At this time, the U.S. fleet was also divided into three major theaters, namely MacArthur's Southwest Pacific Theater, Halsey's South Pacific Theater, and Nimitz's Central Pacific Theater

They all have clear strategic goals, fight their own battles, and are still in full swing with the Japanese army.

The main force in the Central Pacific is the newly formed Fifth Fleet, which has 6 giant aircraft carriers, 8 escort carriers, and more than 250 heavy cruisers, light cruisers, destroyers, battleships and transports.

However, the 14 aircraft carriers and many ships have just come off the production line and have not long participated in the battle.

But for the United States, with its strong and large industrial production capacity, these aircraft carriers and fleets are only a small part of them.

In their strategic plan, there are also a large number of aircraft carriers and various types of ships in various factories in China, carrying out overtime production.

And it's two to three times more productive than the original World War II history, and it's in quantity.

The commander of the Fifth Fleet was Raymond Ames Spruance, the chief of staff of the Pacific Pacific, whose full name was Raymond Ames Spruance, who had won the Battle of Midway.

He is? Midway, the winner of all naval battles with the Marianas, is also known as the Silent Admiral, and the smartest man in the U.S. Navy, with more mental powers than all men, and an admiral among admirals.

To put it simply, he was an excellent strategist, an outstanding leader, and a heroic officer, and he was also relatively generous to his subordinates, and gave most of the credit to his subordinates.

His chief of staff was Colonel Moore, and the battle they prepared for this time was the famous Gilbert Islands landing operation in Pacific history.

Originally, this battle took place on November 15, 1943, a month away.

However, because more than 30,000 people under the command of Halsey, with the support of more than 130 ships and more than 1,000 aircraft, they launched a surprise attack on the landing of the New Georgia Islands, and won the victory and defeated the Japanese army.

Thus recovering places such as Kula Bay, Colombangara, Vila Bay, and Vila La Vila, as well as Munda Airport; Of course, before this battle was decided, both the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Nimitz advocated a direct attack on the Marshall Islands and the start of the Marshall Islands campaign.

Spruance disagreed, and eventually persuaded Nimitz to attack the Gilbert Islands and then the Marshall Islands.

At the same time, he also advised Nimitz not to attack Nauru Island, a peripheral island of the Gilbert Islands, because it was impossible to establish an airfield after the occupation there, and it was too far away from the Tarawa Atoll, the next target to be occupied by the US military, so it was difficult to support each other, and it was vulnerable to attacks by the Japanese air force; Therefore, he thought that if he succeeded in capturing the Gilbert Islands, he could seize the Majin Atoll, which has the attributes of a coral island, because it would not only open up an airfield, but also moored ships.

As for why the US military must attack the Gilbert Islands and the Marshall Islands, it is because in the autumn of 1943, after careful analysis and discussion, the top leadership of the US military decided to take the Central Pacific as the main strategic offensive direction and the southwest Pacific as the secondary strategic offensive direction, and adopt a "two-pronged approach." In this way, the two offensive directions can support and cover each other. It can also disperse the Japanese forces, making it difficult to determine the main direction of the American attack.

At the same time, the Japanese army's strategic defense system in the Pacific Ocean is based on three island chains formed by a series of islands to organize a strong defense. The first island chain from south to north is the Gilbert Islands, the Marshall Islands, Wake Island, and the Aleutian Islands; The second island chain is the New Guinea Islands, the Mariana Islands, the Iwo Jima, and the Ogasawara Islands; The third island chain is the Philippine Islands, Taiwan Island, and the Ryukyu Islands, and is connected by the Caroline Islands in an east-west direction, forming a spider web-like strategic defense posture.

Therefore, if we want to achieve a complete victory in the Pacific Campaign, we must crack the strategic defense system of the Japanese army.

Therefore, the Gilbert Islands and the Marshall Islands have become islands that the US military must recapture in the Pacific theater.

"Are our planes in place? How many planes did the command send to us? ”

On the island of Hawaii, Vice Admiral Spruance, who had just been promoted from chief of staff to vice admiral, was conferring with his chief of staff, Colonel Moore.

"1,200 carrier-based aircraft, and about 200 B-24 "Liberator" heavy bombers among shore-based aircraft. The 2nd Marine Division and the 27th Infantry Division of the Army were also transferred to our 5th Fleet for use in the Gilbert Islands landing operations. ”

"At the same time, two Marine Corps garrison battalions and one Army garrison battalion will also be transferred to our 5th Fleet, ready to take on the garrison duty after the captured islands, Rear Admiral Holland Smith!"

"Did the Sherman and Montgomery carrier fleets we seconded from Halsey arrive in our fleet?"

Vice Admiral Spruance continued to ask.

"It's all here, please instruct the commander!"

The Chief of Staff, Colonel Moore, replied in the affirmative.

"Good! Then, after our reconnaissance planes have collected the deployment of Japanese troops around the Gilbert Islands and on the islands, our fleet can immediately set off from Hawaii and New Heribdy. ”

Vice Admiral Spruance replied again with satisfaction.

"Yes! Commander! ”

Colonel Moore, Chief of Staff, nodded in agreement.

"What do you think are the chances of us winning this battle?"

But at this moment, Vice Admiral Spruance suddenly stared sharply at the chief of staff, Colonel Moore, and asked.

"It will be victorious! We're going to win, just like we did at the battles of Midway and Kuah, and kill the damned Japanese without a single piece of armor! ”

The Chief of Staff, Colonel Moore, was stunned for a moment, and then replied cautiously.

"Hey! Perhaps! ”

In response to the other party's hesitant answer, Vice Admiral Spruance, who has always been modest and rigorous, showed a confident smile and smiled slightly.

For him, who has never liked to talk on paper, he will only use actual combat to prove his success or failure.

Looking at the confident smile of the other party, Colonel Moore, the chief of staff, who was not very confident, also became confident as if he had taken a reassuring pill, and also showed a knowing smile that he had not seen for a long time in response.