The defeat at the Battle of Wake Island cast a shadow over Spruance's military career. Because of some struggles within the army, contradictions between theaters of operations, and other reasons, Spruance almost left the Fifth Fleet. Later, Dekin, Nimitz, Halsey and others vouched that Spruance was not removed, but the criticism of him did not decrease because of this, and the most controversial of them was Spruance's command ability.

After the "Second Battle of Wake Island", the U.S. Navy fell to a low point, losing not only two aircraft carriers, two aircraft carriers suffered heavy losses, but also the Marine Corps landing on Wake Island. This was where Spruance received the most criticism, and many U.S. generals believed that Spruance deliberately abandoned the landing force, which resulted in thousands of U.S. troops killed or captured. There was even a suggestion that Spruance should be court-martialed.

There is actually no controversy about whether the American troops on Wake Island can be rescued. Spruance was not wrong, he saved the ships of the Fifth Fleet, most of which were later transferred to the Third Fleet and formed several "Washington Express". Without these warships, MacArthur would not have been able to hold out in the Solomon Islands for that long, and the Tang Empire would probably have reached the New Hebrides in May and captured Port Moresby, which would have been even more unfavorable to the U.S. military. In addition, Spruance's decision saved the lives of a large number of American officers and men, who later became the backbone of the U.S. Navy.

There were many people who supported and understood Spruance, among whom Nimitz and Halsey fully supported Spruance. Both were admirals and were well aware of the situation. Even if Spruance had staked the last bit of weight, he would have lost, and Spruance was able to make this calm decision decisively under such difficult circumstances. It is better to bear infamy than to preserve the fleet. This vision alone is not possessed by any other general.

Nimitz's influence in the Navy, combined with Halsey's personal relationship with the president, ended up helping Spruance get out of trouble. Spruance remained commander of the Fifth Fleet, but he also became a bare-bones commander. After the fighting in the Solomon Islands entered a white-hot phase.

Most of the Fifth Fleet's warships were successively transferred to the Third Fleet, and two repaired fleet carriers, as well as three new small aircraft carriers, were also sent to the Third Fleet, under the command of Halsey.

When Spruance learned the news of Halsey's defeat in the "Battle of Solomon", he had already realized that the harsh winter of the US Navy was coming, and at the same time, he also realized that the Tang Empire's navy would gradually lose its strategic offensive capability when it exchanged heavy losses for victory, and the Solomon Islands were the limit of the Tang Empire's offensive capability. At this time. He proposed to Nimitz that it was very likely that the Tang Empire would temporarily stop its strategic offensive in the southwest Pacific after completing the offensive operations in the Solomon Islands. Contain U.S. forces through operations in Port Moresby, and then launch a major offensive in the Central Pacific to lay the groundwork for a future landing on the Hawaiian Islands, most likely at Midway.

Spruance wasn't guessing. He had been Nimitz's theater chief of staff, and his ability to grasp the situation of the battle was quite strong, and Spruance had enough evidence to prove his inference.

First, the ultimate goal of the Tang Empire's offensive in the southwest Pacific was to capture the Australian mainland, and the key to conquering the Australian mainland was to invest ground troops. Now the absolute main force of the Tang Imperial Army is on the continental battlefield. If the U.S. Army participates in the war on the European continent at the end of the year, then Germany will inevitably divide its forces on the Western Front, and then it will once again weaken the forces on the Eastern Front, and the Tang Imperial Army will be even less able to transfer troops to occupy the Australian continent. Therefore, Spruance deduced that the Tang Empire could only enter the Australian continent at the beginning of the 26th at the earliest, and in this half a year's time, in addition to seizing Port Moresby and the two bridgeheads of the New Hebrides, the most important task of the Tang Empire was to consolidate the Central Pacific direction, and the most effective way was to capture Midway, threaten the Hawaiian Islands, and expand the depth of defense. Or the division of troops in the Pacific theater to gain precious time.

Second, the Imperial Navy of the Don Empire will receive a large number of new warships in June. This, as has been confirmed by intelligence, that from mid-June to early July, the Tang Imperial Navy will receive six fleet sailing carriers, six small aircraft carriers, four battleships, a dozen cruisers, and dozens of destroyers.

These warships are enough to restore the combat effectiveness of the four main task forces, or even expand their combat strength, and form another task force. At that time, the Tang Imperial Navy will have at least four task forces in the Pacific Ocean that can operate, and will even reach the scale of five task forces. On the contrary, the US Navy will not get new ships until the end of July, or even the beginning of August. Well, the Tang Imperial Navy had more than a month, and in this more than a month, the Tang Imperial Navy was sure enough to attack Midway.

Third, the Tang Empire's Pacific theater of operations is now very frequent, long-range reconnaissance planes taking off from Wake Island have "visited" Midway Island several times, in addition, the defense lines of the Marshall Islands and Gilbert Islands are also being adjusted, and a large number of marines have already reached Guam and Saipan. The Tang Empire's navy was accumulating strength in preparation for a new attack, and the target of the attack was an island in the Central Pacific.

All indications indicate that the next target of the Tang Imperial Navy's attack is Midway!

Based on these three reasons, Spruance even judged that the time for the Tang Imperial Navy to attack Midway was the end of June, or the beginning of July. In this way, it is possible that the campaign will end in late July, and the Don Empire has already strengthened the defense of Midway before the US Navy recovers. From the point of view of strategic choice, this was extremely beneficial to the Tang Empire.

If the Tang Empire had taken Midway, then there would have been no doubt that the U.S. Navy would have to leave a sufficiently strong fleet near the Hawaiian Islands, even the main fleet in the Pacific direction, and would not be able to send more fleets to the Southwest Pacific. The Tang Imperial Navy, on the other hand, could choose to leave only one task force in the direction of Midway. As a mobile defense, the U.S. military could not attack Midway Island smoothly, and its main fleet could be deployed in the Southwest Pacific theater. In this way, in the last months of 25 years. The Tang Imperial Navy was not only able to capture Port Moresby, but also had the potential to sweep the New Hebrides, aiming directly at New Caledonia to complete the Australian operation. In this situation, the Tang Imperial Navy had the absolute initiative. And the U.S. Navy can only passively meet the battle.

On the contrary, if Midway Island is still under the control of the U.S. military, then the U.S. Navy can choose to put its main fleet in the Central Pacific direction and quickly capture Wake Island, or bypass Wake Island and directly attack the Mariana Islands. At that time, the Tang Empire's navy could only passively defend, and at the same time temporarily stopped its strategic offensive in the southwest Pacific Ocean and shifted its focus to the direction of the Mariana Islands, thus limiting the speed of the Tang Empire's advance to Australia. Even if the Tang Imperial Navy left a main task force to operate in the southwest Pacific. The U.S. Navy can also use secondary forces to contain the speed of the opponent, delay the offensive speed of the Tang Imperial Navy, and wait until the naval offensive in the Central Pacific direction is completed. If it turns to the Southwest Pacific, the strategic plan of the Tang Empire will be completely disrupted. And in this case, the US Navy will have the initiative. The Tang Imperial Navy passively faced the battle.

Obviously, the key is Midway, and whoever controls Midway will gain the strategic initiative. Spruance saw this very thoroughly, and firmly believed that the Tang Imperial Navy would capture Midway Island before the U.S. military recovered, seize the initiative, and kick open the door for the final defeat of the Australian mainland, the invasion of the Hawaiian Islands, and the sweeping of the entire Pacific Ocean. Spruance made this inference to Nimitz in May. At that time, the "Battle of the Solomon Islands"

It had just ended, and Nimitz and MacArthur were both recruited home as the supreme commanders of the Shanghai Army and the Army in the Pacific Theater. Nimitz did not have time to think carefully about Spruance's inference, but only asked Spruance to prepare for receiving new warships as soon as possible, and let the officers and men of the fleet quickly recover and boost morale.

In early June, Nimitz returned to Pearl Harbor. Spruance presented his inference again, and this time he came up with more evidence. Including the recovery speed of the Tang Empire's navy, the Tang Empire's troop movement and new deployment in the Pacific theater, as well as the Tang Empire's submarine reconnaissance activities, as well as the arrangement of the Tang Empire's new strategic plan for the Navy, the Tang Empire's meeting with Germany, the Persian Empire's generals' meetings, and so on.

This time, Nimitz didn't let Spruance prepare anymore, and immediately sided with Spruance after he saw the battle situation clearly. Halsey's Fifth Fleet then bombarded Tagura, creating an opportunity for MacArthur to send reinforcements to Port Moresby. Nimitz also sent a telegram to Halsey at this time, asking Halsey to immediately send a fleet of three small aircraft carriers to the Pacific theater of operations.

"Raymond, I trust your judgment." Nimitz was very decisive in his decision, "But what I can give you right now is very limited, and Task Force 51 is the only thing we have now." Halsey has arranged for the fleet to go north, and it's your mission to command the fleet to hold Midway. ”

Raymond was Spruance's name, and he just smiled and nodded. Three small aircraft carriers, three light cruisers, six destroyers, that's all he can get now.

"You should be well aware of the crux of this mission." Nimitz nodded at Spruance, and then walked towards the seaplane dock, "Judging from the latest intelligence, it should be the First Task Force that came to support this time, and the fleet commander is still Vice Admiral Tan Renhao, you are an old adversary, you should be very clear about his abilities." The First Task Force now has at least two fleet aircraft carriers, maybe three, which is very powerful, and there are dozens of escort warships alone. Your mission is not to defeat Task Force 1, but to hold Midway, at least until the beginning of August. ”

Spruance still just smiled and nodded, which he knew very well.

After receiving that the First Task Force had passed through Naha and then disappeared, Spruance determined that the destination of the First Task Force of the Tang Imperial Navy was Midway. Now there are two task forces in the Tang Imperial Navy, and one submarine once spotted a large fleet in the waters north of the Solomon Islands, confirming that there are two submarines that have not been encountered before. Spruance judged that it was the Fourth Task Force that had left the port of Canton before.

From the perspective of strategic layout, the Tang Imperial Navy placed the Fourth Task Force in the Southwest Pacific Theater, and it was in the waters north of the Solomon Islands, not in the Solomon Sea, which means that the Tang Imperial Navy has suspected that the three small aircraft carriers of the US military have left the Southwest Pacific. Now that Task Force 1 is out of port, its destination can only be Midway, and its mission is to assist the Marines in capturing Midway.

"When you reach the fleet, you don't need to send a telegram back." Nimitz paused, "No news is the best news, I believe you will complete this difficult task!" ”

Spruance saluted Nimitz and immediately headed for the already launched Catalina. He didn't think about defeating Task Force 1, and those three small aircraft carriers were vulnerable in front of Task Force 1, which had two, or even three, fleet carriers.

The plane slowly glided into the deep water, gliding for hundreds of meters in the calm harbor before rising into the sky. Spruance was very clear about the purpose of this mission. The Tang Imperial Navy has realized that the U.S. fleet has moved to Midway, and as long as he saves these three small aircraft carriers and makes the opponent feel like a man, then the Tang Imperial Marine Corps will not easily attack Midway, and the Tang Imperial fleet will not be unable to do it comprehensively. It was very difficult to drag the Battle of Midway until August, but he had no choice.

After a circle around the harbor, the seaplane flew in the direction where the fleet was located.

Spruance's mood was a little complicated, this time the opponent was the commander of the Tang Empire, and he was not too sure whether he could complete the task.