For me, the pressure and burden of covering is much greater. Tan Renhaoye's actions will not only be directly related to the victory or defeat of the battle, but will also ultimately determine the safety of the Third Fleet. When he proposed this set of combat plans, Huang Xiaotian did not raise objections, but believed in Tan Renhao without reservation, and put the safety of the Third Fleet in the hands of Tan Renhao. When it comes to action, the pressure of Tan Renhao can be imagined.

After separating from the Third Fleet, although Lei Shaoqing would still regularly send the latest battle situation on the battlefield in Mexico, Tan Renhao did not pay attention to Gu Xunlei's actions anymore. Progress on the battlefield in Mexico was enough to force the U.S. military to take more forceful action to ensure that Eisenhower would not be quickly defeated by Gu Xunlei, that is, by this time, Tan Renhao still believed that the U.S. military would send the Atlantic Fleet to the Gulf of Mexico. It was not until the morning of the 13th, when Tan Renhao received a new telegram from Lei Shaoqing, that he began to doubt whether the Atlantic Fleet would go to the Mexican battlefield. This telegram has two main points, one is that the US submarine has been discovered in the Dominica Strait, and the other is that the US Atlantic Fleet has left the Norfolk base.

"Looks like Spruance is already on his way." Zhu Rongzhe has also been paying attention to the situation of the Atlantic Fleet. "As we've analysed before, Spruance should be on his way to the Gulf of Mexico right now, and maybe soon to run into us."

Tan Renhao was still looking at the telegram in his hand and did not talk to Zhu Rongzhe.

"I have arranged for reconnaissance aircraft to strengthen the northwestern part of the Bahamas. and the density of ground searches between the US mainland and the United States, if Spruance were to go to the Gulf of Mexico, he would inevitably take this route, and our reconnaissance planes would certainly be able to detect it. ”

"What if he doesn't go this route?" Tan Renhao marked on the chart the route that crossed the waters between the Bahamas and the continental United States to the Gulf of Mexico.

"And what other options does he have?" Zhu Rongzhe frowned slightly.

"I mean, if Spruance's destination wasn't the Gulf of Mexico, would he still take this route?" Tan Renhao looked at his partner. "You look carefully at the first message in the telegram, yesterday. Our anti-submarine patrol aircraft spotted three American submarines near the Strait of Dominica and sank one of them. And yesterday, the landing fleet carrying the landing team should have been right here, right? ”

"You mean......" Zhu Rongzhe raised his head, "the whereabouts of the landing fleet have been discovered?" ”

"It's very likely that we were even spotted by a U.S. submarine when we left the Caribbean." Tan Renhao sat down, "Spruance left Norfolk yesterday morning. And we just arrived at the predetermined sea area just before that. Perhaps, by the time we crossed the Strait of Dominica, our whereabouts were already revealed. It's just that Spruance couldn't tell where we were at that time, so he wouldn't be in a hurry to act. Is it a coincidence that our landing fleet arrived in the Little Andres Islands yesterday afternoon, or was the whereabouts of the landing fleet already revealed in advance, and Spruance also made his judgment on this, and then led the fleet out of Norfolk? ”

Zhu Rongzhe nodded slightly, if the landing fleet had been discovered before it reached the waters of the Little Andres Islands. Then Spruance probably judged from this that the purpose of the Imperial Navy was to attack the Bahamas, so that. He will set out with the fleet. In other words, the Spruance destination will not be the Gulf of Mexico. Rather, the Bahamas.

"If Spruance had gone south after leaving Norfolk yesterday morning, then our patrol planes would have found something last night, or early this morning, but none of the reconnaissance planes we sent out would have found anything, what does this mean?" Tan Renhao stood up again, "Now, the situation on the battlefield in Mexico has not deteriorated to the point where it needs the support of the Atlantic Fleet to sustain it, and Eisenhower still has enough ability to deal with Gu Xunlei. At most, more reinforcements and combat supplies are needed. Judging from the situation in the past few days, the US military has been stepping up its support for the Mexican battlefield. Several fleets in a row arrived at the port of Tampico. Gu Xunlei should also realize the seriousness of the problem, but now he has no way to cut off the inland route of the Gulf of Mexico, and the US military is not threatened, so what reason is there for Spruance to rush to the Gulf of Mexico now? ”

"Maybe the U.S. military has realized that the Gulf of Mexico shipping lanes are threatened and is taking precautions?"

Tan Renhao smiled and shook his head. "It's a very small possibility, if the U.S. military still has a few fleets at this time, they will do it, but they only have one fleet, and the strength is far inferior to ours, there is no reason for the U.S. military to put the last fleet into a secondary battlefield. At that time, even if Gu Xunlei mobilizes aviation to block the shipping routes in the Gulf of Mexico, the US military can let the fleet sail as close to the coastline as possible and avoid the bombers sent by Gu Xunlei, without the need to rush the Atlantic Fleet to the Gulf of Mexico, let alone let the Atlantic Fleet go to the Gulf of Mexico at this time. ”

"So, Spruance is targeting us?" Zhu Rongzhe took a long breath, "It seems that we misjudged Spruance's intentions from the beginning. ”

"It's not too late to realize, and I bet Spruance wouldn't be coming straight at us at this point, and maybe he's struggling to find out where we're doing." Tan Renhao sat down again, "At least, now Spruance can only confirm that the Third Fleet is operating in the waters southeast of the Bahamas, maybe Huang Xiaotian's arrangements can confuse other US commanders and make them believe that the First Fleet and the Third Fleet are over there, but Spruance may not be fooled." ”

Zhu Rongzhe frowned slightly, the original proposal of the Third Fleet to "pretend" the two main fleets was put forward by him, and he was still proud of it, but he didn't expect that Tan Renhao thought that this method was not feasible from the beginning.

"To be clear, in terms of campaign deployment, there is no reason for us to devote two main fleets to bomb US military bases in the Bahamas at the same time, and this is by no means my principle of using troops." Tan Renhao looked at Zhu Rongzhe, "I have been fighting Spruance for several years, and we are very familiar with each other, he will not be unfamiliar with my command principles, therefore, he will not believe that our two main fleets are operating in the southern seas." ”

"So, why

Do we still have to deploy like this? Zhu Rongzhe was a little confused.

"Anyway, the Third Fleet is needed to bomb the Bahamas, creating more illusions, and it can also interfere with Spruance's judgment, and at the same time make Spruance even more afraid to go south easily, which can ensure the safety of the Third Fleet, and it doesn't hurt for us, isn't it?" Tan Renhao laughed, "Okay, now we need to worry not about which waterway Spruance will go to the Gulf of Mexico, but from which direction Spruance will approach us and sneak attack the Third Fleet." ”

"Then we'll have to readjust our reconnaissance deployment."

"Yes, we have to adjust the area of activity of the fleet." Tan Renhao walked to the chart table. "So far, Spruance has not appeared, which only proves that he did not go south along the coastline, but went deep into the Atlantic Ocean, trying to make the fleet move in the open sea, so that it will be more difficult for us to detect."

"Do we need to contact the Third Fleet, then?" Zhu Rongzhe immediately asked, when the battle plan was determined, Tan Renhao did not mention how the two fleets should communicate and cooperate after changing the campaign operation.

Tan Renhao hesitated for a moment and said: "There is no need to contact the Third Fleet for the time being, Huang Xiaotian should also have received a telegram from Lei Shaoqing, I believe that he will make the same judgment, then he will adjust the actions of the Third Fleet, and he will be able to predict our actions." Now we are too close to the US military base to easily break the radio silence. Once we've found Spruance, it's not too late to contact the Third Fleet. ”

Zhu Rongzhe didn't ask any more questions, and from the beginning, he believed that Tan Renhao was ready to deal with Spruance alone, and he didn't want the Third Fleet to intervene.

This was indeed Tan Renhao's idea, and after rearranging the route of the fleet with the navigation staff, Tan Renhao left Zhu Rongzhe alone. I went to rest on my own. Now he and Zhu Rongzhe do not have a fixed rotation, whoever is tired will go to rest for a while, at least to ensure that there is someone in command of the fleet at any time. Therefore, these days, Tan Renhao is not fixed to rest at night, many times. He would choose to rest during the day, when it was relatively less dangerous, and instead stay at the command post at night.

When the battle plan was decided, Tan Renhao made preparations for the First Fleet to deal with the Atlantic Fleet alone. According to his assessment of the strength of the First Fleet, it will not be difficult to take out the Atlantic Fleet. When the "Falcon" was refitted, there was a short-term decline in the strength of the carrier-based air force of the Imperial Navy in the interior, including the First Fleet, which was mainly caused by the reform of the aviation establishment and the fact that the pilots were not very suitable for the new bombers. After several battles and a long period of training, the bomber pilots of the First Fleet were basically adapted to the new bombers and had the ability to perform a variety of missions. That is, the dive bomber and torpedo bomber units are no longer divided in detail, but according to the needs of the mission. Assign tasks on an ad hoc basis. This change will be of great help to improving the ground combat effectiveness of carrier-based aircraft units. According to Hao Dongjue's assessment, at this time, the First Fleet's aviation strike capability has increased by at least half compared with the past, and its combat capability to deal with complex tasks has more than doubled. And that's exactly what happened. Tan Renhao believed that even without the assistance of the Third Fleet, the First Fleet would be able to completely annihilate the US Atlantic Fleet.

Of course, war is not a "game for the brave", let alone a "stage for megalomaniacs". While being confident in the strength of the fleet, Tan Renhao did not dare to underestimate his opponent. After receiving the telegram from Lei Shaoqing, Tan Renhao immediately realized that from the beginning. He misjudged the true intentions of the US military, that is. The U.S. military simply didn't think about sending the Atlantic Fleet into the Gulf of Mexico, at least Spruance never thought about going to the Gulf of Mexico. In other words, Tan Renhao's previous campaign deployment was actually problematic. The position of the First Fleet was too close to the continental United States, and if Spruance had not sailed south from the Coastal Sea, the reconnaissance planes sent by the First Fleet would not have discovered anything.

After rethinking the battle situation, Tan Renhao also realized that Spruance did not give up the idea of taking out the Third Fleet first. At this time, the activities of the Third Fleet in the waters southeast of the Bahamas are certain, and Spruance must have received relevant ground information, so what kind of countermeasures will Spruance take when the whereabouts of the First Fleet cannot be accurately determined? Thinking of this question, Tan Renhao couldn't sleep at all while lying on the bed, and after thinking about it for a long time, he got up and pulled out a chart on the table.

After looking at the chart for a while, Tan Renhao's mind gradually became clearer. Perhaps, it was precisely because Spruance judged that the First Fleet was not with the Third Fleet that Spruance did not go directly south, and thus did not directly hit the muzzle of the First Fleet. Then, before Spruance can take action, he must first know the whereabouts of the First Fleet, at least the approximate location of the First Fleet, and then he can take action, and before that, Spruance must make a prediction and deploy the fleet to the most reasonable position, so that when the opportunity comes, he can quickly attack the Third Fleet, without giving the First Fleet any time to counterattack. And the basis of this judgment is where the First Fleet will cover the Third Fleet.

Tan Renhao switched himself to Spruance's position and began to think in the way of his opponent. It is clear that the First Fleet can cover the Third Fleet only in two directions, one to the north, but to the northeast. If it is in the north, it is to prevent the Atlantic Fleet from going directly south, and in the northeast, it is to prevent the Atlantic Fleet from going around the back of the Third Fleet. Relatively speaking, if Tan Renhao hadn't judged that Spruance would go to the Gulf of Mexico, he would have let the First Fleet operate northeast of the Third Fleet. If Spruance had never thought of going to the Gulf of Mexico, he would have ruled out the possibility that the First Fleet would be north of the Third Fleet, and thus judged that the First Fleet was to the northeast of the Third Fleet. In this case, what choice will Spruance make?

Thinking of this, Tan Renhao suddenly realized a problem, a question that he had ignored from the beginning, but which would directly determine the victory or defeat of this sea, that is, if Spruance chose the First Fleet as the primary target, would he still go to trouble the Third Fleet?