On the way back to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Spruance was silent, and finally said: "Turner finally suggested that the fleet be pulled back to the west coast quickly, he thinks that the current situation is very dangerous, and there is a Japanese fleet that has disappeared for several days, and the devil knows where they are, if they also appear near TF50 and shoot them unknowingly, it will be really over." Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 info But he doesn't have direct evidence, just personal feelings. ”

Nimitz sighed: "You know the situation of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and it is really difficult to explain the situation of the Joint Chiefs of Staff just because of worry, concern, or chasing after the wind...... I have advised William to lead the fleet back, but he has concerns, and Lehi does not think it is appropriate. ”

What the concerns and inappropriateness were, even if Nimitz didn't say it, Spruance knew it, and he silently echoed and scolded "this fucking system" in his heart and stopped talking.

At 2:45 a.m. Washington time on the 30th, and 21:45 a.m. Hawaii time on the 29th, Halsey replied: The reminder of the Joint Staff Committee is very important, and the staff officers have made a detailed deduction, and the current fleet speed has been slowed down to 10 knots, and the route has been changed to due north, preparing to send reconnaissance planes early to check the enemy situation, and at the same time take off air defense fighters first at dawn.

Nimitz called back and told him to pay attention to the search south after dawn - the Tsukahara fleet had disappeared for too long, which was really unsettling!

At 11 o'clock in the evening, Tsukahara's 243 Belt and One Naval Force (the three fleet aircraft carriers of the Taiho, Shozuru, and Zuizuru) and the four Myo-class heavy cruisers and related destroyers rushed forward at a speed of 31 knots, and the battleship forces with the core of Yamato, Shinano, Nagato, and Kirishima hurried to the ground at a speed of 24 knots, and the entire fleet gradually evolved into a situation in which the aircraft carrier formation was in front and the shelling fleet was behind.

Originally, Tsukahara's report to Horikichi was to rush to a position 900-1000 kilometers away from the US fleet in the early morning, but since Horikichi changed the battle plan and issued a night attack order, the other fleets would enter the strike position in the morning, Tsukahara could not be too late, so he had to accelerate, 900-1000 kilometers was still too remote, and it was more appropriate to press to within 800 kilometers, so this night, Tsukahara commanded the main force of the combined fleet to start sailing.

The first air battle has been maintaining a slow driving speed for the past two days, doesn't Tsukahara really understand the truth of the speed of the soldiers?

Of course not! Tsukahara has played the turn of the gods in the Caribbean, and has played three dozen Panamanian tricks two days ago, and has an instinctive sensitivity to the judgment of the situation.

The reason why it is not fast to say is that there is still one word - oil. Taking the Kirishima battleship as an example, it can maintain a range of more than 10,000 nautical miles at a speed of 14 knots, but if it is increased to 18 knots, it will only be 5,400 nautical miles, and if it soars at a speed of 24 knots for a long time, it may be difficult to maintain even 4,000 nautical miles.

Tsukahara 243 completed the last refueling in the direction of Panama and let the tanker team go south, from this position to the evening of the 29th, it was more than 3,500 nautical miles, who knows how far to drive behind? Therefore, he must not build a second boat, otherwise he will become a second Kanoda.

Tsukahara is very clear about the reason for Kakuda's rapid fuel consumption - it was consumed in the process of advancing at high speed and then escaping at high speed in Seattle, otherwise how could it be so embarrassed that it could barely be maintained? forced Horiyoshi to send him oil, and it must be known that when he first didn't know the news of the northward movement of the Halsey fleet, it was agreed that Horiyoshi would retreat north, and the Second Naval War would take the initiative to move closer to him for supplies, but now the whole system is out of order.

But unlike Ryunosuke Kusaka, Tsukahara didn't want to blame Kanoda, because the Second Air War was a great achievement: Tsunoda's performance was very successful and dedicated, both Boeing and successfully lured the TF50 north, which not only created the conditions for the success of the Jet-1, but also laid the foundation for the implementation of the Jet-2 in the immediate future.

It's just that the northward movement of the Halsey fleet actually opened up the distance between it and Tsukahara, but even so, Tsukahara still slowly moved north without hurrying, and Horikichi understood his practical difficulties and did not rush him.

Tsunoda can also count on Horikichi or Tsukahara to save him, who can Tsukahara count on to save him? On the contrary, Tsukahara also bears the obligation to save Tsunoda in a sense - if the decoy fleet sent by Horikichi is eaten by Halsey this afternoon, the heavy fuel oil in the inventory of several battleships in Tsukahara's hands will continue to live in the Second Air Battle, so he must control fuel consumption very modestly, and he can not let go of the four tankers in the bait fleet until he is sure that the four tankers of the bait fleet are still alive.

The disadvantage of this is that he arrived at the battlefield late, and the advantage is that he retains more fuel -- at present, all ships in a single air battle generally have at least 50 percent of their fuel oil, and the fuel retention rate of several aircraft carriers exceeds 65 percent, and this has laid a good foundation for the next battle victory.

According to Tsukahara's order, all the pilots arranged an early rest, and five hours later, from 4 a.m., they would begin to make final preparations before the attack.

According to the requirements of the night attack, all the night clouds and night clouds have been released, and they began to rush to the sea area where the US fleet may appear, and the night attack on the five air battles cannot catch up, but the second round of attacks in the early morning must be dispatched, and Tsunoda alone is not enough; The third round of attacks will have to wait for Tsukahara to be in position, and then the fourth and fifth rounds...... Chiaki Matsuda believed that if the combined fleet was dispatched, the TF50 would basically be wiped out after four rounds, and that a fifth round must be planned for the sake of safety.

Originally, according to Arima Masafumi's plan, the second air battle was ready to release the first round of attack groups in the early morning, so Kakuji Tsunoda originally planned to meet the decoy fleet at a speed of 27 knots, but after nightfall, Hori Yiji temporarily arranged a night attack mission according to Halsey's response, and he had to speed up again, so he led 2 Yunryu-class and 3 Kaohsiung-class heavy cruisers to assault at a speed of 32 knots, and let Nishimura Shoji take Musashi, King Kong and other warships to rush at 27 knots, In order to save time, Arima believes that the refueling operation does not need to be fully filled, and two-thirds of the fuel is sufficient, which can save at least half an hour.

This side was racing against time to advance, and there Halsey led the TF50 slowly northward, because of the change of course, the distance between him and the Tsunoda fleet and the Yano fleet not only did not decrease, but continued to expand at a speed of 8 kilometers per hour, before the Joint Staff Committee sent a telegram of inquiry, the distance between the TF50 and the Japanese fleet had been reduced to about 850 kilometers, but after adjusting the course, the gap widened again to 880 kilometers in the early morning, and the staff officers agreed that it was more appropriate to maintain a distance of 900 to 950 kilometers -- that they could "be seen and not beaten." "The right place.

At 1:04, the first night cloud began to search for the sector to which it belongs, and the search method still adopts the two-stage search that the Japanese army is accustomed to - forming a sector every 14 degrees, and a night cloud with a night cloud is responsible for two searches, the color cloud rushes forward, and the cloud sweeps the tail to prevent omission.

At 1:19, all the night reconnaissance planes of the Japanese army launched a detailed search of their respective sectors in the 400-600 km stretch of the sea area.

At 1:40, the radar of the leading destroyer of the Tsunoda fleet detected the target, reporting that "a large number of warships were moving at a distance of 70 kilometers, heading 45 degrees and speeding at 16 knots......"

"Check if it's Yano-kun's fleet!"

"Quick, the second air battle is about to arrive, get ready to refuel immediately!" Yano Hero waved his fists and roared excitedly, he originally served as the commander of the decoy fleet with a certain death mentality, but now it seems that he basically does not have to die, and the whole army is cheering - although everyone is not afraid of death, but if they can not die, they still don't want to die.

At 2:49, the sailors set up the pipeline as fast as possible, and the bubbling heavy oil was immediately pumped out of the escort aircraft carrier to replenish the two aircraft carriers, and in order to speed up the speed, the two-to-one refueling method was adopted -- every two escort aircraft carriers were supplied with one Yunryu-class, Kakuharu Tsunoda only felt that his palms were full of sweat, and the warship stationed at anchor and refueling was the most dangerous moment, as long as one American submarine touched it, the stationary warship was doomed.

In addition, 3:45 was the moment when the night attack group was expected to take off, and whether the time was tight, all the pilots stood on the deck silently cheering on and praying for their companions.

After refueling, the fleet still needs to increase its speed before it can release the attack group, so it is necessary to maintain a lead time of at least 15 minutes. At 3:29, the scheduled refueling operation ended, the two main aircraft carriers of the Second Air War began to resume speed, and 48 night commandos were ready, just waiting for the reconnaissance planes to send accurate information.

The refueling operation finally came to the turn of the 3 heavy cruisers and the Musashi formation, which was about to arrive.

At the moment when Tsunoda was refueling just now, Nishimura Shoji, who was desperately rushing behind him, felt even more uncomfortable, and even his heart was about to jump out: five minutes ago, the chief engineer told him that Musashi only had the last 50 tons of heavy fuel oil left, and if he still sailed at such a fast speed, he would be paralyzed at sea due to lack of fuel if he could not get fuel replenishment after an hour - and finally nearly 20 tons of heavy oil was difficult to pump up and use because the liquid level was too low.

Nishimura Shoji thought in pain for 10 seconds, and finally shouted, "Keep the course and speed unchanged, rush forward, and I will definitely get the gas!" ”

"Onboard!"

"Onboard!"

At 3:41, seeing that the refueling ship was close at hand, all the officers and men on the Musashi and Kongo shouted wildly.

Now it was the turn of the sweating people to Tsunoda, and after nearly two and a half hours of searching, the 24 reconnaissance planes had even extended the reconnaissance range to a distance of 700 kilometers, but there was still no news from them. ”

Without clear directions, the attack group could not attack, and everyone was anxiously waiting - now the oil was there, but the combat target was gone!

"Peripheral warships have strengthened sea surveillance, preventing the US surface fleet and submarines from causing trouble." Kakuji Tsunoda asked Arima Masafumi, "Could it be that the sector does not cover enough angles?" The enemy is in other directions? ”

Arima Masamune nodded: "Order each group of aircraft to expand the search angle by 3 degrees to 17 degrees, and re-search the fan surface from 10 to 180 degrees!" ”