to the sea area where the radio waves were emitted. But don't expect too much. Other than that. The Don Army did not send a second wave of bomber groups, that is, the Tang Imperial Task Force carried out only one round of bombing of Wake Island. And then it was gone.

Now, Fletcher hesitated even more. If the Tang Empire Marines wanted to land on Wake Island, then the Tang Empire's task force must first seize air supremacy and blow up the airfield on the island, and after the first round of bombing, the airfield on the island was not completely destroyed, and the US defensive positions on the island were not bombed. This is obviously impossible, the only explanation is. The Tang Empire's task force already knew that the 51st task force was coming, so it immediately withdrew from the battle, preparing to pack up the 51st task force first and then bomb Wake Island.

At this point, there are very few options left for Fletcher. He only had two choices, one was to take the initiative to find the Tang Army's task force for a decisive battle, but with the strength of the 51st Task Force, under the condition that both sides had equal opportunities, he wanted to kill the Tang Army's task force. At the same time, it is almost impossible to ensure that Task Force 51 does not suffer heavy losses. As long as the 51st Task Force loses its combat capability, even if the Tang Task Force is destroyed, the Tang Army can still land on Wake Island, and the U.S. Navy loses the last bit of strength to cover Wake Island. In addition, the fleet can only be withdrawn to the east of Wake Island, and there will be no decisive battle with the Tang Army's task force for the time being, as long as the 51st Task Force exists, then the Tang Army will not dare to rashly land on Wake Island, and the purpose of covering Wake Island will be achieved.

Another thing that worries Fletcher even more is that there is another task force that has not been seen. Both aircraft carrier task forces of the Tang Empire were active in the western Pacific, and the two task forces left port almost simultaneously. So, where is the other task force? Fletcher didn't fully believe that the task force had gone to the Southwest Pacific theater and might be on standby somewhere near Wake Island, so that he would have to face two opponents who were stronger than himself.

In this case, Fletcher was actually indiscriminately. At about half past ten, about 330 nautical miles from Wake Island, he gave the order for the fleet to turn. He didn't have the guts, or the ability to fight a decisive battle with the Tang Empire's task force, and his mission was not to fight a decisive battle with an opponent stronger than himself, he only needed to ensure that the Tang Empire could not land on Wake Island, and this only needed to let the 51st Task Force operate in the eastern waters of Wake Island!

When the 51st Task Force began to turn, all the air defense fighters began to move to the southwest, and at this time Fletcher was not too worried about the safety of the fleet, he was about 350 nautical miles away from the position where the Don Fleet was first exposed, and the Tang Empire's fleet did not sail eastward, so the 51st Task Force was just outside the strike range of the bombers of the Tang Fleet. Of course, none of the radars on the air defense warships in Task Force 51 were activated, and Fletcher did not realize that just as he gave the order to turn, a reconnaissance plane was also turning in the northwest direction of the fleet.

This reconnaissance aircraft took off from the aircraft carrier "Lake Bell" and was one of the second batch of reconnaissance aircraft, number 22. It was responsible for searching the waters northeast of Wake Island, and to the south of it there were only two other reconnaissance aircraft. Because the Second Task Force will turn around 10 o'clock again and sail northeastward, the return distance of the reconnaissance plane will be shortened by about 30 nautical miles, and this will give the reconnaissance plane an extra 15 minutes to patrol. When it encountered Task Force 51, it was preparing to return home.

"Damn, do you want to send the telegram back?"

Both pilots on the reconnaissance plane hesitated, and at this time the American fleet was at least 350 nautical miles away from Task Force 2. Moreover, the US fleet has turned to the southeast, and the distance continues to widen, and it will take at least two hours for the fleet to receive information and the bombers rush over, and after two hours, the US fleet has already run dozens of nautical miles, completely exceeding the maximum strike range of the bombers.

"Forget it, let's go back first, their fighters are adjusting formation. Let's get out of here! ”

The captain's decision was not wrong. They received an order before departure not to send a radio signal without a complete need. Exposing the location of the reconnaissance aircraft (in many cases, the approximate position of the fleet can be deduced from the position of the reconnaissance aircraft), and now they all know that the American fleet is beyond the limit of the second task force, and it is useless to send the message back. And if the position of the fleet is thus revealed, then they will definitely be sent to a military court.

The reconnaissance plane, numbered 22, returned to the fleet at 12:40 a.m., and Lei Shaoqing did not punish the two pilots, in fact, he also knew the pilot's reason for doing so. At this time, the US task force had already left the strike range of the second task force, but the news brought back by the pilots was also extremely important.

"This is the course of the USS Enterprise aircraft carrier battle group after turning."

Chang Zhixin marked the course of the American fleet on the chart, "The pilots assured that they were not mistaken, in addition. It was determined that there was one aircraft carrier in the formation, and there were nearly ten ground escort warships, most of which were destroyers. ”

Lei Shaoqing lay on the chart table and looked at it carefully for a while, and then laughed.

"Laughing at what?"

Chang Jianxin glanced at his partner a little puzzled, the American fleet obviously felt threatened and was avoiding the war, what's so funny about this?

"Why did the American fleet change course?"

Lei Shaoqing lit a cigarette, "Fletcher is not stupid this time, he knows a little bit well." That is, if we want to land on Wake Island, we must seize sea supremacy, and if we want to seize sea supremacy, we must kill the aircraft carrier in his hand. Now, Fletcher is not going to fight us at all, and he is going to save the fleet, so that we don't dare to let go of Wake Island, and as long as the USS Enterprise is still active, we have to be on guard. ”

Chang Jianxin nodded immediately, then took the cigarette and lit it.

"So, will Fletcher pass up the chance to take us down? Definitely not, if he kills us, he will not have any threat, then, where will Fletcher put the fleet? ”

Lei Shaoqing pointed on the chart, "It must be somewhere east of Wake Island, and it won't be more than 150 nautical miles away from Wake Island." Let's think about it from Fletcher's point of view, if the USS Enterprise aircraft carrier battle group is not exposed, then we will definitely break down the US defense forces on Wake Island as soon as possible before the arrival of the Marines, seize air supremacy, and in the next day or so, we will bomb Wake Island with all our might, and finally arrange an artillery formation to bombard Wake Island. This is the opportunity that Fletcher is waiting for, as long as our position is exposed, he can immediately lead the fleet to kill us and deliver a fatal blow! That way, then Fletcher wouldn't let the fleet go too far. ”

"But there's no way we can kill him!"

"As things stand, we really can't threaten this troublesome opponent."

Lei Shaoqing laughed, "Well, who can guarantee that we won't do something risky?" The U.S. military will certainly intensify its search northwest of Wake Island in the afternoon, but their night reconnaissance capabilities are insufficient. We let the fleet temporarily sail north, out of the range of US reconnaissance planes, and then quickly sail southeast at night, striving to reach the waters northeast of Wake Island before dawn, and then send reconnaissance planes to search the sea area 120 nautical miles to the east of Wake Island, dispatching 24 reconnaissance planes, and all the seaplanes on the cruiser, so as to ensure that not a single ship operating in this area will be missed. As soon as the American fleet is discovered, organize an attack immediately! ”

He hesitated for a moment, then immediately picked up the scale and drew it on the chart for a while, and then said: "If you follow this plan, we will only be about 250 nautical miles away from Wake Island, and the distance from the American fleet will be within 150 to 200 nautical miles, and we will only have one chance, if we cannot find the American fleet within two hours after dawn and send bombers in time, it is very likely that we will be discovered by the American reconnaissance planes." When the time comes, we'll be bombed first! ”

"It's really risky, but who would have thought we'd take the initiative to go around to the northeast of Wake Island?"

Lei Shaoqing patted his partner on the shoulder, "Do you dare to bet on this?" ”

"You dare, why don't I dare?"

Chang Jianxin also laughed, but he still felt that the plan was risky.

"As soon as we took out the U.S. fleet, we bombed Wake Island, leaving most of the fighters for fleet air defense. Strive to withstand the bombardment of the American forces, so that we can guarantee that the artillery formation will be sent up tomorrow night to support the landing of the marines! ”

Lei Shaoqing immediately made a decision, "After all the reconnaissance planes returned, the fleet immediately turned to accelerate, so that the pilots could rest well and prepare for tomorrow's fierce battle!" ”

After eleven o'clock, all the reconnaissance planes returned to the fleet, and except for the No. 22 reconnaissance plane, none of the other reconnaissance planes found anything. At this time, the fleet also turned due north and began to speed up. Before dark, none of the US reconnaissance planes appeared, and indeed no one expected that the Second Task Force would turn northwest and then eastward after bombing Wake Island, and the US reconnaissance planes did not cover this range.

When dusk came, the fleet began to turn again, and in order to reach the predetermined sea area before dawn, the fleet had to sail at a speed of 30 knots at night, which was a test for the new ships of the second task force.