Tan Renhao received the news when he was preparing to return to the fleet. It didn't take much time to sort out the war report, and the two civilian staff officers who Gan Yongxing arranged to assist him also lightened Tan Renhao's burden.

"The telegram came back from the Saipan side two hours ago." Gan Yongxing sent the telegram to Tan Renhao, "Judging from the time stamps on the telegram, the submarines did not launch an attack after discovering the US fleet, but lurked, and they were not discovered by the US destroyers, and the US fleet was sailing at a speed close to 20 knots, maybe 18 knots, which was slightly higher than the normal cruising speed." The submarine sent a telegram back four hours later, and now the 371 is on its way home, and it will be about eight days before it returns to the temporary submarine base on Kauai, which will be known at that time. ”

"It may be too late." Tan Renhao quickly skimmed through the content of the message, "How reliable is the content?" ”

"It should be very reliable." Gan Yongxing went to get a document, "Xu Lei of No. 371 is the ace captain, although he is still only a major, he has already commanded two submarines alone, and he has been the captain for two and a half years. In addition, the noise difference between a large warship and an ordinary civilian ship is quite large, and an experienced listener can distinguish it from a dozen nautical miles away. There is a clear mention of warships, and there are many of them. The only thing in San Francisco is Task Force 52, which slipped out of your hands before. ”

Tan Renhao flipped through the personnel resume, and then threw it aside.

"In addition, the departure time of Task Force 52 is also more consistent with the information we have received earlier." Gan Yongxing sat down, "After returning to San Francisco, the 52nd Task Force has been unable to go out of port for combat due to the lack of sufficient carrier-based aviation and the need for regular maintenance of most of the warships. It was November 9, and as intelligence had been provided, Task Force 52 had left the port of San Francisco in the early hours of the day. ”

"Maybe it's just going out to train." Tan Renhao shrugged his shoulders, he had never trusted the intelligence department very much.

"Yes, maybe it's training, but again, it's also possible to come out on a combat mission." Gan Yongxing took out a cigarette, "Do you remember the materials you read some time ago?" The actions of the US military in the South Pacific. ”

"You're saying that Task Force 52 is going to the South Pacific?"

"It should probably be called the Fifth Fleet now, not Task Force 52, but it's all the same. It's just a number. Gan Yongxing lit a cigarette, "If their purpose is to go south and train during the voyage, then it is very likely that they will make a name for themselves in the South Pacific." ”

Tan Renhao touched his forehead, this is a headache.

"We all know very well what the US military is doing in the South Pacific." Gan Yongxing took a few puffs of his cigarette, "But the biggest question is, if the Fifth Fleet really goes to the South Pacific this time, then what should we do?" ”

"The U.S. military has enough forces to launch a counterattack?" Tan Renhao asked rhetorically.

"Of course not, but the problem is. If the US military makes any trouble in the South Pacific, this will not be a trivial matter. Gan Yongxing put his hand on his forehead, "The US military does not have many troops stationed in New Zealand, the equipment is not very good, and the ammunition and materials are even more scarce, so it is impossible to counterattack the Australian continent." But the U.S. military has enough capability to take down a few islands in the South Pacific, maybe the New Hebrides, maybe New Caledonia, or Tarawa Island further north, or whatever. In any case, as long as the U.S. military launches a counterattack, then we are in trouble. When the time comes, we will definitely have to arrange a fleet to deal with the fifth pair, which will inevitably disperse our forces, and the consequences can be imagined. ”

"So what can we do?" Tan Renhao asked directly.

"Now we hope that the Fifth Fleet is on a training mission, but we can't fully hold out that hope." Gan Yongxing went to get a document, "I just received that the US military is not slower than us in replacing equipment, or even faster than us, and this is the information for its latest carrier-based bomber." ”

Tan Renhao took the document, and the Imperial Navy replaced the bombers, and the US Navy followed, and the speed at which the US military replaced its equipment was indeed not slow. And when he saw this information provided by the intelligence department, his heart was also a little hairy.

"AD-l, the current number is probably A-1A, the latest carrier-based bomber of the US military, and a new numbering system has been adopted." Gan Yongxing sat down again, "Probably to confuse us, or to deal with our intelligence system." The first batch of AS-1s began to fly at the beginning of the year, and the U.S. military quickly procured a batch for the Navy to test. You can take a look at the information you have first, which is very important. ”

Tan Renhao has already seen that if the US military has not had a carrier-based bomber with excellent performance before, then the emergence of the AD-1 has changed this situation.

Since the United States entered the war, the performance of the US Navy's carrier-based bombers has always been inferior to that of the Imperial Navy, whether it is SBO, SB3C, TBD and TBF, its overall performance has not caught up with the "water birds" and "sea eagles". As a result, the U.S. Navy often faced the Tang Empire's bombers with better performance during operations, and its own bombers could not effectively break through the air defense network of the Tang Empire's naval fleet, which not only suffered huge losses, but also allowed the heavily damaged Tang Empire aircraft carriers to successfully return to port several times.

It is also the poor performance of SBD in the early days of the United States war, B2C, SB3C, these are actually only transitional models, and it is the AD-l developed by Douglas Company that truly surpasses the "water bird" in terms of performance, which is later called the A-1 series. Like the Tang Imperial Navy, when the US military developed the A-1, it put forward the requirement that one bomber perform a variety of combat missions, so the A-1 should not only replace the SBD and SB3C, but also replace the TBD and TBF, and become the only bomber of the US Navy's carrier-based aviation.

The design of the A-1 is relatively unique, such as the first use of a lift-flow wing, the R-3350-26 engine with an output of 2700 hp (originally the R-3350-8 with an output of only 2300 hp), and its initial design was a single-seat bomber, only later changed to a two-seat in the improved model.

The powerful powertrain and excellent aerodynamic design give the A1 excellent performance. During its test flight, it once flew a maximum level flight speed of more than 300 knots, and when it was officially put into service, its maximum flight speed reached 314 knots and its cruising speed reached 260 knots. Its bomb load reached an astonishing 3,000 kilograms, and its later improved models even had a record of carrying 3,650 kilograms of ammunition to take off. In addition, the maximum range of the aircraft with a 1,000-pound bomb or an aviation torpedo using only the fuel tanks inside the aircraft reaches 860 nautical miles, and its range can be extended by nearly half if two auxiliary fuel tanks are carried under the inboard pylons on each side of the wings. Its huge range has changed the shortcomings of the short legs of the previous US bombers. Of course, a bomber with so many advanced performance will certainly not be light, and its 7 tons in the air can be regarded as a record among the US carrier-based bombers at that time, and its maximum take-off weight of more than 11 tons surpassed the latest "Falcon" of the Imperial Navy, becoming the carrier-based fighter with the largest take-off weight at that time.

The modular design of the A-1 makes it highly versatile. When carrying out combat missions against the sea, the aircraft can change its use within a few hours by replacing some standard accessories, that is, it can quickly change from a dive bomber to a torpedo bomber, or from a torpedo bomber to a dive bomber. In addition, the aircraft was designed with ground strike in mind, and there are several ammunition pylons under the wings, which can carry a large number of ground strike ammunition. In addition, the large interior space of the aircraft leaves a huge room for future improvements.

In terms of bombing performance, the "Falcon" is definitely better, because the "Falcon" is designed on the basis of sea operations, emphasizing dive bombing and the ability to fly at low altitudes, while the A-1 is basically a multi-functional bomber with comprehensive performance and no outstanding performance in every aspect, more like a front-line attack aircraft of the Army Air Corps. The "Falcon" also has a certain advantage in terms of speed, and the "Falcon" is slightly lighter, and the engine is no worse than that of the A-1, which has the advantage of its huge bomb load, as well as cruising range. The Falcon had to carry three auxiliary fuel tanks to reach a range of 1,200 nautical miles, while the A-1 only had two auxiliary fuel tanks. But the problem is that it is not better to fly as far as possible, for example, the range of the radio carried by the bomber is limited, and this directly limits the strike radius of the carrier-based bomber.

Both types of bombers have their own strengths and outstanding characteristics, and as for who is good and who is bad, then they can see the high and low on the battlefield. Later, it was the emergence of the A-1 that Hafei made a wide range of improvements to the "Falcon", and a variety of individual models appeared, such as special reconnaissance aircraft for fleet reconnaissance missions, and even early warning aircraft models for air defense alert missions appeared after the war. Perhaps, the pace of the enemy is the greatest motivator, otherwise, there would not have been so many improved models of the "Falcon".

After reading the information in his hand, Tan Renhao immediately thought of a question, "Did the U.S. military just change its A-1?" ”

Gan Yongxing nodded. The exact timing of the refitting is unclear, but one thing is certain, the U.S. military has not officially installed such bombers until Task Force 52 escapes back to San Francisco. In addition, the US Navy's front-line shore-based aviation has not yet been equipped with A-1, indicating that the production of A-1 is not very large, and it is preferentially supplied to carrier-based aviation. ”

"And how much time do they need to train?" Tan Renhao considered this problem, "We changed into 'Falcons' and spent two months on adaptive training, and as a result, the Fifth Task Force had a lot of problems. Judging from the information we have now, the training of the first task force and the second task force is not in place, and the training of the third fleet, which was reequipped in advance, has not been completed, and our pilots are certainly much better than those of the US military, and we all need to spend several months to familiarize the pilots with the new bombers, so how much time will the US military need? ”

"You're saying that the U.S. military is indeed on a training mission outside?"

"Maybe it is, maybe it isn't." Tan Renhao did not directly affirm his analysis, "Our training standards are definitely stricter than those of the US military, and it is not just enough to be able to fly bombers." We don't know the training standards of the U.S. military, and the U.S. military received the first batch of A-1s at the beginning of the year, and maybe at that time it was training pilots, and there were months to conduct in-depth training. But training can't replace actual combat, and if you start training from scratch with a novice, it will take more time. ”

"What do you mean......"

"The U.S. military may be training, or it may be on the front lines, or both."

Gan Yongxing had to admit that Tan Renhao's analysis was reasonable, and it was very likely that the US military's training work was not completely in place, so the Fifth Fleet would not be busy rushing to the theater of operations. However, the US military is indeed manipulating in the South Pacific, and without the support of the Fifth Fleet, it would not have been possible for the US military to make any moves in the South Pacific.

"Maybe they'll go somewhere closer to the front line, or where they can quickly support the front line, and at the same time get rid of our tracking and surveillance." Tan Renhao hesitated slightly, he had already thought of a place.

"Christmas Island?" Gan Yongxing said it directly.

Tan Renhao nodded slightly. "It's quite possibly Christmas Island. After the fall of the Hawaiian Islands, Christmas Island became one of the most important bases of the U.S. military in the Pacific. If the ultimate goal of the Fifth Fleet is to support Eisenhower in the South Pacific, then it should operate near Christmas Island, and while training, if the U.S. forces are ready to launch a counterattack, then they can move south quickly. ”

"Well, then, you'd better go now." Gan Yongxing stood up as he spoke.

"Now?" Tan Renhao also stood up, "Go to Naha today?" ”

"No, it's Guam." Gan Yongxing walked to the desk, "You go directly to Guam, in order to contact Liao Hanxiang, the Third Fleet is still over there, according to the next combat operation, the Third Fleet will continue to assist the Marines in attacking Oahu, I will contact Naha for you, the First Fleet will go straight to Guam to join you, which can save some time." ”

Tan Renhao didn't say anything, he just wanted to go home and pack some luggage before going to the airport, and at the same time say goodbye to his family, if the fleet is going to go all the way to Daxi, God knows when he will be able to return to Zhoushan next time.