As Spruance expected, Huang Xiaotian did not take the US landing fleet in his eyes at all, and after determining that he would use the "death fleet" to lure the Fifth Fleet, he directly targeted the Fifth Fleet. In Huang Xiaotian's view, if the "Death Fleet" can hold off a bomber of a US task force, then he has the hope of killing the Fifth Fleet, or at least a task force, and then retreating.

The key to achieving a "raid" on the Fifth Fleet is to find the Fifth Fleet in time, that is, it is necessary to find the Fifth Fleet before it is discovered by the Fifth Fleet. There are two key factors in this, one is to roughly judge the sea area where the Fifth Fleet may appear, and the other is to arrange the reconnaissance planes as reasonably as possible, so that the reconnaissance planes can reach the airspace over the Fifth Fleet at the most accurate time!

It is not difficult to judge the sea area where the Fifth Fleet can appear. Using the time when the Fifth Fleet finished bombing Midway, combined with the different speeds that the Fifth Fleet might use, it is possible to determine the extent of the sea area that the Fifth Fleet may have at dawn. Among them, the sea area 200 to 250 nautical miles east of Midway Island is the "center of the circle" and the radius of 350 nautical miles is the sea area where the Fifth Fleet will inevitably appear, because the Fifth Fleet sails such a long distance at night, and the east of the "circle" is the most likely sea area, because the Fifth Fleet will not sail westward. If the Fifth Fleet had been cruising at night, it would have had a much smaller range of possible sea areas. Of course, this is not very likely, unless Spruance thinks that Task Force 4 will not intercept the landing fleet.

The specific work of estimating the possible sea area of the Fifth Fleet is the responsibility of several staff officers, who circle several parts of the sea area on the chart with lines of different colors, and the darker the line, the greater the possibility of the Fifth Fleet appearing in that area. Of course, this is only a purely theoretical analysis. In judging the whereabouts of the Fifth Fleet, it is necessary to consider some factors other than technology, such as the intention of the Fifth Fleet to act, and the landing fleet after it is threatened. What kind of impact will it have on the actions of the Fifth Fleet, etc.

These tasks of figuring out the intentions of the commanders of the enemy fleet were personally completed by Huang Xiaotian and Yan Yulong.

"If Spruance believes that we will attack the landing fleet, he will definitely try to stand between us and the landing fleet, and let the reconnaissance planes set off in time, try to find us first, attack first, and make it impossible for us to attack the landing fleet!"

"Or lie in ambush and use the landing fleet as bait to lure us into the bait." Yan Yulong added.

"Maybe Spruance won't do it this time."

"Why?" Yan Yulong furrowed his eyebrows. He didn't think Spruance was a pound, "benevolent" commander.

"If you think about it carefully, if we pay attention to the telegram in the morning, then we can turn around in the morning at the earliest, and we can attack the US landing fleet in the sea area where the bombers of the Fifth Fleet cannot reach, then he will use the landing fleet as a bait, and in the end, it is very likely that he will lose his wife and lose his troops, and he will not get any good results at all!" Huang Xiaotian lit a cigarette, he didn't know that this was the first cigarette he had smoked in two hours, and he probably had a break. "Therefore, Spruance will not choose to ambush us. The only thing he can do is concentrate on a head-to-head battle with us. Or rather, simply withdraw from the battle and not fight with us! ”

"But if you run away now. Is that too late? Yan Yulong also lit a cigarette, and he was also smoking one after another.

"It's up to Spruance to realize the danger. If the U.S. landing fleet had turned around after being spotted by our speedboats, it might have been able to rush back to Necke Island. ”

"However, the Fifth Fleet had only finished bombing Midway in the evening, and if Spruance had realized that his landing fleet was exposed to our guns, he should have ended the bombing early and rushed over to cover the landing fleet as soon as possible."

Huang Xiaotian nodded. "Even so, Spruance has the potential to return the landing fleet to Necke Island. Of course, whether Spruance did this or not will be known when we receive the report from the Death Fleet. ”

Yan Yulong nodded slightly. "Then we don't have to send reconnaissance planes to find the landing fleet. All reconnaissance aircraft were intensively used in the search for the Fifth Fleet. ”

"I didn't think about looking for the landing fleet of the American army, our first target is the Fifth Fleet!" Huang Xiaotian smiled at Yan Yulong, "Now, Spruance has two choices, one is to withdraw from the battle, and the other is to fight a decisive battle with us. ”

"Unless Spruance knows when we are turning, he will not be able to tell where we are, and will even think that we are far out of the range of the Fifth Fleet Air Force at dawn tomorrow. Then, he would not have thought of a decisive battle with us in the first place. ”

"It's possible, but as long as the U.S. landing fleet is not hit tomorrow, then Spruance will realize that we are still on the battlefield, and of course, he may also think of escaping tonight." Huang Xiaotian clicked on the chart, "If Spruance decides to escape, he can sail south, bypass Gardner Island, and return to the coverage range of the US shore-based air force from the south route." In this way, he will also be able to get a replenishment of combat aircraft tomorrow evening, or the morning after tomorrow. Besides, he could come directly east, but considering that we were going to intercept the landing fleet, Spruance wouldn't take that risk. Finally, he may return to Midway Island westward, but the seaplanes on Midway can still move, and the Fifth Fleet may be spotted by seaplanes on Midway, so Spruance will have to consider the possibility of us bombing Necke Island and the American landing fleet, so it is unlikely that he will go around this big circle. ”

"You're saying that if the Fifth Fleet were to escape, it would choose to pass through the strait between Lysan and Gardner?"

"Yes, the premise is that Spruance decides to run away rather than fight us."

"I don't think there's anything to worry about, now that the Fifth Fleet has been exposed, Spruance won't ignore this issue, then he won't blindly fight with us, because the Fifth Fleet can't afford huge losses."

"But we can't ignore an important issue." Huang Xiaotian sat down, and after throwing away the cigarette butt, he took out another cigarette. "Even if the Fifth Fleet lost a lot of fighters in the bombing of Midway, which is about the same number of aircraft as a fleet aircraft carrier, the Fifth Fleet still has a strong combat strength. There are many more combat aircraft than we do. As long as Spruance takes his chance, he still has the potential to wipe us out, or even avoid our retaliatory blows. ”

"It shouldn't be very likely, unless Spruance believes that their God can manifest."

"If we all look at Spruance as an opponent like that, we're going to lose." Huang Xiaotian took a long breath, "At the beginning, Spruance twice severely damaged the Second Task Force, and twice tied with the First Task Force under unfavorable circumstances. What time was it not when Spruance was seized at a time when everyone else thought there was little hope? ”

Yan Yulong smiled awkwardly, and then scratched his scalp, he did have a little itchy scalp, he hadn't taken a shower and washed his hair for at least ten days, if it weren't for the fact that the officers and soldiers on the battleship didn't take a bath often, and the cabin was often filled with a bad smell of sweat, I'm afraid that the body odor exuded by Yan Yulong's body would be enough to make everyone "stay away" from him.

"Let's put it this way, if I were in Spruance's position now, I wouldn't choose to run away, but would actively look for opportunities for a decisive battle. Even if the chances of winning are very slim. But it's not nothing. And if you give up, you miss every opportunity, and there is a high probability that you will lose the entire counterattack. "Huang Xiaotian is not as clean as Yan Yulong. But he had only taken a shower five days ago. "At present, the US military cannot afford to lose, whether it is the Fifth Fleet or the landing fleet, as long as we succeed in a sneak attack, the US military will lose hope of counterattacking, and will even eventually lose the opportunity to turn defeat into victory in the Pacific Ocean. Therefore, Spruance had to take into account both the Fifth Fleet and the landing fleet. If he does not know that we turn to the ground in the evening, and does not actively seek an opportunity to fight us, then he will fear that we will attack the landing fleet. Therefore. Spruance's only option was to take a gamble and fight us for that slim victory. If he succeeds, he will turn the tide of the battle, and if he fails, he will lose the counterattack at best, and the result will be exactly the same as the annihilation of the landing fleet. After the US military has completely lost the ability and opportunity to make a strategic counterattack, how much of a role can a few more fleet aircraft carriers play? ”

Listen to Huang Xiaotian's analysis of the overall battle situation. Yan Yulong kept nodding his head, he was now humbly being taught, and this was the gap between him, the young chief of staff of the fleet, and the commander of the fleet. As chief of staff of the fleet, his first consideration was the combat operations of his own fleet, which was mostly a matter of tactics. But as the commander of the fleet, Huang Xiaotian would stand in a higher position to decide the actions of the fleet, and this was at least a battle arrangement.

"In other words, we have forced Spruance to fight us in an unfavorable situation, and now he has only one choice, and that is to let the fleet sail northeast!" Huang Xiaotian picked up a pencil and marked a blue route on the chart, and then used a different color pencil to mark a few more lines. "He'll focus on the north, east, and northeast sides of the fleet, because that's where we're most likely to go. In addition, in order to ensure the safety of the landing fleet, he will let the landing fleet go south at full speed at night, so our 'death fleet' will probably not be able to intercept the US landing fleet. ”

"Then we should withdraw it, and now we are less than 300 nautical miles from the 'death fleet' and are within the range of the shortwave radio."

"No, we should let the 'Death Fleet' go to this area!" Huang Xiaotian circled a sea area on the chart, and the end of the blue route was within this range.

"Here?" Yan Yulong glanced at Huang Xiaotian in surprise, "This is asking them to die!" ”

"Even if we let the 'Death Fleet' withdraw now, we will not be able to avoid the bombers of the Fifth Fleet at dawn, and it will definitely reveal our position." Huang Xiaotian also knew that he was doing this, and decided to be too cold-blooded. "There's no way we can save this fleet, and all they can do is attract American bombers, and in addition, disrupt Spruance's arrangements and make Spruance make a wrong judgment!"

"But if we want to deal with the Fifth Fleet, we must enter the strike range of the Fifth Fleet!"

"Yes, so we don't have much chance and give us very little time!" Huang Xiaotian's hand trembled, and the burning cigarette burned him. This time, instead of lighting a cigarette, Huang Xiaotian picked up a pencil and drew a new route on the chart. "We're heading in this direction, and if Spruance's reconnaissance planes find the 'Death Fleet' first and make a wrong judgment, then we have a chance to take out the Fifth Fleet first, at least a task force of the Fifth Fleet first."

Yan Yulong nodded slightly, to put it bluntly, the "Death Fleet" is to attract the attention of the US military.

"The most important question is that if Spruance brings the two task forces together and keeps them at the closest distance, we may have to strike both task forces at the same time." Huang Xiaotian sighed secretly, "With our strength, if we want to attack six aircraft carrier battle groups at the same time, and we attack against the interception of hundreds of fighters, it is unlikely to win, and the loss of pilots will definitely be very huge." ”

"Then we will concentrate our forces on fighting one by one, and arrange as many escort fighters as possible."

"This gives the U.S. military a chance to fight back, and if we don't have enough air defense fighters, and Spruance still has a few aircraft carriers to continue fighting, then we're going to lose the battle!"

Yan Yulong fell silent, he felt that his initial suggestion was a bit stupid.

"However, we have to do something instead of letting the 'Death Fleet' die die die in vain! Perhaps, what miracles will happen, I can't say, right? ”

Both of them can only hold on to this hope, if they can kill six US aircraft carriers in one fell swoop, it will really be a great miracle!