But at the same time, it can be said that the US Navy has bad luck...or this cannot be attributed to luck, but should be said to be a matter of coordination and command of the US Navy.

One pm.

At this time, the US aircraft carrier finally approached the Japanese "Forward" fleet. Kincaid was about to take off the "Enterprise" aircraft carrier fighter jet to take off to attack the Japanese "Forward" fleet, but coincidentally, the engine of a wildcat fighter had a malfunction and was about to land on the "Enterprise".

There was no big problem at all. The landing of a fighter plane only took a few minutes. Moreover, since the US military has always paid attention to protecting the lives of pilots, it is impossible to refuse the landing of this broken fighter plane.

However, the pilot who drove the wildcat was a novice. He was already confused when he knew the engine had a failure, so he forgot to turn on the brake hook when landing... As a result, the fighter crashed into the blocking net and rushed towards the fearless dive bomber parked in front.

The accident destroyed fighter jets and four dive bombers.

Fortunately, the pilots were only slightly injured, which also depended on the thick armor of American fighters.

Unfortunately, the five fighter jets that collided together blocked the aircraft carrier deck, and it took the crew half an hour to clear the accident scene.

There was no big problem at all, but it was half an hour slower... Anyway, the Japanese aircraft carrier has never discovered the position of the US aircraft carrier, and it would not be much problem at all after half an hour slower.

But the problem is... Kincaid once asked a group of land-based bombers from Saint Espirito Island B17 (note: the b17 bomber range is 3,000 kilometers) to jointly bomb the Japanese "forward" fleet... This decision is of course correct. You should know that the b17 bomber is a heavy bomber with a bomb load of 8 tons, and the bomb it carries is equivalent to four fearless dive bombers.

But after this accident on the aircraft carrier, Kincaid actually forgot about this matter.

So half an hour later, a total of 47 fighter jets and bombers that took off from the Enterprise flew to the Japanese "Forward" fleet.

The problem occurred in this half hour.

Since the fleet of aircraft taking off on the Enterprise was delayed for half an hour, the b17 bombed the Japanese "Forward" fleet first... Without the cooperation of carrier-based fighter jets and bombers, these bulky B17 heavy bombers naturally did not achieve much results. Under the pressure of the Japanese army by zero, they could not even get close to the Japanese aircraft carrier, and hurriedly dropped the bomb and returned.

This mistake also made the Japanese army realize that their position had been exposed. So they immediately changed their course and sailed northward with highway speed.

At this time, Yamamoto Izuru's "fighting from a distance" once again played its advantages.

Kinkaid couldn't wait to launch an offensive when the Japanese "Forward" fleet entered the combat radius of the aircraft carrier. That is to say, the fleet that took off from the "Enterprise" was able to attack the Japanese "Forward" fleet, but was furious like b17, and the Japanese aircraft carrier retreated northward at high speed. So the distance was getting further and further, and he quickly escaped from the combat radius...

This was not a big deal, and it was just that the enemy aircraft carrier could not be found to return, but the pilots of the Enterprise were veterans who were unyielding. They believed that they still had the chance to catch up with the enemy aircraft carrier... This judgment was theoretically correct. Because during the two or three hours of the aircraft flying in the air, the aircraft carrier also drove in the direction of the fighter for two or three hours, so experienced pilots knew that the actual fuel would be more than the calculated fuel.

Under this mentality, they flew in the air for another fifty miles, and they turned around and returned unwillingly when they found that they could not catch up.

This is not to say that Americans are as desirable as Japanese, nor is it because Jin Kaide is not ineffective in command, but American pilots are usually a bit arrogant and like to take risks. They are pursuing them without authorization against Jin Kaide's orders.

So the tragedy was caused. When returning, some fighter jets had to land on the sea in a shortage of fuel, so the US military lost another fighter jet, four dive bombers and three torpedo aircraft.

Then it became dark and I couldn't fight anymore.

In other words, on this day, the US Navy wasted the favorable intelligence it had reconnaissance and tracked by seaplanes without any gains. Not only did it get nothing, it also lost two fighter jets, eight dive bombers, and three torpedo aircraft in total thirteen fighters.

The thirteen fighter jets lost are minor. After all, the United States is a major industrial power, and the fighter jets can be produced from the factory in no time, and the pilots were rescued only after minor injuries. What’s important is that the morale of the US Navy has been hit.

In fact, from the battle this day, Kincaid should have discovered a problem, that is, there are problems with the US Navy in coordination. Especially the pilots of the "Enterprise"... The pilots of the "Enterprise" were pieced together by pilots of each aircraft carrier. Although they were all excellent pilots, Halsey's original intention was to concentrate these excellent pilots to enable the "Enterprise" to exert greater combat effectiveness, but the arrogant American pilots, especially the excellent pilots of each aircraft carrier. They were all awesome and no one was convinced.

It would be fine if these pilots were put together for a while. They might be united in the training, but due to the urgent military situation, they were sent to the battlefield without training at all, so they were actually doing their own things... For example, if they did not obey Kincaid's orders and pursued the Japanese army without authorization, they actually had the mentality of comparing other pilots.

In battle, the taboo thing is to make a decision that does not make judgments based on the objective situation on the battlefield, but rather makes a light decision based on subjective wishes or other reasons.

Kincaid did not realize this. If he realized this, he should have ordered the aircraft carrier battle group to return when it was dark, and then let the US air force and himself reflect on it.

Instead, Kincaid continued to implement Halsey's order: "Occurrence!"

Halsey and Kincaid both thought this was a rare opportunity. In fact, the rare opportunity had been missed by them, and they were just unwilling to miss this opportunity.

They felt that although it was already dark at this time and could not be attacked, at least they still had an advantage over the Japanese army, that is, they knew the location of the Japanese aircraft carrier very much, but the Japanese army never knew the location of the US aircraft carrier.

So Kincaid ordered the seaplane carrier "Balard" to continue searching and tracking the Japanese aircraft carrier. At the same time, the two aircraft carrier battle groups continued to head north to approach the Japanese aircraft carrier. If they could accurately grasp the position of the Japanese aircraft carrier, they would launch an attack just as soon as the sky was dawn.
Chapter completed!