While Tan Renhao spoke highly of Spruance, Spruance was also talking to his chief of staff, Colonel Smith, about his views on the commander of the Tang Imperial fleet. Relatively speaking, Spruance's evaluation of Tan Renhao is even a little higher than Tan Renhao's evaluation of Spruance. １６Ｋ…

After accepting Nimitz's assignment, Spruance did not have much hope for this combat operation. The forces that Nimitz gave him were actually very limited. Not to mention the fleet, on the Marine side alone, Nimitz gave Spruance only two divisions of troops. According to the information obtained before, the Tang Empire has been strengthening the defense of Wake Island after capturing Wake Island, and has also urgently increased thousands of troops to Wake Island. According to Spruance's staff officers' estimates, it would take at least ten days, and perhaps fifteen days, to capture Wake Island with two Marine divisions, and the Marines would have to have the full support of the fleet.

The problem is also here, the Tang Empire's Second Task Force has been operating in the waters near Wake Island, while the First Task Force, which was previously on standby near the Kaping Amarangi Atoll, can arrive in a maximum of three days (at the fastest of 40 hours), while the Fourth Task Force deployed in the Southwest Pacific Theater only takes six days at most to arrive (the fastest four days). In other words, even if he could scare off the Second Task Force, Spruance would only have three days at most to capture Wake Island and then fight the Tang Empire Task Force. As it was at the time, it was impossible for the landing force to occupy Wake Island in three days.

This contradiction forced Spruance to reformulate the battle plan and focus on annihilating the Tang Empire's fleet rather than landing on Wake Island. He had already decided on this idea when he left Pearl Harbor and flew to Task Force 51 anchored at the Kauai anchorage. Before the annihilation of the Tang Empire's task force, there was no hope of capturing Wake Island, and if it concentrated its forces and attacked Wake Island in a desperate way, it would only put the Fifth Fleet in a desperate situation. Spruance has no doubt about his opponent's ability at all. If the youngest lieutenant general in the history of the Tang Empire named Tan Renhao seized the opportunity, then he would even lose all the money to turn over.

After determining the purpose of the Novaya campaign, Spruance did not tell Nimitz about the revisions. First, Nimitz had given him full command of the battle, and second, as long as the Tang Empire's task force fleet was annihilated, it would be easy to capture Wake Island. Subsequently, Spruance made a series of arrangements and adjustments, according to his new purpose. This included first assembling the convoy at Midway, and then passing through the vicinity of Kauai Island. Spruance's two task forces also left the Kauai anchorage and headed for the battlefield. At that time, the submarine that discovered the US transport fleet judged that it was the landing fleet that was following behind, but in fact it was not the US landing fleet, but the main task force of the US army! It is a pity that the submarine, in order to avoid being attacked by destroyers, judged the ships passing from it only by hydroacoustics, and did not surface the sea, or observed it with a periscope.

Let the convoy swagger to Midway Island (the transport planes to Midway Island were actually not carrying personnel, but a batch of supplies to the American officers and soldiers on Midway, because a large number of transport ships were transferred to serve the attack on Wake Island.) Therefore, the U.S. military can only temporarily provide daily necessities for the defenders of Midway by air). It was the first bait thrown by Spruance.

According to his estimates, the Tang Empire's Second Task Force is most likely to operate in the waters west of Wake Island, if the news is spilled. Then the commander of Task Force 2 is likely to send the fleet north to intercept the convoy, and then he can intercept the second task force in the middle of the way.

Spruance's decision was a new judgment on the tactical command of the commander of the second task force. The battle in which Task Force 2 defeated Fletcher was extremely beautiful, and the courage to take risks, the keen observation and judgment, and the ability to grasp opportunities all reflect the characteristics of the fleet commander. This also surprised Spruance a little, after all, in the "Second Battle of the Marianas". The commander of the Tang Imperial Naval Fleet was his defeated general, a guy who was more than conservative and not enough to enter. Spruance once thought that the commander of the Second Task Force of the Tang Empire had changed, but intelligence proved that it was still Lei Shaoqing and Chang Zhixin who commanded the Second Task Force.

It was on the basis of this judgment that Spruance was ready to once again use the adventurous spirit of the fleet commander, who had changed significantly, to prepare for a beautiful volley. Even while the convoy was still assembling at Midway, Spruance's two task forces were already lying in ambush about 450 miles north of Wake Island, preparing to annihilate the Second Task Force. But in reality, Spruance's bait didn't work.

After a day of ambush, Spruance sent out all the reconnaissance planes to gain nothing, and now he had to judge that the second task force did not go north. Then, in the afternoon of the same day, that is, on the afternoon of the 23rd, Spruance received an extremely important piece of information, which was provided by the US Naval Intelligence, that the radio transmission stations deployed by the Tang Empire on the Marshall Islands suddenly became active, and many radio transmission stations that had not been able to send a single message in the past few days continuously emitted many radio waves in the past two days. In particular, the radio station on Bikini Atoll sends out several telegrams every day!

Naval intelligence had no way to decipher the code of the Tang Imperial Navy, but this anomalous behavior alerted Spruance. If the Second Task Force had not gone north, it would have adopted a conservative tactical arrangement, and the most conservative tactic would have been to rendezvous with the First Task Force as soon as possible, so that the Second Task Force would not stay in the empty sea west of Wake Island, but in the waters of the Marshall Islands. For the sake of concealment, Task Force 2 will certainly not use the radio stations in the fleet, but will use the radio stations on the nearby islands.

At this point, Spruance knew that Task Force 2 must be operating in the waters near Bikini Island. Then, in the evening of the same day, Spruance received another important piece of information.

After analyzing the activities of the Tang Empire's Naxi radio transmitting station on the Marshall Islands, the intelligence department of the United States Navy found that several radio stations around the route from Kaping Amarangi to Uja Atoll were more active, and the time of these stations was sequential. At this point, Spruance finally figured out that this was the route of the first task force north, and roughly calculated. Task Force 1 rendezvoused with Task Force 2 between the early morning and the morning of the 26th!

It can be said that Spruance not only had a keen intuition, but also was very bold in judging the enemy's situation. At the time, no commander could judge the enemy's fleet on the basis of a series of radio signals that could not be deciphered, and at least no more serious commander would bet on such inconclusive evidence, but Spruance made his judgment on the basis of these radio signals: Task Force 2 was operating in the waters near Bikini Atoll, and Task Force 1 was approaching, not very fast. It was about to rendezvous with Task Force 2 from the early morning to the morning of the 26th.

After making his judgment, Spruance did not adopt risky tactics, it was too dangerous to surprise the Second Task Force ambushed near Bikini Atoll, and the Tang Empire tactical bombers on Kwajalein Atoll alone would be enough to wipe out the Fifth Fleet, and the Fifth Fleet would not necessarily have a chance to approach the Second Task Force. If the Kwajalein Atoll were bombed first, it would not only distract the forces, but also send an alarm to the Tang Imperial fleet, and the Fifth Fleet would be in a dilemma.

After much thought, Spruance made a bold decision. Bombing of Wake Island in the early morning of the 24th. The landing on Wake Island was brought forward to the afternoon of the 24th, and at the same time, after the fleet had completed the destruction of the Wake Island airfield. Immediately withdraw from the battle and let the artillery formations press on to continue to support the Marines. As a result, the Fifth Fleet only carried out two rounds of bombardment of Wake Island in the early morning and around 10 o'clock, and then the Fifth Fleet withdrew from the battle and arrived in the waters northeast of Wake Island to stand by.

By the evening of the 25th, the Second Task Force had not yet appeared, and Spruance was a little worried. After all, Tan Renhao is not easy to deal with, and this commander of the Tang Imperial Fleet often does not play cards according to common sense. If he had sent Task Force 2 north and taken out the convoy from Midway. Then the operation to land on Wake Island failed. When the Fifth Task Force goes north, the landing ground will be exposed, so that the First Task Force can easily clean up the landing fleet and the artillery bombardment formation on the 26th, and the Second Task Force, which has completed the attack mission, can quickly retreat westward to avoid being attacked. It is also difficult for the US military to organize a combat operation to attack Wake Island in the short term, and the thousands of US troops on the island may be finished.

With this in mind, Spruance made a very bold arrangement, he took out the two battleships and four destroyers in the bombardment formation, and let the two battleships go north at full speed, meet the southbound convoy in the waters north of Wake Island, and move out to the southwest of the convoy. If Task Force 2 were to intercept the convoy, it would be the first to find a formation of these two battleships and destroyers, as well as some of the warships drawn from the convoy escort fleet. In other words, Spruance put two battleships on the board. If Task Force 2 were to attack this formation first, it would certainly use two batches of bombers, which would have bought the transport fleet and the Fifth Fleet several hours to prepare, with the Fifth Fleet having enough time to provide air defense cover for the transport fleet and possibly attack Task Force 2.

In the second half of the night, a new piece of information arrived, and the Tang Army radio station on Langrik Atoll, which had never sent messages at night before, came into action and sent several telegrams. And this was exactly what Tan Renhao asked them to send to the theater command, as well as to the second task force, and in order to ensure that these telegrams could be received, the radio sent the two telegrams three times. At this time, Spruance was also shocked. In his opinion, this is the signal that the first task force has arrived in the war zone, and if the second task force does not go north, it will use the radio station on Bikini Atoll, and if it goes north, it will not use the radio station on Langrik Atoll, only the first task force that has arrived in the war zone will use the radio here, and the first task force must be near here, that is, only four hundred and fifty miles away from Wake Island!

Perhaps other commanders would not have made judgments based on such unreliable intelligence, but Spruance made new adjustments to his instincts. The fleet quickly turned, and at the same time he arranged a new reconnaissance mission, and also sent seaplanes to attack the artillery formation, and the landing fleet made contact and prepared them for battle. Spruance made a very bold adjustment this time, and he also knew that the 26th would be the day of the decisive battle, and the two warring sides would be divided on the battlefield, and no one could escape. He didn't hesitate to make a decision, and even if the odds were slim, there was still a good chance of a draw with his opponent, which was probably the best Spruance could count on.

"If our judgment is wrong, I'm afraid this time we will be in big trouble!" Colonel Smith had nothing to say about his chief, and he didn't work with Spruance for long.

"Even if our judgment is wrong, this will at least save the landing fleet and the artillery formation." Spruance pulled the military hat on his head, "Our focus is to take out the Tang Empire's task force, our opponent is the commander of the Tang Empire's number one fleet, last time we were lucky to hit it hard, and our losses are not small, who knows what tricks he will make this time?" ”

Colonel Smith did not comment much, the command system of the US military was very different from that of the Tang Imperial Navy. In fact, the chief of staff of the fleet is only the head of the staff of the fleet, and his status is not high.

Even after the commander of the fleet hangs up, it is not the turn of the chief of staff of the fleet to replace the commander, he is just a staff officer.

Spruance didn't say anything more, the decision had been made, the order had been given, all that was needed now was to wait.