Task Force 31, Halsey, did not hesitate to send the first bombers on the flight deck ready for take-off without any choice when he received two telegrams from reconnaissance planes in succession. Until now, Halsey had no way of knowing exactly whether his bombers were going to bomb Task Force 1 or Task Force 4! He could only think that he had found Task Force 4 rather than Task Force 1, all because of those two telegrams.

The first telegram sent back by the downed SBD only mentions the discovery of enemy air defense fighters, which is very short and the most important thing is the enemy's air defense fighters and the sea area where these fighters appeared. Then, when the reconnaissance plane discovered the fleet on the sea, it immediately sent a second telegram, but this telegram was not finished, and the main content of the telegram was not finished, except for proving the discovery of the enemy fleet, only two fleet aircraft carriers were mentioned, and there was no mention of whether there was a third fleet aircraft carrier, or two small aircraft carriers, and the size of the fleet's escort warships.

It was these two telegrams that made it impossible for Halsey to accurately determine whether this was the Fourth Task Force or the First Task Force, even from the sea area where the enemy fleet was discovered.

If this is the Fourth Task Force, then the speed of the Fourth Task Force at night is a little too fast, and it can also be shown that the commander of the Fourth Task Force must be a bold fellow who dared to quickly go south when he could not determine the outcome of the battle between the Third Task Force and the 33rd Task Force, and if the Third Task Force was defeated, then the Fourth Task Force would probably not be worried about the US bombers. It's the huge cannons on those battleships.

Perhaps the commander of Task Force 4 was already prepared to bombard Task Force 33 first if Task Force 3 was defeated. But in this way, the fourth task force would have to face the American bombers. Anyway, it's a dead end! Of course, now that the third task force has won, the other side has already won the first bet.

If this is the first task force, then it can only mean that Tan Renhao is not as powerful as he imagined. At least, not as adventurous as it used to be. Judging from Tan Renhao's previous performance, they had any reason to let the First Task Force be so far behind, and the First Task Force had enough time to maneuver and enough opportunities, so why did he leave the First Task Force in the rear? Also, if this is Task Force 1, then where is Task Force 4? Could it be that Tan Renhao didn't let the Fourth Task Force participate in the war? If anything, then Task Force 4 would only be southwest of Tagura, and certainly very close to Tagura. Then the bombers of Task Force 4 should now be over Task Force 32.

Thinking about it, Halsey couldn't tell if it was Task Force 1 or Task Force 4, the only thing he could be sure of was that. There are at least two fleet carriers in this fleet, and perhaps a third fleet carrier, or two small carriers. This is the main task force of the Tang Empire, so it must not be let go. It was at the time when Halsey made the decision to attack. Only then did he realize that he had actually been "generalized".

At this time, the 32nd Task Force did not know the location of the enemy fleet, and the bombers of the 32nd Task Force had not yet returned safely, and even if these bombers had returned to the 32nd Task Force, it would take at least an hour to make preparations for departure, and by the time they flew over, it was already after 10 o'clock, and in these few hours, the fleet might have run dozens of nautical miles away, and could not be found at all, or had already left the strike range of the US carrier-based bombers. In other words, Task Force 32 could not be counted on, and Halsey could even imagine that the bombers of this fleet had already departed (the reconnaissance plane had entered directly west of Task Force 4, so it was not possible to spot the bomber group flying in a northwesterly direction). Well, the only one that can hit this fleet is the 31st Task Force.

Halsey didn't hesitate, he only took two minutes to judge the situation, maybe he didn't think carefully, but just instinctively judged that he should get the bomber on the road immediately, otherwise he would miss this opportunity. At 7:35, the first SBD with bombs left the flight deck of the aircraft carrier "Lexington", and the bombers on the other two aircraft carriers ("Bunker Hill" and "Wasp") also began to take off.

Halsey's first bombers were originally "prepared" for Task Force 1, and they were extremely large, including 84 SBDs, 48 TBDs, and at least 48 F4U escort fighters. And this is almost two-thirds of the strike force of the entire Task Force 31.

In addition to this batch of bombers, Halsey only left 60 SBDs, 24 TBDs, and 60 F4Us, and the second group of bombers that Halsey was able to send was certainly much smaller, except for the air defense fighters needed by the fleet.

The fighters left the aircraft carrier one after another before eight o'clock, and then flew directly to the sea where the enemy fleet was located. The bombers were formed in squadrons, forming in the middle of the voyage, rather than leaving after completing the formation over the fleet, because at this time the 31st Task Force was 220 nautical miles away from the 4th Task Force, almost in the limit strike radius of the SBD and TBD, and if the formation was over the fleet, the bombers would lack sufficient fuel when they returned, and this would also waste extremely valuable time.

Watching the bombers depart one after another, Halsey didn't feel any relief. What he feared most was not Task Force 4, but Task Force 1. After fighting Tan Renhao once, and Spruance planting in the hands of this formidable opponent many times, Halsey has listed Tan Renhao as his number one opponent. He even bet that it must have been the Fourth Task Force that had been exposed, not the First Task Force. So, where exactly is Task Force 1 hiding? What does Tan Renhao want to do?

Halsey's suspicion was quickly confirmed, and just after eight o'clock, a telegram came from the theater command. There was only one telegram in content, that is, the telegram sent by the Fourth Task Force of the Tang Imperial Navy was discovered, and it had been confirmed that it was a telegram sent by the ground radio station of the aircraft carrier "Taihu", the new flagship of the Fourth Task Force. And the sea area where the radio waves appeared was the sea area where the reconnaissance plane had discovered the fleet before.

When Halsey finished reading the contents of the telegram sent by the theater command, he was still not excited at all. Instead, he was highly nervous. Task Force 4 sent two telegrams, the first about 20 minutes after the telegram from Task Force 32 and the second immediately after the reconnaissance aircraft sent the telegram. Why, then, did Task Force 4 send a telegram before it was discovered? To whom was this telegram addressed?

Obviously, this is certainly not the theater command that was issued to the Tang Empire. At that time, the location of the Fourth Task Force had not yet been revealed, so there was no reason to take the initiative to expose it. This is certainly not for Task Force 3, which is now being withdrawn from the battlefield and the new battle has nothing to do with Task Force 3. There is only one explanation, this telegram was sent to Task Force 1, so why was it sent to Task Force 1?

If Task Force 1 is still operating in the theater of operations, then the approximate location of Task Force 32 must have been determined, and if Task Force 1 is within the range of attacking Task Force 32, then there is no need for intelligence support from Task Force 4, and Task Force 4 will have no reason to report its actions to Task Force 1.

Just when Halsey was puzzled. Mitchell telegraphed that Task Force 32 had been completely exposed, and that Task Force 32 had been spotted by two reconnaissance planes flying from the southeast. Although both reconnaissance planes were shot down, they also sent telegrams.

"Damn it, damn it!" Halsey cursed loudly, the telegram should have been sent more than half an hour ago. And Mitchell didn't even send a telegram until now!

At this point, there was a reason for the Fourth Task Force to send a telegram, and the two reconnaissance planes must have been sent by the Fourth Task Force, and the bombers of the Fourth Task Force must have already been on their way. The first telegram sent by Task Force 4 must have been to report the exact location of Task Force 32 to Task Force 1 so that Task Force 1 could coordinate its attack. If Task Force 1 is not within the range of Task Force 32, then Task Force 4 has no reason to send this telegram. In other words, Task Force 1 is at most 300 nautical miles away from Task Force 32, and most likely within 250 nautical miles!

Thinking of this, Halsey broke out in a cold sweat. Unless Task Force 1 is northeast of Task Force 32, Task Force 1 can also strike Task Force 31 within this distance, and Task Force 1's reconnaissance planes are certainly approaching. But the problem is that Task Force 1 will certainly not be in the northeast direction of Task Force 32, which is already in the Solomon Sea, and it is very close to Tagura, so Task Force 1 has no reason to hide behind the ass of Task Force 4.

"Immediately get the second batch of bombers ready for departure."

"General, are you continuing to bomb Task Force 4?"

"No, just let them get ready for takeoff on the deck, this time, we're going to hit Task Force 1!" Halsey spoke very quickly, "Let the aviation combat staff officer come over, come over immediately." ”

The aviation operations staff officer, who had just finished the departure of the first batch of bombers, quickly arrived at Commander Cambridge.

"Icon the line of our reconnaissance aircraft." Halsey's hand holding the cigar was trembling slightly, "Also, near our fleet, there are still a few seas that have not been searched?" ”

While marking the flight route of the reconnaissance plane on the chart, the aviation operations staff officer said:

"There is no search on the south side of the fleet, we don't have enough reconnaissance planes, and this side is the safest, so ......"

"Immediately arrange a group of reconnaissance planes to search this sea area." Halsey tapped the chart, "Immediately let all reconnaissance planes that can take off, including those seaplanes, take off immediately." Also, immediately let me arrange a new bombing mission, and arrange the bombing mission in the same way as a blow to Task Force 1. ”

"General, we don't have many bombers left, do you want to contact General Mitchell?"

Halsey hesitated for a moment and said, "Not for the time being, Task Force 32 will survive these two hours, and now let's get our bombers ready to take off." ”

In the first task force, Tan Renhao stayed in his position very quietly, and the staff officers of the fleet headquarters were a little puzzled, now that the location of the 32nd task force has been determined, why didn't the commander let the bombers go? Could it be that the commander has other ideas?

Hao Dongjue was also a little puzzled. "Renhao, should we help Huang Xiaotian?"

"No, he knows what to do." Tan Renhao glanced at his partner, "Huang Xiaotian is measured, I bet with you, his second batch of bombers has already hit the road, and it is impossible for the 32nd Task Force to withstand the full force of the Fourth Task Force." Moreover, Halsey's first bombers must have been on their way to Task Force 4. If I were Halsey, I would have left half of the bombers behind to use against Task Force 1. Now the key question is whether we can find Task Force 31 right away. How much more time will it take for our reconnaissance aircraft to complete the search? ”

"Half an hour at the earliest."

"Then you go and arrange the bombing mission first, and let the pilots carry out the bombing mission according to the standard of striking the three fleet carriers." Tan Renhao touched his nose and continued, "In addition, let the second batch of bombers also prepare to go, hang up the bombs and torpedoes, and as long as the 31st Task Force is found, the two groups of bombers will set off immediately."

Hao Dongjue nodded, and didn't say anything more.

"Remember, after receiving the news from Task Force IV, judge the number of bombers left in Halsey based on the number of bombers sent by the US military to Task Force IV, and decide how many anti-aircraft fighters to keep."

"Don't focus on strengthening escort fighters?" Hao Dongjue frowned slightly, which was a little different from Tan Renhao's style.

"Not this time, Halsey will not leave many air defense fighters for himself, so there is no need for us to arrange too many escort fighters, and the first group of bombers will be enough to disperse the US air defense fighters."

Hao Dongjue shrugged his shoulders, this is indeed a fact, the second group of bombers that set off immediately after them did not need many escort fighters.