At 6:20 a.m., Zheng Guanhua received a telegram from the Theater Command: A radio signal lasting up to five minutes appeared near the sea area 150 nautical miles east of Wake Island, which was judged to be a signal from the radio station on the US light cruiser. The U.S. convoy was about to arrive at Wake Island, and at this time, the U.S. convoy was only about 180 nautical miles away from Task Force 2 (error of 30 nautical miles)!

In the U.S. Navy, a light cruiser is generally the flagship of the escort fleet, and a few to a dozen destroyers form the escort fleet. This information was established long ago, and at that time only the newly built "Fletcher"-class destroyers in the US Navy were suitable for the flagship, but this new destroyer was first provided to the combat fleet, not the escort fleet. Therefore, it is necessary to equip the escort fleet with a light cruiser as a flagship, so that it can command the fleet more effectively.

Zheng Guanhua was arranging reconnaissance work at that time. Because now he is the supreme commander of the fleet (still the chief of staff, not the acting commander), he can only deploy work to the aviation combat staff in the command cabin, and then the aviation combat staff will deploy the mission to the pilots.

After receiving the news from the theater command, Zheng Guanhua revised the reconnaissance operation as quickly as possible, reduced the number of reconnaissance planes by half, and then ordered the reconnaissance planes to set off.

At that time, Zheng Guanhua did not let the reconnaissance plane set off before dawn, and in the end only sent six carrier-based reconnaissance planes and more than a dozen seaplanes, for the same reason, he had to use his strength to bomb instead of carrying out more reconnaissance missions. If the reconnaissance plane had set off before dawn, it would have missed the US military convoy. Then he will have to arrange a second batch of reconnaissance aircraft. And if you leave six reconnaissance planes, then you can have six more bombs, and an average of three bombs will kill a cargo ship. Then you can blow up and sink two more 10,000-ton freighters.

Then, Zheng Guanhua made all the fighters in the fleet ready to go. By seven o'clock. The first departure fighters have already stopped on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier. And the leader of the team was Jiang Wenhan, who had just the injury on his hand. These fighters were all hung with 250 kg of ground bombs (250 kg of armor-piercing shells on the aircraft carrier is very rare) and rockets, and they were the first to bomb the US fleet.

Zheng Guanhua did not consider leaving air defense fighters for the fleet, the US fleet was still hundreds of nautical miles away, and there were only US seaplanes on Wake Island, not bombers. He could have bombed with all his might. Then retreat safely before the arrival of the American fleet, without giving the other side any chance to engage. In Zheng Guanhua's view, this is just a bombing operation that is too simple to be simple, and perhaps it is not much more difficult than exercises and training.

The bombers on the aircraft carrier "Lake Bell" will depart in three batches, and there is no need to provide escort fighters for the bombers, and in addition, if all the fighters are to participate in the bombing, they can only be separated from each other, and if they are concentrated, I am afraid that after the last bomber has taken off. The first take-off fighter plane is about to be ready to land and refuel. Moreover, this will also allow these fighters to return to the fleet in batches, instead of crowding together. Forced landings due to running out of fuel were avoided. Anyway, Zheng Guanhua arranged the bombing operation in a way that could best bring into play the strike force of the fleet's aviation, and the only thing that was more troublesome was that the officers and men of the aviation service on the aircraft carrier would probably have to be busy for several hours.

180 nautical miles away. It only takes about 50 minutes for a ground-based reconnaissance plane to fly at its maximum cruising speed, and it only takes about an hour and 20 minutes for a seaplane to fly at its maximum speed. At 7:25 a.m., the first carrier-based reconnaissance plane sent back the exact location of the US convoy. The U.S. convoy of 44 freighters and 14 escort warships was about 15 degrees east-north of the fleet, 190 nautical miles. Five minutes later, the report sent back by the second carrier-based reconnaissance plane confirmed the size of the US transport fleet, as well as its bearing.

Zheng Guanhua did not delay for a minute, and at 7:28 a.m., the first fighter plane piloted by Jiang Wenhan took off, which was a new plane of Colonel Jiang Wenhan, which had been improved according to his standards, and some details of the "Falcon" fighter had changed. By 7:40 a.m., all 36 "Falcons" had left the aircraft carrier. Then, 36 "waterbirds" were transported to the flight deck of the aircraft carrier. The bombers were already filled with fuel and hung with bombs. Leading this group of aircraft was Colonel Zhang Naiding, commander of the aircraft carrier group of the "Lake Bell." The bombers all set off before eight o'clock. The last to be transported to the flight deck were 36 "Sea Eagles", which were commanded by Deng Zichao. Originally, Deng Zichao was supposed to stay on Guam, and he was the commander of the "Hulun Lake" aircraft carrier aircraft group, but he insisted on participating in this combat operation and replaced the squadron leader. The bombers left the skies over the fleet at 8:20.

During this time, three seaplanes sent back reports, and these three seaplanes also spotted the U.S. convoy and had been flying near the U.S. convoy, and they were going to provide guidance information to the approaching bomber group to help the bomber group take out the U.S. convoy as quickly as possible.

The speed of the "Sea Eagle" was originally the slowest of the three carrier-based fighters, and this time it was scheduled to set off last. After the fleet assembled in the north of the fleet, Deng Zichao immediately ordered the group to rise to the best cruising altitude of 3,500 meters (the best way to save fuel), and then drove full horsepower to catch up with the "Shooting Birds" group, which had departed 20 minutes earlier. In the past, the normal cruising altitude of the "Sea Eagle" was only 2,000 meters at most, and it rarely flew at an altitude of 3,500 meters.

As the group reached about 80 nautical miles north of the fleet, the clouds in the sky began to thicken, the most common weather in the Central Pacific, with a minimum height of about 1,500 meters and a maximum height of 2,500 meters. The swarm flew above the clouds, so it was impossible to notice what was really under the clouds.

At this time, an SBD flew right below the clouds. Perhaps, it will not be easy to detect a reconnaissance aircraft. But if you want to find a fleet, it won't be too difficult. When the SBD was sailing in a southwesterly direction, the ground navigator behind it was responsible for observing the sky near the reconnaissance plane. When he looked up at the gap in the clouds above his head. That swarm of dozens of bombers is too obvious!

The reconnaissance plane's report arrived at 8:40 a.m., by which time Spruance was almost unable to sit still. He was almost on the verge of returning the fleet, and according to his estimates, the reconnaissance plane should have sent back the message at half past eight at the latest! When he received the reconnaissance report and returned to the commander's bridge, the staff officer had already marked the route of the bomber group on the chart. Spruance then discovered that the reconnaissance planes he had sent were too far apart at 220 nautical miles to miss Task Force 2. And the reconnaissance plane that sent back the telegram only found the bomber group of the Tang Empire, and for the time being, the fleet of the Tang Empire has not been found.

Spruance stood in front of the chart and thought for less than two minutes, and he immediately roughly determined the location of the Tang Imperial fleet. The interval between the 4th and 5th reconnaissance planes has reached 25 nautical miles, while Task Force 2 has only one aircraft carrier battle group, so the probability of detection is even smaller. If Task Force 2 had been 220 nautical miles away from him, he would have evaded reconnaissance planes. The route of that bomber also proves this point, and the Tang Empire's ground fleet must be between these two reconnaissance routes!

"Let the fighters go immediately. Strike radius 250 nautical miles. Spruance circled this sea area on the chart, "first searched this sea area, and found the Tang Imperial fleet." Contact the bomber group immediately and let the bomber group follow. ”

"It's too far, I'm afraid it's ......"

"I know, the bomber group immediately set off. If you can't land on the aircraft carrier when you return, then make a forced landing on the nearby sea! Spruance didn't give the staff officer a chance to argue at all, "and immediately sent a telegram to Task Force 51 to get their bombers to go immediately."

Also, contact that reconnaissance plane, and after discovering the fleet of the Tang Empire, report it immediately, and there must be no delay. Let the leader of the group be ready to turn halfway through. Now, let the fighter take off immediately! ”

The staff officer didn't dare to say anything more, it was different from the plan, but the plan was drawn up by the fleet commander, and now the fleet commander has revised the plan, which is normal.

At 8:45, the first F4U took off. All 36 F4Us did not carry bombs and were on escort missions. In order to maximize the time to stay in the air (previously, it was mainly to allow the bombers to land first on the return voyage, without competing with the bombers for the deck), large auxiliary fuel tanks were carried out.

At nine o'clock, the first SBD left the flight deck of the aircraft carrier. All 48 SBDs were hung with a 160-pound aviation armor-piercing projectile. These bombers were not in formation over the fleet, but in mid-flight.

At 9:35, the first TBD left the flight deck of the aircraft carrier. All 24 TBDs were hung with aviation torpedoes, and like the SBDs, these bombers were to be in mid-flight formation.

At 8:48 a.m., the telegram was sent. When the telegram was received by Task Force 51, it was about 520 nautical miles away from the aircraft carrier "Franklin", and the first SBD from the three small carriers (only the SBD will be transferred over, Spruance did not ask these three small carriers to provide F4U, the main reason is that the "Franklin" cannot receive so many fighters at the same time) took off at 8:53 a.m. These bombers were formed only in squadrons (12 aircraft), and they would arrive at the aircraft carrier "Franklin" in two and a half hours, and by this time, the bombers sent by Spruance had already begun to return home, and the workload of the aviation crew on the aircraft carrier would be at its maximum at this time.

Another telegram was sent to the reconnaissance plane that had spotted the bomber group of the Don Empire. The reconnaissance plane flew southeast along the course of the bomber group of the Don Empire. Originally, it was supposed to be on the way back to the fleet, but now it had to continue to fly forward, and the final result was that the reconnaissance plane would not be able to return to the aircraft carrier, even if it was not shot down by the fighters over the Tang Imperial fleet, the best result for the two pilots was to make a forced landing on the sea as close as possible to their own fleet, and then wait for the rescue plane to come and pick them up.

Spruance came to the outside of the commander's bridge at about nine o'clock, the fighters were still taking off one after another, and the aviation crew did their best to increase the speed of the fighters' departure, but the catapults on the "Franklin" were repaired, and they could not achieve maximum efficiency at all, and they could not even catapult one plane in a minute. Perhaps, we should also worry about the state of the aircraft carrier. Spruance thought of this, and suddenly laughed, he didn't know why he was laughing, he was able to hold on to this far, he was already worried about too many things, did he need to worry about another possible trouble?

"General, I received a report from the reconnaissance plane." When the staff officer came out, the last two fighters happened to be ejected, "The second task force is about 210 nautical miles away from us, there are no fighters over the fleet, there are no fighters on the aircraft carrier, there are more than 20 escort warships, including several cruisers. We have already sent the specific message to the captain of the team. ”

Spruance nodded. "Let the reconnaissance plane return, now, we can only pray, I hope that all the bombers of the Tang Empire have dropped bombs and torpedoes, otherwise we can only wait to be beaten."

Instead of going to the priest on the battleship to pray, the staff officer returned to the bridge of the commander to continue his work. Spruance stood outside for another two minutes, and only then did he return to the commander's bridge after seeing the first SBD leave the flight deck of the carrier. At this time, the staff officers were busy.

"Contact the transport fleet, and after discovering the bomber group of the Tang Empire, report it immediately!"

The communications staff officer immediately began to send reports, and he had no doubts about the commander's orders.

As soon as the telegram was sent, the telegram from the convoy came back, they were already bombed!

"The first to arrive were fighters, all on bombing missions, and now they are being bombed by a second group of bombers, which seems to be all dive bombers. About eight escort warships have been blown up and sunk, several others have also been heavily damaged, more than ten cargo ships have sunk, and several more are about to sink, and they asked where the air defense fighters were......"

Spruance's facial muscles twitched before letting the communications staff member walk away. At this time, Spruance finally breathed a sigh of relief, his goal was achieved, the bombers of the Tang Empire had already dropped bombs, and before their aircraft carriers were taken out, these bombers could not threaten the "Franklin" aircraft carrier battle group at all, and now the battle is progressing as Spruance expected!