The reason why Hori Teki was so sad and crying was of course because the bait fleet faced many crises, low defense ability, and division of troops and acted in broad daylight, was almost like a "death" banner on his forehead, but it would not be possible if he didn't do this, because Halsey refused to divide his troops yesterday and still carried 550 planes to carry a group of actions. If he refused to divide his troops, he or Kakuda would not be able to eat them easily. He and Kakuda might even throw the bait to his opponent, so he thought he could take advantage of the opportunity to divide the troops.

Before the decoy fleet was separated, Hori Teiki had already telegrammed Kakuda and Tsukahara to inform us of the change of the formation and asked them to make corresponding adjustments based on the current Halsey's direction: Tsukahara accelerates the northward journey, Kakuda adjusts its course and accelerates the reconciliation with the decoy fleet.

15 minutes later, Tsukahara sent a telegram informing the fleet that it is currently nearly 1,300 kilometers away from the Halsey fleet. Even if it takes the maximum speed (25 knots of Nagamon), it will be difficult to reach the strike position before this evening. I hope to place the total attack time tomorrow morning.

Halsey knew that there was a Japanese fleet behind him, but he lost the fleet after the other party left the Mexican waters. He didn't know that Tsukahara had been chasing him hard, and subconsciously thought that the fleet was still far away. Tsukahara conducted the last refueling operation before leaving Panama, replenishing all the oil from the warship with tankers, and then allowed the tanker to protect some warships to stand by on Galapagos Island. He led the main force north and rushed to more than 23 knots in a day. However, he was much more restrained than Kakuda. Although he was also rushing at high speed, he would never sail to more than 25 knots.

Starting from the afternoon of the 26th, after more than 60 hours of chasing, he has reduced the distance from Halsey from 1,900 kilometers to within 1,300 kilometers. Although it is still a bit far away, it is no longer out of reach.

Based on the information disclosed in this telegram, Chiaki Matsuda was hesitating whether to implement the "bait" strategy, and to be closer to Tsukahara, but Hori Teki still firmly ordered the implementation because if the US military does not divide its troops tonight and the Second Air Force will not get supplies, there will be major problems in the north tomorrow. At that time, Musashi will be drawn, and King Kong's oil may not be good.

"William, I discovered another Japanese fleet, with 2 regular aircraft carriers and 2 battleships..." McCain shouted in surprise, "It was the fleet that attacked Seattle."

At 14:38 pm that day, the TF50 fleet finally found the Kakuda fleet that had been searching for for a long time. It was not because the US reconnaissance plane suddenly exerted force, but after receiving the telegram from Hori Teiki, Kakuda boldly adjusted the course to 225 degrees. After several hours of driving, the distance between Halsey and Halsey was quickly shortened, which finally made the US reconnaissance plane discover the Kakuda's distance to 960 kilometers.

Kakuda is certainly taking risks when doing this, but he also has a lot of confidence:

First, the 29 aircraft that Hori Teiki supplied him have landed safely. Now the second aircraft battles are basically full, with a total of 141 aircraft. If Halsey forms a fast column, the strength of both sides can be fought;

Secondly, Hori Teiki sent a bait formation and drove at 45 degrees. The second flight battle was 225 degrees, and the two sides were heading toward each other. The bait fleet speed was 15 knots, and Kakuda maintained 16 knots. After the combined total speed was 31 knots, the distance between each other could be shortened by 55 kilometers per hour. The route was adjusted from Kakuda, especially after the separation of the bait fleet from the Five Fleet, the distance between the two sides was shortened to only 970 kilometers in less than 5 hours. If the current speed was maintained, the distance between the two sides would be further reduced to 750 kilometers when the sun set at 6:30.

On the surface, if the gap is continued to be shortened at this speed, it will not be able to meet until dawn the next day. But Kakuda had already considered it very clearly that this speed is not the maximum speed, and there is still room for improvement: he is planning to speed up the fleet after nightfall, use the last bit of fuel to above 27 knots, and then ask the bait fleet to increase the speed to 16 knots accordingly (fast speed). The two fleets continued to maintain the course and combined the 43 knots of extreme speed.

According to this strategy, the distance between the two parties can be shortened by 80 kilometers per hour, and it takes only 9 and a half hours to meet at around 4 a.m. on the 30th.

Aima Zhengwen is sure that all fuel supply can be completed within 4 hours. By 8 o'clock in the morning, the Second Air Force will not only fill up all the fuel, but also get the carrier-based aircraft power of the bait fleet. It is more confident that the fleet will be directly covered and air defense will be protected.

Kakuda bet that Halsey could not hit him at 8 o'clock in the morning: because it was bright at 6 o'clock, the US military had to investigate and determine the location of the party before dispatching the plane. It was impossible to arrive before 8 o'clock as fast as possible, although the distance between the two sides might be between 400 and 500 kilometers at that time.

Just when Halsey, McCain and his staff were facing the new situation and judged whether to send a fast column to fight Kakuda first, at 15:04, another reconnaissance aircraft reported that the Japanese fleet had a 45-degree course and a speed of 15 knots. The fleet size was smaller than the Hawaiian land aerial reconnaissance intelligence prompt, and was 975 kilometers away from the TF50 fleet.

The Japanese army divided the troops! This was the idea that Halsey and McCain immediately thought of. Now TF50 is facing a variety of options at once:

First, organize a fast column to eat the Japanese bait fleet. The staff members remind that if the fast column advances at a speed of about 30 knots, the gap between the two sides can be narrowed to within 800 kilometers at around 5 o'clock in the evening. Basically, the last sunset can be used to launch an attack, but they can only return at night;

Second, organize the fast column to the Chijiaotian fleet. The fast column also advances at a speed of 30 knots. The distance between each other can be reduced to about 770 kilometers at 16:45, ensuring that they can hit the opponent before dark, but they can still return at night;

Third, we will still maintain the upward trend of the entire army and act toward the Japanese army's expected convergence point. The distance between each other can be reduced to about 450-500 kilometers at 7 a.m. tomorrow.

Fourth, organize a fast column to push forward but do not attack today, and the attack distance will be reduced to within 150 kilometers at dawn tomorrow.

Fifth, organize the rapid column to attack. No matter what the result is, the rapid column turns around or waits on the spot after night, and continues to join forces with the escort aircraft carrier formation.

How to choose?

Halsey was in trouble all of a sudden. After discovering that Kakuda's first thought was to organize a fast column to attack Kakuda. However, after the bait fleet appeared, not only did the situation change drastically, but also made the decision undecided.

The biggest problem facing TF50 now is that both enemy forces are not too weak. The organization of a fast column must press two ships together to be sure enough. If the two Essex-class attacks on both ends, they may not be able to eat either end. The subsequent backlash will be amazing that he can beat the opponent, and the opponent can also beat him!

Halsey didn't know a detail: Although the Japanese bait fleet looks like it has 7 "aircraft carriers", it actually only has 68 fighter jets and does not have any offensive capabilities. This is something that no reconnaissance aircraft can see. Now the bait fleet looks a bit weaker and its scale is still there.

He asked McCain for his opinion, and the latter could not say which solution was the best, but looked at the problem from different angles: "William, things are not that simple. Why do the enemy divide the troops? If we don't divide the troops or adjust the route, we can't even find an opponent. After the division of troops, did the Japanese fleet also organize a fast column similar to us? There is no reliable information yet. This is a snake entrenched in the dark. If we take action rashly, we may be bitten hard."

Halsey was shocked and suddenly thought that this was also a very terrible prospect. The Pacific Fleet, which was at a disadvantage, dared not play 1:1 against Japan. If the Japanese army used 2 or even 3 Yunlong-levels to destroy two of his Essex-level ships, the remaining warships of the TF50 fleet would be destroyed.

McCain then analyzed: "If I guess correctly, the fleet that attacked Seattle should be able to drive more than 25 knots at full speed. Why only 16 knots of speed are slow to advance? Is it intentionally confusing us?"

The reason why the Kakuda fleet did not drive fast is not because it didn't want to drive fast, but because it was because there was no oil and no bloody matter, but Halsey and McCain could not guess that it was a conspiracy. McCain could only infer that it was a conspiracy.

"I probably understand your thoughts. The enemy exposed some of its strength yesterday to lure us into division, but we were not fooled. Today, we deliberately exposed another squadron first, and then divided the main force of the attack on the Pearl Harbor fleet to lure us into division, and once I organized a fast column to pounce on it, including the Japanese fast column in the dark, it will soon work together to rush over to eat my vanguard..." Halsey said with a naval chart, "The enemy can organize two fast columns, but our army can only organize one; the enemy pilots are not afraid of returning at night, but most of our pilots cannot. As long as they organize a fast column, the enemy has more and more favorable conditions than us."

"I didn't expect the night flight to remind me just now." McCain sighed with lingering fear, "This is so sinister... I bet that the Japanese commander must be Hori Teki! Only he can come up with so many tricks."

Halsey had no choice but to smile bitterly at this. The elite pilots lost too much bitter fruit and finally broke out in full swing. Now they are restricted in fighting: it is not possible to be far away, it is not possible at night, and the formation of large aircraft groups cannot be... In the past, when there were many pilots and many fleets of aircraft carriers, he might not be able to take risks and gamble. As long as it can kill the enemy, there is no other problem.

Now he dares not take risks with the few pilots and warships left. The strength of the joint fleet is not only greater than that of the Pacific Fleet, but even the US Navy as a whole. Even though he believes that the United States has unlimited potential, he is unable to resist in a short period of time. The United States is not only the enemy of Japan, but also the Axis Joint Fleet that is eyeing the Atlantic. It is reported that the reformed fleet has arrived in the depths of the North Atlantic. It is unknown where it will go. Washington is very nervous.

He was immediately in trouble, and he had only one step to make the wrong choice. He firmly believed that the fate of waiting for him and tens of thousands of officers and soldiers of the TF50 fleet would be a deep abyss...
Chapter completed!