The battleship battle at night also surprised Halsey, what he never expected was that Kincaid was defeated at the hands of an opponent who had only served as the commander of the third task force, and what he didn't expect was that the 33rd task force was almost completely wiped out, seven battleships, twelve cruisers were not spared, and even Kincaid was killed!

When Halsey received the battle report from Task Force 33 (from an escaped destroyer), his hands trembled slightly, not anger, not fear, not excitement. Halsey didn't know why he seemed so excited, he almost couldn't contain his emotions.

"General, it has been confirmed that Rear Admiral Kincaid was killed, and the flagship commander of the 33rd Task Force was directly shot on the bridge, and no one was spared. In addition...... "The staff officer hesitated, "It seems that the Tang Army has boarded the 'Massachusetts' and 'Wisconsin', maybe ......"

"Like? What is it like? Maybe what? ”

"Maybe these two battleships were captured by the enemy!"

"What!?" Halsey couldn't believe his ears, "How is this possible, didn't the battleship sink itself?" Didn't anyone detonate the ammunition depot? ”

"General, the specific situation is not very clear now, when the destroyer retreated, he only saw the other party's cruiser approaching, it seems that there are enemy officers and soldiers boarding these two battleships, and the other situation is not very clear, we have not received a telegram from these two battleships."

"Damn it, damn it!" Halsey couldn't control it anymore. This is simply a shame, the greatest shame in the history of the US Navy, to let two of the most powerful battleships fall into the hands of the enemy. It's not a shame, what is it?

The Navy, unlike the Army, in naval warfare. It was not easy to capture enemy battleships, let alone battleships. Even destroyers, speedboats, these battleships are difficult to capture on the battlefield by the opponent. In the Age of Sail, the Imperial Navy had captured the flagship of the British Navy, but since then, almost no one has been able to capture the enemy's capital ship on the battlefield. Whether it is from the honor of the Navy. Or from the point of view of war itself, any country will design its warships with such a view as to prevent them from falling into the hands of the enemy. Therefore, the battleship was equipped with a sea-opening valve (generally set up in the ammunition depot, which made it possible to quickly fill the ammunition depot with water), and the battleship was also equipped with explosives for self-destruction. Therefore, in naval battles, it is almost impossible to capture the enemy's warship unless the other side surrenders (many times, even in naval battles. The commander would have the officers and men get on the lifeboat, and then blow up their own battleship to avoid the battleship falling into the hands of the enemy).

Halsidi's anger is understandable. If these two battleships fell into the hands of the Tang Empire, it would be an absolute shame for the US Navy, and it would be a very serious blow to morale. The US military has been able to hold out until now, except for the outbreak of domestic industry. In addition to providing a large number of warships, the advancement of the training system, and the training of a large number of officers and men, the firm belief in victory is the key force that supports the US military to continue fighting. If these two battleships were dragged back by the Tang Empire, the Tang Empire would definitely hype it up, and as a result, more and more people realized that the United States had lost or was about to lose this war, and the negative impact of this was incalculable!

After the excitement, Halsey also calmed down. The situation has not yet been confirmed, and the two battleships may have sunk on their own. In addition, he faced a formidable enemy, the Tang Empire's shore-based bombers on Tagura Island, the Fourth Task Force that he was pursuing, and the First Task Force that had disappeared without a trace. Victory in naval battles is the key, as long as these three targets are killed, then it will be easy to catch up with Task Force 3 and take out Task Force 3.

Halsey didn't completely lose his mind, and soon he sorted out the order of gravity of the blows.

Because the 33rd Task Force failed to bombard Tagura, it was first necessary to blow up the airfield on Tagura Island and incapacitate the opponent's shore-based bombers. This task had already been assigned to Task Force 32, and Mitchell must have known the outcome of the night battle, and he would make the bombing of Tagura Island his first mission, and then go to Task Force 4 for a decisive battle after completing this mission.

Halsey didn't worry about Mitchell, the newly promoted task force commander was still capable of being good, and he knew the order of the blows, and what worried Halsey was the first task force, and now the fourth task force had to be counted.

Due to the failure of the pursuit of Task Force 33, Halsey still does not know the exact location of Task Force 4. He could only make two guesses, one was that the fourth task force remained in the waters south of the Solomon Sea and did not return to the battlefield at night. However, this is obviously unlikely, since the 3rd Task Force has already appeared on the battlefield, even if the commander of the 4th Task Force could not have predicted the outcome of the decisive battle between the 3rd Task Force and the 33rd Task Force yesterday evening, it is unlikely that he will continue to stay in the southern part of the Solomon Sea, otherwise he will miss the decisive battle during the day. The second speculation is that Task Force 4 had returned to the battlefield the previous night and was ready for the daytime decisive battle.

So, now there is a most serious question, where is Task Force 4?

Judging from the time of the encounter between Task Force 3 and Task Force 33, and the fact that submarines operating in the northern waters of the Coral Sea did not detect Task Force 3, Task Force 3 must have been operating in the southern part of the Solomon Sea, and entered the Coral Sea yesterday afternoon and maneuvered at night. Task Force 3 must have been tasked with intercepting Task Force 33, and in this case, Task Force 4 would have turned around and returned to the Coral Sea, between late evening and 10 p.m.

In pondering these questions, Halsey asked the staff officer to mark on the charts the route of Task Force IV when it retreated yesterday afternoon. Subsequently, his thinking gradually became clearer.

When Task Force 33 rushes to Tagura, Task Force 33 will defeat Task Force 33 unless the commander of Task Force 4 knows that in a few hours. Otherwise, Task Force 4 would not have approached Tagura Island too close to Tagura Island to avoid being intercepted by Task Force 33 at night. So. When Task Force 4 chooses to return to the battlefield, it will definitely be a little southerly. And the 4th Task Force would never rush to the south of the 33rd Task Force. If Task Force 33 retreats at full speed during the night, then Task Force 4 appears south of Task Force 33, then it is waiting to die! Judging from the timing of the return of Task Force 4 to the battlefield, it is unlikely that it will appear in the southwest of Tagura, and it is extremely dangerous here. There's no reason for Task Force 4 to venture here. The only remaining sea area is southeast of Tagura, which is about 120 to 250 nautical miles away. But this range is still too large to be fully searchable.

Will Task Force 4 be close to Tagura, or will it be far from Tagura? It depends on the role of Task Force 4. Halsey quickly thought of this, now that Task Force 1 must be active on the battlefield and looking for fighters, then Task Force 4 must be a supporting role. And Tan Renhao will definitely let the Fourth Task Force cover Taggula Island, at least to kill the American fleet that bombed Tagura Island, so that the Fourth Task Force must get close to Tagura Island. And it won't be too far from the night battlefield.

With this in mind, Halsey circled a sea area on the chart, between 20 and 70 degrees east-southerly on Tagura. It's about 120 to 150 nautical miles from Tagura, and Halsey has sent about 20 reconnaissance planes to this area, which is enough to search the area.

The question now is that Task Force 32 should be allowed to bomb Task Force 4. Or send bombers from Task Force 31 to bomb Task Force 4?

Thinking of this, Halsey had a bit of a headache. The distance between Task Force 32 and Task Force 4 is likely to be within 200 to 250 nautical miles. This is exactly within the strike range of carrier-based bombers. But the problem is that Mitchell has to bomb Tagura Island first, and the bomber group that bombed Tagura Island can only return at about eight o'clock at the earliest, and there must be some losses. The bombers must have departed again after half past eight, or even after nine. At this time, Task Force 4 had enough time to get its bombers on the road, and after running hundreds of nautical miles, the bombers of Task Force 32 could not catch up with Task Force 4 at all. What to do?

Bombing Task Force 4 with Task Force 31? Halsey didn't dare to make this bet, he had every reason to believe that before dawn, Task Force 1 was only 200 nautical miles away from him at most, or even closer, and what if Task Force 1 had not been found and had attacked Task Force 4, and the location of Task Force 31 had been exposed? Waiting for the bombers of Task Force 1 to take him down?

In fact, the biggest problem right now is that Halsey doesn't have enough strength to deal with three targets at once. The bombers of the 32nd Task Force must have set off, and the Tang Army must be on alert, Mitchell must use all his strength to organize two groups of bombers to bomb Tagura. The only bombers available for use now are Task Force 31, and if they discover Task Force 4 and don't attack, they are waiting for defeat.

Thinking of this, Halsey basically thought about it again.

He quickly gave the order to get the bomber ready for departure. The situation on the battlefield is changing rapidly, and who can guarantee that Task Force 1 will be active on the battlefield? And who can not guarantee that Task Force 31 will be discovered? Halsey couldn't even guarantee that his previous judgment was correct, he couldn't guarantee that Task Force 4 would be in that area, he couldn't guarantee that Mitchell would be able to blow up the airfield on Tagura, and Mitchell wouldn't necessarily send the message back. Too many uncertainties, too many fleets on the battlefield, too chaotic scenes, all of which made it impossible for Halsey to make an immediate decision, and he only knew one thing, whether he found the first task force or the fourth task force first, what he had to do was to send bombers to kill a task force first in the first time!

Shortly after daybreak, Halsey received a telegram from Mitchell that the bombing of Tagura Island had been completed, and that although the Tang Empire's shore-based fighters put up stubborn resistance, the bomber group lost more than 30 fighters, but the runways of both airfields on Tagura Island were destroyed and rendered unusable for at least a few hours, and if necessary, Task Force 32 would conduct a round of supplementary bombardment in the afternoon.

After receiving this telegram, Halsey also breathed a sigh of relief, and at the same time realized one thing, that is, Mitchell's whereabouts had been exposed, and this telegram would definitely be intercepted by the Tang Empire's radio listening stations, and the 32nd Task Force was in danger!

The telegram was indeed intercepted by the Tang Empire's radio listening stations on several islands near the Solomon Sea, and within fifteen minutes a relatively accurate result was calculated (the more stations intercepted, the more accurate the result would be). Before seven o'clock, this important piece of information was mobilized into the hands of the commanders of the three task forces on the front.

"Damn, it's only 150 nautical miles from Tagura!" Hao Dongjue watched Tan Renhao mark the location of this signal on the chart, "The deviation is less than 50 nautical miles, which is enough for our bombers to set off directly." ”

Tan Renhao did not rush to speak, but first depicted the sea area where the enemy fleet might exist on the chart.

"It's about 230 nautical miles away from us, not too far, Renhao, let's get our bombers on the road."

Tan Renhao put down the pencil. "Do you think this is Task Force 32 or Task Force 31?"

Hao Dongjue was stunned. "What do you mean? This must be the aircraft carrier fleet of the US military, which is consistent with the direction of entry of its bombers, and it is very likely that it will be two task forces. ”

"This is certainly impossible, if Halsey leaves both task forces here, then his flanks will be completely exposed to our fists!" Tan Renhao's gaze returned to the chart, this signal is 40 degrees south-west of Tagula Island, about 150 nautical miles, only about 120 nautical miles away from the battlefield last night, this distance is indeed too close. "Where is Task Force 4 now?"

"I haven't heard from the Fourth Task Force yet, maybe Huang Xiaotian hasn't rushed over yet."

Tan Renhao hesitated for a moment, what if the Fourth Task Force was still outside the battlefield?