In response to the request of the Americans, the Canadians dispatched a group of more than 50 SBDs with bombs and more than 30 TBFs with torpedoes as the main force to cooperate with the US attack; although they received a request for coordinated operations at 7 o'clock in the morning, because they were in a hurry to make preparations, they actually did not assemble and set off until more than 9 o'clock at the latest, and the formation flew slowly, and by 12 o'clock the Tsunoda fleet had not yet been found.

The Japanese fleet was more than 800 kilometers south-west of Seattle at this time, and the search and flight of these Canadian attack planes after taking off from Vancouver had lasted more than 800 kilometers, and the distance between the two sides was less than 90 kilometers at this time, and the Japanese troops had already seen an attack group flying on the radar, and at this time, the vast majority of the air defense fighters had just landed and were ready to replenish their fuel bombs, and there were only 12 planes in the air that still had the last bit of oil bombs left, which was when the fleet's air defense capability was at its lowest. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

Helplessly, Tsunoda was ready to let the two aircraft carriers disperse and break away at a high speed of 31 knots, but the Canadian commander directly announced on the radio: The enemy's main fleet has not been found at present, and it is estimated that it has been sunk by the US military.

Half a minute later, he gave a second order: in order to speed up the return and reduce fuel consumption, all bombs and torpedoes should be discarded! However, it cannot be thrown in vain, there seems to be a suspected heavily damaged Japanese cruiser (in fact, a destroyer) and some Japanese lifeboats still floating on the surface of the sea - "All the troops attack!" ”

Then this destroyer "Lan" (Yangyan-class) became the most unlucky destroyer in the world, obviously had been hit by 1,000 pounds of bombs in front of him and abandoned the ship, and had no ability to resist, but was surrounded by more than 120 planes, and all the bombs and torpedoes were thrown at him as if they didn't want money, and even before the last few bombs were dropped, the destroyer was blown up and sunk.

The Canadian aircraft group, which had completed the "actual combat exercise," returned home triumphantly with the complete victory of "our army sank one enemy cruiser and did not lose a single cruiser of its own" -- this was the first Japanese warship sunk by the Canadian Air Force, and it effectively counterattacked the aggressor!

Tsunoda and Arima Masafumi, who intercepted the contents of the other party's communications on the Yunlong and witnessed the other party really turn around and leave on the radar screen, both laughed so hard that their stomachs hurt, and one by one they shouted "Amaterasu God blesses", laughing back to laughter, the two of them still have a relatively clear understanding of the current situation, and today before the sun sets, the second air battle ran out of a maximum of 1,100 kilometers, and they are still within the coverage of the US heavy bombers, and they have to meet at least one more challenge, but after surviving the wave just now, they will have full confidence -- after calling all the spare planes, There are still 57 fighters in the fleet, and they are still ready to fight! As for fuel, people don't think about it anymore.

Although Arnold felt that "the results were brilliant," he could not bear the heavy losses reported by the Seattle and Portland Army Airlines -- there were now less than 100 heavy bombardment planes that could still attack, and the crew was so tired that they did not even have lunch for lunch.

At the same time, due to the distance, Hainan Airlines has been unable to attack, which means that the next death will be all land aviation. What made him even more restless was the fluctuation of the army's morale, where the elite level of the army aviation could not be compared with Hawaii, Los Angeles, San Francisco and other places, and there were few veterans who could attack over long distances, and if they continued to fight, the entire army would be ruined, so under the persuasion of his subordinates, he said at the joint staff meeting that the army aviation had suffered heavy losses (it had long exceeded the standard of 150 units per week), the personnel were too tired, and the losses without escort were too great -- and proposed to let Halsey deal with it, after all, according to the "battle report", the remaining Japanese troops were by no means the opponent of the TF50 fleet.

Spruance disagreed, believing that the important value of the Halsey fleet was to escort the fuel back, and hoped that the Army Airlines would continue to send people to attack, not only the remaining planes in Seattle and Portland would attack again, but the more than 100 Army Airlines in Sacramento should also attack after the transfer.

The two sides quarreled at the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and even Nimitz and MacArthur had their own opinions, and finally, with the mediation of Lehi, the two factions kicked the ball to Halsey and asked him to decide.

Halsey asked McCain, "Do you think we should fight this Japanese fleet?" ”

McCain asked rhetorically: "Do you think in the current situation, is it more important to send fuel safely, or is it more important to destroy the enemy's fleet?" ”

Although McCain was a rhetorical question, Halsey could hear it, and the answer was already in the question: Protecting the fuel oil back to Pearl Harbor had solved the transportation problem, but as long as the Japanese fleet still existed, it would face the same problem in a few days, but if the Japanese fleet could be solved once and for all, even if it was only the Tsunoda fleet, Halsey believed that the situation would improve. Now the conditions are very favorable, the Japanese Tsunoda fleet has just suffered a "heavy loss" (Halsey believes that a 7% discount on the results of the army aviation should be credible), the main fleet of the Japanese army is still in the area of Mexico, and the TF50 is just stuck between the two fleets of the Japanese army, and there are only more than 2 days before the Tsunoda fleet, so it is completely too late to fight first.

If you're lucky, you'll be able to eat the Japanese fleet to the north and then turn around and clean up the Japanese fleet to the south.

Halsey gritted his teeth: "I want to destroy this fleet!" Let the transport fleet go around for us and the main Japanese fleet, and then go south after I destroy the northern fleet, even if we end up with the enemy fleet in the south...... Fight all the main forces of the combined fleet, see what they will fight in the future! ”

At 1:39 p.m., he sent a telegram agreeing to change direction to pursue the Tsunoda fleet, and asked for assistance from the Army Airlines: one would send a reconnaissance plane to inform the Tsunoda fleet of the final position, and the other would send a strong fleet of planes to cover the transport fleet, which was still waiting more than 400 kilometers outside Los Angeles.

Overjoyed, Arnold agreed to the request, and Spruance wanted to send another telegram to persuade Halsey to change his mind, but was stopped by Nimitz, who said nothing, only silently added: "The army still has to guard other places......"

Spruance remembered the information he had received at noon today: the main forces of the German-Italian Axis fleet had poured out of the Strait of Gibraltar into the Atlantic. He could only sigh and say nothing.

After nightfall, Tsunoda and the others, who were bent on fleeing for their lives, knew that they were safe, and only then did they begin to think about the fuel problem -- the Musashi reported in the evening that "the remaining fuel of the ship was less than 1,100 tons," and at the same time, in order to protect the engine from problems caused by long-term high-speed operation, it ordered to slow down, and while changing the course to the southwest, it lowered the high speed from 27 knots to 18 knots, and prepared to go to Horikiyoshi, north of Pearl Harbor, to replenish fuel.

"Sir, this can't be contacted, it should still be in radio silence."

"It's okay, let's go to a safe place and stand by, and then I'll contact the chief when we get in touch." Tsunoda said, "Search around after dawn tomorrow, as long as there is no enemy main fleet around, our army will be safe, if there is only a small fleet, we will eat him!" ”

Arima Masamun was stunned for a while, and Tsunoda had just escaped and said in a blink of an eye that he wanted to eat the US fleet, this temper ......

Unbeknownst to them, the TF50 fleet had turned around and rushed north, and although Halsey was not fast at 16 knots, his number of carriers and planes exceeded that of the Tsunoda fleet by several times. The routes of the two sides are not exactly opposite, there is an angle, but it is still approaching the medium at a speed of about 35 kilometers per hour.

As the sun rose on October 25, the Seattle Army reported that the Japanese fleet could not be found—by this time the Tsunoda fleet was more than 1,500 kilometers off the west coast, while the U.S. Army Fleet from Mexico had found the Tsukahara fleet—more than 600 kilometers southwest of Baja California Sur (Mexican territory), about 2,000 kilometers from Los Angeles, at an overall speed of 18 knots.

Arnold informed the information out, and at the same time hurriedly mobilized the Southern Army Airlines, after receiving the returning crew from China, his strength had been restored, but due to continuous attrition, even if he got some replenishment, the skilled crew of the Army Airlines fell below the 3,000 group mark again, and only more than 2,600 groups remained.

Both Tsunoda and Halsey sent several waves of reconnaissance planes during the day, but the distance between the two sides was more than 1,700 kilometers from each other, and although there was some overlap in the reconnaissance range of the reconnaissance planes of the two sides, neither side found the other, so they both buried their heads in the road. Halsey was worried about the safety of the transport fleet, and sent telegrams to Arnold three times a day: Meaning to annihilate the Tsunoda fleet, Lao Tzu has done it for you, and if something goes wrong to cover the transport fleet, Lao Tzu will come back and land aviation will not be finished!

Arnold had to deal with the oncoming German and Italian forces, as well as the war on the west coast, and he had to fight hard against Halsey, who felt exhausted and on the verge of collapse, his eyes straight, stiff, and staggering. After today's meeting, he flew to Seattle to check on the Boeing losses and to cooperate with Truman to reassure the people, and by the time he flew to Los Angeles at night to deploy defense work, it was already 11 o'clock in the middle of the night.

He felt that he would stay up any longer, let alone the commander-in-chief of the independent air force, but he was afraid that the whole person would be abolished, and when he arrived at the command headquarters, everyone saw that he was in a very bad state, and his face was all black, but he still barely listened to the report on the defense situation and asked his subordinates to monitor carefully before he dared to go to bed, it was already 1 o'clock in the morning, and Arnold gasped and explained to the adjutant after lying down: "Help me set up a ward in the army hospital, and it is best to be close to General Marshall...... If this continues, sooner or later I will have to report to the hospital! ”

While he was asleep, Horiyoshi had already arrived more than 600 kilometers north of Pearl Harbor with a large support fleet, and made the final preparations for the attack as he approached.

The "Jet-1" operation was finally about to be launched, and the Americans, like the last Battle of Pearl Harbor, still did not notice the arrival of the Japanese fleet......