As a fleet commander, Fletcher was well aware that naval warfare was actually gambling. The biggest difference between naval warfare and land warfare is that in the ocean battlefield, the enemy's whereabouts are not known most of the time, especially after aircraft carriers have replaced battleships, and often when the enemy's whereabouts are known, the enemy's bombers have already flown over. Therefore, naval warfare is more like a gamble, betting with all your net worth and life on your opponent.

Since the fiasco of the "First Battle of the Marianas", Fletcher has changed a lot. When he was in the hospital, he had thought about retiring, after all, he was a failed general, a failed fleet commander, and the 17th Task Force was buried in his hands. But after recovering from his injury, Fletcher stayed. He is a soldier, and a general, he can't go if he wants to, and he must stay when the country needs him.

This time, Nimitz gave him the last hope of the U.S. Navy, and when he led the fleet out of Pearl Harbor, Nimitz approached Fletcher and talked to Fletcher for a long time. Nimitz was a good commander, and he was well aware of Fletcher's current state, so Nimitz did not put too much pressure on Fletcher, but only explained the situation to him, and said that Fletcher could take full command of the fleet and would not be interfered with. At the same time, Nimitz also asked Fletcher to let go and do it, not to be afraid of it, and to use "enterprise".1

The fleet went into radio silence after leaving Pearl Harbor, and the discovered Don submarine was soon besieged by anti-submarine destroyers. In the end, Fletcher did not delay and let the two destroyers speed up to catch up, and he had to deal with the most powerful task force of the Tang Empire, not a "shark" fleet that was hovering outside Pearl Harbor and reached the Midway anchorage on the same day. Since the US military dispatched more than 50 anti-submarine patrol planes to Midway, the Tang submarines no longer dared to operate in the waters near Midway, at least those submarines did not have the confidence to escape the attack of the anti-submarine patrol planes.

The fleet remained on standby near Midway until the evening of the same day. Fletcher received information that a task force of at least two aircraft carriers of the Tang Empire had passed through the waters near Nantori Island 24 hours ago, and was heading towards Wake Island at high speed, and was expected to reach the waters near Wake Island before dawn. Then, a second telegram was sent that a large landing fleet of more than a dozen destroyers had left Guam and Saipan on the 22nd and was sailing eastward, uncertain if there were any other warships in the landing fleet. The estimated time for the landing fleet to reach the waters near Wake Island is between the 25th and 26th.

Combining these two pieces of information. Fletcher immediately judged that the Tang Empire's attack on Wake Island was on the 26th, and no later than the 27th. In order to ensure the smooth landing of the Marines on Wake Island, the task force responsible for covering it had to bomb Wake Island two days in advance, destroy the airfield on Wake Island, defend the positions, and suppress the shore fire on Wake Island. In other words, the Tang Empire's task force bombed Wake Island on the twenty-fourth. This coincided with the arrival of the task force in the waters near Wake Island. Obviously, the offensive operations of the Don Empire were well arranged, and both fleets were advancing according to plan.

The verdict is out. But the problem still exists. Fletcher is one thing for sure. That is, the time of the first bombardment of Wake Island should be after dawn, that is, the Tang Imperial fleet will be at dawn. The reconnaissance planes on Wake Island bombed Wake Island before and after they took off, paralyzing the air force on Wake Island, clearing the way for the shelling of ships, seizing air supremacy over Wake Island, and paving the way for subsequent battles. But this judgment brought many problems, at least, Fletcher could not accurately judge the accurate activity of the Tang Empire's task force.

At this time, Fletcher did not know that the Tang Empire's naval aviation had changed to new bombers, and the combat radius of these bombers had been extended to 350 nautical miles. Even if it is calculated with a combat radius of 250 nautical miles, or 300 nautical miles. The area of the sea area where the Tang Imperial fleet may appear is more than 100,000 square nautical miles, and the sea area where the most likely appearance is also more than 50,000 square nautical miles, it is very difficult to find a task force fleet in such a large area.

There was no time for Fletcher to hesitate, and while he asked the defenders on Midway Island to send the news out, and asked the defenders of Wake Island to send reconnaissance planes at night, he ordered the fleet to advance towards Wake Island as fast as possible. Midway was about 1,000 nautical miles from Wake Island, and Task Force 51 was about 850 nautical miles from Wake Island, and the fleet departed at 7 p.m. Even if it sailed at the fastest speed of 33 knots, it was still at least 450 nautical miles from Wake Island after 12 hours, and it was not until about noon on the 24th that the fleet could send reconnaissance planes to search for the Tang Empire's task force. Now, the only thing that Fletcher can count on is that the island's reconnaissance planes can find the Tang Empire fleet as soon as possible, and block the first round of bombing by the Tang Empire fleet, and take out the opponent's aircraft carriers in the subsequent bombardment. Of course, this is a bit wishful thinking, even if the air force on the island can't play much role, then you should try to find the Tang Imperial fleet, and wait for the 51st task force to arrive, and then give the opponent a fatal blow.

Fletcher's expectations were indeed a little too high, and although the US military had more than 50 "Caterina" long-range reconnaissance planes deployed on Wake Island at that time, only a few had night reconnaissance capabilities. Moreover, most of these reconnaissance aircraft have already carried out reconnaissance missions during the day, the aircraft need to be repaired, and the pilots need to rest. As a result, when the Midway Ground Radio sent the news to Wake Island, there were only eight reconnaissance planes that could be dispatched here! It is indeed a little too difficult to find a task force in the vast sea, and in the dark sea, with eight reconnaissance planes. To make a simple calculation, even if all these reconnaissance planes were sent to the northwest of Wake Island to search, the chances of discovering Task Force 2 would not exceed 20%!

Of course, Fletcher's warning was not without effect. After receiving the news, the garrison on Wake Island immediately entered a state of combat readiness, and the fighters stationed on the island were ready to take off before dawn, and the air defense deployment was also adjusted to prepare for the arrival of the Tang bombers.

There is only so much that the US military can do, and more long-range reconnaissance planes will not be able to take off until after dawn. None of these reconnaissance planes needed to take off or land at the airport, and they were basically parked in the lagoon. And the defenders on the island can only prepare for defense, and no one knows when the bombing opportunity of the Tang army will come.

At this time, Task Force 51 was moving at full speed towards Wake Island. Fletcher also prepared the 12 reconnaissance planes on the aircraft carrier "Enterprise". The fleet is expected to arrive at about 350 nautical miles from Wake Island at about 10 o'clock, and then the reconnaissance plane will take off and go to find the Tang Empire task force. If the Tang Empire's task force can be successfully found, then it can be fought to launch an attack in the afternoon.

Task Force 2 was also sailing at twenty-four knots in the direction of Wake Island. The standard cruising speed of the fleet is 18 knots, and only in exceptional cases will it advance at a speed of 24 knots (the combat speed is 31 knots, and in general, the fleet rarely advances at the fastest speed, for the simple reason that it advances. The boiler wears out a lot when it is running at maximum load, which reduces the life and has a much greater chance of failure, so in order to ensure that the attack can be avoided at maximum speed when necessary. In addition, the fuel consumption rate at the maximum speed is several times that of the cruise, the range of the battleship will be shortened a lot, and the speed of the battleship during normal navigation will be limited) Because Lei Shaoqing extended the sea area of the fleet's activities to the east by 100 nautical miles, the fleet must increase its sailing speed.

At half past four, Lei Shaoqing returned to the command cabin, and Chang Jianxin had already given the order to attack. The newly appointed chief of staff of the local aviation operations is organizing pilots. Prepare for a pre-war briefing.

"In half an hour, the fleet will be able to reach the predetermined sea area, and the journey will be relatively smooth. Arrived half an hour earlier than we had booked. ”

Chang Jianxin briefly introduced the situation, because the wind and waves will affect the speed of the battleship, so when formulating the navigation plan, a certain margin will be set aside.

Lei Shaoqing nodded. "Let's act according to the plan, when will the reconnaissance plane take off?"

"Half an hour later, it will take off before the bomber group."

It is not always recommended that the person in charge of arranging aviation operations will be inquired about all the combat operations of the fleet. "The 24 reconnaissance planes, focusing on the waters east of the fleet, will reach the maximum patrol radius at about 7 o'clock, and the remaining fuel can be used by the reconnaissance planes to search and fly for half an hour. Return to the fleet at about ten o'clock. ”

Lei Shaoqing let out a sigh. "Approximately when will the bomber group return to the fleet?"

"Before half past nine."

This work has already been done for a long time, and calculating the time of the return of the bomber is a simple task, but at the same time this time cannot be very precise.

"If the U.S. fleet is not spotted by half-past nine, the flotilla turns and goes northwest to avoid the U.S. attack. In addition, another group of reconnaissance planes will be arranged to continue the search to the east. ”

Lei Shaoqing's attitude was very firm, "Even if we can't find the American fleet this time, then we must catch them as soon as possible." They must not be allowed to threaten the Marines. ”

"Then I'll arrange it right away."

After Chang recommended the new person to go out, Lei Shaoqing sat down. More than ten minutes later, a staff officer brought him breakfast. Normally, the time for breakfast is around seven o'clock, but now it is in combat mode, and the time for breakfast has been advanced by two hours.

While Lei Shaoqing was enjoying his breakfast, 24 reconnaissance planes on the two aircraft carriers took off one after another. These reconnaissance planes are all improved models of the "waterfowl shooter," and unlike the previous reconnaissance planes that were modified with torpedo bombers, the navy began to use dive bombers to carry out reconnaissance missions after being equipped with new bombers. First, dive bombers are more useful in naval warfare than torpedo bombers and more effective against warships, so these reconnaissance planes can expand the size of dive bombers when necessary. Second, the dive bomber's fuselage is lighter, faster, can carry more fuel, and can fly farther. Therefore, now the reconnaissance planes on the Navy's aircraft carriers have been replaced by the reconnaissance model of the "Shooting Water Birds" instead of the reconnaissance model of the "Sea Eagle" (the "Sea Eagle" does not have a reconnaissance model), and the patrol radius of these reconnaissance planes has reached 350 nautical miles, and it is guaranteed to fly at a cruising speed for half an hour at the maximum patrol radius and then return to the fleet. Lei Shaoqing was in no hurry to arrange seaplanes on the cruiser. The flight radius of those seaplanes was within 200 nautical miles, and according to Lei Shaoqing's judgment, it was impossible for the US fleet to get so close, unless they wanted to be the first to be hit. And this is by no means a command characteristic of Fletcher. In addition, leaving behind the water reconnaissance planes can also carry out a second round of reconnaissance missions when necessary to fill the loopholes in the reconnaissance network.

The 24 reconnaissance planes took off one after another within 10 minutes, and the aviation service personnel did not release these reconnaissance planes as quickly as possible, and they had to save their physical strength in order to wait for the bombers to be dispatched. According to the fleet's operational plan, the bombers bombing Wake Island were to take off from the "Hulun Lake" aircraft carrier, and the escort fighters were to take off from the "Bear Lake" aircraft carrier. In this way, when the group returns, the escort fighters can arrive about half an hour earlier and land first, and if the American fleet is discovered during the bombing of Wake Island, then both aircraft carriers can immediately arrange for the bombers to take off with the escort fighters, instead of fighting with one aircraft carrier, improving the efficiency of dispatching bombers. If the U.S. fleet is not found, the bombers and fighters can also be staggered when accepting the returning bomber group, so that at least one aircraft carrier can take off the fighters on deck at any time, rather than both aircraft carriers need to turn to the headwind to accept the returning fighters.

At 10 p.m., the pilots gathered at the aviation operations center to listen to the pre-battle briefing. At 5:25, the pilots boarded the plane one after another, and by this time the bombers were ready to take off. At half past five, the first "Sea Eagle" left the flight deck of the "Hulun Lake", and almost simultaneously, the first escort "Falcon" left the flight deck of the "Bear Lake".

Lei Shaoqing stood behind the porthole, glanced at the bombers that were taking off one after another on the flight deck, and then looked towards another aircraft carrier in the distance in the dark. The planes were to leave the skies over the fleet by six o'clock and bomb the Wake Island airfield as planned. Subsequently, Lei Shaoqing looked to the east again, where is the "Enterprise" aircraft carrier battle group?