When the "waterfowl" came in through the junction of the two task forces as if no one was there, Spruance couldn't believe what the fighters patrolling the sky above the fleet were doing. Moreover, which tendon on earth is wrong with Turner that is so close? At that time, the distance between Task Force 51 and Task Force 52 was less than 30 nautical miles, not 50 nautical miles as specified by Spruance. And the fact that only one reconnaissance plane found two task forces was obviously a bad thing.

The other two "waterfowl" reconnaissance planes that arrived later were of little significance, and these two reconnaissance planes discovered the 51st and 52nd task forces respectively. But Spruance knew very well that these two reconnaissance planes were recruited by the reconnaissance plane that started with them, and that the first reconnaissance plane alone would completely "bury" the Fifth Fleet. At this time, his reconnaissance plane had only been off for about an hour, and it had only flown about 200 nautical miles, so I am afraid that there was still a long distance between it and the Fourth Task Force!

At the same time, Spruance was a little annoyed that he had the fleet's radar turn on at half past seven, instead of seven. Spruance only considered that the bombers of Task Force 4 would not arrive before half past seven, so there was no need to activate the radar before half past seven, but he ignored the fact that the radar could also detect approaching reconnaissance aircraft. Perhaps, Spruance was worried that the radar signal would expose the approximate location of the fleet and attract the reconnaissance planes and bombers of the Fourth Task Force, after all, the radar performance of the US Navy is far inferior to that of the Tang Imperial Navy's radar, and its radio signal working in the meter band can be transmitted hundreds of nautical miles away, while the radar wavelength of the Tang Imperial Navy is shorter, the signal attenuation speed is faster, the transmission distance is shorter, and it is more difficult to be detected.

And that's exactly what happened. In the previous battles, the fleet commanders of the Tang Imperial Navy were a little distrustful of their radars, because the performance of the several radars that the Imperial Navy was initially equipped with was not very good, and the tests proved it. The radio signals emitted can be detected up to 300 nautical miles. It was not until the large air defense cruisers of the "Rui Beast" class began to be equipped with the No. 5 radar, that is, the first medium and short-wave radar of the Imperial Navy, that the fleet commander believed that as long as they were more than 200 nautical miles away from the enemy fleet, the radar signal would not expose the fleet, and the radar could be used boldly in battle. This technological advancement is of great significance, as the three Beast-class cruisers in a task force can work alternately, ensuring that one of the cruisers' radar is working at all times. This made it possible to detect approaching enemy aircraft. Later, the Imperial Navy also equipped all cruisers, and even some destroyers, with the No. 5 and even more advanced No. 7 radars, which greatly helped to improve the combat effectiveness of the Navy.

It was too late to regret it, and Spruance did not continue to blame his men for not doing their duty, or for not doing their best, and his most important job now was to prepare for the attack of Task Force 4 and fight to get ahead of the bombers of Task Force 4. Let his bombers leave the aircraft carrier. Fly to Task Force 4!

At 7:20 a.m., less than 10 minutes after the arrival of the first "waterfowl", the F6Fs on the six aircraft carriers began to take off one after another. Spruance increased the number of air defense fighters to 4 brigades. The other two squadrons of ground fighters are all on standby on the ground flight deck of the aircraft carrier, ready to take off at any time. The radars of the fleet were also activated. The most important thing is that the bombers on the aircraft carrier are also preparing to take off, and Spruance did not let the bombers hang up the ammunition, after all, when the fleet is attacked, if the bombers on the aircraft carrier have the ammunition on it, it is killing itself. He only refueled the bombers, and at the same time had the aviation crews ready to load the bombers with ammunition at any time and as quickly as possible.

Judging by the situation at the time, the best outcome for Spruance was that his reconnaissance plane was able to detect Task Force 4 as soon as possible. He then had the remaining two squadrons of ground fighters escort the bomber group, and in the shortest possible time, let as many bombers as possible take off and attack the fourth task force. Perhaps, he would also be able to arrange two bomber groups, and each bomber group must have more than 120 bombers, which would be enough to take out Task Force 4. And the key is whether those SBDs can find the target as soon as possible!

Spruance originally wanted to use the direction of the enemy's reconnaissance planes to determine the general location of Task Force 4, but he found that this was impossible. The first reconnaissance aircraft flew from the north-west direction of the fleet, and the fourth task force could hardly appear in the north-western direction of the fleet. The other two reconnaissance planes flew from the east and west sides of the fleet. It is even more impossible to judge whether Task Force 4 is to the east or to the west, because the two points are contradictory. The only conclusion that can be drawn is that the 4th Task Force is within 90 degrees to the north, but this range is too large to be able to use this as a basis for the bomber group to set off!

Spruance had to wait for the reconnaissance plane's report, and patiently waited for the reconnaissance plane's report. To his surprise, the reconnaissance plane did send back a telegram very quickly, and it clearly mentioned the discovery of several large warships of the Tang Empire Navy, like an artillery group, but did not mention the discovery of the aircraft carriers of the Tang Empire!

Perhaps at this time, all will decide to immediately send bombers to departure. At this time, the Fifth Fleet has only been exposed for a short time, and if you hurry up, you will be able to get both groups of bombers on the road, and even make all the bombers leave the aircraft carrier and concentrate on killing the Fourth Task Force. In addition, escort fighters can disperse bomber groups sent by Task Force 4 on the way, ensuring the safety of the Fifth Fleet. But Spruance noticed an important point, which many people overlooked, and that was to find that the SBD reconnaissance aircraft of the fleet of the Don Empire were not intercepted by fighters!

Perhaps the warships of the Tang Empire did not use radar, which is understandable, but it is incomprehensible that the 4th Task Force will not send air defense fighters after dawn. This is a basic common sense, even if the fleet is active outside the battlefield, there must be several fighter planes patrolling the sky over the fleet at all times. Even if those fighters are far away from the SBD, they will fly over in 10 to 20 minutes and take out the reconnaissance plane. Spruance waited for a full 20 minutes, and by 7:45 a.m., the reconnaissance plane had not been intercepted by fighters, and the reconnaissance plane had flown at least 50 nautical miles northeast of the enemy fleet without making a gain. At this time, Spruance knew that what he found was not the Fourth Task Force, but the 893 Shelling Formation that had left the Fourth Task Force and didn't know what it was doing, and it obviously didn't make any sense to bomb a few cruisers and destroyers!

At this time, Spruance also made a rough judgment. The task of that artillery formation was to intercept the landing fleet. Perhaps the commander of the 4th Task Force knew that it would not be possible to attack the landing fleet at the same time as the 5th Fleet, so he sent the escort warships to form an artillery bombardment formation. Spruance didn't dwell on the matter, and he didn't have time to think about it, for it didn't seem to him that the battleships meant much, and all he had to do now was to keep waiting, Task Force 4 was definitely nearby, and the reconnaissance opportunity to the north would be discovered after 8 o'clock. In other words, Spruance gave up on the idea of attacking the artillery formation, and he had to first make sure that the three aircraft carriers in Task Force 4 were eliminated. And not a couple of escort battleships!

Minutes and seconds passed. Spruance was also getting more and more restless. He set off the reconnaissance plane at six o'clock, and focused on the east and northeast. and three directions to the north. Of these, 24 reconnaissance aircraft flew northward. These SBDs all carry large auxiliary fuel tanks that can fly up to 400 nautical miles and back, and in order to ensure that there is enough fuel on the maximum reconnaissance radius for the reconnaissance aircraft to search laterally, Spruance set the flight radius of the reconnaissance aircraft to 350 nautical miles. This is almost the maximum reconnaissance flight radius of the SBD. And for the SBD to fly out of 350 nautical miles, it takes close to 2 hours. Here's the problem, the reconnaissance planes going north were the last to set off, so they could fly to the farthest point after 8:20, and the reconnaissance planes of the Tang Empire arrived at 7:20, so the bombers of the Tang Empire could all set off before 8 o'clock. Even if the reconnaissance planes discover the Fourth Task Force at 8:20 a.m., the time left for the Fifth Fleet to release the bombers will be very limited, and it may not be possible to get all the bombers to leave the aircraft carrier.

"Let the bombers hang up the bombs and torpedoes, and the pilots are all ready to take off." Spruance decided to seize the time, and he couldn't hesitate any longer. "Having received the report from the reconnaissance aircraft, the bomber group immediately set off, first letting the fighters on standby take off!"

It can be said that Spruance already knew at this time whether he could defeat Task Force 4. It depends on whether he can receive the report of the reconnaissance plane in the next 40 minutes, and even if he does not receive the report of the reconnaissance plane, he decides to set off like a bomber, which is much better than letting the bomber sink with the aircraft carrier.

As early as the beginning of June, Spruance asked the Fifth Fleet to be equipped with a reconnaissance SB3C to replace the outdated SBD -- although the SB3C will not fly much faster than the SBD when performing reconnaissance missions, and the requirements for flight performance of the reconnaissance aircraft are not too high, the SB3C has a much longer ground range than the SBD, and this is the most important thing. But at that time, SB3C had just been equipped with the Navy, and it was given priority to the use of aircraft carrier-based aircraft units, and the priority production was also a bombing model, not a reconnaissance model. As a result, the US Navy will not be able to get its hands on the first batch of reconnaissance SB3Cs until August. This annoyed Spruance a little, he didn't understand, why not produce a reconnaissance model and a bombing model at the same time?

Spruance even thinks that perhaps in the end, these tens of nautical miles, as well as the difference of tens of minutes, will finally decide the fate of the Fifth Fleet, and if he sorties the SB3C reconnaissance aircraft, then the news should be received at this time.

After more than half an hour of suffering in a restless mood, a northbound SBD sent back a telegram, but it was an incomplete telegram, which only mentioned that it had been intercepted by the fighters of the Tang Empire, and did not mention whether the Fourth Task Force had been found, and even before mentioning the intercepted sea area, the telegram was suddenly interrupted, and apparently, the reconnaissance plane was killed.

"Immediately determine the approximate location of the reconnaissance plane at that time and let the pilot board the plane!"

There was a lot of excitement on the aircraft carrier, and Spruance also gave the order to attack, he could not wait any longer. Each reconnaissance plane has a relatively fixed patrol route and flight speed, and the approximate position of the reconnaissance plane at any point in time can be deduced from the time it takes off. The sea area where the reconnaissance plane was shot down is the sea area where the Fourth Task Force is located, because in the vast sea, there are no islands within several hundred nautical miles, and only carrier-based fighters can intercept reconnaissance planes!

Just as the bombers were being sent to the flight deck of the aircraft carrier one after another, and the bomber pilots went to receive the bombing mission and boarded the plane one after another, the third reconnaissance report was sent back. This time it was a telegram from an SBD that was searching laterally, and it clearly mentioned several important data that Spruance was most concerned about: the size of the enemy fleet, the number of aircraft carriers, the sea area in which they were located, the approximate speed of the voyage, and the approximate course. This is a complete reconnaissance report, and the sea area where Task Force 4 is located is not far north of the downed reconnaissance plane earlier!

F6Fs left the aircraft carrier one by one, and Spruance did not give additional orders. He sent fighters from both brigades to the front. Subsequently, SB3C and TBF took off one after another. Because the aviation crew did not have time to load all the bombers with ammunition, there was still a certain interval between the two groups of bombers taking off. This is unavoidable, but Spruance also knows that maybe he can't wait for the second batch of bombers to hit the road, and the bomber group of the fourth task force has already reached the sky above the fleet, and now, he is racing against the enemy.

If the aviation service personnel of the Fifth Fleet had the quality of their counterparts in the Fourth Task Force, then all the bombers of the Fifth Fleet would have had a chance to take off before the fighter group of Yuwen Cui Lei and Colonel Wang Zhihua rushed over the Fifth Fleet, but the problem was that the quality of the aviation service personnel of the Fifth Fleet could not be compared with that of the Fourth Task Force. It took about ten minutes for the fighters of the first two groups to take off, and the last bomber in the first group of bombers left the carrier after 8:50. Ten minutes later, that is, after 9 o'clock, the second group of bombers took off one after another, and at that time, the bombers sent by the Fourth Task Force would reach the skies over the Fifth Fleet at about 9:20 a.m., and within 20 minutes, it was impossible for the second group of bombers of the Fifth Fleet to leave the aircraft carrier!