After spending a day bombing Leysan Island, Spruance did not wait for Task Force 4, and at the same time judged that Task Force 4 would hold Midway Island to the death, and would not care about the lives of the Marines on Leysan Island. On the night of the 28th, Spruance readjusted the operations of the two task forces, and bombed Midway on the 29th, according to his previous plan.

In the first half of the night of the 28th, Task Force 51 maneuvered to the vicinity of Liszinsky Island, southeast of Midway. This is the best sea area for the fleet to hide at night. The naval aviation of the Tang Empire deployed a large number of night reconnaissance planes equipped with radar on Midway Island, and these reconnaissance planes could detect warships on the sea, but they had a flaw, that is, the radar could not distinguish the difference between the reef on the sea and the warship. Therefore, night reconnaissance planes generally do not operate near the islands. There are a lot of reefs near Lixiangsky Island, which will seriously interfere with radar, so that the fleet will be safer and less easy to detect than if it were exposed to the open sea.

Task Force 52 maneuvered north at night, and the bombers in the fleet were ready to depart during the night. The bombing of Midway was carried out by Task Force 51, which was tasked with covering Task Force 51, and if Task Force 4 were to appear, Task Force 52 would deal with Task Force 4 first, and Task Force 51 would take on Task Force 4 after recovering the bomber group. Of course, as far as Spruance himself is concerned, he does not want Task Force 4 to appear soon, at least not when all the bombers of Task Force 51 are on their way to the Midway airfield.

An hour and a half before dawn. At five o'clock in the morning, all the bombers of Task Force 51 took off. Spruance organized more than 200 bombers on three aircraft carriers into two groups, each group was escorted by a group of fighters, and the bombers of the two groups took off consecutively, and the first group escorted the fighters after the bombers, and the second group of escort fighters took off before the bombers, so that the fighters of the two groups would take off consecutively. Then get over Midway before the first bombers. If they were intercepted by the shore-based fighters of the Tang Empire, the escort fighters of the two groups would be able to fight at the same time, instead of facing them alone, which would be of great help in seizing air supremacy.

Spruance left a squadron of fighters on a fleet air defense mission, and he was not worried about the fleet being attacked. In his opinion, even if the 4th Task Force would suddenly come out, then the 52nd Task Force should be in the way, and the 51st Task Force would not be the first to be discovered.

The islands of Lysan are southeast of Lixiangsky Island, so the waters southeast of Midway Island are relatively unfavorable for fleet operations. Task Force 51 is southeast of Midway Lot, and Task Force 52 is to the north. That is, to the east of Midway. Task Force 4 is likely to make its way around the north of Midway, so it should first encounter Task Force 52. Spruance also made this clear in his deployment, with Task Force 52 reconnaissance aircraft focusing on the northern and northwestern seas, while Task Force 51 reconnaissance aircraft focusing on the western seas.

Before the bombers sent back the bombing report, Spruance received a message from Necke Island that the landing fleet had left the anchorage at seven o'clock. The contents of the telegram that were rushing to Midway were short. There was no mention of anything else, so Spruance could only judge that the limited night reconnaissance planes on Necke Island had not gained much, that is, Task Force 4 had not attacked the landing fleet on Necker Island. This should be good news, at least to convince Spruance that the landing fleet is still relatively safe, and that Task Force 4 is still in the waters near Midway, and that perhaps its reconnaissance planes are heading towards Task Force 52.

At ten o'clock after seven o'clock, the first group of bombers sent a message back. The group successfully bombed the airfield on Midway, but was fiercely intercepted by the shore-based fighters and anti-aircraft guns of the Tang Empire. Before the arrival of this group, at least 30 fighters had already scrambled into the air, and as a result, the escort fighters flying in the front were the first to engage the group of "Golden Eagles". In air combat. More than 20 F6Fs were shot down, and the SB3C and TBF fleets that arrived later were also intercepted, a total of more than 40 fighters were shot down, and the Tang Empire's fighter jets were also shot down close to 20. Because the runway is not completely destroyed, the second group will continue to bomb the airfield instead of going to other targets on the island.

Half an hour later, the report of the second batch of bombers also came back, the runway of the airport had been completely destroyed, and at least hundreds of Tang Empire fighters had been blown up on the ground. Other than that. The group also lost more than 20 bombers. However, the air defense fighters of the Tang Empire had run out of ammunition or fuel. And it will certainly not be possible to take off again, only a forced landing on a flat beach. The lead pilot demanded supplementary bombing in order to expand the results of the battle and prevent the Tang Imperial Marines from repairing the airfield.

This ratio of results to losses exceeded Spruance's expectations, and it was clear that the sneak attack was not completely successful, and the losses were large. The only ones that could immediately replenish the bombing of Midway were the bombers of Task Force 52. Task Force 52 was about 400 nautical miles away from Midway, which exceeded the bomber's strike radius, so Task Force 52's bombers had to land on Task Force 51's aircraft carrier, which was closer to each other after completing their bombing mission. But in this way, the 52nd Task Force will have no striking force.

Spruance did not send Task Force 52 to bomb Midway, and until now, he did not know the exact location of Task Force 4, and it was necessary to keep a strike force that could destroy Task Force 4. In addition, the airfield on Midway has been blown up, and most of the fighters have been destroyed on the ground, even if the Tang Imperial Marines can perform a miracle and repair a runway in a few hours, then at most less than twenty fighters can continue to take to the air, which is not a threat to the 51st Task Force. Therefore. It is also possible to wait until the bomber group returns and then calmly launch a second round of bombing.

To put it bluntly, Spruance was still a little jealous of Task Force 4 and was afraid of being attacked by Task Force 4. For example, after the departure of the bombers of Task Force 51, the fleet left the waters near Liszynsky Island and approached Task Force 52. Anyway, as things were going to happen, Spruance wasn't afraid of being counterattacked by shore-based bombers on Midway. It's just that I'm worried that the Fourth Task Force will suddenly come out and catch him off guard.

By half-past eight, when the first group of bombers from the starting place was about to return to the skies over the fleet, Spruance received a telegram from Turner that Task Force 52 was exposed!

The 52nd Task Force was spotted by a returning long-range reconnaissance plane, which must have been on a long-range reconnaissance patrol mission at night, and returned after dawn and inadvertently flew over the 52nd Task Force at about 8:20 a.m. Although the air defense fighters of Task Force 52 quickly shot down the bulky reconnaissance plane, which had few self-defense weapons. But the reconnaissance plane had already sent a telegram, and the whereabouts of Task Force 52 were completely exposed!

Spruance hesitated for only five minutes before immediately ordering Task Force 52 to move south towards Task Force 51, while the fighter group above Task Force 51 immediately flew to Task Force 52 to strengthen Task Force 52's air defense. But what made him extremely puzzled was that at this time. The reconnaissance planes of both task forces had already reached the maximum reconnaissance radius, and if the fourth task force had been nearby, it would have been spotted long ago. Isn't Task Force 4 near Midway? Or will Task Force 4 be killed from other directions?

In the latter possibility, Spruance simply canceled the supplementary bombing of Midway, leaving all the bombers behind, and the pilots preparing to bomb the fleet, while the aviation crews prepared the bombers with aerial armor-piercing shells and torpedoes, rather than high-explosive and incendiary bombs against ground targets. In addition, Spruance arranged for a group of bombers to take off urgently with drop fuel tanks. to fill the loopholes in the reconnaissance network and expand the scope of reconnaissance and search.

At ten o'clock, the second group of bombers returned to Task Force 51, and Spruance still did not let these bombers continue to bomb Midway, he felt that it was not the time. Task Force 4, which has not been seen, is the biggest threat. Therefore, the first task now is to strengthen the air defense of the fleet, and send more reconnaissance planes to search the surrounding sea area, and must not allow the 4th Task Force to quietly approach, let alone allow the 4th Task Force to successfully attack the 52nd Task Force!

By half past ten, there was still no news from the second group of reconnaissance planes, and the first group of reconnaissance planes had already returned to the fleet. Spruance and Turner both arranged for another bomber to carry out reconnaissance missions at this time, and they did not dare to relax in the slightest. Don't dare to be careless. As for whether to continue bombing Midway, this is no longer a matter for Spruance to consider.

Until eleven o'clock. It was only after the departure of the third group of reconnaissance planes that Spruance received an important and relieved telegram that a submarine that had completed a combat patrol in the waters north of the Mariana Islands had spotted a large fleet on its way back to Pearl Harbor! The submarine encountered the fleet while sailing on the sea, but before it could dive, it was attacked by the guns of the opposing destroyers, and the submarine's pressure-resistant shell was pierced by shells and sank before the crew could completely escape. The most important thing is that before the submarine sank, the captain sent out the exact location of the encounter with the enemy fleet.

The telegram does not mention whether there are aircraft carriers in the enemy fleet, but it mentions that the enemy fleet is very large. This is enough, because no transport fleet of the Tang Empire will run to the waters north of Necker Island, and the one who can appear there must be the Fourth Task Force of the Tang Empire Navy!

Spruance quickly thought that Task Force 4 appeared in the waters north of Necke Island, and it must have been intended to attack the landing fleet, but why didn't it attack Necke Island? It may have been that the commander of Task Force 4 was afraid of reconnaissance planes and bombers on Necker Island, or something else. It was only later that Spruance considered that he had only arranged for one task force to send bombers to the bombing of Leysan and Midway, which led the commander of Task Force 4 to believe that another task force was lying in ambush in the rear, ready to use the landing fleet as a decoy to attack Task Force 4.

Either way, Spruance no longer had any scruples at that time. At 10 o'clock, he ordered all the bombers of the two task forces to bomb Midway, and the fleet turned closer to Midway, trying to complete two more bombing missions before the evening, so that the Marines could at least think that the fleet was giving them full support. At that time, the Fourth Task Force was still more than 700 nautical miles away from the Fifth Fleet, and Spruance did not need to worry about anything at all.

The bombing campaign continued into the evening, during which the Fifth Fleet lost nearly 100 fighters, including 75 bombers. This loss is indeed not small, but it did not make the Fifth Fleet lose its combat effectiveness, and most of the important targets on Midway Island have been destroyed, and the airfield has also been bombed into ruins, judging from the photos taken by the reconnaissance aircraft, it is impossible to repair the airfield on Midway in two to three days, and even if it is repaired, the Tang Imperial army on Midway Island will not have any fighters to use!

While the staff officers counted the results and losses, Spruance was considering what to do with Task Force 4. The 52nd Task Force had already been discovered by the Tang Empire's reconnaissance planes, but the 52nd Task Force had enough time to escape to a safe sea area before the Fourth Task Force arrived. So will Task Force 4 return to Midway? Definitely, after all, Midway was the core of the defense of the Don Imperial Navy. Also, will Task Force 4 go and sneak attack the landing fleet? It should be unlikely, after dawn, the landing fleet will be only about 350 nautical miles from Midway, and it is under the cover of the Fifth Fleet, so it is impossible for the Fourth Task Force to sneak attack the landing fleet tomorrow.

Thinking of this, Spruance made a bold decision to wait for Task Force 4 at Midway and fight Task Force 4 in a decisive battle! The order was quickly issued, but just when Spruance was convinced that Task Force 4 would come to "die" on his own initiative, he suddenly realized that he had overlooked a problem, an extremely important one.