For Spruance, even though he was a general who was known for his patience, especially in his fifties, which was enough to prove his patience, he still seemed a little anxious as he waited for news from the reconnaissance plane. The staff officer on the commander's bridge also noticed Spruance's anxious appearance, and those officers who had been with Spruance for many years rarely saw the general look so uneasy.

By half-past seven, Spruance was looking at his watch every five minutes. By this time, the reconnaissance plane had already flown 220 to 250 nautical miles. For the carrier-based bombers of the Tang Empire, this was a relatively ideal strike distance, while for the carrier-based bombers of the US army, 250 nautical miles was already the limit. If the enemy fleet is detected at a distance of 250 nautical miles from the fleet, it will have to be considered to delay the attack, or to approach the fleet at full speed after the departure of the bomber group, rather than retreating at high speed. Neither option should do any good!

As the minutes ticked by, Spruance looked at his watch more and more often. By eight o'clock, he couldn't sit still.

"Did you get any message?"

"General, there hasn't been a telegram back from any reconnaissance plane, are we going to move on?"

Spruance hesitated for a moment and said, "The fleet accelerates to 33 knots, and in addition, let the aviation combat staff come over." ”

The aviation operations staff officer was sweating profusely when he ran over, and he must have been in a hurry.

"Immediately prepare the second batch of reconnaissance aircraft." Spruance didn't give the other side a chance to speak, "Maybe we missed the enemy fleet, maybe the enemy fleet is near us." ”

"General. Which direction are we searching in this time? ”

Spruance was stunned for a moment, immediately looked towards the aviation combat staff officer, and then asked, "What did you start talking about?" ”

"General. I said......" The aviation operations staff officer thought he was starting to say the wrong thing, "which direction should we search?" ”

Spruance pressed his hand. Then he pondered.

The aviation operations staff officer waited for a while and then asked: "General, are we going to send a reconnaissance plane to go?" ”

"No, no, you go and get the pilot ready first. Come back in ten minutes. ”

The aviation operations staff officer didn't ask much, anyway, he had already developed a habit, and working under Spruance was better off talking less and doing more.

Spruance laughed as he thought about it, and walked over to the chart.

There is a reason why he started to be impatient, Lei Shaoqing may be extremely cautious, then he will stay in the waters of Wake Island, and as an excellent commander, Lei Shaoqing can judge the approximate location of the 52nd Task Force from the situation on the battlefield. and even approximate whereabouts. If this is the case, then Task Force 2 is now approaching Task Force 52 at full speed, and there is a good chance that Task Force 52 will be found early tomorrow morning. Then deliver a fatal blow.

At that time, Task Force 51 was still hanging around at Midway, and it would not be able to support Task Force 52 at all. This is the worst possible outcome, and the entire counterattack operation will be seriously affected.

It will even be a complete failure. After the 52nd Task Force is finished, Spruance will not be able to advance or retreat, not only will he not be able to support the Midway Ground Marines, but he will also be entangled by the Second Task Force and unable to get out!

It is precisely because of this that Spruance decided to continue to send a group of reconnaissance aircraft, maybe the second task force is nearby, or the reconnaissance aircraft sent out before missed the target, who can guarantee these? But it was the words of the aviation operations staff officer that reminded Spruance that there were no loopholes in his reconnaissance network, but that this reconnaissance network was not wide enough!

After looking at the charts for a while, Spruance realized that he had always overlooked, and that was that he had always believed that Task Force 2 would not get too close to Midway.

Obviously, there is something wrong with this judgment.

Originally, Spruance made this judgment on the basis that Task Force 2 did not want to fight a decisive battle with it, so it wanted to avoid battle, which was the fundamental reason why Task Force 2 withdrew from Midway to fight, so there was no reason for Task Force 2 to continue to stay in the waters near Midway, and the distance from Midway should be above 250 nautical miles. It was precisely on the basis of this judgment that Spruance let Task Force 51 sail to the sea area 25 degrees north-west of Midway Island and about 550 nautical miles from Midway Island, and the reconnaissance plane he sent to search for the area was 60 degrees plus or minus to the south and a radius of 300 nautical miles, that is, even the easternmost reconnaissance plane was about 200 nautical miles away from Midway, and there were no reconnaissance planes in the sea area within 200 nautical miles west of Midway!

This vulnerability has been ignored before. When Spruance came to his senses, he found that if the second task force did not avoid the battle, but hid itself and prepared for a decisive battle, it was very likely to approach Midway Island and use the dozens of reconnaissance planes on Midway Island to help the fleet search for targets, and the second task force was very likely to be within 200 nautical miles of Midway Island, and it was to the west or northwest of Midway!

Spruance did not just do a mental analysis, he personally depicted the coverage area of the reconnaissance aircraft on the chart, and immediately discovered that there was a large reconnaissance blind area in the southeast direction of the reconnaissance team, and this was the area where the second task force was likely to exist.

By the time he had thought about it, the aviation operations staff officer had already rushed back.

"General, the pilots are ready to go."

"This sea." Spruance called the aviation operations staff officer to the chart, "In the southeast direction of the fleet, send at least 30 reconnaissance planes, with a search radius of 250 nautical miles, with a maximum interval of 15 nautical miles, and let the reconnaissance planes take off as soon as possible." ”

The aviation operations staff officer quickly recorded the basic data on the charts.

"Also, the bomber group must be ready to go as soon as possible, let all the bombers hang up bombs and torpedoes, and set off as soon as they receive the news." Spruance sighed, "After the reconnaissance plane departs, let the air defense fighters come back, send all the remaining fighters out to carry out the fleet air defense mission, and the returning fighters will perform escort missions." ”

"Any other orders?"

Spruance shook his hand and let the aviation operations staff leave. His gaze returned to the charts. The first reconnaissance planes returned between half past nine and ten o'clock. These reconnaissance planes could also be armed for bombing missions, and by that time, he would still have enough dive bombers in his hands. And there is no need to worry about the insufficient number of dive bombers.

If his judgment is correct this time, then he will definitely be able to find the second task force. If it was wrong, then it would only prove that Task Force 2 was pursuing Task Force 52, and he should have been prepared to send a message to Turner to make Turner flee for his life immediately.

Southeast of Spruance Land. Lei Shaoqing was also anxious. The reconnaissance plane had reached the maximum patrol radius at about 7:40 a.m., but there was still no news. These reconnaissance planes flew only ten minutes in the maximum patrol radius and then returned to the fleet, that is, they returned to the fleet at about half past nine. However, until eight o'clock, Lei Shaoqing did not receive any news except that the Marine Corps was continuing to launch a counterattack, and the US bombers did not appear again, which no longer meant much to him.

Where is Spruance, this is also a question that Lei Shaoqing is thinking about. He had just asked Zheng Guanhua to arrange for a group of "waterbirds" that were supposed to carry out bombing missions to prepare for takeoff.

If the first batch of reconnaissance planes is not harvested, he will have to send a second batch of reconnaissance planes. And Lei Shaoqing also encountered a problem at the same time, that is. In which direction this batch of reconnaissance aircraft was sent.

The sea area covered by the first batch of reconnaissance planes was clearly marked on the chart, which Zheng Guanhua had depicted before 8 o'clock, and the 36 routes were marked at intervals of every 10 minutes, indicating the sea area where the reconnaissance planes were located at that time. It's a very meticulous job. Originally, the aviation combat staff officer was supposed to be in charge, but Zheng Guanhua did it himself, and he had been an aviation combat staff officer for a long time before, so he was extremely familiar with this kind of work.

Lei Shaoqing lay on the chart table and looked at it for a while, and he also found a problem, that is, there were no reconnaissance planes arranged in the northwest direction of the fleet.

When arranging the route of the first batch of reconnaissance planes, he discussed with Zheng Guanhua twice, and in the end both of them believed that the most likely appearance of the US fleet would be to the north and northeast. The 30 or so long-range reconnaissance planes on Midway Island will be responsible for searching the north side of Midway Island within a range of plus or minus 40 degrees, and Han Shaofeng had already sent a telegram before dawn, and these reconnaissance planes took off one after another after half past five, and the search distance was 450 nautical miles, so the search flight time was as long as eight hours, and it was necessary to return to replenish fuel at noon. The search range of the carrier-based reconnaissance aircraft was northwest of Midway, that is, north of the fleet.

At this time, Task Force 2 continued its voyage north about 30 degrees north-west of Midway, about 200 nautical miles from Midway. This can be measured from the distance between Task Force 2 and Task Force 52. The shore-based reconnaissance planes and carrier-based reconnaissance planes on the island cover exactly 350 nautical miles north and northwest of Midway, and the east-west width is about 800 nautical miles. And this is the sea area where Lei Shaoqing and Zheng Guanhua judged that the main fleet of the US military is most likely to appear.

But by now, all the reconnaissance planes have been in place, but nothing has been found!

Lei Shaoqing also quickly noticed the blank area in the northwest direction of the fleet, in the lower left of the reconnaissance fan. Because the reconnaissance aircraft departed in a radiant manner, the reconnaissance range was a fan, and the closer to the fleet, the smaller the width of the fan, and the larger the blind zone. So, is it possible that the Mimi team will appear in this area?

At this time, Zheng Guanhua happened to return to the command cabin, Lei Shaoqing immediately called him over, and then circled this sea area on the chart. "Do you think it's possible that the U.S. fleet will appear here?"

Zheng Guanhua glanced at the area on the chart and immediately frowned. "You mean, Spruance went to our west?"

"He should have plenty of time to maneuver, the question is, does he have a reason?"

Zheng Guanhua nodded slightly. "If he maneuvered to our west, then the only reason was that he thought we would flee back to Guam, or far from Midway, so he would let the fleet get here and wait for us to return to the waters of Midway."

"Now that the U.S. fleet has bombed Midway, if we are not prepared, Han Shaofeng will send a call for help, and as Spruance, he will definitely judge that we will return to the war zone after receiving the request of the Marine Corps, right?" Lei Shaoqing looked at the chief of staff, "And we will definitely maneuver to the waters near Midway Island, whether we are to the west or to avoid the direction of Wake Island, in order to avoid being attacked from the southeast, we will try to keep the fleet in the west of Midway Island, or a little south-west of the sea area." ”

"If this happens to be Spruance's plan, then there's a good chance he'll be in this area."

Lei Shaoqing let out a sigh. "So, let's hurry up and try to find him as soon as possible!"

Zheng Guanhua did not wait for Lei Shaoqing to directly give an order, but first asked the pilots who were preparing for the departure to assemble at the aviation operations center by telephone, and then took a communications officer to the aviation operations center. If he wants to arrange a new reconnaissance mission immediately, he needs to convey more information to the pilots, and he also has to let the reconnaissance planes on other aircraft carriers depart, so he needs a communications officer to help him send orders to other aircraft carriers.

The fleet was busy, and Lei Shaoqing sat down. He was extremely tired, and at this moment he felt as if a gong had been struck in his head. He did not know whether this judgment was correct, he only believed that if the fleet was threatened, then the threat could only come from the northwest. At this time, there were hundreds of reconnaissance planes operating in the north and northeast of the fleet, and even if Spruance commanded a submarine fleet, it would be difficult for him to pass through this impermeable reconnaissance network and then launch an attack. Therefore, he should only be vigilant in the northwest direction, which is the direction where enemy reconnaissance planes and bombers are most likely to arrive.

Soon, the first reconnaissance plane departed, and the 36 "waterfowl" sent out this time were all bombers that were temporarily used as reconnaissance planes.

Lei Shaoqing also walked to the porthole, watching those planes leave the sky over the fleet one after another, what he can do has been done, if he hasn't found it yet, then Tan Renhao's judgment must be wrong!

Just when Lei Shaoqing was thinking about whether Tan Renhao was guessing randomly, the communications staff officer ran over and sent a telegram from Midway, the latest battle report of the Marine Corps.