EV, I assume you’re referring to Bull’s Run? Nimitz, King and Kincaid believed, based on a radio message received from Halsey, that if Halsey exercised his discretion to chase Ozawa’s decoy force he would form “Task Force 34” to stay behind and cover the San Bernardino Strait. As it happened, he never did, and the Strait was wide open, exposing the ships at the landing beaches.