Objectively speaking, there is some truth in Halsey's and Kincaid's idea, especially this offensive method is very much in line with Halsey's character, he is a commander known as a "brute bull", and he has also made a promise to all American troops, including the garrison on Kuah Island, that he will keep fighting, and he will "kill the Japs!" Kill the Jap! Kill more Japs! ”

On the other hand, Halsey doesn't want today's tragedy to happen again tomorrow...... The reason why the US Navy has lost several excellent opportunities one after another today, not only because of the lost opportunities but also because of the heavy losses, is because the Japanese aircraft carriers are too far away from the US aircraft carriers. Therefore, the US aircraft carriers must keep a certain distance from the Japanese aircraft carriers, otherwise the Japanese will be able to attack the US aircraft carriers because the range of the Japanese carrier-based aircraft is greater than the range of the US carrier-based aircraft, while the US aircraft carriers will not be able to attack the Japanese aircraft carriers.

This led to Halsey's aggressive mistake in commanding the carrier battle group.

Neither Halsey nor Kincaid realized something very important: by the time they continued north to pursue the Japanese carriers, the U.S. carriers had already left Espírito Santo, the U.S. land-based air force.

Intent on attacking immediately after dawn, Kincaid ordered both aircraft carriers to make adequate preparations that night, with Kincaid ordering the USS Enterprise to be responsible for search and air patrols, while the Hornet's air group was to be responsible for striking enemy carriers.

Together, the carrier-based aircraft of the two aircraft carriers have a total of 137 combat aircraft that can participate in the campaign.

At the same time, on the Japanese side, because the "Forward" fleet was bombed by US B17 bombers, Yamamoto 56 believed that the US military had discovered the Japanese aircraft carriers and was sensitive to the fact that the US aircraft carriers had been keeping a distance and would attack the Japanese at any time.

This is actually not difficult to guess, just like when the Japanese Army faced the US military with superior firepower. It will also do everything possible to fight close combat with the US military to render its superior equipment useless.

Similarly, in the navy, Japan has done everything possible to distance itself from the US military due to the advantage of the range of carrier-based aircraft, while the US military is the opposite.

This made Yamamoto 56 nervous for a time, because judging from today's situation, the Japanese Navy is at a disadvantage: the Japanese side has never known the location of the US aircraft carrier, but the US military has mastered the position of the Japanese aircraft carrier. This is fatal in an aircraft carrier showdown.

So Yamamoto 56 also urgently mobilized all his troops that night, and in order to facilitate the operation the next day, Yamamoto 56 ordered him to prepare for the three aircraft carriers of the US Navy:

The first is that search aircraft, combat air patrol aircraft and attack aircraft are in position on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier.

Second, the fighters were ordered to refuel, and the heavily armed second strike group was on standby on the deck of the aircraft carrier's hangar.

Such preparations will ensure that search planes, combat air patrol planes, and attack planes will take to the skies at dawn, and then bombers and torpedo planes filled with fuel and loaded with bombs and torpedoes will be lifted to the flight deck in the shortest possible time.

But this incident made an oolong and made Yamamoto fifty-six very faceless.

Keeping the bombers on the hangar deck full of fuel and ready for use is a time-saver, but it's dangerous...... Because the planes were on the second hangar deck, a bomb penetrated the flight deck and detonated the planes and caused a chain explosion. I'm afraid that the entire aircraft carrier will be blown up into the sky.

Yamamoto Fifty-six must have thought that this would not happen at night, and most of the planes at this time did not have the ability to fight at night!

But at this time, the two seaplanes of the US military took advantage of the loophole......

Both seaplanes flew from the seaplane "Ballard", which Kincaid sent to search for Japanese aircraft carriers.

At 0:22, a seaplane spotted the Japanese fleet.

Because it was dark night, the seaplane was already very close when it spotted the Japanese fleet, and the pilot couldn't help but be surprised, hurriedly launched a torpedo and turned around and flew away.

Of course, the torpedo did not explode due to the extremely unreliable performance of the American torpedo. It is also impossible to determine whether it hit the target or not in the dark of night.

At 2:50 p.m., two and a half hours after the last sighting of the Japanese ship group. Another seaplane broke into the Japanese ship group in a daze.

In fact, these seaplanes were trying to track the Japanese ship group, but because it was dark and the seaplane was fast, one accidentally plunged into the Japanese ship group.

What is even more exaggerated is that this seaplane even flew over the Japanese aircraft carrier "Xianghe", and not only flew over the "Xianghe", but its pilot also recognized that there was an aircraft carrier below. So without saying a word, he dropped all four 500-pound bombs he had brought......

It's a pity that it was at night, but then again, if it weren't for the night, the clumsy seaplane would not have been able to get close to the Japanese aircraft carrier, and it would have been killed by the patrolling Zero fighters while it was still on the periphery.

Maybe it's because it's dark. Or maybe it's because of the poor level of bomb dropping by seaplane pilots...... After all, the vast majority of seaplanes were used for reconnaissance rather than for combat, and the pilots had little experience in bomb dropping, so these bombs exploded about 300 yards from the starboard side of the "Xianghe".

Although the attack of these two seaplanes was unsuccessful, it frightened Yamamoto Isoroku, especially the second seaplane, which was able to sneak into the air over the "Xianghe" and drop bombs...... Then it would be possible to burn the entire aircraft carrier.

So he hurriedly ordered 14 Zero Fighters to take off in the dark of night to take off and search, and at the same time unload all the other combat planes and unload bombs and torpedoes.

Therefore, in this battle, the US Navy unexpectedly performed the best not the two main aircraft carriers "Enterprise" and "Hornet", but the seaplane carrier "Ballard", which was responsible for search and reconnaissance.

If the seaplane that flew over the "Xianghe" had a bomb that could have been dropped accurately, then the outcome of this battle would have been rewritten.

It is a pity that there is never a time to fight, and the US Navy made too many mistakes in this naval battle, and these mistakes not only deprived the US Navy of the opportunity to win, but also paid a heavy price for the mistakes it made in the end. (To be continued.) )