Halsey nodded with satisfaction at the new calculations: "Very good, very good, very good!" ”

McCain shook his head: "There is enough time, but the strength is not enough, 2 Essex class should keep at least 36 escort fighters?" Only an attack group of about 150 aircraft can be dispatched. Pen Fun Pavilion www.biquge.info"

"Nope! 180 attack groups can be sent, and escort fighters can be transported by the escort aircraft carrier group behind, and it is not limited to 36 aircraft, as long as the scheduling is reasonable, 80 aircraft can be used. Halsey explained, "Our troops will definitely lose some of their forces when they attack and return, and the vacant positions are just filled by the extra escort fighters, and the remaining surplus aircraft will return to the escort aircraft carrier formation, which has been used by Spruance and Nimitz, and the effect is good." ”

"Even if you can concentrate 180 planes to press over, can you deal with the opposing forces? The other side is said to have 10 aircraft carriers, and the Joint Staff Committee and Admiral Ingram only estimate 200 aircraft, and I think there will be no less than 250 aircraft, and judging from the consistent composition of the Japanese army, there are at least 100 air defense fighters out of 250. Assuming that the enemy is focused on defense, we may lose more than half of our attack aircraft, and you can guarantee that 180 attack groups will destroy the entire strength of the enemy's army? It's not bad to be able to sink 3-4 aircraft carriers, right? The enemy will still have 6-7 ships left, and there will still be enough strength to counterattack, and as long as 1 of the 2 Essex class ships loses the ability to take off and land, there will be no need to fight the following battles. ”

Halsey was stunned by what he said, and his heart suddenly turned solemn with joy, and after thinking for half a minute, he said: "Yes, you are right, then I will transfer more attack aircraft......"

"Wait, your attack aircraft needs to fly from outside the escort aircraft carrier formation 300 kilometers away in the rear, the range is not enough, you need to use the deck of 2 Essex-class ships to land, refuel, hang bombs after the first attack wave takes off, and then take off, and then fly for another hour and a half to fight, don't you think the time is too tight? I'm not sure if I can organize such a second attack wave to catch up with the attacking opponent before sunset, and even if I can, it will definitely be dark when I come back, and I guess many people will have to fall into the sea......" McCain persuaded him bitterly, "There are three Japanese fleets now, and it is okay to deal with one of them first, and if the loss is too great, we will definitely be swallowed by the other two - this is like tennis, the enemy has 3 match points in hand, and every time we fight is a decisive battle, we must be cautious." ”

Halsey's face became more and more solemn, judging whether McCain's reminder was correct, and after thinking for a long time, he could only nod unwillingly: "It is indeed difficult to organize a fast column to eat each other in one bite, what do you think?" ”

"I suggest that we go in the new course calculated according to the theory, at least until tomorrow morning, we will still maintain the lineup of the whole army pressing together, anyway, we can't hit the enemy, and the enemy can't hit us either, tomorrow morning, judging the enemy's situation according to the reconnaissance situation, maybe we will find another enemy fleet?" McCain reminded him, "Don't forget, the opponent is very strong, and there will be no such big hole for you and me to drill." ”

After repeated persuasion and repeated weighing by McCain, Halsey finally made up his mind to adjust the course of the fleet from 295 degrees to 280 degrees at 11 o'clock that night, organize a fast column without dividing troops, and continue to press the whole army at a speed of 17 knots.

Horikichi was not idle at night, and while giving Tsunoda an alternative plan for his next move, he carried out a large-scale fuel replenishment.

At 10 o'clock in the morning of the 28th, Horikichi received information that the Halsey fleet had not only adjusted the course to 280 degrees, but also shortened the distance to within 1,600 kilometers, and due to the course adjustment, the distance between the two sides and Kakuda had not been reduced, but had been expanded by nearly 40 kilometers.

He laughed: "The Americans are going to eat us first, but this commander is very cautious and refuses to divide his troops, so let me tease him...... The route of the fleet was changed to 0 degrees and Tsunoda was informed that his route could be adjusted according to the Americans, and the gap with the American forces could be appropriately narrowed, and the original scheduled rendezvous point would be adjusted to the south. ”

Tsunoda then changed the course to 278 degrees, which was almost westward and parallel to Halsey, and Arima Masafumi then reported the latest fuel situation: 12% of the remaining fuel of the Musashi, 17% of the remaining Kongo, and most of the remaining ships were around 20%, with the highest being only 25%.

Kakuharu Tsunoda frowned and asked, "How far can the Musashi go?" ”

"Theoretically, we can travel more than 850 nautical miles at the most economical speed, and it is not a problem to get to the junction location, but the battle is hanging in the ......" Arima Masafumi was worried, "Is it really going to pump Musashi's oil according to the commander's request?" I'm afraid that the officers and soldiers will not understand. ”

"If you don't understand, you have to execute!" Anxiety flashed between Tsunoda's eyebrows, but he quickly suppressed it, "Unswervingly do what the chief asks!" You can't look ahead and backward in a war, hey, Musashi is really in big trouble this time, it's all my fault! Nishimura is probably going to scold me to death! ”

Arima Masafumi remembered: Nishimura Shoji was still on the Musashi, and he hadn't told him about the oil pumping yet.

"Do you want to say it?"

"Let's say, although it's only a last resort, it's necessary to communicate in advance." Kakuharu Tsunoda waved his hand, "Let's just say that it was my mistake that caused this situation, it's none of the chief's business, don't make trouble for the chief!" ”

As soon as Nishimura Shoji received the telegram, he immediately jumped to his feet and scolded, and after scolding a few words, he suddenly felt that something was wrong: this is not like Tsunoda's handwriting, he and Tsunoda have been classmates for so many years, and he knows the latter well, although Tsunoda is sometimes impatient, but his attitude towards battleships, especially Yamato-class battleships, is not so ruthless. It's mostly the chief's opinion, Tsunoda is embarrassed to pull out the chief's sloppy eyes with me like this, and he must beat him up when he turns around!

Sure enough, after inquiring about Arima Masafumi in detail, he learned that it was Horikichi's order, and he was relieved: the fact that the chief can issue such an order shows that he must be confident—that is, the chief has such courage as a person with great wisdom!

In the evening, McCain, who received the telegram, said to Halsey: "William, there are two pieces of news, one good news and one bad news, which one do you want to hear first?" ”

"Me?" Halsey smiled wryly, "Enough bad news, let's hear the good news first." ”

"The good news is that today as luck would have it, the reconnaissance planes sent by the Hawaii Island Army continued to find the enemy fleet in the evening."

"Where's the bad news?"

"The bad news is that the enemy has changed course, at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, the reconnaissance plane found that the course of the enemy fleet has become about 0 degrees, and it is currently more than 1,400 kilometers away from us, if we continue to drive at the current speed, it will not be possible to shorten it to 700 kilometers before 7 o'clock tomorrow, and it is not ruled out that the Japanese army may further adjust its course, even if you organize a fast column, it may not be too late to attack in the early hours of tomorrow morning!"

"Damn it!" Halsey slammed his fist on the bulkhead of the bridge, and the distance shortened relatively quickly when Horiyoshi and him were heading, but after Horiyoshi adjusted the course, the distance shortened greatly and slowed down.

"What can you do to close the gap?" He turned his head and asked the staff officers.

"Now that our army is at a higher latitude than the enemy fleet, if we want to shorten the gap, we must maintain a similar course with the enemy, and the angle of the route can be slightly smaller, the Japanese army is 0 degrees, and our army is about 340 degrees."

"What is the maximum that can be shortened to 7 a.m. tomorrow?"

"Taking a speed of 18 knots, it can be shortened to about 1,000 kilometers."

"Can you get any closer?"

"No, the opponent's speed is 15 knots, and our side only has an advantage of 3 knots, so we can't get up fast."

Halsey gritted his teeth, he found himself in big trouble, under the premise of catching up with the Japanese fleet, if the large forces acted together, there was only a speed advantage of 3 knots, not fast enough; If a fast column is organized, the speed advantage is there, but the strength advantage is gone, and this is still based on the fact that the other side does not change course, and it will be even more troublesome if it is changed.

Faced with the dilemma that the advantage of strength and speed could not be combined, he only felt that he was being choked by the throat, unable to breathe, and finally squeezed out a sentence from his teeth: "I can only adjust it like this first, and then see if there is a chance at dawn tomorrow!" ”

At 8 o'clock in the morning of October 29, the reconnaissance plane sent by Tsunoda found Halsey for the third time, and the latter had been tossed to the point that he had lost his temper, and the Japanese reconnaissance plane could find him every day for the past two days, and the reconnaissance plane he sent back was all in vain, and if it were not for the help of the Hawaii Army Airlines, the TF50 fleet would have been blind.

If you can't find the Japanese fleet, you can't blame the US crew, and you can't say that it's still a reconnaissance plane.

The Catalina water reconnaissance aircraft commonly used by the U.S. military has a long range, but it is slow and relies on land-based support, and it is difficult to cooperate with the fleet after breaking away from the island; Although the Sea Hawk water reconnaissance plane, which has not been in service for a long time, has a good performance, its range is too short, and it has only a little more than 1,800 kilometers of auxiliary fuel tanks, and it is generally used as an anti-submarine aircraft by the US military.

The US side has also tried to convert SBD, TBF, BTD, and other attack planes into reconnaissance planes, but they are either slow or have a short range, so much so that the fleet commanders drool every time they see the colorful clouds of Japan and Germany -- not to mention flying fast, the range is still long, and they can be carried on board, which is ideal. Halsey and Spruance all shouted: If you can't build a reconnaissance plane that is better than the enemy, you can at least copy one for me, right?

It's a pity that Caiyungai is rarely shot down, and even if he is shot down, he can't get the wreckage, so that the Americans still know all about his technical details.

In the end, there was no choice but to go back to the starting point and use a fighter plane to transform it into a reconnaissance plane -- the F4U reconnaissance plane was transformed into an F4U-P and changed to a two-seat version, and even if the F4U reconnaissance plane was suspended from the auxiliary fuel tank, the endurance range was shortened, and it could only reach 2,500 kilometers at most, deducting the necessary take-off and landing and mid-flight redundancy, and the maximum reconnaissance radius was 1,000 kilometers, but in the past three days, except for the occasional shortening of the distance between the Tsunoda fleet to within 1,000 kilometers, most of the time it was 1,100 kilometers away, which exceeded the farthest field of view of the US reconnaissance planes.

For Caiyungai, which has a range of nearly 5,000 kilometers, the maximum detection radius is 2,000 kilometers. Therefore, the Japanese army can find Halsey every day, and visit it regularly every morning and evening, and Halsey catches his blind every day, if it weren't for the Hawaiian land flight, he would not know where he was thrown by Horikichi now.