Therefore, believing that the Japanese ships had probably changed position during the intervening two hours, he decided to withhold launching a strike force until he received more current information on the location of the Japanese ships.
Da han troede, at de japanske skibe formentlig havde ændret position i løbet af de mellemliggende to timer, besluttede han at vente med at afsende en angrebsstyrke, indtil han fik mere aktuel angivelse af de japanske skibes placering.