The news of the appearance of the Atlantic Fleet was also quickly known by Luo Yunchong, and he rushed to the theater headquarters at about one point, and several other deputy chiefs of general staff also rushed over. Immediately, Luo Yunchong convened an emergency meeting, and during the meeting, he asked the staff officer to send a telegram to Han Shaofeng, confirming that the Marine Corps had made all the preparations and that the landing fleet could leave Kingston at any time.

"The fact that the U.S. fleet appeared in the waters east of the Bahamas and is still sailing southward is enough to show that the general whereabouts of the Combined Fleet were judged by tearing their faces, hoping to go around the flank of the Combined Fleet and then attack the Combined Fleet. At present, we have not received any new reports from the 558 submarine, and the submarine group command is also trying to contact other submarines operating in this area to cooperate with the 558 to encircle and suppress the US Atlantic Fleet. However, it is still unknown whether submarines can be used to stop the Atlantic Fleet from going south, and we should not have too much hope. "Lei Shaoqing was the first to receive the news, so he is responsible for explaining the situation to others." I have already forwarded the telegram to the Combined Fleet, and according to General Tan Renhao's command style, the Combined Fleet will inevitably adjust its operational arrangements, and perhaps, now General Tan Renhao has already issued a new order. ”

"How can you be sure that the Combined Fleet will change the campaign arrangement?" Questions were raised by the Deputy Chief of the General Staff in charge of Army Aviation.

Lei Shaoqing was also a little excited, no one had questioned the relationship between him and Tan Renhao before. "I've worked with Tan Renhao for several years and know a lot about his conducting style. And in the current situation......"

"General Lei's analysis is not wrong, and now General Tan Renhao has no other choice, and the combat arrangements must be revised." Luo Yunchong didn't wait for Lei Shaoqing to finish speaking, so he helped Lei Shaoqing answer the question. "The main thing is that this will be our operation. In particular, what kind of impact will the landing operations of the Marine Corps have, and is it necessary for us to revise the operational plan on a small scale and launch the landing operations ahead of schedule? ”

There was silence in the conference room, and to be honest, many people had been woken up from their beds, and their heads had not fully adjusted to the tense atmosphere.

"I think it's necessary." Huang Xiaotian spoke first, "After the Combined Fleet changes its operations, we can only rely on other forces to support the landing of the Marine Corps. Although I don't believe that with that little power, Spruance will be able to defeat the Combined Fleet. But we can't ignore the impact of the appearance of the Atlantic Fleet on our entire campaign, so we should launch a landing campaign in advance and get the Marines to Cuba before Spruance poses a greater threat. ”

"If, however, the Atlantic Fleet ends up posing a threat to our landing grounds. Then the landing campaign will be more affected. Another deputy general staff officer immediately raised questions.

"The Combined Fleet is not going to let Spruance threaten the landing operation, that's it. We should have confidence in General Tan Renhao. ”

"But ......"

"If we don't launch the landing campaign immediately, then it is possible to delay the time of the landing operation, and I believe that Han Shaofeng will not agree to it, and when the time comes, our trouble will be even greater." Luo Yunchong's attitude was obviously biased towards Huang Xiaotian. "So, I think it's better to act now than to sit on the sidelines, and we have to have enough confidence in the Combined Fleet. As long as the Combined Fleet can hold off the Atlantic, even without its support. Our other support forces were also able to assist the Marines in landing in Cuba. Guys, do you have any other opinions? ”

After Luo Yunchong expressed his attitude, no one else raised any objections, and the action of launching the landing campaign in advance was decided. Before dawn, Luo Yunchong sent a telegram to Han Shaofeng, asking Han Shaofeng to immediately lead the landing fleet to set off, strive to reach the sea off Cienfuegos on the morning of the 2nd, and then transfer to the sea off Santiago on the morning of the 3rd, and land in Cuba on the morning of the 3rd. The relevant orders were quickly transmitted to the other supporting units, and the bomber group that had been scheduled to continue bombing San Diego that day was also temporarily retargeted. Most of them were instead bombed US military facilities in Cienfuegos, so as to achieve the purpose of campaign deception. Other than that. The reconnaissance planes responsible for monitoring the movement of US troops should also be dispatched one day in advance to determine whether the US military has changed its defensive deployment.

It can be said that Han Shaofeng, who was in Jamaica at that time, was the happiest, originally the landing operation was on 1 August, but Luo Yunchong temporarily called it off, and he was depressed all day, and it was not until he received Luo Yunchong's telegram that Han Shaofeng became completely excited. As soon as dawn came, Han Shaofeng rushed to the landing ship, and immediately ordered the landing ship to leave the anchorage outside the port of Kingston and go to the landing assembly area where the feint attack was launched as fast as possible.

At that time, it was impossible for the landing fleet to reach the landing assembly area in the morning, and the actual arrival time was around 3 p.m. on the 2nd, and this was the result of all the landing ships sailing at full speed, leaving the much slower transport fleet behind. Originally, Han Shaofeng didn't believe that the battle deception could achieve the goal, so whether he wanted a transport fleet or not didn't have much to do with it. On the morning of the same day, a US reconnaissance plane discovered the landing fleet that was advancing toward Cienfuegos, and Han Shaofeng did not care too much; according to the plan, the landing fleet would definitely be discovered, otherwise, Han Shaofeng would have taken the initiative to send a telegram to expose the location of the landing fleet.

At the same time, Tan Renhao also issued the third battle order to the two main fleets within ten hours.

As early as before dawn, that is, shortly after receiving the telegram from Lei Shaoqing, Tan Renhao sent a telegram to Chang Jianxin and Hao Dongjue, asking the First Fleet to turn around and leave the Windward Strait and enter the waters south of the Bahamas, and at the same time adjust its reconnaissance deployment during the day, focusing on searching the waters northeast of Costa Rica, and striving to find the Atlantic Fleet as soon as possible. In addition, the Third Fleet must arrive at the waters where the First Fleet is located before the afternoon, and in addition to being prepared to provide air defense cover for the First Fleet, it must also be prepared to meet the Atlantic Fleet, and in the morning it must dispatch bombers to suppress the US airfields in Costa Rica and Dominica.

On the morning of the same day, the bombers of the Third Fleet successfully completed their mission, and the news sent back by the bomber group was also received by Tan Renhao's flagship, so Hao Dongjue did not report the bombing results separately, but let the Third Fleet continue to maintain a state of radio silence. At that time, the number of US air forces in Costa Rica and Dominica was quite limited, and there was no real threat to the fleet, so Tan Renhao had not moved the US troops here. And this time in order to avoid the use of these airfields by the US military

Affecting the combat operations against the Atlantic Fleet, Tan Renhao had to dispatch bombers to destroy these airfields.

At this time, the First Fleet had already entered the waters south of the Bahamas and was operating in the waters southwest of the Turks and Caicos Islands, and the first batch of reconnaissance planes had already taken off, and the second group of reconnaissance planes had also left the fleet before 11 o'clock. In order to expand the scope of the search, Tan Renhao also arranged for a group of "falcons" to conduct a focused search of the routes of the US fleet. However, until noon, when the second batch of reconnaissance planes arrived one after another to search the sea area, there was still nothing to be found.

Judging from Tan Renhao's series of arrangements, he has decided to fight Spruance, but the question is, will Spruance fight him? In addition, it is unknown whether Spruance was going to attack the Combined Fleet from the flank, and if Spruance's purpose was only to contain the Combined Fleet so that the Combined Fleet could not support the landing of the Marines in Cuba, then he would not be in a hurry to fight the Combined Fleet. What's more, if this was all Spruance's arrangement, then he would not have rushed to the decisive battle with the Combined Fleet, perhaps a few hours before dawn and turned away.

With these questions in mind, Tan Renhao carefully arranged the actions of the fleet. At noon, after making sure that the Third Fleet had followed, he sent a telegram to Hao Dongjue, asking Hao Dongjue to also send reconnaissance planes to participate in the search for the Combined Fleet. And then return to the Third Fleet. At the same time, in the afternoon of the same day, Tan Renhao continued to arrange for the reconnaissance planes that had carried out the first round of reconnaissance missions in the morning to continue to search for the Atlantic Fleet.

At four o'clock, Tan Renhao was also a little out of breath, if Spruance hadn't turned. Then he should enter the reconnaissance plane's search range at noon, even if the reconnaissance plane is unlucky and misses the first opportunity to discover the Atlantic Fleet, then in the two rounds of reconnaissance in the afternoon, there will be at least two chances to discover the Atlantic Fleet, and it is impossible to miss all of them, right? You must know that it is impossible for a large fleet to evade all reconnaissance like a tiny reconnaissance plane, and it is still less possible for it to pass through the search area of the reconnaissance plane without noticing.

"Prepare to contact the Third Fleet and let them continue to keep up. In addition, it is prepared to arrange night reconnaissance operations. "Tan Renhao called Yan Yulong." Our reconnaissance planes will take off before half past five, and besides, after the other reconnaissance planes return home, they will take part in night reconnaissance operations, and I don't believe that we will not be able to find the Atlantic Fleet! ”

Yan Yulong hesitated, he was a little suspicious that the Atlantic Fleet had turned. But in the absence of evidence, he did not say it. Instead, he went to the communications staff officer and sent the telegram.

Of course, Tan Renhao was also very puzzled, and suspected that the Atlantic Fleet had turned away, but the problem was that there was no other evidence to support his speculation, so he had to continue to consider that the Atlantic Fleet was still heading south, maybe the speed was slowing down, or something else had happened, so that the Atlantic Fleet was not able to enter the reconnaissance plane's search range during the day. Of course. There is also another situation, that is, Spruance knew that the Combined Fleet would go forward to intercept, so he modified the course and was looking for the whereabouts of the Combined Fleet, looking for a favorable attack position, preparing to strike at the Combined Fleet. However, the problem is that it is getting late, and no US reconnaissance planes have appeared near the First Fleet, and the Third Fleet has not sent a telegram that has been discovered by US reconnaissance planes, so it is impossible for Spruance to determine the specific location of the Combined Fleet. With the capabilities of the carrier-based aviation of the US military. It is impossible to threaten the Combined Fleet at night. Well, Spruance will at most be in contact with the Combined Fleet tomorrow morning. But will there be any changes in the meantime?

Just as Tan Renhao was thinking about these questions that gave him a headache repeatedly, Yan Yulong ran over quickly.

"The telegram I received!" Yan Yulong sent the telegram to Tan Renhao, and as soon as he asked the communications staff officer to send a telegram to the Third Fleet, he received this new telegram. "General Lei Shaoqing forwarded to the ground, and it seems that the old fox smelled danger again, and turned before dawn, and did not enter our search range."

Tan Renhao quickly read the telegram, and then breathed a long sigh of relief, Yan Yulong's speculation was not wrong, Spruance must have turned away from the warring sea after sensing the danger.

"What do we do now?" Yan Yulong did not put forward his idea, but asked for Tan Renhao's opinion.

"It looks like we've had a busy day, but where the hell has Spruance gone? If he knew there was a dangerous situation ahead, would he take a positive or negative attitude? Tan Renhao looked at Yan Yulong.

"This ......" Yan Yulong scratched his scalp, "If it were me, I would take advantage of this opportunity, but at this time, Spruance is very likely to adopt a negative tactical arrangement, especially when he knows that we will concentrate on intercepting him, it is even more impossible for him to take the initiative to sneak attack us, maybe, now Spruance is hesitating whether he should return to Norfolk." ”

"Now he certainly can't return to Norfolk, the question is, will he wait outside the battlefield for us to land in Cuba, or will he maneuver to a more advantageous position before then."

"You're saying Spruance has a mission on his side, so he can't return early?"

Tan Renhao nodded slightly, the Atlantic Fleet must have left Norfolk Military Port in a hurry, which is enough to show that Spruance had to lead the fleet to set off after receiving the order, and in this case, Spruance naturally could not decide on his own to return to the sea.

"In this case, then it is very likely that he will maneuver to a favorable position, so that even if the sneak attack is unsuccessful, he will not fall into a situation of being passively beaten, at least he can save the Atlantic Fleet."

"So, what position is advantageous for the Atlantic Fleet?" Tan Renhao walked to the chart table.

Yan Yulong also immediately followed, and it was obvious that if Spruance only wanted to stall for time and not fight a decisive battle with the combined fleet, there were many things that would be beneficial to him, which increased the difficulty of speculation and judgment.

While Tan Renhao and Yan Yulong were trying to guess where Spruance might be, Colonel Wen Haomao on the submarine was anxious about whether he would be able to survive until dark.