Halsey's troubles were far more troublesome than the battle, and when he arranged for the first batch of bombers to depart, and had the reconnaissance planes search the waters south of the fleet, and the second group of bombers ready to leave at any time, Halsey received a telegram from the theater command, in fact, it was two telegrams, one for MacArthur, and the other was forwarded by Nimitz through the Southwest Pacific Theater.

The contents of the two telegrams were a common order, an order that left Halsey dumbfounded.

While Halsey was busy attacking the Fourth Task Force, the news of the capture of two American battleships was confirmed, and the "Massachusetts" and "Wisconsin" fell into the hands of the Tang Imperial Navy, and are now being towed to the Solomon Sea, probably preparing to reach Tagura Island first, and then repair part of the power system here, and eventually it will definitely be sent back to the Tang Empire mainland, and this is confirmed by the reports of the officers and men on the three destroyers who escaped. This was also confirmed by a reconnaissance plane from the 32nd Task Force, and the two battleships were being dragged north by the cruisers of the Tang Empire!

It's not big or small. At the beginning, Halsey judged that it was very likely that the two battleships did not sink by themselves, but fell into the hands of the Tang Imperial Navy. He did not put this in the first priority, and the cruiser towed the battleship, and the speed was about right. And these two battleships must have been seriously flooded, so in order to avoid more seawater and to ensure that the battleships do not sink, the speed should be slower. And the arrival of these two battleships on the island of Tagura must have been at night. According to Halsey's idea, as long as he could take out the first and fourth task forces, he would send bombers to blow up the two battleships in the afternoon. Or even destroy Task Force 3.

This thought is quite normal, if Halsey can't even save himself, how can he stop those two battleships from falling into the hands of the enemy? But the problem is. Not everyone thinks the same way as Halsey, and the situation is not the same.

The speed at which these two battleships were towed was indeed 8 knots. In order to prevent the battleship from sinking, Chang recommended a large number of new officers and men to the two battleships, and at the same time collected more than a dozen small pumping machines and generators from each battleship to help drain the sea water from the battleship. At this rate, Task Force 3 will reach Tagura Island at around 3 p.m. Tugboats arriving from Kuah Island can reach in the first half of the night at most. Marine Corps engineers on Tagura's Island are also rushing to repair the airfield. It is quite possible that the airport will be fixed before two o'clock in the afternoon. That is, when the time comes, the naval aviation of the Tang Empire will have enough ability to protect these two battleships from bombing, and even if the bombing is successful, these two battleships will definitely run aground in the coastal seas, and in the end they will still fall into the hands of the Tang Empire.

Herein lies the problem, if these two battleships ended up in the hands of the Tang Empire's navy, the political impact it would bring, as well as the blow to the morale of the American military and civilians, and the propaganda work that the Tang Empire could do in this regard. In the end, the damage to the United States will certainly be very serious. The situation at this time was very similar to the situation faced by the Tang Imperial Navy in the port of Naha when the war broke out.

Originally. The First Fleet was suddenly attacked by the Japanese in the port of Naha, and almost all of the warships were sunk or stranded in the port, including the battleship "Dignity", the number one battleship of the Tang Empire at that time. And the Japanese were also fighting the idea of these warships, and used a lot of manpower.

material resources, I want to salvage the "Dignity", and then hang the Japanese plaster flag, serve in the Japanese Navy, and fight for the Japanese.

Perhaps, the battleship itself has no emotion and soul, but after the battleship is built, the battleship has its special meaning. Imagine if the "Dignity" (maybe something else) with the plaster flag flying on the mast appeared on the battlefield, appeared in front of the Imperial fleet, appeared outside the Imperial harbor, or somewhere else, how would the officers and men of the Imperial Navy feel when facing this battleship? Battleships have no feelings, people, especially soldiers, have feelings, soldiers have dignity, honor, soul, when they face the former number one battleship of the empire, what will they think, what kind of feelings?

This is also the fundamental reason why Nie Renfeng did not hesitate to use the last bit of battleship of the Imperial Navy as a price to sink the few battleships that the Japanese were salvaging, or blew them up in Naha Port. On the battlefield, soldiers can bear sacrifices, and soldiers will treat their warships as if they were their comrades and relatives. If the sinking could not be avoided, the officers and men on the battleship could give their own battleship a funeral, or even scuttle the battleship. However, no matter which country's naval officers and men, they will never tolerate their own warships, especially those capital ships that symbolize the navy, the country, and the nation, fall into the hands of the enemy!

This is also a new problem facing the US Navy now. If these two battleships really fell into the hands of the Tang Imperial Navy, the consequences would be unimaginable. Maybe Halsey didn't think of this, but not everyone else didn't think of it.

When Nimitz learned that the two battleships of the 33rd Task Force had not sunk by themselves, but had been successfully boarded by the officers and men of the Tang Imperial Navy, he immediately sent a telegram to the President and the Secretary of the Navy, Admiral King, in which he mentioned only one point, that is, no matter what method was used, the two battleships should be sunk to prevent them from falling into the hands of the enemy. Admiral King quickly called back, asking Nimitz to blow up the two battleships by all means available. Then, the President of the United States also sent a telegram back, saying that the Navy can bear the loss, but the United States must not bear the insult!

Nimitz immediately sent out the relevant orders. At that time, he was unable to communicate directly with Halsey of Task Force 31, so he sent a telegram to MacArthur first. Although MacArthur was an army general, he was well aware of the significance of the sinking and capture of the two ships. He also added an order in the name of the theater commander to send out bombers to blow up the two battleships immediately! Meantime. MacArthur also began to mobilize the Army's heavy bombers, which he would have to use to accomplish this important mission if Halsey was not able to complete the mission.

It's not that Halsey doesn't understand this. But the problem is that now he has so many bombers in his hands. And Task Force 1 has not yet appeared, and the bombing of Task Force 4 has not yet come to fruition, is he going to send out this last bit of force? What if Task Force 1 is discovered? What if the bombing of Task Force 4 was not entirely successful?

As the commander of the fleet. Halsey's first consideration was the victory or defeat of the battle, and if he lost, he was afraid that it would not only be the two battleships that would be captured, and at that time, whether the two battleships were blown up and sunk, or whatever, it would not make much sense. The U.S. Navy could no longer afford a new defeat, and the first thing he had to ensure was victory. So, is it to carry out the order, or to continue to let the bombers wait on the flight deck?

It was a decision that made Halsey extremely difficult. By 8:50, he still hadn't made a decision, and at this time. Mitchell's telegram arrived, Task Force 32 had been bombed, and five small aircraft carriers had been destroyed. A few minutes later, a second telegram from Task Force 32 arrived. Task Force 32 was bombed a second time, and both groups of bombers entered in the exact same direction, both from Task Force 4.

At this time, Halsey made a decision, he did not carry out the orders given by Nimitz and MacArthur, because he knew very well that since the Fourth Task Force dared to send two groups of bombers, it was enough to prove that the First Task Force was in the vicinity of here, and was waiting for the 31st Task Force to appear, otherwise, there was no need for the Fourth Task Force to send another batch of bombers in order to kill a small aircraft carrier (Huang Xiaotian did not think of this before sending the second batch of bombers), Instead, a fleet of bombers should be sent to find Task Force 31. But the question is, where is Task Force 1?

By 9:35 a.m., Halsey had received another report, this time from the bomber group, that the attack on Task Force 4 had not been entirely successful, confirming that only two small carriers had been bombed and most likely sunk, while the other two fleet carriers had not been bombed. That is, two-thirds of the aviation of Task Force 4 was not hit.

At this point, Halsey despaired, or rather, knew that he had failed. Now, there were two definite targets for him to bomb, and one of the most dangerous targets that didn't show up was probably nearby, and Halsey only had one bomber group in his hands.

What to do?

At 9:40, Halsey gave the order, and the second group of bombers immediately took off and went to attack the fourth task force and blow up the two fleet carriers! This is the most direct judgment made by Halsey, the fourth task force must be lacking in anti-aircraft fighters now, and the attack is the easiest to succeed, if it can take out those two fleet carriers, then this time it will not be a complete failure.

Halsey's judgment was not wrong, the first batch of bombers sent by Task Force 4 could only return to the fleet at about 9:50 at the earliest, and it would take a long time to refuel the bombers and hang up bombs and torpedoes, and if the bombers were to be dispatched, it would be at least after half past ten, and Halsey's group of bombers could arrive at about 10:50. But Halsey didn't expect that Huang Xiaotian could release the air defense fighters first, and not rush to let the bombers go, so that he could at least restore the number of air defense fighters in the fleet to 60 before half past ten!

The second batch of 72 SBDs (by this time 12 reconnaissance planes had already returned to Task Force 31 and incorporated into the bomber group), 24 TBDs, and 48 F4U all departed by 10:15. Halsey left the fleet with only 12 (minimum) anti-aircraft fighters. According to Halsey's idea, about 30 F4Us in the first group of bombers flew back, and these fighters arrived over the fleet at about 10:40, and then they could be refueled and ammunition to take off, and more than 40 fighters were on patrol over the fleet at about 11 o'clock. There was only a 25-minute time difference, but it would be a fatal time difference.

When Halsey received the order from MacArthur and Nimitz, Tan Renhao also received an order from Yan Guozhong, which was also an order that made Tan Renhao smile bitterly, Yan Guozhong actually asked him to arrange fighter planes to cover the third task force, and said that this was a direct order from Marshal Nie Renfeng!

"Damn, what the hell does that mean? Does the marshal think that we are sightseeing in the Coral Sea? Now that Task Force 31 has not yet appeared, let's arrange fighter jets to cover Task Force 3!? Hao Dongjue looked very excited, "This is simply playing the piano indiscriminately, are we ......?"

Tan Renhao glanced at Hao Dongjue, Hao Dongjue immediately closed his mouth, and he also knew that he had gone too far at the beginning.

Tan Renhao is very aware of the principal's order, the third task force captured two American battleships, which is a big deal, and the principal must hope that these two American battleships will be towed to the ports of the empire, even if they are not allowed to serve in the imperial navy in the future, they can be used by the imperial engineers to study the structure of the american ships, and at the same time, the imperial propaganda department can do something about it. But the problem is that the first task of Task Force 1 now is to take out Task Force 31 in Halsey, not to cover the two American battleships!

Tan Renhao first thought of letting the Fourth Task Force do this drudgery, but he quickly gave up this idea, unless he telegraphed the Fourth Task Force, otherwise the Fourth Task Force would not know about this order at all. Even if the Fourth Task Force knew about this order, Huang Xiaotian's first consideration was the air defense of the fleet, so he should protect his aircraft carrier first. Therefore, Task Force 4 will never easily send fighter jets to cover Task Force 3.

"General, there's a telegram from Task Force 4 that they've been bombed!" The communications staff officer sent new information, and it was 9:18 a.m. at this time.

Tan Renhao was shocked, now he didn't have to think about this problem, if Huang Xiaotian received a telegram from the theater command, and he withstood the bombing of the US army, he would definitely immediately arrange for fighter planes to patrol the sky over the third task force. But the question is, where is Task Force 31?