Huang Xiaotian received a message from the theater command at the same time, and at this time he had already sent a seaplane to the Third Task Force and asked Chang Jianxin to help him send the news of the Fourth Task Force to Tan Renhao. But the problem now is that Huang Xiaotian also has to first figure out how Tan Renhao is going to fight, and who should deal with this US task force that has been exposed.

From Huang Xiaotian's standpoint, it was difficult for him to make a decision immediately, and what surprised him even more was that the US task force was so close to him, less than 200 nautical miles! And before that, Huang Xiaotian didn't think of this, and no one could have thought that Halsey would have such courage to put the task force in front of him, but Halsey shouldn't have known that the fourth task force was running so fast!

When the staff officer marked the sea area where the radio waves appeared on the chart, Huang Xiaotian was still thinking. There is at least one U.S. aircraft carrier task force here, and it is likely to be the 32nd task force, which can be deduced from the time its bombers arrived on Tagura Island, and Halsey will not use Task Force 31 to attack Tagura, and in addition, Halsey will never let Task Force 31 be exposed until the Fourth Task Force is found, or even destroyed.

Therefore, it is very likely that it is Task Force 32 that is giving the signal now, and it should be Mitchell who reports the results of the bombing to Halsey!

The staff officer quickly marked the target location, and as soon as Huang Xiaotian saw the location of the fleets on the chart, he immediately knew the number in his heart. Task Force 1 is about 25 nautical miles from the target area, while Task Force 4 is about 180 nautical miles from the target area, in other words. At this time, Task Force 4 was closest to the target. But the question is, the 1st Task Force does not know the whereabouts of the 4th Task Force for the time being, so will the bombers be dispatched first? If Task Force 1 were still holding on to Task Force 31. Will it stand still?

Thinking of these two diametrically opposed questions, Huang Xiaotian had a headache. In fact. The best thing to do now is to contact Task Force 1 immediately, communicate with both sides, and then know what to do. However, if the Fourth Task Force had sent a telegram, it would have been intercepted and then attacked by the US military. What to do?

Time waits for no one.

If this stalemate continues, then the US military will definitely take action, even if it is the 32nd task force, then there are six small aircraft carriers, an extremely powerful aviation strike force, if this fleet is allowed to strike first, then both the first task force and the fourth task force will definitely be dangerous!

"Let the first batch of departing bomber pilots gather, in addition", Huang Xiaotian didn't think much about it. "Get a squadron of fighters ready for takeoff."

The staff officer didn't ask much and immediately went to give the order. This is the rule of the Fourth Task Force, and most of the staff officers were brought out by Huang Xiaotian. They were well aware of the temper of this young commander, who had trained them with the most brutal means.

Huang Xiaotian made a decision in a very short period of time, the bombers of the Fourth Task Force were enough to form two bomber groups, and each bomber group had enough strength. Send a group of bombers to deal with the U.S. fleet that has been exposed, leaving one to deal with the fleet that hasn't yet appeared. This is perhaps the best option.

"Is there a report from the reconnaissance plane? Did we have any reconnaissance planes flying in that direction? ”

"General, the reconnaissance planes have not returned yet, but we have at least three reconnaissance planes patrolling over there, and they will arrive in about ten to fifteen minutes."

"Very good, I'll go to the aviation operations center first, there's news, come and inform me immediately."

The ground pilots of the Fourth Task Force were immediately mobilized, and after more than a year of training, the quality of these pilots has improved a lot, and a large number of ground aces (bombing aces, combat aces) have emerged. Although the Fourth Task Force did not take part in several large-scale decisive naval battles, its advantage was that the loss rate of pilots was always the lowest among the three aircraft carrier task forces, and at least seventy percent of the pilots in the ground were still serving in the Fourth Task Force when it was first established.

The pilot loss rate of the other two task forces is quite amazing, for example, up to now, there are less than 20% of the old pilots of the first task force, and less than 10% of the old pilots of the second task force!

Whether as acting commander or as commander of the Fourth Task Force, Huang Xiaotian was personally in charge of the fleet's aviation operations, and he reached a tacit understanding with the two chiefs of staff before and after, that in the Fourth Task Force, the commander was responsible for aviation operations, and the chief of staff of the fleet was responsible for navigation work. This is also a relatively special situation, because in the 1st Task Force and the 2nd Task Force, the commander is responsible for navigation operations, and the chief of staff is responsible for aviation operations.

It took only 10 minutes to issue the bombing mission, and the relevant plans had already been drawn up. Huang Xiaotian assigned two sets of tasks to these pilots: if it was the 31st Task Force, it would be bombed in the same way as attacking three fleet aircraft carriers, and if it was found that it was the 32nd Task Force, it would be bombed in the same way as attacking six small aircraft carriers. And the bomber group will depart after the reconnaissance aircraft has returned an exact report.

Ten minutes later, the communications staff officer received news that the reconnaissance plane had spotted the enemy fleet and confirmed that there were six small aircraft carriers, more than twenty escort warships, and no large warships. Within two minutes, another reconnaissance aircraft sent back the same report. And these two reconnaissance planes also lost contact with the fleet one after another. At this time, Huang Xiaotian returned to the command cabin, and after letting the carrier-based bombers set off one after another, he gave a new order.

"Contact Task Force 1 and report on our situation, as well as the discovery of reconnaissance aircraft."

"General, our seaplanes have already gone to Task Force 3, do we need to send another seaplane over?"

"No, send a telegram directly to Task Force 1!" Huang Xiaotian glanced at the communications staff officer, "Report our location, the discovery of the reconnaissance plane, and the situation of the 32nd task force found." Also, report on the situation that we have sent the first batch of bombers. ”

The communications staff officer was secretly shocked, didn't he expose himself?

"Why are you still stunned? Go and send a telegram! ”

The communications staff did not hesitate any longer. Immediately go and draw up the telegram and prepare to send it.

Huang Xiaotian let out a sigh, and now he had shot the first sharp arrow. The rest of the ground will depend on whether Task Force 32 can block this round of attacks. The most important point is: Huang Xiaotian did not immediately order the second batch of bombers to also go on the road, except that he wanted to wait until he attacked the first task force, the second batch of bombers also needed about half an hour of preparation time, so they could not set off for the time being.

Just when Huang Xiaotian breathed a sigh of relief, the fleet's air defense alarm suddenly sounded. He was startled and immediately looked at the staff officer in charge of the air defense of the fleet, and then the chief of staff of the fleet also rushed in, at which point the air defense alarm was suddenly lifted.

"The enemy reconnaissance plane, in a 270-degree direction, has flown over."

"Where are our fighters?" Huang Xiaotian rushed behind the porthole on the front right side.

"It's already up, it's too late, the reconnaissance plane is in front of us, within 5 nautical miles."

Huang Xiaotian had already seen the reconnaissance plane, and it was indeed too late. By the time the fighter flew over, the reconnaissance plane had already spotted the surface of the flotilla. At this time, the two "Falcons" responsible for the air defense of the fleet had already rushed head-on, and soon knocked down the unlucky SBD.

"Identified as an SBD reconnaissance aircraft. A telegram has been sent, and ...... And ......"

"And what?" Huang Xiaotian turned his head and looked at the staff officer.

"And two telegrams were sent in a row, and the second time was not finished."

Huang Xiaotian gritted his teeth. "Immediately contact all reconnaissance aircraft, focusing on searching directly west of the fleet. Report as soon as you spot an enemy fleet, pay attention, report immediately, don't wait until the carrier is confirmed before issuing a report! ”

The staff officers were all busy, and now Huang Xiaotian didn't have to worry about exposing the fleet because of sending a report to the first task force. That reconnaissance plane must have been sent by the US fleet, but was it sent by the 31st Task Force or the 32nd Task Force? Huang Xiaotian had no way to confirm. He somewhat regretted not expanding the patrol range of the fleet's air defense fighters to more than 30 nautical miles, so that it was quite possible to shoot them down before the enemy reconnaissance aircraft discovered the fleet. However, in order to ensure the concealment of the fleet itself, the air defense fighters of the fleet generally patrol within a radius of 20 nautical miles before the official contact with the enemy, which can increase the patrol density of the air defense fighters, and in addition, it can also reduce the chance of the fleet being exposed.

Huang Xiaotian quickly issued a series of orders, including the second batch of bombers to prepare for departure immediately, in addition to the 24 escort fighters, the other 60 fighters in the fleet should be lifted into the air within an hour, and the fighters that rose into the air after dawn were to return to the two small aircraft carriers to refuel. In addition, the patrol radius of air defense fighters was expanded to 40 nautical miles, the radars on all air defense warships in the fleet had to be activated immediately, the fleet was transferred to an air defense formation, and so on.

At this time, in the first task force, Tan Renhao and Hao Dongjue were also busy. Before Huang Xiaotian's telegram arrived, Tan Renhao made a decision, which was to prepare the first batch of bombers for takeoff. However, he did not rush to contact the reconnaissance planes in front, and according to Hao Dongjue's deployment, at least four reconnaissance planes would fly to the sea area where radio waves appeared at about 7:50 a.m., and he only had to wait patiently for half an hour. It was at this time that Huang Xiaotian's telegram came, followed by a second telegram.

"The 4th Task Force has found its target, and it is confirmed that it is the 32nd Task Force, which has six small aircraft carriers and no large escort warships." Hao Dongjue gave the first telegram to Tan Renhao, and then read the second telegram, "It's a pity that the Fourth Task Force has been discovered, Huang Xiaotian has preliminarily determined that it is the reconnaissance plane of the 31st Task Force, and his reconnaissance plane has not yet found the 31st Task Force, but he has already contacted all the reconnaissance planes and headed for the sea area where the 31st Task Force is most likely to appear, and it will be discovered within about half an hour." ”

"Let's not take off our first bombers yet." Tan Renhao quickly read the first telegram, "He only sent the first batch of bombers, even if he can't completely destroy the 32nd task force, at least it can make it incapacitated, and those six small aircraft carriers can't withstand bombs." The key task now is that we must find Task Force 31 immediately. ”

When the staff officer went to keep the first batch of bombers on the flight deck, Hao Dongjue walked to the chart table and quickly marked a range on it. "This area has been searched by our reconnaissance aircraft, and the possibility of Task Force 31 being in this area is very small."

"Then they must be in the sea we haven't looked for." Talking about Renhao is equivalent to not saying this.

"The reconnaissance planes completed the reconnaissance operation between half past eight and eight fifty, and we probably still had half of the range without searching."

Tan Renhao nodded slightly, in the south of the 32nd Task Force, there are no reconnaissance planes flying over in the southwest sea area, so the 31st Task Force is very likely to organize a sea area. But the problem is that this sea area is also extremely vast, and it is impossible for bombers to blindly search for it.

Where the hell is Halsey? Tan Renhao's eyes searched back and forth on the chart, as if he could see the name of the name. Task Force 32 is close to Tagura, so will Task Force 31 be near Task Force 32? Or is Task Force 31 far away?

Here's the crux of the matter, how Halsey will deploy his two carrier task forces.

When Tan Renhao's eyes fell on the telegram in Hao Dongjue's hand, he suddenly thought of one point, that is, he found that the reconnaissance plane of the Fourth Task Force was flying from the west, and the 32nd Task Force was about 50 degrees north-west of the Fourth Task Force. In other words, Huang Xiaotian's judgment was not wrong, this was a reconnaissance plane departing from the 31st Task Force.

Tan Renhao immediately took the Fourth Task Force as the apex and traced a triangular sea area, on the top of which there were reconnaissance planes active, and reconnaissance planes flew within 200 nautical miles of the Fourth Task Force. In other words, Task Force 31 is definitely 200 nautical miles away from Task Force 4, while US reconnaissance planes have a patrol radius of up to 300 nautical miles, which means that the sea area where Task Force 31 is located is certainly very limited.

Thinking of this, Tan Renhao laughed, Halsey is indeed a difficult opponent to deal with, but compared to Spruance, Halsey is too reckless!