By the time Spruance was resting during the day, Task Force 51 had sailed more than three hundred nautical miles westward, and when he arrived at the Commander's Bridge in the evening, the fleet continued to sail westward. After listening to the report of the staff officer on duty, Spruance again corrected the course of the fleet, and then went to dinner.

Spruance was one of those who never showed his inner workings, he was a calm general, and almost no one saw him agitated. In Spruance's heart, he is still easily excited, but only he knows every time. While it was time for dinner, Spruance thought again about his arrangement. The scheduled interception time was early in the morning, and he could send bombers at a distance of about 150 nautical miles from the landing fleet of the Don Empire. Therefore, there is no need to consider the air defense of the fleet itself, but to deal with transport ships and landing ships with weak air defense, and he can also arrange for fighter planes to hang bombs and rockets to carry out bombing missions.

In this way, the three small aircraft carriers could send all 135 fighters in two batches, guaranteed to be able to destroy the landing fleet of the Tang Empire.

The whole combat operation was very risky, and the premise was that the 1st Task Force was at least 800 nautical miles away in front of the landing fleet, and Tan Renhao did not realize that the landing fleet was threatened, so at least he did not ask the 1st Task Force to abandon the bombing of Midway Island and turn back to cover the landing fleet. Spruance was not worried about this, and he also knew something about Tan Renhao, the commander of the fleet of the Tang Empire. If Task Force 1's number one mission was to bomb Midway, he wouldn't have given up on that mission easily. Even if Tan Renhao was aware of the vulnerability of the landing fleet, he would most likely have sounded the alarm. And in the case that the 1st Task Force was too far from the landing fleet. Contacting with a longwave radio station is the best option. But at the same time, the telegram sent by Task Force 1 would definitely expose it, and the result would be a ground attack by hundreds of bombers on Midway! Would Tan Renhao do that? Apparently not. This is Spruance's judgment based on perception.

After dinner, Spruance returned to the Commander's Bridge. After asking the staff officer to prepare a cup of coffee for him, he sat on the high chair in front of the chart as usual, looking at the chart and thinking, he would not often bother the busy staff officers. This is a major feature of Spruance's command of fleet operations. Thinking quietly allows him to think about more aspects, more possibilities, and he doesn't like the staff officers to bother him too often. The staff officers who had followed Spruance to the "Independence" took on the main job and did not distract Spruance.

At 9:55 a.m., Spruance received an extremely important message.

"Are you sure?"

"General, we are absolutely sure that these are all voice signals, and judging by their characteristics, they are emitted by the seaplane radio station carried on the cruiser of the Tang Empire. The signal was extremely weak, and we were able to determine it after receiving it three times in a row. There is no way to determine its exact location, only to roughly determine that we are between 300 and 800 nautical miles away. ”

Spruance glanced at the staff officer and jumped out of the high chair. The radios equipped on the seaplanes of the Tang Empire differed from those on the bombers. The communication distance of its voice signal is within 300 nautical miles, which is much shorter than that on bombers. In addition, he also had a good understanding of the performance of the seaplanes carried on the cruisers of the Tang Empire, and the maximum range of this three-seater seaplane was 600 nautical miles. In the case of reducing irrelevant equipment, or even reducing one crew member, and carrying as much fuel as possible, its maximum flight range is also within 800 nautical miles. But the problem is that there are no cruisers in the landing fleet, and there is no need to arrange heavy cruisers to escort the landing fleet, only the first task force has cruisers, so the first task force is nearby?

Spruance first felt the danger, but then he decided it was impossible. The staff officer marked on the chart the approximate location of the successive signals. After the radio station on the battleship intercepted these signals, the communications officer used the distance of the signal displacement to calculate the approximate location, and the error was quite large, and it was not at all comparable to the accuracy calculated by the ground station. And there are no terrestrial radio stations of the US military in the vicinity (none of the islands).

Just as Spruance was walking to the chart, another staff officer ran over to report a new situation: a second radio signal, also a voice signal, had appeared in the southwest sea of the fleet, and it appeared in the same sea area as the previous one.

"Two seaplanes?"

Spruance nodded slightly, then looked at the chart. What do these two signals mean? Is Task Force 1 really nearby? Or was it just misinformation, or were those two seaplanes from Wake Island? The shore-based long-range patrol aircraft of the Tang Empire also had voice signal radios on board, could it be the latter possibility?

Soon, Spruance determined that if Task Force 1 had given up the bombing of Midway, then there would be no need for Tan Renhao to contact the landing fleet at night by water plane, wouldn't it be faster and faster to send a telegram directly? Therefore, it was impossible for the First Task Force to be in the vicinity of the landing fleet, and Tan Renhao continued to advance in the direction of Midway. So, what kind of signal did these two seaplanes send, or what message did Tan Renhao want to convey?

There are too many possibilities, which makes Spruance feel suspicious, he can't completely rule out the possibility that the first task force is not far in front of the landing fleet, and at the same time, he can't rule out that these two planes took off from Wake Island, and he can't rule out that Tan Renhao is continuing to kill Midway, so which is more likely, or should you adjust the battle plan?

Spruance thought about it for a long time, unable to make a final decision, until around half past twelve, a telegram from the theater command made Spruance feel that he had seized the opportunity.

"Our radio station also measured this long-wave signal, which should have been sent from the landing fleet." The staff officer quickly sent the telegram over, "The theater command has also confirmed this, and the sea area where the radio waves appeared is 45 nautical miles south of us. This is consistent with our previous calculations of the sea area where the Tang Empire's landing fleet is probably located. ”

That is to say. Is this a signal from the landing fleet? Spruance glanced at the cable, and the telegram from the theater command did not have much substance, except to mention that it was a signal from a battleship. There are no islands in that area. In addition, this was by no means a signal from the submarine of the Tang Empire, and the telegram was not sent from the submarine radio.

"It's entirely possible, and it's very likely."

Spruance nodded, and let the staff officer leave first. At this time, the approximate range of the signal is indicated on the chart. When Spruance combined the sea area of the three radio signals before and after. He suddenly realized something.

This must have been Tan Renhao issuing a warning to the landing fleet, and the landing fleet sent a call back to the first task force after receiving the warning! Spruance quickly confirmed this idea, the Tang Imperial Navy commanded the landing fleet of the generals of the Marine Corps, not the generals of the naval fleet, and before that, the landing fleet did not participate in the front-line fleet operations, and it was natural that the Marine generals were not familiar with the situation of naval warfare, so they did not realize the importance of ensuring the concealment of the fleet.

Of course, there is still no way to rule out other possibilities. It's just that this is the most likely!

Now, Spruance is sure. If Task Force 1 was nearby, then Tan Renhao had no reason to warn the landing fleet, but would have laid an ambush and preemptively found Task Force 51. And preemptively bombing, by taking the initiative to strike to remove the threat to the landing fleet. Although this would put the landing fleet in danger, Tan Renhao would definitely do it.

And since Tan Renhao has issued a warning, this proves that the First Task Force is not in the waters near here, and is still continuing to rush to Midway. So, in this case, what arrangements will Tan Renhao make?

Thinking about this, Spruance was even more sure. The purpose of Tan Renhao's warning was to make the landing fleet avoid danger and turn ahead of time, and maybe even delay the landing time. So, in which direction exactly is the landing fleet turning? When Spruance saw Wake Island on the chart, he immediately understood. If Tan Renhao had realized the danger, he would first have judged that the 51st Task Force was to the north of the landing fleet, not to the south, and the reason was very simple, there were islands such as Wake Island, the Marshall Islands, and the Caroline Islands to the south, and it was impossible for the 51st Task Force to appear in this direction. If the landing fleet returns to the east, it will be delayed for more time and will not necessarily be able to avoid the attack. The best way is to move south, enter the cover range of shore-based fighters on Wake Island as soon as possible, and get the protection of shore-based aviation, so as to avoid the attack of American bombers.

"The fleet is ready to turn to acceleration." Spruance turned back to the nautical staff officer on duty, then picked up a scale and pencil and quickly marked a new course on the chart, "Follow this course, at a speed of 24 knots." In addition, let the aviation combat staff come over and bring the fleet into combat readiness. ”

"General, this route ......"

"Go and give orders." Spruance didn't explain much.

After the nautical staff officer walked away, the aviation combat staff officer came to the commander's bridge. By this time, Spruance had already marked a new area of the sea on the chart.

"Our reconnaissance aircraft must leave the fleet at half past five." Spruance clicked on the newly marked sea area on the chart, and then quickly gave the order, "Each aircraft carrier will send five reconnaissance planes to search this sea area in an all-round way!" ”

"It's not the same as our previous battle plan."

"Yes, I just revised the battle plan." Spruance glanced at his watch, it was already half past one, "Go and arrange it, after the reconnaissance plane departs, immediately prepare the bomber group for departure, and shorten the interval between the two attack waves to a minimum." ”

"Then we have to start preparing for the attack now.

"No problem, let's start preparing now." Spruance nodded, "Go and arrange it immediately, in addition, before dawn, let the fleet go into air defense, and the radar on the cruiser will be ready in advance." ”

The relevant orders were immediately conveyed, and the three small aircraft carriers in the fleet were also lively.

Before, Spruance was not so tightly arranged, as a result many aviation crews were resting, and after the combat readiness order was issued, aviation crews were mobilized, began to inspect the bombers, and prepared ammunition and fuel. These tasks take a lot of time and are very labor-intensive. Spruance was well aware of the quality of the fleet air force's orderlies, and probably really spent hours preparing for the attack. Sometimes, Spruance had to envy his opponents and the quality of the officers and men of the Tang Empire, and this was the basic condition that Spruance lacked the most.

The small carrier "Independence" began to turn first, and the other warships in the fleet followed suit, and the signalman on the flagship signaled the new order to the other two carriers by light. Therefore, the efficiency of sending commands by light signals was very low, so ten minutes later, the aviation crews on the other two aircraft carriers were called up and began to busily prepare the bombers for takeoff.

After giving a new order, Spruance went to the gangway outside, where a staff officer brought him hot coffee. By this time, Spruance had completely calmed down. His action was very adventurous, but the rewards after the adventure were also very huge. As long as the Tang Empire's landing fleet is successfully intercepted, then the threat to Midway will be lifted, at least the Tang Empire Marines will not be able to land on Midway again in the short term. If the 51st Task Force can still retreat in its entirety, then he can still contain the First Task Force so that the First Task Force will not dare to rashly bomb Midway, and will even cancel the bombing of Midway.

Judging by the outcome of this campaign, Spruance could have taken risks to achieve the ultimate goal. Now, what he was most worried about was whether the commander of the Tang Empire's fleet would see through his plan and be prepared. If so, then Task Force 51 was on its way to death, and Task Force 1 must have been waiting not far ahead, also preparing for a bombing operation after dawn. Thinking of this, Spruance suddenly laughed, perhaps, he should really know more about the Tang Empire admiral who had fought with him twice.