On the way back to the Joint Conference, Spruins remained silent and finally said: "Turner finally suggested pulling the fleet back to the west coast. He thought the current situation was very dangerous. There was another Japanese fleet that had disappeared for several days. Who knew where they were. If they also appeared near TF50 and the gods shot them without realizing it, it would be really over. But he had no direct evidence, just a personal feeling."

Nimitz sighed: "You know the situation of participating in the Joint Conference. It is really hard to explain if you return just because of worry, concern or catching wind and shadow... I have advised William to lead the fleet back, but he has concerns, and Li Hai also thinks it is inappropriate."

What are the specific concerns and inappropriateness? Even if Nimitz doesn't say it, Spruins knows it. He silently echoes and scolds "This fucking system" in his heart and stops talking.

At 2:45 am on the 30th, and at 21:45 am on the 29th, Halsey replied: The reminder from the Joint Conference is very important and the staff members have made detailed deductions. At present, the fleet speed has been slowed down to 10 knots, and the route has been changed to north. We are preparing to send reconnaissance planes early to check the enemy situation, and take off the air defense fighter jets first at dawn.

Nimitz called back and told him to pay attention to searching for the Nanami Tsukahara fleet disappeared for too long, which was really uneasy!

At 11 o'clock in the evening, the main force of the Tsukahara 243-Belt One Air Force (three fleet aircraft carriers, Dafeng, Shotori, and Ruizu, and four Myo-level heavy cruisers and related destroyers) advanced at a speed of 31 knots, and with Yamato, Shinono, Nagato, and Kirishima, the core battleship units rushed to the road at a speed of 24 knots. The entire fleet gradually evolved into a situation where the aircraft carrier formation was in front and the artillery fleet was in the back.

Originally, Tsukahara's notification to Hori Teki was that he arrived at a position of 900-1,000 kilometers from the US fleet in the early morning. However, since Hori Teki changed his combat plan and issued a night attack order, other fleets would enter the strike position in the morning, Tsukahara could not be too late, so he had to accelerate. 900-1,000 kilometers was still too remote, and it was more appropriate to press within 800 kilometers. So on this night, Tsukahara commanded the main force of the joint fleet to start rushing ships.

The Yihang War has maintained a slow speed in the past two days. Does Tsukahara really understand the reason why the war is so fast?

Of course not! Tsukahara played the God-turning game in the Caribbean, and played three-defying Panama tricks two days ago, and was instinctively sensitive to situation judgment.

The reason why it is not fast to drive is still just a matter of oil. Taking the Kirishima battleship as an example, it can maintain a range of more than 10,000 nautical miles with a speed of 14 knots. If it increases the speed to 18 knots, it will only be 5,400 nautical miles. If it is soaring at a speed of 24 knots for a long time, it may be difficult to maintain a range of 4,000 nautical miles.

Tsukahara Nisuzaki completed fuel replenishment for the last time in Panama direction and let the tanker team go south. From this position to the evening of the 29th, it had exceeded 3,500 nautical miles. Who knows how far it will drive later? So he must not build a storm, otherwise it will become the second Kakuda.

The reason why Kakuda consumed fuel quickly was very clear when fighting Seattle first and then fled at high speed. Otherwise, how could it be so embarrassing that it could hardly be maintained? Forced Horikichi to send him oil. It should be noted that at first, when the Halsey fleet was not known, it was agreed that Horikichi retreated northward, and took the initiative to move closer to him from the Second Air Force to replenish supplies. Now the whole system is in chaos.

But unlike Kusato Ryunosuke, Tsukahara did not want to go to Kaorda because the second flight battle made great contributions: Kaorda's performance was very successful and devoted, and he not only attacked Boeing and successfully lured TF50 to the north, which not only created conditions for the success of Jet 1, but also laid the foundation for the subsequent implementation of Jet 2.

However, the Halsey fleet's northward travel actually widened the distance from Tsukahara, but even so, Tsukahara still slowly headed north without rushing to go. Hori Teiki understood his actual difficulties and did not urge him.

Kakuda can also expect Horikichi or Tsukahara to save him. Who can Tsukahara expect to save him? On the contrary, Tsukahara is still responsible for saving Kakuda in a sense. If the bait fleet sent by Horikichi was eaten by Halsey this afternoon, the heavy oil in stock of several battleships in Tsukahara's hands will last for the Second Air War, so he must control fuel consumption very restraint until he is convinced that the four oil tankers in the bait fleet still exist before he can let go of his hands and feet.

The disadvantage of doing this is that he arrives on the battlefield late, and the advantage is that he retains more fuel. Currently, all ships in the First Air War generally have at least 50% fuel, and the fuel retention rate of several aircraft carriers exceeds 65%, which lays a good foundation for the next victory.

According to Tsukahara's order, all pilots arranged a break early. After 5 hours, starting from 4 a.m., they will start making the final preparations before the strike.

Hori Teiki led the Five-Air Battle and was also speeding up his journey. According to the requirements of the night attack, all Ye Caiyun and Ye Ruiyun have been released and began to rush to the waters where the expected Chinese and American fleets may appear. The Night Attack Five-Air Battle cannot catch up, but the second round of attacks in the early morning must be sent, and Kakuda alone is not enough; the third round of attacks requires waiting for Tsukahara to take place, and then the fourth round, the fifth round... Matsuda Chiaki believes that if the entire joint fleet is deployed, the TF50 will basically be destroyed after 4 rounds. For the sake of safety, the fifth round must be planned.

Also rushing to the road was the Second Aircraft Battle where Kakuda was. According to Arima Zhengwen's plan, the Second Aircraft Battle was about to be released at the early morning. So Kakuda Kiyoshi initially planned to meet the bait fleet with a speed of 27 knots, but after nightfall, Hori Teiki temporarily arranged a night attack mission based on Halsey's response. He had to accelerate again. So he led two Yunlong-class and three Kaohsiung-class heavy cruisers to assault at 32 knots, allowing Nishimura Xiangji to take Musashi, King Kong and other warships to rush to the road at 27 knots, so that the aircraft carrier can be replenished at least 1 hour in advance. In order to save time, Arima Zhengwen believes that refueling operations do not need to be fully filled, and two-thirds of the fuel is enough, which can save at least half an hour.

This side is racing against time, and Halsey led TF50 to slowly move north. Because of the change of course, the distance between him and the Kakuda Fleet and the Yano Fleet not only did not narrow, but continued to expand at a speed of 8 kilometers per hour. Before the Joint Conference sent an inquiry telegram, the distance between TF50 and the Japanese Fleet had been reduced to about 850 kilometers, but after adjusting the course, the gap in the early morning widened again to 880 kilometers. The staff members unanimously believed that maintaining a distance of 900-950 kilometers was a suitable position to "see and not be beaten."

1:04, the first night color cloud began to search for the sector. In terms of search method, the second section search used by the Japanese army was still used to form a sector-shaped area every 14 degrees. One night color cloud and one night Ruiyun were responsible for the search twice. The colorful cloud suddenly stepped forward and the Ruiyun swept the tail to prevent omissions.

1:19, all Japanese night reconnaissance aircraft launched a detailed search of the respective sectors of the sea area of ​​400-600 kilometers.

1:40, the leading destroyer of the Kakuda Fleet discovered the target, and reported that "there are a large number of warships traveling targets 70 kilometers away, with a course of 45 degrees and a speed of 16 knots..."

"Confirm whether it is Yano-kun's fleet!"

"Hurry, the Second Air Battle is about to arrive, be ready immediately!" Yano Hero waved his fists and shouted excitedly. He was originally appointed as the commander of the bait fleet with a decisive attitude, but now it seems that he basically doesn't have to die. The whole army is cheering. Although everyone is not afraid of death, he still doesn't want to die if he can survive.

2:49, the sailors set up the pipeline at the fastest speed, and the gurgling heavy oil immediately pulled out of the escort aircraft carrier to supply the two aircraft carriers. In order to speed up, the 2-to-1 refueling method was used to supply one Yunlong-class for each escort aircraft carrier. Kakuda Kakuda only felt sweaty all over his palms. The warships stationed at anchor and berth were the most dangerous moments. As long as one American submarine came over, the stationary warship would be finished.

In addition, 3:45 is the time when the night attack group is expected to take off. Whether the time is tight, all pilots stand on the deck and silently cheer and pray for their companions.

After refueling, the fleet had to speed up before refueling the attack group, so it had to maintain an advance of at least 15 minutes. Everyone was in the throat, but fortunately, no accident happened. At 3:29, the scheduled refueling operation was over, and the second Aircraft War two main aircraft carriers began to recover their speed, and 48 night commandos were ready, waiting for the reconnaissance plane to send accurate information.

The refueling operation finally came to the three heavy patrols and the Musashi formation that was about to arrive.

When Kakuda was just refueling, Nishimura Xiangji, who was struggling to drive behind, felt even more uncomfortable, and even his heart was about to jump out: 5 minutes ago, the commander told him that Musashi only had the last 50 tons of heavy oil left. If he still rushed to the boat at such a fast speed, if he could not get fuel replenishment in one hour, he would be paralyzed due to lack of oil. The last nearly 20 tons of heavy oil at sea was difficult to pump up and use because the liquid level was too low.

Nishimura Xiangji thought painfully for 10 seconds, and finally shouted: "Keep the route, the speed remains the same, and I will definitely get the fuel!"

“Onboard!”

“Onboard!”

3:41, seeing that the oil replenishment tanker was close, all the officers and soldiers on the Musashi and the King Kong shouted wildly.

Now it was Kakuta's turn. After nearly 2 and a half hours of search, the 24 reconnaissance planes have even expanded the reconnaissance range to 700 kilometers. There is still no news. When I call to inquire, I got the same report. "No enemy fleet was found in this sector!"

Without clear directions, the attack group cannot attack. Everyone is anxiously waiting for the oil to be available, but the combat target is gone!

"Operating warships strengthen sea surface surveillance to prevent US surface fleets and submarines from causing trouble." Kakuda Kuoji asked Arima's main text, "Will the sector cover the angle not enough? The enemy is in other directions?"

Arima Zhengwen nodded: "Appoint each group of aircraft to expand the search angle by 3 degrees to 17 degrees, and re-search the fan surfaces of 10 to 180 degrees!"
Chapter completed!