The SBD appeared near the 4th Task Force and scared Huang Xiaotian to flee for his life immediately, and similarly, the sudden appearance of the 52nd Task Force also scared Turner into urinating, and he was almost ready to flee for his life. Turner's reaction was quite fast, and within five minutes, he reported the news of the appearance of the Tang Empire's reconnaissance plane from the northeast to Spruance, 150 nautical miles away. Spruance didn't show any panic when he received the news, it was just his expression, and inwardly, Spruance was more worried than Turner at this time, and his first thought was to "run for his life".

At that time, the situation of the two task forces in the Fifth Fleet was even worse than that of the Fourth Task Force, at least the Fourth Task Force still had enough bombers to be dispatched, but Spruance and Turner only had a few spare bombers and a pitiful number of anti-aircraft fighters, and the rest of the fighters were all sent out before dawn. In other words, even if Spruance knew the exact location of Task Force 4, he would only be able to organize Task Force 52's bombers on the road in three hours at the earliest. Because Task Force 51 was 150 nautical miles southeast of Task Force 52 and about 450 nautical miles away from Task Force 4, Task Force 51's bombers would not be able to bomb Task Force 4 until after 2 p.m.!

It took two and a half days, and risked avoiding the night reconnaissance planes deployed by the Tang Empire on the Kwajalein Atoll and Majuro Atoll, and finally entered the attack area before dawn, and successfully let the bombers on the road, at this time the Fourth Task Force suddenly appeared, which was quite huge for the sudden "blow" of Spruance, and the first thing that Spruance thought of was: The Tang Imperial Navy had already known the actions of the Fifth Fleet, and the Fourth Task Force was ambushed here, Just waiting for the Fifth Fleet to come and die!

Spruance's concern was not unreasonable, given his situation, Task Force 4 would appear no later than later, and it was only about 300 nautical miles away from Task Force 52. It was exactly within the strike range of its carrier-based bombers, except for an accidental collision. The most likely is that Task Force 4 has been ambushing here. And the only reason why the Fourth Task Force did not cover the more valuable Midway Island, but stayed in the waters of the Marshall Islands, was that Huang Xiaotian had long known about the plans of the Fifth Fleet, or at least the whereabouts of the Fifth Fleet.

This possibility is not none, but very large. The Fifth Fleet has always been the focus of the spy agencies of the Tang Empire and those allies of the Tang Empire. Judging from the previous activities of the Tang Imperial fleet, the Fifth Fleet's departure from Pearl Harbor was under its accurate control, and the whereabouts of the transport fleet to Wake Island were also under its control. The Don Imperial Navy must have deployed a large number of submarines to the east of the Marshall Islands to carry out reconnaissance and alert missions, and only one submarine discovered the Fifth Fleet. Then the actions of the Fifth Fleet. And the intent is certainly exposed. As long as Huang Xiaotian is a little sure and confident that he will defeat the Fifth Fleet in one fell swoop, he will even need to defeat the 52nd Task Force at one time. Then Task Force 4 is reason enough to risk ambushing the Fifth Fleet.

As a direct result of these analyses, Spruance had to reconsider the operation. And began to worry about whether the 52nd Task Force could withstand the blows of the 4th Task Force. The most immediate and important response he made was that less than ten minutes after receiving Turner's telegram, Spruance sent a telegram back to Turner, telling Task Force 52 to immediately go south at full speed, and contacting the bomber group that had already departed, and asking the bomber group to return to the fleet at the new rendezvous point. He then sent Task Force 51 north in an effort to rendezvous with Task Force 52 as soon as possible.

On the surface, Spruance's command was calm and steady. But by this time he was basically ready to abandon combat operations. If Task Force 52 were to be annihilated, he would lose all initiative. At that time, the Fourth Task Force even dared to take the initiative to challenge the Fifth Fleet. Even if Spruance defeated the Fourth Task Force after a hard-fought counterattack, the final result would still be that the Fifth Fleet would lose most of its combat effectiveness, and the Tang Imperial Navy would not even need to immediately arrange a new task force to consolidate the Central Pacific defense line. And after the Tang Imperial Marines successfully captured Sydney, as long as the First Task Force came, Spruance would have to consider returning to Pearl Harbor or even San Francisco on the west coast of the United States to "take refuge". And this result is beyond the reach of the U.S. Navy or even the entire United States, so it is necessary to keep Task Force 52 no matter what, and must not allow Task Force 52 to be killed.

Less than 20 minutes after the turn of the 51st Task Force, the first group of bombers sent back a battle report, the airfield on the Majuro Atoll had been severely destroyed, the group had lost less than 20 bombers, most of the fighters had returned safely, and the Tang Empire shore-based bombers on the airfield had not been able to take off successfully, that is, Spruance did not need to worry about the safety of the 51st Task Force. It was at this time that he ordered the fighter group, which had been patrolling over the fleet, to go north at full speed to cover the 52nd Task Force. At this time, Task Force 51 was still more than 400 nautical miles away from Task Force 4, and Task Force 51's reconnaissance planes did not detect Task Force 51, so Spruance did not need to worry about being attacked by Task Force 4 bombers, and there was no need to keep air defense fighters for the fleet.

After letting the fighters go, Spruance sent another order to Turner, telling Task Force 52 to move south at full speed and organize the fleet's air defense as much as possible to prepare for the attack of the 4th Task Force bombers.

Turner had sent Task Force 52 south at full speed before receiving the first telegram, and after forcing himself to calm down, Turner knew in his heart that his only option was to flee for his life. Now all the strike forces of the 52nd Task Force have been dispatched, and only one F6F group is carrying out the task of air defense of the fleet, which is simply not able to stop the powerful bomber group of the 4th Task Force. And what Turner can count on is that before the bombers of the Fourth Task Force arrive, he will be able to escape the maximum strike radius of his bombers, and hopes that those bomber pilots of the Tang Empire will not be too desperate, and they will forcibly launch an attack when they know that they cannot return home, but he also knows that this hope is too slim, and those bomber pilots of the Tang Empire Navy are definitely the worst pilots in the world!

However, Turner did not immediately contact the returning bomber group, and the fleet was only 250 nautical miles from Kwajalein Atoll. The returning bombers had enough fuel to catch up with the southbound fleet. And the bombing of Kwajalein Atoll has been successful, and the airfield has been destroyed. Before the arrival of the bombers of the 52nd task force, the Tang Empire bombers on the airfield did not have time to take off. Thirty minutes after receiving Spruance's first telegram, that is, when the first group of planes began to return one after another, Turner sent the coordinates of the Xindi rendezvous area to the returning group, allowing the bombers to change course and return to the fleet halfway.

After receiving a second telegram from Spruance, Turner finally felt a little less dangerous. The fighter jets of the group sent by Task Force 51 would arrive within half an hour and would be able to patrol the skies over Task Force 52 for at least an hour and a half. And the bombers of Task Force 4 could only arrive after half past eight at the earliest, when the time came. There will be at least two groups of anti-aircraft fighters over Task Force 52. This improved the fleet's chances of survival a lot. Koltner is still well aware that not to mention two brigades, even if there are three brigades of air defense fighters. As long as Task Force 4 attacks with all its might, Task Force 52 will not be spared. Therefore. Until it escapes from Task Force 4, Task Force 52 remains precarious.

It can be said that the atmosphere in the Fifth Fleet at that time was extremely tense, whether it was Spruance, Turner, or other officers and men, they all knew that their lives were hanging by a thread and that they could be devastated at any time. All that was left for Spruance and Turner was to wait, except to wait. They still have to wait. After doing everything they could to avoid the blow, the two had no other way to defuse the crisis. At that time, both Spruance and Turner had canceled their subsequent bombing campaigns, and both were considering the retreat of the fleet. Perhaps, from the perspective of the U.S. military at that time, it was a bit too early to think about how to retreat, and whether they could escape the blow was a question, but the two were really thinking about retreating, and if they could withdraw, it would be the best result.

Minutes and seconds passed. Shortly before half-past eight, the first bomber group of the 52nd task force returned to the fleet. Because most of the F6Fs on escort missions still had enough fuel to hover over the fleet, Turner first landed the bombers on the carrier. Then, after making sure that there was no Tang Empire's bomber group within 50 nautical miles around the fleet, he asked the returning escort bombers to land on the aircraft carrier in small groups (4 planes) as a unit to take turns to land on the aircraft carrier to replenish fuel, instead of letting all the escort fighters land at the same time, so as to ensure that there were enough fighters to patrol the sky over the fleet as much as possible.

Fifteen minutes later, the first group of bombers sent by Task Force 51 also returned to the skies over the fleet. Spruance first arranged for the fighters to land for refueling, and had all of them take off urgently to cover Task Force 52. At that time, many bombers in the group of bombers returning to the country were about to run out of fuel. As a result, more than two dozen bombers had to make a forced landing on the sea, but fortunately, the pilots were all rescued, and the loss was only the easiest fighter planes to replace.

By 9:10 a.m., the second group of bombers from Task Force 52 returned. This time, Turner still landed the bombers first, and the fighters patrolled the fleet as best they could, and then returned to the carrier to refuel. By 9:40 a.m., there were already four squadrons of fighters patrolling over Task Force 52. Spruance did not send out the fighters of the last group, because Task Force 51 would not be more than 50 nautical miles away from Task Force 52 at about ten o'clock, and there was a possibility that it would be hit, so Spruance had to leave himself a little air defense.

At that time, the aviation service personnel of the 52nd Task Force were busy, and after urgently recovering the second batch of bombers, they had to recover the fighters, and the fighters of the fighter group sent by the 51st Task Force were almost running out of fuel and had to land on the aircraft carrier, and the air defense fighters of the first group of the 52nd Task Force were also running out of fuel, and they would land 15 minutes late at most. The aviation crew had to refuel the fighters as quickly as possible on the limited flight decks of the three aircraft carriers, and the time for the fighters to take off again was definitely a strict test, and as a result, the aviation crew on the three aircraft carriers really had a lot of problems, fortunately, most of them were minor problems, and they were easy to deal with.

The accidents that occurred in the fleet, and the chaos caused by the accidents, did not affect Turner's mood, but he became more and more relaxed and happy, because as far as Turner was concerned, it was good for him that time dragged on, and the bomber group of the Tang Empire had not appeared, so the chances of the Fourth Task Force attacking the 52nd Task Force were getting smaller and smaller. According to the estimate made by the staff officer of the 52nd Task Force at that time, if the bomber group of the Tang Empire had not appeared before eleven o'clock, then it would be impossible for the Fourth Task Force to find the 52nd Task Force again, and the 52nd Task Force would be safe.

Spruance on the USS Hancock had the same idea, and he did it even more. At half past ten, he sent a new order to Turner to cancel all bombing operations, and the fleet immediately sailed eastward after meeting with Task Force 51 at eleven o'clock, leaving the theater of operations, and ending the bombing of the Marshall Islands.

By this point, Spruance had abandoned his previous plans, knowing that the bombing operation for the Marshall Islands had "failed". Even if Task Force 4 did not attack Task Force 52, it does not mean that Task Force 4 has left the operational zone. Moreover, even if the Fifth Fleet were to join forces again and catch up with the Fourth Task Force, to be precise, it would be impossible to find the Fourth Task Force again. Spruance's only option was to go back to the old ways and carry out the next round of combat operations according to his "standby" plan.

On the morning of the 24th, Spruance's only feeling was thrilling, and it was not until after twelve o'clock, after he was convinced that the 52nd Task Force was out of danger, that he relaxed.