In order to meet the new challenges posed by the US military, the Navy has made a wide range of deployment adjustments in the Pacific Ocean, and has arranged for the Fifth Task Force, the First Task Force, and the Third Task Force to all return to the Pacific Theater. Relatively speaking, in this series of battlefield adjustments, Tan Renhao, Lei Shaoqing, Jiang Zhongmin, Chang Jianxin, Hao Dongjue and others are all direct beneficiaries, but the benefits they receive are different. And the people who really felt depressed were not them, but Huang Xiaotian, who was sent to the Central Pacific Theater.

Huang Xiaotian's prediction can be said to be quite accurate, after the Second Task Force and the Fourth Task Force returned to the imperial mainland together, accepted the new aircraft carrier battle group, and both had three aircraft carrier battle groups, Huang Xiaotian received a new arrangement, the Fourth Task Force went to the Pacific Theater to report, responsible for dealing with the strategic counterattack actions that the US forces might launch in the Central Pacific direction. Although in the Pacific Theater, no one competed with Huang Xiaotian, but this was the result that Huang Xiaotian did not want to see. But the military order is like a mountain, and he can't disobey it. In early April, after the new aircraft carrier battle group completed its orientation training after being integrated into the fleet, the fourth task force left for the Central Pacific theater.

Anyone knows that going to the Central Pacific theater is a thankless thing. Regardless of the danger of the situation on this side for the time being, judging from the overall strategic arrangement of the navy, attacking the Australian mainland is the number one task, and after nearly two years of hard fighting, the situation in the southwest Pacific has finally opened, and the landing on Australia is just around the corner, and in the combat operation of landing in Australia, the fleet plays an important role, and any fleet has the opportunity to make contributions here. It can be said that it is time to distribute the fruits of victory.

The Fourth Task Force has been operating within the scope of the Southwest Pacific Theater since the day it was founded, and like the Second Task Force before it, the Fourth Task Force has almost become the exclusive fleet of the Southwest Pacific Theater. In addition, Task Force 4 is also one of the protagonists in the "Battle of the Coral Sea". The credit for this is not under the 1st Task Force, let alone the 3rd Task Force. With these two points, Task Force 4 is qualified enough to become one of the main task forces in the Imperial Navy. These contributions can be said to have been established by Huang Xiaotian, and while the status of the Fourth Task Force was affirmed, Huang Xiaotian's ability was also affirmed. Judging from the abilities of the commanders of the task forces at that time, since Lei Shaoqing left the task force, Huang Xiaotian was the commander of the second fleet of the empire after Tan Renhao.

Huang Xiaotian himself was not complacent about this, let alone proud of it. He knew very well how big the gap between himself and Tan Renhao was, and he knew even better that after Hao Dongjue became the commander of the Second Task Force, Hao Dongjue's talent finally had a chance to be fully displayed, and he himself could not compare to Hao Dongjue. What Hao Dongjue lacks is only time and opportunity. In addition, Jiang Zhongmin is also an extremely powerful competitor, if you count the marshal's special care of Jiang Zhongmin, then Jiang Zhongmin is even more of a terrible competitor. Therefore, Huang Xiaotian has always been very hard working and hardworking, he is very strict with himself, and he is also very humble in dealing with people and things, and he is also very strict with the officers and men of the fleet, which is the main reason why the Fourth Task Force can suddenly emerge.

What made Huang Xiaotian very uncomfortable was that the Fourth Task Force had been fighting in the Southwest Pacific for more than a year, and it seemed that it had the greatest gain, and as a result, the Fourth Task Force was sent to the Central Pacific, a completely unfamiliar battlefield. Not only Huang Xiaotian was dissatisfied, but many officers and men of the Fourth Task Force at that time were dissatisfied. It is also understandable that for more than a year, it was almost entirely the Fourth Task Force in the Southwest Pacific to cooperate with the Marine Corps in the offensive in the Southwest Pacific, so why was the Fourth Task Force withdrawn from the Southwest Pacific at the last and most critical and easiest time to achieve results?

Regarding the emotions of the officers and men of the fleet, Huang Xiaotian could only appease. He is not a person who doesn't know the severity, and in terms of intelligence, Huang Xiaotian is not under Hao Dongjue. Although Huang Xiaotian did not stand in Lei Shaoqing's position, he saw it more thoroughly than Lei Shaoqing. To put it bluntly, the most crucial reason for the problems in the relations between the various fleets in the Pacific theater is that Tan Renhao, the "dragon head," has been transferred. If we talk about Renhao in the Pacific theater, then all problems will be easily solved, and there will be no struggle between Lei Shaoqing and Jiang Zhongmin at all, let alone an unstable military mentality. It is precisely because he sees through this that Huang Xiaotian firmly believes that as long as the First Task Force wins a decisive victory in the South Atlantic. Then the marshal will recruit Tan Renhao back, and then order will be restored in the Pacific theater.

For the Fourth Task Force, if Tan Renhao can lead the First Task Force back in time, this will definitely be the best thing. Even if the time comes, it will be the 1st Task Force and the 4th Task Force that will jointly meet the enemy in the Central Pacific, and it is even possible that the 1st Task Force will remain in the Central Pacific theater and the 4th Task Force will move to the Southwest Pacific. Anyway, it's much better than Task Force 4 facing Spruance alone in the Central Pacific theater.

Under the circumstances, Huang Xiaotian's most important task was not to defeat the US Navy's Fifth Fleet, but to stabilize the defense line in the Central Pacific and delay as much time as possible. When Huang Xiaotian arrived in Guam, Gan Yongxing talked to him on the phone, emphasizing this point. Even if the Fourth Task Force had a chance to fight the Fifth Fleet, it would be prudent to avoid taking risks, and even consider shrinking the line of defense to delay time. At that time, Gan Yongxing hinted to Huang Xiaotian that in order to stabilize the defense line in the Central Pacific, the navy would adjust the time for attacking the Australian mainland, and as long as the First Task Force defeated the British and French joint expeditionary fleet in the South Atlantic, then the First Task Force would definitely be transferred back to the Pacific Theater, and then the situation would be completely changed, and it would not be too late to find another opportunity to fight a decisive battle with the Fifth Fleet.

Huang Xiaotian did exactly that. After the Fourth Task Force arrived in the Central Pacific Theater, the Fourth Task Force has been operating in the waters east of Midway. Huang Xiaotian also got in touch with Han Shaofeng, who arranged for shore-based long-range reconnaissance planes and long-range patrol planes to assist the Fourth Task Force in monitoring the waters near Midway Island, and the Fourth Task Force arranged at least two rounds of reconnaissance missions every day to avoid a surprise attack by the enemy fleet as much as possible. Liao Hanxiang also made adjustments to the combat operations in the Central Pacific, and the combat operation of attacking Necke Island was temporarily canceled, and a batch of heavy bombers originally deployed on Gardner Island and Lysan Island were withdrawn and a group of long-range reconnaissance planes were replaced. Seaplane bases on Midway, Lysan and Gardner islands have also been enhanced. The number of long-range maritime patrol aircraft was expanded, but these deployments were not enough to fully neutralize the formidable threat of the Fifth Fleet under Spruance's command.

The ships that were replenished to the Fifth Fleet entered the Pacific Ocean through the Panama Canal at the end of March and arrived at Pearl Harbor in early April, where they were officially integrated into the Fifth Fleet's battle sequence. Spruance then led the fleet out of Pearl Harbor. At that time, Huang Xiaotian, Liao Hanxiang and Gan Yongxing were all highly nervous. At that time, Liao Hanxiang put the entire theater on combat alert, and Gan Yongxing even proposed to Nie Renfeng that the Second Task Force should immediately switch to the Central Pacific. Later, it was learned that this was just a false alarm, and Spruance was only leading the fleet to sea for training, not to challenge Task Force 4.

From this incident, it can also be seen how much of a threat the Fifth Fleet poses to the Imperial Navy after it regains its combat effectiveness. Spruance acquired six fleet carriers, which could form at least two powerful three-carrier task forces. Both task forces are comparable in size to Task Force 4. Even if the four small aircraft carriers in the Pacific Theater are counted, Huang Xiaotian can't take any advantage. In addition, Nimitz had been preparing for a counterattack for several months, and he had a powerful Marine Corps, a landing fleet, and a supply fleet, and the counterattack of the American army was not just a counterattack by the fleet, but a counterattack launched by a combination of forces, and the fleet's seizure of sea supremacy was the first and most critical step. Therefore, as long as the Fourth Task Force is defeated in the Central Pacific direction, then there will be no force that can stop the US counterattack, and the fruits of Liao Hanxiang's hard work in the Central Pacific will be completely destroyed.

It is conceivable that the burden on Huang Xiaotian's body was heavy at that time. After the Fourth Task Force arrived in the Central Pacific Theater, Liao Hanxiang handed over the theater fleet to Huang Xiaotian for unified command, although he still retained the commander of the theater fleet, Huang Xiaotian was responsible for arranging all the combat operations of the fleet. The fleet is the most important line of defense, and the US military is slightly disturbed, and Huang Xiaotian's nerves become tense. For example, shortly after the Fifth Fleet completed its training and returned to Pearl Harbor in late April, a large convoy arrived at Pearl Harbor. At that time, Huang Xiaotian thought that the US counterattack was about to begin, and this transport fleet sent war materials for Nimitz to launch a counterattack. And it just so happened that two more submarines operating outside Pearl Harbor were sunk by US destroyers and lost contact with the base. As a result, Huang Xiaotian judged that the Fifth Fleet would soon leave the port, and in order to avoid a surprise attack by the US forces, the Fourth Task Force withdrew about 400 nautical miles eastward, and almost retreated to the waters near Nantori Island. Only later did I learn that it was still just a false alarm. The two submarines were sunk by escorting destroyers while attacking the American convoy, and the Fifth Fleet did not leave Pearl Harbor.

By late April, the atmosphere in the Central Pacific was already very tense. In order to grasp the activities of the Fifth Fleet in a timely manner, Liao Hanxiang even dispatched more than a dozen submarines to ambush the periphery of Pearl Harbor. In addition, a group of long-range reconnaissance planes deployed on Gardner Island at that time continued to operate in the vicinity of Kauai. It can be said that at that time, in order to grasp the situation of the Fifth Fleet, Liao Hanxiang used all the methods he could think of, and the only purpose was to avoid a sudden attack on the Fourth Task Force. As long as the Fourth Task Force is active in the Central Pacific, the US military will not dare to launch an all-out counterattack!

It wasn't until the end of April that Huang Xiaotian also learned of the major victories in the South Atlantic, and then learned from Liao Hanxiang that the First Task Force and the Third Task Force would be transferred back to the Pacific Theater to replenish the South Atlantic Fleet with newly commissioned warships. At this time, Huang Xiaotian breathed a sigh of relief, at least the First Task Force would soon return to the Pacific Theater. Of course, he didn't completely decentralize. The reason is also very simple: even if the First Task Force returns in early May, it will not arrive in Guangzhou until the end of mid-May, and the fleet will definitely need time to rest and recuperate, and the warships will need time to maintain, so the First Task Force will not be able to participate in combat operations in the Pacific Ocean until early June at the earliest. That is, there is still more than a month before Task Force 1 can appear in the Central Pacific. And the U.S. military must have received the relevant news and judged that the First Task Force will return to the Pacific Theater, so will the U.S. military use the time when the First Task Force has not yet arrived in the Pacific Theater to launch a counterattack?

At that time, the situation on Huang Xiaotian's side not only did not improve, but became more dangerous. Although the Fifth Fleet had been in Pearl Harbor and had only occasionally gone to sea in batches for training, Huang Xiaotian's nerves had been in a state of tension. Especially every time he received the news of the Fifth Fleet's activities at sea, he couldn't even sleep well, who can guarantee that this was not Spruance's intentional arrangement, or that Spruance was confusing his opponents?

The Fourth Task Force has also maintained a high-intensity combat state, and the pressure on the officers and men of the fleet is also very great. It was not until 5 May that Huang Xiaotian received an order from Liao Hanxiang, and the Fourth Task Force immediately returned to Apra Harbor, while the Theater Fleet retreated to the waters of the Caroline Islands. Huang Xiaotian also took a seaplane to Midway Island on the same day, where he changed to a large transport plane and returned to Guam the next day.

Task Force 4's combat operations in the Central Pacific are not over, and this time the fleet returned to Apra Harbor only to allow the fleet to rest here. The order was given directly by the naval command, and Liao Hanxiang only conveyed the order. After Huang Xiaotian arrived in Guam, he learned that Tan Renhao and Chang Jianxin had returned to Zhoushan on the 5th, and this time he had asked him to return to the naval headquarters with Liao Hanxiang to discuss the next stage of combat operations.

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